Fantasy Baseball Today - BLAKE SNELL NO-HITTER! Must-add SPs, Jackson Holliday Crushing, and Weekend Updates (8/5 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 5, 2024

How did Blake Snell go from being arguably the worst pitcher in baseball to potentially a top-12 SP in about a month's time? Chris Towers and Scott White break down how Snell has reinvented himself yet again, plus we talk about how good Yusei Kikuchi and Spencer Schwellenbach can be, break down Spencer Arrighetti's upside, and talk about all of the latest injuries, news, and notes from the weekend of MLB action. 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. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Blake Snell is so back, baby, and welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast. On Monday, August 5th, I am Chris Towers here with Scott White.

no Frank Stample out this week on vacation. And we've got a lot to get to. We've got a ton to talk about. Blake Snell has never been more back through a no-hitter. Pitched into the ninth inning for the first time in his whole dang career. We're recapping the rest of the weekend's big news. We've got waiver targets. I've got some ace related questions for you, Scott.

Are these guys still aces? Is this guy now an ace? but before we get to all that, you want to do a Susan Waldman impersonation for us? Why, you don't have it? You don't have it on the button. You don't have to if you don't want to.

I just, I figured I'd ask. Oh my goodness gracious. Oh, my goodness gracious is right. Blake Snell, through a no-hitter, complete game, first time in his career on Friday. It was a masterpiece.

And, you know, we mentioned in our, discussion of rankings, risers and fallers. Obviously, Blake Snell was one of the biggest risers, even before this performance. I think Frank moved him up to 20th. You had him inside your top 30.

I think I was talked into moving him inside my top 30. 16, I might have mentioned at one point, maybe Blake Snell is the number 12 starting pitcher. We've talked a lot about not knowing who the number 12 starting pitcher should be lately. And well, 11 strikeouts, no hits, three walks later.

Where are we at on Blake Snell? I mean, he's just doing it again. Like every year, it would be easy to be skeptical of it. You know, the, what is it? Five good starts in a row. You get the 15 strikeout effort, followed by the no-hitter. And it's just so good after being so bad that you'd be concerned about Blake Snell pulling the rug out from under you again, except that this.

is now the fourth year. After three consecutive years of him being unusable and then arguably the best pitcher of baseball, just turning on a dime at some point during the summer months where we find ourselves now. After

three years of that, it just seems natural it's going to happen for a fourth year now. And I am disinclined to bet against Blake Snow at this point. It's why I've moved him up as high as 16th. And maybe he'll go even higher when I look at it again this week, now that he's coming off the no hitter.

Yeah, I mean, I think I have Pablo Lopez as my number 12 starting pitcher. And, you know, like we've talked about, it's just been, it feels like there's a real top tier, maybe two top tiers with like Logan Gilbert, I feel like is like the quintessential number 11 starting pitcher right now. He might not be ranked that way for all of us, but that's who I have there. And so, yeah, like, would I really rather have Luis Castillo than Blake Snell the rest of the way? I think that one's pretty close. Yeah, I might be able to talk myself into Snell. And, you know, one thing that I think is interesting is you mentioned he's done this before, right?

Goes from being unusable, dropable in fantasy to being one of the best pitchers, if not the best pitcher in baseball. last season he had a 540 ERA through his first nine starts with a 552 FIP, which was actually the ERA was lower than this year's version, but the underlying metrics were actually worse last season during his no good, rotten, horrible stretch. And of course, he followed that up with 23 starts of a 120 ERA. I mean, this is the kind of stuff that Blake Snell is capable of. We know that we've had to factor in it.

I can't wait to have the, Blake Snell debate in this off-season again. But really at this point, he's throwing his curveball more. Have you noticed any other changes that explain it? Or is it just he's got it sometimes? He doesn't have it other times.

Yeah, I mean, I think he summed it up best after his last start where we could get into, oh, he's throwing the curveball more. And he's talked about having more confidence in it right now. But it's a different thing every year. And this year, to be the curveball. All right.

Let's move on to your, oh my goodness, gracious player of the weekend because Blake Snow belongs to all of us. Who did you want to talk about Scott? All right. I'm going to talk about Spencer Araggetti. All right.

On Sunday, through a gym against the raise, one run and six innings, 12 strikeouts, had 20 swinging strikes on 100 pitches, really dominant start. And, you know,

got the whiffs on a variety of pitches. Four on the fastball, six on the curveball, three on the change up, five on the cutter, and even a couple on the sweeper. So he had everything working.

I noticed he threw his fastball less. He leaned on that curveball more, which is a good plan. It has, entering the day, 160 batting average against 41% whiff rate, you like to see Erigetti mixing that curveball more.

But this continues a trend for him. His last five starts now, including this one Sunday. Spencer Ergeti has a 341 ERA, 121 whip, 11.2K per 9. The strikeouts really climbing for him. Has had issues throwing strikes, you know, even going back to his minor league career. So I'm not saying it's an open and shot case. Spencer Erigetti is awesome now. I think that's still very much in question.

But he's showing potential that we need to take seriously. seriously in fantasy. And I think he's in the conversation to be added in 12 team leagues after this start. Yeah, the curveball entering today had a 41% whiff rate. The sweeper had a 39.3% whiff rate. So that is, you know, we've talked a lot about that with Reese Olson before his injury, that that was kind of a marker of we hope this guy can take a step forward. And there are significant differences between Argeti and Olson, Argeti.

command has been a real issue for him, especially with the fastball. But the way I put it in the newsletter for tomorrow, which I've already written, there is going to be a point. Maybe not this season, but at some point when Spencer Argeti is widely viewed as a must-start fantasy pitcher. I just think the upside is clearly there. Obviously, the Astros are an organization we want to bet on when it comes to pitching and just overall player development. and that allows us a perfect transition.

Sounds like you're more confident in Erigetti than I am. Not to interrupt your perfect transition. Well, not confident, again, that he'll be useful the rest of the way because I think that the command is a real problem for him more often than not. But like we've seen two double-digit strikeout games from him now, which is not a guarantier of success, right?

We've seen Dean Kramer has had two double-digit strikeout games. Sure. A lot of pictures have. I think 38 now have. He's the 38th to do it. Okay, just talking this year. Most of them are very good, but Jake Irvin has two double-digit strikeout efforts. We don't think he's an ace, obviously.

Dean Kramer was another one. And, oh, DJ Hertz has two 10 strikeout no walk games to even top that. So, like, it's not a guarantor of anything, but I think the talent is very obvious if he can put it together. And now we will transition. to the Houston Astros, You Say Kikuchi, newest member of the Houston Astros pitching staff. And when players get traded to new teams,

especially a smart team like the Astros, the Dodgers, the Rays, I think we'd all look at it that way, you expect them to make some tweaks and find ways to maximize their pitchers. And that doesn't always happen. Jack Flaherty got to the Dodgers, just looked like Jack Flaherty in his debut this weekend.

But you say Kikuchi made some real changes to his approach, And it led to an outstanding performance against the raise, 11 strikeouts, three walks, two run runs over five and two thirds innings, three hits. And what he did in this one seems like low-hanging fruit. He basically ditched his curveball. I think he threw two of them. He threw a bunch of changeups instead. Curveball had been probably his worst pitch this season, 303X Wobah, 27.4% whiff rate.

Changeup had arguably been his best pitch, 209X Wobah, 38% wifery. And it just seems like the kind of thing where that change was so obvious and so immediate, I don't have a lot of trouble buying in. I know you say Kukuchi is someone that I've been more in on than you, and certainly there are lots of reasons to be skeptical. But where are you at in Kukuchi after this start? Well, this is what Astros manager, Joe Espada said after the game. The change-up I thought was the game changer for me.

That's kind of what we wanted him to do was throw the change up more in zone. It's a really, really good pitch, and that just makes his fastball a much better pitch. They were ready to hit the fastball early on, and then after the second and it goes on after that. But the point was, the point was, it's one thing for us to observe, oh, he throw his change up more. It's another thing for the Astros to give us insight into their plan for Kikuchi was, yeah, we love that pitch. we wanted to throw it more. So, but we see the result here in his, in his Astro's debut.

It was his Astro's debut, right? Yes. And yeah, I think there's a lot of reason for optimism, given that we've seen some pretty high highs from Kikuchi in the past. I know in some of the leagues where he was dropped, he's still pretty widely rostered, but I got a couple leagues where he was sitting out there.

And I prioritized Hayden Bird's song over him. Mm-hmm. But Kukuchi was probably second in priority with this start. There were, I think, three must-add pitchers over this weekend. I wrote about this for the way of our column on CBSSports.com. You said Kikuchi was one of them. Spencer Schwalembach, 82% rostered, so a little more widely rostered. But he's the other one.

We'll get to him shortly. But he was incredible. And I've got an amazing stat for Spencer Schwellenbach. So stay tuned. And Shane Bach. who was on a different level, not nearly as good, but flashes of what we were hoping to see.

Where would you rank Kakuchi among Schwallenbach and Boss? I'd take Schwellenbach over him. That wasn't an option in my leagues, but if it was, I'd take Schwell and Bach. I think I'd take Akuchi over Boss. I would as well.

Yeah. All right. We are going to move on to a break, but make sure, before we do, download and follow FBT and 5, wherever you listen to your podcast. We have six episodes.

coming this week, I believe. And on that note, quick programming note, as you might be aware, 10 minutes into the podcast, 11.5 minutes in the podcast. I am not Frank Stamphle. I'm Chris Towers.

I do not normally host this podcast. Just bear with me. Be patient. There's a lot of buttons that I've got to press, a lot of things that I get boxes to check. The podcast is going to be a little bumpier this week. But we're going to have some fun.

Frank will be back next week to bail me out. thorough life preserver, but we're going to have a lot of fun the rest of the week. That's going to do it for the first part of fantasy baseball today. Let's take a quick break. We'll be right back. And hopefully I hit the right button. Let's go. Well, that went seamlessly.

Let's get to the news and notes. And we'll start off with some really great confidence in yourself. I mean, look, I do this like once a year. And I always like there's just, I forget. My mind goes blank. I'm completely free of any thoughts. And then this week comes. back and I'm like, oh no, I got all these things I have to do. But we're ready. We're going to move

on to the news notes. And we'll start off with some really great news. Freddie Freeman is expected back to the team sometime during their upcoming series starting, I believe, on Tuesday, because his son has been released from the hospital. Really scary situation. Him and his wife have been going through, but sounds like everyone's moving forward well. And it's just really great news on a personal level beyond whatever it means from a baseball perspective. Just really happy for the Freeman's. Good news for the Dodgers. Kind of all around here,

Mookie Betts won't be back this week, but he is expected to return during next week's homestand. That's per David Roberts. He's recovering from that fractured hand. Sounds like he could go out on a rehab assignment. Are you smiling because it said David Roberts? I am smiling because I don't even know why. I'm smiling because I'm on camera, Chris.

That's what you're supposed to do. Yoshi Nobu Yamamoto coming back from a shoulder injury through a 20 pitch bullpen session on Saturday. We'll likely do so again on Tuesday. He's probably out until September, even in a best case scenario, but it does seem like he is recovering well. The same cannot necessarily be said for Kyle Tucker,

who is recovering from that shin injury. And when Astor's manager Joe Espada was asked if Tucker will be back before September, had this to say, quote, it would be too aggressive for me to say that we'll have him by the end of the month. Remember, this was an injury that was initially viewed as day to day in early June. That's a lot of days ago.

We still don't really have any clarity on this. Sounds like he's making slow progress, but does not sound like Kyle Tucker is. is on the verge of returning, unfortunately. Ranger Suarez is unlikely to return next weekend when first eligible from his back injury. He is expected to throw a bullpen session Sunday or Monday possibly with the next steps being determined there. But obviously, it's been a rough go between the back injury and some struggles for Ranger

Suarez. Hopefully he can get back on track. Justin Verlander threw a simulated game Sunday throwing 37 pitches and hitting 94 miles per hour with his fastball. We'll likely see him begin a rehab assignment shortly, and he could be back in the next few weeks. And there's a couple of pitchers in kind of similar spots, similar timetables, Yamamoto, Verlander,

Jacob de Grom through a 45 pitch bullpen session on Saturday and could begin a rehab assignment soon. Jared Jones threw live batting practice on Saturday and should go out on his own rehab assignment soon, coming back from a lat injury. Let's rank the roster ability. of Yamamoto, Justin Verlander, Jacob de Grom, and Jared Jones.

Okay. And are they all must roster? Well, I'm going to be doing this for real when I put together an IL stash rankings tomorrow. So if I contradict myself here, please forgive me, because I'm going top of mind. You are large, Scott.

You contain multitudes. I am very large. It's true. I'm going to say, uh... okay so lift this picture list the pictures off again Yoshinobi Yamamoto

Justin Verlander Jacob de Grom and Jared Jones okay I'm gonna go I'm gonna go Yamamoto 1 Jones 2 Verlander 3 de Grom 4

and I'm most unsure of the top two whether I want to go Yamamoto over Jones or the other way around Jones certainly seems like he'll be back sooner Yeah, I mean, if that's the case, then I'd like, look at how little time we have left. Yeah. It's almost strictly a matter of timetable at this point.

Obviously, I think we both agree on the mode is better than Jones, but if he can get more than a start or two extra, then I think that puts him ahead. DeGrom, I really have no expectations for it all because most of the pitchers coming back for Tommy John surgery this year. okay, it's great, he's beginning a rehab assignment. They took like eight to 12 rehab starts. That's how many they made. I don't know that DeGrom's going to need that many. I don't think he has time for that many. It doesn't have like a specific reason to rush,

hurry back. Right. You want to think. But I imagine he will be able to dictate his own timetable. So we'll see how that plays out. So that's why I have him last. Verlander, though, I don't have particularly high hopes for either.

It's not like he was that great when he was healthy before. It's 41 years old. What do you want from him? Yeah, I'm kind of Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, anything I get at all from either of them. I think it's a bonus at this point. I'm not expecting anything. Kerry Carpenter ran the bases on Sunday.

He could be cleared for a rehab assignment soon. Might be back before the end of August. Is he someone you're looking to stash? deeper five outfielder leagues. That's it. Okay. Clark Schmidt will face live hitters for the first time since late May this week. He could be going to rehab assignment of his own shortly and might be back before the end of the month. That's kind of where we're at.

We're hoping everyone's back before the end of the month. Feel pretty confident this next guy's going to be back before then. Mason Miller will throw a simulated game on Monday has been playing catch. A sign that he is close to returning from the fractured finger on his non-throwing hand. It sounds like Mason Miller's got it. decent chance to just be back this week. He might not even go on a rehab assignment, so that's good news.

Walker Bueller will make at least one more minor league rehab start before returning to the team's rotation. He has given up eight earned runs in seven and a third innings while walking five in his two rehab starts at AAA. But hey, at least he has nine strikeouts. Expectations for Walker Bueller. Any? No.

I don't know that he needs to be a rostered outside of, of deeper leagues where obviously you have a free IL spot, but I imagine a lot of leagues where he's occupying IL spots. He's, you're probably just going to end up dropping him right away.

I think I'd rather have like Alex Cobb at this point, who's also on the IL and set to come off soon. Bobby Miller was scratched from his AAA start Friday due to a ductor tightness. Miller was initially sent down to work on his mechanics, not on the IL, but now he has an injury on top of that

is he's still worth stashing. That's one of the more difficult ones because we know there's plenty of upside we just haven't seen it this season and you can't put him in an IL spot. Right. So it's a luxury stash, it feels like to me. I can't tell you what I've done with Bobby Miller

because I don't have him anywhere, but I imagine in standard size leagues that have moved on at this point. Casey Mize will be clear to begin a rehab assignment Sunday, but he is in eligible to return until September 1st. Looks like he'll be back around then. Anthony Rizzo has been swinging a bat at low intensity in recent days as he comes back from a forearm injury.

Not clear he has a job waiting for him at this point, although Ben Rice has been pretty bad for a while, so maybe that narrative has flipped. Liam Hendricks will face live hitters for the first time Tuesday since undergoing Tommy John surgery last year. He could be back in the Red Sox bullpen by. September. Taiwan Walker will make another rehab start Tuesday and could be cleared to return shortly after from his finger injury. He gave up to run runs in 2.2 innings in his previous rehab outing.

I don't think we expect much from him. Charlie Blackman missed Sunday's game after being hit in the face while running the bases by a throw. Merrill Kelly will make a minor league rehab start Tuesday at high A. He's been out since April but should be able to return after a few turns through the rotation if he avoids any stepbacks. And this is bad news. Matt McLean on the IL recovering from shoulder surgery will be limited for at least the next few days with a stress reaction in his rib. Initially, it seems like it may not change his timetable, but that seems really positive. He was supposed to begin a minorly rehab assignment, I believe, on August 12th. But that's unclear at this point.

Is this one that just anything you get from him, if you get an at bat from him, it seems like a bonus at this point, right? It does, yeah, I'd agree. All right, let's talk about some injured players from this weekend and whether we're going to start them this week. Michael King was scratched from Sunday start against the Rockies. He was struck by a line drive during last weekend's start. Doesn't sound like it's too serious, but would you risk him in your lineup this week?

He's been so good for so long. Yeah, I think he threw and they were happy with it, so they plan on him starting the initial series this week, which potentially even Tuesday, which would line him up for two starts. So yeah, that'd be pretty nice. Elliot Ramos missed Sunday's game after leaving Saturday with a thumb injury. This is something he's been battling for a few weeks, apparently. Would you start him this week?

I'd rather not. I know one of my three outfielder leagues, I just can't justify dropping someone for an extra outfielder, and I'm just going to roll with Elliot Ramos. But that's not what my preference would be. Tyler O'Neill missed Saturday and Sunday's games with an illness, starting him this week, he's been red hot. Yeah. Byron Buxton has also been red hot.

He exited Sunday's game after colliding with the wall in the outfield. The twins, I believe, were also up 10-0 at the point of the injury, and they came out very quickly and said it was precautionary. Starting him, no questions? I mean, not no questions. I might hesitate in a three outfielder league if I had good alternatives. Ian Hap was scratched Sunday with a sore shoulder. He also hit the wall on Saturday. starting him this week,

he's been pretty hot himself. Yeah, probably the same as Buxden. I really don't. A shoulder injury, you could go a lot of different directions. It kind of depends how you sleep on it sometimes. Yandi Diaz left Sunday's game with a wrist contusion suffered while playing the field. He tried to play through it,

but the pain was too much. He's kind of fringy at this point anyway, right? Yeah, I would say so. Yeah. most cases you could probably try someone else. Wyatt Langford missed Saturday in Sunday's game with back tightness. Bruce Bochy did say he could have played if it was necessary. He's been a little cold lately.

Not necessarily. I must start guys, certainly in three outfield or leaves, right? Yeah. There's no reason to start Langford in three outfield or five. You may have to do it. All right. Then we've got Tyler Malley and Edward Rodriguez,

who are both set to make their season debuts this week. I think it kind of goes without saying for both, let's see what they've got, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. for both. Tyler Malley's coming back from Tommy John's surgery

so it's been especially long time since we've seen him. I remain interested. He's got some swing and miss stuff for sure, but we've never really seen him put it all together for long stretch. He had a 215 strikeout season, I believe. That sounds right.

Yeah. I think that was 2021. Let me double check that. Yeah, that sounds right. Yeah, 210 in 2021. All right. And then some players who were sent to the I.S. this weekend. Max Scherzer with that shoulder fatigue retroactive to July 31st. It's just been

ongoing little fatigue issues for him since coming back from back surgery. I think you can drop Max Scherzer if you need the roster space. Same with Drew Thorpe was placed on the IL with a flexor tendon strain in his right elbow. Not clear how long he'll be gone, but that's an issue that can be like 15 days. I think Nick Povetta was back around that length of time earlier in the season, but I don't think Truthorpe is worth stashing especially, right? I mean, I wasn't

that motivated to roster him even before this. I think Scherzer's going to show up pretty high on the IL stash rankings just given what the the IL roster looks like

right now. I'd rather stash him than who was a weird Walker Bueller Walker and Bobby Miller. Bobbler is not won't be on there but yeah

yeah I'd rather stasherser just I'm not saying there's reason to hold out a lot of hope

but yeah it doesn't sound like as serious of an injury and he had one great start a couple turns

ago so there may he may there's a chance he'll be back soon enough to make an impact all right Luis Renhifo

after initially being expected to be available off the bench on Saturday was placed on the IL so he'll be out

for the next nine days or so at least it's been a recurring issue for him. So hopefully it's the minimum. Michael Ciani was placed on the aisle with a right oblique strain, likely to miss three to four weeks. Victor Scott was recalled to replace him.

Now, Victor Scott, if you remember, all the way back to April, we were very excited about him making his major league debut. And then he was terrible and got sent back. And then was terrible in AAA as well. He's been hot over the last week or so, but for the most part has been pretty disappointing. some of us were more excited. I was very excited.

The fantasy baseball world as a whole was excited. The Royal. Does he even play every day for them? I doubt it. I don't see where the opening is. I think he's just center field depth. They got Lars Neupar playing centerfield right now, and he's kind of stretched there probably.

But yeah, Victor Scott was hot immediately prior to this promotion. he was batting last 10 or last seven games at AAA, 370 with three homers, two steals. So maybe something clicked for him and they noticed it and that's why they called him up. But I just don't see that there's a lot of room for him to play right now. All right, Richie Palacios will miss four to six weeks, so probably the rest of the regular season or most of it. The race called up Cameron Meisner, who has decent minor league numbers, but probably won't play regularly enough to matter in most fantasy leagues.

And Ricky Teeteman had Tommy John surgery. last week. He will be out until the 2026 season. I want to ask you about a couple of prospects before we move on to the next segment. Brandon Sprote was promoted to AAA, just days after 13 strikeouts in a start at AA. He has a 205-ERA 90. 94 whip and 110 strikeouts and 87 innings this season. Met's pitching prospect, Brandon Sprote. Could we see him before the end of the season? And is he one of the top stashes at this point? I would be skeptical that we'll see him in a big enough role to matter.

I think innings preservation will be top of mind. Let's see. So this is his first full professional season. He did throw over 100 innings in college last year. So he's at 87 and 2 thirds now. I mean, if they wanted to build him out to that college workload, then maybe there's a chance he'd make a few more turns. he's been one of the biggest risers among pitching prospects this year.

Control has been massively improved. Yeah. So it's possible. It's possible. I'd have to line up the names to tell you where exactly he ranks. All right. And then Kumar Rocker is back on the mound at AA, back from Tommy John surgery.

Remember one of the most tight pitching prospects to come out of college in the last half decade. Struck out eight over seven scoreless innings and two starts at AA. Is he just a name at this point? just like a name that popped up on my radar and I wanted to talk about him? Or does he actually still have product value? Was that just my brain going, oh, that name? I know that guy. Yeah, I mean, for now, that's, yeah, I'm not going to say Kumar Rocker will never become anything.

But it's, he's got a long way to go to rebuild his reputation, his prospect stock, I'd say. All right, let's take one more break and then we'll be back to talk all of the standout pitching performances and hitting. performance from this week, or this weekend's action, right back on fantasy baseball today. Welcome back to FBT. Are these aces still aces? We agree that Blake Snell is an ace. That means we got to get rid of some aces, right?

There's a finite number that's allowed at any given time. That's not true. But we got some high-end pitchers who are not pitching like high-end pitchers right now. We'll start with Garrett Cole, who only had six whiffs, I believe. he've won on his slider, through his slider and cutter, 12 times combined in this one. Five and two thirds innings, six hits, two run, runs, zero walks, four Ks. Not a bad start.

It's just not Garrett Cole. No. Right? And this is two straight starts with only six swinging strikes for Gary Cole. Mm-hmm. And that's after two starts where he looked like he was back on track. You looked like you'd gotten a pack. Yeah, he seemed like he was.

was back to form and then he's he's you know he's falling off here at the last two starts and i don't i can't tell you exactly why it's happening uh there there aren't obvious red flags there other than that he's coming back from kind of an unusual elbow issue and uh yeah i don't i don't really know where it goes from here for garicol i'm i'm not so eager to start him i'll tell you that i don't think he's a must-star pitcher right now, no. Yeah, I definitely not dropping him yet because who knows if it'll click, when it'll click, but

it's been a disappointment for somebody who's stashed Garrett Cole all year, as I have in a couple leagues. Are we dropping Garrett Crochet? Only gave up one earn, run, one hit and four innings to this weekend, but 77 pitches in four innings, there's just

no way they're going to let him pitch deep into games if he's inefficient. Four wall two strikeouts. Garrett Crochet, I believe, has not pitched even five innings since June. Is that right? Right. That is right.

And everybody really wants permission to drop Garrett Crochet. It's probably the most common question I get right now. Not even, like, the way it's phrased, it's not like, can I drop Garrettochay? It's like, we can drop Garrett Crochet, right? I don't want to drop Garrett Crochet personally.

I'm not saying you can't. It's your team. I don't know how shallow your league is. I don't know. You have permission if that's what you're looking for, but I think there are still going to be some good starts there. So this is what Pedro Grifold, the White Sox manager,

had to say after this latest forewarning effort, this outing was very similar to the one he had here before where they just hit a ton of foul balls. It was 19 foul balls, by the way. His fastball cutter was a little bit up in the zone today so they were able to clip those pitches. We had him today around 75 pitches. But once he had that one inning,

it was the third inning where his pitch count got up there, he was going to be done after four. So what I take from that, and I don't think it's revolutionary, but it's not us just guessing. It's the manager offering some insight. What I take from that is that they want them around 75 pitches,

maybe not every start, but that's what they had them at in this start. And so that was more what they were looking at rather than four innings. It ended up being four inefficient innings, so he only went four innings. There's also the matter of the White Sucks have lost 20 games in a row now,

the most since 1988, I believe it is. And I believe it's the most consecutive calendar days without a win since like the 19th century I saw.

So even if Crochet were to go five innings with the amount they're limiting his pitches, would it translate to win because it's not really worth it if it doesn't? And that has to factor

into your thinking too. Yeah, I don't think we've, I guess the bottom line is I don't think we've seen the last of five-inning start for him. I don't think we've seen the last six-inning start from him this year. But they are monitoring the pitch count. And he's got to be really good for it to. And he's been really good for most of the season. His last two starts haven't been that good. And that's exacerbated the issue.

But if he gets back to pitching like we know he's capable of, that's still probably going to be a guy you want your lineup but the only reason I say probably is because the White Sox issue than potentially denying him a win so it's it's certainly within the discussion

whether or not you drop Gary or Crochet I haven't been able to bring myself to do it in one of the several leagues in any of the several leagues where I have him this one I'm pretty sure we're not too worried about but Maxfreet returned from that forearm issue and was bad.

Three and a third innings, four hits, five earn runs, five walks, six strikeouts, Marlins, 40% zone rate in this one, down from 48% for the season, but it was the first start back from the IL. Yeah. Not concerned, a little bit concerned. He didn't go on a rehab assignment. I believe he pitched one inning. I don't even know that it was a full inning in the All-Star game, and that was all he had

worked in July, I want to say, or in about a month anyway. And yeah, I mean, he probably could have used a little more ramp up time. But, you know, throwing that many balls is out of character for Max Frieden. I don't think it's going to be a long-term issue. Especially since, you know, the issue was like a nerve in his elbow or his forearm, but there was no structural damage underlying it. So, yeah, I agree with that. Now, Tanner Howick, he gave up five.

six earned runs and five innings, eight hits, two walks, seven strikeouts against Texas over the weekend. He has, let me find the number, 68ERA since the All-Star break. It's only three starts, but 11 strikeouts, nine walks in 17 innings over those three starts.

He had also been walking a ton of guys before the All-Star break as well. And I will just point out with Tanner Hauk, 134 innings on the season. a career high and his first time above 120 at any level. Velocity has mostly been fine. It was down about a mile per hour in this start, but had been fine in July before that.

A couple of things. One, is he just running out of gas? Two, are we just seeing some natural regression from Tanner Howe? Can I ask that for a couple of reasons? One, his XERA is like 394. so he's been outperforming that by quite a bit. And one other thing I've noticed, and I don't know if this matters,

but he has a 309 ERA and a 390 runs allowed per nine. He's had 12 of his 58, 46 earned runs, 12 on earned runs this season. So I do wonder if that has maybe hid a few flaws for Tanner Halk in terms of runs allowed. Where are you at,

him. Well, wouldn't that show up in the whip? If that was the case, his whip, I mean, it's starting to climb because of all the walks recently, but. No, that's a good point. Yeah. I'm just asking questions. I don't know that I will worry about that. Could he be wearing down? Yes, though Alex Corr was asked about it, and he said they don't see any evidence of that. There was a step in the right direction here for Tanner Howlke. It was, it did continue a bad trend. It a very good start. But his previous start, five starts,

he threw 59% of his pitches for strikes, which is really bad, and that explains the spike and walk right there. 59 in the previous five, 72% strikes in this one, which is really good. He said that was, what he was trying to get back to do

is pounding the zone, and he felt like it was going really well until it got, I believe it was the fourth inning. He gave up two home runs. Thought it was just two pitches he didn't execute well and otherwise he was happy with the way he pitched.

So I do like to hear when a pitcher is cognizant of what needs to improve. Like we say, oh, he needs to start doing this more and he's saying the same thing. All right, everybody's on the same page. It's not like he's lost and has no idea how he's gone wrong. He needs to throw more strikes and he did it in this. He just allowed two home runs.

Being the ground ball pitcher he is, home runs aren't normally going to be Tanner Haukes issue. It doesn't mean the endings won't become an issue or stay an issue if that's already what's going on with him. But I think Halk is, I still have a decent amount of confidence in him. I'm not going to say he hasn't dropped at all in my rankings, but I would, I'm not anywhere close to the point of dropping him. All right. Let's go one more. Cole Regans, who had a decent start at Detroit, six strikeouts and five and two thirds innings, two runs loud,

did walk four and his velocity continues to be way down. And that has been an issue for Cole Regens really since like the end of June. He has a 425 ERA over his last six starts, which coincides with the velocity drop. Still getting good strikeout numbers, but not the elite numbers we've been used to. Where are you at on Cole Regens who, if I'm not mistaken, did reach the top 12 for both you and Frank in the... Oh yeah, he's been there for a while for me. But I'm starting to get concerned about this because this is now six straight starts where his velocity's down like one and a half to two miles per hour across the board.

And at first it was just kind of a head scratcher because the second and third of those six starts were dominant. And it's like, okay, well, clearly it's not affecting his performance. But now the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth of those starts not so dominant. And my theory at the time when he was doing well was, okay, maybe he's taking a little off because he wants to throw more strong. and I know I've seen some analysis out there suggesting the same thing from people smarter than me. But let's actually look at it because prior to the six-start stretch where he's been throwing softer, Reagan's strike rate was 65%. During the six-start stretch, 61%. He had four walks in this one. I don't know that that's such a valid theory, or if that is why he's

taken a little off. It's not going the way he intended. And this was a guy whose breakthrough last year was a result of him adding a lot of velocity. So to see him losing velocity, particularly as the innings build up, I'm not saying it's panic time for Col Regens, but I am starting to get a little concerned. Would you take Hunter Green over anyone in that previously mentioned group rest of season. Oh yeah.

I mean, I take them over crochet. No, no, no, I mean all of them. Oh, what I take them over all of them? Yeah, sorry. The only one in doubt is Regens. And I'm sure Regens is ahead of him in my rankings right now

because I haven't adjust based on Sunday. But it's, yeah, I think I'm still going to take Reagan's over Hunter Green, but it's getting close. Hunter Green's obviously had an awesome July. He's averaged two hits allowed in his last five.

starts. Since July 1st, he has a 0.27 ERA. He has allowed one run in 33 innings. He has 40 strikeouts to nine walks. I didn't mention the line in this one. One hit allowed over six innings, zero earned runs, one walk, 11 strikeouts. The strikeouts starting to come back from Hunter Green. The only thing I will say is it reminds me a lot of Dylan Cese in 2022. Remember, His strikeout rate actually went down a little bit in 2022. I believe his walk rate was actually up in 2022, but he took this big step forward because he went from really bad on balls in play to really good. 383 expected Wobah on contact in 2021, 313 in 2022.

Hunter Green is at a 307 X Wobon contact. It's the lowest among pitchers with at least 250 batters face this season. it is the third lowest over the past four seasons among starting pitchers. Only Ranger Suarez in 2021 and Corbyn Burns in 2021 were better. And both of them got 40 points worse the following season. And Dylan Cease, remember 383 in 2021, 313 in 2022, 383 in 2022. So I pointed it all out to say, pitchers have control over the quality of contact they allow.

And maybe Hunter Green has just gotten really good at that in a way that is sustainable. I want to believe that. I really do because I was high on him coming into the season. I had him as a breakout. I think at some point there's going to be significant regression. If you're still able to trade, I think it's worthwhile to try to make a trade with Hunter Green right now. If not, cool. I think you might have a top 15 start.

pitcher the rest of the way. Yeah. I still think there's a lot of risk in this profile. That's the thing. I mean, you get beyond the top 15 starting pitchers, you find a lot of risk. So I'm,

there has to be some regression because we're talking about a 270 IRA over his last five starts. But, I mean, this really talented pitcher, who even prior to that, it's not like he was, he was still must start and fan.

yeah, he was having a breakout season. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, I think, I think I'm going to be, I'm going to take a, have a rosier outlook here for Hunter Green than you. Not that I think it's an open and shot case. He's an ace now, but this is, you know, it's not like, it's not like this is the most unexpected thing ever. All right.

Let's move on to some waiver wire pitchers. Spencer Schwellenbach, we mentioned earlier, 10 strikeouts. I teased a Spencer Schwellenbeck. stat earlier. And now I'm going to give it to you. Braves have had a lot of really good pitchers, right? Famously, Greg Maddox, John Smoltz. Come back a long time.

Four different Cy Young winners in the Atlanta Braves history. Spencer Strider also very good. You know what? None of those pitchers have ever done over a three-start stretch. What? What Spencer Schwellenbach just did, which is strike out 29 hitters without walking a batter. First time in Atlanta Braves history.

that that has happened. He has a 404 ERA over the course of the season, 319 XERA. If he qualified for the leaderboard, his 13.7% swinging strike rate would be tied with Tyler Glass now for the 11th best among starting pitchers. Is Spencer Swalembach just a must-start pitcher now?

Well, I mean, we're still trying to get his roster rate up all the way. So it seems like a big leap to must-start. this latest one was against the Marlins and he allowed three runs, two home runs. Yeah. One of those starts in that three also four runs allowed. But you're asking me to, you gave me such a like,

the prompt you gave me was so optimistic that I feel like I'm having to answer it in a negative way. You're a hater. Like I'm so enthusiastic about Schwellenbach overall, back-to-back double-digit strikeout efforts, six pitches that he seems to mix the, he mix it up every time out, and he still gets a good result.

And his control is maybe the best in baseball. It's right up there with George Kirby. You say no walks in his last three starts. It's one walk in his last five starts. That's the number I pulled with a 245 ERA during that stretch. So Spencer Schwellenbach really does seem to be coming into his own. And I think I'm very excited about it. potential, even if I'm not quite ready to call a must start.

Shane Boz, five strikeouts, two run runs, five in a third inning against Houston, 70% rostered as of Sunday night, seven whiffs on the slider, four each on the fastball and change up, none on the curve ball. That's still not there. And he had 17 balls in play in this one with a 94.9 mile per hour average exit velocity. So still not quite there on Shane Baugh. but I remain very optimistic and I remain hopeful

that these are signs of him figuring it out and that it's going to look really good when he does. Is he must roster? Pretty close. He's definitely trending the right direction. The breaking balls have improved in his last couple starts. He got the majority of whiffs,

not the majority, but the plurality of whiffs on his slider in this one. And I don't even really know, where this changeup came from. He basically didn't throw the curveball, which was the, I think, the plurality of whiffs on that pitch in his previous start.

And he basically ditched it in this one through a change-up that got a decent number of whiffs. So he's getting that secondary arsenal going, and it may be even more robust than we remember it being. And, you know, it wasn't a great start, but it's every little, every start, it seems like incremental improvement here for Shane Baas. And we know there's a ton of upside here.

So I would be looking to pick him up anywhere he's available. Where would you rank Brian Wu relative to Spencer Schwalembach, Usai Kukuchi, and Shane Boss? They're all 70 to 80% rostered, so very shallow leagues. I'm kind of surprised he's as rostered as he is, given that four of his previous five starts were four innings or less. So it had been unusable, had been maintaining a low ERA and Webb. But I wasn't hearing a lot of week and drop Brian Wu, right? like people were saying for care crochet when he was having the same problem

just with fewer strikeouts. But then, you know, he went seven in this one. Much to my surprise. I have no idea the state of his forearm at this point because it always seems to be hurting him and I think that has a lot to do with the early hooks.

The ERA's great, the whip's great, strikeout rates, whatever. Pretty bad. Pretty bad, yeah, 6.4, Kper 9. I don't think he's, must roster. I can understand wanting to roster him

after this start, but if it's between him or Shane Boz or Schwellenbach, certainly, woo's at the bottom of the list for me. All right.

Then real quick, going a little deeper. Edward Cabrera, 22% rostered, five shot out innings, three hits, two walks, it's a good sign,

eight strikeouts against Atlanta. What did you see there? Yeah, I mean, two pretty good starts in a row for him, both less than six innings, but, you know,

got a lot of strikeouts, 18 whiffs on 98 pitches. 60% strike rate between those two starts. So he managed to avoid a big walk total, but he still wasn't throwing a lot of strikes. And so I think it's easy to be encouraged. The starts were good. Edward Cabrera, the stuff looks amazing.

He gets strikeouts when he's on. But I'm not seeing the kind of improvement that I think is sustainable. So outside of deeper leagues, I'd probably leave Edward Cabrera alone. All right. How would you rank, Edward Cabrera among these deep lower end starting pitchers.

DJ Hertz, five shutout innings with six strikeouts against the Brewers. Paul Blackburn, who changed up the pitch mix, went super heavy cutter and change up. Six innings, one earn run against the Angels. Martine Perez also changed the pitch mix up. Heave up one earned run in six innings with seven strikeouts against the Rockies. And Jose Soriano, who was six shutout innings against the mats. Where's your rank Cabrera among DJ Hertz? Paul Blackburn, Martin Perez, and Jose Soriano.

Who's your favorite? What kind of leagues would you be looking to add them in? The one I trust by far is Jose Soriano, because it's just hard to improve on that ground ball rate. He's so good at limiting damage, and throws very hard. He has starts where he gets a solid number of strikeouts to, and he's RP eligible.

So I think if I just have to start any of these guys random week, it'd be Soriano. You know, Cabrera might be second, which says something about the other three, because I didn't give a ringing endorsement of Cabrera there. DJ Hertz, you know, when the fastball's on, he can be dominant. It's been on lately. I just don't know that we can trust it. And when it's not on, it's a disaster. I'm interested in seeing if Martin Perez, if throwing more curveballs like he didn't in this start, you know, we talked about Yusay Kukuchi going to the Astros, then getting him to emphasize his best pitch.

and it could be transformative for him. It potentially could be for Perez, too, though I don't think the upside is nearly as exciting. All right. I'm in really bad shape in one league. I've got Cutter Crawford, Gavin Stone, Bryce Miller, and Gavin Williams in my pitching staff, and I need to drop some pitchers.

Rank those four by preference of dropability. I'll drop stone first. He's sinking like a stone. Hey. Cutter Crawford, you can cut him. I think... 12 runs in his last three starts. There are 11 different pitchers this season.

I believe it's 11 who have thrown 100 innings and given up fewer than 12 home runs this season. Sorry, 17 different pitchers. He's been the pitcher Cutter Crawford most obviously affected by the ball carrying better since the start of July because it's just ruined him. And predictably, he's a big fly ball guy. So those two are the easy drops

between Bryce Miller and Gavin Williams I'd rather drop Gavin Williams just because there's so little predictability from start to start and it's sort of been like Eric Cole where it looks like he's back on track and then he has a dud like this one so just too volatile

Miller I think is fine he's no better than fine but he's fine Bryce Miller All right do Kyle Harrison Marcus Stroman and Jake Irvin need to be rostered in 12 team roto leagues. Irvin. I would say needs to be rostered.

The other two now. All right. Let's move on. I wanted to talk about this a little earlier in the show. And I moved it up in the notes. And then we got to it 53 minutes in. That's on me. But rank these closer targets.

We got some big closer news this weekend. One, Arizona, Paul, Paul Sewell is not the closer for the Diamondbacks. Doesn't sound like it's forever. Certainly for now. Ryan Thompson got saves on Wednesday and 4th. Friday. He got another save opportunity on Sunday, and he only made it one out, got bailed out by AJ Puck, who recorded the final two outs, won by strikeout. Is Thompson the closer for the Diamondbacks? I think it would be easier to say yes if he hadn't gotten, had to be bailed out on

Sunday. Sure. The evidence mostly points to him right now. There are a couple other guys that I'm sure we're going to get to that I'd put bigger bids on if you're looking for saves help off the waiver wire, not for the diamond backs necessarily, but on. There are a couple other guys that I'm sure. I'm other teams. In the long run, I think it's going to be Seawald. So even for as little, as I can confidently say,

Thompson is the guy now. I can't confidently say he's going to be the guy long term. Even less so, I can say that. So with Seawald losing the job, Tori Lavello said there's something that's going on with his delivery.

It's not allowing him to throw the ball where he wants to, have the finish on the ball and make pitches. that he's normally making. So that right now is my top priority and that's all I really want to talk about. So it seems like they see something that's off with him

as opposed to they have no idea what's going on. His two appearances over the weekend after being removed from the closer roll, the velocity was up, especially in the first of those two appearances. So he may already be on the road back to regaining that spot, especially since Ryan Thompson just blew one. I will say if it does,

doesn't end up being Thompson and they don't go back to CWald as quickly as I think they're going to. Keep an eye on Justin Martinez. Very hard thrower, averaging 100 miles per hour on a sinker. So he gets a lot of weak contact in addition to a pretty good strikeout rate. It's kind of like a poor man's Emanuel Class A profile. And he's very young and I could see Justin Martinez them grooming him as the closer of the future. All right. And Ben Joyce got the save for the Angels on Saturday,

one and one third innings in that one. Throw is super hard, bad team. Calvin Foschet. Foucher, Foucher. Fosh. Fosh. Fosh. Fosha.

Fouche. Fosho. Blew a save on Friday, but Marlins went right back to him on Saturday for the save. Struck out two to get that. Is he just the guy here? Yeah, I think so. And like I said before, Skip Schumacher's been very predictable. with his bullpen usage when he sticks guys in roles,

he pretty much sticks with it. And I think Calvin Foshae is the top saves priority from the weekend. Even higher than Hunter Harvey. Even higher than Hunter Harvey, who the same thing happened. Yep. Blew a save on Saturday.

Oh, right? I've been urging for them to get him in the roll, and then he blew it. Wait right back to him on Sunday. What helped there, James MacArthur also blew a save on Saturday, right after. I think James MacArthur's done.

Kick him to the curb. I think if they don't go with Harvey, it'd be Lucas Erseg or maybe even Chris Bubich, if you want to. Yeah, he's been working a lot of high profile or high leverage innings later. Yeah. But I think Harvey's the one to gamble on for now.

Part of it, I think it's a little more low-key why I prioritize Fochay over him. Part of it's because I don't trust Matt Quattaro. That's how you say that name, right? I don't trust him to say, stick with one guy as much as I trust Schumacher to. But I'm more excited about Harvey's potential. Part of it's too Harvey's struggled lately,

as excited as I am about his potential. So I don't even know that he can hold on to it. But he would be probably the second priority. I would go Foch one, Hunter Harvey, two, both ahead of Ryan Thompson. All right, let's talk some waiver wire hitters. We're going to run through this pretty quickly, but Ila Jimenez started two games this weekend.

one of them, including with Adley Rutchman on the bench, they opted to keep Eloy in the lineup at D.H. And give Adley Ruchman a day off, which is interesting. He's 48% rostered. Does he need to be a priority? I mean, Roto Leagues, he probably should be rostered. Anything else? It's still unclear to me how that playing time's going to shake out,

or even that Jimenez is going to be worth it. Yeah. All right. Rob Ruff Snyder, for four with two home runs on and a stolen base on Saturday. Huge game. Followed it up with an O for five with two strikeouts. Let's move on to,

did you have anything to had on refs? Not really. I mean, okay. You added it. It was such a big game. It was. I thought we needed to mention it,

but no, there's not much there. He's got like a 950 OPS. He just doesn't play much. All right, from my waiver work column, I'll just give the top guy for each position and we'll, we'll move on because we've got some stuff left to hit.

Austin Wells, 36% rostered, catcher for the Yankees. Josh, Bel. Homer twice in his Diamondbacks debut. He's 51% rostered. Nolan Shanwell also showing some signs of being like a league average-ish power hitter. Average eggs have lost he since July 1st, up to like 89 miles an hour. It's a big improvement for him.

Luis Garcia, he's just been awesome. It was awesome in July 8 for 12 with two home runs and two steals this weekend. Is he must roster in all categories leagues? Pretty close. He still basically never plays against lefties. And it's a shame because Luis Garcia is having a breakout season. I think it's pretty clear at this point. He's stolen 17 bases, which nobody even expected.

His expected batting average now, XBA, is 294. So it's kind of, it started out really high, then it went down. It's back up now for Luis Garcia. And I think this is legit breakout. But I don't know, I don't know why the nationals in their stay won't just run him out there and see what he's got. Because he's 23 and, or he's 24 now. out. But yeah. Jake Berger, 60% rostered, homered Friday and Saturday, seven in his last 16 games since the All-Star Break.

Mason Win, I just want to point out, terrific quote from him. He is swinging harder. There are a handful of hitters, him, Anthony Volpey. Gosh, who else? Anyway, their bat speed has gone up more than any players in baseball since the start of the All-Star break, basically. And Mason Wynn had a quote where he said, well,

I've been very frustrated lately by my play, and since I don't play football anymore and I can't hit anybody, that's the way I can take my frustration out. Love that energy. And then at Alfield, Juan Yuppez, 51% rostered. Parker Meadows is back, 14% roster.

Remember, he had some sleeper hype coming into the season was disastrous, like 440 OPS before getting sent down in April or early May. Awesome in AAA, hit for power, ran a ton, came back, days got hurt. He's back. 14% rostered. He's an interesting name. Hey, is this anything? Anthony Volpe, homered Friday and Saturday. He has five homers in 15 games since the All-Star break with a manageable 21.5% strikeout rate. He's swinging harder. Like I said, the bat speeds

way up. He's making a conscious effort to try to pull the ball more and hit for more power. Any faith that this is real? He's 96% rostered, so not like can go out and add him, but do you buy into it? I think there's a chance. Frank and I talked about Volpe on a show not so long ago. I don't think you were on it. But I feel like there's been this rush to judgment on Volpe in both directions when his second year player was only 23.

Obviously, as a great prospect pedigree. The data has been pretty underwhelming so far in his major league career. So I get being, optimistic when he's going well I get being pessimistic when he's going well when he's going poorly I think we I think we just kind of need to wait and see

how it plays out he certainly looks usable again and his average exit velocity during this hot stretch is up it's it's I think last I looked it was over 90 miles per hour maybe right at 90 miles per hour so if he can sustain that

he'll be fine he'll be good he'll steal a lot of bases and he'll be everything you wanted him to be. But for now, I'm just going to say he's a hot hand play, and we'll see how it goes from here. Hey, is this anything? Connor Wong started a game at first base for the first time in his career on Saturday.

That came after four hits on Friday. He's been very good this season. Do you think maybe he actually plays more moving forward with Danny Jansen, taking more time at catcher? If he plays more first base? I mean, they've been starting Dominic Smith there. Yeah, it might just be a lack of options until

Cassus comes back. Right. That's why I'm just asking questions. Yeah, it could be. Could happen. I don't know why they'd, yeah, if they're willing to play in their first base, then he seems like a better option than Dominic Smith. All right.

Let's move on to some pitching standouts. Zach Wheeler back on track, eight shutout innings on Sunday. On the other side of that game, Logan Gilbert, one earned run and six innings took a tough loss. Jack Flaherty, did you notice anything different? Anything notable here? Six innings shut out, seven strikeouts, one walk? I think he leaned on his curveball a little more and his fastball less.

I mean, his curveball gets a lot of whiffs. His fastball's not bad, though. So I don't know. Nothing that really changes my opinion on him, but my opinion on Jack Flaherty is pretty high. Robbie Ray struck out nine in five innings over the weekend. Secondaries looked really, really good. Two good starts out of three, not pitching deep.

You starting it moving forward? The velocity remains where it was in 2021 when he won the Cy Young Award. So it's been a bit of a roller coaster so far, but overall, I think you can be very encouraged with the way Robbie Ray is going. His next matchup is against the Tigers. It looks like. So I think I probably start him in most cases.

All right. Matt Waldron struck out seven over five and two-thirds innings through his knuckleball 43% of the time. And would you look at that? When he throws his knuckleball 40% of the time or more, he has a 245 ERA, 109 whip, 9.2K per 9 in 10 starts. In 13 starts where he doesn't throw his knuckleball 40% of the time, 491-1-19 whip, 7.2K per 9.

Now there's a bit of a chicken and egg thing there, right? he's probably pitching worse when he doesn't have his best pitch. I just, I want him to find a way to throw that knuckle ball 50% of the time next season. And I'm telling you, beggars can't be choosers with knuckleballers. Like, there's a reason why

they usually fail one, you know? They usually fail knuckleballers. It's rare that one comes along, it's rare that one comes along in any case. But it's rare, it's, even those that come along, that they're, like, reliable in fantasy. honestly, R.A. Dickie's the only one I can remember in my 25 years of playing fantasy.

So the fact that Waldron has now become one. And, you know, part of what makes him reliable is on days when he doesn't have his knuckleball, when he's thrown it less than 40% of the time, it's a survivable ERA. You know, it's not going to totally tank you because he actually throws a 90 mile per hour fastball, which few knuckleballers do. So he can survive. those starts without it, I think, a little better. And that's the key to Waldron's success.

So, yeah, I mean, I understand hoping for more. But, you know, it's knuckleballers are, that's always been a tough nut to crack. All right. Pitching standouts on the bad side, Terrick School will give up five earned runs in six and a third innings. He had been really good in July before that, so I'm not worried there. Kevin Gossman is just not there

and then there's no reason to think it will be right four and two thirds innings four on runs three walks two strikeouts Nathan of all the velocity we ride him off

and then he turns around and throw the gym I think he's still capable of performances like that I just don't think you can expect them

and so I think that makes him a usable pitcher but not a must start one fringe top 40 is Gosman yeah Nathan of all the

five or not runs in five innings, seven hits. He's had some shaky starts lately, but Velocity was fine in this one. That's usually the thing we're looking for. It hasn't dipped yet, so not too worried there. Yeah. And Tyler Phillips coming off nine innings of shutout ball. We call that a complete game shutout if my brain were working normally. Goes one and two-thirds innings in this one. Eight earn runs, three walks, one strikeout. I mean, look, 10 and two-thirds innings over two starts from Tyler Phillips. It's pretty good.

But none of us bought it on the complete game. So that's not surprising. Yeah, I mean, there were some reasons for optimism there, but I don't think the upside is especially high. Yeah. And then Tyler Anderson only struck out three in five innings. He did still have like 17 whiffs in this one, continues to generate a ton of swinging strikes.

Don't quite understand it. Didn't lead to strikeouts in this one. Metz or a contact-oriented team. Maybe that explains it. But that was interesting. And Nick Povetta. only 70 pitches in this one after 4 and 2 thirds innings, and they came out and said after the game,

he had labored, that was going to be the end of the game for him either way, whether he got through the fifth or not. Five strikeouts, fastball velocity was down 2.2 miles per hour, though. So that's something to keep in mind, keep an eye on with Nick Povetta. Not panicking yet,

but disappointing season for him, frustrating inconsistency. He had shown some flashes lately. Don't want to write him off, but that was frustrating. It runs through some hitters real quick. Since July 1st, Shohei Otani is on a 93 steel pace. He's hitting 287 with a thousand four OPS and seven homers and 15 steals in that pace.

We've never seen anything like him. Unbelievable. Cotel Marte 8 home runs since the All-Star Break, 27 overall. Royce Lewis, two home runs, 7 RBI, 4 walks in three games versus the White Sox this weekend. Zek-Aloff is like getting benched. we can just drop him, right? In most cases, yeah. I mean, maybe not some of those middle,

well, if he's getting benched, yeah, I think he can just drop him. All right. Let me see. Yeah. Matt Chapman with 5 for 13, two home runs and a double. He leads the giants by like eight in stolen bases this season.

He has like a third of their stolen bases. Somehow I don't know what's happening there. He's been low key. It's very weird. He's been like a top 12 third baseman in both. Very good in fan. At top 12 he's I got points leagues rankings or stats up here. He's number seven. It's so weird. He's scoring a ton of runs. He's stealing a ton of bases. Is he up to like 13 steals? His strikeout rate is uh, at what did he steal one today? He's a 12. He's a 12 steals.

His strikeout rate is down. They only have like 40 as a team. It's the lowest. It's been since 2019, which was his last good year. I think that has as much to do with his success as anything. Stolen bases certainly help. But yeah, Chapman, low-key, must start third baseman. Kobe Mayo's first weekend in the majors, not great. O for nine, five strikeouts. If you want a reason to be optimistic,

he gets sent down for a couple months, comes back up, pull a Jackson Holiday, who's homered twice in five games since coming back from the minors, three straight multi-hid games after Sunday, 13 batted balls since coming back. 11 of them have been 95 miles per hour or harder. We call that a hard hit ball. He's looked awesome.

He has looked like he was worth the hype. Just took a little while longer than we hoped for. That's a good sign though. And then Tyler Fitzgerald, homered again Sunday. 10 homers in 16 games, 1,0.1 OPS. Both him and Jackson Holiday are around 85% rostered as of Sunday night. That should be 100% in all leagues. Let's move on to some other bullpen updates.

and the Dodgers are hilarious. They are so funny. Because Evan Phillips, Blake Trinen, Alex Vessia, and Daniel Hudson have all been in the save conversation

at one point or another for them. They all pitched on Sunday, and of course it was Anthony Banda who got the save for them. His first save of the season. That's hilarious. Kyle Finnegan for the Nationals,

he's got 30 saves already. That is wild. Who would have thought? Yenna or Kano got the save on Saturday. I think that's probably because Craig Kimbril threw 18 pitches on Friday. They're trying to avoid having him work consecutive days. Kano worked the eighth inning on Sunday. I think the Orioles had just scored a fourth insurance run before the eighth inning.

So he worked the eighth. I think Kimbril would have worked the ninth if it had been a save situation. So no concerns there. Let's move on. Close out at hour 12. to stream or not to stream Monday. Not a lot of good options. No.

I like J.P. Sears versus the White Sox and Shamanai versus the Cardinals. I would go in that order. Those are the only two I would consider. Yeah, fair enough. Yeah. I mean, White Sox is going for lost 21 in a row now. And Tuesday, there are some better options on Tuesday. Wouldn't want to start Tyler Malley, but going to be paying close attention to that. Jeffrey Springs at St. Louis, obviously his first start wasn't great, but I think that's worth keeping an eye on. Same with Max Meyer versus Cincinnati. I wouldn't want to start him. So if I had to

start anyone, probably Ross Stripling against the White Sox. It's all you highlighted in the notes. It's a historically bad offense. It is on a historic losing streak, but that's how little I trust Ross Stripling, to be honest. That's fair. I would start Colin Ray at the Braves over Ross dripling against the White Sox. I would start Ben lively versus the Diamondbacks as well. They're very hit or miss, but he's been so solid for such a long time

that I think he might actually be the top option there. But not a lot of good options over the next couple of days for to stream or not to stream. And that's going to do it for Fantasy Baseball today. We're going to wrap for Scott. I am Chris. Thanks as always for tuning into Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure you follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple.

or Spotify. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye.