Fantasy Baseball Today - Alex Cobb Near No-No, Hitters Slowing Down & Players Waived by Teams! (8/30 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 30, 2023

Alex Cobb was one out away from a no-hitter (3:12)! ... Charlie Morton is on fire (6:20). ... Cole Ragans dominated once again (9:26). ... Is Justin Steele the most consistent pitcher in baseball (13:45)? ... Bo Bichette was placed on the IL (18:10). ... What's up with all these players being placed on waivers (20:17)? ... Adam Duvall has seven home runs in his past nine games (31:15). ... Here are eight hitters slowing down in the second half (34:55). ... News (44:25): Julio Rodriguez was scratched with a sore foot. ... Michael King is being stretched out as a starter (52:54). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (56:14). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 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. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Hello, and welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Wednesday, August 30th. I am Frank Stamfield, joined by Scott White.

Today on the show. So close. Alex Cobb. one out away from a no-hitter, and he lost it, unfortunately. Bo Bichette is back on the aisle, so we'll talk about some replacements there. Cole Regens is the best pitcher ever, maybe in the second half. And hitters who've struggled in the second half, what do we do with those names? Before we get started, help us out by liking this video and subscribing on YouTube if you haven't already.

And if you're listening on the audio side, download, follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We really do appreciate it. Let's jump in. I don't believe. And what I just saw, Scott, was a near no hitter for Alex Cobb. Two outs left in the ninth inning. Spencer Steer laces a double to right center field. Alex Cobb finishes with a one hit complete game.

He gave up one run, one walk, eight strikeouts, 18 swinging strikes on a career high, 131 pitches. All 18 of his swinging strikes came on that splitter in this start. and I feel like we've talked about Alex Cobb a little bit recently. He was struggling mightily in the month of August before this, a 684 ERA and a 148 whip, giving up lots of hard contact, doesn't really get many whiffs. I don't know what else there is to say about this.

Obviously, it was an amazing start for Alex Cobb, and the overall numbers of 357 ERA. Like, he's been serviceable, he's been fine. Anything you'd like to add on Alex Cobb's near no hitter? Well, it brought his ERA down to 357, which is pretty much right in line with this 346 X-FIP. So he's amid all the ups and downs over the course of this season. He's basically wound up in about the spot he should be. I was a little surprised, given his recent struggles,

that he's still 87% rostered in CBS Sports Leagues. I would say, based on these 131 pitches, Granted, not quite the 156 pitches thrown by Mel Clark in the clinching game for the Angels in the outfield. But 131 pitches, you don't see that very often in the modern game, and it would make me skeptical of using him

his next time through, but let me double check this. Okay, good. I was afraid he lined up for two starts, but that doesn't appear to be the case. I guess he's a two-star pitcher this week. I don't remember that, my two-star rankings. Yeah, it looks like he slated to pitch on Sunday against the Padres. Yeah, maybe I had him in there.

I don't remember. But yeah, we'll see how that second start goes. I fear there may be some after effects, some lingering effects from the heavy workload this time out. And Alex Cobb was only 68% started in CBS leagues, likely because of those struggles before this in August. So if he was on your bench for this one, I'm sorry. I guess the last point. I don't think I mentioned this. He leaned all the way into that splitter,

which had the 18 WIS 63% usage. That was 36% entering. So he really did have to do something very different in order to have this amazing start. Maybe he sticks with that and just throws that splitter a ton. But, you know, pitchers who rely on a splitter that much, there's a lot of volatility involved. It's kind of a hard pitch to command

and obviously get great results out of. So we'll see. We'll see where he goes from here, but Alex Cobb, you know, it's been a fine season and obviously an awesome start here on Tuesday night. Scott, speaking of fine starts, Charles Morton has had three amazing starts in a row. Who? Charles.

Who's that? Uncle Charlie. Ground Chuck. Yeah, he did it even in Colorado. Even the thin air of the mile high city could not. could not take anything out of his curveball. It was continuing to baffle hitters for the third straight start. As you mentioned, Charlie Morton here against the Rockies had...

I don't have the numbers pulled up exactly. Okay, yeah, he had eight strikeouts and six innings, allowing one run on three hits. 21 swinging strikes on 97 pitches. Like I said, the curveball was great. It was responsible for 12 of those 21 swinging strikes. And now this, the last three starts for Charlie Morton, not all of Colorado, but all good. One earn run in 19 innings, 29 strikeouts in 19 innings.

And I believe it's five walks in those 19 innings, which is four step in the right direction, walks, three walks. Four walks. Three total walks in those three, in those 19 innings? Yeah. Okay. So a big step in the right direction, control-wise. And I think that was under the radar. a big reason for his struggles.

Even dating back to last year, last year's walk rate was about 3.3. I believe coming into this start, it was about 4.3 this year. And in his best years, it was below 3 per 9. His best years with the Astros, the race, the first year with the Braves. It was a much lower walk rate.

In terms of getting swings and misses, that hasn't really changed that whole time. Charlie Morton has continued to do that at the same rate, about the same rate. And, you know, it's been especially good lately. So I think I'm back to a point. I haven't used this analogy for starting pitching in a while. But I think I'm to the point now where Charlie Morton is back in the circle of trust. No sooner did I cast him out.

And remember, I finally started saying bad things about Charlie Morton. prior to this three-star stretch, but no sooner do I cast him out, then I welcome him back in. I am very forgiving in that way. Charlie Morton, come to Papa. And one other thing I've noticed with Charlie Morton during this stretch,

obviously the control, which you mentioned, has helped him turn around tremendously, but he's been throwing his cutter more during this three-star stretch. He threw it 22% here on Tuesday, and entering this start. it was only 6.5% on the season, but his previous two starts as well,

up over 16% usage in both of those. So for some reason, maybe it's just a pitch that he could throw and get over for strikes, and it's mixing in very well with the four seam and the curve ball, but for whatever reason, that cutter's working,

and it's helping Charlie Morton dominate over his last three starts. Speaking of pitchers who have dominated, we've got to talk about the guy, the one, the only, Cole Regans. Now has 8 plus... What's up?

Remember the Began Strips commercial? It's Reagan! It's Reagan, Reagan, Reagan! I can't say it fast enough. That was with the dogs, right? The dogs eating... The dogs eating the bacon strips or whatever? He thinks it's bacon, but it's not really, you know?

Right. Yeah, no, that's pretty good. Eight plus strikeouts in five of his last six starts for Cole Reagan's, and in this one, great matchup against the Pirates, seven shutout innings, three hits, one, one, walk, nine strikeouts with 16 more swinging strikes on 108 pitches, and now seven starts with the Royals. Cole Reagan says a 173 ERA, a 108 whip, 56 strikeouts over 41 and two-thirds innings, and we cannot include him in the waiver-wire discussion anymore, Scott, because he is up

to 82% rostered. Took him long enough. Took all of you long enough. Really? I mean, gosh, It was pretty obvious after his first start back in the majors, which was at the very beginning of August, right? Did you give his numbers since returning, his overall numbers since returning? I gave the seven starts with the Royals. Okay, so the six starts since returning. Really what we care about, Frank, 172 ERA, 106 whip, 13K per nine. I believe in five of those six starts.

He has at least eight strikeouts, a couple of 11 strikeout efforts. the 16 swingy strikes in this one. Five came on the change-up. Seven came on the slider, which was the new pitch that he introduced in his return to the majors, this most recent return, kicking off this six-starred stretch of dominance. And it's brought the whole arsenal together.

What does fastball peek at today? Because his previous start, it was at 101. I didn't write that down. I know he didn't have that huge velocity jump in this start. like he did in his previous one. 98.7 was his hardest fastball. Still pretty darn hard. For a left-hander especially.

And I don't know what reason there is to doubt it anymore. Now, he didn't get the win because he does pitch for the Royals, and that is the biggest drawback to Cole Reagan's. I think he exited and it was tied, right? And then the bullpen ended up blowing the game. Carlos Hernandez took the loss. So that's unfortunate.

But, you know, when you're, striking out this many batters, you can overcome some win-loss difficulties there. And he's been so effective that he actually has three wins in that six-start stretch. He's three-and-one, which, you know, if you're winning half your starts, you're doing, you're two-in-all-right in life. So hopefully that continues. But bottom line is, Reagan's is great, has great match-up going forward. It's probably just going to be a fixture in your lineup, I would say.

There you go. Potential league winner in the second half, Cole Reagan, somebody on Twitter, asked me if we should drop Jose Barrios for Cole Reagan's. And I don't think this is anything against Barrios. I just think with as well as Cole Regens has pitched, he should not be a free agent. So I guess if Jose Barrios is your worst performing pitcher right now, I would make that swap.

First of all, if Jose Barrios is your worst performing pitcher, you're living a good life as well. Probably. Yes, I would say, I think Regens is in my top 30, starting pitchers rest of season. And there's a case to be made to put him even higher. My natural conservatism is preventing me from moving them higher than that. But yeah, let me see.

Okay, so my last ranking update, I had him 36, but looking at who's right ahead of them, actually at Brillo's 30, so I need to change that. Yeah, I could move Reagan somewhere between 25 and 30, I think. Jose Burrios, by the way, did have a rough start here on Tuesday. He gave up five runs over six innings and has now given up four plus earned runs in three of his last four starts during that stretch of 573 ERA and a 105 whip. Six home runs allowed, so that's been a problem for him giving up some hard contact. Overall, I'm not completely worried about Burrios, but I just like Cole Reagan's more rest of season, and it sounds like you do too, Scott.

One other pitcher I had in this little mini segment of pitchers who stayed hot, Justin Steele, yet another quality start up against the Brewer. massive series here, Cubs against the Brewers in the NL Central. He threw six shutout innings, six hits, one walk, eight strikeouts with 15 swinging strikes on 111 pitches. Look at that for Justin Steele. He has now allowed three earned runs or fewer in 23 of 25 starts this season, perhaps the most consistent starting pitcher and fantasy this year. A 269 ERA, a 117 whip.

He's been great. I don't know if you have anything else to add on Justin Steele. Not really. I have him 26th in my rest of season rankings, so he will remain ahead of Regens ever so slightly. I do worry about him regressing next year. I think we're deep enough into this year that we're not going to have time to lose faith in him if he does have a hiccup at some point.

But he is well outperformed his ERA estimators, and usually a pitcher can only fake that for so long. I'm not saying there's no talent there with Steele, obviously, but he's had a Sionkali-Caliver season, and I'm not sure he's quite a Siong caliber pitcher long term. So the only thing I think that really stands out to me, the X-FIP is 355, his XERA is 348 for Justin Steele. But even if he pitched to a mid-3s ERA,

that's still a top, like, 20-25 starting pitcher, right? Like, I don't even think that we've, we haven't valued him as good as he has been this year. And I think for next season, there's just like a way too early prediction. I don't think other people are going to value him that way either. You know, I don't think he's going to be like a, I don't think he's going to be drafted as a top 15 starting pitcher, let's say, even though he's performed that way.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah, well, he shouldn't be. So if people don't do that, then I guess I'm with the consensus as far as that goes. A mid-3 ZRA for a pitcher who gets less than a strikeout per inning, I think is pretty globy, right? I feel deserves to be one of the top pitchers drafted in the glob, but my approach to the whole, the whole rationale for the glob, because a lot of people just think it's a joke or whatever.

I know. There's a lot of humor to be found in it, but like it's actually the best concept I could come up with for breaking down the starting pitcher position and what's been a very, very frustrating year for projecting starting pitchers, because there's just, there have been such dramatic ups and downs for so many pitchers.

And it's difficult to distinguish, apart from the Aces, it's difficult to distinguish between them. And so the entire idea behind the glob is that I don't know that I want to reach for any of those guys. I'll just take whichever one's fall to me at whatever point in the draft, nothing else interests me, and be happy with it. And I think I'm going to, I want to say that I'm going to treat Justin Steele like that next year. When push comes to shove, I may chicken out. But here on August 30th, I want to say I'm going to treat Steele like a member of the Glob next year. Yeah, I think the difference here is that I guess I'm a little bit more optimistic about Justin Steele. Because I don't think he's a globby pitcher.

I think, you know, there's a level of uncertainty and unpredictability for a lot. lot of those pictures and as I mentioned I mean three earned runs are fewer in 23 of 25 starts that's pretty consistent so it has been and that's what's made it a head scratcher will it continue is the question that is the based on what the underlying numbers show I'm skeptical of that all right before we get into what do we have next boe Bichette back on the IL we'll talk about that in just a second we will be recording a mailbag podcast later this week and that will serve as Sunday night's YouTube stream and Monday night's podcast Obviously, it's Labor Day weekend, and Scotty and I need a little bit of time off as well.

But we will recap the long Labor Day on Monday night. So if you do have a question that you want us to read on the Mailbag podcast, you can send that in to Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. That's the letter I, CBSI.com, and put Mailbag in the subject line. Let's talk about Boba Chet, who was placed back on the IL with a right quad train, missed some time before this, dealing with a knee injury. This was retroactive to August 28. So perhaps they're confident that, you know, he'll be back in short time.

Maybe it won't be as a long stay on the aisle for Boba Chet. On Tuesday, Ernie Clement started at shortstop for the Blue Jays against lefty McKenzie Gore. I think there's some pretty obvious replacements here. We spoke about Royce Lewis yesterday and a lot recently. He had another home run on Tuesday. He's homered in three straight. He's 66% rostered. So if you play in a shallower league, I think Royce Lewis

is the obvious replacement. And then two names a little bit lower down, J.P. Crawford, who we also spoke about yesterday, and Luis Renhifo, he's 34% rostered, and he had a double dong here on Tuesday. Since the start of July, 48 games, Luis Renhifo, betting 323 with 10 home runs. He makes a lot of contact, 18% strikeout rate. You know, he's got some pop for a middle infield type bat. Scott. Who do you like more J.P. Crawford or Luis Renhiefo?

I'm not wild about either. I'm going to say Crawford. I think Crawford easily in a points league because of the plate discipline. But even in categories, I think slight edge to Crawford. Yeah, the problem with looking for shortstop replacements right now is that there's not really many, you know, outside of Royce Lewis. If you look at names that are under...

it's surprising Royce Lewis remains as available as he does considering. Yeah, it's true. If you look under 70% rostered, we mentioned Ahmed Rosario yesterday, no thanks. Orlando Arcia, he's fine. Ezekiel Tovar, same thing. I mean, he hasn't done much recently. Ezekiel Duran, Rangers lineup has been really cold,

and he's slowed down in the second half. So, yeah, it's really not a great position to find on the waiver wire right now. But again, I think Royce Lewis, J.P. Crawford, and Luis Renhifo, probably the best they're going to get for now. Scott, I don't remember a time when, you could tell me if I'm wrong.

This many players got placed on waivers heading into September. It's kind of a big news item here today. Like, the Angels just said, okay, we don't want to pay anyone. We're not making the playoffs. Shohei Otani's arm is like hanging on by a thread. Mike Trout is on the I.L.

So they have placed Lucas Gilito, Hunter Renfro, Randall Grishuk, Ronaldo Lopez, Matt Moore, Dominic Leone, all on waivers. I don't remember something like this ever happening before. Well, part of the reason you don't remember something like this happening before is because not so long ago, I forget when it changed, it was like two or three years ago. Trades were actually allowed at this point in the season. They were allowed beyond the trade deadline.

The way to make a trade after the trade deadline was to trade a player who cleared waivers. And so a lot of teams would put a lot of players on waivers just to see if they could, if trading could become a possibility with that player. And if they were claimed, they'd pull them back. I don't think pulling back is, I think it's a different kind of waivers or something. It sounds like the way this was reported

that it's not like they could just pull them back. And what incentive would there be for them to put them on waivers if they were just going to pull them back if a team claimed them, you know? So based on what Jeff, Jeff Passon was reporting, these players are put on waivers. It goes in reverse order of standings, the teams that have a right to claim them. And if they claim them, then they just have them and they pay their salary for the rest of the season. And so I imagine that's going to happen with all of those players.

They'll probably get, since they're impending free agents, I believe all of them are, they'll probably get past all the non-contenders and it'll be up, It'll be sorted out between the contenders with the teams fighting for a wild card spot, most likely being the ones to get them. But, I mean, it's going to have a major impact on the playoff race. You have to think. And to the point that should it be allowed? Like, this seems like, granted, there are perverse incentives for the angels to do this.

And when there are perverse incentives, people, organizations are going to behave in perverse ways. But maybe MLB needs to look at best to prevent them from doing this, doing something that's going to shake up the playoff race this much. I mean, if this happened in your fantasy league, the person who did it wouldn't be invited back next year. You know? Like, oh, I'm not going to compete this year. Let me just dump all these good players out and let you guys figure it out.

And that would not sit well with anyone else in your league. you know, it seems pretty messed up. Now, there were reports that came out later that certain other players of some note, Harrison Bader, I remember, was one of them. There are a few other players who could also be picked up in this way. But it's not a team dumping like all their impending free agents the way the angels are.

And it doesn't seem right. Yeah, it's crazy. A couple other names, Mike Clevenger, placed on waivers by the White Sox, Carlos Carrasco by the Mets, Harrison Bader by the Yankees. While you were talking there, Scott, it kind of reminded me of the NBA. Every year, there's decent rotation players that are just bought out from their teams. They wind up free agents and then contenders just pick them up.

And it's because the teams that are not competing just don't want to pay their salaries for the rest of the season, basically. Which it sounds like that's what the angels are doing. They just salary dumped all these guys. So, yeah, I mean, something like that usually happens in the NBA. but I really don't remember this many, at least big name players kind of getting thrown on waivers this close to September.

You mentioned Harrison Bader, just a quick note there. There have been some talks that catcher prospect Austin Wells could be promoted by the Yankees when rosters expand on Friday, this Friday, September 1st, and some slight whispers

about Jason Dominguez getting some run here in September as well. Obviously, he's been on prospect radars for years, and he got off to a slow start this season, but then really picked it up. He's off to a good start at AAA, too. He's only 20 years old. It would be pretty aggressive for the Yankees to do that,

but just letting you know what I'm hearing, Scott, out here in New York. Who's saying it, Frank, who are you hearing that from? I think I saw something, it's not even like a New York thing. I think I saw it from like John Heyman or something like that. I ask because I am actually writing an article in the middle of writing an article about players who could be September call-ups. You know, September call-ups aren't quite what they used to be.

It used to be that the active roster could expand to 40. Now it can only expand to 28. So we're not going to see this. We're not going to see, you know, just piles of players pouring onto rosters the way we used to. So the term September call-up is kind of falling out of favor. And, you know, we've seen a lot of major call-ups. late August. But we're still trying to get a handle on the new incentive structure here with the CBA,

which just took effect last season and how there are now draft pick incentives attached to rookies who place high in awards voting for the first several years of their career. But the key is that they have to be on the roster in order to qualify for this. They have to be on the roster for their entire rookie season. And so teams who think they might want a top prospect on their roster at the start of next season to hopefully place high in awards voting in years to come, we'll give him a head start late the year before. We saw it last year with Corbyn Carroll and with Gunner Henderson. This year, you know, we've already seen Mason Wynn called up on that timetable.

Kyle Harrison called up on that timetable. And we may be surprised by some of the prospects that do get called. top. Jackson Holiday, I've heard him talked about. You know, the first overall pick just last year is still a teenager, but has breezed through the Oriole system all the way

to double A, and the good work has continued there. Jackson Chorio, who I'm not sure he's even, he may have just turned 20 recently. Junior Cominero of the Rays seems like that could be possible.

So Jason Dominguez, those guys haven't advanced beyond AA yet, but Jason Dominguez has. And so even though he's 20 years old and even though the Yankees are out of it, like if they think there's a good chance they want them on their opening day roster next year, then that's a lot of incentive to go ahead and call them up late. I don't think it's crazy. It feels wrong based on our longstanding sensibilities for when prospect call-up should have. happen, but as I'm saying, that the still very new incentives are different. And so it might change the game as far as that goes.

I don't think it's a bad idea to dream big when it comes to prospects who could be called up in September. I think Jordan Lawler is in that mix as well for the Arizona Diamondbacks. So worth mentioning his name. Here was a tweet from Brendan Cuddy, CUTY,

K-U-T-Y. He covers the Yankees for the athletic. In addition to internal discussions about bringing up top catcher prospect, Austin Wells, when rosters expand September 1st. The Yankees have considered promoting outfield prospect Jason Dominguez in 2023, with the talks reaching as high as owner, Hal Steinbrenner, multiple sources say. So there you go. That's my, that's my New York connection, Scott, confirming we might see Dominguez. Let's take our first break when we return. We'll talk about some waiver wire hitters, some guys that have struggled in the second half.

We'll do that right after this. Welcome back. And our friends, over at the Fantasy Football Today podcast, have their annual draftathon today, August 30th, from 4 to 10 p.m. Eastern Time. It'll be live on their YouTube channel, helping you get ready for the upcoming fantasy football season. They've been raising a bunch of money with all of it being donated to St. Jude Children's Hospital. If you want to help contribute, head to tiny URL.com slash FFT donate, and you'll find some fun listings on eBay. If you're watching, you can scan the QR code in the top right corner, and that will. will bring you right to the website where you can start betting on some items or donating for a

great cause. Let's talk some waiver wire hitters. The one name at the top of the list right now, Adam Duval, Red Hot, two for four with his 18th home run. He has homered in four straight. He has seven homers in his last nine games. Now batting 276 with 18 home runs on 930 OPS. He's 66% rostered. Scott, dare I say, a must add Adam Duval, even in three outfielder league. weeks. Yeah, I mean, like we talked about yesterday, he's a one-dimensional hitter. It's home runs or not home runs. But when he does, when he is hitting home runs, he tends to hit them in bunches. And that's what he's doing right now. Had a 52 point week and head to head leagues last week. And he's off to a great start already this week. So there is some danger that you're going to catch him at the tail end of this hot streak and get a bunch of nothing at that point. But, You know, if you need outfield help, it's hard to say stay away either. Well, outside of Adam Duvall, there's not really much going on in terms of Waverwire hitters here. In deeper leagues, I've got three names, much deeper leagues.

Lenin Sosa went three for three with his fifth home run. And since returning to the White Sox, he's played 12 games. He's betting 308 with four homers and a 923 OPS. And this season in the minors was betting 271 with 17 home runs. Carter Keyboom went two for four. with his third home run in very limited action so far with the Nationals. David Schneider with the Blue Jays continues to hit well. He went two for four with his sixth home run.

He has played 13 games with the Blue Jays batting 432 with six homers and a 1451 OPS. Looks like he'll get some consistent playing time with Bobauchette and Matt Chapman on the IL. Scott, anything you'd like to add on David Schneider, Carter Keyboom, Lenin Sosa, very deep league plays. Well, Davis Schneider might be distinguishing himself as more than a deep league play. If we can trust him to be in the lineup, he's started four straight games now, playing all over the place.

So I guess the match-atman injury does open the possibility of more consistent playing time at third base since we know he's capable of doing that. But the Blue Jays haven't committed to him in any one spot yet. In those four straight starts, though, that he's made, eight for 15, with three home runs and three doubles. So continuing to do the impossible work,

the impossible production that he had his first weekend in the majors, is completely separate from that, and he just continues to do it. So I would say in any Roto League, where you have all those lineup spots to fill, Davis Schneider is probably worth a look at this point. The other two, Carter Key Boom and Lenin Sosa, I think more of their audience.

auditioning for jobs next year and probably not going to have a chance to enter the discussion in fantasy this late stage of the season. But I mean, Lenin Sosa especially, really good numbers in the minors the last two years did basically nothing in the majors between last year and this year prior to this this recent stint, the 12-game stretch that you mentioned. There's certainly an opening for him to be the White Sox second baseman on opening day next year if he continues to hit this way down the stretch. So I'm at least keeping an eye on Lenin Sosa's performance because I do think I do think there is the potential for him to be kind of a mid-range starting kind of a mid-range second baseman in fantasy. I've got eight hitters written down who have slowed down in the second

half and for some of these I don't think we're dropping them. I guess maybe you can let me know how concerned you are, but for some of them, we might actually be ready to drop. So let's start off with Nick Cassiano's in the second half. He's betting 222. Still does have nine home runs, but a 655 OPS, the strikeout rate up to 30% in the second half, hitting a lot of ground balls. He's still 99% rostered. I don't think we're dropping Nick Cassiano, but any actual concern here with him? Well, I would say no, except he was obviously bad last year. And that's the aberration. this year had been a nice about for him until recently.

But you know, players go cold and particularly when it's somebody like Castellanos who doesn't walk much, you feel that more because he's not getting on base in any way, really, except for home runs, it seems like he's continued to do that. And I think that's an encouraging sign that he hasn't just lost it,

but he is cold right now, and particularly in three outfielder leagues, if you want to swap him out for a hot hand like Duval or something, I think that makes sense. When you say swap out, do you mean drop or just kind of bench for now? In most cases, bench, but I am thinking about three outfielder points leagues, the shallowest, and the format where Castellas is probably the least valuable because of that lack of walks. I don't think it's – I wouldn't say it's unthinkable that you might drop him in a three outfielder points league.

not because he'll never be worth rostering again in that format but just because only so many outfielders need to be rostered in that format and rather than benching

or rather than dropping an extra starting pitcher that might come in handy in a two-star week down the line you know do you really want to preserve a bench spot for Castianas in that format I don't know what you do

Masataka Yoshita in the second half batting 262 with only three home runs, a 684 OPS, still making tons of contact, but a 54% ground ball rate, only five barrels struggling to hit for power here, you know, post All-Star break. And I think it's reasonable that it's, you know, his first season, maybe just the length of the season is kind of catching up to Yoshita, whatever it might be. He's 98% rostered. Similar question. I don't think we're dropping him, but. Are you actually concerned?

You know, first-year player slowing down? Not really. And the thing about Yoshita, unlike Castellanos, is his skill set is optimized for points leagues. Points leagues tend to be the shallower ones where it'd be more likely to consider dropping or benching a guy like this. But I'd say it's harder to do in Masataka Yoshita's case. And then, you know, Roto leagues are talking about five outfielders.

Be hard to do in that case as well, just because you need so many more outfielders. So is a three outfielder head-to-head categories format? That's really what we're talking about where you might consider sitting Yoshida. Okay, maybe. It depends what your outfield alternatives are.

I think in that specific format, benching him for somebody like Duval is fine. But I wouldn't go as far as dropping Yoshida. Lordes Griel, batting 232 with, you know, still has five homers, two steals in the second. and a six 59 OPS. He slowed down quite a bit. He's still 86% rostered.

Would you drop Lordus Guerrille for in Adam Duval? Sure. Yeah. I think Guerriel is more of a five outfield league type outfielder. Okay. Next up we have Tyro Estrada, who has, he returned in August, so I'm kind of stretching it here, but 21 games since returning. He's batting 276, only one homer, only one steal, a sub-700.

OPS. He is striking out a little bit more during this time, averaging just two fantasy points per game. Since returning is Tyro Estrada, 85% rostered. Would you drop him for a Royce Lewis? Well, Royce Lewis isn't going to provide speed. So if that's a consideration for you, maybe not. But I don't think their upside is dissimilar. If anything, Lewis probably has more. I did. Estrada did strike me in the first half as one of the most obvious overachievers. And I could really come up with only a handful in the hitter ranks that I would have felt confident saying, okay, this guy is bound to regress. So I don't know how much of this decline is related to that.

How much is because he's coming off a hand injury. How much is because he's cold, which is usually the explanation in these cases. But what's different about Estrada is I wasn't convinced. he was a good hitter before the cold stretch. So yeah, I think swapping them out for Lewis, if you want to, is okay. I think not doing that is fine too. But I'm not as tied to Estrada as I am to some of these players. Would you drop Estrada for Zach Geloff if he's still out there?

Well, you know how I feel about Zach Geloff. I think there's bound to be some regression there too. And in fact, it may already be beginning. Now, if you've seen his recent performance, his work of lights. But, I mean, Estrada, Lewis, and Gelloff, they're kind of all in the same category to me. I guess if you just want to go with the hottest hand of them, that's fine.

The difference, I guess, the biggest difference between the three of them is that Lewis is not the base deal of the other two are. And how much that matters depends on what kind of format you're in. and how well the rest of your roster has done in stolen bases. But that is potentially a distinguishing factor. Next up we have T.J. Friedel, who, like the entire Reds lineup, it feels like they've all slumped in the second half. He's hitting 222. Still has five home runs and eight steals. So surprise me that is batting average and OPS are so low.

639 OPS. T.J. Friedel is still 78% roster. This is probably a points league conversation because I think even in three outfield category leagues, you probably want to hold on to T.J. Friedel with a power and speed, mostly speed. But would you drop him in a points league? Let's say for Adam Duvall. Yeah, I think he's very replaceable in that format. In fact, I know he's out there in a couple of the 12 team points leagues I'm in and I have not bothered to pick him up. Christopher Morel, betting 226 in the second half with four home runs. a 38% strikeout rate.

And we've kind of seen some wild swings of production this entire year for Christopher Morel. Very clearly strikes me as someone who's better in a Roto League where you just kind of plug and play. And whatever the numbers are at the end of the season, you'll take them. But like, riding the highs and lows is kind of frustrating here. Christopher Morel down to 77% rostered. Your thoughts on him? Well, there's an even bigger issue that for Morel than the recent performance. Is he sitting?

He has started just two of the last seven games for the Cubs. Wow. Yikes. So I think that makes him pretty dropable. Our podcast for the People League, which is a 16 team head-to-head categories league, I have Morel in that, and I wanted to drop him. I hesitated because I saw he was 85% rostered or something like that. And I'm like, can I drop an 85% rostered guy? in a Categories League.

I know I've done it before, but I think I chose not to this time. And, but, you know, if he has another week where he hardly starts at all, then I think I'll definitely be there next week. Last two names on the list, Brian Dela Cruz, betting 203 with a 650 OPS in the second half. Andrew McCutcheon hitting 205 with a 644 OPS.

Thoughts on whether or not to hold on to those two. McCutcheon is probably more like, are you dropping them in 15 team leagues? It would have to be for a, I don't know, like a Parker Meadows type. Would you do that? No, probably not. Would you? You seem more bullish on Meadows than I am. I think I would.

I think the age with McCutcheon, I think it's kind of catching up. He doesn't play every day, kind of sits out like every third day now too. I think it's fine. Yeah, I don't think there's much left. The first half was great for McCutcheon, but. I don't think there's much left. I'm not particularly tied to either Brian Dela Cruz or Andrew McCutcheon.

If you see somebody out there who you think is better, I'm not going to, I'm probably not going to argue against it too much. But in the specific scenario, you laid out, McCutcheon versus Parker Meadows. I don't know. I might be inclined to stick with McCutcheon. Okay. The news and notes, let's run through it.

Julio Rodriguez was scratched Tuesday with left foot soren We don't know the extent yet. Hopefully it's nothing. And like, it's not really affecting him because he's been awesome. But yeah, we need him to stay in the lineup. Jorge Saler exited with right hip tightness, another one where he's had a huge bounce back season. We really can't afford to lose him.

So hopefully he's all right. Maybe he misses a couple of games here. Gavin Williams removed with right knee soreness. He only threw one inning here on Tuesday, waiting for an update on him as well. George Kirby was scratched due to do. to an illness, Luke Weaver started in his place. Matt McLean is without a clear timetable,

but the Reds are hopeful he'll play again this season. Massive loss, as we mentioned yesterday, was betting 290, 16 home runs, 14 steals in 89 games for Matt McLean. 3.4 fantasy points per game was tied for 6th among second baseman this season. So again, it's unfortunate, a big loss with Matt McLean. Apparently the Blue Jays are open to using Vladimir Guerrero at third base, late in games following the injury to Matt Chapman. I doubt he'd make 20 appearances this season to qualify next year at third base,

but he might pick up, you know, five substitutions this year. I don't know, for the final month of the season, whatever that's worth. For some of you Yahoo's out there, might be enough. Yeah, it might. Yeah, I don't know what the eligibility there is. It might be five games the year before. Maybe it's 10, but I don't know. Yanddi Diaz returned to the race lineup after missing two games with

soreness in his left forearm. Chase Silseth was placed on the 70 concussion IL. He was hit in the head on a throw from his teammate Trey Cabbage this past weekend. Byron Buxton and Alex Kirillof will begin rehab assignments with AAA on Wednesday. Ranger Suarez is on track to return to the Phillies rotation Sunday against the Brewers. He's 52% rostered, which sounds about right for Ranger Suarez. Jake Freilly began a rehab assignment Tuesday at AAA. He's been out since August 5th with a stress fracture in his fourth toe. That's what I wrote down. Fourth toe. Okay. I'm not sure which foot is that. Which direction are you counting? I don't know. The big toe the first toe is the pinky toe the first toe. I think the big toe is probably

the first toe, right? I think so. That sounds like the ring toe. Yeah. But you want to wear a ring on your toe, not normally anyway. I've seen some people wearing rings on toes. I've heard of a toe ring but like you know the ring finger like you know most most people who get married end up wearing a ring on a finger toe rings a little more obscure and so I guess it'd be kind of weird to call it the ring toe fourth toe though is you know a little vague a little vague yeah it is Lars Newbar is also starting a rehab assignment with AAA on Wednesday and could be activated as soon as Friday Marcus Stroman has been cleared to begin doing

light activities. He's been out since early August with fractured rib cartilage. It sounded yesterday like Red Sox prospect Sedan Raphaela was going to be in the lineup on Tuesday, and then it turned out he wasn't. Alex Cora, you are a liar. And that's even though. So it's a good news, bad news situation. I'm just going to jump ahead here because I think it's some of the biggest injury news of the day. Darren Duran Duran is having season-ending surgery. to address turf toe. So he's not coming back,

which opens the door potentially for a lot of time, playing time for Seidon, Raphael. But here he is 0 for two in terms of starting, even with both Duran and Williur-A-Rayu away from the team. So I don't know what that means for him. There is more opportunity for him than there was yesterday, because Duran isn't coming back. But the Red Sox still don't seem that motivated to play him.

So I don't know. I'm intrigued by the player, but as I said, I'm pretty skeptical that he'll get enough playing time this season to, I guess, matter for fantasy purposes. Probably more of a 2024 play for Ceylon Raphaela. Brendan Rogers has missed two straight due to an illness. Carlos Santana has missed two straight with a sprained ankle. The Astros activated Michael Brantley and optioned Corey Jolks back to AAA. Brantley immediately started in left field and was batting sixth in the Astros lineup. I meaner Diaz was also in the lineup as the catcher.

And there was someone out. I think it was Chas McCormick was out of the lineup. I don't know what's going to happen here, Scott. I'm kind of worried about, you know, maybe just everybody getting a couple of days off here and there for the Astros. It won't be everybody, literally. But, you know, some of those fringe guys like Brantley and Yiner Diaz and, I don't know, maybe Chad McCormick and Jose Abrae, you guys like that, you know.

Maricio Dubon was the starting center fielder. So McCormick is normally the center fielder. It's not like Michael Brantley can play center. I mean, it's true Dubon and Jake Myers were kind of mixing it in and center. McCormick was bouncing between center and left. And so now left is not going to be as open for McCormick. But like, come on. Between those three players, Maricio Dubon and Jake Myers,

McCormick is far and away the standout. So I think in the long run it's probably not going to be that big of a deal, Brantley being back, and maybe Brantley himself can become a viable option. Kind of skeptical at his age and with his injury history he's going to play every single day. But will Diaz continue to get at Bats? They're mostly going to have to come and catch her now, I would guess. And I think he's earned it because it's not.

like Martin Maldonado is a defensive standout. He's the one I'd be most concerned about, Yanir Diaz, but I've been saying that for weeks now, and it hasn't seemed to matter. Yeah, it just comes down to how much the Astros want to play Martin Maldonado at this point in the season, I guess. I did want to quickly pull up his stat-cast page to see what his defensive metrics look like at this point.

Wow, he is first percentile in framing, so not great for Maldonado. He is 73rd percentile in pop time, so that's, uh, they might want him out there in important games to try and hold runners on. Yiner D has also very good pop time, so, all right, I guess there might not be too much of a difference at this point. Dallas Keikl will reenter the Twins rotation after Billy Ober was optioned to AAA on Monday. And Chris Paddock, remember that name? He will begin a rehab assignment at Singley-A on September 6th. Paddock is now on the Twins and recovering from Tommy John surgery that he had in May of last year.

Second one. Yes. Last but not least, the Yankees released Josh Donaldson on Tuesday and will be responsible for an $8 million buyout of his 2024 club option. Good riddance. Let's take our final break and when we return, we'll talk some waiver wire pitchers. I've got some leftovers. We'll do all of that right after this. All right, let's talk waiver wire pitchers.

and obviously this group will not be nearly as exciting as the group we spoke about yesterday, but Dean Kramer turned in a strong start against the White Sox, six innings, one run, five strikeouts for him, and in the month of August, Dean Kramer has made five starts, 237 ERA and a 105 whip. He's been pretty good.

Jose Cantana, another solid start, a quality start, against the Rangers, six shutout innings, three hits, three walks, five strikeouts for him. He's got a 3-26 ERA, A 134 whip. Kind of feels like his K-to-walk ratio is going to kind of bite him at some point, but he's performing for now. Andrew Heaney had a solid outing at the Mets, five and a third shutout innings with seven strikeouts to one walk.

He has only completed six innings once in his last 16 starts. That is Andrew Heaney. And last but not least, Michael King is being stretched out as a starter for the Yankees. And he's pitched well. He was at the Tigers. Obviously, that's a great matchup. He threw four shutout innings, three hits, zero walks, five strikeouts. Fastball velocity was actually up as a starter.

I thought that was pretty encouraging for him. And, you know, he was very reliable as a reliever this year. And I don't know, maybe in deeper leagues he could make an impact down the stretch. That is Michael King. Any thoughts on him, Heaney, Kintana, and Dean Kramer. Yeah, definitely keeping an eye on King. This was his longest outing of the season, only four innings. I saw he was listed as a probable starter

and I thought it was more in the capacity of an opener. So to see that they're actually treating him like a starter, you always like to see that when a dominant reliever who has some history of starting, you know, mostly in the minor leagues, gets an honest chance to do that because sometimes it can go splendidly and a starting pitcher is more valuable than a reliever, generally speaking.

So we'll at least keep an eye on that. Hini, you know, he has these occasional starts where you're tempted to look into him again, but the three prior to this were just completely useless. So short. I don't think he's worth the trouble. I understand your concerns with Kintana, but we obviously have a long track record of Kintana having a strikeout rate a bit better than this, a walk rate a bit better than this.

And so I'm not sure I'm going to fixate on those numbers in particular with him. What's really the more important metric is home runs because during the worst of the juice ball era, he basically fell off the cliff because his home run rate spiked. It dropped last year, and he had a 293RA. It's even lower so far this year, and he's going six innings consistently, six of his last seven starts, quality starts.

He's globy, don't get me wrong, but he's pretty available. How available is? to see. 31% roster. He's pretty available for somebody in the glob. Yeah, he's out there. He's out there and love it every minute of it. Would you like to guess how many home runs

Jose Cantana has allowed in eight starts so far with the Mets? One. I got it. One is the answer for Jose Cantana. Let's slide into the pitching leftovers. Corbyn Burns had a strong start at the Cubs.

Seven innings, one run, seven strikeouts. with 16 swinging strikes. His slider velocity, he threw a slider more, and he got good results with it. The velocity on that pitch was down nearly four miles per hour, so that's kind of interesting for Corbyn Burns. Clayton Kirshaw pitched well against the debacks, five innings, one run, five strikeouts,

and has yet to throw more than five innings since returning. That spans four starts for him. Terrick Scouble keeps racking up the strikeouts. He faced the Yankees. Six innings, three runs. Two of those were earned. with nine strikeouts and 15 swinging strikes. Velocity down a little bit for Terrick Scouble,

so we'll follow that moving forward. And Seth Lugo, just doing Seth Lugo things. Quality start at the Cardinals. Anything to add on Lugo, Scoobel, Kershaw, and Corbyn Burns. So when you say Velocity was down for Scuba, it was like half a mile per hour on the fastball, still well over what he averaged last year. So the bigger takeaway, I think, with Scoobo for me,

is that three starts in a row now in which he's gone six innings. And I kind of cooled on him before that because I do feel like you need to be able to go six innings with some consistency to be an impactful pitcher in fantasy and that's especially true when you're on a bad team like he is. The Tigers have arguably the best pitching matchups of any team down the stretch.

So with this trend scubles on And that the fact that the match was are so good He needs to be picked up anywhere he's still available Which I don't imagine is that many leagues At least not in CBS Let's see here Kershaw has yet to go beyond five innings In four starts since returning

So that's frustrating I imagine it'll change But he hasn't He hasn't proven himself to be must start yet That is correct Terrick Scouble, by the way. He is 85% rostered on CBS. He's 49%

rostered on Yahoo. So, for all you streamers out there, I would say, stop streaming, go pick up Terik's Google and just use him every time out because I think he's going to be pretty awesome. While we're talking about awesome. Cole Regens, 61%

rostered on Yahoo. So he's another one, man. You pick him up to stream them? Just hold on to these guys. A bunch of Yahoo's, man. Last point on Scoobel, there's a few pitchers so far that I look into the numbers, and I just, the wheels start turning for next year. Terrick Scuba is one of those pitchers, man. Like 10.6K per 9, 1.8 walks per 9, 54% ground ball rate, 13% swinging strike rate.

I mean, what more can you ask for? Strikeouts, doesn't walk anyone, ground balls, swinging strikes, doesn't give up hard contact. I mean, Terak Scubal is that dude, man. I'm going to, I hope other people aren't listening. They're not planning their rankings for next year, but I'm going to like him a lot. He's probably going to be ranked like he's in the glob. That's the sort of pitcher I will deliberately target in the glob, one with the underlying numbers to indicate he could move out of it.

So I, I 100% sure Justin Steele will be drafted ahead of Tarek Scouble next year. I don't know exactly how big the gap will be, but I think it'll be big enough that I'll be happy to let the others take steal while I wait however many rounds and take scoble. All right, the bad pitching leftover. Sandy Alconccer has allowed four earned runs in back-to-back starts. He went five and two-thirds, four runs allowed,

with four strikeouts against Tampa Bay. He gave up seven hard hits in this game. And his previous six starts before this were pretty good. 262 ERA, a 0.94 whip. I looked into the pitch makes. I didn't really notice anything different for Sandy Alcansra, but I guess it's just frustrating to see these back-to-back subpar outings again.

And then Jose Barrios. Three or four. Yeah, Jose Barrios, I kind of talked about him earlier. Bad start here against the Nats. Anything on Sandy and Burrios? I mean, I guess I guess Sandy Alcantra faked us out

because we were kind of thinking, oh, he's figured it out again. He's back. we can just roll with him going forward. Wouldn't appear so. It would appear that we now have five months of him looking kind of like a random number generator himself. Kind of globy, dare I say.

And we know Poreos is that. I mean, he's one of the more, he's been one of the more trusted ones on the higher end. Like I said, I have 30, as of right now in the rest of season ringing. He's going to have to move him down a little bit. But, yeah, it's just, It's just not consistent enough to treat him as anything that special,

which is why I think it's fine to drop him for Regans if that's what it takes. There are few pitchers that I would drop him for, but that is definitely one. Scoobel, I drop a Rios for Scouble at this point. I drop a Rios for... I might drop him for Kyle Harrison. I might. It's definitely selling out for upside doing that, but... Particularly if you're in a shallow league and there are a lot of other gloppy pitchers out there.

I don't know that you should be so tied to burrios, if that's what it takes. But I think in most cases you'll have an even worse pitcher than him. All right, a few hitting leftovers. Trey Turner and Bryce Harper, stop me if you've heard this before. The guys continue to mash Turner 2 for 5 with his 18th homer. He's got three homers in his past two games. And now the last 23 games for Trey Turner, updated numbers. 3.59 with eight home runs and two seals. Bryce Harper in the month of August,

hitting 366, 9 homers, 22 RBI, a 1229 OPS. East Hoc Paratus. Guy just continues to get it done this year. I called him a sell high at the trade deadline. The stack cast numbers were not great, but he's getting it done. I mean, he pulls his fly balls. I guess it doesn't really matter what your exit velocity looks like if you do that all the time. And yeah, he's got 27 home runs, 84 RBI on the year. He's been a very productive player. Esoc Paredes. Alex Bregman went 3 for 5 with his 22nd home run. He's having a big second half. And Wilson Contreras, 2 for 4 with a double dong. He added three runs and 3RBI.

And since the start of July, 39 games, Contreras batting 333 with seven home runs and hitting the ball pretty hard. 91.5 average exit velocity. He had four balls, 107 or more. on Tuesday here. Did Contreras, Wilson Contreras, not to be confused with William, who's also performing quite well. Yeah, let's see where the dust settles on Trey Turner. I remain unsure what to do with him going forward,

not wanting to be taken by every streak, whether it's hot or cold. I think that's generally a bad way to approach player analysis. And I feel like my, when I, when I do have regrets, it's, it's usually because I got, I got, I got, I got two taken with the streak, you know, rather than not being taken enough. So we'll see where, where, you know, if he continues this all the way through September and the plate, the underlying plate discipline numbers look better, we'll look back and say, okay, maybe he was just slumping for whatever reason, struggling to. adjust to Philadelphia, a new environment, whatever. Obviously, he's a starter for you. That's not really a question.

It's just how we approach him next year. And I think September is going to be a very important month for determining that. Yeah, I know you said this yesterday. You know, it's nice that Trey Turner is hitting for batting average and power. It still would be nice to get more steals out of him. I guess it's hard to steal bases when all you do is hit home runs right now. But yeah. Well, long term, the concern for me is batting average more than anything.

If he's a 270 hitter rather than a 300 hitter, particularly in an environment where a 40 steel guy isn't as novel as it used to be, it's going to be hard to say Trey Turner is a first round pick and maybe not even a slam dunk second rounder. But like I said, if he hits well over 300 in September, like he has at the start of the second half, then that changes the thinking. Yeah, I guess the point is I would just like him to see him run more.

He's still 99th percentile in sprint speed. So I think he's capable of it. So we'll see. We'll see how it winds up here for Trey Turner. A few bullpen updates for the Rangers. Will Smith pitched the eighth inning with a one-run lead. Aroldus Chapman got the ninth with a two-run lead. He gave up a solo home run, but picked up his fourth save of the season.

For the Nationals, Kyle Finnegan entered the ninth with a two-run lead. He gave up one run, but picked up his 25th save. For the Guardians, Immanuel Class A picked up his 35th. That ties the league lead, 35 saves. For the Cardinals, Jojo Romero pitched the 9th and 10th innings. He struck out three and wound up with his fourth win because, on the other side, Josh Hader pitched in the bottom of the 10th. He gave up a walk and a hit and took his second loss of the season.

For the Cubs, Adbert Alzali, his 22nd save. He's had a huge second half. For the A's, Trevor May gave up two hits but picked up his 15th save and Rysel Aglacius for the Braves, 26th save of the year. To stream or not to stream, on Wednesday, I think yesterday, I said Christopher Sanchez, Kyle Hendricks,

and I think that was it. Brandon fought maybe? No. No. I don't think so. Not after what the Dodgers just did to Merrill Kelly. Do you cover that? No, we didn't. There was a lot to get to today.

But yeah, it was a very bad start. We got throttled. It was against the Dodgers. The only thing that gives me pause is it comes immediately after he left to start with what was called hamstring cramping. Was his delivery impacted by that? I know average exit velocity for the Dodgers was only like 85 miles per hour. The velocity was fine on the pitches. It's probably just, you know, he ran into a good hitting team,

and they did what good hitting teams do sometimes. But we'll see how the next start goes for Meryl Kelly, because that hamstring does raise the question of whether there's more going on there. But anyway, back to streaming pitchers. Yeah, I think I agree with you. Christopher Sanchez and Kyle Hendricks are the only two worth considering. On Thursday, we have a very short slate, only four games on the skis. schedule. I'll just list off the four I have written down here. Clark Schmidt at the Tigers,

Matt Manning versus Yankees, Yohan Adone, versus the Marlins and Pedro Avila, who pitches for the Padres. They're going up against the Giants. So I don't like either as much as the two options, Wednesday, Sanchez and Hendricks. But I think Clark Schmidt at the Tigers could do okay if he goes six innings. you know, should be able to limit damage well enough. And Yohanedon against the Marlins, Yon Adon, excuse me, against the Marlins. The issue for him is he has to keep the ball in the park as an extreme fly ball pitcher.

I think with that against that lineup, particularly for Hayes-Layers-out, it's a very good chance that Adon is able to keep the ball in the park. All right for Scott. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify, and we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.