Fantasy Baseball Today - Bench Mitch Keller? Sal Frelick Promoted & Corey Seager Replacements! (7/24 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 24, 2023

Mitch Keller got hit hard again this weekend (1:05). ... Triston Casas or Alex Kirilloff (6:23)? ... How to evaluate Cody Bellinger (13:30). ... Sal Frelick was promoted by the Brewers (19:45). ... How do we replace Corey Seager now that he's hurt (24:17)? ... Jarren Duran or TJ Friedl (28:45)? ... Josiah Gray or Seth Lugo (31:31)? ... News (41:12): Aaron Judge took batting practice on Sunday. ... Let's fire up the DROP-O-METER for Braxton Garrett, Ranger Suarez and others (48:55). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (54:05). 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. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. What's up and welcome in tough fantasy baseball today on Monday, July 24th. I am Frank Sample joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, Corey Seeger is hurt.

Unfortunately, we're going to talk about some replacements. Sal Freelik was promoted by the Brewers, WaverWire ads, the dropometer, and much more. Before we get started, please like this video and subscribe 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. The ball head of family, Chris. You are up.

Oh my goodness gracious, player of the weekend. What did I say? Mitch Keller is who I'm going with. And it's been a, in the fantasy baseball today newsletter on Friday, I wrote that Mitch Keller was one of two pitchers who had a lot to prove this weekend, Alec Manoa being the other one. And I was a bit of a mixed bag for Manoa Keller. It was just bad. Six earned runs in five innings for him against the Angels.

He now is a 704 ERA in four July starts with 19 strikeouts in 23 innings of work. and the whiffs have just disappeared over the course of the month of July. His whiff rate is below 20% on all of his pitches so far. In May, when he was one of the best pitchers in baseball, his whiff rate was at least 20% on the four seam, cutter, and sweeper. So big drop-offs there. The control has been a little iffy overall.

It was actually not bad. And this one, the problem in this one was he got hit really hard, which is not what we're usually. used to seeing for Mitch Keller. Overall, he still does a good job limiting hard contact. But because the strikeout rate has collapsed really since May. I mean, May is kind of the big outlier for him. I just, I don't think you can't start him.

I don't think you should drop him. But the ace outcome, I think, is off the board for Mitch Keller now. I did take a big positive from the start. And that's, well, he had, well, the whiffs had been trending down for a long time. He had 15 of them in this start behind the seven strikeouts. So the 15 swinging strikes, he had no more than 10 in any of his previous eight starts. Yeah. So 15 was a big bounce back and he changed up his pitch mix.

He often changes up his pitch mix. He has so many pitches. He threw, so seven of the 15 whiffs came on fastball, which he threw 32% of the time. Usually he only throws a 25% of the time. most of his pitches apart from the fastball were up in velocity by around one and a half miles per hour. So he was throwing harder, he was getting more whiffs.

The big problem for Mitch Keller is he gave up three home runs. We're not going to see him give up three home runs very often. I mean, it's not a good thing that he allowed three home runs, but he's not going to allow three home runs start after start. So I do take the whiffs as a positive sign that he changed something. And while it didn't give the desired results in this start, I remain hopeful that he's going to get back on track.

I'm not necessarily disputing the idea that the ace outcomes probably off the table. It probably is. He's probably more Kyle Bradish than Joe Musgrove, let's say. Joe Musgrove being another pitcher who has just a ton of pitches and can vary his usage of them a lot from start to start. start. So I've used that Joe Musker of

comparison with Mitch Keller before. It may be that he's more like Kyle Braddish and that while he has, you know,

these seven-inning two-hit starts that we've seen even recently. You look at Keller's track record, but he recently had a seven-hit,

a seven-inning two-hit outing, a seven-inning one-hit outing. But then there was some terrible starts mixed in too that just kind of

make the whole thing frustrating. I agree that probably not a must start at this point. His next start coming up is against the Phillies, the middle of the road offense. So, you know, I just weigh what I had. Like, obviously, I'm not saying he's an automatic start.

That's not a good enough matchup for that. But if I didn't have enough other pitchers I felt comfortable with, I wouldn't necessarily be afraid to run Keller out there personally. Last couple points on Mitch Keller. Chris, you read off the numbers in July. It goes back even further than that. If you look at the last 11th, 11 starts for Mitch Keller, a 551 ERA.

That's more than half of his season now at this point. 141 whip during that time as well. And the overall ERA has jumped up over four now. So again, a lot of what you guys are saying, the ace outcome doesn't look like it's going to be on the table here for Mitch Keller. And again, the matchup this week is the Phillies. You know, they're 10th in Wobah against right-handed pitching.

So, you know, they're solid, middle of the pack. I agree with what Scott said, you just kind of have to weigh what other pitchers you have on your team. But we're not dropping Mitch Keller. I know we've been receiving some questions about that, which, again, I think it's kind of fair, but we're not doing it. For all the trouble he's had recently, he entered the day as the 15th best starting pitcher in points leagues.

Well, and part of the... That kind of gives, like, there are so many pitchers like this in the player pool that are just kind of a random number generator from start to start. And so the ones that stand out among them are the ones who can go seven innings when they're on. Yeah, part of the problem also is just like, Like, there just really aren't any interesting waiver wire pitchers right now. It's kind of the last couple of weeks have really kind of dried up in that regard, at least in my view.

Yeah, I think the top waiver wire pitcher I have later on is Josiah Gray. So it's not really. Yeah. And even that start was not that great. Right. Let's talk about a waiver wire hitter, Scott. Your player of the weekend. So I'm going to talk about Tristan Kassis.

We've had a huge game on Saturday, Homer twice. Those home runs were hit rounding up here, 108 miles per hour and 110 miles per hour. So he got him real good. And he is having a huge month of July overall, 3.48 with five home runs. Another two-hit game Sunday. Didn't have any home runs in that game. But another two-hit game brought it up to 3.48 with five home runs in July. And really since April, Tristan Kossis is batting 290.

He's got an OPS over 900 during that stretch. It was a terrible first month, and it's kept his overall numbers down. But he has been exactly who we hoped he'd be since then. The one issue is that he very rarely starts against left-handed pitchers. So that makes it hard to recommend him most weeks. If you're playing a deep enough Roto League where obviously have that extra corner infield spot to fill, okay.

You can probably not worry about that so much. But if you're playing anything shallower than that, you're playing a standard head-to-head lineup. It's going to be hard to recommend Casas. But the longer this continues, the more you would expect the Red Sox to want to get him in the lineup. I'm looking at his numbers against left-handers. Again, very small.

he's still reached base at a 375 clip against them. The batting average is low. A lot of strikeouts, yeah. It's 34% strikeout rate is the problem. But like, given the improvements that he's made over the past three months, I would love to see them give him another chance to play against lefties, to see if he can apply those improvements across board. Because remember, in April, he wasn't hitting anything.

You know, he had a 585 OPS and a 137 batting average. So I would like to see if he could get another chance. And that's not to say that he will. You know, that's, that's, it's important not to, it's important not to wishcast on, on these kinds of decisions. But I think there's a chance it will. If they view him as a franchise player. Yeah. I'm not saying it'll be this year, but at some point, they're going to have to just turn him loose against left-handers and, and let it ride.

And, you know, more exposure to them's only going to. going to improve his chances of becoming decent against them. It's rare you find a left-handed hitter who's like really, really good against left-handed pitchers. Most of them just kind of hold their own. Yeah. And so, you know, that's not a particularly high bar to clear if the Red Sox decide Kossis has earned that opportunity.

Yeah. And the 24 of his 56 plate appearances against lefties came in April. When again, he couldn't hit anybody. Yeah. So he hasn't been great. against lefties since then, but he has a 740 OPS since May 1st. That's what I mean by holding your own. Like you get a left-handed hitter with a mid-700s OPS against lefties.

That's pretty good. Yeah, that's perfectly fine. It actually reminds me a lot of Rafael Devers because when he first came up, he wasn't playing against lefties either and he is just serviceable. I think if you look at his career, he's like a 750 OPS against lefties, something like that. So that's fine. I, you know, if they, I agree, I think if they really want to, you know, kind of hand it off to Tristan Kossis, just let him become the everyday first baseman. That's what they should do.

They should let him play against lefties and see what he could do there. Scott, I am going to test your excitement for Tristan Kossis because another player I know you really like, corner infielder, very similarly rostered right now. Alex Kirolov, two more multi-hit games this weekend. He hit a home run on Friday. In nine second half games, Kiroloff is batting 324 with four homers and an 1165 OPS. I do know he's one of your favorite sleeper hitters this week. But just in general, moving forward, who would rather have Kirloff or Tristan Kossis? I'd rather have Kossis. And I probably would have said that, I'm sure I would have said that coming into the year, too.

I very much liked him as a prospect. As for what's going on currently, I'm looking now. Kiroloff has started eight straight games for the twins, but that has been a very recent change. He was starting like two every three games for them until this recent stretch where he's hit well. Also, and this is something I've been monitoring with Kirillov all year, whenever he hits a home run,

I check to see what the exit velocity is on that home run. And he has some of the weakest home runs, like 100 to 102 miles per hour. I don't know that there is there a home run log where you can check and see what the exit velocity is on all the home runs? I could look up something like that right now. Well, I don't know how, if you could find it quickly to confirm, this. I don't remember seeing

one that was like well struck for a home run. And yet it's a curious thing because you see the data on the home runs for Kirillof and you go and look at what it looked like and it looked like a solid home run. I was noticing this with Cody Bellinger too.

He had a home run to straightaway center for the Cubs today. He's another one who we've been questioning the eggs of velocities for and well struck, cleared the center field fence with relative ease. It was hit less than 102 miles per hour, though. And I'm thinking, I don't know, something doesn't add up here for Kirillof or Bellinger. I know, you know, we see hitters who don't

make particularly hard contact put up decent home run totals in spite of that, but they're usually dead pole hitters. That isn't the case with Bellinger, and that especially isn't the case with Kiroloff. Most of Kiroloff's home runs have been hit to the opposite field. So he's been, as much much as I've liked Kierloff in the past, as much as I'm happy to see him doing well, he's been kind of head scratcher for me because the quality of contact appears to be so poor. I know it's a very high line drive rate that's helping him out, keeping that batting average. It's up over 280 now, I guess. But specifically with the power production, I have no expectations for what he's going to

provide going forward because the data just doesn't make sense to me. So, yeah, the average exit velocity on Alex Karoloff's home runs entering today was 100.7 miles per hour. Just for some context, Alex Bregman and Ezoch Paredes are right ahead of him. And those are, like you said, dead pole hitters. And Marcus Simeon is right ahead of him. Adam Frazier is one of the few players with more home runs with a lower average exit velocity. But yes, it's one of the lowest average X velocity's on home run. runs for any player with more than a few. So that that's not a great sign for Alex

Kerloff, but I don't know. Like it's it's I guess we can just do the Cody Belanger thing at the same time, but it's really tough, right? Because there are players who are outliers. There are players for whom the rules that apply to the general population don't necessarily apply to them. Cody Bellinger, one of the stats I looked up earlier today, he has more home runs. He had more home runs entering today than he had barrels. Barrels are well-struck balls. It's a sort of vague term that they put together for baseball savant, but 91% of players over the past five or since the start of the Stackast era who have at least 12 home runs

in a season, 91% of them have had more home runs than barrels. The exceptions are like the top of the list. Alex Bregman had the one year where he had 41 home runs. I think he had 22 barrels that season. I think you said it backwards. 91% of players during the stack has deer with at least 12 home runs have more barrels. More barrels than home runs, yes. Okay.

The exceptions are Alex Bregman, Yoli Guriel, kind of the same thing. A lot of left-handed batters at Yankee Stadium, as you would expect. That's not to say that Alex Kerala. and Cody Bellinger cannot be outliers. Outliers exist. There are dozens, maybe hundreds of them among major league baseball players in various skill sets. The thing for me with Cody Ballinger is I'm just, I'm comfortable continuing to be wrong

on Cody Ballinger, I guess the way I'm going to say. If he's going to continue to outrun his expected stats the way he is, I'm going to continue doubting him. And if he keeps doing it, okay, I'm going to be wrong because you have to have a process when you're analyzing players. And if you feel comfortable with your process and your process is sound and you apply it consistently, you will be right more often than not. And sometimes you just have to live with being wrong. And that's the thing that I'm feeling about Cody Ballinger is I still believe, and I'll say the same thing about Alec O'Kirloff.

I believe in the long run, both of those guys are probably not going to be near as good as they've been lately. And over the course of this season for Cody Ballinger, if I'm wrong, I'm wrong. You know, like it's one of those things where if the people in the comments and on Twitter want me to say something that I don't believe, okay, I can say it. Cody Bellinger is good. I don't believe that, though. I think what he's doing is not sustainable. And if I'm wrong, at least I'm wrong because I'm being consistent with my process that I believe will lead me to good conclusions more often than not. Yeah, so just like ignoring the outliers and holding to the process that you believe works.

I mean, you're going to miss sometimes, but it's probably a higher success rate overall than trying to chase the exceptions, trying to figure them out. Right. But let's say, just, you know, rubber meets the road here. You do have Bellinger because he was free to pick up at some point in your league or whatever. What's the minimum you would accept for him in a trade? I need somebody pretty high end. I would be happy to sell high on Bellinger.

but at this point it should be pretty darn high, especially since he has first base eligibility. If you look at his point per game production at first base, it is, it's got to be higher than like Goldschmidt at this point. Yeah, 3.75. Olson's 3.87. Goldschmidt's 3.21.

So Bellinger's like third among first baseman and points per game. Entering Sunday, Cody Bellinger was averaging 3.8 fantasy points per game. I guess that's rounding up. That is tied for 2, 4, 6, 8, 10th. Tied for 10th among all hitters. Not just outfielders, all hitters in baseball. So you're right. I mean, he's crushing it.

So you should want a legitimate player in return if you are trying to sell high on Cody Bellinger. What does that look like? A top 20 outfielder, a top 20 pitchers, something like that? Any top 20 outfielder, I would do it. If I could get any top 75 overall player, I think I'd do it. You know, it depends what that actually means. You know, it depends what you're looking for.

But like. Objectively or objectively, like top 50 currently. Rest of season. Okay. So like if I could turn him into Logan Webb as a starting pitcher, I would do that. Yeah, that seems fine. Joe Ryan, who's been struggling lately, but I still believe in. I would do that.

Yeah. About a week and a half ago, somebody said they traded Bellinger for Riley. The way Riley's performed since then probably would not happen. But it happened. I mean, look at the way Bellinger's performed since then, too. If I could get Christian Walker for him, I would do that.

I'd rather have Christian Walker the rest of the way. Yeah, I'm sure my rankings show that too. I'd probably set the bar a little higher myself, but ultimately I'd be willing to sell high. if I felt it was high enough. At the very least, what I would say is, if you are listening to this and you do not have Cody Bellinger on your team, my advice would be do not try to trade for him right now.

I think that is, I think you are much more likely to lose trading for Cody Bellinger than you are to regret not trading for him. And since Bellinger, we kind of backdoor this with Bellinger. Bellinger, Homer again Sunday, as I pointed out, it was this 14th of the year. For the month of July, he's batting 4.52 with seven home runs.

He's been outrageous. Crazy. And then I'm here a lot for real quick because I said I had no expectations for home runs going forward. I need to see play out more because I can't make sense of what's going on with him. I'm fine with him as a hot hand play right now. But for redraft leagues, I don't assign much more value to him than that either because I don't trust the playing time. And still, I don't trust the performance. All right, fair enough.

Scott, you're kind of going to. robotic here on us lagging a little bit. So let's have you hop out, jump back in, and hopefully get everything kind of squared away there. Oh my goodness gracious for me. I do want to bring up Brewer's outfield prospect Sal Freelick, who was promoted this weekend, and he had a great debut. He went three for three with a run and two RBI on Saturday. He had two hard hit balls. Nothing too crazy. 100.4 exit velocity, 98.5 exit velocity. And then went one for three with a run scored on Sunday as well. And the Brewers moved South Freelik up to cleanup. He's batting fourth for the team in his second game. This is a 23-year-old former first round pick back in

2021. Was not hitting well in the minors this year. He's dealt with some injuries. Last year, he was much better. Sal Freelik, 331 batting average. 11 homers, 24 steals in the minors last season. 38% rostered. Chris will start with you. What size leagues do you think we should be looking to add Sal Freelikin, if any? I think a lot of leagues. I would think most. Maybe not 10-team points leagues because that's a really narrow stretch. But yeah, I trust the, you know, even with him struggling this season, he's a 311 hitter with more walks than strikeouts at AAA. You know, he's not super young, but he's 23 this year.

He's not super old either. I guess the question would be how impactful is the skill set for fantasy, right? Between AA and AAA, he's played 138 games. He has 11 home runs, 26 stolen base. those are pretty underwhelming numbers. It's sort of a Stephen Kwan with a little more umph kind of profile. But it's also Stephen Kwan-esque in terms of avoiding strikeouts. He's got 67 strikeouts in, oh gosh, 648 plate appearances, I believe.

That's like an 11% strikeout rate. That's really, really good. It'll almost certainly go up at the major league level. but, you know, he's athletic enough where I think you could project some more stolen bases. He was a more prolific base stealer lower in the miners. So, yeah, I think there's room for a Stephen Kwan plus outcome here. Yeah, I think he, I think Sal Freelick, I've used this comparison before,

is in the mold of Stephen Kwan exactly. It's just a question of, is he going to be a worse version of Stephen Kwan, in which case he's going to be pretty fringy? Like he'll probably be a fine starter in the majors, but is he going to be a little worse than Stephen Kwan making him fringy in fantasy, or is he going to be better than Stephen Kwan, which would make him pretty close to must start in fantasy?

And that still needs to be sorted out. Based on the way he's gone in the minor since returning from this thumb surgery, I'm kind of a pessimist about Salfreelich being of much use in the immediate term. Five outfielder leagues, of course, he needs to be added. Three outfielder leagues. I'm thinking what's a fringy starting outfielder in a three outfielder league?

Is it like a Marcelo Zuna or Brian De La Cruz type? Because I'm probably not dropping either of them for South Relay. Yeah, I think that sounds about right. Maybe like a Lordus Guerriel, I think he's probably in that range too. And I don't think I would do that either. So the quality of contact metrics are very Stephen Kwan-esque, 84.7 mile per hour average eggs of velocity 106.5 max. Stephen Kwan this season,

85.7 average, 105.2 max. Hard hit rates a little higher, maybe a little more consistency in that regard. But yeah, I mean, I think I saw Stephen Kwan hit one like 370 feet today. And as I watched the ball come off the bat,

I was like, ooh, he got all that one. And then it was like two rows deep for his home run. So, you know, that's probably the upside here. But, you know, if he hit 315, the rest of the way, just got,

hot and stayed hot the rest of the season. It wouldn't surprise me. That's that's the kind of skill set you're talking about. All right. Let's take our first break. And when we return, we will talk about Corey Seeger, who was unfortunately placed on the IEL. We need some replacements this upcoming week. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back into fantasy baseball today. And a quick reminder to sign up for our fantasy baseball today Facebook group. You can do so at facebook.com slash groups slash fantasy baseball today or just hop on Facebook. Search up for Fantasy Baseball today. You could join the group and ask waiver wire questions, trade questions,

Zionistee Keeper, interact with other listeners and people who watch the show as well. So again, join up Fantasy Baseball Today Facebook group for free. Let's talk about Corey Seeger, unfortunately placed on the IL this weekend with a sprained right thumb. And he's hopeful that he won't miss more than two weeks, but obviously this is a huge loss for fantasy. He was batting 350 with 15 home runs in 66 games a season. averaging 4.2 fantasy points per game. Tied for fourth best among all hitters this season was Corey Seeger. And how do we replace him this upcoming week?

Three names that stood out. Scott, I know C.J. Abrams is one of your sleeper hitters for this week. And he's had another big weekend, two for four, with a sock in the shoe on Friday for him. Then hit another home run on Saturday. It's been a monster July here for C.J. Abrams. Tim Anderson down to 71% rostered and has been hitting well so far in the second half. betting 378 with two doubles and a stolen base. Orlando Arcia has homered in three of his last six games as well. Scott, how would you rank those three for this upcoming week, Abrams, Tim Anderson,

and Orlando Arcea? Well, considering Abrams is the one in the sleeper hitters, Kyle. I'd have to put him number one for this week. I'll go Anderson two and Arcia three because I like the White Sox matchups a lot more than the Braves. The White Sox are one of four teams, just four teams, playing seven games this week. If you play in a really shallow league, I know he's up to 84 now, but he's out there in a couple of my leagues, Hassan Kim.

He's been hot for a while now, too, and his numbers are looking pretty stellar overall. In fact, both, I was noticing today for the season, both Kim and CJ Abrams have more head-to-head points per game now than like Danesby Swanson. Interesting. Hassan Kim, by the way, yeah, and the season-long stat line, 267 batting average, 12 homers, 18 steals, 784 OPS, 3-59 on base percentage.

He's been leading off for the Padres as well. But that would have to be a pretty shallow league. I think you said 84% rostered there for Hassan Kim. How are... Second and third in addition to shortstop, Kim is eligible. How are the Angels matchups this week? Angels matchups, they are facing just one lefty. but they are

oh you know what I'm looking at the wrong week okay so the White Sox don't have seven games this week but I would still say Tim Anderson over Orlando RCA okay so as for the Angels matchups they're facing only one lefty

their middle of the road matchups I think Zach Netto's good I just think he's a good hitter the results since coming back from the injury haven't been great. But even overall, like a 760 OPS is playable. You know, the pace is like 1515, but I think there's room for improvement in both

regards. The quality of contact is pretty good. I kind of like Zach Netto as a middle infield replacement option. The problem with Zach Nato right now is he was scratched on the lineup Saturday with a back injury and they hope that he can return on Tuesday. So that's worrisome for this week then. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Not entirely sure that Netto is going to be good to go. If you are just looking for a middle infield replacement, doesn't have to be shortstop. Obviously, Edward Julian is someone we've talked about a lot recently. Wilmer Flores also one of Scott's sleeper hitters this week.

I think he's facing four lefties and four lefties now. It's gone up since Friday. Yeah. Yep. And he's been hitting really well in the month of July as well. Two other middle infielder, maybe for deeper league. Zach Geloff went two for three with his first career home run on Saturday. So far, he's hitting pretty well. 273, one homer, two seals. I wish they had six games with three at course this week instead of five with three at course.

But three games. So frustrating. Three games in course. That's pretty tasty there for Zach Gelloff. The other name I wanted to mention was Michael Massey. He had a big weekend. Imagine he just played all his games in the Yankee Stadium. That would be fantastic.

wishful thinking, but a double tongue on Friday, hit another home run on Sunday. It's just he's so held back by playing in Kansas City. Yeah, I definitely prefer Flores to him. Obviously, since he was in the column. All right, so that's Cory Seeger. He's on the IL, and those are some replacements for this upcoming week. Let's quickly run through some other waiver wire hitters from this weekend. Two outfielders right around 70% rostered.

Jaron Duran went one for three with a sock and a shoe. I think that was on Friday or Saturday. Saturday, but his sixth home run, his 19th steal, still not playing every single day. I don't know that he's playing against lefties, but he is hot right now. Darren Duran is hitting the ball very well. T.J. Friedel, back-to-back multi-hit games, hit his seventh home run on Saturday as part of back-to-back-to-back home runs for the Reds on Saturday, and he's hitting 289, seven home runs, 16 steals, only 70% rostered.

I thought that was pretty interesting for T.J. Friedel, Chris, who would you rather have Friedel or Jaron Duran. Man. So Fridel's one of those guys who like actually I think does have a good explanation for why he's able to outperform his stackass data because Home Park is great. Hits the ball to the pull side quite a bit, especially when he hits it into the air. He is fast. He makes a lot of contact.

So like all those things add up to him being able to outperform his expected stats, which are worth noting. Just absolutely awful. They're very mean to him, the expected stats meant. I think I'd probably go with Friedel, but that might be a, what does the matchup look? What does the upcoming week's matchups look like? Scott, I thought it was an interesting weekend for those who play in two catcher leagues. We did have some names kind of pop up here. Luis Camp Usano back with the Padres.

He went four for five with a home run on Saturday, has started three of the past five games for them. How would you rank Camp Yucon? Andy Rodriguez recently called up by the Pirates, and there was news, Jose Trevino is out for the rest of the season. So Kyle Higashioca steps in here as the everyday catcher for the Yankees. I'd rank Indy Rodriguez number one.

I think there's the most upside there. I think the playing time's going to be most consistent for him. And then the other two need to show me a whole lot before I consider them even in two catcher leagues. But I'll go Camposano 2 and Hashiobo. Is that right, Kyle Hashioka? Higachioca. Yeah, Higashioca.

Higashioca. I tried to correct you and set it wrong myself. There you go. Yeah, he's third. One of the better John Sterling calls, by the way, getting Higgy with it whenever Higashioca hits a home run. Yeah, look, they're not, I don't know that there's much trust in any of these players, but again, it's, you know, deeper to catcher leagues.

I picked up Camp Yusano this weekend, and I dropped Shay Langalears. Langalears. He plays every day, but he's just not very good, so I'd rather just take an upside shot there on Luis Camp Usano. Waiver Wire pitchers, we mentioned earlier. There's not much going on from this weekend, so let's kind of just run through these names.

Part one, we do have Josiah Gray had a strong star up against the Giants. Seven innings, one run, four strikeouts with 13 swinging strikes. Did change up his pitch, makes something he's been doing a lot this season, kind of tinkering a lot, but completely ditched his

four-seem fastball through more curves, cutters, change-ups, and seems like that would be a smart move for Josiah Gray. Seth Lugo turned in a quality start at the Tigers, six innings, two runs, seven strikeouts for him. Clark Schmidt has allowed three earned runs or fewer in 11 straight starts,

and during that time he has a 302 ERA and a 11-whip. Chris, how was you rank that group? Josiah Gray, Seth Lugo, and Clark Schmidt. I was trying to figure out if I wanted to like feign snoring. as my answer, but that felt rude. I think Seth Lugo is the best of this group.

I don't think any of these guys are particularly likely to give you seven innings in any given start. I know Josiah Gray did that in his most recent, but I just, I find him underwhelming. I find him interesting, but I'm not sure he's figured it out yet. I give him a lot of credit for all the tinkering that he's done this season.

I think he is, on the verge potentially of figuring it out, but I've made this comp a few times. It feels like where Mitch Keller was a year ago. Is that a good thing now? Yeah. Mitch Keller has turned himself. Mitch Keller is one of the best tinkering success stories in baseball,

I would say. He deserves a lot of credit for the work he's put in to make himself a good pitcher, maybe non-n ace. And I think Josiah Gray could be a good pitcher, but he's still figuring out what the right mix is. is. And, you know, like, this was a good start. It was also four strikeouts and three walks.

So it wasn't exactly a great start. I think Lugo on a per inning basis is going to be good. It's just you're hoping for six innings in any given start. And that's the absolute max. But, hey, Clark. He's done it. Clark's done it twice in his last 11 starts. So I feel better about Seth Lugo.

I think you're going to get a strikeout per inning or more. I think he's a good pitcher. Yeah, I agree with that order. and the reasoning for Schmidt being third is just like even though he's pitched better, gotten better results that the starts have been so short by and large, and it's not like there've been a lot of strikeouts there. Yeah, 409-fited about the upside. In this 11-star stretches, well.

So I'm kind of trying to figure out exactly how I want to approach starting pitcher going forward, kind of already thinking about my plan for next year, and I don't want to get out on the weeds because I know it's a weekend show. We've got a lot of ground to cover. but I'm thinking of the pitching position right now as there being maybe like 15 to 20 pitchers who you can think of as high end who have the strikeouts who do things who do something so exceptionally well that you can really trust in them as trust in them as like foundations for your pitching staff and then there's probably like. five dozen pitchers after that who are just part of the glob I was referring to on

Friday show with Chris Welsh where it's going to be kind of a random number generator what they give you from start to start you just want to prioritize the ones who in their good starts can go six and seven innings as both Seth Lugo and Josiah

Gray have shown that they can and you know hopefully give you about a strikeout per inning when they're on too. Well if you thought that first group was underwhelming. You're not going to like this one very much. Brady Singer struck out a season high nine at the Yankees this weekend. He has pitched better recently.

His last five starts, a 366 ERA and a 125 whip. Brandon Fott pitched well in his return to the Diamondbacks rotation. He was at the Reds where he allowed three runs over six innings. He had six strikeouts with 15 swinging strikes. Still allowed some hard contact back to back to back home runs. Obviously, all three being solo shots there. velocity up a little bit. I thought it was kind of an interesting start for Brandon Fott.

And Jameson has turned in three solid starts in a row. He went five and two thirds, one run allowed, with six strikeouts. It's got any interest in this group here. Tion, Brendan Fott, and Brady Singer. Yeah, it's bad. I'm not looking

to pick any of them up. Fott did do some interesting things. He still gave up three home runs, so it's not like, oh, he's cured. And I'm rushing to pick him up, but he did what we wanted to see him do in terms of

decreasing his fastball usage. It had been about 50%, it was down to 37% in this one. And his change-up and sweeper, which he obviously threw more, since he threw the fastball less, combined for 11 wifts, 11 of the 15 whiffs. So if you can

lean into those off-speed pitches more, throw the fastball less. It should lead to better results for fought. but again, let's see him not allow three home runs in a start before we conclude that. I believe all three were off fastballs. I think two were off the four seam one was off the sinker. He threw the sinker more in this one. And it might just be that like he throws the sinker 35% against right-handed pit,

right-handed batters and throws the four-seam or 40% against lefties. And that's it. And that's all he throws and then just tries to get because his fastballs so far have just been world-histors. historically terrible. It's, I think the, the slugging percentage on his fast, his four-seem fastball is like 800 or something.

It's just been a disaster pitch for him. And until he figures out, like there was some talk that he had like, moved to a different side of the rubber while he was in the miners. I didn't see that in, in today's start, but I wasn't,

I was looking at like the release charts. And I don't know if they account for what part of the rubber. your release on, but he's trying to figure it out, and there's clearly talent here. It's just, yeah, a 710 slugging percentage on the four-seam fastball on 76 plate appearances is really, really bad. It's actually 941 against the change-up,

and 1250 against the sinker. So how's this for bringing things? Superbow and sweeper have been good so far, though. How's this for bringing things full circle? If Josiah Gray is where Mitch Kelly, was last year, is Brandon Foss where Josiah Gray was last year? Yeah, that's that's a good, that's a good, uh, comp. And and, and, boom.

Yeah, like, that's, let's see how they, they tinker. You know, this is, this is always, most pitchers don't figure it out right away. And, uh, there's clearly, look, I don't want to give up on him. There's clearly talent. You see it in the K minus walk percentage of the minor league level, but like, we probably overhyped a guy with, like, uh, there's, there's clearly talent. like a 1.8 home runs allowed per 9 at AAA last year. Like we probably overlooked that aspect of his game a little bit too much.

Three names in deeper leagues. I'll quickly mention Johnny Quato made his first Marlin start on Saturday. Pitched very well. It was against the Rockies on the road. Six innings, one run, eight strikeouts, 17 swinging strikes on 81 pitches. 14 of those on the fastball. It's okay, what is this? 2007 again, Johnny Quato.

He was awesome in the start. Brandon Williamson has turned in back-to-back quality starts, and over his last six starts. He has a 367 ERA and a 107 whip. Alex Fayetteau pitched very well in his return to the Tigers. Six shutout innings, one hit, four walks to two strikeouts up against the Padres. Chris, anything with this deep league group, Fyato, Williamson, and Quato. Johnny Quato is not that old. It's just want to be clear.

I was trying to think of a year. He wasn't pitching in the majors by 2007. That sounded a little off to me. I thought you were being a little uncharted. charitable. It's more like 2010, 2011. Yeah, close enough. He debuted. Wait, wait, wait, wait. He did be in, wait, wait. He did be in 2008. Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. Uh, I think Johnny Quato, uh, Brady Singer and Clark Schmidt,

all three of them, you can pretty much just chalk up to they had great matchups. And, hey, they took advantage of them. The only thing I will say with Quato is, I mean, he had like 34 earned runs and 29 innings or something during his various minor league rehab assignments. And the Marlins weren't even planning on putting him in the rotation when they called him back up. They made it clear he was going to pitch out of the bullpen. And then their, you know, pets' heads are falling off and whatever the rest of that quote is. And they had to put him in the rotation. His velocity's up about 1.2 miles per hour from last year.

So that's something. I don't think it's anything for us to worry about. But maybe the Marlins season isn't going totally. in the toilet. Maybe Johnny Quato can turn it around. I'm not doing well, guys. Hey, 2007 Johnny Quato is here to save the day, Chris. So we'll see. Deeper Leagues again, he does face the Tigers this week. When we get to stream or not to stream later on this week, I have a feeling Johnny Quato might be on that list. Let's take our final break. And when we return, we'll hit some news and notes. I've got pitchers. You might want to drop. We'll do all of that right after this.

Welcome back. Let's get into the news and notes from the weekend. Aaron Joe. judge took live batting practice Sunday. He fouled off a few pitches, did not appear to be favoring his toe at all, which is good news. Aaron Boone said that judge will likely take more simulated at bats in live batting practice in the coming days, but remains without a clear target date to return.

Adolice Garcia exited Saturday after getting hit by a pitch on his hand. X-rays came back negative, and he was out of the lineup on Sunday. Scott, what do you think we should do with Adelis Garcia this week? I think you should start him. x-rays are negative. I think he'll be back soon. All right. Mike Trout had the stitches removed from his surgically repaired

left hand. He's been out since July 5th with a fractured hamapone. Nathan Avaldi's scheduled start Monday will be skipped by the Rangers and manager Bruce Bochie cited Avaldi's velocity being down as the reason for extra rest and I was pretty scared

about that most recent start last week when we talked about velocity was down like two to three miles per hour on everything. So it remains. One thing we didn't mention in that conversation about selling high on Nathan Evaldi, at the time we were having that conversation,

he was the number one starting pitcher in points leagues, number one overall. He's now fourth because other pitchers have started and passed him. But like that's, that shapes the sell high conversation on him in a different way, I feel like. Yeah. I do just want to point out last 11 starts since that 12th.

strikeout, almost complete game. His FIP is 426. His ERA is 269, but the strikeouts have really gone away over the past like two months at this point. So, you know, a little scary overall.

Yeah, I agree. It remains, I think, a good idea to try and sell high on Avaldi if you can. Brandon Woodruff through three scoreless innings in his first rehab start at High A on Saturday. The hope is for Woodruff to return in August. Max Fried will likely make one more rehab start before rejoining the Braves rotation. Bryce Harper made his first start at first base on Friday.

He is batting 290 with four home runs and six steals. Chris just off the top of your head. If Bryce Harper gains first base eligibility, where do you think he would slot into your first base ranks? I'm going to say fifth. So. Oh, you're going to have somebody significant then. Alonzo.

You know, we talked, Frank and I talked about Alonzo last week. And just the way he's played since the wrist injury, I do think I would put him ahead of Alonza rest of season. All right. I put him sixth. I mean, you got to account for the way Harper's played since the Elbe injury. J.E. Martinez won't be in the lineup Monday due to tightness in his left hamstring. Would you guys play it safe and bench J.D. Martinez this week? Yeah, hamstrings are tricky.

It depends what your alternatives are, but I'd rather not start him. Yeah, hamstrings especially tricky with 30. six-year-olds, yeah. Right. Lars Neupar was removed Sunday due to right heel soreness. He is day-to-day. The Cardinals play on Monday, so we should learn more by then. Glaber Torres left Sunday's game due to hip tightness.

The Yankees are off Monday, so we likely won't know for sure until Tuesday with Glaber Torres. Trevor Story will move to AAA to continue his rehab assignment this week, and he is 61% rostered. So if you do need a middle infielder, some power, some speed potential there, now is the time to add Trevor Story and just. kind of sit on that and wait for maybe he'll make it back before Corey Seeger. You never think of that? That seems like a very real possibility, Scott. I do think so.

Is your replacement? It could work out. Michael Waka has resumed playing catch, but Padre's manager Bob Melvin said Waka is unlikely to return before the end of July. Very eventful weekend for the Marlins bullpen. Manager, Skip Schumacher said gave AJ Puck a vote of confidence as the team's closer on Friday. Puck then pitched the 8th inning on Saturday with a game tied. Tanner Scott pitched the ninth inning. Gave up a run, took a loss in that game. And then on Sunday, A.J. Puck blew another one run save.

Chris, where do you think this is going here? AJ Puck versus Tanner Scott? I put a few speculative claims on Tanner Scott. Things are getting pretty dire for the Marlins. They just snapped an eight-game losing streak. And I don't know how much rope they're going to give AJ Puck at this point. It's been like three bad outings.

It's been like four bad outings all season, basically. He's been really good overall. But yeah, the overall numbers now after a bad couple of weeks are pretty ugly. So I think Tanner Scott's going to get a chance. Jorge Polanco will get reps at third base during his rehab assignment. It appears the twins want to keep Edward Julian around even after Polanco returns, which makes sense, given how well Julian has played. Jazz Chisholm is doing pliometric work,

but has not started hitting as a Friday. He's been out since early June with a left oblique strain. Chris Bryant exited Saturday after getting hit by a pitch on his finger. X-rays came back negative, but he was held out of the lineup on Sunday. Andrew Vaughn has missed five straight with a bone bruise in his left foot. The White Sox are hopeful he'll be able to return Tuesday against the Cubs. One thing related to that that I saw is Jake Berger, play second base when Yoha Mankata comes back.

So that's kind of interesting. I know Berger has slowed down, but, you know, we'll... His bat hasn't slowed down. We'll always take, you know, he can still hit the ball far. We'll always take middle infielders. It still produces exit velocities that break the radar gun. It's just, you know, he's made a lot of outs recently. Yeah, lots of strikeouts, but lots of power there with Jake Berger.

Jun Jin Ryu is scheduled to throw a bullpen on Monday or Tuesday, and if all goes well, he will rejoin the Blue Jays rotation in four rehab starts. Ryu has a 2.0 ERA and a 0.78 whip, almost a strikeout or ending. He's 19% rostered, perhaps a name you can look at in deeper leagues. Mason Miller completed a flat ground session on Saturday. He only threw fastballs, but it is an encouraging step in his version. return from a right UCL sprain. CJ Crone has missed two straight with lower back stiffness.

He missed more than a month earlier the season with back spasms. So not great there. Some trade rumors that are out there. Real quick on Ryu, I didn't make a point to try and add him in any league where I had a free IL spot, which, surprisingly, I had a few. I don't have high hopes for Hyun Jin Ryu, but you know, you could stash him for the lineup lock and then see how he performs and make a decision later. Yeah, I think it's a good idea.

Some trade rumors from John Morosi of MLB Network. He reported the Giants have expressed interest in Justin Verlander. Will the Mets actually sell? I'm not so sure, but we'll find out over the next week or so. John Marosi also reported that the debacks have inquired about Lucas Gilito. So did the Dodgers. So, you know, potential NOS competition there, trying to trade for Lucas Julito.

Players who went to the aisle this weekend, Gabriel Moreno with left shoulder inflammation, Taylor Walls with a left oblique strain. Jose Trevino will miss the remainder of the season with a torn ligament in his right wrist. Last but not least, congrats to Scott Rowland and Fred McGriff on being inducted into the Hall of Fame on Sunday.

The dropometer, we got about 10, 15 minutes left here. How much can we get through? The first name up, I've got five pitchers here. Braxton Garrett, rough July for Braxton Garrett, 785 ERA, a 147 whip. The strikeout to walk rate is still great during that time. but lots of hard contact, lots of home runs. Chris, 83% rostered is Braxton Garrett.

Where is he on the dropometer? 8. I think he's very droppable right now. So you'd be okay dropping him for Seth Lugo and playing Lugo against the Pirates this week. Yeah, I'd rather use Lugo right now. All right. I'm probably not sure about anyone else

that we've talked about on the waiver wire right now, but I'm not starting him right now. So, you know, if you can't start someone, you might be able to drop them. Ranger Suarez also having a rough July. Four starts with a 614 ERA, a 186 whip. The walks have really kind of crept up here on Ranger Suarez. He is down to 70% rostered.

Scott, where are you at dropometer on Ranger Suarez? You are muted, sir. Oh, not me. A little lower on the dropometer than Braxton Garrett. I'll put Suarez at a seven because, you know, Elise gives you volume. Yeah. Garrett, you know, even when he was going well, my gripe with him was, you know, he never goes six innings.

Yeah. He kind of needs like a best case scenario to go six innings. And then he had back-to-back starts where he went, I think, six and seven innings. And it's like, okay, I'm totally on board with Braxton Garrett. And basically it's been all downhill since then. There seemed to be some like mechanical issues with Braxton Garrett that if they can fix, you know, I still believe he can be good like we saw, but he hasn't shown that he has fixed them yet.

But they're not magical. If you thought they were going to save your pitching staff in June, you were wrong. They are who we thought they were before June. Three pitchers rostered in less than 75% of leagues. Would you drop Garrett or Ranger Suarez for Kenta Maeda, Grace and Rodriguez, Logan Allen? Yes.

Any of those three. All three. All three. All right. Alan's the lowest priority, but I do like the two matchups he has this week. Might drop the next guy for any of those three, frankly. I am completely on board. I'm done.

I'm absolutely done. Lance Lynn blasted again this weekend. He gave up nine runs, six of those earned. Four more homers allowed. He is allowed a league leading 28 home runs this season. Man, that's the 618 ERA. That's a lot for a full season. I've been the most consistently on board with Lans.

Lance Lynn throughout these struggles. I'm out too. I can't even explain why this was the moment. Just when you know when you know, right? Like I saw this line and I'm like, that's it. He allowed four home runs to the twins. Yeah. Only six pitchers allowed more home runs all of last season than Lance Lynn's 28.

That is, and you know what this means, right? 190-80-R-A the rest of the ones. Yeah, next start especially, 12 strikeout, seven shut addings. there's no question. But yeah, like he's had a start of, what, seven innings and 16 strikeouts and another start of seven innings

and 11 strikeouts. And he still has a 502ERA during the span that the six-start span that those two starts includes. That's just awful. It's very bad. So Lance Lynn can go for Maida,

Grod, and Logan Allen as well. All right. Tony Gonsolin has the last, uh, sky, sky. I might hesitate on Allen. I would make the swap if I needed Allen in my lineup for the two starts. But if it was just to stash him on the bench, I'm not sure I buy the upside of Allen enough.

But I don't really care either. If you want to swap out Lentferm at this point, that's fine too. Tony Gonslyn has allowed four plus earned runs in five of his last six starts. And during that stretch, a 697 ERA with a 129 whip. Lots of walks, lots of hard contact during that time. Scott, the dropometer on Tony Gonson. 92% rostered. Yeah, so it's lower than the first three, but it's not zero.

He's, I mean, he's kind of had the same problem that I had with Braxton Garrett, where even when he pitches well, it's just not a lot of volume. So I'm going to put it, I'll put it at like a five, Gonsolent on the drop of meter. Last name on the list. Shallow leagues, I could think about it. Last name on the list. I'd take Jason Rodriguez over him. Yes, agree with that.

Emmett Sheehan got rocked at the Rangers this weekend. he gave up eight runs and all of a sudden a 675 ERA, a 147 whip. Chris drop a meter on Emmett Sheehan. 9. 10, yeah. I'm going 10. We've got a really good track record at AA, but yeah, he's not ready right now. You know what we should make for this segment?

You guys should get like the slam dunk contest numbers and like hold them up a 10. And we're dropping that player. Yeah, something like that. I like it. We'll do it. Let's get some props. Moving forward. Other talented pitchers that are getting knocked around,

we spoke about Mitch Keller and his struggles. Two other names, Joe Ryan, still racking up the strikeouts, but over his last five starts, he has a 7-3-0 ERA and a 158 whip. Lots of home runs allowed during that time for Joe Ryan. And Chewhe Otani, we know what he's doing as a hitter. It's been amazing. He still has a ton of strikeouts this year,

but over his last three starts, Otani, a 771 ERA, a 159 whip. Scott, any actual concerns here with Joe Ryan or Otani the pitcher? Not concerns that I feel like you can act on. I mean, this is just kind of where we're at, at starting pitcher. Even from your good pitchers, you have to accept stretches where they're just killing you. And, you know, Joe Ryan, we were concerned about, the concern with Joe Ryan is that he allows so many fly balls.

And so will he have a five-start stretch where he allows 11 home runs? Yeah, that's going to happen from time to time. He allowed eight home runs all season up until this five-star stretch. And I imagine he'll come out of it. Otani, his struggles coincide with him leaving that start with the blister issue. And I imagine that's still affecting him. Will they have to skip him at some point so he can get past it? It might help.

I don't know that they actually will. But he gives you so many strikeouts that I think you just kind of suffer through it. If you're not starting him as a hitter, obviously. Some other leftovers from the weekend. We'll take a look at some hitters first. New half, new Austin Riley, six home runs over his last six games. He homered in five straight before that streak was snapped on Sunday. So great start.

New by low window. Let's go. Austin Riley. Massive weekend for Freddie Freeman. He had eight hits, three homers, including a double dung on Saturday. Every weekend's a massive weekend for Freddie Freeman at this point. Sure is. Vlad Jr. picking up the power pace since the home run derby.

He is homered in three of his past four games. Yeah. Anthony Rizzo. He's off the Schneide, four for four with his 12th home run of the season. Just needed to change his walk-up song to Taylor Swift. That was all he needed. Is that what he did? That was the change today.

That was his first home run since May 20th. Crazy stuff. Yeah, remember how good he was for the first month and a half of the season? Like he was hitting for average. He was hitting for power. It was like, oh. The shift, it fixed Anthony Rizzo, getting rid of the shift. And then not so much.

Not so much. Not only has he not homered since May 20th, but his batting average during that stretch was in the 180s, 182. Probably hasn't been the Yankees' worst hitter in that stretch. I know, yeah, I mean, they have, what, like Jake Bowers playing regularly and stuff like that. I know Rizzo had a collision with Fernando Tattice back in May where he kind of hurt his neck. the back issue. Yeah, I felt like he just has not been the same. He hasn't blamed it on that, but it wouldn't surprise me if that's you can lingering. Um, yes. Henry Davis went three for four with

a double dong on Friday, both home runs coming off showy Otani. So pretty impressive stuff there for the Pirates rookie first first ever player to Homer twice in a game off show Hey Otani. Nice. Henry Davis. He's up to 79% rostered. So I didn't include it needs to be higher included. Yeah, I mean, how how high should he be in this, the catcher ranking? right now. Should he be ahead of Dalton Varsho? Yeah, I haven't taught him. He's got the Dalton Varsho thing where it's like, oh, he's

playing every day. Dalton Varsha's actually sitting a decent amount. His actual stats are almost identical to his expected stats. Like one of them is one point off and the other is dead on. It's crazy. And obviously, you know, his overall stats are good and he's playing

every day as someone who's catcher eligible. And he's walked more than he struck out in July. Yep. Yeah, I think he's the number six catcher right now. Yeah, I have him in Varsho back to back, but, you know, there's an argument for it. I've got Varsho down to nine and Henry Davis at 10. Juan Soto, two for three with a double dong on Friday. Both home runs combined for 910 feet.

Crazy stuff for him. Big weekend for Lane Thomas, who hit a home run on Friday. Then he had four steals on Sunday. He's now up to 16 home runs and 12 steals on the season. Kyle Tucker had a triple dong on Friday. He added a stolen base on Sunday as well. All of a sudden, he's up to 17 home runs and seven seals. 17 seals, excuse me.

And Corby and Carroll has now homered in three of the past four games. He is closing in on a 2030 season, and it's not even August yet. I'm relieved about that for Carol, too. I was watching the production when he had that pair of exits for the shoulder issue. And it wasn't looking good in the first couple weeks. after that. I wondered if something was still going on in there. But I feel like those concerns have been relieved with three homers and four games. Some quick pitching leftovers. We did have ourselves a bit of a pitching duel this weekend. It's time to do. Jack Wheeler and Tanner Bybee,

they were both awesome. Wheeler at Cleveland, seven innings, one run, eight strikeouts with 17 swinging strikes. And Tanner Bybee, seven shutout innings, eight strikeouts, 22 swinging strikes for Bybee in this one. Did throw his four-scene fastball a bit less through some more curve balls. And over his last five starts, Tanner Bybee, 121, ERA, a 0.98 whip over a strikeout per inning. Getting more ground balls, 14% swinging strike rate. He's like really, really good during that stretch. Scott, anything to add on Tanner Bybee and Zach Wheeler?

No, I mean, it was, Bobby looks like he's starting to put it all together. And that's very exciting, given his upside. Yeah, for sure. One other pitching standout I wanted to mention, Jesus Lazzardo set a career high with 13 strikeouts on Sunday. Seven innings, one run, 13 strikeouts, 26 swinging strikes on a career high, 115 pitches. I don't love that aspect of it. I kind of wish, you know, the Marlins would dial it down a little bit.

Let's not push Lizarro to 115 pitches. But it was an amazing start. Is he already at his career high innings? I believe so. based on that article I wrote last week. I know he was very close. So the seven innings start, I'm going to guess put him past. Yeah, yeah, because his career house, 124 before this, yeah.

So somebody you have to worry about down the stretch, and as well as he's pitching right now, it might be time to start shopping, Jesus Lizardo. You don't want to, you know, you don't want to low ball, you want to accept a low ball offer or anything. You don't want somebody to say, well, I'm a little worried about his innings, so I'll give you that.

Like, if you're training to somebody else who's worried about his innings, then don't bother. Like, you're trying to, you're trying to slip that by somebody and just, hey, look at how great he's been recently. He has been. Yeah, Lazardo has been great recently. Something to watch moving forward.

We were talking about this beforehand. Kevin Gosman made his first start since dealing with some left side discomfort, and he allowed four home runs at the Seattle Mariners. His velocity was down. Also, change the pitch mix was throwing more sweepers in this one. Chris, I don't know. I mean, he never throws sweepers.

He had thrown, I think, two of them all season, which might have just been misclassified sliders. So this was kind of the first time he's thrown the sweeper. I don't think he got any whiffs with it. I don't know if it looked particularly good, but, you know, it's, I would assume that was just a, hey, I'm not feeling super great right now. I'm not, I don't have the velocity I usually do.

I'm not too worried about that just because, remember, his velocity was down early on in the season. It was still pretty good. So I'm not, it's not a situation where I think it's like, oh, he can't be effective, but all other things being equal, I'd rather him be throwing 94 instead of 92. Yeah, and this is just a one-star blip, right? He had a similar blip on April 6th, a similar blip on May 4th, and he bounced back with his usual velocity right afterwards. So I wouldn't panic over the velocity for Gosman right now. Certainly wouldn't be sitting him. Some of the bullpen updates from the weekend for the Cubs,

Adbert Alzlis picked up two saves. He's now up to nine total, 36% rostered. For the Nationals, Kyle Finnegan picked up his 13th save on Friday and is also just 37% rostered. For the Yankees, Clay Holmes picked up two saves this weekend. He certainly looks like the go-to guy once again. For the Rockies, Justin Lawrence picked up his seventh save on Saturday. Trevor May for the Oakland A's picked up his ninth save on Saturday.

Scott, how would you rank those four names all widely available? Adbert Alzali, Kyle Finnegan, Justin Lawrence, and Trevor May. I'll go Alzali, Lawrence, Finnegan, May. And that's mostly a reflection of how confident I am and then remaining the go-to source for saves for their respective teams. I'm a little less confident with Alzalai, even though I put him number one, but I think he's just a really good pitcher on top of it. Can I do one quick one before we move on?

Yep. I know we have to finish. Alex Manoa. We haven't talked about him today. He was decent in this one. Three and runs in five and a third. Almost got the quality start. The control was not there for walks.

But we now have two of three starts since coming back. The first one, control was great. This one, the slider was excellent. He had 10 whiffs, I think on 12 swings with the slider, which is a massive number. It wasn't quite where it's been in the past. if you look at the movement profile, it didn't have as much lateral movement as it did in 2020 and 2021, but, or 2021 and 2022, I guess. But it was the best we've seen this season. And now that's like he's put two of the pieces together in two of his three starts.

Now it's can he put it all together at some point? I remain skeptical, but hopeful, I guess, would be the right way to put it. Chris, would you bench Bennoa this week? He's facing the angels. I don't feel good about so. Bench implies that I already had him in my starting lineup, and I wouldn't have. So I would keep him benched.

Fair enough. A few other bullpen updates for the Tigers. Alex Lang picked up his 17th save on Sunday. And for the White Sox, Kendall Graveman entered the ninth inning with a three-run lead on Sunday. He gave up exactly three runs on a walk and three hits, took his fourth-blown save.

The White Sox would eventually lose in extras. And I do wonder what their bullpour and will look like after the trade deadline. I feel like Graveman could be gone. Maybe they trade Liam Hendricks too. So we shall see with the White Sox. Let's wrap up with to stream or not to stream. And on Monday, we actually have a good amount of,

I would say interesting names here on Monday. Kentomaieta versus the Mariners. Logan Allen versus the Royals. Christopher Sanchez versus the Orioles, maybe. Nah. Yeah, if it was at Baltimore, maybe, but not in Philly. I'd be more likely to do Dean Kramer at Philly, just hoping for the good end of the rat random number generator. Yeah, I think Allen and my eight are the clear standouts here though.

Yep. And then on Tuesday, we have Griffin Canning at the Tigers. Edward Cabrera at Tampa Bay. They're not hitting right now. I think that probably dreadful for a while. I saw this stat there are four and 14 in July, which is tied for the worst record in baseball. Tampa Bay race. I know, I think Edward Cabrera has passed the

point of streaming personally given the growth he showed before going on the iL um so yeah i think you add him so griffick canning edward cabrera uh kyle hendricks at the white sox maybe yeah i could do that yeah i think that's fine all right we're going to wrap there for scott and chris i am frank thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on apple or spotify we'll be back again tomorrow bye bye bye