Fantasy Baseball Today - Blake Snell is on Fire, IL Stash Rankings & Struggling Players to Drop (9/1 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 1, 2021

Blake Snell is on some kind of roll right now (1:00). ... Is Amed Rosario a must-add after his five-hit game (3:57)? Why does Zach Plesac hate Frank? ... Joe Ryan is being called up Wednesday (10:25). Should you add him anywhere? ... News and notes (16:48). Lance Lynn went to the IL, Bogaerts tested positive for COVID and more. ... Can we drop these struggling players like Andrew McCutchen, Trent Grisham, and Austin Gomber (35:05)? ... Bailey Ober or Luis Patiño (46:46)? What did we think of Corey Kluber and Chris Paddack in their returns (49:26)? ... We wrap up Tuesday leftovers, bullpens, and streamers (52:05). 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

Now here's Frank, Scott, Chris, and Adam. And just like that, September is here. Welcome in to fantasy baseball today on Wednesday, September 1st. Frank Stamphill joined by Scott White, here to talk. injury stash rankings. Scott wrote an article, which is currently live on the site. We have veterans to consider dropping potential league winners and more. But Scott, if we're talking league winners, we got to start with Blake Snell. I mean, seven no-hit innings on Tuesday against the Diamondbacks.

Pierce Johnson gave up a hit in the 8th, so there wound up being no-no hitter. That's not the story here. It's Blake Snell. 19 more swinging strikes on 107 pitches. Last six starts, 1.74 ERA. 54 strikeouts to just 12 walks over, I believe it was, 36 and a third innings pitched. I mean, Blake Snell is just a rocket ship up the rankings, absolute must start every time out, rest of season, in my opinion.

I mean, the most notable stat, three seven innings starts in August. Yeah. You know if Blake Snell is going seven innings, the rest of it's got to be good. Yeah, I mean, we'd pretty much written them on. before this stretch. We were pretty much done with Blake Snell except as a match-ups play, you know? And suddenly he's showing us all

what made him so attractive in the first place. And really simple trick he's done here. It's something that has helped many a pitcher turn around in recent years, and that is throwing his best pitches more and his worst pitches less. Once again, his change-up in this start, he threw just one. He threw just one, according to Stadcast, and has really faded that pitch.

It hasn't been a good pitch for him. As I pointed out before, the numbers against it. Hitters have just teed off on it this year. And a lot of slides, actually, he threw his fastball a ton in this one, but the slider usage has been up throughout this stretch. and obviously he's getting results with it. You know? It's a simple trick. I guess simple in design,

but maybe difficult in execution. I don't know why it would be difficult in execution. Just throw the pitch you probably throw best, the one you're probably most comfortable throwing, throw it more. But whatever, it's working for Blake Snell. And I stopped short of saying he's must start now, but pretty close to it.

He is for me. I think just the way that he's pitching right now, it doesn't really matter who he's facing, he's going out there, and he's absolutely dominating. And you mentioned simplifying the pitch mix, and I think he's just throwing pitches right now that he can command because earlier on in the season, and I don't think we were wrong to say that, look, he should be out of your lineups. We probably recommended dropping him at some point. Through his first 19 starts, Blake's now had a 5.44 ERA. He was pitching awfully. He was averaging nearly six walks per nine during that stretch.

And over his last six starts, he's right around three walks per nine. The strikeouts are up. And again, that comes back to being able to command those pitches right now. So Blake's now is on an absolute tear. I believe he is a must start starting pitcher rest of season. Let's talk about some of the other standouts from Tuesday. Oh, my goodness gracious. So I messed up.

I didn't ask you beforehand, Scott, who you want. as your oh my goodness gracious player. I'll get us started. You can figure out where you want to go. But hopefully you weren't going to choose this guy. You weren't going to choose this guy because I know. It's just, he's not, he's not for you. Ahmed Rosario goes five for five with a double dong,

one inside the park homer and one out of the park homer, which is a new nickname here on the podcast. Very simple. The in and out. Makes sense. In and out. I assume this won't happen very often so you won't hear it on the podcast. Maybe once a season.

But it's an awesome feat to go. five for five inside the park home run, obviously hit one over the fence as well here for Rosario. But it's not just this game. He's having a monster second half. And we saw this. There was, it was like a month, maybe a two-month stretch earlier this year

where Amrero Zario was performing really well, and he's doing it again. In the second half, he's batting 3.45, five homers, four steals, 13 doubles. He's 62% rostered on CBS. He has outfield shortstop eligibility. and I know typically you are skeptical. That's the word I'll use, Scott, for a Meta Rosario.

Are you coming around with this recent play in the second half? I think he can be a useful player. So he finishes the month of August with four home runs, three stolen bases. Obviously, one of those home runs was an inside the Parker, which I don't know that that deserves to be counted among a player, home run total really. It's at least for analytical purposes. But let's give it to him.

Four home runs, three stolen bases this month. An amazingly hot month. The one month this year, you know what? He had over 300 in May as well. So one of two months this year where he's hit over 300. And yet four home runs, three stolen bases is all he'd deliver.

Like at his hottest, four home runs and three stolen bases is what he gives you over the course of a month. And I just, you know, he's long been a hollow source of batting average with a very, a smattering of stolen bases in there, right? But there's just not enough counting stats. There's just not enough counting stats. I feel like you're kind of downplaying four homers and three steals in a month, right, Scott?

Because, I mean, over... If you can count on them to do it every month. Yeah, I mean, 24 home runs 18 steals. But that is a, that is a, his absolute hottest, you know? Yeah. And, and, like, he's, he's, he's done 18 steals before, I'm pretty sure. That's, that's probably, like, the maximum he's done over the course of a season.

Never done 24 home runs before. Let's see. He's career high, 15 home runs. He had 24 steals one year. This is only 20 steel season. I mean, I don't know. It's, it's, I know, I know this guy's been really cold the past couple of months, Isaiah Kiner Folefa, I feel like Rosario can be a better version of that.

It's not useless. But I don't know. I have trouble getting excited about it. Overall, he has the batting average up to 290. Five hit game will obviously help that as well. So 62% rostered, would you be looking to add him? Is he a must add? Do you get them in points leagues and three outfielder category leagues as well?

No. I probably wouldn't. I mean, if you're struggling to fill a lineup spot, shortstop or outfields. You know, particularly this time of year, there's nothing wrong with going with the hot hand play. But he's not going to hit $3.50 in September as well. I can promise you that.

More on that a little bit later on too, because I want to talk about the strategy when it comes to can you drop players that you've held on to all season long to pick up hot hands? Because, look, there's only one month left in the season, right? We don't really have much to look forward to. I think you kind of just want to play who's hot

and hopefully ride it out with them. and they help you win overall. But we'll talk about that in a little bit. Scott, you're oh my goodness gracious player from Tuesday. I am going to... You sound so bothered by it.

I was so busy talking about Ahmed Rizari. I didn't actually get a chance to look into it. I think Zach Plesack. Same game. Probably made some people say, oh my goodness gracious tonight

with his seven two-hit innings against the Royals. Seven strikeouts, no walks. He hates me. Zach Pleasek hates me. I know we kind of have this hate-hate thing going on because, you know, I last week I poo-poo him.

I say how much he stinks here on the podcast. I'm sure that he's listening in and that's why he shoved this start right in my face. And I told everyone to bench him too, right? It's a two-star week. And I still think that was the right play. I mean, the way that he was pitching and he still has another start against Boston later this week. The guy absolutely hates me. Zach Pletack hates it.

The way he has pitched all year. He stinks. What was the justific? The only justification for, for starting Zach Plyssack this week. And it's a two-star week, by the way. The second matchup isn't nearly as good as the Royals. So it could all collapse in on itself here.

But the only justification for starting Zach Plessack was that the matchup was good. And like you can say that for any pitcher starting against the Royals, you know? It's like somehow the Royals. That's usually not a good enough reason on its own, you know? Yeah, I mean, we talk about that a lot, right? where matchups only matter so much

is still the pitcher who's ultimately making that start, right? And we've seen more often than not these starts kind of blow up in our face. But I mean, it's hard to imagine the Royals' offense actually being worse than Zach Plessack the pitcher this year.

But hey, they showed it on Tuesday. Yeah. I mean, I don't think Zach Plesack is, you know, he had eight whiffs on 96 pitches. So that certainly is an impressive. Of course, he's very vulnerable to home runs, he didn't happen to give a one up in this game. There aren't many home run hitters in the Royals

lineup, and it's a big park. So, you know, when he doesn't get up home when he doesn't give up home runs, he throws enough strikes that he can pitch deep into games. And that's what happened in this one. But I don't, I think you're right to move on to Zach, please, Zach, and

this start is no reason to get back on board with it. We have a few call-ups, Scott, making their return or debut to the majors for, at least for the case of Joe Ryan, who will be called up by the Twins on Wednesday when rosters expand to 28. And I expect over the next couple of days, weeks, we'll see even more prospects, maybe some fringe prospects get called up as well.

Again, in years past, it's been a 40-man roster. Actually, last year was 28 as well, right? I don't remember how they handled it last year, to be honest. It was obviously wacky roster rules in only a two-and-a-half-month season. but for a full-length season, obviously the roster expansion is very different from what we remember it being. Normally, you could expand to up to 40.

You could bring 40 guys up on your Major League roster in September if you wanted to. If you rarely did teams actually add that many players, but it could be a lot. Now it's just two, two extra spots. And so 60, there are going to be 60 more players with the job tomorrow. I imagine most of that's going to be depth.

Yeah. It's kind of even before the expansion shrank like it has, you know, it was kind of an old school idea that, oh, teams introduced their top prospects in September to give them a trial run for next year, you know, a cup of coffee or whatever. You see that occasionally, but that's not really something teams are motivated to do much anymore. I remember, I think Freddie Freeman was like that, but even him, you're talking over a decade ago at this point. point, right? Yeah. Well, let's talk about Joe Ryan, who came over in the Nelson Cruz trade from the Tampa Bay raise. He will be on the roster for the Twins on Wednesday,

and I believe he's actually making the start on Wednesday as well. So in 14 games this year in the minors, 13 starts at AAA, 3.41 ERA for Joe Ryan, 0.79 whip, 92 strikeouts, over 66 innings, and he comes with great control. He has an awesome fastball, a pretty good slider, not really much after that. So it doesn't have the most diverse arsenal at this point. He allows a lot of fly balls as well. I think that's worth mentioning. He's 6% rostered.

Scott, would you be looking to add Joe Ryan anywhere? I think at 15 teams and up, I think it's kind of, you know, he's a fringe top 100 guy. Now, his minor league numbers are fantastic, especially the strikeout rate. And in 2019, he had an ERA below two. his year, it was 196 in 2019. And yet, I'm not sure he's ever been a top 100 guy by the major publications,

which makes him a fascinating sort of prospect, because it's mostly just a fastball, an amazing fastball. He does have a couple of pitches that he can use to change pace a little bit, but it's really just that fastball. High spin fastball, gets a lot of swings and misses on it.

Is that going to work against a major league lineup? in a starting capacity. And I think it's a big question. But if it does, you know, obviously that could be a great thing. I mean, that was kind of the profile for Freddie Peralta when he first came up. And it took him a while to find consistency at the major league level.

And eventually he did have to develop a slider that's helped put him over the top this year. But there were signs of him developing more along the way. And so maybe Joe Ryan can have a few splashy starts here down the stretch. It's not even clear that he is going to be in the rotation, right? I assume he will. Yeah, I think the most recent news that I saw was that he actually was going to start on Wednesday. Okay. I mean, it would make sense that they'd give him a look there.

You know, it's kind of like Glenn Otto where the numbers are impressive enough that you want to pay attention to him, even though the prospect pedigree isn't what you'd expect it to be given the numbers. Yeah, it is confirmed that Joe Ryan will start on Wednesday. So let's see where it goes from here. 15 team leagues are deeper. If he performs well, this start, maybe another start out. We start to look at him in shallower leagues, some standard mixed leagues as well. Nate Pearson is the other name.

He is a former top pitching prospect in baseball. He's dealt with a lot of injuries the past couple of seasons, being called up by the Toronto Blue Jays, but he's being used as a reliever. He will not be used in the starting rotation. And he's made six appearances in August at AAA, six endings, two runs, eight strikeouts. So, I mean, I think we'll see a lot of velocity, a lot of potentially a lot of strikeouts here, Scott.

But I don't think you need to add Pearson anywhere. I don't think so either. Okay. Well, thank you for the confirmation. Before we hit news and notes, the 2021 fantasy football today draftathon to Porting St. Jude is today. Wednesday, September 1st, just as fantasy draft season is getting underway.

Tune into the six-hour stream for non-stop fantasy advice. 6 p.m. to midnight eastern time tonight when you are listening to this. The FFT experts will be joined by 30 industry experts to get you prepared for your fantasy drafts while raising money for St. Jude. You can watch the entire stream on the Fantasy Football Today YouTube channel. That's YouTube.com slash fantasy football today. Okay, I've got some bad news, and I know that you are all going to hate me for this, but starting next week, fantasy baseball today and fantasy baseball today and five are moving to three podcasts per week for the rest of the season. You'll have a pod in your feed every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

We'll be live on YouTube every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday night, just like we always have been. and before you blame football or anything else that's going on or blame me, you can blame me if you want, that's fine. Just don't blame Scott. Just know that this is what this is what this podcast has always done. You could go back and look when Adam Mazer was hosting this podcast. Every year, by the time we get to September, it was always three times per week. I checked back 2017, 2018, 2018, 2019.

We always go to three times per week. So as always, we do appreciate each and every one of you. And we hope that you'll stick it out with Scott and me for the rest of the season as we close it out strong. News and notes, Lance Land went to the aisle with right knee inflammation, but is only expected to miss one start. I kind of think Robbie Ray is going to win the Siong, Scott, because he had another awesome start on Monday.

I believe it was 10 strikeouts, a ton of swinging strikes again. Garrett Cole, I mean, he's been fine. He's been really good, but I think Robbie Ray might actually win the Siong, which is crazy. Yeah, I mean, he's certainly trending toward looking like, the best pitcher in the AL. It's a close call between him and Garrett Cole already. And I think when you consider,

you consider Garrett Cole's relationship with the sticky substance ban, which, you know, I don't know exactly if he was using something or what he was using, but he's associated with it because he saw big drops and spin rates right away, big drop in production right away.

I think that might hurt him with voters and help tip the scales more toward Ray. So yeah, I think it's highly possible. Now, Ray did only pick up his 10th win, I think. Yeah, but... I mean, it doesn't matter for us. It might...

If it matters for Sy Young voters, then they shouldn't be voting. Fine. Yeah. No, they don't. I mean, they don't put nearly as much weight on wins as they used to. but it might cost him a first place voter too. Yeah, it might.

And I don't want to completely rule out Lance Land. I mean, he's been awesome too, but now this is a second IL stint on the season. I don't know, that might detract some people there. But overall, Robbie Ray has broken 200 strikeouts. He's at 202 over 159 in the third, and he's pitched just an absolutely awesome season for Robbie Ray. And once again, I was texting with Adam Azor earlier on Tuesday night,

and we were talking about how he was off by one year. His bold prediction, Heading into 2020 was that Robbie Ray would finish top three in the National League, Syong Voting, when he was on that Diamondback. So he said, make sure I give him a shout out and give him some credit. So credit where it's due. Adam Azar, off by one year. Zander Bogartz has tested positive for COVID.

The weirdest part about this is that he was able to start the game and then he left in the second inning. And this isn't the first time this happened this year. I believe that happened with Trey Turner, where we all thought, oh, man, he's getting traded. And it turned out he tested positive and they pulled him from the game. It's just, I think this is just a really bad look. for baseball? I don't know what's going on where are they not getting the results back in time? It's like, what's the point of even

testing these guys before the game if you're not going to get the results in time to know whether or not they're positive? And you let him start the game and he's exposed to other players. It's a really weird situation. Anyway, for Bogart's, Matt Barnes has also tested positive. So it's going around right now with the Boston

Red Sox and I hope no one else catches it there, but they will both each miss a minimum of 10 days here, Matt Barnes and Zander Bogart's. George Springer, left early as a precaution. Apparently he grimaced rounding the bases and then was confused when he got pulled. So maybe it's not a big deal, but cross your fingers on Springer, he recently returned from this knee injury. So I don't know. It's been a pretty lost season for George Springer. Lucas G. Alito left early with a pulled left hamstring. And yeah, I was watching that start.

He went to go make a play. His leg kind of slipped a little bit. It looked a little awkward. So hopefully he's all right. Ozzie Albies. This one could be pretty bad because he, he's, had to get carried off the field by multiple teammates and then I think some trainers. He fouled the ball off of his knee and it looked really, really bad, Scott. So I don't know if you've seen anything yet on Albies, but... Yeah, there were x-rays. The x-rays were negative. Okay. So that doesn't mean he won't have to go on the I.L.

or miss some time. I mean, it could be a bone bruise. It could be something else. But it's not a fracture. It's not a fracture in there. So that's... initial indications are encouraging. Joe Madden said on Monday that Mike Trout is still dealing with some soreness in his ailing right calf. I just, I don't think it's going to happen for Mike Trout this season. And it doesn't really make sense. The Angels are not playing for much. I think it makes more sense to just shut him down for this season and have him have an extended offseason, get him ready for next year.

Because the angels kind of go as Mike Trout goes and they haven't had them. And I don't think they will. Well, have they? Well, that's true. Yeah, you're right. Do they go as Mike Trout goes? They just got to go nowhere. While I was saying that, I was like, that's not true, Frank.

What are you saying? So you're right. Good. Call me out. Call me out when I say stuff like that. Dave Roberts said that Cody Bellinger, quote, for the most part, will not start against lefties moving forward. And I've got some veterans a little bit later on that we'll talk about that you might want to drop. We brought it up last week.

I think you dropped Cody Bellinger, Scott. I mean, he's not starting against lefties and he's just awful overall. So he was betting eighth on Tuesday. It happened a few weeks later than I thought it would. But remember when we were waiting for Trey Turner, Mookie bats, with everybody to get healthy, and we're like, oh, what's going to happen to Pollock? What's going to happen in Chris Taylor?

It's like, well, Cody Bellinger, I mean, the Dodgers don't have an automatic playoff bid, and they need people who are performing right now. That's more important than rehabilitating Cody Bellinger's swing. It might make sense for him to be the one who said, at least against left-handers. And that's kind of the explanation Dave Roberts gave. So it took a while for them to come around to it.

But now that they're there, I think it's pretty safe to drop Cody Bellinger. Yeah, which is, it just sounds crazy to say. But again, we're like, we're at this point in the season where it's, we can't wait anymore. He's 96% rostered. So that, I think that number should be a lot lower by this time next week. Zach Rankie went on the COVID-I-L. Jose Orkitti will return this weekend and start in his place. Mike Schilt indicated that he would play the matchups in the ninth inning for the time being when it comes to saves moving forward.

Giovanni Gallegos did pick up the save on Monday night. So, Giovanni Gallegos was the only guy that Schilt named as somebody he could turn to instead. And John Mazelak, I think that's how you pronounce the Cardinals' GM's name. He said he thought it would be a committee, but Gallegos was also the only one that he's. singled out. So I think it's I think the only two Cardinals relievers to be invested in our

Gallegos and Alex Reyes at this point. And I suspect they'll turn back to Reyes sooner than later. They're just going to kind of give them a break. I mean, that's how they presented it. But it's possible. I mean, Gallegos is a really good reliever.

It's possible that it could just emerge as the closer over the final month here. So if it's a league where saves their scares on the waiver wire. You need to be invested in him at this point. Yep, Gallegos is 36% rostered and I think he said it right. They're going to take Alex race out for now, but if Gallegos closes out three games in a row and I mean, he does it pretty easily, then they might just stick with them. We see that happen quite often when it comes to closers. And because Matt Barnes is on the COVID IL now, having tested positive,

You know, he's going to be out for about two weeks, maybe a little less. But he was being, you know, given a chance to, they were taking a break from him. The Red Sox were. And my assumption was the same that I said for Reyes, that the Red Sox would probably turn back to Matt Barnes. But now that's not going to be an option for a couple more weeks. And then he's still going to have to prove himself all over. again. So I don't know that he is going to get the job back from Adam Ottavino. I'm definitely concerned about that as somebody who's invested in Matt Barnes. Adam Adavino did have two saves

over the weekend as well. So worth noting there, would you rather have Ottavino or Gallegos in a Categories League? I'm, Gallegos is a better pitcher, but I would, I feel more confident that Adavino is going to get more saves down the stretch. Tristan McKenzie will be activated from the aisle and start Thursday's game against the Royals. We also what Zach Plyssack just did against them. So this is really good to see. I didn't know if he was just going to be out for the rest of the season. He was dealing with some shoulder fatigue.

76% rostered is Tristan McKenzie. He might be out there if you play in a shallower league. Definitely, definitely add him if you can. Willie Adomis returned to the lineup on Tuesday. Brian Snicker said that Tuki Tucson could re-enter the rotation this weekend in Corse Field, which is very yucky. But at least they're considering getting Tucson back in there. I know Drew Smiley got bombed on Monday.

Obviously, you don't want to start Tucson in Corris Field, but if he has good matchups after that, yeah, I mean, he's someone that we could look at. Rymel Tapia was activated on Monday, and he started in left field for the Rockies. And since they're in American League ballpark right now, Connor Joe remained in the lineup, and he let off on Monday. Sam Hilliard was in the outfield. Let me pull up their lineup from Tuesday just to make sure. but my lean is that once they get back to Colorado this weekend, Scott, Connor Joe will remain in the lineup and Sam Hilliard will be the one on the outside looking in.

Yeah, they've talked about playing Rymel Tapia in centerfield more now that he's back so that they can keep Connor Joe in the lineup. They're on the record about that. So I don't know that it'll be an everyday thing, but clearly they appreciate what Connor Joe has provided for them so far as they should. and I think that means Connor Joe should be picked up in all leagues. I picked him up this weekend in my shallowest league,

a 10-teamor, a 10-team head-to-head points league. Roster sizes are a little bigger than most head-to-head points leagues, but still, I picked him up even there, and he's still widely available. Connor Joe looks like he's here to stay, at least for the rest of this year. 35% rostered is Connor Joe. He has first base and outfield eligibility,

and looking at the Rockies lineup on Tuesday, Tuesday, Connor Joe was also still in there. He was leading off at DH. Rimal Tapia batting second and left field. Sam Hilliard was batting ninth playing center field. Sam Hilliard also homered in that game. Bud Black said that John Gray's bullpen session on Tuesday went well and that he's optimistic Gray will be able to start on Thursday

against the Atlanta Braves. Both Alex Wood and Johnny Quato were placed on the COVID-I-L on Monday. Johnny Quato came off and then pitched on Tuesday. He got destroyed. Deployed, yeah. Alex Wood actually tested positive, so he's going to be out for at least the next 10 days for the Giants. I think it's fair to say Quoedo was still feeling under the weather

because his velocity was down two miles per hour on his fastball, and he doesn't have much of a fastball left to begin with. So it's understandable he got crushed here. Kyle Finnegan landed on the paternity list on Tuesday. Victor Robles was optioned to AAA, which means more playing time for Lane Thomas, who's been leading off recently. He's a name to look at in, you know, deeper,

leagues and only obviously, but even in 15 teamers, he runs a little bit. The name there, Lane Thomas. Michael Chavis went on the IL with a right elbow sprain. Hoy Park was recalled. Luke Weaver. True story. I, uh, throw back. I, uh, I texted Adam to see if you could hop on Zoom so I could just record him singing Luke Weaver, but the guy is just super swamped right now, so I don't blame him. Luke Weaver will be back on Wednesday and start against the San Diego Padres. anything here, Scott, are you watching Weaver to see what he does? It's been a long time since I've watched Weaver to see what he does. This isn't really news or notes, but I think this is a situation we're talking about.

It's pretty hilarious. But Javier Baez on Sunday said that the booing situation that they were doing was that they were mocking fans because the fans were booing them and whatever, so on and so forth. Steve Cohen opens up its big mouth, yada yada, yada, okay, Baez then apologizes, which is fine. It makes sense. get it. Then on Tuesday, he hits an RBI single in the 9th and then scores the winning run. And like the Mets broadcast is going crazy. Mets fans everywhere are going crazy. Poetic justice

for Javier Baez. I thought this whole situation was pretty interesting. A prospect update, I wanted to give you Marlin's prospect, left-hander Jake Adair, no relation to Ellen Adair, will require Tommy John's surgery and he was actually having a really, really good season in the minors. So hope you're all right, Jake Adair. I'm not sure you knew this about me, Scott. but I really enjoy going to see live music. In particular, I've seen Metallica seven times. Nothing can beat the excitement of a live crowd, and I wish I could do it from the comfort of my own home.

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the Peloton bike has the right music to keep you entertained and motivated all year long. And I think there might be some kind of misconception that the Peloton bike is just some kind of workout bike, and that's all. It's way, way more than that. You can choose from all different types of classes and programs like cardio, strength, yoga, Pilates, outdoor runs, meditation, and more. With the Peloton bike, there's nothing like working out from home. Learn more at OnePeloton.com.

New members can try Peloton classes free for 30 days at OnePeloton.com. Terms apply. That's O-N-E-P-E-P-E-L-T-O-N dot com. Let's take a quick break when we return. We'll talk about some of these injured players worth stashing. Scott wrote an article. We'll talk about it next here. Fantasy baseball today.

All right. So the six that are on the back soon but could pay off big category include Freddie Peralta, Aaron Savali, Jesse Winker, Wilson Gutreras, Eduardo Escobar, and Adelberto Montesey, I actually have news on four of those players that we can talk about right now. Adelberto Montesi could be activated on Wednesday

for the Royals. He is 78% rostered and needs to be on every single category league team. Any league where he's available in a category league, he needs to be rostered, right, Scott? Yep. Yep, yep, yep. Definitely would add him over. Ahmed Rosario, that's for sure.

Come on, it's good. You just got to crush my Ahmed Rosaria love. Come on. In September, in just September, he could like gain you 12 stolen bases. I mean, it's within the realm of possibility. Oh, 100.

And yeah, it makes sense. He seems to have his timing down to AAA. I know he recently homered in back-to-back games. There's no guarantee. He doesn't get hurt again. The next time he sets foot on a big league, lineup, of course, in a big league diamond. But the impact potential is great.

Wilson Contreras started a rehab assignment on Tuesday. So I believe I saw he could be back as soon as this weekend. Eduardo Escobar, another one who could be back this weekend. Freddie Peralta is expected to start Friday against the Cardinals. And Scott, I know you had a little write-up about Aaron Savali, where he threw four and two-thirds innings in his latest rehab start, which suggests he could be back. for most, if not all of September.

He's still 91% rostered, so there's not really anything actionable, but to get a pitcher of Savali's caliber back, obviously would help. Yeah, no, I actually moved him to number two in my IL-Stash rankings behind just Freddie Peralto's back this weekend, because that's the priority Savali is now that it appears

he's on the version of returning. Now, it was reported just today that he will make one more rehab start. They didn't actually specify just one more rehab start. They said he'll make another rehab start. So I presume it'll be the last one if he's already going five innings. But we'll see. The only other news item I saw from any players that were on your list of injury stash rankings

was Kyle Lewis, who ran the bases on Tuesday. And he was actually in your whatever category. I think in a categories league, you mentioned adding him in five outfielder leagues and stashing him there. I think it makes sense. A little bit of power, a little bit of speed. When we saw him earlier this year, the strikeout rate was actually down quite a bit for Kyle Lewis. So I was encouraged by that.

He's coming back from knee surgery. I think it's a meniscus he was dealing with, but I'm not sure how much he's going to run. Right. Well, I'm not sure how much he's going to play. He's running the bases. That is an important step in the rehabilitation process. But as much time as he's missed, he's going to need a lengthy rehab assignment too. Yeah.

And we're down to four lineup blocks left this season. I think that's right. Just four. That sounds about right. All right, you can find the rest of those Scott's aisle-stash rankings there. Currently live on the site, CBSSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. It is September. It is crunch time, Scott.

Can we drop these struggling veterans? And I'm going to throw, we're not going to do drop-o-meter. Just tell me what format, maybe what league size you would be looking to drop these players, if anywhere. Maybe you want to hold on to them. Andrew McCutcheon went two for three with his 22nd home run of the season on Tuesday, but he had a truly awful August, a sub-500 OPS. That's now two months of the season where he's been really, really bad.

I know April was awful for him as well, and then he had that stretch from May through June where he was really, really good. I didn't really look into July. Apologies. But Andrew McCutcheon is still 79% rostered, so would you look to drop him with how bad he's been in August? Yeah, three outfielder leagues, I think it's fine. I think you could go with a hotter hand.

I think you could go with Connor Joe or Frank Schwendell. Not that Schwendell is eligible in the outfield, but you could reconfigure a little lineup maybe to get him in. I think that's fine. I don't know. I'm not willing to say Andrew McCutcheon is done, but he's certainly dropable right now. Mark Kanna hit a home run on Tuesday,

but in the second half, and he was dealing with an injury, so maybe that's something that's still lingering for him. but in the second half for Marcana, 193 batting average, only two home runs. And he's actually been dropped down in the Oakland-A's lineup. I believe he's been batting seventh recently for them. So where would we drop Marcana, if anywhere?

I recently dropped him in the podcast Listeners League, which is a 12th team headpoints, three outfielder league. I had, it was between him and Robbie Grossman, basically. I didn't imagine back in June when he first stringed. his hip that I would ever come to a place where I was dropping a healthy Mark Kana instead of Ravi Grossman, but that's where I found myself. He just hasn't looked the same since coming back from that strained hip.

And I want to say he was like a top 10 outfielder in points leagues at the time he heard it. Oh, yeah, he was awesome. He was running high OBP. Now he's hitting, let's see, with today's stats, his season numbers, he's hitting 233. he's slugging 394. Ugh. Mark Kana, faking us out again. I mean, I think the injury has a lot to do with it, Scott.

I really was buying the player. I mean, we always know he has a good eye at the plate and sneaky athleticism. He can run, and that's really Oakland A's baseball, right? It's a high OBP, keep everything moving kind of guy, and he kind of fit that, but I think this injury is really derailing Markana. Tommy Pham, next one up. He has a 647 OPS in the second half.

We spoke about him recently. He's still 69% rostered, and he's set six of the last 11 games for the Padres. Where are we dropping fame? I think anything shallower than 15 teams, you could probably drop him if there's a playing time issue going on there. I could understand holding on to him in like a 12-team-5 outfielder league, maybe just benching him for now if that's a possibility. But I wouldn't object to you dropping him. How about his teammate, Trent Grisham, has a 660 OPS in the second half. he's still 90% rostered.

He has set three of the last 10 games for the Padres. I actually have less faith in him bouncing back, actually. But he is playing more often than fam. So I probably would stop short of dropping Trent Grisham in a five outfielder league. But he's certainly not providing much to your team right now. Okay. And would you be okay? I know you mentioned for McCutcheon dropping him for one of these hot hands.

Would you be okay dropping all four of those for Connor Joe, Ian Hap, who hit another home run on Tuesday? I don't love Hap, but, you know, any hot hand, and he's a hot hand right now. All right. Well, let's talk about Austin Gomber. He was at the Rangers. Four and a third, four hits, four runs, four walks, did have six strikeouts. But over his last six starts, Gomber has a 7.56 ERA, and he's still 72% rostered.

he's been awful lately and the control issues he had in April when he also looked awful they've come back so obviously he walked six in this start he's walked three or more in three of four and he hadn't walked three or more in a start since April

so that's that's how that's how far he's swung back the other direction yeah five of his last six have just been awful so I I hate that there was one more tepid recommendation of him this week because it was a two-star week

with one of these matchups at Texas. See how that turned out. But I think we can be done with them now. I think you can drop Gomber in any league type except maybe like NL only, you know. So obviously you're doing it for the names that have popped up recently, Ranger Suarez, Nestor Cortez, guys like that.

Yep. Cool. Carlos Santana. Next one up, 497 OPS in the second half. He's still 83% rostered. And I know the plate discipline is awesome, which helps in points leagues, but overall, I mean,

the batting average is down, which obviously affects the OVP. He has a really low slug in the second half as well. So would you be okay dropping Carlos Santana in a points league? Scott. Yeah,

points league is the one you'd be most likely to hold on in because he's pretty much always top 12 there for the season. But points league is also the format where it's typically the hardest to stash hitters on your bench because benches are usually small.

You usually want him used on pitchers. Can't have Santana in your lineup now, so I would say he's dropable in any format, though I'd keep a very close eye on him in points leagues especially in case he shows signs of heating up. Would you drop him for Patrick Wisdom? Certainly in a categories league. I don't think Wisdom is going to be a great points league asset

just because he strikes out so much. Connor Joe is eligible for first base, so I'll just go back to that well. Yeah. Would you do it for Frank Schindel? Yes. Frank Spindell, by the way, another homer.

It's just the guy, he's playing well. He's hot right now. Get him on your team. He's not striking out. He puts the ball in the air. He's playing every day. Frankie two hits.

Get him on your team. Jameson. He was at the Angels. Four and two-thirds, six earned runs. A bunch of regression. Just hitting at once right now for James and Tyone. His last four starts.

He's got a 7.9-1-ERA, five home runs allowed during that screen. stretch. He's still 93% rostered. However, looks like he is in line for two starts next week. It's early to judge, but as of now, it looks like

at home against the Blue Jays at the New York Mets. Would you still drop Tyone knowing he has two starts next week? I would be okay with that. Yes, I don't think he's giving you enough reason to use him. But I do want to address him in more

of a general way because he's had a really interesting two-month stretch here. And thinking about him for next year, I still think there's something to see here with James and Tyone. He had 20 swinging strikes in this start against the Angels. It was a bad start, but that's obviously an eye-popping number. And remember, in August, we were saying, well, he's still not really missing bats. He had a 113. I'm sorry, in July. In July, he had a 113-E-R-A, and we were saying, well, he's not really missing bats. This is largely Babbit driven

you know the underlying numbers don't look great well now here completing the month of August he had a 15% swinging strikeout rate in August which is elite that would put him in the top five I believe if that was his swinging strikeout rate for the season so he didn't get the results

but the underlying numbers looked much much better and suggest the stuff is better than than he it suggests the stuff is still good. I think he's obviously he's reinventing himself. That was the story

this off season. He reinvented his delivery, his pitch selection, everything. And I think he's slowly maybe getting to a point where he can be useful again, but probably not for the rest of this season.

All right. And again, that's even with two starts next week for James and Tyone. Don't laugh at me for these next two, Scott, but I actually received a few questions. Joey Votto, who's having an awesome season. The last 15 games, he's really slowed down. Someone actually asked, can I drop Joey Votto for a hot hitter right now? And I was just like, no, don't do that.

What do you think? No. No, I made 15 games. Anybody can have a bad 15 game stretch, I think. Joey Fado is back in stud territory. We got to treat him like that. The other one, which, I mean, this kind of just comes with the territory. It's Joey Gala.

I mean, since joining the Yankees, he's been awful. But if you just look at the second half, OPS, it's at 604, the strikeout rate is absolutely absurd. He's batting over 200 during that stretch. So we saw it was like June, July, where he got really hot. And now ever since he's joined the Yankees, I don't know if it's like pressure or whatever it might be, but he's performing very badly.

Would you drop him anywhere? Maybe in a points league. You know, they're just, hitters are just so replaceable in a points league. That's not the exact word I was looking for, but it'll work. Replaceable in a points league,

and that's fine. You know, I hate this profile. I hate this profile because there are so many stretches like this where you're just like, what do I do with this guy? And he could hit four home runs next week and you'll feel like a adult,

but what are you going to do? Yeah, I mean, for multiple reasons, players like Joey Gallo and Miguel Seno, obvious reasons too is that in a points league, you lose points for strikeouts. Obviously, they're worse in that format, but you need more weekly consistency in, not even a points league, just any type of head-to-head format. It's head-to-head categories, heads-head points. You need consistency. You want guys that are going to go out and help you consistently. Of course, it's nice when they have these monster weeks and they help you win one week, but I'd rather have players that help me win

multiple weeks all season long, right? So these are specifically, and remember this for next year, a Roto League versus a points league or any type of head to head league. Players like Gallo and to know, they're better for Roto because you just kind of plug them in and end of season numbers, you know what's going to be there. 220, 250, whatever it might be, 30 plus homers, they'll give you that. You don't really have to worry much about week-to-week consistency. You need that more in a head-to-head type of format. And last name here, please drop him everywhere.

I don't know why he's still 69% rostered, but Patrick Corbyn. He gave up six more earned runs on Tuesday. he has a 6.26 ERA overall. So I'm sure now that I've said that, you know, because I said that about PLEASC last week, that Corbyn's probably going to be awesome next week. But please drop him.

It is the strangest thing that his roster percentage has held that steady all season long. ERA over six now. What are you doing? And there has to be people that more than 31% of people playing on, on CBS. Listen to this podcast.

Maybe I'm being naive in thinking that, but you don't even need to listen to this podcast. If a pitcher has an ERA over six in September, you can drop that pitcher. I mean, we've made it this far,

so I don't know. Would you rather? I have two pitchers here that I want to ask you about, Scott. They both pitched on Monday. Who would you rather have? Bailey Ober, he was at the Tigers, six innings, two runs,

five strikeouts to zero walks. Eight starts since being recalled. Bailey Ober has a 2.81 ERA. He's only 28% rostered, and he goes up against those lowly Kansas City Royals next week. Or Luis Patino, who was up against the Red Sox, 5 and 2 thirds, one run, five strikeouts. He had 19 swinging strikes on 102 pitches in that start. 17 of those came on the fastball, which he threw 72% of the time. Patino is 51% rostered.

He's at the Tigers next week, so that's a pretty good match of as well. Who would you rather have Ober or Patino? They both give up too many fly balls. Patino has a much higher ceiling, much higher ceiling. I don't think Bailey Ober is, you know, belongs in the garbage bin or anything. I mean, he's interesting. He had a successful minor league career and throws a couple miles per hour harder than he did for most of that minor league career. But it's just talent-wise, it's just no comparison.

So with both of them pitching well right now, I'm going to go with Patino. Where would you rank Ober and Petino in this group of the foremost added starting pitchers on CBS? That group includes Corey Kluber. We'll talk about him in just a second. Ranger Suarez, Edward Cabrera, who made another start, four innings, three runs. He wasn't very good against the Mets. And Kyle Freeland. So Kluber-Swarez-Kabrera-Freeland.

Where does Uber? Uber and... Uber-Ober-Eats. Yeah. Where does Ober and... and Patineo fit into that group of four? All right, so Ranger Suarez is number one for me.

Okay. Then Corey Klobber. Then I would go Luis Patino, then probably Kyle Freeland, then Bailey Ober, then Edward Cabrera. So if we added Edward Cabrera for the two-star week, there's just not a lot going right for him right now. He only has four strikeouts and 10 in a third.

Look, he's young. I still think there's a lot of upside, but through two starts, you know, not many swinging strikes. His change-up was his most-used pitch in this one. He threw it 38% of the time. That's always a curious one to me, because the change-up is supposed to be changing things up. So I understand having the slider be your most thrown pitch or curveball,

but I always find it strange when it's the change-up, especially for a pitcher who can get it up close to triple digits, like Edward Cabrera can. Thoughts on these Monday returns. Corey Klobber, four and a third, five hits, five runs. He had six strikeouts. And then Chris Paddock, he was at the Diamondbacks, four and two thirds, one run.

He had five strikeouts to zero walks. I don't know if you watched either of these starts or if you checked in on them, but any thoughts on Kluber and Paddock's returns. I mean, Paddock looked good. It had been a long time since he looked good, so I'm skeptical of it. But anytime you're away for injury,

like that you know there's a chance to reset things and maybe he's set them straight but just to put

a number on it Chris Paddock oh where is the number he had like an ERA over seven for the couple months leading up to the

injury I wrote down the exact number but I can't find it so yeah he'd been really bad Kluber you know it was it was funny

because he looked awesome through three innings Awesome. And then I saw he left effort before and I was like, oh, they must have yanked him really. But then I, but then, you know,

it was obviously just an awful fourth inning. But the velocity was back up. It continued to be up over 90 miles per hour, up near 91 miles per hour, which is what it got up to when we saw that turnaround for him halfway through April. And the curveball got a lot of whiffs.

It was his most thrown pitch. He looked like he was, pitching the same as right before he got injured, as opposed to those first three, four starts where he looked awful. So I was encouraged for the most part. I understand the final line wasn't good, but I thought he looked right. Yeah, I turned on the game in the fourth inning, so apologies. On the reason why he got rocked, I started him in a deeper league where I didn't really have a choice. he was awesome through three, as he mentioned, that fourth inning. The Angels were just jumping, because he was throwing a lot of first pitch strikes

and a lot of stuff like middle, middle. And the first pitch that he threw to Jack Mayfield, actually, Jack Mayfield, really. He hits a grand slam, and it was just like a hanging curveball in the middle of the zone, and it was first pitch. And credit to the Angels hitters, because they were really aggressive in that inning. So good on that. And just to remind you, so his first four starts were bad, but his final six before going on the IEL, Kluber had a 2-11 ERA.

0.91 whip, more than a strikeout per inning. That includes a no-hitter. It includes an eight-inning effort where he struck out 10. He was rolling. It was looking great. I have a few hitters here who might be potential league winners down the stretch. Kyle Schwarber is heating back up, and we know what this guy could do when he gets hot. He has nine hits with three homers over his last seven games with the Red Sox.

Wander Franco. It looks like a league winner right now. He went one for three with a walk. He extends his on-base-based. streak to 31 games. Reminder, Wanderfranco is 20 years old. C.J. Crone hit his 25th homer. Good on you here, Scott. I know he was one of your top hitter matchups for this upcoming week. And this one was on the road in Texas. So he still has four games coming up in Cors Field against the Braves. On this season, CJ Crone has a 925 OPS, which is higher than Matt Olson

and Freddie Freeman. Wow. That's a cool stat. That is crazy, man. Like this is C.J. throne that we're talking about. He's got 25 homers in 367 at bat. 11 of those 25 came in August. Yeah. But five of those 11 came on the road. Yeah, it's interesting, man. He's hot right now. Another one, Yasmani Granda, he's on fire since returning. Seven hits, three homers in four games. And Christian Yelich, I want to bring him up. He went two for four on Tuesday.

And a gentleman named E.J. Temi, or Tem, sorry, he tweeted me this. Yelich's last 18 games, a triple slash of 348, 390, 539. That's a 926 OPS. And I looked a little bit further into this. 17% strikeout rate, 43% ground ball rate during this stretch for Christian Yelich. So the power isn't there yet, but the fact that the strikeouts are way down,

the ground ball rate is way down, there might be something here, Scott. I don't want to get too excited yet. But if this keeps trending this way, We might get a really big September out of Christian Yelich. Yeah, I still have a lot of hope for Christian Yelich. Even if it doesn't happen in September, I'm not saying he's going to be a first round pick again next year. That would be kind of crazy.

But could he be a fourth or fifth round pick, even if he doesn't have a good September? I think it's possible. I think they're still going. I think the underlying numbers are strong enough, and of course the track record is there, that there's going to be a reasonable amount of enthusiasm for him still. I have three quick names that you might want to consider in deeper leagues, some hitters. Derek Hill in nine games since returning from the I.L. for the Tigers. He has 11 hits and two homers. He is 2% rostered, a former first round pick from way back in 2014. Again, the name there, Derek Hill.

Matt Veerling did not know anything about this guy before I saw what he did on Tuesday. He went four for five with a double and two runs scored 24 years old. And he was having a pretty good year in the minors as well. He plays for the Phillies, by the way. He was batting 276 with 11 homers and 10 steals in 79 games in the minors. He's 0% rostered. So, NL only. And then Lioti Tavares, a sock and two shoes. That's a home run and two steals in one game.

That's a weird look, a sock and two shoes. That's very, yeah, something's going on if you've got only a sock and two shoes on. Back-to-back games with a homer for Lioti Tavaris. He's 8% rostered. 15 teamers, five outfielder leagues. He's got some power and some speed. Some quick leftovers I want to mention from Tuesday. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has three homers over his last two games.

He's heating back up. Heungin Ryu had no hits through five and two-thirds innings. Then just completely imploded. It was a double, a single, a walk, and a double. He winds up with three earned runs over five and two-thirds innings pitched. someone brought up third time through the order for Ryu. I looked into it. He's got a 5.51 ERA third time through,

so that's obviously not good. But only a 232 batting average against and a 647 OPS. So I don't know, it's weird. It doesn't really add up that the batting average, the OPS is that low, but the ERA is high. I don't know. So it's weird there for Riu.

Next week he's at the Yankees and at the Orioles. Would you be okay starting him there, Scott? In a points league. Yeah. I think in a Categories league, you know, probably not going to give you a reasonable number of strikeouts anyway.

I think it's a bad idea. By the way. By the way. What you got? By the way. I don't remember when exactly it was, preseason, April, something like that.

But I said if, I said I would eat my hat. We use that line again. I would eat my hat if Junjun Ryu finished with an ERA over four. It's a 392, right now. Oh.

Just saying. I'm bringing that back up because I am surprised. I'm not actually going to eat my hat. Nobody says I'm going to eat my hat if this happens. And I've never, people say that all the time, and I've never seen anyone actually eat their hat. Well, I started a podcast with my hat in my mouth.

That's about as far as I could go. I did try to buy a cake in the shape of a hat to do that here. Why did you eat your hat again? Because Fernando Tatis swung and immediately dropped to the ground and was writhing in pain. And I thought, I was like, this guy's done for the year. His shoulder is done. I was like, if this guy returns in the minimum stay on the IL, I will eat my hat. That's exactly what he did.

So there you go. Me and Scotty, we're eating hats. Matt Chapman had a double dung on Tuesday. He's now up to 23 overall and had a great August. 253 batting average, maybe not great. It was very good. 253 batting average, nine homers, still striking out. a lot, but good to see the power coming back for Matt Chapman.

Let's scroll down here. What else do we have? How about this? Interesting stat. Robbie Grossman, his 20th home run of the season on Tuesday. Nine players this season have 20 homers and 15 steals. Shohei Otani, Bobauchette, Jose Ramirez, Ronald Acuna, Cedricin' Sederic, Fernando Tatis, Ozzie Albies, Trey Turner.

I'm missing one. No, no, no, that is nine. And then Robbie Grossman. Robbie Groson's the ninth. So it's really good company to be in there for Robbie Grossman. Really, really good season for him. And that tells you why I dropped Mark Kana instead. Yep.

And Shohei Otani had two more steals. He's now up to 22, including a steel of home plate on a double steel. That was really fun. Not if you're a Yankees fan. They've now lost four in a row after winning a bunch in a row. So that stinks. What else did I want to talk about here? Charlie Morton shut down the Dodgers.

He was really good. Walker Bueller, six plus innings in 26 of 27. starts. I did want to see where you say Kukuchi's final line ended up. There were so many late games. All these West Coast games kill me on a Tuesday. But Kukuchi, seven shutout, four hits, two walks, four strikeouts against the Astros. So, I mean, that'll bring it, that'll reinstill some confidence in us here, Scott, because obviously it's a tougher matchup. The Astros' lineup has slowed down here, but we needed to see that from Kukuchi. We did, and I noticed he was very fastball heavy in this one.

He threw his fastball 65% of the time, when normally he's like 35, 40, you know, he really likes to mix it up. So that was interesting, and the fastball was a little bit harder because I know the velocity had been down recently, but it was hard to figure out exactly what was wrong with Kikuchi, and it was hard to figure out, what he did right, but he did definitely do something different.

And I don't know what that means going for. I'm not ready to trust him because, I mean, what was it? Seven of his previous nine were just plain awful. He gave up 11 hard hit balls in this game too. So seems like he might have got a little bit lucky. This was an encouraging start. I'm with you. I don't think we're back yet on Kikuchi.

I need to see a little bit more. But yeah, the pitch mixes all over the place still give up a lot of hard. contact. Let's see where it goes for you say Kukuchi. The call to the Penn, some bullpen updates from Tuesday. Oh, can I point out something else real quick in that game? Sure. Abraham Toro hit a grand slam off the guy he was traded for, Kendall Graveman. All right, poetic justice. Did not think I would say that word twice in a podcast ever, but Javier Baez and then Abraham Toro getting done. It was, it was Toro's second home run for August. He hit one back on August 3rd. and then one on the last day.

So he's really slowed down. Yeah. But he does, he is a good contact hitter at least. The call to the pen. Joe Barlow returned on Monday. He picked up his third save. And then on Tuesday,

Spencer Patton got the save. It's Joe Barlow just returned. They probably don't want to use them on back-to-back days. For the Marlins, Dylan Floral gave up two hits, including three runs. He took his first blown save

and first loss of the season. For the Orioles, Cole Solcer picked up his sixth save. He has the last three. saves for the Orioles, though. That spans a very long period of time because they lost whatever it was, 19 or 20 games in a row for Baltimore.

Cole Solcer is 7% rostered for those in the deepest of leagues. For Tampa Bay, Andrew Kittridge recorded the final two outs. He struck out both. Picked up his fifth save. He now has three of the last four saves for Tampa, 32% rostered. I hate, you know, locking into one player

when it comes to Tampa, Scott, but it looks like for the time being, Andrew Kittredge is their highest leverage reliever in the back end. I think the other three of those saves were multi-inning. So you're not a closer if you're going multiple innings that consistently. But he does at least seem to be a part of the saves mix now. And his ratios are so good that that makes them worth starting in all categories leagues. You know, I don't know if he'll give you even three saves the rest of the way.

But if he does give you three saves, it'll have been worth it. To stream or not to stream, bear with me here. I didn't get to write these down beforehand, so I'm just going to scroll through a bunch of games, and I'll give you some names that stand out to me. Kyle Freeland at the Rangers, we're good with that one, right, Scott?

Yes. Miles Michaelis at the Reds? No. No. Let's see. J-Hap at the Reds. Oh, they got a double-header tomorrow. That's a no, right?

No. Let's see. Who else do we got? Stephen Mets. No. Who is this guy? Pachy Norton. He's starting for the Angels on Wednesday.

I have no idea who that is. Willie... Yeah, he's... No. No. Actually, Joe Ryan in his debut is going up against the Cubs. I'm kind of interested.

Yeah, I understand that. I'll be surprised if he goes more than five innings. So keep that in mind. But you could do worse. How about in the same? same game. Logan Allen at the Royals, Jackson

Coar, is back, who is pretty highly ranked Royals prospect, going against Cleveland. Any interest in either one, Logan Allen, or Jackson Coar? I think I just yawned for the first time on camera. It's getting late over here.

No, I wouldn't do either of those. All right, so that's it for Wednesday, and then on Thursday, oh, the Mets and the Marlins has already been postponed, because of inclement weather here in New York. We're going to have some bad weather next couple of days. For Thursday, we only have two, four, six, seven games.

Matt Manning versus the A's. No, we're not doing that yet. No. Rich Hill versus the Marlins? Huh? Huh? Not feeling it. Could do worse, but wouldn't be a meat guy.

How about Keegan Thompson for the Cubs up against the Pirates? No. How about Chris Bubich at home against Cleveland? Well, what about Tristan McKenzie against Boobich? in the Royals. He's 76% rostered, Scott, so he does not qualify. Qualifies to me. Well, if you have Tristan McKenzie

in a daily league, yes, you should start him against the Royals. But I assume you don't want Chris Boobich. No. All right, Thursday's a rough day. Maybe get some streamers going on Wednesday. That'll do it. For Scott, I and Frank, thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today.

We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.