Fantasy Baseball Today - Big Day for Rookies, Corbin Carroll's Improvements & Corbin Burnes' Struggles (8/29 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

Episode Date: August 29, 2024

Spencer Arrighetti might be a league winner (2:40). ... Corbin Carroll is so back (7:00). ... The Cubs came all the way back against the Pirates, thanks to David Bednar (14:30). ... News (22:05): Rafael Devers has missed two in a row. ... How to handle Garrett Crochet's "start" in a H2H league (26:38). ... It was a big day for Dylan Crews, PCA, James Wood and David Festa (29:34). ... Brayan Bello had the best start of his young career (37:00). ... Lawrence Butler is turning things back on (47:19). ... Tanner Bibee and Corbin Burnes have been struggling (51:50). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (56:48). 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. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Spencer Arrogetti in five starts in August, a 195 IRA. Point 90 with 47 strikeouts over 32 in a third innings.

League winner? Maybe. You might just be. Welcome into fantasy baseball today on Thursday, August 29th. I am Frank Stamphle, joined by Chris Towers. Today on the show, we had five rookies with big games. Corbyn Carroll is so back. Corbyn Burns has gone in the other direction.

It seems like... It's so over. We can only have one good Corbyn in baseball at a time, I guess, and much more. But let's... Hey, hey, hey, Patrick Corbyn was good yesterday. Take it back. Yeah, against my Yankees, of course. Let's jump in.

Can you believe it! Wow! All right, Chris, there were lots of options to choose from, but you are going with Spencer Arrigi. I am going with Spencer Arrogatee who took a no hitter into the eighth inning, ended up giving up two hits, walking four over seven and two thirds, shutout innings against the Philadelphia Phillies,

who have been not as good offensively in the second half, but had been showing signs of life recently. 11 strikeouts. It's just been really with the, exception of that white socks start when we were all excited to start him it's just been gem after gem for ergetty in august and it's giving me uh louise heel vibes in that when ergeti got called up and and it's possible i'm overstating this but whenever i watched him pitch early on i was like man the stuff is pretty good like he looks like he throws mid 90s the both breaking balls

look pretty good. The cutter's solid. And it was just the command was really bad. He walked 23 in 43 and two-thirds innings over his first two months, didn't really like put together any very good starts until like the end of June. And even then he bounced back or fell back in July. So it wasn't, nobody was really getting excited about him. But man, like you said, I mean, 47 strikeouts, 10 walks in the month of August and 32 and two-thirds in it. 32 and a third innings, that's like 2.7, 8 walks per 9. This was actually his worst start in terms of walks since July 2nd when he walked four as well.

And it just kind of seems like, and I don't think the upside's quite as high for Aragetti as Louise Hill. I don't think the stuff is quite as good. But it just feels like a similar spot where if he just has decent command, he can be really, really good. And the problem, as we've seen with Louise Heel this season, is command tends to come and go. And, you know, it's incredibly hard to quantify. It's incredibly hard to project.

All of those things being true makes it hard to say, well, Spencer Ergettty's just figured it out, figured it out, and he'll be good moving forward. But at minimum, he is 76% rostered. He needs to be 100% rostered at this point. That is three double-digit strikeouts in his last five games. he has, we mentioned yesterday, who was it? Jeffrey Springs, I think, was the top? No, no, no.

There were some of it had four double-digit strikeout games. Sean Mania? Sean Mania. There were nine players with four double-digit strikeout starts this. Season Spence, Arrede, makes it 10 now. And look, there are some pretty not great names on that list, some guys that have had kind of outlier performances. but Araggeti's on that list now with Chris Sale and Gary Crochet and Luis Heel and a bunch of guys who had really good seasons.

So I think the upside he's shown over this past month is impossible to ignore. Yeah, I think we're all in agreement. Awesome August. I read the numbers up top for Spencer Arrogatti. And I remember earlier in the season, I told people just pay attention because he gets lots of whiffs, right? So Arrogati has three pitches with a whiff rate of 37% Ruff. higher. So strikeouts are not a problem here. It's everything else that you mentioned, the ability to throw strikes, commanding his pitches at times. And I think if he can, you know, throw those

breaking secondary pitches with enough conviction, it'll probably help his fastball play up. His fastball is actually his best pitch in this start today. It actually generated the most whiffs. So he's capable of getting whiffs on basically all of his pitches, good run support behind him with the Houston Astros. Yeah, we're in agreement there. Needs to be closer to 100% rostered. 76% for Spencer Arrogati. And yesterday we spoke about three names. Him, Bauden Francis, and Jeffrey Springs, I think Arrogati very clearly at the top of that list. And I think we all had him at the top of the list yesterday, right?

So I think I went Arrogati, Francis Springs. We'll see how Francis's next start goes, but Springs has been limited to five innings and all of his best starts. So, you know, Arrogati, the upside is clearly high high. I'm very impressed by what he's done lately. All right, let's talk about Corbyn Carroll, who had himself a huge game, two for five with a double dong and five RBI, and I want to focus on what's changed for Corbyn Carroll.

So first 85 games this season, a 210 batting average, only two homers, had 15 steals, a 607 OPS, 35% fly ball rate, 36% pull rate, 87.7 average exit velocity.

Apologies, I just threw a bunch of numbers your way, and more are coming. last 44 games. He's betting 253 with 15 home runs, 46 runs, 37 RBI. The steals are down only 6 during that time, but obviously he's hitting for so much power. OPS is over 900.

Regarding the speed, one thing I did notice, he only has one steal in August. He has, I think, 23 hits in the month of August. Nine of them are homers and four of them are triples. Wow. He just hasn't had many opportunities to steal bases. Yeah, it's not like he's gotten slower. He's very clearly still one of the fastest players in all of baseball.

But remember the numbers I said before, and I'm just going to compare them real quick. The fly ball rate from first 85 games to the last 44 games has jumped from 35% to 44%. The poll rate has jumped from 36% to 49%. So putting the ball in the air, pulling it in the average exit velocity from 87.7 miles per hour to 91.4. So hitting the ball with authority, pulling it and hitting it in the air, that is exactly the recipe for hitting for power, and that has been the biggest change for Corbyn Carroll. Yeah, I'm going to steal a joke that someone on Twitter made.

Are you a Simpsons guy, Frank? I never know what you have or haven't watched. I know Scott has seen some Simpsons. Yeah, you know, the Stanful Rolodex is very small here. I have not watched this. I'm going through the process of watching the Simpsons all the way through, and it hits a point around season three, where just like every episode is like, oh my God, this one.

And there's a joke where they like flashback to disco stew. And he's got a graph that shows disco sales going up in like 1970. And he's like, if this trend continues. And that's kind of the point we're at with Corby and Carol. If you look at the month by month OPS, it's like 509 in April, 613 in June, 725 in July, 822. sorry, 822 in July, 725 in June. 909 so far in August. It's basically been like a hundred point jump every single month so far.

And is he a first rounder again? Like, are we just like all throughout this whole difficult, frustrating season, are we just kind of very close to back where we started? I haven't thought that far in advance, but. my early lean is I can find 12 players I would rather draft than Corbyn Carroll. I think that's reasonable. And there was a way too early mock draft that was Ryan Bloomfield put up on Twitter yesterday? So that is actually a real draft that they're playing out.

It's just a way too early draft champions, NFBC format. 50 round draft and hold. There's no waiver wire or anything. But that's a 15 team league. And yeah, I think he was 17th. I think they did the first 11 rounds of that draft. so far. Yeah, and Corby and Carroll was the 17th pick in that one. So I think he's in that discussion again. And that's kind of wild because I feel like people in the comments would have, I don't know,

run us out of town with torches and pitchforks if we had said that two months ago. But. And rightfully so. I mean, he was. Oh, he was terrible. Yeah. And like, it's still not quite back. Right. Like he's only hitting like two 40, uh, 253. so far in August, 21 in July, despite those being his two best months overall. There's still, like, you look at the launch angle sweet spot, which is a metric that we don't necessarily talk about at a time, but I think is instructive when a player is like a little lost. And what that just basically means is the percentage of the batted balls that are within a certain degree, right? It's, I don't know, 11% to 30% or something, however they define it.

but that's gone from 33% in 2020 to 26% in 2024. That is a second percentile mark. So, like, he's still hitting a lot of grounders and a lot of pop flies. And, you know, he's not the same guy he was last year, but, yeah, I still think at the end of the day, at least in a Roto League. And a head-to-head points league, you probably miss the playoffs because of Corbyn Carroll. and now you're watching him carry you in what should have been the playoffs. But I think in a Rotter League, you're going to end up pretty happy with the final numbers. And you know what's kind of a sneaky part of all of this, his overall line, 96 run scored in a down season.

It's August 29th. So he has a whole month left. What is that number going to wind up? 120 run scored in a down season for Corby and Carroll. So yeah, we'll see. Hopefully he can start running a little bit more. But as you mentioned, there just haven't been opportunities for Corbyn, Carol to do exactly that in August.

Wanted to give a shout out to two big performances by star players. I mean, this is what they do. Yordaun Alvarez, I guess they, he was dealing with a neck injury, right? Over the weekend, I think it was. I guess the neck is fine because four for four with a triple dong, four RBI, and he is going off in August, 385, batting average, eight home runs, a 1233 OPS, and ho-hum, just another day for Shohei Otani, two for four, with a sock and two shoes. 42 homers,

42 steals a month left. Can he get to 50-50? Yes. Please. I think at this point it's like, I'd say it's like 90% likely. I wonder if you can bet that somewhere. For me it just comes down

to like if he gets the home runs there's no way he doesn't get the steals, right? Like he... Yeah, actually it's more likely he'll get the steals than homers, I think. I think so. Yeah. And just to on the Ordon Alvarez front, like, we never talk about him, right? Like, he's one of those players that's just, we only talk about first or second rounders if

they're struggling or hurt. And he's had a few injury scares, but for the most part, he's just been rock solid. And it's one of those things where like, you almost don't realize how good of a season he's having because of that. But like the OPS now for the season is up to 963. He's got 28 homers. He's got 75. Rund. Like, it's been a lot. It's been a lot. little disappointing, I guess. Like, you hope for a little better in the counting stats, but he's just, he's awesome. Like, it's another one where like, even the relatively quiet seasons, and this is the down season for Yard-on-Avarez, are still amazing.

Yeah, I was going to point out the counting stats. He entering Wednesday was on pace for 88 runs scored and 82 RBI. That is absolutely a disappointment. But the fact that you are getting, you know, a 300 plus batting average with, you know, someone in the mid-30s home runs. I think he still could have a big month in terms of counting stats as well. Yeah, maybe a slightly down year,

but still overall, just a very, very good season here for Yordon Alvarez. Two days in a row, I want to highlight an oh my goodness gracious game, just another crazy comeback two days in a row. This time, the Cubs at the Pirates. The Cubs were down 10 to 3

by the end of the fifth inning. They came all the way back. They scored six runs in the ninth inning to win that game 14 to 10. And how did they do that? another rough outing from David Bednar. Some bad luck, some self-imposed. I was watching this one, some questionable defense behind him,

but he also couldn't throw strikes, which that's on him. He got the ninth inning with a two-run lead. He was charged with five runs on two walks and three hits, took his sixth blown saves, seventh loss. Bednar in August, a 1097 ERA and a 234 whip. According to MLB.com, manager Derek Shelton, would not comment on Bednar's status as the team's closer moving forward. Here is a bonker stat.

Over the past seven years, there have been 1,193 instances of a team leading by seven runs in the seventh inning or later. Seven run lead in the seventh inning or later, 1,193. Teams are now 1,192 and 1 in those situations. That is. That is bonkers. Yeah. I mean, I guess the thing with David Bednar is,

well, they can't leave him as the closer. They also haven't moved him out of the role yet, right? And there's a month left. Why is this going to be the one that loses him his job? He had a multi-run outing earlier in the week, right? Like, it's just,

it's been a disaster of a season. I think in the long run, my confidence in David Bednar is not necessarily shaken. I think like a healthy offseason, he can be back and being a very good closer again. But yeah, it's been,

Phrerre's almost, is it over six now? Yeah. It's got to be over nine in the month of August now. Yeah. It's approaching 11 in August. Outright.

disaster and doesn't look like it's getting any better. It did at one point, but it's just gotten completely worse. For the Cubs, how did they do all that damage? Ian Hath reached base five times, three for four with two walks, two runs, and two RBI. He got off to a really slow start, but the numbers are basically where they should be. 241 batting average, 23 homers, 11 steals in 811 OPS. Pete Crowe Armstrong had another huge game, four for four with a walk and four runs scored. Last 29 games, he is batting three-thirty, three.

four homers, eight steals, and OPS over 900. I moved him up to my 42nd ranked outfielder in headhead points, and my 37th ranked outfielder in Roto. We'll talk about him in a little bit. I want to compare him to another rookie. You had a big game. On the pirate side, Brian Reynolds had a big game, three for five with his 21st home run.

While we're talking about the pirates, Chris, I do just want to mention with Paul Skeens. Do you think this was the beginning of the limitations for him? because he was solid against the Cubs, five innings, three runs, two of those earned. He had six strikeouts. 82 pitches was his lowest in a start this year. And I feel like if this was maybe two weeks ago,

he very easily would have been given another inning and he would have gotten you a quality start, presumably. But in this one, he's limited to five innings, limited to 82 pitches, which isn't like the worst thing, but do you think this is kind of the start of maybe his limitations? It might be that this is what it looks like, right? like maybe next time out he throws 94 pitches over six innings you know like it could just be that i don't really get it like the guy threw 130 something innings last season between college

and the majors i know the college you know he had some really high pitch outings and they might consider that more high stress than but like they babied him early on you know he wasn't throwing full outings in april and like i guess my thing with the pirates is like he he's going to have to throw a full season at some point. Are we really like we can't let him go more than like 20 innings over what he was last year? I don't really understand the thought process here. It's not like there's a lot of evidence to suggest that this type of action saves pitchers. So it's frustrating, but you know, we saw with Jared Jones.

There was one really annoying game where he had a no hitter through five innings, I think, and they pulled him after like 60 something pitches. It might just be on a game. by game basis and the next time out he might go six with 94 pitches but i don't think we're going to see any hundred pitch outings from paul skeins moving forward sure and isn't there something what is it like the verducci effect where pitchers are supposed to increase their innings the most yeah 50 was like the magic number for a long time but that was also in an error where you were trying to get pitchers to 200 innings and i don't know if you can ever expect paul skeins to third 200 inings in current

baseball. So I don't know, but yeah, it just, it feels unnecessary. Like, it feels like that was what April was about. Yeah. And he's up to 136 and a third, right? He threw, you said 130 or 135. I think it was right around 30, 130. Yeah. So, I mean, what's the big deal if he gets up to 160, right? I mean, that seems like a pretty reasonable jump for any young pitcher year over year, just adding 30 more innings. But alas, this is where we're at. And of course, the Pirates Blue, Paul Skeins' win in that game. Quick reminder to sign up for the FBT newsletter if you haven't already. You can scan the QR code if you're watching on YouTube.

That will bring you right to the website where you click on the FBT logo. You're punch in your email address and it's easy as that. You'll get a newsletter delivered right to your inbox every weekday for free. Let's take our first break and when we return, the news and notes right after this. Welcome back in the news and notes. Raphael Devers has missed two straight due to soreness in both of his shoulders. Dave Roberts said Tyler Glassnow's progress from his elbow injury has been slow moving and indicated that Glass Now will need a rehab assignment prior to returning, which, you know,

it's August 29th that makes things a little bit dicey here for Tyler Glassnow. He's just played catch so far, right? Yeah, I don't think he's thrown off a mound or anything like that. Hunter Green will not throw for two weeks as he waits for inflammation to go down in his elbow. Bruce Bochie said it's, quote, going to take a while for Max Scherzer to be built back up after he resumes throwing. Scherzer's been out since early August with right shoulder fatigue.

He's dropable. Yes. The most drawable I have that three for sure, but I think just, if you're in one of those 24% of leagues where Spencer, I get he's available, I might even drop him for like David Festa. You know, I hate for a legend in the game,

a future All of Famer to go out like this, like just injured, but it just feels like it happens for so many guys. and I don't know how much Max Scherzer has left, just in the arm, you know? Father time is undefeated, and sometimes guys go out like Nelson Cruz or David Ortiz, where they just retire without ever having that ugly season, but it feels like there's a lot more examples of that last ugly season or two from Legends. And it's just part of the game.

Like, you don't become Max Scher if you're not incredibly competitive and have a wildly overinflated sense of your own abilities. And like, he's probably going into the Hall of Fame. Oh, yeah. He's beat all expectations and all odds. But yeah, it's, it's hard to rewire that part of your brain when, like, you're a Hall of Famer. You shouldn't be here as is.

So who is Frank Stamphill to say you shouldn't be here now, right? Like, that's just, I'm not, and I'm not like, I agree with you, but like, yeah, that's just how these guys are wired. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, especially Scherzer. Like, he's an absolute mania. Oh, yeah. So I get why he's pushing himself, but, you know, at some point. You go try to, you go up to Max Scherzer and tell him, hey, bud, you're finished. It's not going to be me, but guess what? I'm also not going to draft him in fantasy next year later. So Cole Regens has been cleared for his next start Saturday against the Astros.

He left his start on Monday due to cramping in his left calf and hamstring. Luis Heel will likely make a rehab start in five days. He got through a live batting practice session. on Tuesday with no issues. Clark Schmidt will likely make two more rehab starts before being activated from the 60-day IL. The Reds are promoting one of their top prospects. Ret Louder, top pitching prospect, Rhettler to make his debut Friday in game two of their doubleheader.

He's 22 years old was a first round pick in last year's draft. The numbers in the minors this year, 364 ERA 115 whip over a strike upper inning. He's known mostly for a really good changeup and command. He does have a good slider as well. worth pointing out that, you know, as he got bumped up, the numbers in AA were not nearly as good. And it's a tough ballpark to pitch in 18% rostered.

What do you think here, Chris? Any interest in deeper leagues, Rhett louder? Yeah, I think, look, I was the guy who was saying we should be adding Jack lighter. Just like, my thought process when it comes to these rookies is anybody with upside, I think it's worth adding before their debut just because they could be anything. chances are, Red Loudor's probably going to come up and not be all that impressive. Like he was drafted as kind of a higher floor, lower ceiling kind of pitcher. Every scouting report pretty much says he's an SP4 type, but sometimes those guys surprise you.

And he does have a 5, a 0.51 ERA over his past six start, 0.51. Only a 9% swinging strike rate. The fastball doesn't have like great characteristics. So my expectations aren't super high. I'm open to being surprised. Michael Lorenzen was placed in the IL with a strained left hamstring. Tyro Estrada was placed on waivers. It's been a pretty big fall from Grace after two very solid seasons in a row from Tyro Estrada.

The Astros option, Chas McCormick to AAA, another one who's taking a big step back following his breakout 2023. Miguel Anduhar has been ruled out for the rest of the season as a result of a core muscle injury. And before you move on to those five rookies who had big games, friend of the show, David Mendelsohn, brought up a scenario on Twitter earlier today in one of his fantasy baseball leagues and other people might be dealing with a similar situation. So I wanted to get your opinion on the matter.

His league's playoffs started this week and he has a 10-start limit per week for starting pitchers. On Tuesday night, Garrett Crochet threw four pitches and did not record an out before the game was called due to weather. It counted as a start. Should the commission, allow his team an extra starter this week. Now, Scott was pretty adamant on Twitter

that the commissioner should not allow an extra starter for this week. And what are your thoughts? If I was the commissioner, I'd probably be okay with it. But it's the kind of thing where it would only really, like you would have to get the sign off from both of the people in the matchup. And if the other guy is adamant that it counts as a start,

then I guess it counts as a start. I wouldn't want to win that way, I guess. I've been in similar situations, not like exactly the same, but I've been in situations where we like don't have a rule for how to handle things. And I tend to as a commissioner and a player go with some sense of fairness. You know, like I'm open to it,

but I understand the idea that like it, because like if Garrett Crochet gets hurt after four pitches, I don't think I'd say the same thing. Right. But this is a weird situation, right? So it's an act of God, right? Like, I don't know. Like, insurance companies don't cover acts of God, right?

Like, I don't know how to exactly think about it. But my sense is I would be fine with it. But it would have to get the sign off of the people in the league. Yeah, I have a similar thought on this. And I know if Scott were here, I'm pretty sure he would just be yelling at us about how wrong we are on this on our mindset on this

but yeah I think both managers would have to sign off the person who would happen to the opponent as well and I understand that rules are rules but especially in a playoff matchup you really want it to be decided that way so like if it's a regular season thing you know maybe you're a little bit more strict on it all right we don't have a rule for this

but I feel like in especially in head to head leagues and playoff matchups there should be some kind of contingency set in place. Like we have that in my home league. We play two, two week matchups, right? Where if you pick up a player or someone's in your lineup and they go on the aisle out of nowhere, right? Before like the first game start, you could switch him out for someone else. Like that's on free agency. You know, both teams have to agree, but we do have that kind of contingency set in place. So I think especially in a playoff matchup, you just don't want

things to be decided because of like a weird, flukey thing that happens like that. But that's just my opinion. And yeah, don't tell Scott because I'm pretty sure he would yell at us. Let's talk about some big days for rookies here. And we'll start with Dylan Cruz, who hit his first career home run, two for four in this one, also added a double, two hard hits, both over 105 exit velocity. And that's now back-to-back multi-hit games. One game he had a homer, one game he had a steal.

He was leading off in this one against the lefty, Carlos Rodan. Dylan Cruz is 65% rostered. I mentioned Pete Crowe Armstrong earlier, Chris. Who would you rather have? Dylan Cruz or PCA? Dylan Cruz, especially in a points league, I would, maybe with PCA, the speed gives him, but like I think Cruz is just a much better or a much more talented hitter. So I would go with him.

He's 65% rostered. I think that probably needs to be 100% just in case. And that home run was like not a, Carlos Rodon must have been so frustrated because that was not a bad pitch. It was like in on the hands, you know, waist high, but not like out over the middle. And he just turned on it in a way that like we had some questions about whether Dylan Cruz was going to be able to do that. He's had more of an all-fields profile as a power hitter. And he smoked that one.

So that was very impressive. Maybe I'm just sipping the PCA Kool-A Tool-Aid a little bit too much here. but I have ranked him higher as of now. I updated the rankings here on Wednesday. I think long term, there's no question to my mind. I think Dylan Cruz is going to be a better player. But just the fact that Pete Crow Armstrong has doing this, been doing this for over a month now.

Yeah. And he's just been so dynamic. And we've seen the adjustment, right? Like the rookies tend to need some time. Yep. And Pete Crow has done that now. So Pete Crow Armstrong. Yeah.

So yeah. And I like both guys a lot. Yeah. It's not me like talking down Dylan Cruz. Like, you know, I think it's a really close call. If you're someone out there listening, you prefer Dylan Cruz, I wouldn't knock you for that one bit. It's just, you know, Crow Armstrong is showing power. He's hitting for batting average.

The speed, there's extra bases everywhere. I would really like for them to move him up in the lineup. I think that's one of the biggest drawbacks right now for PCA. But, you know, don't put too much pressure on the kid. He's hitting well right now. Yeah, I would lean with Pete Crow Armstrong, but I do think it's a really close call. Let's talk about Dylan Cruz's teammate, James Wood, who ran wild. in this one, two for four with three stolen bases.

And since July 27th, last 30 games, he is betting 340, only three homers. Of course, we want that to be higher, but the ground ball rate is still pretty high. But nine steals during that span, a 987 OPS. He's hitting the ball hard, and he's another one who has made adjustments, Chris.

If you look at the last 30 games versus James Woods' first 21 games, the strikeout rate is way down, the ground ball rate is way down, the pull rate is up. He's still hitting the ball really hard. So another one making adjustments. And now ranked inside my top 25 outfielders the rest of the season.

Yeah, I mean, what did we say when he was playing earlier, you know, during those first 21 games? Like, he wasn't great, but the fact that he was decent despite hitting as many ground balls and hitting it all, you know, one line drive to the pull side in his first like 30 games or whatever it was. like that was pretty impressive. And I do wonder if like the player physically that James Wood reminds me of as a batter is Josh Bell, like very similar. James Wood is so much more athletic. But like in the batters box, he looks very similar. And he's another huge guy.

And it might be, you know, Josh Bell has had trouble elevating the ball consistently throughout his career. And, you know, maybe James Wood will have. some similar issues, but he's so young. He's made some adjustments already that it just, yeah, it feels like the ceiling is a mile high for him. Yeah, people are going to crush me for this, but when I watch James Wood, it kind of reminds me of Ellie Daler Cruz, right? Just bigger guy being lanky. Now, look, he's not going to run as much as Ellie. I understand that. You know, we'll be lucky if we get half the seals of Ellie Dela Cruz in one season for James Wood, right?

Like if we get a 30 or 40 steel season, I think that would be the absolute max that we can get from James Wood. But just being a really tall hitter, kind of wiry, lanky dude, he's fast on the base paths. You know, Ellie had some issues with the launch angle and raising the ball as well early on in his career. So I just see some similarities there and obviously just lots of excitement. You know, look, the nationals are coming, man. They've got some young talent on this team with Abrams and James Wood and Dylan Cruz. Obviously, they have to figure out some pitching there, but, man, they got a pretty interesting nucleus of hitters. Mackenzie Gore slowly maybe starting to figure it back out.

Yep, we'll talk about him in just a little bit. One other rookie I wanted to mention, David Festa turned in his first career quality start. Six innings, two hits, two runs, seven strikeouts had 11 whiffs on 88 pitches, and he spammed his slider in this one. Leaned all the way in, 47% usage, and it was a pretty good pitch for him. since being recalled on July 24th, Festa has a 306 ERA, a 105 whip, 43 strikeouts over 32 and a third, and I feel like it's just kind of flown under the radar here.

Widely available, 28% rostered. What do you think about David Festa? And what's really interesting about this start is before this, the change-up had been the really special pitch. He had a 46% whiff rate with the change-up since getting called back, 42% overall, had been throwing that more than the slider since his recall. So the fact that he felt comfortable enough with the slider to throw it 47% of the time,

got five whiffs with it, five of his 11 whiffs. He looks like an uncomfortable pitcher to go against. He's tall, 6'6, gets down the mound. I think he's pretty interesting. He's showing some really interesting characteristics. And the fact that the slider worked as well as it did, as a primary pitch, bodes really well. Yeah, I'm, I'm kind of interested in David Festa,

not nearly on the level of Spencer Arrogatti or, you know, but like I'd add him over Rhett Louder, for instance. Yeah, I would add Festa over, like Jack Leiter is more rostered than David Festa. Yeah, I'd rather have Festa than Lider. I would much rather start Festa right now than Jack Lider. Absolutely. And we were talking beforehand, the twins kind of have a type, right?

like this big, tall, right-handed pitcher that gets down the mound. Festa's a big dude. Bailey Ober is huge. He's like six foot eight. And I just looked up Zebby Matthews, six foot five. So another guy that's like really big, right-handed pitcher gets that extension.

So the twins have a type. It's worked out for Bailey Ober. Hopefully they can coach up some of these guys, Festa and Zebby-Matthews as well. I do agree, I think Bowden, Francis, Arrogatti, and Jeffrey Springs are ahead of Festa. But once you get past those three, he might be the most interesting.

Yeah, it's a lot of like, who would you rather? Like Festa or his teammates, Zadby Matthews? Pesta, I think. I think so too. Let's continue on with Waverwire pitchers. A huge game from Brian Beow. Best start of his young career,

eight shutout innings, two hits, one walk, nine strikeouts, 15 whiffs on 97 pitches. And he changed things up in this start. He led with his slider. He threw it 37% of the time. Eight starts in the second. half now. It's a 342 ERA and a 118 whip. He's quietly been pretty good. Brian Bayo's 76%

rostered. Who would you rather have him or David Festa? I would rather have Festa than Bayo. Because like this was the first start out of five in the month of August where Bayo had fewer than three walks. He finishes the month with 28 strikeouts and 30 innings, three ERA. That's pretty good, but 14 walks is pretty tough. And obviously it's been a very tough season for him overall. I don't know, maybe like throwing the slider more can help. You know, maybe it gives him, you know, more of a swing and miss pitch. He throws the fastballs a little less. And maybe that's an answer. He's always had, you know, the very good change up. And he's been looking for that third pitch. And it, you can squint and sort of see a Luis Castilla.

career trajectory where I always thought Frambervaldez yeah no I'm talking specifically with the pitch mix though because remember Castillo when he came up had this awesome change up and it was just like figuring everything else out and Beio goes super sinker heavy but it's not really a good pitch I wonder like would he be better off fading the sinker for the four seamer I don't know you know maybe that you know what you're talking about would be that the Framber Valdez path of like like just spamming sinkers and getting a lot of grounders. But the one thing Framber does really well and, you know, is get a lot of, you know, kind of chases on pitches,

not necessarily swings and misses, although lately, yes, tons, but a lot of weak contact by generating chases on pitches just outside of the zone. I don't know if Framber Valdez has that, or Brian Bayo has that same ability. So I do wonder what it would look like if he changed, traded the sinker for the four seamer, but I don't know if that's going to happen either. So it might have to come down to the slider and change up more than anything.

Let's do a little beat the waiver wire looking ahead to next week because the matchups, it looks like both Festa and Bayo are going to be two star pitchers for next week. Festa is at Tampa Bay and at Kansas City. And Bayo is home against the White Sox, but also at the Mets. It's tough. Tampa Bay is a really good matchup. Obviously, at KC is pretty tough, though. Both guys have one good matchup.

Yeah. I think I just like Festa better, so I think I'd go with that. I think that's fair. The next group of Waverwire pitchers, Andrew Heaney, solid at the White Sox, five innings, one run, two strikeouts. He gets the Angels next week, so another one with a good matchup. Mackenzie Gore has turned in, back-to-back quality starts after a very rough stretch for him. Six innings, two runs, six strikeouts, 14 whiffs on 102 pitches.

up against the Yankees, but he is at the Marlins next week. And Osvaldo Bito continues to pitch well. He was at the Reds, six innings, two runs, five strikeouts, 12 whiffs on 84 pitches. I feel like we haven't really given him the time of day, but his change-up looks awesome. Slider looks like a pretty good pitch as well. He's having a really, really good month of August,

155 ERA.79 whip for Osvaldo. And two great matchups next week, the Mariners and the Tiger. man, I can get behind that. Yeah, I think he's a viable streamer. I'm not sure Osvaldo Bito is much more than that, although it's possible I'm not giving him enough credit, right? Like, I just, I see pretty mediocre, like middling strikeout rates, bad control overall,

really good quality of contact. But that's a very small sample size. Obviously, we're dealing with, what, 45 innings over the course of the season, 50 innings, something like that. So I don't know how much I buy into it. But yeah, with those matchups, I think it's, it's reasonable to stream Bito, especially in any points. So he's, he's RP eligible too, right? He's a SPARP.

I don't. I thought he was, but I looked it up earlier and it turns out he's not. Okay. That's surprising because he was pitching out of the bullpen for a little while, but maybe he just didn't make enough appearances. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

I don't know. With the other two, McKenzie Gore at the Marlins next week. and Andrew Heaney versus the Angels, I think both could also be in play for streaming. Yeah. So Gore, you look at the pitch level data and he was up half a mile per hour

over his season average with his fastball, 96.6 miles per hour. It's actually even more impressive than that because in August before this start, he was averaging 95.1 miles per hour. So compared to the rest of the month, he was up 1.5 miles per hour. And I want to say, I didn't get a chance to look this up. But I want to say there was something, a few starts ago that Scott mentioned that he was working on.

They had, yeah, he was struggling with his command and mechanics. There was a quote from Matt Natch GM, Mike Rizzo on what he's seeing. And he said he was struggling with his mechanics. the fact that McKenzie Gore's velocity was back to where it was in April when he was really good, got 14 whiffs, the fastball looked really good. I think that's very promising. So I know it's been a rough couple of months for him, but I would be okay streaming McKenzie Gore against the Marlins.

They've been one of the worst teams in baseball against lefties. Yeah. So we've talked about five names that are possible streamers for next week. If I'm ranking them, I would go, Festa versus Bayo is really close. I'll say Festa, Beo, then Beio, then Beto, because he has the two really good matchups, and then McKenzie Gore and Andrew Heaney.

Yeah, I would go Gore ahead of Heaney, but that order sounds right, yes. All right, let's quickly talk about Jack Leiter's return to the Rangers. He was a little bit inefficient here at the White Sox, four innings, six hits, three runs, two of those earned, had four strikeouts, 10 whiffs on 83 pitches. The fastball velocity was up,

He averaged 97.2 miles per hour, and he threw 67% of his pitches for strikes. I thought those two things were very good signs here from Jack Leiter, but obviously the overall line was a little bit underwhelming. Yeah, 10 whiffs on 47 swings. That's not what you're looking for. The fastball, I think, was underwhelming as the right word. Four whiffs on 26 swings. That's just, that's not going to get it done, especially because when they did make contact

with it, 93.8 mile per hour average. Jags of velocity on eight pitches. It was, I was perfectly willing to give Jack Lider a chance, take a flyer, see if it worked out. Didn't work out. It's totally fine to go out and drop him now. If you had him and McKenzie Gore's available, I'd do that. David Festa, I would do that. If maybe there's some league where Spencer Arrogate is available and Jack Lider's rostered,

it seems unlikely, but maybe absolutely do that. But yeah, I think it's perfectly fine to drop. drop him. By the way, I don't know if we've decided who to do for tomorrow's prospect spotlight, but oh my God, did you see Kumar Rockers' AAA debut? I did not, but I know everything leading up to this has been pretty awesome. He faced 16 batters. He retired 15 of them, struck out 10. The slider was out of control. I don't think he's going to get called up this year, but wow, Kumar Rocker looked awesome. And what a great story, man. Like, you know, a generational kind of pitching prospect coming out of college, had the whole fiasco

with the Mets where, you know, they didn't sign him because of the injury scare. It turned out the Mets were right because obviously Kumar Rocker needed surgery, but he had the surgery. There were many doubts. I mean, people have basically written him off. And now he's come back, and it's a really small sample size, but he has been lights out so far. So rooting for Kumar Rocker, hopefully he can, you know, keep this thing going. And hopefully, make a debut with the Rangers sometime next year. Let's take our final break, and when we return, we will talk about some waiver wire hitters right after this.

Welcome back in, let's talk some waiver wire hitters, and I do have two other outfielders. Outside of Pete Crowe Armstrong and Dylan Cruz, we know lots of excitement with those guys. Lawrence Butler is heating up again, two for five with a sock into shoe, his 16th home run, his 12th steel. Last seven games, he's bending 357 with three homers and two steals,

60% rostered and he has seven home games next week. Jock Peterson has quietly been awesome. 30 games in the second half, 313 batting average, eight home runs, two steals, and 1151 OPS. He also has seven games next week. The problem looks like four lefties on the schedule for Jock Peterson. Chris, how would you just rank all four of these guys? Pete Kro Armstrong, Dylan Cruz, Lawrence Butler, Jock Peterson.

Yeah, Jock Peterson has 35. played appearances against lefties. He has one start against the lefty. So if it's just for next week, I don't think he's in that discussion. I would probably go Cruz, Butler, PCA, and then Peterson. But I think the top three especially, like Peterson, 66% rostered is probably around the ceiling for a guy that's just absolutely not an everyday player. the rest of those guys, I think all are, if they're in your league and you need an outfielder,

they're all worth a look. Yeah, Jock, I did move up to my 51st ranked outfielder, which sounds aggressive. It's right behind Kerry Carpenter. I think those guys are really, really similar players right now. So, yeah, probably not in three outfielder leagues, but any five outfielder leagues, those guys need to be rostered. Zach Gell-off is someone who's quietly had a strong August. He went two-for-four with two steals and two runs scored.

and in the month he's betting 253 with three homers, seven steals, a 739 OPS, 46% rostered. Chris, do you think that number needs to be higher for Zach Gelloff? Sorry, I usually want to mute myself when the cat feeder goes off. I noticed that you do that. I don't think you need to. I think people like to hear the cat feeder. Someone told me it was unprofessional.

I mean, we're doing a podcast at like 2 a.m. here, guys. Like, what are we talking about? The cats got to eat because if they don't eat now, they're breaking down the door in an hour. I was going to say they're going to eat you if they don't eat their food. So what was the question? Sorry, Zach Galloff. Yeah. I don't see much reason to go out and add him. We've done this a few times this season.

Obviously, we did it at the beginning of the season. Quality of contact is still very bad. He still has to sell out for what power he can get to. I don't think he's someone who needs to be rostered much more than he is. And he might, frankly, might be too rostered at this point. Yeah, I'm looking at other second basemen that are in a similar range in terms of roster rate. And David Hamilton, 48%. I'd rather have him.

Gavin Lux at 48%. I'd rather have him. Tommy Edmund at 57%. I'd rather have him. So, yeah, I think that's how we get to Zach Gill off at 46% rostered. and one name in deeper five outfielder leagues, you might not believe me, but Andrew Benintendi is having a good August,

256 batting average, six homers, 15 RBI, one steel, and a 912 OPS. He's 13% rostered. 15 team roto leagues, five outfielders. Chris, can I interest you in Andrew Benintendi? No. I think if you're in the type of, if you're in the situation where adding Andrew Benetendi

might make, sense for you in 2024. You probably have bigger. Like, okay, I don't know. Maybe Andrew Benintendi can keep his good August

up and help dig you from 14th to 12th place in your league. I don't. Every little bit counts, man. I'm sorry to be mean, but yeah, I, he had four homers in three games

a few weeks ago and then had like seven hits in his next 12 games. if I'm eyeballing it correctly. It just, no, I don't see anything there. Hey, I just had to ask for my- You have to ask, I understand. For my Andrew Ben and Tendi fans out there.

Before we get to leftovers, let's take a look at two pitchers who have been struggling lately. What's going on with these two? Tanner Bybee up against the Royals, five innings, five runs, six strikeouts, three homers allowed in this one. Did have 14 whiffs on 99 pitches,

but, you know, a hot day in Cleveland. The ball has been flying out to right field all season long. I think Tanner Bybee kind of got doomed by that a little bit in this one. He only has one quality start in the second half, and the strikeouts are down quite a bit, 7.8K per 9 in the second half. And the other name here is Corbyn Burns,

who I'm going to call it a weird start. I know he technically gave up six runs, but only one of them was earned. Five innings, four strikeouts. He had some bad defense behind him. He still had 19 whiffs on 94 pitches. Maybe I'm making excuses. He's had a bad august.

there's no doubt 736 ERA and a 160 whip. Chris, what's going on here with Corbyn-Burns and Tanner Bybee? So with Tanner Bybee, the one thing I wanted to keep an eye on was the velocity, but that doesn't really, like overall in August, it's been right around 94.5 miles per hour, which is where he typically is, give or take, a half mile per hour. So I don't think there's really anything there. Maybe the change up in curveball haven't been quite as effective as of late,

the whiff rate on those pitches has been below 30% in both July and August. I don't know, it just sort of feels like Tanner Bybee, like on the whole has just been meh this season. Like, worth having around, not terrible overall, 365 ERA, 113-13 whip. Strikeouts are decent enough, but not the leap we were hoping for, certainly.

Arguably, a step back, in fact. So I don't know. I don't see it. Nothing jumps out when I look at the August splits. But nothing similarly jumps out to make me think that he's about to turn it around. And you said only one quality start. Only one start of six innings since the All Star break and seven starts. So that's concerning as well.

What do you think about Corbyn Burns? I mostly think. that this is just a run where he's either not pitching well or just getting bad results, but not necessarily like something I'm super panicked about. But it's been clear all season that he's not the same guy. It was clear when he had a 247 ERA at the end of July and was still getting great results, but the strikeout rate's been down all year, the whiff rate on the cutter is down to before this start it was down to 17% for the season.

Last year it was 23% 22, 22%, 28%, 2021, 32%. That was obviously the, it's like the opposite of the Corbyn Carroll monthly OPS chart where it's just gone straight down every year to a point now where it's just not a great pitch. It's gone from being a really special pitch to just kind of, Okay. Still does a really good job limiting hard context. Still has a phenomenal team backing him up. Great home park. I just think it's probably more, you know, the ERA is at 323 now. It's probably more that moving forward than true ACE production. I am very interested in Corbyn Burns's free agency to see how this is going to turn out. 30 year old, clearly on the decline, wants eight years. He's like Boris.

agent like yep he was definitely going to ask for 200 million and he probably still will i i don't know if i'd feel comfortable giving him like five years a hundred million on a big market team i'd do that if i was the oriels hell hell yeah the the one year with a 30 million dollar option contract that he's going to end up signing in like february please it's going to be a a tough look Please, no. You know, I did want to quickly look up the contract that Carlos Verdon got because obviously that was like 150 million over eight years, right? Six years, 162 million, 27 million AAV. That?

Like if Carlos Verdon got that, that kind of seems like the floor for Corbyn Burns. Carlos Verdon's last season before Free Agency was a lot better, but obviously Burns has a much longer track record. Yeah, that might make sense. Yeah. Like I could see 6150, 7 180, something like that. 7175, right?

Like 25 mil A.A.A.V. something like that. But like he's not, he's not getting the Garrett Cole contract. No, no, I do not see that happening for Corbyn Burns. Some pitching leftover is Chris Sale just keeps on plugging away

at the twin. Six innings, one run, six strikeouts for him. Freddie Peralta was awesome up against the Giants. Six shutout innings with eight strikeouts, had 17 whiffs on 105 pitches.

Luis Castillo was okay up against Tampa Bay, five and two thirds, two runs. Only four strikeouts, but had 19 whiffs on 97 pitches. So feels like he was deserving of more strikeouts in that one. And Joe Musgrove, a quality start at the Cardinals, six innings, three runs, but only three strikeouts. Chris, anything to add on Musgrove, Castillo, Peralta, and Chris Sale. Yeah, I mean, you said Chris Sale keeps plugging away. There was a start a couple, maybe last week, you know, a couple starts ago, where I didn't

mention him in the newsletter. And I got an email like, why didn't you write about Chris Allen? It's like, it's a dog bites man's story at this point, right? Like he's going to win the Cy Young. He's going basically six innings with one earn run every time out. Like I'll write about him if he gets rocked. But at this point, I don't really have anything to say. He's awesome.

Freddie Peralta, I'll take any good start I can get from him at this point because it's been a really frustrating season. Good to see the fastball playing up in this one that had not been there the same way we've gotten used to. But he's also always been, you know, kind of the right-handed Blake Snell. He goes through these stretches where he's dominant. He goes through these stretches where he's just not very good. And at the end of the day, you're pretty happy you have him on your team.

It's just you kind of have to just cover your eyes along the ride. So that's, you know, if he had an unbelievable. believably good September. I would not be surprised at all. And Luis Castillo, just okay. That's kind of the Luis Castillo story at this point. It's just everything's gotten a little worse. I'm surprised he hasn't like gone back to the changeup just to see.

Because that, you know, obviously has been a very, very good pitch for him in the past, but he's kind of ditched it since getting to Seattle. And, you know, the fastball were reaching a point of diminishing returns. I wonder if that's one possible move for Luis Castillo. Chris Bassett had his best start in a while. And for anyone who actually had him in the lineup, you could thank me because I bench Chris Bassett. I benched him too.

You know, you see at Boston on the schedule. And let's see, his previous nine starts before this, a 680 ERA in a 153 whip. He just goes out there, six and two thirds innings, one run, nine strikeouts, 17 whiffs on 102 pitches. He threw more sweepers in the, this one and it clearly worked. So maybe this is something that can help Chris Bassett finish strong.

He's sort of like Jose Barrios and that it's just like, it's never quite clear why things go wrong. It's never quite clear why things go right. It's just at the end of the day, you probably feel okay about Chris Bassett in your lineup after the season. The ride there is bumpy. And I don't think I don't think. ever had Chris Bassett on fantasy teams, but I always remember, like, previous years doing the

podcast, it's like, oh, look at this awesome stretch that Chris Bassett is on. And then, you know, I drafted him in a few spots this year, and it hasn't been the most fun experience. It also, yeah, it's been more bad than good. It's been a bad year for him. It's like, I've been a down year compared to previous years, but, uh, yeah, not the best from Chris Bassett. Maybe he could finish strong after this one. Uh, wanted to mention Carlos Rodon, who hit a speed bump up against the Nationals, five and two-thirds innings, five runs, had eight strikeouts, still getting lots of whiffs. 16 whiffs on 100 pitches in this one. His last six starts before this, it's 267 ERA 107 whip. Also notice he has some really stark home road splits, so maybe that's something you keep

in mind when deciding starter sit on Carl's Ferdon. Yeah, from what I saw, you know, watching the highlights and looking in the data, this was a pretty good start and just the results didn't quite go his way, but I, I, I wasn't too alarmed. I think he's fine. Some hitting leftovers, Vinnie P. Baby! Vinny Pass Quantino, four for five with his 19th home run. He had four hard hits in this game. He is having a big second half, 303 batting average, eight home runs, 843 OPS. William Contreras has picked things back up in August, 289 with seven home runs and a 1018 OPS. Julio Rodriguez homered on Wednesday, but he has been quite bad since returning from the IL. 15 games, 190 batting average, only one homer, and a 559 OPS.

And despite missing some time, Jazz Chisholm has been great with the Yankees. Maybe not defensively, I think he has five errors in his last three games, but two for three with a sock and a shoe, his 22nd home run, his 28th steal, 20 games with the Yankees, 304 batting average, nine homers, six steals, and an OPS approaching a thousand for Jazz Chisholm. Some bullpen updates for the Royals. Lucas Erseg entered in the seventh inning with runners on first and second, a two-run lead.

He gave up three singles. He allowed three runs in. He was charged with his fourth bone save and fourth loss. I get why teams do this. They want to use their best reliever in the biggest spot in the game. But obviously it sucks for fantasy. Yeah, I mean, more often than not,

the ninth inning will be the biggest spot. Yeah. And so it's unfortunate that he didn't get it today and didn't get a save. The way he pitched today, he wouldn't have gotten a save anyway. So, you know, I guess you can't feel cheated there. For the Guardians,

Emmanuel Class A pitched a clean ninth inning for his 39th save. For the Rangers in game one of their doubleheader, Kirby Yates walked one but struck out two for his 24th save. For the A's, Mason Miller gave up a hit and a walk, but he struck out two for his 23rd save. For the Nationals, Kyle Finningin had a three-run lead. He gave up a hit and walk,

but picked up his 34th save. For the Red Sox, Kenley Jansen struck out one for his 25th. For the Padres, Robert Suarez, got the bottom of the ninth against the Cardinals. The game was tied. He gave up a run on three hits and took his second loss. For the Brewers, Devin Williams struck out one for his sixth save. For the Dodgers, Michael Kopeck struck out two for his 12th save. And I am just seeing now that Justin Martinez struck out one for his seventh save.

Chris, who do you like more? Yeah, that was Edwin Diaz blew the save in the, He was going for a four-out save, gave up the, I think, do you give up the Grand Slam to Corbyn Carroll? That would make sense. Yeah. Yep, Grand Slam. Anyone Diaz has given up some big homers recently, too.

Yeah, he's had a handful of blown saves. I'm not particularly worried about it, but the ERA is up to 430. Yeah. And then, so yeah, that was the other side of that game. Martinez is the closer. Sure looks like Michael Copac's the closer. Who do you like more, Martinez or Kopeck?

I don't know how strong the job security for either of them is. I don't know who I think is better either. Kopex obviously been awesome for the last month or so, but I think I would go Martinez, but I think most people would not agree with me. I have them back to back in my rankings, but I forget which one is ahead. So I am trying to pull it up real quick.

And I say don't look at it. It's Schrodinger's closer rankings and just whichever one has a better game at any point, you can just claim that's the one you have ranked higher. Here you go, Chris. People might not agree with you. They might not agree with me either because Justin Martinez one spot ahead of Michael Kopeck

in the rankings. To stream or not to stream on Thursday, we have Bowden Francis who's at the Red Sox. Ryan Nelson gets the Mets. David Peterson is on the other side at the debacks. Hayden Birdsong and Aaron Savali are facing each other. would really prefer not to use any of them. Even though there are some names,

I really like there, like Ryan Nelson and Bounden Francis especially, but those matchups and like even David Peterson, who's been really good lately at Arizona, I mean, it might work out for all three of them, but I just don't like the matchups for what are ultimately, I think still pretty marginal starters.

And on Friday, we have Colin Ray at the Reds. Ret Louders making his debut against the Brewers, Martin Perez at Tampa Bay. Ben lively gets the pirates, J.P. Sears at Texas. I don't love any of these, but if I had to choose, I would probably say lively against the pirates, Martine Perez at the Rays, and J.P. Sears at the Rangers.

Yeah, I think those would be my favorites, and I might like the top two more than anybody on Thursday. All right, we are going to wrap there for Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a 5-star rating on Apple or Spotify, and we will be back again. Tomorrow. Bye-bye.

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