Fantasy Baseball Today - Bailey Oberrated, Bryce Miller On Fire & Waiver Wire Cage Matches! (8/27 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

Episode Date: August 27, 2024

Bailey Ober got destroyed by the Braves (0:55)! ... Bryce Miller is on fire right now (4:00). ... The Cubs ran wild against the Pirates (7:20)! ... News (12:05): Cole Ragans left his start with cramping. ... Let's do some waiver wire cage matches, starting with Pete Crow-Armstrong vs. Parker Meadows (19:15). ... Jose Berrios and Nestor Cortes have picked things up lately (32:50). ... Manny Machado has basically been himself since June (36:51). ... Let's wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates, streamers and Team Name Tuesday (43:45)! Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv 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/ 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. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Well, belly over, you saved a real doozy for an important part of the season. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Tuesday, August 27th. I am Frank Sample, joined by Scott White, and today on the show, Bryce Miller is on fire.

Bailey Ober got destroyed. The Cubs ran all over the Pirates. I have some waiver wire cage matches, something we have not done all season and much more. But let's jump in. Oh, no, about that. All right, Scott, how about that Bailey Ober performance? Oberrated.

Let's get the chant going, everybody. Because as soon as I get Bailey Ober around 15th in my starting pitcher rankings. He goes and lays a dud like this against the Braves. My Braves. Of all the times to have an offensive explosion, you guys. Nine earn runs in two innings. A lot of that damage coming on two home runs.

I think there was a three-run shot for Matt Olson, a two-run shot for Travis Darno. So that accounts for five of the nine runs off Bailey Ober. and this is after Bailey Ober had put together in his previous 23 starts, a 305 ERA. So out of character, I would say. But you look at his season ERA now? It's up to 406.

And so get ready for this. I want you guys to be ready, gang. Next year. when we're doing all our pitches for all the different players in the player pool, give our little spiel on all of them, get ready for me to talk about how if you take out Bailey Ober's two worst starts, his ERA drops a full run. I want you to be ready for it, emotionally prepared,

because some people, it really raises a fire in them. I'm going to be talking about it because that's how this is gone. What do I think actually happened in this one? Because, of course, we have the rest of this season to care about. I mentioned Bailey Over gave up the two home runs. He gave up only four hard hit balls. He is a fly ball pitcher. This is part of what makes him so good at hip prevention

and have such a remarkable whip is because so many fly ball outs, the rate there is near 50%. but the other side of that coin is sometimes those fly balls are going to leave the yard. So I think it was just a start where things kind of unraveled on him and two poorly timed home runs. And I expect he'll bounce back at his next start. Yeah. And I do think someone like Bailey Ober is prone to awful outings at times because like you mentioned, fly ball pitchers, sometimes those go over the fence. And those things happen for him.

He has allowed six plus earned runs three different times this season. I know you mentioned there was two really bad starts, and that's right. But yeah, it's happened a few more times than we'd like. But obviously, what you mentioned, everything before this leading up to the start, Billy Ober was pretty awesome for basically the past three months before this. So unfortunate timing, I know lots of heads head playoffs are going on right now. Negative 16 fantasy points for Billy Ober on CBS. Not great.

Not great, Bob. Let's talk about someone who has been great, and that is Bryce Miller. He is on fire up against Tampa Bay, seven innings, one run, 10 strikeouts, zero walks, 14 whiffs on 91 pitches. And what I like about Bryce Miller during this recent run is that he's tried mixing in different secondary pitches. It's not always the same secondary pitch, but he's found some success with different pitches at times. And today, he threw a few more curveballs, only 10% usage, but, This is a pitch he only uses as three, three and a half percent of the time entering the start. But he got four whiffs, 67% whiff rate, 44% CSW.

And it's been a really good pitch for him in a very small sample size. So last 10 stars now for Bryce Miller. It's a 216 ERA, a 0.89 whip, 58 strikeouts to just six walks during the span. And the season long numbers look great at this point. Scott, anything else you'd like to add on Bryce Miller, who is, on quite the run. Yeah, the numbers look pretty good overall. The strikeout rates a little on the low side less than one per inning.

But that's kind of the whole Mariners pitching staff, right? You get this same sort of stat line from George Kirby and Logan. Gilbert. Blank it on the last name. Yeah. There, yeah. No, they're all, they've all kind of delivered the same. same results during their time in the majors and Bryce Miller seems to be following suit.

And like them, he started out not having much more than a fastball. I guess Logan Gilbert had a fuller arsenal from the beginning. But George Kirby was kind of similar and then it was mostly just fastball and they've just been adding and adding and adding pitches. Now, Bryce Miller threw his fastball 53% of the time, still heavy use, which was actually 10 percentage points higher than his normal fastball. use, but he threw seven pitches overall. It's, it's, the approach, I guess, is if you don't have a great secondary offering, just

give them a lot of different looks so that they never have a chance to key in on one. And it seems to be working for him. Yeah, the last 10 starts, you mentioned 216 ERA for Bryce Miller. I do think over the long haul. there will be some regression. All the ERA estimators point to it. Maybe Bryce Miller could have a blow-up start like Bailey Ober just had. But, you know, he's a good fantasy option.

I don't think he's going to be an ace, but I think he's a number three, number four, something like that for fantasy. Yeah, I guess Bryce Miller and Ober are not dissimilar in that way, in that they're flyball pitchers. We saw Bryce Miller go through straight. is earlier this year where, you know, he wasn't at his best and he was giving up hard contact and home runs. But, you know, pitching in Seattle obviously helps with that. It's a really good

ballpark. So, yeah, I think he's definitely a pitcher who has been trending up for, for quite some time now. Again, that is Bryce Miller who is on fire. What about this Cubs lineup? I want to give an oh my goodness gracious shout out to all of them because, man, they crushed the pirates, put up 18 runs on 21 hits, including eight stolen bases in this game. Ian Hap, two for three with two steals. Pete Crow Armstrong, who we spoke extensively about yesterday, three for five, with three steals. His last 26 games, he is batting 307, four home runs, eight steals during that stretch.

Say, Suzuki stole a base, Cody Bellinger stole a base, Nico Horner stole his 25th of the season. And we will get back into Pete Crow Armstrong a little bit later. He's part of that Waverwire cage match that I have coming up. Danesby Swanson is a name. We haven't talked much about this season, Scott. Rightfully so. It's been a down year for him. He hit his 11th home run in this one.

It was actually a grand slam. Tried to look in and see what's gone wrong for Danseby Swanson this year. The biggest takeaway I had, just too many ground balls. That's really it. A 50% ground ball rate career high. Everything else is pretty much spot on. And his expected stats say that he's been pretty good. unlucky. So sometimes these things can happen over the course of a full season, not that Danesby Swanson

was expected to be a fantasy stud, but he was expected to be better than this. Yeah, he was. And I agree with you that I don't see a lot that's different in the profile this year, even though the production is way down. And that's why I've pretty much kept the faith in Dansby Swanson and trusted him to to bounce back at some point. He was dropped in a couple of my leagues, deeper leagues actually, and I picked him up when I saw him dropped. And it hasn't really happened yet, and maybe it won't. But I don't feel like he is a, I don't feel like there's been like serious skills decline corresponding to this performance decline for Danes-Watson.

So I guess that's going to make him a good bounce back candidate for next year. I think part of the issue is he is a hole is no he's he's a yeah the hole is greater than the sum of the parts kind of guy where if you take he's he's he's right at the edge of being good at everything that if you take just one thing away it starts to a lot look so good if that makes sense like it's it's it's kind of a tight rope walk he performs every year and he he needs to. to max out his potential across the board to be a quality fantasy option. And he clearly hasn't done that this year because of the ground ball rate. Yeah, it's he's in, Daisy Swanson is a guy where you said it best. Like he's not an A in any category, but he's just kind of like a B minus across the board.

When everything is going right, it's, you know, a middling batting average, 20 homers, 10 to 15 steals, which in deeper leagues is really valuable. He's a guy that just plays every day. and he's usually pretty solid. So a weird downseason for Swanson,

but I think he's still, you know, at an age where he could bounce back again next year, like you mentioned. I did want to mention with Miguel Amaya, if you need a catcher in a deeper two-catcher league, someone I brought up yesterday, four for five with two doubles and four RBI in this game. Last 31 games for Amaya,

he is batting 352 with five home runs, 20 RBI, and an OPS over 900. He's only 12% rostered, so two catcher leagues. He's a name that you could look at it. And I did look this up real quick, Scott, because I know you were giving me crap earlier in the season because I thought the Cubs were going to run a lot with Craig Counsel, and they didn't do that for a large majority of the year.

They are now up to eighth in steals as a team. So take that, Scott. Where were they last year? I have not. Let's see, I could pull that up pretty quickly. They were, you'll never guess, eighth in Stolling. A difference maker that Craig counsel. I'm glad you said we're going to talk about Pete Crow Armstrong a lot later,

but I'm glad they're letting him run wild because that is going to definitely make him much more interesting as a fantasy asset. And that's the end of the sentence. We'll talk about him more later. Oh, I see what happened here. Frank is frozen. I am left on my own. I thought he was just waiting for me to finish my thought, and I had already finished my thought. So that led to a nice, awkward moment.

But I will continue going here through the notes. Fortunately, his notes are very thorough, so I can follow along. And that's what I'm going to do. So what we have here is news and notes. This is good. I can just read through these. Cole Regens was pulled in the fifth inning due to cramping in his left calf and hamstring. manager Matt Quattaro said Reagan's is fine despite leaving early.

I'm not so sure he's fine. I'm not so sure he's fine, guys. This was his ninth start in 10 with the velocity being down significantly, like one to two miles per hour. And that has me a little nervous about Cole Reagan's here to close out the season. I will say that during that 10 start stretch with the reducing. velocity. Cole Reagan's. The numbers aren't as bad as you'd think.

He has a 370 ERA, a 1. Where did it go? Where did the numbers go? Okay, I got him right here. He has a 370 ERA 116 whip 10.2K per 9 during that 10 start stretch. So he's managed in spite of the reduced velocity, but things have been a little hinky with him lately. And now that he left this start with an injury, I don't know.

I might play it safe with him for now. And I'm just a little worried the accumulation, the innings accumulation is going to slow him down. All right, continuing with the news and notes here, we got Jordan Alvarez returned to the lineup after missing three games with neck discomfort. So hopefully you started him, as we suggested. O'Neill Cruz is moving to center field. This is a big one. Pirates manager, Derek Shelton, suggested that the move will be permanent. It will.

Isaiah Kinderfolef is going to play shortstop. Nick Gonzalez, returning from the IL to play second base. Cruz, great arm, obviously physically gifted, but just didn't seem to have the instincts for short stuff, so they think his long-term home is going to be in the outfield. He's going to have dual eligibility, one would assume, next year. But after that, I think you need to get used to the idea of O'Neill Cruz being an outfielder for fantasy.

Jared Jones, another more Pirates news here, Jared Jones set to be activated Tuesday. That's today. And he's going to be facing the Cubs. and he had 10 strikeouts in five innings in his last rehab start. He's been out for two months with a lat strain. I think in daily lineup leagues you could, but I think it'd be wise to start him.

He looked good in that last rehab start. That's Jared Jones. Devin Williams was unavailable Sunday due to shoulder soreness. Apparently Williams felt a pinch in his non-throwing shoulder when he woke up Sunday morning a pinch. I don't know. Makes me a little nervous. We'll see if we get more information on that.

Xavier Edwards was placed on the IEL with that back issue. I was afraid of that. Vidal Bruhan started in his place Monday. Ryan Mountcastle went on the aisle with a sprain left wrist. He had missed a few games. Ryan O'Hern, presumably, will fill in at first base. But that could mean more playing time for Eloy Jimenez. It had been kind of sporadic since he came.

over from the White Sox. Luis Heel threw a bullpen session Sunday. Remember, he's on the aisle with the back issue. Manager Aaron Boone said it's possible he could return when first eligible September 6th. Brent Doyle was scratched Monday with leg sorenness and could need another day or two off. Michael Harris was out of the lineup after getting hit by a pitch in the left-hand Sunday. X-rays were negative. He did come in to the game, even though it was like a blowout for the brace.

he did come in and was playing some center field. So that's an encouraging sign. Dylan Cruz was promoted as expected Monday, made his debut, batted second. That's nice. Went 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout. Byron Buxton, getting closer to a rehab assignment, but not there yet. He's been out since August 12th with hip inflammation.

Joey Bart was placed on the I-O with a hamstring injury. We knew that was coming. Henry Davis was recalled from. AAA, where he was hitting well, 307-13 homers, eight steals, a 956 OPS. But we already know Henry Davis can handle AAA, the real question. Can he handle the majors? And so far, the answer has been a firm no. So outside a deeper two catcher leagues, I'd probably let Henry Davis go.

Frank, are you back? Can I save my breath? Scott, am I back? You tell me. Yeah, I hear you. Are you back for good? I hope so, man. You know, the first thing I'm going to say is that New Jersey Internet, man.

What is going on? I do apologize to everybody. Still kind of working through some Kings here. You see the background behind me. I don't have anything hung up. It's been a process getting settled in here. So I do apologize. I realize it's very inconvenient for everybody.

But hopefully that is the only blip of the night. We're almost done with the news and notes. We got two items left. Last two bullet points there. Javier Bay is. Let me just finish it out. Javier Bayes will undergo season-ending arthroscopic surgery on his right hip. I could care less.

And a reminder, the first game between the Blue Jays and Red Sox Monday, the one that just happened, it looks like a doubleheader maybe, but it wasn't officially that those eight innings they played in the first game of that doubleheader. That's officially a June 26th game. So it does not count toward head-to-head leagues. because it's applied to June 26th lineups and you don't want a matchup from two months ago getting flipped here in August.

There would be riots in your league if that happened. It does get applied retroactively in Roto leagues to whatever lineup you had June 26th. But if you're wondering why Nick Povetta's good start, which technically wasn't a start, wasn't applied to your lineup this week. That's why. Job well done.

Scotty News. I do appreciate it. I think I left off yelling at you about Craig Counsel. I assume you just kind of finish up that game and then read off all the news, right? All good? I skipped to the news. I didn't. Was there more from that game?

No, there was nothing else. You talked about Amaya. Amaya becomes a really good catcher, apparently. Yeah, he's been hitting well. He's been hitting well. Let's take our first break. Before we do that, just want to thank everyone for hanging out, watching us live.

Appreciate you being here. Make sure to hit that like button, subscribe. to the channel if you haven't already. Also, we have started streaming our five minute podcast, FBT and 5 shortly after we finish up this full podcast. So for anyone who's been confused as to why we go live even after this podcast, it's just something that is streamlined our editing process afterwards. So after we finish this one, 10, 15 minutes later, we'll go live with our five minute podcast. If you want to stick around, if not, then you can totally watch it the next day. Feel free to do that. Let's take our first break. When we return, we'll get into

the waiver wire cage matches right after this. Welcome back in a segment we have not done at all of the season. I don't know if we've ever done it. Waiverwire cage matches. And what this will be is basically just pitting two players up against each other who I think are probably similar skill set, similar roster percentage. And so we'll just talk it through and figure out who we like more.

Scott, you've never really been a wrestling guy, right? I have not. I have not. We've talked about that before. and in adulthood, I have been surprised to learn how many big wrestling fans they were because this was happening, apparently in the background of my childhood, and I just never knew. I knew it existed. I just didn't know that many people were that into it.

Yeah. Big, big wrestling guy for me. Growing up, I've kind of fallen out of it a little bit, but yeah, my family is super into it. My brother has, I don't know, 30 championship belts in his house. So, yeah, we were pretty much raised on wrestling. and so that is where we will begin pitting two players up against each other. I mentioned what Pete Akrow Armstrong has done over his last 26 games. I'll remind you 307 batting average.

Four homers, five doubles, two triples, eight steals. He is 32% rostered. He is going up against Parker Meadows. And now this might seem like a slam dunk. I feel like I've been much more excited about Parker Meadows than Scott has. But in 18 games since returning from the IL, it's a 333 batting average, two homers. 13 runs, five steals, and a 951 OPS. He has started 13 of the last 15 games for the Tigers.

Scott, who are you taking? Peacrow Armstrong or Parker Meadows. How about that? I like it. I'm taking Pete Crow Armstrong, okay, because he's just been so prolific on the bases. And we talked about him, I think just on the last show, right, about how his strikeout rate has been about 21% in the majors this year.

So vast improvement from what we saw last year and just giving himself a chance to be productive. And there's a little bit of power there and tons of speed. And he's playing center field every day at this point, not any of this 13 out of 15 games stuff. So I think Pete Crowe Armstrong is the easy call. However, your enthusiasm for Parker Meadows has forced me to take a closer look. And I like what I'm seeing. You did mention. you did mention that since returning from the miners,

33 batting average, also a 15.8% strikeout rate. And I know the home run he hit here on Monday was nearly 109 miles per hour. And you look at the max exit velocities in the miners. Yeah, Parker Meadows hit some home runs in the miners. But the max exit velocity is a pretty impressive. Average exit velocity, not so much.

So there does seem to be a consistency issue. Though if he's striking out close to 15% at the time, I don't think he actually will. But if he is, then that's going to give Parker Meadows a much higher margin for error. There's power. There's speed. I don't think there's as much speed, at least not as big stolen base potential for Meadows as there is for Peacrow Armstrong.

but I think I'm liking the way it looks. I think he's a must for five outfielder leagues and depending how the next month goes for Parker Meadows, I might be high on him as a sleeper next year. I was going to ask for both of these guys, do they need to be rostered in anything more than five outfielder leagues? I think Crowe Armstrong,

we're getting to the point where even three outfields are categories leagues because of the impact he can make and stolen bases. But I'm going to guess as points production, is pretty high too. What is his roster rate? 32%. Very low. Yeah.

Okay. So the last few weeks in points leagues, less than I think. Is it because he's batting low in the lineup? That might be. Right. That might be holding him back right now a bit, but he's definitely trending up.

And if you need stolen bases in the leagues where those matter, yeah, usually bats eighth. It looks like. Yep. Peacrow Armstrong. Check it out. All right.

let's get on to the next one. Battle of platoon outfielders. Josh Lowe versus Williare Abrae. Josh Lowe, two for three with his eighth home run here on Monday. Last 24 games, he has been more productive. 282 batting average, three homers and eight steals. He's 68% rostered. And Williare Abraeu has had a fine season. He's having a big August, five home runs, 922 OPS, 70% rostered. Scott, who would you rather have, Josh Lowe or Wiliere Abrae? Williard Brayu. I have a lot more confidence than how he's producing.

And he's basically done this all year. You don't want to start Willier or Bray when there are too many lefties on the schedule. He's likely not to play against them. And if he does, likely not to play well.

But I think he's legit. Josh Lowe, of course, I thought he was legit coming into the year. I'm not sure the improved production has been going long enough to convince me he's back. He is a better base dealer if that's your priority. But all in all, I prefer Willier or Bray.

Let's move on to Slugging Corner Infielders. Spencer Torkelson, 3 for 5 with his sixth home run, 3RBI here on Monday in nine games since returning. Very small sample size. 333 batting average, two home runs, a 1039 OPS, 23% strikeout rate. And Jean-Kenzie Noel, who we spoke about on yesterday's podcast. He had a rough double header, 04-4-6. in that one, but he has homered in three of his last six games. He has 12 home runs in just 43 games overall.

Both are under 50% rostered. So again, in leagues where you need a corner infielder, looking for some pop, Torkelson versus Noel. Well, if you're asking me Dynasty, which I'd rather have, definitely Torkelson, who I'm not ready to abandon the potential, especially since he's come back looking strong. but I mean John Kinsey Noel has basically just been a masher since the moment he stepped foot in the majors and finally gotten to a point where Stephen Vote is playing him close to every day

and I have greater need for an outfielder than a first baseman in most situations I'm leaning I'm leaning Noel but it might be as simple as which position do you need more Mm-hmm. Well, I was going to put Noel up against the next guy that I have on the list.

So if you're just looking for slugging outfielders, that might be a better comp here. But I did see that he had first base eligibility. So putting those two up against each other, made some sense in my mind. That's true. That's true. I forgot Noah had first base eligibility. Hmm. So it isn't just about which position you need more because Noel can play Torkelson's position.

Yeah, I guess. I mean, I want to ask how you feel. Are you with me and leaning slightly toward Noel or do you prefer the better pedigree of Torkelson? The fact that we saw Torkelson gets so hot down the stretch last year, I think I would lean with him, but Noel is doing some interesting things. He definitely hits the ball hard. He pulls it in the air.

So it's close, but I think I would lean slightly with Torkelson. And I know Chris was complaining about Noel's splits against right-handers on yesterday's show. He must have had a big game against a right-hander that day because suddenly the splits don't look that bad against right-handers. And I could double-check and see how they look in the minors. I would guess, given how good his overall numbers were, they weren't that bad either.

So I don't even know that you can hold that against Jean-Kinzee-N-Wel at this point. All right, let's move on to two. Flugging outfielders, we have Matt Walner going up against M.J. Melendez, Matt Walner, two for three with his 10th home run. And since being recalled on July 7th, he is batting 317 with nine home runs in OPS over 1,100 and just hitting the ball extremely hard. M.J. Melendez has picked the power back up recently. He had his 17th home run here on Monday. He has three home runs in the past six games. But playing time has been a little bit inconsistent. Scott, Who would you take Walner or M.J. Melendez?

I think Walner, and I've been not especially enthusiastic about him, as good as he's been. I mean, there's no denying the numbers since he returned from the minors with that OPS over 1100 tons of power. It's very reminiscent of the stretch we saw from him late last season. And he hits the ball extremely hard. He strikes out more than 30% of the time. And so Walner, the fact that he's 26 and has had these extreme highs and lows in the majors more than once, we've seen him do both. and has never really been a highly regarded prospect. I think that rightfully allows for more skepticism.

And so, you know, I don't like to be the naysayer when he's this productive. And of course, right now, I think you have to use them, certainly in five outfielder leagues. I just don't want anybody to get too comfortable with Walner because it's going to take a lot, especially what he's put us through already. It's going to take a lot for me to be totally won over to that. It's possible, given how hard he hits the balls, but it's going to take a lot. And so I am going to take him over MJ Melendez, who I think may have the more durable skill set.

I've liked the underlying data for him for a long time. but he's sitting against lefties and it's not he hasn't been productive enough for long enough that I think he's earned the right to start in fantasy again maybe in leagues with a bunch of righties you could look at MJ Melendez as a streamer type of hitter but beyond that I'm not I'm not going to buy back into him yet all right let's wrap up with deeper league middle infielders here and Whitmeryfield has been doing some things with the Braves, five for five with a double, two runs scored here on Monday, and he's played 26 games in Atlanta where he's betting over 300, only one homer, but lots of runs scored,

five steals, and he has started 25 straight for the Braves. And Geraldo Pardomo, who I brought up yesterday, who is having a really big August, 325 with three home runs, four steals, and a 925 OPS. Scott, who would you rather have between Whitmeryfield and Geraldo Perdomo? I might need to take a closer look at Geraldo Perdomo to say for sure, but my gut is telling me Witt-Mariefield because we know he can be a prolific base dealer. He may have earned the right to bet, lead off a little more, depending how long Harris is out.

Harris did play defense today. He did come in to play some defense. So I don't know that he's going to be out that long. But Merrifield just went five for five and is batting 313s and joining the Braves, as you mentioned. And deals a lot of bases. So I don't know. I'm more drawn to that.

I know Ozzy Albiz may be out for only a couple more weeks. And then what happens to Maryfield after that? Does he move to third base to fill in for Riley? Or would the Braves rather play G.O. Urchella there for defensive reasons. I don't know the answer to that. It probably depends somewhat on how Urchella and Maryfield both hit between now and then. You've watched a lot of Urchella since he was with the Yankees a few years back, right? that guy releases the ball so quick.

We usually talk about releasing the ball in terms of quarterbacks, but I've never seen a guy go from having the ball in his glove to releasing it to whatever base he's throwing to as quick as Urchella. That's pretty remarkable. Yeah, I think defense was... Did that stand out to you watching him as the Yankees fan, or am I just diluted? No, I mean, you might be right about it. It didn't stand out to me, but it also is something I never really pay attention to. I don't know what that says about me as a baseball fan. But yeah, maybe it always was great and I just never really noticed.

Yeah, I mean, it's not something I've ever made attention to either, but I've noticed it a few times with him. Yeah, I do think defense was his calling card when he was coming up, you know, way back when. So yeah, he could he can still go out there and do some things defensively at third base. That is Gio Orchella who doesn't have any value for fantasy. But yeah, just an observation there. He's a fun to watch defender. Let's move on to some pitching and some pitchers who have been much better as of late. Bryce Miller was on this list, but we already spoke about him.

Two other names. Jose Burrios turned in another quality start this time at the Red Sox. Seven and two thirds innings, three runs. Only two of those were earned. He did have six strikeouts to zero walks. And over his last six outings, he has a 266 ERA and a 103 whip. Nestor Cortez has also been much better lately. Six and two thirds innings, one run, five strikeouts at the nationals.

And over his last three starts, he has allowed just one earned run over 20 and two thirds innings. 0.44 ERA and a 0.58 whip. Scott, anything that you've seen here or noticed with Barrillos and Nestor Cortez, who have been much better lately. I think it's just, I've used the expression before the cost of doing business with Mitch Keller and we got another one of those starts from him today. I think there's a cost of doing business with Jose Barrios and Nestor Cortez too, especially Barrios. And his whole career has played out this way where he'll have two month stretches where he looks like an ace and then a month where he can't get anybody out. And yet the final number is pretty much always ended in the same place.

I know one year was an exception, what was it, 22, where he had an ERA over five. But for the most part, the ERA ends up in the high threes for Jose Barrios. And that's where it is now with about the same whip and, you know, and an unimpressive number of strikeouts, but not a horrendous number of strikeouts. I think he's just doing his usual thing. And Nester Cortez is kind of looking like that same sort of pitcher, too, where he's, their stuff isn't overpowering enough that they can just flat out dominate, but they're crafty guys who, who know how to get hitters out and are able to keep a job in the majors because of that.

All right. I don't think any of these waiver wire pitchers matter. I mean, these are, I think, all names that are rostered in 10% of leagues or less, but, you know, for the sake of a light slate, Scott, I'll ask anyway. Randy Vasquez turned in a quality start at the Cardinals, six innings, two runs. with two strikeouts, Ty Madden, who is a prospect for the Tigers, made his major league debut. He was okay at the White Sox five innings, two runs.

One of those earned. He had more walks than strikeouts in this one. And the minor league numbers were bad this year. They were much better last year for Ty Madden. And Davis and Martin on the other side of that one, five innings, one run, four strikeouts. He had eight whiffs on 88 pitches. And last four starts, it's a 171 ERA and a 114 whip.

Deep league names here, Scott, do any of these matter for fantasy? They've gotten some, they have some prospect standing, but never guys that I've taken, never guys that I've seriously considered

for like my top 100 list that I put together. And yeah, Madden's numbers were awful in the minors this year. Good strike, I rape way too many hits, way too many walks, ERA near seven. He, if you're able to get strikeouts, you clearly have some ability, but I just don't think the arsenal is deep enough, and I don't think the command or control for that matter is good enough

that we really need to care about him. Vasquez has, of course, gotten, Randy Vasquez has, of course, gotten more Major League looks and has had a few decent starts for the Padres this year. But it just always feels like you're playing with fire with him, because he's not... it's not like he's overpowering himself. Yeah, the minor league numbers for Vasquez are pretty bad. Yeah, it's just, there wasn't really much else that stood out from WaverWire pitchers here on Monday.

So we will move on. Let's take our final break. And when we return, some hitters who have picked things up lately, we'll get into some leftovers. I've got team name Tuesday. We'll do all that right after this. Welcome back in. Let's take a look at some hitters who have picked things back up. And I say this for Mani Machado.

he's picked things up basically since the middle of June. He's been Mani Machado. Two for four with his 21st home run on Monday. And since June 19th, it's a 304 batting average, 15 home runs, 44 RBI, and an OPS over 900 for Mani Machado. Matt Olson has been much better as well. Last 32 games, 258 batting average could be better, but 10 home runs, 27 RBI and OPS nearing 900.

And Glaber Torres, I wanted to highlight last 45, games. So since the end of June, he's batting 287. It's just not really doing much else. Five homers, 22 runs, 21 RBI. He has let off 10 straight games for the Yankees. But again, it's just kind of modest production with good batting average. Not really much else going on there. Scott, anything else you've noticed or would like to add with Glaber Torres, Matt Olson, and Mani Machado. So I actually had in my own notes here, Mani Machado's numbers. I'd put since June 1st, but you did June 19th.

Okay. Whatever you want to, whichever those you want to use is the starting point, Manny Machado has looked like Manny Machado. As good as Manny Machado has ever looked, really, since the ball started carrying better. And we could use that June 1st cutoff, I think, for so many hitters across the league,

where, hey, they turn their season around June 1st. And I don't want to put it all on the ball to fly. of the ball because Mani Machado was of course coming back from elbow surgery and it likely was having some kind of impact on him. We knew it kept him off the field

or very early in the season. But it's just it's such a common it's something so many hitters share that it has to be factored into the analysis and I don't know what we do about it next year. I think Mandy Machado is Mani Machado. And so I want to draft him

like Manny Machado next year. I don't know that there's anything about him specifically that will make him susceptible to those early months where maybe the ball isn't carrying as well. But it is going to be frustrating if the same thing happens next year where the first couple months we don't know who to trust among our hitters.

Yeah. I do wonder with Manny Machado, I mean, there's a pretty clear excuse for him, at least this year, right? Coming back to the elbow surgery, so. Right. And that may be mostly what it is for him, but it's hard to dismiss it as a coincidence when so many hitters across the league saw their season turnaround on June 1st, more or less.

Yeah. A couple other hitters who have been better lately, a much smaller sample size with these guys. But Bryson Stott, his last 11 games is betting 368 with one home run and three steals. And George Springer over his last eight games, 265 batting average, four home runs. really small sample size with both of these guys got it with springer i know he's hit a lot of ground balls this year there's been up and down production bryson stott he's a little bit of a tougher one to figure out what exactly went wrong with him this season well i think it's a little like what i was saying for dance b swanson except dance b swanson has more power so so it might be easier to

mask in his situation. Bryson Stott, his profile depends a lot on hitting for average. And last year, he had a 312 BAPIP, which is something he could sustain from year to year. But it's been 269 this year, which is bad luck, you could argue. It's not, I think we've learned in more recent years that BAPIP isn't a good BAPB versus BAPB. it's not just a reflection of luck but in bryson stott's case he hasn't put the ball on the ground as much and maybe he needs to maybe he needs to keep that batting average high it's not

drastically different but it might be different enough along with some random variation that that it's it's kind of taken him from being a 280 hitter to what is he at for the year like 240 yeah 245 yep yeah and and then he loses playing time because they're already not thrilled to start him against left-handers. And pretty soon he's just kind of an also-ran at second base. And so I think that's how things have played out for Bryson Stott. We probably got his best-case scenario last year. We're getting close to the worst-case scenario this year.

But I think, I think Bryson-Stott's 20-23 is going to be harder to repeat. less likely repeated than as 2024. There could be an element of bad luck here for Bryson's style. We'd kind of mention, but the XBA entering Monday was 260 and his batting average is 245. So, you know, if he was hitting 260, you know, looking at the pace numbers now, it's he's probably not far off from what we expected, right? It's around 12 homers and 30 steals. That's probably what he's going to wind up with.

and he's pretty much on that pace. It's really just a batting average. It's been the biggest drawback and the counting stats, but I don't know that we were ever expecting big counting stats anyway from Bryce's side. I kind of went down a rabbit hole with Manny Machado, and maybe it's worth commenting on Matt Olson and Glaber Torres from that previous group a little more.

Glabor Torres especially, 45-game stretch where he's basically looked like Glabertora's 287 batting average OPS near 800. I mean, are we just back to the point where we're starting Glaber Torres at second base, which is the weakest of the infield positions by a pretty wide margin? I don't know. Probably. Probably. He kind of liked Danes B. Swanson.

I was never motivated to write him off because I just didn't see a lot of change in the underlying skill indicators for Glabre Torres. I think he deserves a second look. he got dropped in your league. Yeah, I noticed those numbers as well. I wish there was a little bit more power and a little bit more speed. It's just, it kind of feels like modest batting average and not really much else going on there. But the fact that he's leading off,

perhaps some of those county sets could start to come here with, with Claiboros and the Yankees. Let's get into some leftovers and some pitchers from Monday's action. Ronell Blanco finished one out short of a quality start at the Phillies, five and two-thirds, innings, two runs with five strikeouts. He had 13 whiffs on 91 pitches. Was struggling a little bit before this last six starts of 534 ERA 140 whip for Renel Blanco. Zach Wheeler, a quality start up against the Astros, six innings, two runs, six strikeouts there.

And Max Freed was just okay at the twins, five innings, three runs, one of those earned, seven strikeouts to zero walks, only through 73 pitches in this one. and I wonder if that was due to the rain delay, Scott. Do you think that's why McHreed was limited here? Yeah, I had the game on and they said, well, they were just speculating, obviously, but that was their speculation. It was a long rain delay nearly 90 minutes. And Max Fried pitched on both sides of it. So, yeah, that's why he was removed.

I was encouraged by the start. It was his second start in row where the control seemed back after having all those walk issues. early on. It wasn't as good overall as that first start back from the IL. Tough matchup against the twins, though. I think we can trust that Max Reed is more or less back on track. All right. Let's get into some of the hitting leftovers.

Bobby Witt, Jr. posted a sock into shoe across the double header, and he is now betting 3.47. He has 113 runs scored 27 homers and 27 steals on the year. Salvador Perez had a huge double header, 5 for 7 with a double dung. 6 RBI. He's had a really big month of August. And 94 RBI is a catcher.

That is by far the most at the position. Jaron Duran keeps on hitting 3 for 4 with two doubles and his 19th home run. Entering Monday, Duran was a top three outfielder in both head-to-head points and in Roto this season. And Randy Orozarena got his revenge. At least through one game so far against Tampa Bay. One for three with his 17th home run and 3 RBI. 26 games with the Mariners. He's only batting 2.20. He only has two homers. Still hitting the ball hard. You know, right before Randy Rose Raina got traded, Scott,

he was really picking things up. And I wonder if just uprooting him, you know, he had to kind of get things going again. It's a new environment. It's a bad ballpark to hit in. I wonder if that just kind of derailed some of the momentum we had going there with Randy Rose Raina. You know, it's hard to say the exit velocity's been good with the Mariner's. Mariners, the strikeout rate's been a little higher, but not so high that I would think it would totally sink Randy a Rosarena like this. Some hitters have had trouble with the background in Seattle to hit the batter's eye. Some hitters have had trouble with the batter's eye in Tampa Bay.

So unless we see a Roserena say something about that, I think I looked into it when he got traded and his numbers in Seattle were fine, small sample though it was. I don't know. He may be He may be legit on the decline here But I'm not to the point Where I'm going to like drop him or anything this year

Even though he's been Bad with the Mariners so far I was looking up while you were talking about that I was looking up Bobby Witt What his war is He has But according to baseball reference He has 8.4 war

With a month to go And yet virtually no chance of winning AL MVP. This is going to be one of the saddest cases of an MVP runner-up ever because Aaron Judge would seemingly have that award locked up already. And I know there were some tragic MVP runner-ups in like the 90s and early 2000s when voters were fixated on picking a player who was on a team that, that, that, barely made the playoffs or at least made the playoffs in some capacity.

But, but Bobby Witt's going to be added to that list. Yeah, I was actually watching MLB Network earlier and they did a segment about the 10 best runner-ups for MVP in history. And, you know, there were some great names that like Cecil Fielder had a huge season, like 50 home run season. Albert Poole's had like a 49 homer season and didn't win it. Andrew Jones had a 51 homer season, didn't win the MVP.

The one Chris, Aaron Judge. And Altuve, that, like, that was pretty weird, too. Yeah, that was, that was a tight race. Chris likes to rail against Terry Pendleton winning in 1991, beating out Barry Bonds. Pretty big gap in the wins above replacement for those two that year. 1991, great year. A star was born, I think, maybe. Some bullpen updates for the Royals in game one of their doubleheader.

Lucas Erseg walked one but picked up his eighth save. and Erzig has each of the last three saves for the Royals. He's 45% rostered. I was looking for some other names that were in a similar range. Who do you prefer, Scott, Justin Martinez or Lucas Ersig? I prefer Ersec. I think Ersec's just the guy now. Yeah.

He's looked great and the Royals are fighting tooth and nail for a playoff spot. I guess the Diamondback sort of are too. But Justin Martinez, he's gotten saves, but he's like, look kind of shaky doing it. There's been a lot of walks. And the fact that they've already mentioned they want Paul Sewell back in that role. Right. Yeah. Makes me a little nervous. I think if I'm rostering any Diamondbacks reliever, it's Justin Martinez, but I'm not as confident in him having the job as I am in Erseg. What about Kopec versus Erseg? I think I got to say Erseg right now. Kopec with the Dodgers,

you love the upside. And I think, I think he's more talented. I don't know. XX is pretty talented. I've become a big Oersex, a big Lucas Erseg fan in a really short period of time here. Yeah. Actually, in my home league, it's a head-to-head points league.

I dropped Michael Kopec to pick up Lucas Erseg just because in a points league, you really need the main safe source on a team. Or, you know, if Kopec's working in the eighth inning on a day, it's just not really going to give you many fantasy points. I dropped Carlos Estevez for Urseg in a shallower league like that. Wow.

It just has not looked good since joining the Phillies. and I need points now, okay? I don't need points later. I get it. I get it. For the Yankees, Clay Holmes pitched a clean ninth for his 28th save. For the Tigers, Jason Foley was unavailable.

Lefty Tyler Holton pitched a clean ninth for his fifth save and for the Rockies with Victor Vodnik on the aisle. Tyler Kinley got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He struck out two for his seventh save. Only 6% rostered. I think he's only a name for NL-only leagues. probably and I'd be inclined to just gloss over Tyler Kinley completely

but I did happen to look I did take a little look under the hood and so I'm going to share with you what I saw there Tyler Kinley last 20 appearances 131ERA.7 whip 10.5k per nine it's really good Okay. There's a track record here that suggests Tyler Kinley isn't good, but that's 20 appearances. That's, it's always a small sample for a reliever, but that's as much of a sample as you can hope for when you're trying to, trying to figure out if there's been some kind of skill change.

I don't know. I don't know. It's the Rockies. I get it. But maybe Tyler Kinley's not somebody we should completely overlook. That's all I'm saying. All right. Let's get into to stream or not to stream.

for Tuesday and some of the names we mentioned yesterday, Jeffrey Springs is at the Mariners. We have Eduardo Rodriguez versus the Mets, Andrew Heaney at the White Sox. We have Tobias Myers up against the Giants, Simeon Woods Richardson up against the Braves. And I think those are the best names. Uh, yeah.

Let's see. My favorites are Jeffrey Springs at the Mariners, Andrew Heaney at the White Sox, Tobias Myers against the Giants. And on Wednesday, we have Spencer Araggetti who is at the Phillies. And then, hmm,

Kyle Harrison is at the Brewers. Andre Pallante gets the Padres. Osvaldo Bito is at the Reds. David Feston versus the Braves. Kyle Freeland gets the Marlins, but it's in Corpus Field. Yeah, this is a,

this group is not as interesting overall. I think Spencer Arrogetti at the Phillies, you know, that lineup's kind of dangerous, but Spencer Arroghetti's handled some dangerous lineups pretty well lately, and I think he's the most talented of this group. Second choice would be Kyle Harrison at the Brewers. All right, let's wrap up with team name Tuesday.

Scott, are you ready? I am beyond ready. All right, this one's from Michael, and he sent in Ellie Dilan Cruz. Or I guess you could say Ellie Dillon Cruz, but it's spelled out D-Y-L-A-E-A-E-A-E-E. D-Y space L-A-N and then Cruz. I'm going to need an explanation for the joke.

I don't get it. I think he was just putting Dylan Cruz's name in there because Cruz sounds like Cruz, C-R-U-Z. Oh, I get it. Okay. It's a joke that only, okay, yeah, Cruz, it's the different spelling of Cruz. Okay.

These are from Tom, Fry and the Fam Lee Stone. Frye and the Fam space Lee, space stone. Okay. FAMPH. Yep. Yep. Eric's Fetty Goodman. Eric's Fetty Goodman.

Is this supposed to be like Eric's Fett, very good man? I guess. It's probably very instead of Fetty there. It's probably something else. I don't know. Glaber Day holiday sale. Hmm. All right.

There are lots of names in there. Glaber. Jackson Holiday. Chris Sale. Is there a day anymore? Daron O'Day? He's gone, right? Well, I will say whether or not there's a day, it works because holiday and sale, their names are just words.

And so you don't, you're not trying to force them in and really straining the sound of the expression. And in Glaber Day, I don't know, we haven't heard Glabors name used that way much. I kind of like this one from Tom. All right. The rare jampacking names into a team name. that Scott actually likes. How about that? Yeah.

These are from Jonathan and they are Seinfeld themed. Are you a Seinfeld guy? Definitely. Okay. I haven't really watched it because, you know, I'm me.

The Jorickson store called. Yeah, I've used that one on the podcast before. And driving around in Luke Voight's car. Yeah. Yeah. Instead of John Void, it's Luke Voight. Sure. I was hoping for more, too.

I'm a little disappointed. These are from Ryan, Muncie TV. You know, for someone who doesn't isn't so familiar with Seinfeld, I, I've thought about pointing this out before. Sometimes you start the show with, hello, which seems like a Seinfeld reference, because there was a whole episode about that. And yet it's not, because it's coming from you. So it can't be. I've had people reach out and say that exact same. same thing, tweets and emails.

I don't even know. Maybe it's just subconsciously I've heard or seen that from Seinfeld somewhere and it's just kind of stuck in my mind. The meme has infiltrated. You're subconscious. Yeah. All right. Anyway, back to what Ryan was suggesting here.

Yes. A couple here from Ryan Muncie TV. Oh, I like that. People will come Ray, which is Field of Dreams reference. I mean, it's, it's Ray, Colin Ray is the spelling here. I guess.

I guess. It's, I don't know. It's, I don't know. I don't, I can't put my finger on why I don't like it, but I don't like it. All right. And the last one is Cruzen for a bruising for Dylan Cruz. All right, sure.

And this one's from Kurt. Your Juan, Bryce, freed times. Brady. No, Kurt, this is not a good use of multiple names and a team name. All right, we tried. These are from Matt.

It was the festive times. It was the worst of times. Kind of like it. I wonder if his option will vest. That's pretty good. Okay, sure. Somewhere Tovar the rainbow. A little strained.

Come with me and you'll be in a world of pure emanogination. Oh, worth it just to hear you try to sing that. Yeah, that wasn't great. These are from Sage. If you love lady, you've got a holder, man. All right. The Gosman Globetrotters.

Glob troders? The Gosman Glob troders. Oh, because I guess he's in the glob now. Yeah, that would make sense. and Doyle rules. Okay. And lastly from Toby Royal Whitchise. I mean, yeah, if you want to use wit as in place of width, it seems like there's infinite things you could do with that.

And so I just think it's kind of a weak use of a player name, like using it in place of an often used preposition. I don't know. Am I being too nitpicky here? I'm not good at coming up with team names. because this is what I go through when I try to come up with them, you know? I'm a good critic, but I'm not someone who's out there producing team names. I think I would mostly agree with you, but the fact that Royale is in there and Bobby Witt plays for the Royals, I think it's a pretty good touch.

Yeah, it does add a certain something. All right. Well, we are going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to fantasy baseball today. and thank you for sticking with us. We apologize again for some internet disruptions here, but we're still working through it.

Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify, and we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. Paramount Podcasts.