Fantasy Baseball Today - Alek Manoah Hype, Waiver Wire Moves & Best Hitter Matchups! (9/15 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 15, 2021

How is this Fantasy Baseball season going for Scott (1:26)? What kinds of things have gone wrong? ... Is Lewin Diaz worth a look in deeper leagues (9:00)? Just how good can Alek Manoah be? ... News and notes (19:38). Chris Sale is set to return Friday, Blake Snell's groin isn't feeling so good and more. ... Let's rank a bunch of closers (24:20)! ... Add Rockies and Rangers hitters for the long haul (33:12)? ... Can we finally drop Yu Darvish, Zac Gallen, and Kyle Gibson (40:12)? ... How do we rank Tony Gonsolin, Logan Gilbert, and Erick Fedde (45:08)? ... How did Clayton Kershaw, Gerrit Cole, and Lucas Giolito look in their returns (49:05)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, streamers, and Team Name Wednesday (53:23). 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. I drive. Center field. What is magnificent? Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality.

Now here's Frank Scott, Chris, and Adam. What is up? Welcome into fantasy baseball today on Wednesday, September 15th. Frank Sandville joined, as always, by Scott White. Here to recap the past couple of days in fantasy baseball, players to drop hitters with strong schedules next week. The Rockies, just the rest of season, pick up all your Rockies, a little 20-22 talk, team name Wednesday, and more.

You know Scott, I realized the intro, here is Frank, Scott, Chris, and Adam. I think we need a new intro, man. I said. I got a tweet from somebody the other day. Adam. Man, that's crazy. Imagine that. Adam Azer.

He hosts the football podcast. He was here for many years hosting the baseball podcast and did a great job, but no longer. It's tough. It's tough balancing both football and baseball. I haven't asked you this in a while, Scott, and a little impromptu question,

you might not know off the top of your head. But how are you doing this year? Like, are you competing for championships anywhere? Because I realize that we don't really talk about this very often. Well, Frank, last year was one of the best years I've ever had. And this year is one of the worst years I've ever had.

I am competing for, I think I'm competing, legitimately competing in four of my, how many leagues am I in? And true fantasy leagues, 11 leagues. I'm competing in four of them still. However, I believe I said a couple times this off-season, and maybe even during their preseason, that I don't recall ever finishing in last place in a fantasy baseball league.

Well, it's not decided yet. It's not for sure. But think as things currently stand, I am in last place in two leagues. So I'm trying really hard in those leagues so that I can continue saying that. But that's pretty big failure as far as I'm concerned. and I could get into my theories as to why that happened, but that might take up a whole show. Well, I mean, look, it was a very unique season last year, 60 game season,

so I think that you should probably petition for MLB shortening the season, Scott, because you excelled in that shortened season. I mean, I was in probably at about the same point through June. You know, basically about the time Shane Bieber got hurt. Yeah. in Tout Wars. I was the defending champion in my Tout Wars League. And I think I was in second place that far into the season.

At some point in June, still in second place. And I'm going to have my worst finish in that league ever as well. It's not one of the ones that I'm in danger of finishing last in, but I will be in the lower half of the league, which is also not something I'm used to. You know what? I don't want to make excuses, but I'm about to make an excuse. it's right around that time where

not in all of my leagues but in some of my leagues things really started to go sideways and that was the beginning of June right? The whole sticky substance situation and look everyone is playing under the same circumstances right every fantasy manager is playing with the same thing so

I mean maybe it's just the pitchers that I had on my teams but it seems like a lot of my pitching in leagues kind of went off the rails around that time one particularly comes to mind in my main event league I was in the top three, basically, until July. And then Darvish just goes completely sideways. Jung and Ryu goes completely sideways as well. I mean, it could just be him hitting that veteran wall.

I don't know if it has to do with sicky substances and everything that I've seen. I mean, it doesn't seem like it's related to spin rates or anything like that. But yeah, things kind of went awry around that time, you know, the beginning of June. Pointed to the pitchers you had. And that, you know, that, I guess, you know, I could say I could get into my theories as to why those teams have done so poorly. But I will point back to I am still in contention, very strong contention in four of the 11 leagues. You know, if I come out of this season with three titles, that's a pretty good season just in terms of how many titles I won, right? For that many, for that number of leagues I'm in.

And yet I'll have all these low finishes mixed in there. Usually I'm used to being in contention in basically every league, you know, maybe one I won't do as well in. But that's the norm for me. So the fact that I have this wide gap in my team's outcomes for competing for a championship, probably at least four that are going to be in the bottom half of the league, really speaks to the idea that you get the right pitchers, you do well. You get the wrong pitchers. You don't do well. And the more invested you are in pitching, and I was more invested in pitching than I've ever been before this year, obviously, the more your fate is tied into how your pitchers perform.

So that's kind of the short explanation for how I think my season is gone, is just that I invested more in a more volatile asset, and I'm seeing more volatile outcomes as a result. Last point here, I know this is like an extended intro. We'll get into, oh, my goodness gracious, and we have a bunch of stuff to talk about. But I do think that something that I want to focus more on for next year is instead of just saying, okay, I want to get as many pitchers as I possibly can, just be more selective overall. Because I feel like we were very much so, I want two of the top, whatever, 10 starting pitchers. And I don't want to speak for you, Scott, but I kind of just felt like, let me just get any of those two, right? Or let me get four of my top 20 or five of my top 30, something like that.

but I think I just want to be more selective, right? And just maybe just have pitchers that are off my board, right? Whether it's due to injury or sticky substances from this year, whatever it might be. But I do think I want to be more selective in the pitchers that I want to draft next year. And that's going to be a priority for me this offseason. Well, that's, yeah, that's a thought I've had too. I mean, some pitchers, they underperform and, you know, there's not much you could do about it.

You Darvish, Aranola. I always want to say Austinola. Udarvish, Aaronnola, like, okay, they just went wrong, but you weren't wrong to invest to them necessarily, but the Kinta Maidas, the Zach Plesacks,

the Dylan Bundys, even like a Kyle Hendrix who has a pretty good staple track record, but just doesn't have that, doesn't have those same high-end outcomes, you know? Yeah.

Like, it made sense to maybe not want to rely on them so much. And I kind of like, I kind of treated them as all the same. But, you know, another reason, and this is really probably the secondary point for why on the whole my outcomes aren't as good as I'm used to, is that it was easy to treat pitchers that way based on the way the last couple seasons had gone offensively where there wasn't much incentive to be selective with your hitters, you know, because there were guys emerging as studs all the time. Like, hitting production was so evenly distributed across the player pool that it was really hard to miss with your hitters. And that's changed again this year too,

where, you know, there isn't that wide distribution across all the positions throughout the hitting pool so that you can't afford to miss as much as pitchers because with your pitchers, you can't afford to miss as much with your pitchers because missing with your pitchers is a missed opportunity among hitters when it wasn't, that wasn't so stark the past couple years. Yeah, and the standout hitters this year were really good.

That also comes into play. And I think you hit it on the head because I was all over that mid tier of hitters, you know, older guys that I thought were kind of just being devalued this year, Anthony Rizzo's, the Charlie Blackmins, Austin Meadows, you know, guys like that who, you know, I still do think that they were undervalued, but they haven't really lived up to expectations. They didn't really bounce back like I thought they would. So that's enough talk for this season. but I think it's going to be fun to reflect on this year

and try and figure out what we want to do for next year and we'll spend basically all of October through December trying to figure that out. Let's talk about some of the standouts from the past couple days. Oh, my goodness gracious! All right, Scotty, where do you want to go? I want to go with somebody that I don't think is going to have

much utility for the rest of 2021, but he's really making a strong case to Matt to matter in 2022, and that's Lewin Diaz of the Miami Marlins, a rookie who's filling in for Jesus Aguilar, who is currently sidelined with an injury that I don't even think's going to sideline him for the rest of the season. Kind of a short-term I-L stint is what's expected for Aguilar. But Lewin Diaz hit two long majestic home runs here on Tuesday evening, and that was a day after he hit two doubles, which came a day after he hit a triple.

So in the last three days, he has two home runs, two doubles, and a triple. And powers something he was never wanting for in the minors. Just this year, Lewin Diaz at AAA hit 20 home runs in,

what we'd think of as half a season at bats, basically, half a major league seasons at bats, 20 home runs. And he did so with a 19.2% strikeout rate, you know, a really good strikeout rate for a power hitter. Really good strikeout rate for anybody, frankly, 19.2%. And that's been something that's been consistent throughout his minor league career too.

So a lot of power, not really a problem, the strikeouts. They're not a problem for him. But he did only hit 246 at AAA. Extreme fly ball rates, which contributes to Leone D is having so much power, but also, kind of negates the effect of the low strikeout rate and makes him not a for sure success in the majors. I think especially when you consider where he's going to be playing his home games in Miami. It's worth noting these performances the last three days have all come in the road.

Miami, a big park. If you're hitting that many fly balls in a big park, they better be clear in the fence or else it's going to mean a lot of outs. So I've been skeptical of Lewin Diaz's chances of really becoming an impact player and fantasy, becoming a long-term option for the Marlins at first base, but he's making a case for it right now. I think the biggest issue is that Aguilar is under contract for next season as well. So, you know, neither one of them is going to play anything other than first base, obviously. Can Lewin Diaz really unseat Aguilar with his performance

here to close out the season? And I'm skeptical of that too, but he's off to a good start. Well, Scottie, let's cross our fingers and hope that the Universal DH actually comes to fruition. The offseason CBA is going to be a very big talking point, obviously, between the MLB and the MLB Players Association. But that is something that is expected to pass. So if we have the Universal DH that helps someone like Jesus Aguilar move over to DH or Lewin Diaz, whoever they want to put in that spot. But you're right. I mean, I think there's an interesting player here in Diaz.

Definitely has Pop. You mentioned what he's done this season in the minors. back in 2019, he hit 270, 27 homers, 851 OPS, across 121 games. That was between high A and double A ball. So I think the power is pretty legit. And we were talking beforehand, he kind of reminds me of his teammate, Hazu Sanchez. I think that both of them have a lot of power,

but they have to find more consistency. They just have to find a way to put the ball and play a little bit more, consistency within their batted ball data, you know, maybe not too many fly balls for Hayes. Sanchez, sometimes it's a little bit too many ground balls. So I think if they both kind of just find that consistency, we might have something with both players there. I was going to ask you this a little bit later on,

but I was going to have you ranked Diaz with a few other very deep league hitters, deep league hitters, who I think are pretty interesting. Jose Siri did not know much about this fellow, but he had a monster game on Monday for the Houston Astros, a double dong and consistent power speed threat in the minors. this season at AAA 318 batting average, 16 homers, 24 steals. He's only 2% rostered.

And then Kyle Isbell is back with the Kansas City Royals. Remember he started the season with them and he got off to like a hot start the first week. I think some people picked him up. Probably used some fab on him. And then he completely fell off. But this year in the miners, interesting power speed as well for Kyle Isbell.

269 batting average, 15 homers, 22 steals. Scott, how would you rank those perspective, prospective pickups in deeper leagues, Diaz, Isbell, Siri. I would rank Diaz, number one. He's the most highly regarded prospect, and I think his skill set is the most likely to translate to the majors, even though, as I said, I have some doubts about it,

especially in Miami. But he would be number one of this group. Jose Siri, he went 0 for 2 with 2 strikeouts, was in the lineup again on Tuesday, 0.2 with 2 strikeouts following that big game. And as productive as he was at Tripoli. Belae this year. Those 16 home runs,

24 steals came in only 94 games. It's worth pointing out. 30.7% strikeout rate against minor league pitchers. And, yeah. Yeah. So that's going to be difficult for him to overcome. Obviously,

going to be hard for him to break into the Astros lineup, too. But he would, nonetheless, he would still probably be second for me. I just don't think Isbell, Kyle Isbell, has the same kind of upside as those two.

to me profiles is, you know, even if everything goes right, is more of a fourth outfielder. But, yeah, I mean, we're talking deeper league options for the rest of these season, for the rest of this season in any scenario, because I don't even think it's likely any of these three is just a regular to close out this season. Yeah, I think I might put Isbell ahead of Siri.

Series upside might be higher, but I think Isbell with the Royals, I mean, they're not playing for much, so they're probably going to give them an opportunity here down the stretch. It does have some power and some speed. So I'm with you with Diaz up at the top. I think I would rank Isbell second and then Jose Siri, but they're all kind of interesting in their own unique way.

I want to talk about Alec Manoa who pitched on Monday. My oh my goodness gracious player. Up against the Tampa Bay raise, eight shutout, one hit, zero walks, 10 strikeouts. He had 17 swinging strikes on 87 pitches. 13 of those came on the slider. We actually got an email from Dave Polack who said, please talk about him.

Feel like he'd be discussed every week if he was a Marlin or a Royal. Do we talk about, I mean, the Marlins, yeah, we definitely talk about Sandy Alcantara quite a bit. Do we talk about Royals a lot? I don't think so. Maybe back in the Heath days we did.

I don't know. Well, anyway, here, we're doing this for you, Dave. I want to talk about Alec Menoa on the season 3.39 ERA 103 Whip. 12% swinging strike rate. And the underlying numbers are okay. 3, 4, 6, expected ER. 412 X-FIP.

He puts the ball in the air probably more than you want, especially for someone who pitches in the American League East. Fastball slider, great. I think the key to unlocking Manoa, Scott, and for him taking that next step

for next year potentially, is that change-up? Can he make that into a decent third pitch, 10, 12% of the time? Something to get lefties out because as of now, 424-474 OPS against right-handed pitching,

right-handed batters, rather, 722 OPS against left-handed batters. That's still very good, but I feel like he just has to find a way to get lefties out, and that change-up is probably the key. Yeah, I mean, that's usually what the change-up is for. So that makes sense. If he's that good against right-handers,

I'm not sure it matters that much how good the left-handers are. And, I mean, we're kind of nitpicking anyway, because his numbers are... They're great. Yeah, 339 ERA, almost 10 strikeouts per nine innings. particularly as much as we've seen rookies fall short the past couple years. I mean, this is everything you could want from a rookie. And I imagine he's going to be the AAL rookie of the year, right?

I mean, who else is in that discussion? That's a good question. Yeah. I'll pull up spots. I'm kind of putting you on the spot there. I hope you had an answer right, everybody. I can't imagine anyone has a better case than Alec Manoa. And part of the reason we don't talk about him is just because he,

he came up and he got added in a bunch of leagues right away and lived up to the hype and wasn't really you know became became too good to talk about basically but I bet we'll talk about him a lot in the offseason and during draft prep season next year

because it's going to be an interesting target. I was thinking earlier is just how high is he going to be ranked for next season? I don't know if it's top 30. top 35. I mean, I could see him being someone that people are excited about

because he's a prospect and obviously he's pitching really well but, you know, like Minoa versus McClanahan, I think that's going to be a pretty fun debate for next year. Yeah, I think I would definitely take Minowah.

I don't think it's going to be much of a debate for me, but... Oh, all right. But, you know, I'll take another look at it. It could be wrong. All right, well,

according to these odds that I'm looking at right now, Randy Rosarena still qualifies for the rookie of the year. That's true, he does. So he is the favorite, minus 175. A close second is Adolice Garcia, who has slowed down, but is still having a very good year.

Third on this list is Luis Garcia with the Houston Astros. Manoa is tied for the fifth best odds. Ryan Mountcastle is ahead of him, Wanda Franco's ahead of him. These are betting odds? Yeah. Yeah, there's more in that discussion. I didn't even think about Luis Garcia.

Yeah, that'll be an interesting race. There's some, I don't think there's a clear frontrunner there and there are several who would be deserving. All right, before we get to the news and notes, I just want to remind everybody to check out our Facebook group. Make sure to join up. It's facebook.com slash group slash fantasy baseball today. Obviously, you can still send in your questions via email.

You can tweet at me and Scott, but there's a lot going on this time of year. So if we can't get to your questions, you can hop in our Facebook group and you can ask questions there. There's still a lot of people who are very active and they're talking things out. There's a lot of threads going on between people asking questions about matchups, keepers for next year. So if you want to join up, again, that's Facebook.com slash groups slash fantasy baseball today.

Some news and notes. Chris Sale is expected to be activated from the COVID list to start Friday against the Orioles, which doesn't really make sense to me, Scott. And I told people on our last podcast not to start Chris Sale because they announced last Friday that he tested positive for COVID. and normally this season, you have to be out at least 10 days once you test positive, or they announced that you tested positive. So I don't really know what's going on here with this Chris Sale Red Sox situation. I don't know if you've seen anything different, but, like, the Red Sox handling of all this,

there was a thing about Hunter Renfro where apparently the league told the Red Sox to stop testing their players and Hunter Renfro kind of fired back at them. I don't know. It's just like a weird situation that the Red Sox had been. Sounds like you know more. about the situation than I do. Oh, yeah. It's odd, for sure.

Yeah. I know, I know Sail's been asymptomatic. I don't, I don't know if that factors into the, I don't know, I don't know, but I,

they say he's going to be back this weekend, so. Yeah. So if you do, I apologize, if you do play in a daily lineup league, obviously, if he's out there,

you get Chris Sale back in your lineup. I guess it might have something to do if like he's vaccinated or not, Maybe he could come back sooner if you test negative. I don't really know exactly the protocol with that, but everyone else this year, it seems like it's been at least 10 days you have to be out. Blake Snell's groin was feeling a little more sore and tender

than expected on Monday, one day after the lefty exited his start with left adductor tightness. So they have not ruled him out for this week's start yet, but it's obviously not looking very good, and we told you to bench Blake Snell if you could afford to do so. Jacob de Grom threw 10 pitches off a mound on Tuesday, which is a step in the round. right direction, but we are running out of time with Jacob de Grom.

Very small step. Yeah. It's only 10 pitches, but yeah. I hope so. I hope we see him pitch again. Obviously, he's awesome. Jose Barrios was removed from Tuesday start with left abdominal tightness, though you couldn't really tell as he allowed just one run over seven

endings against the Tampa Bay array. So really nice start here from Berrios. Yeah, my understanding is he was pitching through the injury, right? And yeah, pitched well rather than, oh, he got hurt. Now let's take him out. Yeah. But maybe he aggravated it. There isn't really much as of now.

So hopefully he's good to make his next start as well. Toronto needs it. I mean, you know, the entire American League East, they're all kind of in the running for this one. I mean, we all need it. Pitchers are dropping like flies. For sure, yeah. Jesse Winker began a rehab assignment on Tuesday.

I think I saw somewhere that he went 0 for 2. Would be a welcome site to get him back. The final couple of weeks here. Jake Cronoward, dealing with that fractured finger was out of the lineup Tuesday and isn't expected to return until the weekend series against the Cardinals. Michael Brantley is also not expected back until Friday he's dealing with, I believe, I thought it was a back injury.

I'll pull it up. Might be something different. But J.C. Riumuto was out of Tuesday's lineup due to right shoulder inflammation. Kenley Janssen was reinstated from the paternity list on Tuesday. Tim Anderson returned on Tuesday, but will be eased in, said Tony Larusa. And he will be playing every other day for now. I mean, I don't know. Do we leave Tim Anderson in our weekly lineups,

Scott, if he's playing every other day? I mean, shortstop is not an easy position to fill off the waiver wire, though I imagine Brendan Rogers is still out there in quite a number of leagues. Yeah, I mean, generally speaking, I'd say no, but it obviously depends on who you can plug into that spot instead. All right.

Michael Brantley is dealing with a knee injury, not a back injury. So I apologize, I got it wrong. Where are we? Matt Chapman has missed two straight games because of a left foot slash shin injury. Jake Oteresey. You know, Scott, I feel like this happens every time.

As soon as you buy in on a player or you give your acceptance on a specific player that normally you don't like, something happens, whether they fall apart, they get hurt, whatever it might be. But Jake Oteresee left early in Monday start and was placed in the IL with right foot. Soreness.

Yeah, I've noticed that too. Yeah. So go with your guts, Scott. Stick to your guns. I think that's the lesson here. Joe Ryan got hit by a comebacker on Tuesday. He left to start early. X-rays were negative, so I hope everything is all right there.

He limited Cleveland to just one run over five innings, so he has pitched very well since being called up by the Minnesota Twins. Andrew Vaughn placed on the IL with lower back inflammation. Chris Paddock back on the IL with right elbow inflammation. David Bednar on the I.O. with a right oblique strain, which means Chris Stratton should be the closer. He picked up his fifth save of the season on Tuesday.

He is 3% rostered. So in those 15-team, Roto category leagues, go out and get him. And in anything shallower than that, there are much more interesting saves targets than Chris Stratton. It's worth pointing out. I have a new bullpen report up on CBS Sports. com, probably the last bullpen report of the season.

And some really strong targets have emerged recently. That might not be available in a 15 team league, but anything shallower, possibly. I guess I should mention their names, huh? Alex Colomé is 50% rostered. He picked up another save. Dylan Floreau is 28% rostered. He picked up his 11th save of the season.

Drew Steck and Ryder now has the last two saves for Seattle. He's 17% rostered. Rowan Wick. three of the last four saves for the Cubs. He's 11% rostered. Andrew Kittridge has four of the last five saves for the raise. He got another one. Four of the last six, I believe it is for the raise that Kittrich has.

But the two he doesn't have were three inning saves. Yeah. So they weren't a conventional save by any means. Oh, I'm sorry, five of the, five of the raised last seven saves, Kitcher Chaz. Okay. So this is like the clearest closer. the closest the raise have come to having a closer all season and it's a guy with like a 150 ERA

Andrew Kittredge. And you look at what else is in their bullpen right now. Nobody else deserves to be closing. Except for Colin McHugh, but we know he's not going to. Like it's everybody else has disqualified himself. Kittrich has gotten the last five conventional saves they've had. So he's probably the second most interesting pickup

at a relief pitcher right now. The most is Giovanni Gallegos, who we know is the Cardinals closer now. They haven't said as much, but we know he is because we know Alex Reyes isn't. And Gallegos did finally blow a save on Tuesday. He allowed a solo home run. That's all he allowed.

So it wasn't like this ugly outing or anything. He did blow a save, but he had gotten, that was after a recent stretch of four days, four saves and five days. So like, Gallegos could be a stud closer down the stretch and still pretty widely available. So those are my favorite two, Gallegos and Kittridge.

And Steck and Ryder, who you mentioned, isn't far off either. I do think there may still be some interference there, but Paul Seawald's been pretty shaky lately, and Castillo, Diego Castillo, they've used him more like a seventh inning guy than even an eight-thin-a-guy since he's come over. He has gotten a couple saves since coming over, but I think I have more confidence in,

I have about as much confidence in Drew Steckin-Rider right now as I did in Kendall Graveman when he got sent to the Astros. So those are the three big ones. Yeah, we were pretty excited about Kendall Graveman at the time. He was pitching very well. The last one I wanted to mention there was Carlos Estevez. He's 18% rostered. Rockies relievers, they're not great,

but he is the guy picked up his eighth save of the season on Tuesday. So you mentioned some of your favorites here, Scott. Let's just rank a few of these names, some of these others. Colomé, Floro, Rowan Wick, Carlos Estevez. Rank those four. Colomé, Floreau, Rowan Wick, Estevez. I would say you just did. Colomé Floro, Roan Wick, and Estevez.

I mean, Estevez, his numbers are nasty, as in not good. They're nasty numbers. But there's really no other choice, and the Rockies playing a lot of close games, it seems like. So if you purely for saves, Estabez could be of some use, but man, he could wreck your ERA and whip if you're not careful. And Steck and Ryder is up over Colomé for you?

Yeah. So above that group we just talked about, let's include all seven, right? Just to make it easier. Gallegos, Ketridge, Steckenrider, Colomé, Floro, who am I forgetting? Rowan Wick and Carlos Estavis.

There you go, yep. And where does, I'll throw one more name in that, Where does Chris Stratton fall on that list? Very bottom. Very bottom? Very bottom. Okay.

Yeah, I mean, look, the pirates are not going to win many games as it is. Seth Beer, so excited for Seth Beer. Finally got the call up, and he dislocated his shoulder on a diving attempt in the outfield, which it truly does suck because, I mean, this guy's been waiting to get the call, and he's performing very well in the minors. You know, his first couple of games, he looked pretty good. I mentioned I picked him up in a deeper league on our last podcast, but it appears he's going to miss the rest of the season.

I think this was the first time he played the field since getting called up too because they had those games in Seattle. So he was de-hing. Yeah, it's very frustrating. By the way, we didn't talk about Michael Givens, who seems pretty set in the Reds-closer role again. Knock on Wood.

Or Scott Barlow, who seems even more set in the Royals closer role. So there'd be somewhere in the middle of that group. Yeah, I don't want to rank like 10 relievers. I'm just saying there are a lot of saves options to pick up right now. And you know what? I mean, just with that, it's something I've thought about recently is the closer position. I mean, it's been like normally frustrating this year, but it really hasn't been that bad,

I feel like. You know, I mean, there's an obvious handful of teams, the Reds, the Royals, the Reyes, who I have been annoying, but there's always going to be teams like that. But I think for the most part, like closer this year has been pretty straightforward. I feel actually pretty good about how saves and the closer position went this year as compared to years past. Maybe that's just me though.

Tyler Clippard was activated but may not close right away according to manager Tori Lavulo. Trey Mantini was removed Tuesday with right abdominal soreness. Luis Severino is slated to face live hitters this week and could start a rehab assignment within a week. If he returns, it will be as a reliever. Domingo Hermann is expected to be activated this weekend and will also be used as a reliever.

Willie Calhoun will be actually. activated from the 60-day IL on Wednesday. And he is coming back from a fractured forearm that he suffered back in June. He's 15% rostered. Any interest in our guys, Scott? Willie Calhoun. No.

No, not until he does something. And there's not a lot of time for him to do something. That is true. Jorge Mateo will miss the remainder of the season with right lumbar inflammation. And last but not least, Ryan Braun has officially retired from baseball, he finishes his career

with a 296 batting average, 352 home runs, 300, why did I say that like that? 352 home runs, 216 steals, a 47.1 war. My question to you Scott, very controversial. Is Ryan Braun a hallfamer?

You know, he probably wouldn't be just because of his history with PEDs, but I think that's a moot point. I don't think the numbers are good enough. The 47.1 war, you know, players don't get in with a war that low. If he had another two prime seasons, then maybe it'd be different,

but he just didn't quite do enough. I think if there was no PED speculation or none of that, I think he would be on the border, but he probably still wouldn't be a Hall of Fame, right? I do agree with you on that. Let's take a quick break. When we return, a few hitters that you have to add because of their remaining schedule.

Let's talk about it next here on Fantasy Baseball today. All right, Scott, you've already mentioned one of these hitters. It's Brendan Rogers, and I think it is time to add your Rockies and Rangers hitters where they are available. The Rockies, we already know, three of their final four series are in Colorado, which that starts next week. Both of their series are at home next week. The obvious name there, Brendan Rogers, he hit another road home run on Tuesday. It's just so odd. I mean, 10 of his 12 home runs this year have been on the road.

We keep waiting for him to take advantage of hitting at home. I don't know, maybe we don't want Brendan Rogers at home, Scott. I mean, the way that he's played this year. No, we do. We do. All right. He's 56% rostered, so still pretty available for those of you that play in shallower leagues. If, you know, you've got a Tim Anderson situation or another shortstop that's not playing well.

Brenda Rogers is definitely out there. Garrett Hampson, Scott, is it time to pick him back up? Two for three with a triple and a 17. steel of the season on Tuesday. That's now two massive games in a row. He has started eight of the last 10 games for the Rockies. He's 37% rostered.

What do you think about Rogers and Hampson? I definitely like Rogers. I've always liked Rogers. Hampson Hamson still has a playing time issue that I think's going to leave him out for me. And this

steel he had on Tuesday, it was only his seventh steal since May, I want to say. So the thing he's best at, he hasn't even been really doing that much of recently for two-thirds of the season when I say recently. So not that interested in Hampson. I would look more to... Let me pull up this article I just wrote. I would look more to like Elias Diaz if you need a catcher.

And Rymel Tapia over Hampson, if you're looking for... A speed guy who's probably not going to provide much power. Those would be my recommendations. This was an article that just went up on the site today. The best and worst remaining matchups for both pitchers and hitters. I have the eight teams. I show the eight teams with the best remaining matchups for hitters, best remaining matchups for pitchers, worse for hitters,

worse for pitchers, eight teams for each. And I list some impacted players for each of those teams based on what category I'm talking about. So that's something to check out if you're looking ahead to matchups for the rest of the season. Obviously, it can only be a rough guide. It, you know, because we can't, we can't predict that far ahead exactly which pitchers line up on which days. But if you're looking for a rough guide, it is out there in black and white.

Well, Scott, can I ask if the Texas Rangers are on that list of hitters? For best remaining matchups for hitters. No. They didn't crack my top 8. Okay. Looking at this again, maybe they should have. Why did I overlook them?

I need to do it over again. They might have a bad final week. I didn't look into the final week of the season, but next week they have seven games on the road at the Yankees and at the Orioles. So that is something that is very enticing to me. Obviously, Yankee Stadium, short portion, right field. It's a hitters park.

Baltimore, their pitching is terrible. It's a great part to hit in as well. I mean, Yankees had rate pretty high in pitching, believe it or not. You may not feel that way as a Yankees fan, but statistically they do. Well, I mean, I guess on the season, Garrett Cole is awesome. Nestor Cortez

is good, but outside of that, I mean, Jameson Tyone's on the I.L. Cori Kluber has pitched poorly. And then we have Luis Heel. Jordan Montgomery is hit or miss. He's prone to giving up some big games, so. Yeah.

I don't know. Look, it's a good park to pitch in, but yes, I mean, if you have to face Gerrich Cole or Nester Cortez or a combination of both, that's probably not ideal. The name I wanted to bring up is Nathaniel Lowe, formerly known as Nate Lowe, who over his last 15 games is betting 327, two homers, one steal. So not a lot of interesting counting stats, but he did hit a monster home run off of Zach Granky on Tuesday, 53% rostered, obviously has those matchups next week. DJ Peters in a deeper league.

He had another home run. He now has 11 homers in 38 games with the Texas Rangers. He's 9% rostered. Again, deeper leagues. Leoti Tavaris and Nick Solek are a few other names that stood out to me as well. Scott, what do you think about that group? Lowe, DJ Peters, Leotie Tavaris, and Nick Solek. Whenever I read DJ Peters, I kind of want to do like a corny, like, record skip.

DJ Peters. Oh, I get you. I follow you. I'm with you now. Oh, man, that is a uninspiring group. I think maybe that's why I left the Rangers out of the teams with the eight best matches for hitters is because they have no hitters worth recommending.

That's probably why. Nick Solac is probably the most interesting of the ones you named. I'm sure Adelis Garcia has rostered in too many leagues to mention, but you may have a question as to whether or not to start him. Yeah, he is. And since the matchups look pretty fair, favorable that works in his favor. Obviously, coming off a huge game here.

Tuesday had been a rough past couple months, so we'll see how he finishes out this week. You just yawned, Frank. I did, I'm sorry, man. You just yawned on camera. It's definitely not because you're talking about Nick Soak. I mean, it's late, man. I'm close to doing that a couple times the past couple weeks.

I mean, should I like turn my camera off when I'm getting ready to yawn? You got to suppress it. Should I do this? You got a, you got a, oh, gosh, no, that's terrifying. Scott is now. Give me off of the screen. Yeah, no, you got to, you know, you've never like practiced like hiding the yawn by like, you know, it's really good work for your jaw muscles, I guess. It's just kind of like keeps them closed while, while they're trying to stretch open.

You don't do that? You don't have any, you're not practiced in that area? No, Scott. I mean, yon suppression. I like to think that I, I, I, I like to think that I, I, I, I, you're trying to think that. I have good manners, but in like the grand scheme of things, I probably don't. I probably do two things that I should not do, like, yawn on camera like I just did. It's 1.25 a.m. Eastern time right now when we're recording this.

So it's pretty late, and I've been up for a while. I recorded a football podcast earlier today, too. There's a lot going on. Nobody wants to hear about my work schedule. Scott does not like the Texas Rangers because they stink. I think if you play in deeper leagues, the matchups for next week, I'm excited about. but Brendan Rogers is the one that stands out most there in terms of remaining schedule.

And you can find some more of those names on the site right now, CBSSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. The drop-o meter. I feel like we talk about these names all the time, but let's finally figure out. We're getting them out of here, leave them on the bench, whatever it might be. U. Darvish.

Oh, man, you Darvish. Eight earned runs on Monday. I started them in the semifinals, my home league, head-to-head points league. I think he gave me like negative nine fantasy points. It's not a good look for you, Darvish right now. And his last three starts, he's at the Cardinals. That's a second start this week.

But home against the Braves next week, at the Dodgers the week after that. I don't know how you do it, Scott. I don't think, you know, with everything that you're playing for at this point in the season, I don't think that you want to have you Darvish in your lineup against the Braves or the Dodgers, the final two weeks. Yeah, so he lines up for a second start this week, right? At the Cardinals, yeah. So, I mean, he's probably locked in already. Right. If you have weekly lineups, he's locked in for that second start

and figures to be his last two-star week of the season, right? If that start is great, then I don't know. I don't know. I mean, it is worth pointing out that his previous start was great. One and run in six innings against the Angels, struck out seven. But obviously, the longer trend has been pretty abysmal for Darvish. at San Francisco. Not only was the performance bad, but his velocity was down

like a mile per hour and a half on everything. So I would agree with you. Unless he, you know, unless he dominates the Cardinals, you're probably not going to want to trust in him for the last two weeks. I know that I've brought this up before, Scott.

I know that you've pooed it because there's a lot of starts mixed in that have been pretty good. I mean, there's looking at it now. I'm looking at his last seven, There are two starts here with double-digit strikeouts for you, Darvish. But on the whole, 6.11 ERA over his last 17 starts since May 29th. I mean, that is just, it is abysmal.

I don't know if he's pitching through injuries, been on the aisle a few times, the back stuff, sticky situation, whatever it might be, but I, like... Well, yeah, I mean, the longer it goes on, the more faith I lose. And I think we're about to that point, particularly with his stuff. appearing diminished in this latest start. Yeah, I mean, he's run out of time to get back on track. I don't think he's toast forever. He'll still probably be drafted pretty high next year.

But for the rest of this year, again, unless he lights it up against the Cardinals and restores our confidence in him, it's probably gone for this year. I have no idea what to do with Darvish for next year. So, I mean... When I say pretty high, I mean, obviously, I'm not talking the first two or three rounds.

But he'll be a top 30 starting pitcher next year, I'm pretty sure. Probably. But I never want to just completely cross the name off my list because if someone falls too far, then yeah, they're worth it. Everyone could become a value. But the way this season has gone, given all the circumstances, I'm kind of at that point right now. So we'll see what happens in the offseason. Zach Allen, another clunker on Monday. And it looks like his final three starts are.

At the Astros versus the Dodgers and at the Giants. 84% rostered. Scott, you know what I have to say about this? He gone. He gone. He gone. And he gone. Zach Allen?

He gone. And I will point out, since I did the work on it, that the Diamondbacks are among the teams with the worst remaining matchups for pitchers. So that makes the decision a little easier. You can confidently drop them everywhere, right? Yeah, most everywhere. All right. Kyle Gibson put up another mass start against the Cubs on Tuesday.

Five innings, four earned runs. His last 11 starts, he has a 5.60 ERA. He's at the Mets later this week. So kind of similar to Darvish where he's going to be in your lineup if you start him on the two-star week. He faces the Pirates next week and then he's at the Braves for his final start. But he's been so bad. I don't even know if I want to use him against the Pirates, Scott. This is Kyle Gibson. Yeah, I mean, he's he's been bad. recently here. It hasn't been nearly as long of a trend as you Darvish

for instance, but of course our faith wasn't as high and Kyle Gibson to begin with, let me see where the, I'm pretty sure the Phillies are on this list. Yeah, they're among the teams with the best remaining matchups for pitchers.

The next two weeks they're facing the Orioles, Pirates, Braves, and Marlins. Obviously the Braves, you know, that would be a tough matchup, so it kind of depends where Gibson's starts fall. But I'm not ready to drop him, no. All right. Well, for those that you are willing to drop, that means you have to pick someone up. So what is your interest level in these starting pitchers for next week? Tony Gonsolin,

he was at home against the Diamondbacks on Tuesday. Five shutout with six strikeouts. He had nine swinging strikes on 67 pitches, velocity up over one mile per hour on each of his fastball splitter and his slider. He looks really good, Gonslyn. I watched a lot of that start. He was sharp. I think he struck out the first four batters that he faced in that game. So he looked really good. He's 51% rostered. And it looks like he is at the Rockies and at the Diamondbacks next week. So Diamondbacks, we love Rockies, not so much. Logan Gilbert, he's got a second start later this week against the Royals. He pitched on Monday, six innings, two runs, nine strikeouts against the Red Sox. This was a big boy performance for Logan Gilbert,

and it looks like he's at the Angels next week. They have struggled mightily over the last month. So that is a good matchup. And then Eric Fetty is the last one here. He's up against the Marlins on Tuesday, five innings, one run, eight strikeouts. And it looks like, as of now, he's at the Marlins and at the Reds next week.

So two starts, one good, one bad. Scott, your interest level, how would you rank those three? Gonsolin, Gilbert, Eric Fetty. Well, Gonselin would be first And I wish I had made a bigger deal about him as a two-star option Because the Red Sox star was supposed to be the tough one He gets Kansas City later this week

Wait, you mean Logan Gilbert then? Because he just said Gonsoline Yeah, sorry It's okay Logan Gilbert, yes So I wish I had made a bigger deal about him being a two-star pitcher this week Red Sox was supposed to be the tough matchup He gets the Royals later in the week but he did look very good

and at least next week that Angels matchup figures to be a solid one so we'll see how it performs against the Royals to close out the week if he melts down then obviously the trust will be broken there you're right Tony Gonsolin this is the version of Gonsolin that we'd hope to see

all year and we're finally beginning to see it in September after his second lengthy injury absence and the difference I pointed out after his previous start that the slider velocity is back to where it was last year and he's getting more whiffs as a result. You know, I didn't think he'd have time to build up to five innings. It's worth pointing out he only needed 67 pitches to get through those five innings

and that may be not a formula we can count on going forward. But for two starts next week, at least in a points league, I think you've got to look into Tony Gonsoline. Fetty, I still have a lot of doubts about Eric Fettie, but he he has made a change recently making his curveball his predominant pitch basically and

that's coincide so that it's been like a five-starred stretch of curveball his most used pitch before then wasn't really happening so swinging strike rate in those five starts is about 13% is good that's compared to 8%

in the 20 starts that came before those five starts so I could see it be a path to success for him. I just, I don't think he can get to a point this season where I'm going to be able to trust in Eric Fetty for my fantasy championship hopes. Yeah, I feel you on that.

I mean, yeah. But look, he crushes the Marlins this year. That's one thing that I've noticed whenever he pitches against the Marlins, which makes sense, obviously. So one of those starts next week is at the Marlins. The other one is against the Reds. And I was trying to pull up last 30 days here

to see how that. the Reds, I'm pretty sure that their offense has gone cold. I guess there's a chance that Jesse Winker is back by next week. Eh, last 14 days, 17th, and Wobah. So, all right, I mean, they're right in the middle of the pack. But it is dicey there with Eric Fetty. We had a few pitching returns. So let's quickly talk about them. Clayton Kershaw made his return on Monday, four and a third, one run, five strikeouts. He only threw 50 pitches in the start. He was pretty efficient. All three of his pitches, the velocity was down around one point. 5 miles per hour, so I don't love that for Clayton Kirshaw, but the results were still pretty good.

Garrett Cole made his return on Tuesday at the Orioles, five innings, one run, seven strikeouts. He needed 108 pitches to get through five innings against the Orioles. So unlike Kirschall, he was very inefficient, but the velocity, everything else looked fine for Garrett Cole. And then G. Leto made his return against the Angels, four innings, three runs, eight strikeouts. He had 18 swinging strikes on 87 pitches. velocity spin rates looked fine for Gioledo. Scott, what do you think about these returns? Kershaw, Cole, Jolito.

The most concerning thing between the three outings is Kershaw's velocity being down by as much as it was. But, you know, we've seen his velocity fluctuate over the past few years without really impacting the results. And obviously the result in this start was good against the diamond backs, but still,

you know, I'd plan on starting all three of these pitchers. moving forward. All right, I have a few deep league pitchers I wanted to ask you about Scott. I guess you can rank them or let me know if you like any of them. Again, these are deep names. But Drew Rasmussen, he was at the Blue Jays

through five shutout, and he's made six starts now. He's only about four earned runs during that six-star stretch, which is pretty interesting. He doesn't get many strikeouts. He gives up a lot of hard contact, so I don't really get it with Drew Rasmussen, but it looks like he is at home

against the Marlins next week. The other two names, Jordan Lyles through seven shutout against the Astros with seven strikeouts. He's now allowed four earned runs over his last three outings. And then Dylan Peters through five shutout against the Reds. He had 14 swinging

strikes. And it looks like his last three starts are at the Marlins, at the Phillies, versus the Cubs. So at least two of those are pretty good for Dylan Peters. So any interest got in the deepest of leagues? He has a really good change up. but

no no it's going to take a lot more than this the strikeout rate isn't good and because of that the X-FIP isn't that good but you know it was nice to see that change up have a good effect

at least in this one start do you like any of these other names or do they stand out at all Jordan Lyles Drew Rasmussen uh Rasmussen has done a really good job of keeping runs off the board since joining the Ray's rotation

and one earner, or fewer in all five of his starts, I believe it is? Six now, after two days. Sixth? Yep. Okay. But four to five innings in each of them. So, you know, obviously,

you're not, they're not using them like a conventional starter, so you can't expect to either. It's more just like, I don't know, it's pretty low end. It's pretty low end. But he's been kind of interesting. I keep asking you about these two hitters, Scott.

So I'm going to do it again. Yoshi-Sutugo, two-for-four with two RBI on Tuesday. Both of those hits came off of a lefty, which I found interesting. He usually struggles against lefties in Wade Miley, who actually got rocked in the start. 26 games with the Pirates, Yoshis-Sut-Sug, 2-92 batting average, seven homers, a 1089 OPS. He has seven games next week at the Phillies, at the Red, so some good ballparks to hit in. And then Logan Thomas went two-for-four with a walk, an RBI, two-run scored. 28 games with the Nationals, 3-1 batting average, 9.

916 OPS, four homers, two steals, 92 mile per hour average exit velocity for Lane Thomas. What do you think, Scott, of these two names? Yeah, I just, I don't see myself using them this year. I think maybe Tsutsugo can make the kind of impression that makes them relevant for next year, potentially. I just don't see myself having enough confidence to use them this year and looking at best remaining matchups for hitters, neither the Pirates nor the Washington Nationals falls on that list.

All right, I got some leftovers from the past couple days. We'll quickly run through these. Scott, give me a... Look, it's September 15th, so I'm not going to hold you to this, but just a rough idea. A two to three round range

where you think these players might go next year. Jorge Polanco hit his 30th home run of the season. He's batting 278, 30 homers, 10 steals, 89 runs, 88 RBI. a true five-category contributor. Where do you think he goes next season? I think Jorge Polanco goes in round eight next season. The seven to ten range, let's say.

All right. I can, I think that's fair. Yurdon Alvarez, a double dong on Monday. He's now up to 30 homers, 281 batting average, 94 RBI. He will have outfield eligibility for next season. What do you think about Yerdon Alvarez for next year? I will say the round 5 to 8 range, probably around 6. I was thinking like 3 to 5.

I think people are going to be pretty excited about Yerun Alvarez. The outfield eligibility definitely helps with him. Tristan McKenzie, he was at the Twins, six innings, one run, seven strikeouts. It's just like clockwork at this point with Tristan McKenzie. I really enjoy watching him pitch too. like he's kind of got a funky delivery. He's just a unique human, I guess, the way that his body is built.

He's super skinny. He has allowed five hits or less. In nine straight starts, his second half whip is 0.78 for Trista McKenzie. This one I have no idea, Scott. Do you have any idea where he might get drafted next year? I'll say the round 9 to 13 range. Okay.

Probably around 11 or so. Yeah. Can you see yourself being excited about him for next season? Oh, yeah. Yeah. So his past five, I don't think this is the same number you just gave,

but his past five starts a combined 11 hits and four walks in his past five starts. A combined 15 base runners in his past five starts. And it's not like these are, you know, Drew Rasmussen type outing. He's going six, he's going seven.

Yeah. allowing nobody to get on base. Yeah. Again, he's fun, man. If you haven't watched Trista McKenzie pitch, Go out and watch some highlights because he's interesting. A few other leftovers from the past couple days. Hope you kept Joey Gallo in your lineups.

We were kind of debating that on our last podcast. That's a home run in back-to-back days. Baltimore's will definitely help with that. Aaron Judge is red-hot. He has four homers over his last four games. He's now up to 34 for the season. Sandy Alcansara, not really giving him his due here

because we're saving for the end of the podcast, but eight shutout, one hit, zero walks, seven strikeouts against the nationals. He might be the second half MVP among starting pitchers. I mean, the way that he is pitching. Yeah, I mean, I don't know

what his win-loss record is during that stretch. Wins do have a huge impact on how valuable a pitcher is in fantasy, even though they're not a great predictor of fantasy success. But certainly,

Sandy Alcantara is putting himself in a position to go really high in next year's draft. I would certainly take him over you, Darvish, next year. 100%. I am right there with you. Last 28 days in 5x 5-Roto, Sandy Al-Conser is the number two pitcher in fantasy baseball behind only Max Scherzer.

He is the number two overall player during that span behind only Max Scherzer. So that is... Pretty good. What is his win-loss record during that stretch? He is two and three. Oh my gosh. That's even more credit to how well he's pitched then that he's managed to be the second most valuable player even with a losing record. Yeah, a 179 ERA, 179 ERA, 0.73 whip, 577 strikeouts over 45 and a third last 28 days for Sandy Alcansara.

Brandon Belt hit another home run on Monday now has 24 homers in only 86 games this season. I didn't realize that he's a free agent after this year. So he's playing for something. It's pretty obvious. He's 50% rostered. We talk about Brandon Belt quite a bit. Mitch Hanager, I hope you kept him on your team like Scott told you to do so.

He went four for four with his 33rd home run on Monday. Jesus Luzardo struggled in his most recent starting against the Nationals. Four in a third, seven hits, four earned runs. He's 52% rostered. It looks like he has two starts next week, Scott, versus the Nationals and at the Tampa Bay Rays. I just don't think I can trust Lazzardo in what. whatever big spot I'm in,

whether it's a head-to-head playoff matchup, a finals matchup, Roto, you're trying to keep your ratios down. I don't think that I could get Lazzardo in for those two. Yeah, you don't want to have to trust in him, that's for sure. He'll probably wind up on my top... Is this for next week, two starts? Yep.

He lines up for it. Yeah, he'll probably be in my top 10 sleeper pitchers just for that. And look, I still think he's trending the right direction overall. Obviously, this wasn't a good result, not as good as the previous three starts. And he kind of got away from doing what he did in those three starts in that he went back to throw on the sinker more instead of mostly curveballs and changeups

and got hit harder as a result. So hopefully he learns from that. I still think we're seeing the upside again. He's moving in the right direction. But yeah, I wouldn't describe him as trustworthy yet. A few other standouts from the past, couple of days. Adam Duval hit his 35th home run. Adam Duval has 35 home runs and 101 RBI. That is just, that is one of the more mind-boggling stat lines for the season, I would say. Frankie Montas

finally puts up a stinker, of course, when I used him in DFS on Tuesday. So I'll take the blame for that one. But three and a third, eight hits, four earned runs, did not have his splitter, had no fastball command. I watched a lot of the start. He didn't have it. Trey Turner, a sock, and eschew 22 home runs now 28 steals. Tyler O'Neill is hot again his last 15 games. 339 batting average, five homers, two steals. He's 76% rostered for those in shallower leagues. To stream or not to stream, let's start with Wednesday, Griffin Jacks versus Cleveland, Tyler McGill versus the Cardinals, John Lester at the Mets, Nestor-Cortez at the Orioles, and Tanner Halk at the Mariners.

So the top two are pretty easy here. Tyler McGill. against the Cardinals and Nestor Cortez at the Orioles. Highly recommend both of them. I don't really want to recommend anybody else. I'd like Tanner Hauk at Seattle, except he doesn't pitch deep enough into games. Yep, that's fine. How about for Thursday?

If you didn't like the last list, got some bad news for you. Ronaldo Lopez versus the Angels, Carlos Hernandez versus the A's. Paul Blackburn at the Royals, and our boy, Glenn Otto, who got destroyed his life. last time out versus the Houston Astros?

Yeah, I got single to death last time out. The line was worse than I think he actually pitched, but I want to trust him against the Astros. Rinaldo Lopez against the Angels, I think it's the top choice here, and Carlos Hernandez against the A's would be second. 1-800 Glenn Otto, come on. Pick up the phone, the call is free.

Team name Wednesday, let's wrap up here. This one is from Ryan. This one is for, he says this one is for Chris Tats. hours. Pablo Pes dispenser. It's pretty good. I thought Chris would

respond to that, right? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep. And actually, I sent it to Chris and he said, I like it. That was it.

From quick... From Quick Games. In reference to Frank claiming that he would, quote, eat his hat. Sorry, I didn't actually eat my hat. If I'm wrong,

I'll Ian my hat. That's pretty good. I don't know. That's something... Sounds a little provocative. I don't know. I'll... All right.

I don't know. Just wrote... I guess I shouldn't read it again. It doesn't sit right with me. If it's provocative. All right. This one's from Doug. I actually really do like this one.

The little Hyunin that could. Too bad he can't, though. No, he can. And he actually asked a follow-up question. I also wanted to ask, where, if at all, you might draft Heanjin Ryu for next year? Is he a bounce-back candidate?

Or has his... Has this engine become a... a non-starter. Well, look, Adam Wainwright has shown that you can never be sure a pitcher is totally done, but I don't have a lot of confidence in Ryu. I think he's going to be a late rounder,

and you just hope you get lucky when you pick him. Yeah, I followed back on this email, and I said maybe he sneaks inside the top 50. I don't know if that, you know, that probably qualifies as a late round starting pitcher, but

I think we might be towards the end of the line here with Janjin Ryu. These last couple are from CJ in honor of Robbie Ray. Which is the following should I go with? Forgot about Ray. That's pretty good. These are Dr. Dre references, by the way, Scott. Oh. You should, all right, Scott, your homework, basically as soon as we sign off this podcast will be to listen to these two songs by Dr. Dre.

It's Forgot About Dre and the other one is still R-A-Y, which is normally still DRE. Okay. For your information, my previous team name, India of the Galaxy. I remember when he sent that one in, we had no idea. We're like, what are you talking about? He said, this was a play on the India Indians,

changing their name to Guardians. So, Guardians of the Galaxy, India of the Galaxy. All right. I mean, it's a stretch. It's kind of a stretch, but I think it's... That's a pretty big stretch. I think it's pretty clever. If I'm going with one of those two, I would go with

Forgot About Ray. I do think that's the better of the two Dr. Dr. Dre songs too. Forgot about Dr. Okay. All right, let's wrap up there. For Scott, I am Frank. They go all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again on Friday. Bye-bye.