Fantasy Baseball Today - Blake Snell's Career Start! Add Xavier Edwards or Tyler Fitzgerald? (7/29 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 29, 2024

Blake Snell struck out a career-high 15 on Saturday (3:11)! ... Xavier Edwards hit for the cycle on Sunday (8:35)! ... Add Edwards or Tyler Fitzgerald (13:00)? ... Bailey Ober is on fire right now (19:03). ... News (21:45): Kodai Senga has a calf injury and will miss the rest of the season. ... Spencer Schwellenbach leaned on his slider and the best start of his young career (33:05). ... Shane Baz had a bounce-back start (43:13). ... Add Colt Keith or Mark Vientos (50:41)? ... Start or sit these questionable pitchers (56:21)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (1:07:50). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question, email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. What's up? And welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Monday, July 29th. I am Frank Sample, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, Blake Snell had one of the best starts of his career.

He is so, so back. Xavier Edwards and Tyler Fitzgerald continue to mash. These guys have come out of nowhere and they have been awesome lately. We've got some other waiver wire moves, starter sit decisions, and much more. The one thing we will not be talking about are trades. We did a bonus pod earlier in the day so you can hear all of our thoughts on Jazz Chisholm and Zach Eflin and reliever market being crazy. Go back and listen to that podcast, but let's jump in.

All right, Chris, you are up, player of the weekend. Yeah, Blake Snell, who had one of the best starts of his career, six shutout innings against the Colorado Rockies, Colorado Rockies. At, I almost called it Pack Bell. I am a thousand years old. At least you're going to call a candlestick. At Oracle Park, 15 strikeouts, a career high for Blake Snell. he now has since coming back from the IL on July 9th

30 strikeouts to seven walks in four starts 24 innings of work he's allowed two earned runs all of them coming in his previous start against the Dodgers Blake's now's now Blake's now is now strikeout rate 30% that's a little lower than we hope for

but very very good 10% walk rate 3.3% points lower than last year 3.21xERA that is a half run better than last year that's very funny to me given the way

Blake Snell's season has gone but did we really expect it to go any other way I didn't I don't know about you guys but this is just what Blake's like beggars disbelief.

I don't know if that's the right way to phrase this, but it's just, I almost don't think there's any value in analyzing Blake Snell when he's going poorly or when he's going well because we've seen this story play out so consistently over the course of his career,

where he goes from looking like a a Siong winner to looking like he doesn't belong in the rotation, to looking like a Siong winner, to looking like he doesn't belong in the rotation. It's just like it's like a three, two or three month cycle every year. And it just depends on what part of the year it happens at, usually early. He tends to be better in the second half. But like it's also one of these situations where I don't even know how much value there is to like,

oh, well, he's throwing his curveball more in July. And that's why. Because it seems to be a different thing every year that fuels his turnaround. I remember a couple years ago it was the slider. and it was like he shouldn't throw the change up in curveball anymore. You should just go fastball slider. And it just he's really, really good.

He's really, really inconsistent. I don't know if he'll ever not be those things. But I do know that when things are going poorly for Blake's now, I always have faith that he's going to figure it out at some point. I just think from a buying perspective next year, we'll see how he finishes the season. out, we'll see where he gets drafted.

If he's drafted as a top 75 pick like he was before he didn't sign, I'm going to be out on Blake Snell. I can say that pretty confidently. And I will just buy him whenever things go poorly. If he's like 140th, I will draft Blake Snell and I will trade him at some point when the things are going well. Well, if we think this is going to hold, I imagine he'll go earlier rather than later. and in fact might be a big player moved at the trade deadline.

So he might be pitching into the postseason as well. We'll see. Just to add a little color to what you're saying. This is Blake Snell's quote after this start. I'm starting to have more confidence and understanding how to make adjustments quicker now. I'm getting there, as weird as that is to say, I still feel like I have more to improve on. But I would say the curveball is probably the best it's been for a while.

You mentioned he's been focusing on the curveball more. That's kind of keyed this turnaround. But it is uncanny. Like I can't remember another player like this who this, I think this is year four of it now, where he turned on a dime from being unusable to arguably the best pitcher in baseball, or one of them anyway. And I am so thankful this week that it turned, out this way with the two starts this week because Blake Snell, remember two turns ago last week,

he had the seven one-hit innings with eight strikeouts and I said, this is it, it's happening. Snell in your lineups now. And it could have blown up in my face if Blake Snow wanted to be a real jerk about it. But instead, he continued the same pattern of the previous three years. And I have a ton of faith that's just going to hold for the final two months. And there could be some leagues out there where he's still not started, because he's only 74% started on CBS is Blake Snell. He's at Cincinnati this week there, 19th in Wobah against left-handed pitching.

But you guys pretty much said it. When Blake Snell is going like this, I'm not sure that the matchup even matters, because last time out he did this against the Dodgers, and he looked really good there too. So as long as he's pitching this well, I think he's just in your lineups again at Cincinnati, assuming he's still on the Giants by the time he's supposed to make that start. There is a chance that he is traded.

I guess we will find out on Tuesday, 6 p.m. Eastern time. That is the trade deadline. Scott, over to you. Player of the weekend. All right. I'm going to talk about a Marlin. Woo. Yeah.

Xavier Edwards, who hit for the cycle on Sunday. His first career home run contributed to him hitting for the cycle. Don't get used to the home runs. That is very far from being his game. but he's now batting 3.79 and 25 games for the Marlins after hitting 3.30 at AAA, Las Vegas. Or not Las Vegas. Triple A. Jacksonville, I think it is?

Yeah. He was a jumbo shrimp, yes. After hitting 330 at Jacksonville. And last year hit 351 at Jacksonville. And now he's batting 379. Like I said, an even one-to-one walk-to-strikeout ratio. He also stole two bases on Saturday, giving him eight in those 25 games. And that's very much within Xavier Edwards skill set, too.

It's nice to see him continuing it in the majors, because that's not always a given. And I'm kind of at war with myself over this one because I really want to believe this kind of player can exist in the modern game. It's been a long time, I feel like, since we've seen a slap hitter in that Juan Pierre, Luis Castillo, both Marlins, ironically, mold. It's been a long time. I guess Michael Borns was kind of that, but not always consistent with the batting. It's been a long time. And, you know, even looking at these four hits today for Xavier Edwards, none had an exit velocity of even 98 miles per hour. none had an expected batting average of even 500,

which sounds high expected batting average, but if they're all under 500 and you go four for four, that you're beating the odds considerably. In fact, two of those hits had an expected batting average of less than 300, one of them being the home run, actually. So can he do this? I don't know. I think, I say I'm at war with myself.

If I'm just, if I'm getting into pure analytical, political mode and droning on and on about data. I don't, you know, I'm skeptical. I'm highly skeptical. And yet it's been so consistent throughout the miners and now in his first extended look in the majors. And he has the stolen bases backing him up. I don't know that he could hit well over 300. That is the thing I'm most skeptical of.

Could he be Bryce Tarang-like? I'm a little more open to that, maybe. But I hope he's just great. I hope he's just a batting title contender who, a batting title and stolen base title contender who never hits home runs. I hope he's that because that would be a lot more fun. I think Bryce Terang is a pretty good expectation for him. Like his XBA is actually better than Bryce Terrangs,

but it's not 379. I think that goes without saying. It's 271. which is a very solid mark. It's like 65th percentile or something. He's got really good plate discipline. He doesn't chase. He doesn't swing and miss.

He doesn't strike out. He hits a decent amount of line drives. Like there's a lot going for Xavier Edwards that suggests that, okay, what he's doing is not real. But a version of what he's doing could be real. You know, he could hit 285 and he could be a 40. stolen base guy. And I will note, definitely on Sunday, and I think on Saturday as well, he batted lead off for the Marlins. Now, it's arguably probably the second worst lineup in baseball,

but that's a few extra played appearances every week that he wasn't getting before. So I think skepticism is warranted. I do not expect Xavier Edwards to be a batting title winner. But he's doing all the things you want from a player like this. It ended up being a 35 point week for points leagues. 14 of those points coming today. Well, let's compare him to someone else who's pretty hot right now. The legend of Tyler Fitzgerald continued this weekend. Three for five with a double dong, four RBI on Friday.

He added another homer on Saturday. He has seven homers in his past 10 games. Overall, batting 319, nine homers, seven steals, a 1021 OPS. 88 mile per hour average eggs of velocity, not great, but 12% barrel rate, pulls the ball a lot, lots of line drives, up to 61% rostered. So this has been a pretty meteoric rise

similar to what we saw from Reese Hines, where, I mean, this guy is hitting as many home runs as he is. People are taking note, and obviously they are adding him in fantasy. Scott, who would you rather take a shot on, Tyler Fitzgerald or Xavier Edwards? I think Edwards, actually. Just if for no other reason, because I think Fitzgerald can slump his way out of a job,

and Edwards probably not, given the current state of the Marlins, and the stolen bases will make up for a lot of shortcomings there. Fitzgerald's an interesting one, too, though, because sort of like Edwards, the minor league numbers consistently fantastic, but doesn't hit the ball all that hard. And now the major league number is fantastic. Still not hitting the ball all that hard. He strikes out a lot too, which you think would be, you know,

the only way to overcome that is to hit the ball really hard. Well, Tyler Fitzgerald doesn't do that. So it's to a point where he demands to be picked up in anything, anything with five outfielder's a middle end field spot to fill, maybe even in shallower than that. but I want to say I'm optimistic that Tyler Fitzgerald is going to remain a viable starter in fantasy or even for the Giants.

Yeah, there is a bit, like you can squint and see like the ESOC parade is Alex Bregman blueprint here, except those guys have really good bat control and they never swing and miss. and that goes hand in hand with their ability to consistently hit the ball where they want to, which is to the pull side in the air. Fitzgerald has shown that ability, the ability to hit the ball in the pole side to the air in a way that,

like you could see an 88 mile per hour average, Xel velocity leading to 25 homers with that approach. It's just that most of the guys who have that approach, Nolan Aronado, another example of that, when he was good, Most of the guys who have that approach have great bat control. They make a ton of contact. Tyler Fitzgerald's not that. He's got a 74% zone contact rate that is well below the league average.

Chase contact rate is not terrible, but also below average. So it's not like, I don't know. He doesn't, he doesn't chase. so I can't say he has bad plate discipline. It's a swing and miss issue. Yeah. And that's where it gets harder to project the power because he doesn't hit the ball hard.

But 119 games at AAA, 28 homers, 30 steals. He is a premium elite athlete, 98 percentile sprint speed. Like that, you can see a very useful fantasy player here. It's just, can he be a 25 homer guy? I think that's probably the high end of the outcomes, but I think it's possible. It just, I have trouble seeing it with better than like a 240-ish average.

So like, I don't know, what we hoped post-course field Trevor's story could be. That feels like a ceiling outcome for Tyler Fitzgerald. That's within the problem of possibility. If I can make another comp, it's kind of reminding me of Zach Gelloff last year. Sure. Exactly what I said. I didn't buy into, didn't it buy into, then bought into, then shouldn't have bought into. Yeah.

Delfts not nearly as pole heavy. Yeah. Well, yeah, okay. And I didn't want to, because I hyped up Xavier Edward Speed. I don't want to sell Tyler Fitzgerald Speed short. He stole bases in the miners, 98th percentile sprint speed. So that's part of- I'm neveringly faster than...

That's part of his game, too. I don't know that he's required to run as much as Edwards does. Like, Edwards will have to be a base dealer to be a viable major leaguer. And Fitzgerald, maybe not. So the reason I hedged when you asked me Edwards or Fitzgerald, the overall upside outcome for Fitzgerald is higher because he can do more things. So if it's legit, then, okay, I can understand. in a shallower league shooting for the stars with Fitzgerald.

But I think it's more likely that Edwards is, uh, sticks long term. Just a really interesting profile for Fitzgerald. Like what he lacks in the swing and miss, he hits a lot of line drives, 28% line drive rate. 409 Babbup is really high. But this profile,

when you hit as many line drives as you do, it's going to lead to a higher Bavit, and he's really fast. So that helps with Babbup as well. So yeah, I mean, he's someone that might just routinely run higher Babb. The XBA is 270 for Tyler Fitzgerald. It's really close between those two. It might come down

to just need. I think, you know, you get more power. I know we're saying that he's fast and Tyler Fitzgerald should run, but I still do expect Xavier Edwards to have more Steels rest of way. Just in a vacuum, I think I would take Edwards too, but man, it is close. I do like what we're seeing from both

of those guys, obviously. I did want to give a shout out early on here to Bailey Ober, who is on fire and had an amazing start on Sunday as well at the Tigers. Shoutout innings with 11 strikeouts a career high 20 whiffs on 98 pitches 12 of those came on the change up last seven starts for Bailey over 186 ERA 0.77 whip 56 strikeouts over 488 in a third innings He is completely back on track shout out to Bailey over and shout out and that was what the last seven starts you gave the numbers for That was yep last seven six plus innings in all of them. Yeah, so giving you the quality starts giving you some length and now

getting strikeouts as well as Bailey Ober. He's throwing that cutter less during that stretch, right? I did not look entirely into the pitch mix, but yeah. I know that the change of has just been muddy lately for him, so. And I know early on in the season, it was the

fastball that was getting crushed, and it feels like that hasn't been as big of a problem, so. Okay, no, he's still throwing the cutter about 22% of the time. It's just hasn't been an issue for him like it was early on. So, I don't know. That's interesting. The fastball is definitely playing up a lot better because that was a disaster the first two months.

All right. And a reminder to sign up for the FBT newsletter if you haven't already. If you're watching on YouTube, you can scan that QR code. That will take you right to the website where you click on the FBT logo. You punch in your email address. And it's easy as that. You will get a newsletter delivered right to your inbox every weekday for free. Let's take our first break.

And when we return, the news and notes right after this. Welcome back in. This might be a weird way to start off our news and notes segment. but did you guys ever read a series of unfortunate events back in the day? The books? No. They're pretty good. Actually, yeah, I like those books.

I think that they should add a new book that just chronicled Kodi Senga's entire year of 2024 because my goodness, I mean, battled shoulder and triceps injuries all year, finally made it back on Friday and was pitching well, nine strikeouts, suffered a high-grade calf strain while trying to get out of the way on a new. infield pop-up. It's like just a weird again. I don't want to beat it into the ground, but the series of events that happened here for Kodai Senga, for things to turn out the way they did, is just really, really bad for him. And obviously, feel bad for it. Yeah, very upsetting. Yeah. Very upsetting. Because he came back looking like the best he's like looking like the best he's like

like himself. Yeah. Like our months of stashing him, I have stashed in like half a dozen leagues where we're going to pay off tremendously. And it wasn't even his arm. It was his calf. Gosh. So, yeah, I mean, I guess, I guess keeper-wise, you're going to feel hesitant to keep him. I don't know that you should since it wasn't his arm. Yeah, I think you feel fine about it. Yeah. I was stuck for a second on series of, was that the one where, like, they made a movie and Jim Carrey played Count Olaf?

And then they made a show and Neil Patrick Harris played Count Olaf. Is that what you're talking about, series of unfortunate events? I know the Jim Carrey one. I don't know that I know about the Neil Patrick Harris, but I'd be right. Okay, so I'm vaguely familiar with it. Lemony Snicket. Yes. And his series of unfortunate events. Yeah, there were good books.

But yeah, Kodai Senga, that will be the next chapter here. Placed on the 60 Day IL and we'll miss the rest of the season, unfortunately. Devin Williams was activated from the 60 day IL on Sunday. He threw four scoreless innings with six strikeouts on his rehab assignment. He actually made his debut here on Sunday. He got the ninth inning with a four-run lead, gave up a hit. and a walk but struck out one. Fastball velocity was up 1.8 miles per hour.

The change up was up 2.2. 77% rostered. Do you guys think Devin Williams is just thrown right back in the mix? Maybe not his very first appearance, but within the first week. Yeah. So if you have them, you're pretty much good

just starting him, right, in fantasy? I'm fine with that, yeah. Sure. Ranger Suarez was placed on the 15-day IL with lower back soreness, And this injury has lingered for about a month now, so I don't think it's very surprising that Ranger Suarez is out. Mookie Betz continues to swing a bat

and could soon be cleared to take batting practice, assuming no setbacks. He could be back sometime mid-August. Again, that's Mookie Betz. Freddie Freeman was placed on the family emergency list on Saturday and will miss between three and seven days. Obviously, hope everything is all right with him and his family, first and foremost, but do we start Freeman in fantasy this week?

If he misses seven days, he could miss it. miss almost the entire week for fantasy. Yeah, I think I'd rather sit them, yeah, if you can help it. Yeah, probably would need a pretty good replacement there, but yeah, in shallower leagues, you probably could get away from Freeman this week. Mike Trout told reporters on Friday that the MRI on his left knee did not reveal anything concerning, and he expects to start running again soon. Apparently, the scar tissue broke up in his left knee, which caused discomfort and a pause

in his rehab. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is scheduled to throw a bullpen on Friday. He's not eligible to return until August 15th, but it sounds like he'll take even longer than that. Maybe it's a late August, early September return for Yamamoto. As he speculated on our trade recap pod earlier in the day, Jazz Chisholm is expected to play some third base occasionally for the Yankees moving forward,

and in his debut he was betting fifth. He went one for five with a steel and a run scored. Yes, again, that was Jazz Chisholm. Tristan Koss is expected to... Just to remind everybody, we broke down the Jazz Chisholm trade as well as like a dozen others on earlier podcast Sunday. So it's right there in your feed. It's really good stuff.

Be sure to check it out. Trade in the title. Yeah. There's a little red emergency light flashing thing. So you can... Yeah, you can't miss it. And it was pretty much the length of a full podcast. So there you go.

A little bonus. for you. Tristan Kossis is expected to begin a rehab assignment Tuesday at AAA. He's 77% rostered. Could be out there in some shallower league. So, you know, if you plan a 10-teamer and a points league, just check to make sure Tristan Kossis is not available. Jacob de Grom will throw two more bullpen sessions before facing hitters. After that, we will probably get a rehab assignment and another one I'm thinking late August, early September for Jacob de Grom. Justin Verlander threw more than 50 pitches in his bullpen session Saturday, still waiting on a timeline

for him. Max Meyer made his return to the majors on Saturday. He was at the Brewers. He allowed three runs over four innings. Did not have his slider working, which is a huge problem because that is his best pitch by far. 55% rostered for Max Meyer. Do you guys think that number needs to be

higher? Not a lot higher. Maybe 60, 65, for whatever that means to anybody listening who doesn't study roster rates, probably like we do. So like Jeffrey Springs is 64%

rostered. Would absolutely add him ahead of Max Meyer. Both were available. Spencer Schwallenbach, 66% rostered as of Sunday night. Absolutely would rather have him to Max Meyer.

One of us should have taken him at the top of the show. I think I, Yarra Rodriguez and River Ryan, I think are interesting ones because they've got workload concerns. But I think

the talent is similar for both of to Max Meyer. Obviously, they're both in better team situations. You lost me there. I'm not willing to go for them over Meyer. I just, I don't know if Max Meyer is very good. I don't know that he is either. And that's the problem.

Like, I think directionally we're at the same place. Just maybe you're a little farther on that line than I am. Because the slider seems to be his only plus pitch. And he was throwing at like 50% of the, the time when he was up earlier and if it's working and he's able to lean on it that much, that he'll probably be decent. I'm not sure he'll be more than decent. And then he has a terrible offense backing him. So if he's merely decent, how good could he actually be in fantasy? We mentioned the name, but Jeffrey Springs was reinstated from the IL

and will make his season debut Tuesday against the Marlins in 12 rehab outings, 450 ERA 134 whip, 64% rostered. I agree I would take Jeffrey Springs over Max Meyer. Here's the name we haven't heard in a while. Joe Musgrove incorporated all of his breaking pitches in his most recent bullpen and could begin a minor league rehab assignment this week. Brenton Doyle left Sunday's game with an apparent right finger injury. You might have to plan for a replacement there. Bruce Bochie said Josh Young is doing great after playing rehab games at AA on Friday and Saturday.

Young's attempting to return from a few setbacks on his wrist. Zach Eflin will make his Orioles debut Monday against the Blue Jays, which should make him a two-star. pitcher right, Scott? Yep. Okay. Yes, sir. And we're pretty much just throw Eflin in there, right? Two starts? I have a mature below must start, but yeah, you're probably going to start him. Michael Harris said Friday that he is confident he will be able to return by August 14th, which is when he is eligible to come off the 60-day IL. John Carlos Stanton is on track to return Monday. He's been out since mid-June with a left

hamstring strain. Chris, are you good getting your boy? Stanton back in lineups. Let me see. The one league that I know I have him in, I have, yeah, I'll start him over Mark Kana. So yeah, that's a 15 team league.

That's an easy call. Yeah. I don't think he's... I'll start him over Reese Hines in the league where I have him. Yes. Hines, not even in the majors anymore.

Stanton 14% started on CBS. Three outfielder leagues. You probably don't have to do it. Five outfielder leagues. Obviously, you're getting John Carlos staying in there. Ronaldo Lopez was removed Sunday as a precaution due to right forearm tightness. He's scheduled to undergo an MRI. Doesn't sound good anytime we hear the forearm.

And obviously, the innings we're building up too. So, you know, it's scary. He didn't have like a velocity drop in this one if you're looking for reasons to be encouraged, as I am, as a Braves fan. Jared. And somebody who has Renaldo Lopez in his most important league. Yeah. All right. Jared Jones

threw 30 pitches in a bullpen on Saturday and used all four of his pitches. He'll throw another bullpen this week. Brian Wu

exited his start early on Saturday with discomfort in his right hamstring. The same hamstring he went on the IL4 back in June. He is 82% rostered

37% started. And Brian Wu faces the Phillies this week. I would probably get away from Brian Wu if you could. Hayden Birdsong was optioned back to single A Sunday

after another strong outing on Saturday. He went five shutout innings with eight strikeouts, had 20 whiffs on 106 pitches. And now in six starts, 297, ERA 122 whip. If you guys picked up Hayden Birdsong, do you hold on to him? I don't have any clue when he'll be back.

Yeah, he's the fifth starter. He's got to be the fifth starter. Well, Cobb is coming back this week. I read that Bird Song now that he's been, I don't know, he got sent back down. He can't be back for 15 more days unless somebody goes on the IL. But that's for...

Yeah, I wonder if that was the case for a 27th man, but I guess you're saying it is. Or I guess if they trade somebody away, maybe they can call them back up. I know it works for the IL. I would assume that that's only from... That can't be from when he was called up

for the 15-day aisle, though. That has to be from the 21st, I would guess. That rule wouldn't make any sense otherwise. Okay. So Kyle Harrison's last... Turn was good. Good, yeah. And so I guess it comes down to Hayden Bird's song and Harrison,

unless they trade Blake's now. Trade Blake's now, which it sounds like. And all their wildest dreams will come true. Hayden Bird's song will be singing for us all year long. Can I go back to Brian Wu for just one second? Yep. We mentioned Shwellenbach and Springs being about 65% rostered. I'd rather have both of them than Brian Wu at this.

point. I think Brian Wu, 87% right, 82% rostered. That's too high. There's just no upside here on a start to start basis. He hasn't, has he had a start with more strikeouts than innings pitched? He has one start all season with more strikeouts than innings pitched. And these outings keep getting cut short. I don't know how you could start Brian Wu. Can we just get into to Schwellenbach now? because like he's he's available in more than a third of leagues and he had this ridiculous start and this show is halfway over we just talk about him can we talk about him go ahead Scott all right let's do it schwell's the host now Scott you're the host man take I'm gonna I'm gonna get out of here and I'm gonna go do something else see you later guys here's what he actually left

Are you mad at me, friend? No, in all seriousness, you can talk about him. Okay, Spencer Schwellen, Blake. Here's what he did at the Mets on Saturday. Seven shutout innings, two hits, 11 strikeouts, 15 swinging strikes on 89 pitches. He led with his slider. Got eight whiffs.

That's his second best pitch, by the way. He also has a splitter. He has six pitches total. Remember, these are partly why Chris and I, and probably you too, Frank. I've been very optimistic about Schwellenbach this whole time, the combination of a deep arsenal. And when I say control, I'm talking elite control,

like George Kirby level strike throwing here from Spencer Schwellenbach. And it seemed like this was going to happen sooner or later. I wouldn't have guessed it would happen against an offense as good as the Mets. I wouldn't have guessed that. But here it is. he comes. Spencer Schwellenbach. He's the real deal. Pick him up everywhere. Yeah, the splitter has been the true standout pitch all season. 47.8% whiff rate. Slider hasn't been quite that good. But really, you look at the whole

arsenal and like everything looks good. The cutter, I guess not so much. The results haven't been great on that one. But even it's not getting hit hard. So yeah, there aren't a lot of holes to poke in Spencer Schwellenbach's profile. I know he's not someone that we had on our radar coming into the season, really, and his minor league numbers weren't exactly dominant before this season, but he's been really impressive. The underlying stuff has looked a lot better than the overall numbers for a while. 326 XERA this season.

I think there's potential for Spencer Schwellenbach to be a must-start pitcher the rest of the way. Yeah, I think we're all in agreement. And the matchup this week, he gets them Harlins. It's perfect. And this is only like his second year's starting pitcher since high school, I believe. Because in college, he was a shortstop slash closer. And that was just two years ago that he was drafted, right? Didn't they do something similar with AJ Smith Chauver?

Yeah, I mean, similar in that he was an inexperienced pitcher. Yeah, I was more known for quarterbacking in high school. So, yeah, but I mean that the results for Shwellyn, like, because this is like, this is the profile of a guy who's been in the league 12 years. And it's year two of him being a starting pitcher. So that makes me wonder how much upside we're not even seeing for Spencer Shwellenbach. And I think he's the clear outside of Robbie Ray. He is just the top priority in terms of waiver,

are pitchers right now. Spencer Schwellenbach. I'd say him in Springs. I think that's fair. I would take Schwellenbach over Springs personally. I don't know how you guys feel about that. I think that's reasonable. Yeah. Some names that are rostered in more leagues than Schwellenbach. Tobias Myers, 69%. Easy. I'd make that swap.

Gavin Williams, who I also like and his last start out was really good. I would still take Schwellenbach over him. Me too. Yeah. Ben lively at 70%. I would go Schwellenbach there. easily. Yeah. Shane Baaz had a great start this weekend. Who would you guys take Boz or Schwelenbach?

That's a really, I had a lot of trouble with boss, like as my worst player in a lot of leagues where I, I was looking to make an ad and he was the only guy that I could even consider dropping. And I don't think it was for Schwellenbach

in any of those leagues. So I ended up not having that specific issue. But I think I'd stick with boss, but I totally get preferring Schwellenbach. I would go Schwellenbach. I do think Boz potentially has a higher ceiling, but I'm not even sure he does at this point because that's how blown away I am by Schwellenbach.

But Boz has a lot of upside too. He did show it on Friday, finally, and was getting better results with his breaking balls, which I think is the key. They've been a little slower to come around even when you look at the minor league results than the fastball coming back from Tommy John's surgery. of his 13 whiffs, Friday, 5 came on the curveball, two on the slider.

The curveball had three more inches of vertical movement than it had in his previous turns this year. So I'm hopeful it was a big step forward for Shane Boz. I'm not sure yet, though. It wouldn't surprise me if he took a step back next time out. We are getting to the point in the season where I think we had to put a little bit more emphasis on the week-to-week matchups just because we're running enough time. and Shane Boz is at the Astros this week. Obviously, that's a much tougher matchup too.

So if we're just comparing, all right, Shwellenbach gets to Marlins, Shane Boz gets the Astros. I think that's another point in the favor of Shwellenbach. Here are some other names I would drop for Shwellenbach. They're all rostered in more than 70% of leagues. Sean Maniah, Brian Beio, McKenzie Gore, Usay Kikuchi, Andrew Abbott,

Charlie Morton. Yeah, Charlie Morton's still like 80-something, yeah. Marcus Stroman. I would drop all those for him. Agreed on all accounts. I am going to quickly wrap up the news and notes, and then we will hit a break, and then we'll get to hopefully the rest of everything else

from this weekend. The Giants placed Tyro Esrata on the aisle. Nick Gonzalez went on the aisle with a left groin strain. The Marlins plays Josh Bell on waivers, hoping to gauge some interest in a potential trade. He does have five home runs in his past seven games. He's been super hot.

The Guardians promoted pitching prospect, Joey Cantillo, but he was not great on Sunday. John Gray removed from his start without even throwing a pitch. He apparently suffered an injury during warmups. Jose Miranda left Sunday after getting hit in the head by a pitch. Pretty scary stuff and something we continue to say. This happens way too often. Miranda did pass concussion protocol. We had another trade, a much smaller one. Carson Kelly was traded to the Rangers for pitcher Tyler Owens and catcher Liam Hicks. Some prospect updates. Blue Jay's top pitching prospect, Ricky Tiedeman will undergo Tommy John's surgery Tuesday and given the timing,

safe to say that he'll miss all of 2025 as well. Mariners catcher prospect, Harry Ford, was placed on the minor league IL with a concussion. And Scott, one name I know that you've mentioned recently, I believe on an FBT and 5. I just saw the Tigers are promoting Dylan Dingler, who has some pretty big numbers in the minors. Any interest in two catcher leagues? Yeah, on two catcher leagues. If you've got trouble filling that second spot, Dylan Dingler, I imagine is going to be their primary catcher to close out the year.

He's always rated well for defense, but not such a good hitter. Until this year, at AAA 308, 17 home runs and 938 OPS cut way down on the strikeouts, about 21% that rate after being nearer to 30 for most of his minor league career is 25 years old. So, you know, maybe that explains him coming around against. AAA pitching in a way that's not going to translate to the majors. But in two catcher leagues, if you need, if you want to take a look at somebody else, I think Dylan Dingler's in the discussion.

All right. Let's take our final break. When we return, some waiver wire options. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in. Waiverwire pitchers, the non-Schwellenbach division. And this first group, we'll throw Shane Bosn there, six innings to run, seven strikeouts up against the Reds.

This weekend, Kyle Harrison was awesome. up against the Rockies, six and two-thirds innings. One hit, one run, 11 strikeouts. He had 15 whiffs on 106 pitches. And Ben lively turned in another strong start this time at the Phillies. Six innings, one run, six strikeouts. I keep waiting for the lively thing to end, but three earned runs are fewer in 16 of 18 starts.

He did throw more secondary pitches in this one, and so it worked. But Chris, how would you rank those three? Shane Baez, Kyle Harrison, and Ben lively. Boss Gap, lively, Harrison, I think. Harrison, like, I want to believe this is a young pitcher who was a top prospect who got a ton of strikeouts in the minors, but he just, this is the first time really all season that we've seen any kind of strikeout upside from him. You know, he didn't throw the fastball.

He's been throwing the fastball like 65% of the time, something like that this season. and that wasn't the case in this one. So maybe he's starting to change and get to feel for the breaking ball. But I think the likelihood of your explanation is just that it's the Rockies on the road. Baws, we mentioned it earlier about the curve ball. That seems like a big deal that he had that working because he didn't have that in the AAA starts at all. He didn't really have it in his first couple starts here. Getting it back, that could be a significant difference maker for him.

All right, waiver wire pitchers. Part two, Tyler Phillips, not someone we've talked much about, but he pitches for the Phillies, and he threw a four-hit shutout against the Guardians. He allowed just one walk with four strikeouts. He had 10 whiffs on 105 pitches. 26 years old, minor league numbers are not great, but the individual pitch characteristics look pretty interesting, actually, for Tyler Phillips.

River Ryan pitched well at the Astros, five and two-thirds, one-run, eight strikeouts. Dean Kramer, a quality start up against the Padre, six innings, one-run, seven strikeouts. and Zach Lattel had a great start up against the Reds through seven shutout innings with five strikeouts, had 12 whiffs on 96 pitches. Scott, how would you rank those options?

Tyler Phillips, River Ryan, Dean Kramer, and Zach Lattel. Well, I'm not super confident in this ranking. I don't dislike any of them. I don't especially like any of them. I think if you're going to, if you want to shoot for upside, I think you could take a shot on River Ryan, who showed great swing and miss in the minors,

was a ground ball pitcher. Yeah, I'm making sure I'm not mixing them up with Justin Robleski, who was a fly ball pitcher. River Ryan was a ground ball pitcher who also got a lot of swings and misses. And through two starts, this looked pretty good. I mean, this was a tough offense. He was facing two hits, eight strikeouts. Obviously, Riverine has the Dodgers backing him.

I don't know how long he'll stick around. There was a quote from Dave Roberts where he was asked, they've got a bunch of days off coming up, so they don't need a fifth starter. And he basically said, yeah, I don't see why he wouldn't stick around. I would think at this point he's earned the spot over Justin Robleski. And I will say his major league debut was the first time as a professional that he pitched into the sixth inning.

Today or Saturday, Sunday, yeah. Yeah, Sunday. Five and two thirds. So two starts in a row. This time he threw 91 pitches. His career high as a professional in pitches before that was 76. So they're already stretching him. He was at 77 at the end of the fifth inning.

And they let him go back out for the six. So that's a good sign that he's grown in their eyes and that they trust him. And obviously he's a super talented pitcher. So, yeah, I think Ryan is a cut above the rest of this group. I will comment on Tyler Phillips quickly here since it was such an impressive start and since we've talked about him so little. He had really good ground ball rates in the minors. It hasn't been so impressive in that regard in the majors,

but I think that's part of his game. and I think it's a point in Tyler Phillips' favor. In 25 major league innings now, he's also issued just two walks. So he's not a big strikeout guy, but if he's a big round ball guy who doesn't beat himself with walks, I do think there could be something here with Tyler Phillips. River Ryan, I think has more upside. I don't think Tyler Phillips is particularly high upside,

but could he be a high floor guy on a good team? I could see that. Yeah. And if we're just looking at the match. River Ryan is at the Oakland A's this week. I don't really know how to treat the Oakland A's as a matchup right now because obviously their offense has been so good in July but I think it's still okay to use your pitchers against them. Tyler Phillips is at the Mariners so I think that's a

pretty good spot for him as well. What to quickly ask about the drop-o meter on three starting pitchers. You say Kikuchi had that 13 strikeout outing earlier in July outside of that he's been pretty awful. Last eight starts a 775 ERA a 157 whip still 74% rostered. Where is Kukuchi on the dropometer? I want to see him get through the trade deadline because there have been a couple of quotes about him talking to the GM,

him acknowledging that it's been difficult for him. Maybe I'm just making an excuse for a guy I like, but I'm like a four on Kukuchi. I would prefer not to drop him. I'm going to go seven. I dropped him in the one league where I had him. It was a 12 team head down. headpoints leagues.

So like 250 players rosters, shallow end of the spectrum. That's reasonable. Yeah. What about Charlie Morton? He's had a pretty rough July. Four starts of 531 ERA, 128 whips, seven home runs allowed.

The problem is that he gets to Marlins this week. So again, if you're playing the matchups, it's a pretty good one. Nine. Yeah, nine. Like, I'm fine with start streaming him against the Marlins,

but he should just be a streamer at this point in his career. And then Drew Thorpe. Are you kidding me, man? I mean, this net line on Friday, two outs recorded, eight earned runs, three homers allowed to the Mariners. I mean, but this is, this is what we've been warning about all along. He has technically like six pitches, right? He throws, he has five pitches. He throws one pitch.

Like, yeah, change up is the only pitch that's any good. And if that's not outstanding, he has no hope. So I'm not giving up on him in forever. but even in a 15-team league, I think he's pretty fringy. That's what I was going to say. I dropped Thorpe in a 15-team Roto League without much hesitation.

So if I'm doing that, there, it's a 10. Yeah, I dropped them in Tout Wars as well. I apologize. I told people to stream them last week, and I mean, if it makes you feel better, I started them in Tout Wars too. I always say it. Streamers, especially this type of year,

yeah. You're going to be choosing among some bad pitchers and it'll blow up in your face sometimes. Yep, and that it certainly does. did. Let's talk some waiver wire hitters and two potential corner infielders. I know Colt Keith does have the second base eligibility, but I think both are really good and could be out there in some shallower format still. Colt Keith, another big game on Saturday, two for four with a triple and his 11th home run. He continues a massive July batting 333, seven home runs and 1114 OPS. And

Mark Vientos is looking to pick things back up. Two for three with his 14th home run on Friday. He went through a little bit of a dry spell before that, but the July numbers are basically back on track here for Viantos. Who would you guys prefer, Colt, Keith, or Viantos moving forward? I think Viantos. It's a better lineup, more raw power. But I like what I've seen from Keith lately. Viantos has the better matchups this week, if that is factoring into your decision. Okay. One middle infielder, Luis Garcia, had a big game on Friday, two for four with three RBI and two steals. He is having a big month. 338, four home runs, four steals, a 978 OPS. Luis Garcia, 59% rostered. Where would he rank among the Xavier Edwards and Tyler Fitzgerald

group? Behind. Yeah. Just because of the platoon issue. But I do have him as a sleeper hitter for this week with the Nationals having only one lefty on the schedule. I do not have. Xavier Xavier Edwards and Tyler Fitzgerald. Ryan Fitzgerald, remember that guy? Tyler Fitzgerald, I don't have him as a sleeper hitter, but I do have Luis Garcia. Giants have only five games this week. Who's Ryan Fitzgerald?

Quarterback. No, that's Fitzpatrick. Ryan Fitzgerald. So I thought whenever I write out. Nobody remembers Ryan Fitzgerald. I am an idiot. Whenever I write out his name Tyler Fitzgerald, I immediately think of Larry Fitzgerald.

and then I start thinking, do I have the right guy? And then that's what else we're thinking about. Three outfielders from the weekend. Jorge Saler has had a big couple games here. Last five outings, 11 hits, one homer, eight runs scored,

and one steal. Since the start of June, he's actually batting 280 with an OPS over 850. That's Jorge Saler. Matt Veerling has picked things up in July, batting 275 with three home runs, 16 runs scored,

two steals, and an 825 OPS. And Juan Yipez continues to hit three for four on Friday and then two for five with three RBI on Saturday. Chris, how would you rank Solair, Veerling, and Yippez if you're looking for an outfieler? Hmm. I think I would go Ypez, Soler, and Veerling. I'm pretty interested in Yipaz.

He did finally go hitless in one game this, or maybe it was Thursday. And then he followed up with five hits in the next two games. So I remain pretty interested in him. The other guys are, you know, I think, like, Saler, we know what he is. When he gets hot, he's a super useful source of power. When he gets cold, he's very droppable. So I'll take the chance on you, Pez there.

I will just add that Jorge Saler was my top sleeper hitter for this past week. I was going to say that, yeah. Nice. Yeah, great call. What about if you need a catcher, two catcher leagues? Austin Wells continues to stay hot, three for five, with his eighth home run on Friday. He added two more hits on Sunday.

Last 22 games, batting 317, with six home runs, more walks and strikeouts, and an OPS over a thousand. Austin Wells, 22% rostered has six games this week, only one lefty on the schedule. Would you guys drop a slumping Ben Rice to pick up Austin Wells? I might have,

I can't remember if I locked that transaction in or not, but I was considering it. I think it's a reasonable one. Wells hitting cleanup. Yeah. Power is looking really good. I think the underlying numbers are pretty across the board. Very good for a catcher.

So yeah, I think Austin Wells is pretty interesting. Also, like a moderate prospect, not a top 50 guy, but he was like a fringe top 100 guy coming into the season. So I'll go with Wells. Yeah, I think that's fair. One name in Deepleagues did not think that I would ever say this again, but Chris, I know you brought his name up a few times recently. Victor Robles, he's doing some things.

This weekend, six hits, one homer. He's let off three games in a row since joining the Mariners, 16 games. He is betting 404 with two homers, seven steals, an OPS over 1,000, 92 mile per hour average active loss during the stretch. I have no idea. I don't know either, but he's 16% rostered.

If you play in five outfieler leagues and you need speed, I don't think it's crazy. he had actually his best ever ex-woba last season and it's like 50 points higher this season I have no reason to believe that this is for real but over the last 100 played appearances for Victor Robles he's a 375 ex-Waba I think it's not real

but whatever I mean it's working right now and he's playing every day so in five Alphidur leagues where you need speed. I'm not expecting anything else, but some stolen bases and a non-zero bat would be nice. Yeah, I think so too. We are going to run a little bit long

because we can recap lots to get to, but run through some of these names. Starters sit these pitchers. They've either been bad lately or they were bad, and then they had a great start this weekend, so just trying to figure out what to do, presuming 12-team leagues. Nestor Cortez, rough patch lately.

last three starts, a 1013 ERA, a 225 whip. He's 49% started at the Phillies this week. And Nesser Cortez is on the road this season, a 618 ERA and a 161 whip. And it's a fairly easy set this week, I think. Pretty easy bench, right? Yeah. I don't think he's a must roster at this point.

Well, we just said we drop him for Schwellenbach. So, Sonny Gray, his struggles continue. He was up against the Nationals, five innings, five runs allowed, seven strikeouts, did have 15 whiffs on 90 pitches, but last five starts for Sonny Gray, a 667 ERA, a 155 whip, and he is home against the Rangers this week,

24th in Wobah against Rydes. I want to call him an automatic start. I'm thinking like a shallower head-to-head league, but I wouldn't be afraid to start him. Kevin Gosman turned in a complete game up against the Rangers. he clearly heard me say that he stinks now and he went out and had a great start.

But he allowed three earned runs. He had eight strikeouts, had 14 whiffs on 118 pitches. Still gave up lots of hard contact. This was the best the splitter has looked in a while for Kevin Gosman. 72% started at the Yankees this week. What do we do with Kevin Gosman?

Oh boy. I would lean against starting him, but I will point out that his velocity you know, up about a mile per hour across the board in this start that went so well. That was also true on July 5th, velocity up on everything.

And he had 10 strikeouts in six innings, two runs allowed in that start. So, it does seem like Gosman is right at the threshold of for his velocity, him being a good pitcher or a bad pitcher. And

we've seen, I think that's two of his last four turns, now him have that that improved velocity that's allowed him to be a good pitcher. So not all hope is lost here, I guess is all I'm saying for Gosman. I'm not supremely confident in him, but there is still something here. Carter Crawford is going through a bit of a rough patch right now as well. He was up against the Yankees this weekend, four and two thirds, five runs allowed. He gave up three homers and he's allowed five plus earned runs and back-to-back starts.

Eight home runs total. it was against the Yankees and Dodgers some pretty tough matchups there 56% started at the Rangers this week. What do you guys think about Cutter Crawford? I think he's dropable. I think the way the ball is carrying

he's one of the most fly ball prone pitchers in the game and he's crossed the threshold too. When the ball wasn't carrying well those fly balls were outs and now they're home runs and I just don't think there's enough

good to cling to. It's not like He's a huge strikeout guy or anything. Yeah, he's really only got the one, like, really good swing and miss pitch. And it's the splitter, which he doesn't really throw to righties. So it's kind of, yeah, I agree. I think, I think he's droppable. I, in a 12-team points league, at least. I think Tyler Anderson has graduated from the he can't keep getting away with this,

because he's pitching well. He went up against Oakland this weekend, seven innings, three runs, 10 strikeouts, 17 whiffs on 101 pitches. He has eight plus strikeouts in three of his last four. And in that stretch, a 270 ERA, a 0.75 whip. A discerning fellow would point out he's been pitching well all along, just not in a way that was believable. But the caveat was, for me, was always,

I don't believe in it unless I see evidence of, skill change here. Three of his last four starts, his best swing and miss starts of the season, his best swinging strike totals. And you mentioned the strikeouts were good too. But why? I don't know.

That's the question, right? It's evidence. It's across the board. You look at the pitches. The fastball is up from like 15% to 25%. The changeup is up to 47% in the month of July, whiff rate. The cutter is 29%.

Like these are gigantic leaps for the entirety of Tyler Anderson's arsenal in a way that if it's real, yeah. If the whiffs and strikeouts are real, I just, I have no reason to believe that midway through his age 34 season, Tyler Anderson somehow figured something out. I can't say it's not happening, but at the very least, you're not dropping him right now. Exactly. Now, now I have an open mind. I was very close-minded before. Would you drop him for Spencer Schroenbach? Yes. Okay. I'm not that open-minded. I think I would too, but yeah, it's a lot closer now. He's 55% started Tyler Anderson. Home against the Mets this week. They are fourth in Wobah against lefties. I'd probably probably try not to start Tyler Anderson. There's probably a decent. chance he doesn't make that start and he makes a start for someone else, right?

I don't know if he's been mentioned in trade talks, but... He probably should. Is he, is he free agent after this year? No, he's not. So it doesn't have to be, but it's hard to imagine you're going to sell higher on him than right now. What about Jose Burrios who had a huge bounce back start up against the Rangers, seven innings, one run, five strikeouts. His previous eight starts before this, a 644 ERA at a 141 whip.

57% started at the Yankees this week is Jose Burrios. I think he's dropable. I mean, I would feel that way more if he didn't have a track record of being somebody who's not dropable, apart from that one year where he had an ERA over five, right? So I don't think I could go that far with Burrios. It was obviously encouraged that he finally had a good start after a really rough stretch. I don't know that I'm ready to put him back in my lineup, though. Yeah, especially at the Yankees with Stanton coming back and, you know, they're starting to hit again.

So, yeah, I think I would try and get away from that. Garrett Crochet struggled against the Mariners this weekend. Three innings, five runs allowed. Three of those earned. He has gone four innings or less in all four of his July starts. Garry crochet 78 percent started. He's at the Twins this week. they are third in Wobah against lefties.

I don't know. Unless he's traded. Yeah. I mean, there are rumors now that the White Sox are less likely to trade Crochet and Luis Robert. Probably because they're not getting what they want. Look,

in a points league where you use him as a reliever, I think it's fine. But he's kind of reaching that point that Jordan Hicks did, where in a points league, yeah, because he's RPL, you would think he has more value there, but he actually probably has more value in a Roto League because if he's only going to go

four or five innings at most, and I don't think that's the most, it depends on how well he pitches. But you need the wins and quality starts for that to matter. This was a bad start, a rare bad start. I think the reason he was removed after three innings because he wasn't pitching well. Rather than let's pull him after three.

Because everything, everything, his margin for error is just super small now. Yeah. Everything they've said is that, okay, we gave him his little rest. Now it's time to ramp him up again. And it just didn't work out this start because it was a rare bad star from Crochet. So I am remaining a hopeful crochet person. And, yeah, particularly if he's traded. Yeah, I'm a little bit more pessimistic.

It's nothing to do with Crochet. I think he's talented. I don't trust the White Sox right now. Anything that they've kind of talked out of both sides of their mouth, like they're not technically following up with things that they've said before. So I don't know what to make of it right now.

So if you could get away from him, I don't think that's crazy to bench Garrett Crochet this week. Carlos Rodon, a strong start at the Red Sox on Sunday night baseball, six in a third innings, two runs, seven strikeouts, 25 whiffs on 105 pitches.

His last two starts, 13 and a third. Three runs allowed. He had 17 strikeouts this week. He is 77% started and home against the Blue Jays this week. Your thoughts on Rodan? Starting him. I mean, for once we didn't have him as the player of the night

because there were just so many others to choose from, but he could have been with 25 swinging strikes. And this time he did the thing that we wanted him to do. He threw the fastball last 40%. A lot of changeups, a lot of sliders. they're both great. But last time when he had a great start, he threw the fastball more 54% of the time.

So there's not even like a consistent change here to point to and say this is why Carlos Rodon is back on track. But that's been the problem the whole time. It's like the fastball's been terrible for two straight years, even though all the physical characteristics look like they did when it was one of the best pitches of baseball. Like that's been the thing that's toughest to figure out about Carlos Rodan. It's just none of it really,

makes a ton of sense. It's all been tough to figure out. So I don't, I don't have a strong read on Carlos Redan one way or the other. I'm starting him right now.

I don't expect him to be an ace moving forward, but I, it's within the realm of possibility now. Sure. What about Tanner Hauk? Last five starts of 526 ERA 168 whip.

Same number of strikeouts as walks, 15 to 15 over 25 and two-thirds innings. He is at the Rangers this week. Tanner Hauk. So it's the walks that concern me more than the strikeouts because he is elite ground ball guy.

And for the first three months this year, he was also elite control guy. And that's enough. You don't worry so much about the strikeouts if you have both of those working. But he has 15 walks here in July after having 19 walks across the first three months. and it's not like he was known as a control guy Tanner Halk before this year. No. So I'm not moving on from him, but I am a little concerned. I will just point out, we're already at the career high innings for Tanner Hauk.

He passed out about three starts ago. So that's, you know, he's thrown 130-ish more in it or 30 more innings than last season already. So could just be hitting a wall a little bit. Yeah. I think that is entirely possible for Tanner Hauk. We can move on to some pitching leftovers here. And the first group, Pablo Lopez, Nick Ladolo, Brady Singer, and Framber Valdez all had big starts. Anything you would like to add, Chris, on Valdez, singer, Ladolo, and Pablo Lopez.

Ladolo, the curveball has just not been there for him lately. And I think that's the biggest reason why the strikeouts haven't been there. It's nice to see a good start from him. but it's been a little rough for a guy that we kind of had all just assumed was in that, you know, top 30-ish tier and has not been that for a little while now. So needs to get the curveball back. Yeah, the movement profile still wasn't normal on the curveball, even though the result of the start was good. I did want to point out with Framber Valdez. He's been pitching much better as of late.

and his last three starts a 142 ERA, a 105 whip, 12.3K per 9, 15% swinging strike rate, and velocity was up 1.5 miles per hour on the sinker here for Framber Valdez. Pitching standouts part two. George Kirby was awesome at the White Sox, seven shutout innings with seven strikeouts. Michael King continues his great run. He was at the Orioles, six and a third, two runs, nine strikeouts, 15 whiffs on 101 pitches. Terrick Scouble, another great start. seven innings, two runs, eight strikeouts up against the twins.

And Hunter Green, a strong outing up against Tampa Bay, seven shutout with five strikeouts. Scott, anything on Hunter Green, Scoobel, Michael King, and George Kirby. Gosh, where do I begin? Okay, so let me just give you the summary of Michael King, because this just continues what's been a very long trend of dominant starts for him. last 11, 227 ERA, 101 whip 10.9, K-per-9. Hooray, Michael King, you drop this king. He's achieved that status and fantasy. And Hunter Green has had a big breakthrough here in July.

So two hits and seven innings in this start. He has allowed three hits or fewer in all four of his July starts. So a total of nine hits in 27 innings while striking out 29. and it looks like Hunter Green is trending toward being, I think I haven't as a top 25 pitcher now. Yeah, I think I'm right on that border as well. Definitely top 30 now for Hunter Green. I did want to point out with George Kirby,

his last 11 starts, a 184 ERA.94 whip, over a strikeout per inning, 13% swinging strike rate. And this was a concern that we've had with Kirby in years past. Where are the strikeouts going to come from? well, each of his four-team fastball, slider, splitter, and curve, they all have whiff rates over 28% this season. So I think it's quietly been a big step-forward breakthrough season for George Kirby as well.

Some hitting leftovers, Jorickson Pro Far, two for five with a double-dong with four RBI on Friday. Adolas Garcia looks to pick things back up. His last six games, he has eight hits, one homer, two steals. Aaron Judge, I mean, the guy is just superhuman right now. One for four with his third. 36th home run on Friday, 470 feet to straightaway center. It was crazy.

And then 4 for 4 with his 37th home run on Saturday. He hit it up over the green monster out of Fenway Park. That was like to like almost center field. I don't know. I have seen very few balls hit to that part of the park. Also, I want to point out in the notes, you put 36th home run on Friday, 47th home run on Saturday. He had a really big game. I mean, the way he's going right.

now. It could happen. He's incredible. Yeah, Sedan-Raphaelah continues to impress one for four with a sock and a shoe on Friday. He is now up to 12 home runs, 15 steals on the season. Kyle Schwaber, three for five with his 20th home run on Saturday, two for four with a double dong on Sunday. I believe I heard or saw that it was Schwabom towel day. So there you go. You get two Schwar bombs on Sunday for his towel day. Just another big weekend for For Shohay Otani, two for three with a sock and a shoe on Saturday. He added three steals total this weekend. 12 steals, I think, in July.

His July pace is like 46 homers, 77 steals. His pace overall is 49 home runs, 40 steals. Incredible. Awesome, awesome season. Ketel Marte continues his power binge. He is homered in four of his past six games. Corbyn Carroll, kind of weird July, because he's providing power and speed. He's still only hitting 205 in the month.

but he's got five homers, 18 runs, six steals, and a 776 OPS. We'll take it. I'm not exactly sure what to make of that, but it's, I guess it's progress. And Ellie Dela Cruz ran wild again on Sunday, three for four with four steals in one game. This is the second time this season he's had three hits and four steals. The only other player to do that twice in a season was Ricky Henderson. I heard that on MLB Network, so shout out to Ellie Dela Cruz. Some bullpen updates for the Orioles on Friday.

Craig Kimbril got the ninth inning with the game tied. He gave up two earned runs. He took his third loss. And then on Sunday, it was Yaneer Canoe, who got the ninth inning with a three-run lead. He gave up one run on three hits, but picked up his fourth save. Kimbril was completely bypassed in Sunday's game. Do you guys have a feel? I know this has kind of happened a few times already this year, and then Kimbril gets the close run back.

Yeah, he had a bad stretch earlier this year. I feel like we've seen this movie so many times over the last few years. Kimball just seems to lose it for a while. And then he gets it back and he's unhittable for six weeks or whatever. And then he loses it again. I think he's

going to be the Orioles closer this season. They may just be giving him a little bit of a break. I don't think Yanir Kanoe is demonstrably better. If they were to acquire a big name reliever, okay, but short of that, I think Kimberl's the guy to have from this bullpen. I agree. In deeper leagues, I have one with Kimbril where I did pick up Yanir-Kanoe here on Sunday just to handcuff the situation, and I make sure I have who I think, you know, between those two, one of them will be the closer. So I don't think it's crazy to do something like

that if you have the roster space. For the Yankees on Friday, Clay Holmes entered with one out in the eighth inning, two runners on, a one-run lead. He gave up an RBI single to Williare Abraeu, and then a two-run single to Masataka Yoshita. Clay Holmes took his seventh blown save, and then on Saturday, he was amazing, like nothing ever happened. He entered in the ninth inning with the game tied. He pitched a clean inning, and then the Yankees took a three-run lead in the 10th. Clay Holmes stayed out there on the bottom of the 10th.

He shut it down, two hitless innings, two strikeouts for his second win. I still think they would benefit from adding a reliever. It sounds like they're still interested in Tanner Scott. Pete Fairbanks, so if the Yankees trade for one of those guys, maybe they would be the closer, but we shall see. For the Oakland A's on Friday, Lucas Ersig got the ninth inning with a one-run lead.

He struck out one for his third save. Time to eat, cats. On Saturday, Tyler Ferguson pitched a clean ninth inning for his second save. So since Mason Miller has gone down, I feel like Mason Miller went a month without a save. Since he's gone down, there's been three save opportunities. Tyler Ferguson has two.

Lucas Ersig. has one. Were you guys looking at either one in deeper category leagues? So, Erzig has also just not been very good for a little while. He got off to an amazing start to the season and

has really run out of steam. So I would have, I assumed it was going to be him, but it might just be Tyler Ferguson. Yeah. I think, you know, in those 15 teamers, I had Ferguson ranked higher on my bids than

Ben Ersig, but I can't say for certain. And then for the Dodgers on Saturday, another day of fun here. Evan Phillips entered with two outs in the sixth inning, two runners on, a five-run lead. He gave up four hits in a row,

and he allowed four runs in. He was relieved by Anthony Banda, who got the final out of the sixth. Daniel Hudson then started the eighth inning with a two-run lead. He faced the heart of the Astros lineup. He gave up two runs out of walk and three hits.

He took his sixth blown save. Blake Trinan started the ninth inning with the game tied. He gave up a one. walk-off home run to Alex Bregman. Any feel for the Dodgers bullpen? It kind of just feels like they need to trade for somebody. Yeah.

I mean, if they're not going to go with Daniel Hudson and they don't seem to be, I don't know. It's a mess right now. It doesn't have to be, but they've made it a mess. And then for the Angels on Sunday, Ben Joyce pitched two perfect innings across the seventh and eighth. He struck out three.

Luis Garcia pitched a clean ninth inning for his fourth save. Ron Washington did say that Garcia is the closer. I think it's pretty likely that he gets moved before the deadline. And if that happens, I think Ben Joyce would be next up for saves. To stream or not to stream on Monday, we have Jordan Montgomery against the nationals, Alec Marsh at the White Sox, Andre Palante versus the Rangers. Jose Katana gets the twins, Simian Woods Richardson at the Mets. I don't really like any of these guys.

I think Montgomery is the, the, only one I would go with. I guess the nationals. Yeah. I could do Alec Marsh at the White Sox just because it's the White Sox. But yeah, it's not a great group. Scott, you're not going for old reliable, Andre Palonte? Andre Palante.

He'd be on the top half of the list, but it's not a high priority at all. I think there's at least two guys I like more in the next list. On Tuesday, Gavin Williams at the Tigers. We have... That's one? Sean Mania versus the twins. Lance Lynn gets the Rangers. Michael Waka at the White Sox.

Two. Cal Quantrell at the Angels. Griffin Canning gets the Rockies in Anaheim. Jeffrey Springs versus Miami would be my pick if he counts. Yeah, he does. It's just, you know, season debut. How many pitches do they let him throw? So...

But Marlins. That's fair. I'm looking at Robbie Ray. I'm looking at Codai. sanga, though it didn't end well. Yeah. And I'm thinking, yeah. Yeah, I'll give Springs a shot. Okay. I would probably rank them

Waka Springs. Nah, Waka Williams and then Springs for me. Springs over Williams, but otherwise. I'd go Williams Waka Springs, but the top three is. I feel less confident in the order than the

trio. Okay. All right. We're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris, I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a 5-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. Podcasts.