Fantasy Baseball Today - Breakout or Fakeout? Top Prospect Promotions & More Injuries (4/12 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 12, 2023

Pablo Lopez sure looks like he's breaking out (2:12). ... Austin Hays had another big game (5:00). ... Are Ryan Mountcastle and Matt Chapman breaking out (8:00)? ... Rays top pitching prospect Taj Bradley and Twins second base prospect Edouard Julien are being promoted Wednesday (14:40)! ... We have more shortstop injuries (23:40). ... News (31:30): Brandon Woodruff was placed on the IL with a shoulder injury. ... Is Mitch Keller finally putting it together (38:50)? ... Can we drop Hayden Wesneski and Miles Mikolas (43:39)? ... We got aces who actually showed up Tuesday night (47:18)! ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and daily streamers (50:00). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your lead. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Well, the good news is that we have two top prospects on the way. The bad news is that everybody is hurt.

Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Wednesday, April 12. Frank Stamphill joined by Scott White and Chris Tower. today on the show. I'm going to recap everything from Tuesday's games. Tage Bradley and Edward Julian are on the way to the bigs. Everybody's hurt. As I mentioned, we'll talk about the injuries. Team name Wednesday, I'm just going to preface this.

Probably not going to get to it. It's probably going to turn into a team name Thursday, which we'll do tomorrow. This is the most jam-packed show of the year, I would say. Even like, you know, the Monday shows, you think, oh, we've got a whole weekend to cover. I still feel like this is the most jam-packed show. Just an absolute. absurd amount of news today. Yeah, news, performances, a lot going on, prospects. So let's just

jump right in before we get going. Make sure to like this video and subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already. And if you're listening on the audio side, download, follow, and leave a five star rating. We really do appreciate it. And let's jump in. You can put it on the board. Yeah. Made famous by, of course, Hawk Harrelson, legendary broadcaster with the White Sox. I think someone told me that he used to do Yankees radio back in the day. I'm not a baseball historian if you haven't, if you can't tell. Anywho, oh my goodness gracious, Chris will start with you, a player you'd like to highlight. Shout out to at least through the first 10 games or so of the season.

Maybe an all-time great win-win trade. You've got Luis Arias hitting for the cycle for the first time in Marlins history, 3,700th career game. But my actual go, my goodness gracious player of the game, I put it on the board. Yes, yes, player of the game is Pablo Lopez, who I don't know how much longer we need to keep dancing around the idea that he's legitimately breaking out and taking a big step forward because, you know, we saw in the world baseball classic.

We saw a little bit of it in spring training. And then through his first three starts, he's been arguably the best pitcher in baseball, 36% strikeout rate so far. He racked up 20 swinging strikes today against a White Sox team that is not necessarily known for their discipline at the plate. But still, he's been outstanding, had four whiffs on the four seamer, three on the sinker, seven on the change up, three on the sweeper, three on the curve ball.

It's just absolutely ridiculous. His velocity still. averaging 95.1 miles per hour with his fastball. At this point, the shoulder's really the only concern for me. And really, he made it through last season unscathed. So I'm not sure how much more risk Pablo Lopez carries than your average pitcher. Your average pitcher carries quite a bit of risk. So, you know, that's still saying something.

But he was a good pitcher before he added a mile and a half per hour to his fastball and a new sweeper that looks like a very. very good pitch. He might just be a top 20 guy now. That is Pablo Lopez that we're talking about. And what I liked from this start is that he actually moved away from the sweeper and he went back to his change up, which traditionally was his best pitch and just reminding everyone that he has that in the bag. So the change up in conjunction with this new sweeper, which looks very good, the fastball velocity being up so far this season. I agree, Chris. I think it all comes down to health.

Scott, last week when we talked about Pablo Lopez, you weren't on that episode. so I'll give you the opportunity. I had a segment set up for later on, but let's just break it out now. Breakout or fake out? Are you buying it with Pablo Lopez? I think it's a breakout. Look, I'm willing to give extra credit

to any pitcher who has been reliable to this point in the season because it's a very small list. And not only is Lopez on that list, but there are tangible changes that explain this step forward for him, the introduction of a new, very effective breaking ball

and improve velocity. So, you know, I had him as a breakout pick last year. It looks like I was a year early with that. All right. Well, Scott, we'll stick with you. And oh, my goodness gracious player from Tuesday night. So probably the hitting star of Tuesday was Ryan Mountcastle of the Orioles.

But I'm going to go with his teammate, who was much more available in fantasy, the only 55% rostered in CPS sports leagues. And also had a huge game Tuesday. I'm going to go with Austin Hayes of the Orioles who went four for five with a home run, his third, with a double, his fifth, scored four runs. Mountcastle, by the way, two home runs, nine RBI. But Hayes was a big part of that outburst for the Orioles as well. And last two days, he's six for nine with two home runs, two doubles.

you know, it's been a nice a nice couple of days for Austin Hayes. I don't want to go overboard with this. Okay, you look at the underlying data. It looks largely the same as what we're used to seeing from Austin Hayes. The main difference is his barrel rate is five times what it normally is.

It's a very errant judge-like, well, entering today, maybe even higher now, but entering today was a 23.1%. that barrel rate, which barrel rate can fluctuate from year to year. But if it's that extreme, it's probably a good indication that the player's just hot, especially if you can't really point to a lot of other changes for said player. Austin Hayes could be better than he was last year. I think there's a good chance he rebounds to 2021 levels where he hit 22 home runs.

granted, that was before the Orioles move the left field fence way back, but the ball seems to be playing better this year. So could Austin Hayes get back to being a 20-homer guy? Yeah, he could. I suspect he'll be more relevant in five outfielder leagues than I thought coming in. But I'm not ready to declare him a breakout candidate the way I am, Pablo Lopez. Now, I don't want to be the Debbie Downer here, Scott, but Austin Hayes is not going to face Oakland A's pitching every single game.

game, right? So that's, you know, that's the immediate thing. Like, I think we kind of know who Austin Hayes is, but you're right. If he can get back to hitting two 60 with 20 home runs, I mean, that is a, it's not a great player, but it's a viable player in a five outfielder league or something like that. So, uh, I'm more of a high floor play than anything else. Some of the most added outfielders in his range, he's 54% roster right now. Trevor Larnick is up to 44%. Jorge Salar is up to 50. Scott, would you take Hayes over both those names? If you're like selling out for upsides, a three outfielder league, you're just looking to fill a bench spot. I think I would prefer both Soler and Larnock to him.

But if it's a I need a starter now situation, a deeper roto league, five outfielders, then I could see leaning Hayes. It really just, it's one of those situations where it depends on need. I don't think, I don't think Hayes' ceiling is especially high as the overall takeaway here. All right, fair enough. I'm going to take the low-hanging fruit and go with Ryan Mountcastle as my player of the night. You mentioned what he did, Scott, a double-dong 9 RBI for him in this game against Oakland. I mean, similar to Austin Hayes, you know, he's not going to face these pitchers every single game out. But he's looked good so far, and he's hitting the ball really hard, entering Tuesday's action, 94 mile per hour exit velocity at 22% barrel rate.

The problem is he still is striking out quite a bit, 15 strikeouts with a 30% strikeout. rate overall. But as you pointed out, Scott, the ball is playing better this year so far for home runs. We've got a 12.2% home run to fly ball ratio league wide. We'll see where that goes from here. I mean, you know, maybe it's just been really warm. It is very funny that like, I think three days ago when we were talking about it, it was like 13.6%. So in just that time, it's already. So it's like, as we said the other day, deep breaths. Well, since then there was a cold front that went through. And now we're back out of the cold front.

It was over 80 degrees in Denver today for the Rockies game. My point, you know, yes, like there is going to be more fluctuation with that over the course of April. But for the month of the year when it's normally the lowest, home run the fly ball rate, it is much higher so far than last year. and it's similar to 2016 through 2018, which was the early stages of the juice ball era. Yeah, so I think there's a chance that that number could rise throughout those warmer months, as you're pointing out here, Scott.

So same thing with Pablo Lopez. I had Ryan Mountcastle as part of this breakout or fakeout. And I kind of think that he could be a breakout this year if the ball is playing this way. Because, again, he hit the ball really hard last year. His barrel rate was good. Stackcast page was covered in red. but we were worried that balls were not going to leave the yard to left field in Camden yards.

And, you know, if they are flying a little bit more frequently, then, yeah, I kind of think that Ryan Mountcastle could break out. Chris, what do you think there on Mount Castle? I tend to still be pretty skeptical just because I'm not sure that the ball is so different that we can expect a radically different environment than last year. And I just, I really think for Mount Castle in particular, it's just, Cannon Yards is going to be a really tough place for him to play moving forward. And, you know, looking at his spray chart, it looks like he's already lost at least one home run to the cut out there. I think he had a double off the wall the other day. So like, I still think it's likely to be an issue.

But, you know, he did take a big step forward last season. His skill set was much improved. It just, you didn't really see. it. Yeah, you didn't really see it in the actual numbers. So, swallowed up by the, yeah, if it's a better offensive environment and a few of those wall scrapers, you know, a few of those deep flyouts turn into doubles, a few doubles turn into home runs. Yeah, you, I can see a case for a Ryan Malthasel breakout, but I, I wouldn't be trying to buy him right now. And I know we can't get in a long conversation about this today,

especially, but I, it is worth reiterating that just because the ball. appears to have less drag at this stage of the season. Doesn't mean every ball used over the course of the year is going to have the same level of drag. And so it just depends if Aaron Judge is chasing a record or not. Don't make huge presumptions based on how the ball is playing now. Okay. You know what's so interesting looking at Mountcastle's year-by-year numbers

is that just two years ago, he hit 33 home runs. You know, I was going to say, hey, he can get back to 30 homers and that's a breakout. I mean, I guess it's just kind of re-breakout or return to a breakout. Yeah, I guess so. But I think it's possible for Ryan Mountcastle, given how hard he hits the ball. We'll continue to track those trends as the season goes on.

I already brought up two of the names for the breakout or fake-out segment. The last one I'll bring up is Matt Chapman, who went two for four with his third home run. It was nearly 110 miles per hour off the bat, traveled 423 feet. And so far, he's betting 477 this season. The strikeout rate is down. He is crushing the ball.

99.7 mile per hour EV entering Tuesday's action, lots of barrels. And it is a contract year. I know I said that recently about Glaber Torres and was wrong. I double. I triple checked. Matt Chapman is in a contract year. Scott, breakout or fake out for Matt Chapman. So I'm going to lean fake out here.

And I actually wrote about him today. An article came out, 10 hot hitters. What's the likelihood of them? continuing what they've done so far. And Matt Chapman was in there. Obviously not the perspective, oh, he's going to continue to hit 500, but just like,

is the shape of his production going to continue to be this? And I gave him a 5.5 on the likelihood scale, which seems pretty low, but that means he's a slightly better than 50% chance of being a better player this year. And my reasoning for that, Well, my reasoning why I'm saying it's probably a fake out is because he has a track record of being a guy who hits the ball very hard. So the fact he's doing that again this year is, you know, that's what he always does.

And at times it's led to, you know, more like 30, 35 home runs. At times it's led to more like 25 home runs. But the batting average has never been particularly good. So why would that change this year? Well, I mean, the argument is, and it's showing us. up in the data. He's made more of a focus. He's put more of a focused on hitting the ball up the middle and the other way. And we've seen other players. Austin Riley comes to mind who have taken a big step forward. Players who make really impactful contact, contact take a step forward

with that. He also apparently worked on Beau Bichette with his two strike approach. And a strike rate is way down. It's closer to 20% this year, very early, than 30%, which is about where it was when he was dealing with all the hip hip stuff. That's about where it was for Matt Chabman last year. But he has struck out at this lower rate before and still been like a 250 hitter. So I think he's

probably going to be better than he was last year. Is he going to have the best year of his career? There's a chance. I bet against it. All right. Let's get into some of those prospects who are getting the call here. And Tage Bradley with the Tampa Bay Race. He is their top pitching prospect. The other one

being Edward Julian with the Minnesota of Twins. We'll start off with Bradley. Zach Eflin is headed to the IL with lower back tightness. And as a result, they are calling up Bradley to start on Wednesday against the Red Sox. We're looking at a big fastball and cutter with very strong command from Bradley. He made 28 starts last year between AA and AAA and AAA. Had a 2.57 ERA 104 whip, 141 strikeouts over 133 and a third innings pitched. Wow, that sounds so weird to say it.

133 and a third. 133 and a third. Yeah, what's going on to be? I mean, my brain is nearly fried after everything from Tuesday. But I have lots of questions. Chris, we'll start with you. What are your expectations for Bradley? Do you think he sticks around with the team?

Is he a must add for fantasy? Your thoughts? Any other team, I would think there's a decent chance he sticks around. The rays are so unsentimental about their young players that I think there's almost no chance he makes five consecutive starts for them, unless Eflin's injury ends up being more serious than it's. or another injury happens. But if Eflin is back in a couple of weeks,

I think there's a high likelihood that Tage Bradley gets sent back down. He was very limited in the spring. I don't think he pitched more than like one in a third innings in any of his outings. I know he got hit by a comebacker on one of them that cost him, forced him to leave early. But then his first couple of spring starts or, sorry, AAA starts.

He's thrown 55 and 51 innings. or 51 pitches. So I think you're probably looking at 60 to 70 pitches in his first outing. And it might just be the one outing. I remember I think the first time Brent Honeywell got called up a few years ago. It was a similar situation. They called him up for one start. So it wouldn't shock me if they called him up for one start and then sent him back down and called up some reliever to help them out.

It wouldn't shock me if he made two starts. I'd be pretty surprised if he made, like I said, five. I think he's an interesting pitcher, certainly a talented one. And anytime you have this kind of player, it's always possible that they just force the issue. You know, I distinctly remember when Juan Soto got called up, you know, we're talking five years ago now, our initial reaction was,

this is probably just a short-term thing. And then he was just one of the best hitters in baseball and stayed up forever. It's probably not going to be the case here. my reaction. I'm pretty sure it was. I'm pretty sure it was. I wrote one of those Pick him up everywhere articles for once.

But we don't have to relitigate five years ago. I think it's important to relitigate five years ago. But if you've got a roster spot to play with, sure, Adam. There's no downside to it if it doesn't cost you anything. It's just the, the likeliest outcome is he's not an impact player for you right now. Scott, the question I kept getting is,

do I drop this? Do I drop this? picture that I just added for Tage Bradley and more often than not, you know, I'm, I was going to, I would stick with like Anthony Descoffani and some of the other names that we've mentioned recently. Yeah, Justin Steele is one that I was getting a lot. What are your thoughts on Tage Bradley? Would you take him over any of Bryce Elder, Deiscoffani, Boo bitch?

I would take him over Bryce Elder. I'll jump in and say that. That's one that I just think there's so little upside with that I would, I would do that one. Okay. So you weren't on for Bryce Elder. and that's a slightly different take than Frank and I gave. Yeah, no, I'm pretty, I'm pretty lukewarm on Tage Bradley. As a fantasy asset, I agree with Chris.

It's likely a short-term stay, and he's likely not going to work that deep into the game. And there are a lot of developmental hurdles for Ray's pitchers in particular. I think there's a lot of talent there, and as Chris said, he could force the issue. But I'm kind of at the point with starting pitcher right now, Like, if you're giving me something, I'm going to put maybe more, I'm going to give them maybe more credit than I might have in years past. And it's going to be really hard for me to pass on Anthony Desclavani after I was excited to pick him up. All right, let's slide over to Edward Julian, who's getting called up by the Minnesota Twins as Joey Gallo was placed on the IL.

Last year in the minors, Julian hit 300 with a 441 OBP. That is not a typo. 4-4-1. 17 home runs, 19 steals. I saw him play out in the Arizona Fall League. Electric player, amazing eye at the plate. He's got modest power, but he can drive the ball to all fields. I remember watching some highlights last year,

and he hit home runs to left field, to right field. Didn't really matter. He was actually in the home run derby in the AFL, too, so I got to see him in that too. Did not perform very well in a home run. run derby, but he's still a very interesting player and he can play all over the diamond. He has experience at second base, third base, left field, and first base in the minors. Well, that's stretching it a little bit because the reason Edward Julian has played all over

the diamond is because he can't really play anywhere on the diamond. So they're trying to figure out a way where they can mitigate the defensive harm of Edward Julian. And second base is a better position to do that than the most. Of course, Jorge Polanco is also on a rehab assignment. So is the path really clear for Julian at second base? Not for long. He hasn't played first base since 2021.

So would they be willing to stick him there? Would they just stick him at DH for a while? I think all of these are possibilities. It's ultimately going to come down to how Edward Julian performs. But as a hitting talent, I am bullish on Julian. And this is one of my like pet players, pet prospects from the past year. I've taken to calling him the French emperor of walks, which I hope catches on. You know, it's kind of a play on Kevin Eucliss, the Greek god of walks.

But you mentioned the on-base skills for Edward, Julianne, Frank. And yes, they're, like, he hits the ball. He genuinely hits the ball hard, too. It's not just, he has, like, this one gimmick that he does. In fact, in between spring training and the World Baseball Classic where he played for Canada, Julian hit 417 with five home runs this spring. So I'm excited to see what he can do playing regularly in the majors. But it is a very big question how regularly he'll be able to play given his defensive limitations.

So it's sort of like with Taj Bradley, it's like, oh, would you drop Bryce Terang for him? Would you drop? Nolan was one I was getting a lot. Sure. I didn't move Julian up that high in my second base rankings. I just updated them earlier today. He's still outside the top 20 at that position. So I guess the default answer would be no.

I do think, you know, depending on the context of your league, if you're talking to shallow league with no middle infield spot and this is just kind of speculating with a bench spot on an upside play, okay. I mean, if you want to swap out Julian for to rang in that context, I think it's particularly if it's points. League. I could get behind that. But it's not, it's not something I'm going to universally recommend in every scenario. Chris, if you have just a roster spot to play with, who would

you rather take a shot on? Tage Bradley or Edward Julian? I would do Julian. I think there's probably a better chance that he sticks around. And it might be different if Bradley was on a different team, but I just, I think the rays aren't, like I said, they're not sentimental about prospects. They're they're fully willing to call a guy up for one start and then send him back down. So I think there's at least a chance Julian plays himself into an everyday role. I think that's less likely for Tosh Bradley. Not just because he's a starter and he would never play every day. Let's take our first break.

And when we get back, we'll get into all of the injuries at the shortstop position and then one at pitcher two here on fantasy baseball today. If you're looking for some fantasy baseball today podcast merchandise, then you can find it over at the brand new Paramount Shop. which offers a mountain of merch from the Paramount shows and movies that you love. Shop official apparel, drinkwear, and accessories inspired by over 150 fan favorite titles, Paul Patrol, Yellowstone, Top Gun, Star Trek, South Parks, SpongeBob SquarePants, and your favorite CBS Sports Podcasts like Pick Six, Fantasy Football Today, and of course, fantasy baseball today.

Scan the QR code in the top right corner if you're watching on YouTube, or head over to Paramountshop.com. Paramount Shop, where products are paramount. The state of the shortstop position. We are going through it right now. We already lost O'Neill Cruz. He is out for the next four months. Tim Anderson was placed on the IL on Tuesday

with a sprained left knee and is expected to miss two to four weeks. Lenin Sosa was recalled and was actually off to a hot start in the miners. Corey Seeger left Tuesday's action with hamstring tightness. Danesby Swanson left with cramping, though David Ross in town overly concerned. And of course, Carlos Correa has missed two straight games with back spasms. So it is a tough go right now. The most added short stops on CBS are Jorge Mateo, who's up to 74% rostered,

Bryce Terang, Orlando Arcia. Somehow, Nico Horner is just 77% rostered. So if you play in a 10-team league or a points league, just check to see if he's available because he just keeps on hitting 2-4 on Tuesday, a double, 2 RBI added his fifth steal of the season, and he's been leading off. So Niko Horner looks like a great play thus far. A couple names that made some noise on Tuesday.

John Birdie went two for three with a walk, a sock, and a shoe, his first home run, and his second steal. Bryson Stott went two for four with 2 RBI, three hard hits in that game, and he's betting 422 early on in the season. Scott, lots of moving parts, lots of injuries. We're going through it.

How are you trying to address the, the shortstop needs right now. Boy, it's bad. I mean, I don't play in any league where Nico Horner is available. You kind of understand why his roster rates that low on CBS because it's a points league heavy site and his skill set isn't best suited for points

leagues. But if you're looking for a shortstop on the waiver wire, this is kind of the, this was kind of the problem with shortstop, right? It had more than 12 really deserving starters. So if you played in a shallow league, oh, there's plenty of short stops to go around. But there wasn't like you didn't have a deep arsenal of low-end types, like at second base and first base, to potentially fill in if somebody went down.

So all these injuries happening at once at this position is just like, it's a disaster in fantasy. And the deeper your league is, the more disastrous it is. Because I'm in some leagues, and they're not even that crazy. We're talking about less than 400 players rostered. There's just nothing out there. There's just nothing. I mean, maybe Edmundo Sosa, who started to play more for the Phillies.

But it's, you know, if you lost Corey Seeger, if you lost O'Neal Cruz earlier this week, who were two from, who were two you might have paid up for at that deep position, not wanting to settle for the, you know, Willie Adomis's and Carlos Correas of the world. Like, there's just no. making up for that production at that position unless you, unless you're able to pull off a

miraculous trade, but you're probably sacrificing something significant in some other area to do that. So I know that's not particularly helpful. I guess I'm just sympathizing with those who find themselves in that position. And one of the trade candidates we told people to go out and acquire if they needed power from shortstop was Corey Seeger, who again also left on Tuesday. Chris, any interest in Lenin Soso with the White Sox? He was off to a great start. the minors, 448 batting average with two home runs. Last year in the miners, he hit 315 with 23 home runs and 880 OPS. Anything to see there with Lenin Sosa.

The numbers are relatively interesting for a guy who produced in the high minors and didn't strike out very much and wasn't old. He was 22. So I'm going to say there's some interest. I want to see what he looks like first. But yeah, I think it's definitely. worth keeping an eye on and in your deeper leagues. If you've got a roster spot to play with and you lost shortstop,

I think he might be worth a flyer. Yeah, I would rather have Bryce Tarang for sure. And then he's someone who, you know, really stands out at 58% rostered as potentially under-roastered. I know there's some playing time concerns there, as with everyone on the proverbs, frankly. But he's someone who I could see, you know, really breaking out. And, you know, we haven't seen it from Aziki.

Yel Tovar yet, but I would know if you're looking for a by-low candidate, he's probably at the top of the list at shortstop for me. Yeah, and I'd still put Anthony Volpe there too. In fact, I don't have Volpe. Who was out of the lineup for the first time today, Tuesday? Against a bad pitcher, too, that was annoying. But I don't think that's going to become the norm.

Like, as I said yesterday, I'm going to give up on Anthony Volpe when the Yankees give up on him because I think they have more to lose by sticking with him than I do. I do want to say, too, So like we're in a position now at shortstop where there's no choice but to see the glass half full with Orlando Arcia. I think it's a long shot. He turns into an impactful fantasy player, but there is an argument to be made for it.

And I mean, now in CBS leagues, he's up to 53% rostered, so it's not even that low. But he's, you know, off to a very nice start and not just in terms of statistics, but the underlying data too looks pretty good for Orlando Arcia. On the other hand, Bryson Stott, I can't say that for him. He has a high batting average so far. And I know he's batted leadoffs for the Phillies some recently. I'm just not seeing it in the data. Like, he looks very underwhelming still. I think John Gertie, I mean, with these new rules,

he is someone that could just run wild, especially while Joey Wendell is on the IL. So he's been playing every day. He has second, third, and shortstop eligibility on CBS. So I think that's an option. In particular, if you need speed, if you were depending on Tim Anderson for 20 plus deals or O'Neill Cruz for 20 plus deals,

just go out and check if John Birdie is available. I mentioned Nico Horner. I wanted to talk about this game earlier. It was kind of an oh my goodness gracious game of the night. The Mariners and the Cubs, they combined for 23 runs on 28 hits in that game. For the Cubs, mentioned what Horner did already. Trey Mancini, he got on the board.

Two for five with his first home run as a member of the Cubs. Nelson Velazquez is back with the team. He had a huge game. Three for four with a grand slam, three runs scored, had three batted balls over 101 miles per hour. We know that he can hit the ball hard. He's got power, he's got speed. But can he make enough contact?

That is the biggest question with Nelson Velasquez. And then on the other side for the Mariners, Ty Francis off to a very nice start. He went three for four with two runs scored and two RBI. A. Eugenio Suarez had hit his first home run. And Jared Kelnick, back-to-back days with a home run now. He went two for three with two walks, a double. and that Homer, hitting the ball hard early on,

four walks to 10 strikeouts on the season. He's 64% rostered. Scott, anything with, we spoke about Kelnick yesterday. I feel like we were kind of, you know, a little cautious about it just because we don't know if he's going to play every day. But any updated thoughts on him, and Nelson Velasquez in very deep leagues.

Well, not really an updated thought on Kelnick. I guess what this means, him getting hot here and suddenly his season numbers look great other than the very high strikeout rate is just, okay, it's too early to give up on Calnick. You may have thought you were able to free up a roster spot early when he got off to a slow

start, but clearly we need to see more from him. I will say, though, 31% strikeout rate while basically not facing lefties yet, it's concerning. But no, I agree that he's at least giving you reasons to not give up Yeah, which is all you're looking for at this point in the year for a player like him.

All right. Let's get into the rest of the news and notes. The big pitcher injury from Tuesday's action. Brandon Woodruff will be placed on the aisle with shoulder inflammation. Jansen Junk is likely to start on Wednesday. And Chris, I assume there's nothing to see there with Jansen Junk. I mean, he's a hard thrower, right? I think that was a thing last year.

I'm just doing a bit. I'm not interested in Jensen Junk. He does junk. I fell for it. I wouldn't freak out if you have Woodruff either. The way they described it was he had trouble bouncing back from his last start, so they just wanted to be extra careful early in the year. Sometimes they say that and it turns into more,

but it sounds like a minimal stay thing for work. It was easier to buy that back in the 10-day IL time period where like you would only technically have to miss one turn through the rotation. it's slightly more, it's about 50% more concerning with a 15 day DIL. All right, that is Brandon Woodruff. That's the number of extra days.

Five more days. Okay. Justin Verlander was still limited to flat ground throwing as of Tuesday. He said publicly that he expects to return before April ends. I don't know. Let's see.

Weird day for Carlos Ordone updates. Earlier in the day, we heard that he was dealing with back. stiffness. And then later in the day, apparently he threw on Tuesday, he threw off flat ground and is slated for a bullpen session on Wednesday, assuming that his body bounces back all right. And it sounds like they have ruled out in April return. I don't know that we were really expecting that, but perhaps early to mid-May is realistic for Carlos Rodon. Robbie Ray hasn't started throwing yet, but is feeling better. He's on the IL with that grade one flexor strain. Max Free took part in

feeling drills on Tuesday and could return without making a rehab start. Tyler Glassnow threw a 15 pitch bullpen session. It was the first time he's thrown off a mound since suffering the oblique strain, which I get kind of mixed up with these timelines, but if he's only throwing a bullpen session now, I think the timeline of when we expected him to be back

by late April or early May, that's probably not realistic, right? I think early May is probably still possible. late April seems very unlikely. Okay. Glaver Torres was removed after tweaking his right hip flexer. Aaron Boone didn't sound too worried about it. Eloy Jimenez could return to action this weekend.

I know he's been swinging and running, but it just feels very soon for someone who has consistently dealt with leg injuries and all kinds of things. So rather just take the time and come back fully healthy. Bryce Harper took grounders and performed modified sliding drills Tuesday because apparently that's actually how he hurt his arm in the first place, his elbow.

He has a follow-up appointment later this month as he rehabs that surgically repaired UCL. I saw, I think it was Rob Thompson, said that if he had been cleared to slide, that's the one thing they're waiting on. He would be ready to play in minor league games, but they're still waiting on him to be cleared to slide. So it sounds like he's making really good progress.

Yep. And, We saw Bryce Harper play last year with that, you know, partial tear and he was still, look, he wasn't as good as we normally know him to be, but he was still pretty good. So we'll see. Amazing in the postseason. Yeah, that's true. Stahlia Marte returned to the lineup Tuesday after dealing with a minor neck strain. Seth Brown will be sidelined four to six weeks after being diagnosed with a grade two left oblique strain. Daniel Bard faced live hitters on Tuesday for the first time since the landing on the aisle with anxiety. Jesse Winker has missed two straight. with an illness that has kept him away from the team. Yo-a-Mongata is likely out

until Friday at the earliest. He is dealing with a back. I think it's back. Rangers Swares through a 35-pitch bullpen session Tuesday using all of his pitches, and he's rehabbing a left forearm inflammation and is mildly interesting in deeper leagues. You know, 15-teamers, anything deeper than that.

Ranger Suarez is 35% rostered. Johnny Quedo could be sidelined several weeks, which would keep Braxing Garrett around longer than expected, which is pretty interesting. Hermal Marquez's MRI revealed that he has a right forearm strain, but no structural damage. Ele Harris-Montaro was scratched Tuesday. I didn't see an actual diagnosis for the injury.

Yeah, I looked for it. I haven't seen anything. Yeah, weird. Scott McGuff was placed on the paternity list. What do you know? Francisco Alvarez started against a lefty. Ryan Weathers on Tuesday night. He went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts.

And they have a day game on Wednesday. I know because I'll be there. And I guess that is probably another game that Francisco Alvarez will not play in. I would guess so. Yeah. And they're going up against a lefty in Blake Snow. So bad news.

Maybe it's a DH day, but I don't know. Maybe they've said they don't want him to the age. They said they, I saw a quote. There was something before the season. It was recent. I'll look for it. But I think they said they want to stick with veteran players.

DH. Okay. Mike Soroka tossed four innings of one run ball in his second start at AAA. And I guess we didn't really factor that in, Scott, to our Bryce Elder analysis, but, you know, if Elder has one bad start and Soroka continues to look okay in his minor league rehab outings, then we could just see them make that swap at some point. Yeah, I mean, I think Elder would have to falter at this point. And I don't think he's going to falter at Kansas City in his next start. But as I said yesterday, I don't think there's a ton of upside there. It's just more of, we're hoping he's a floor play for a really good team and turns into a fantasy asset because of that. And I think, like, I'd still rather roster elder than Soroka and fantasy at this point, for sure. Yeah, I'd agree with that as well. Speaking of the Braves, Ian Anderson will require Tommy John surgery. Really just hasn't looked right over the past year or so.

And good news for you, Scotty, as Al-Soddy, as Al-Bron. Alex Kierloff will begin a rehab assignment at Singale-A, and he continues to work through off and on risk troubles, but hopefully we can get him back. So I sent out a tweet, I was quote tweeting this news saying, you know, make us proud. And somebody responded, who spot would he take in the Twins lineup when he returns?

It's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. I don't think we can pin a specific return. date on Alex Kirillov. Let's just make sure he holds together right now. But hopefully he destroys triple, well, single A, I guess is where he's starting. Hopefully he destroys the pitching there like he did AAA last year and it all magically comes together for him. That's the hope. Rasta Resource currently has Donovan Solano playing first base for the Minnesota Twins. So look, if Kirillov's healthy, I think he'll have a spot in the twins rotation.

Yeah, I mean, a bunch of guys got hurt. But yeah. Let's talk about some waiver wire pitchers here from Tuesday. Mitch Keller, another strong start. This time against the Houston Astros, six innings, two runs, seven strikeouts in that game, 11 swinging strikes on 94 pitches. He's up to 59% rostered, so still could be out there in some 12-team leagues. David Peterson, a solid bounceback outing against the Padres. Five and two-thirds, two runs, six strikeouts.

Kyle Freeland, I don't know how, but he's doing it. He's going out there. He's throwing quality starts. two runs, five strikeouts for him against the Cardinals in Corris Field, and Josiah Gray was solid at the Angels, five and two thirds, two runs, three strikeouts. He really powered through this one because looking into the numbers, he just did not have it. Eight swinging strikes, 22% CSW, those are both pretty bad. Didn't have anything with the slider, just one swinging strike on that pitch. So, I mean, I think it's a testament

that he was able to get through nearly six innings of work, but it's not like he was great. A good Angels lineup. Like Josiah Gray, he's doing what we wanted him to do, which was de-emphasized the fastball. It was tied for his fourth most used pitch in this start. He's got a sinker now. He's, you know, throwing the slider and curveball more.

He's got the cutter, which doesn't look any better than the fastball, but at least gives hitters another look. So I still have a healthy curiosity about Josiah Gray. I don't think he's anywhere close to must roster, but I'm not totally ready to bury him yet. He was throwing some change-ups today. Okay, one change-up today, which was his first one all season. It was a nice one, though.

We'll give him that. I think he got Shohei Otani looking for one of his strikeouts with the change-up. So it's sort of it feels. a little Mitch Kellery where it's like just tinker until you find something that works

and Mitch Keller may have found something that works. He may have. He may have because, okay, this is two great starts

in a row for Keller against the Astros this time, Red Sox last time. But, you know, this was a tough matchup and he came through again. The,

you know, the numbers underneath the numbers aren't that impressive, 11 swinging strikes on 94, pitches. They look better against the Red Sox. But what

stands out for Keller to me is just how much he's varying his arsenal from start to start. It's a very U. Darvish Joe Musgrove thing he has going on there where like it's it's been a different each of his three starts. It's been a different pitch

that's been his most thrown pitch. And this one it was the slider. The sweeper. Sweeper. Yeah, the sweeper. Slider. Fastball. Last time, Cutter the first start. And he just seems to be keeping hitters off balance.

So he may have figured something out. I think he's another pitcher that I'd rather have than Tage Bradley, I think. And one thing that he started doing last season when he started emphasizing his sinker was started generating a lot more weak contact. He wasn't getting any strikeouts, but he was at least not getting crushed, baby steps. That's continued so far. average exit velocity allowed is like 83 miles per hour through three starts. It was 83.8 last in this game, 82.3 coming in. So, you know, if he can maintain an above average strikeout rate, not a 30% one like he

currently has and be really, really good on quality of contact and maybe just the kitchen sink approach helps in that regard. Maybe he just makes hitters uncomfortable now. Yeah, Mitch Keller is kind of interesting. So Keller is at the top of this list, right? assume. Of these four, yeah, I would go Keller, Gray, Peterson, Freeland, who just keeps doing this. Anything to see here in deeper leagues, Ryan Weathers at the Mets, five innings, one run, three strikeouts in that one. He's only 3% rostered. Chris, anything to see?

I'm not going to say definitively no, but I probably need to see more before I buy into anything. So, just a deep league guy. Yeah, I don't think there's anything. there yet, but throwing a new sweeper and velocity up a little bit for Ryan Weathers. And he pitches for a good team. So not yet, but if he strings together a couple more good starts, then maybe. I could see it happening. A lot more changeups than he used to throw, too. And that was actually really effective pitch in his first start, not so much in the second one. But yeah, I'm keeping an eye on Ryan Weathers. Okay. If you want to add some pitchers, then you need some to drop. Let's take our final break and we get back. We'll talk about those players on fantasy

baseball today. Let's fire up the drop-o meter. One is a player that you must hold. And 10 is someone that you could drop anywhere. And we'll start it off with Hayden Wisniewski, who I don't know what's going on, but it's not good. One in a third innings here. Only four outs recorded. Seven runs. Two earned. Some bad defense behind him earlier on in this game. Four walks, zero strikeouts. So look, I'm not going to make excuses. He was flat out bad in this start as well. Sixty-four. percent rostered. Chris will start with you. The drop home meter on Wesnesec. Yeah, he was someone I liked as a sleeper towards the end of spring when we got talk about new heightened velocity, but he's been so bad in the early going. And the

velocity's been up a little bit, but nothing special. I'm going to say he's a nine. I think he's pretty droppable. Okay. Let's yeah. I just want to say like West Nesky is a textbook case of I still think there's a good pitcher in there that we'll probably see eventually but he's been so bad and was so unproven coming in that like you drop him and nobody's picking him up.

Like there's no reason you need to protect him at this point. And the breakout case was largely like he was throwing 98 in spring. He was sitting 95 throwing 98. And this one he topped out at 95. His velocity was up less than half a mile per hour from last year. So I think you can drop them, yeah. Okay. What about the Mount Rushmore?

Miles Michaelis got knocked around again. It was in Coorsfield, five innings, two runs. No, 10 hits, six earned runs in this one, three home runs allowed. He has given up five plus runs in all three starts. The matchups, Blue Jays, Braves, and now Coorsfield. So obviously very tough. Scott, 90% rostered. Where are you at Dropometer on Miles Michaelis?

So I'm going to say seven for nine. I want to give him one more chance, A, because this start was cores, B, because his next start is against the pirates. I like that he's not walking anybody still, and we're seeing a lot of pitchers shoot themselves in the foot now with walks at a time when you can least afford to walk batters because you're giving up more hits in general, you're giving him more home runs again.

So, you know, three terrible starts so far. I think if he struggles against the pirates, that's, I could, definitely be compelled to drop Michaelis at that point. All right, let's stick with you, Scottie, and we'll go over to Merrill Kelly, who actually wasn't bad. He probably shouldn't be on this list. Well, maybe.

Six innings, three runs, four walks, his seven strikeouts. He has exactly four walks in all three of his starts. Control hasn't really been an issue for him since he's returned to the major, so not really sure what's going on there. 82% roster, Scott, where are you at? Dropometer Merrill Kelly.

I'll say 3.5. I could see maybe the necessity of dropping him in certain cases, but I'd rather not. The fact he's issued four walks in each of these three starts is the weird thing for him. And it's so out of character that I don't think it's going to last. Last year, Merrill Kelly threw 65.5% of his pitches for strikes, and that's basically his career mark as well. This year, instead of 65%, it's 58%. So he's an example of one of those pitchers who's shooting himself in the foot with walks. But again, that the history is such that I don't think it's going to continue and I still like to hold on to him.

Let's quickly talk about some aces that actually showed up here on Tuesday and were very good. Shout out to you, Chris, the only one who was not worried about Corbyn Burns and made me look a little foolish here on Tuesday. Eight shut out with eight strikeouts to zero walks. he upped his change-up and curveball usage in this start. Velocity was up a little bit as well, so it looked awesome, truly awesome in that start for Corbyn Burns, no walks, you know, compared to five over his first two starts. Garrick Cole, another strong outing,

seven innings, two runs, three strikeouts at the Guardians, Jacob de Grom, two awesome starts in a row following his opening day snafu. Seven innings, two runs, nine strikeouts to zero walks with 20 swinging strikes. Chohay Otani now three for three in quality starts seven shutout only one hit allowed five walks though

he has 12 walks in three starts he just looks a little off so far and even with that he's still been really good he's only allowed one earned run so far this season and then Shane O'Mack Shane McClanahan nine strikeouts over five innings pitch but another you know four walks for him control's been a little bit

off his past two starts Scott any thoughts on these on this group Shane O'Mack O'Tani Jacob de Grom, Garakull, and Corbyn Burns. Yeah, I mean, I was encouraged by what I saw from Burns. He kind of split the difference between last year's velocity and this year's velocity with the cutter. So it's trending up.

That's an encouraging sign. And I feel pretty optimistic he's going to be fine now. Since you mentioned Otani and McClanahan, two others who had a big walk total, otherwise pitch well. You know, a lot of people raise this point whenever I talk about struggles of pitchers this year is, okay, how much of this is the pitch clock and then maybe hurrying through their normal routine. And it's way too early to credit that with this, but it's, it's a reasonable enough theory at this point. Like if walks continue to be an issue for pitchers

who haven't struggled with them in the past, then, you know, we'll have to, we'll have to consider it more. So it's just a theory right now. One thing on the topic of, of pitchers who usually have good control, having a lot of walks early on. There was a quote from Buck Showalter the other day. I think it was on Saturday. Quote, the baseball is so slick this time of year. It's really hard.

I think you've seen a lot with some of the command and the cold games. I still haven't solved that issue early in the season of how hard the ball is to grip. Now, that would be less of an issue on a day like today where it was warmer across the country. But it's one thing to keep in mind that that quote stuck out to me when I saw it. So I wanted to surface that one. Hey, real quick. That's right. I'm stealing it from Adam. Let's get a quick thought on each of these pitchers.

Speaking of walks and being wild, Alec Menoa, what is going on? He's up against the Tigers, four and a third, three runs allowed. Five walks? Scott, what do you think? Yeah, I would bet against it continuing, but this is a combined nine walks in his last two starts. And he's still through 68% of his pitches for strikes in this one, despite walking five. I don't know how that happens. But I think that's an encouraging sign.

Yeah, the velocity remains down for him, which I think I learned my lesson from Corbyn Burns. I'm not freaking out, but it's just something that we need to watch with Van Nuo. It's not as big of a drop as Burns was either. Aaronnola, not great once again up against the Marlins, five and two thirds, nine hits, four earned runs. And so far this season, he has a 383 bat up against and a 54% strand rate. So that sounds about as by low as you can. get, Chris. Yeah, we've done with this with Aaron Nola. He has stretches like this. His margin for error is maybe a little slimmer than most other aces because he doesn't have the overwhelming stuff. But

at the end of the day, he usually looks like Aaron Nola. I think he will look like Aaron Nola moving forward. Christian Javier was not great again. And this time at the Pirates with no O'Neill Cruz in the lineup, six innings, four runs, only three strikeouts, two home runs allowed. Fastball down a little bit early on this season as well. Scott, a quick thought on Christian Javier. Yeah, I'm just not that concerned yet. Hasn't been bad enough to really stress me too much. He wasn't great in the world baseball classic, was he, if I'm remembering correctly?

I don't remember any performances from him at all, actually. Okay. Maybe I'm remembering differently. I'll see if I can look that up real quick. Okay. Let's move over to Jesus. No, no, no. Grayson Rodriguez first.

Did not have it here in his second outing, first time pitching in Camden Yards. against the Oakland A's, no less. Four and a third, five runs allowed, four walks, so definitely wild. Six strikeouts still had 15 swinging strikes. Chris, what did you see from Grace and Rodriguez? I'm starting to think the idea that he wasn't ready at the start of, at the end of spring might have been accurate because he just has not. You know, I think the term that was used when he got sent down was like he wasn't

finishing his pitches, specifically the slider. And that's kind of what I've seen when I've watched him so far. Is it just like the slider command hasn't been there yet? And yeah, I think he, uh, he's got some work to do. I'm not necessarily saying he needs to get sent down, but it's, uh, he's not there yet. I wouldn't feel great about starting him. Okay. Javier's only starting the world ball.

Yeah, he was, he was dominant seven and seven strikeouts in three innings. Scott, any thoughts on these three pitchers? Hesuzzoz Lazzardo was still good, but, looked a little bit more human against the Philly, six innings, three runs, five strikeouts in that one. Kyle Wright made his first start of the season. He allowed four earned runs over three innings pitched with four walks.

So we know control has been an issue for him in the past. And then Lance Lynn, not all the way back, but he was better. Six innings, three runs, 10 strikeouts to zero walks. Any thoughts on Lynn, Wright, and Luzardo? My thoughts on Luzardo and Lynn are very positive.

Lozardo has had at least 15 swinging strikes in all three of his starts, and he got, he did it with a wide variety of pitches in this one. Not sure if I'm going to find it real quick, but okay, here we go. Three on the fastball, four on the sinker, six on the slider, three on the change-up. I think he's possibly going to take another step forward this year. And Len seems fine. You know, he got 18 swinging strikes. He's good.

Wright is a concern because we haven't seen him pitch well yet this year. whether it's spring training, minors, or now the majors. But the stuff, it seemed more or less fine. The velocity was down less than I feared. It would be. And on the curveball, which remember, his breakout last year was a big jump in curveball velocity. That was the same. And he didn't lose any velocity there.

The spin was down on the curveball. So I'm not sure what to make of that. I think the biggest issue for Wright, though, is that his, his, command is just off. He walked four in this one. And so until he gets that right, understandably even all the time he missed, it's hard to assess anything else.

I mean, watching him pitch, he got some big, you know, swings and misses. He got some chases. But he was just out of the zone too much. And so hopefully that improves. Can't use him right now. Can't use them until it does. The one thing I want to keep in my eye on with Kyle Wright

was something that he talked about when he got that PRP or whatever inject cortisone injection in his shoulder and he talked about how last year he wasn't able to get as much extension on his release I'm trying to find that it's harder to find on a one-star basis.

It wasn't just last year. He said it's been a few years of he hasn't been able to get the full extension and he thought his fastball was going to play up now because of that. Yeah. So that's something I'm trying to look up, but I haven't been able to find anything on it yet.

So that'll be something maybe tomorrow when baseball Savon updates, we can take a look at and get an idea of where Kyle Wright is. But it wouldn't surprise me like if his delivery is a little different, it might take him a little while to figure to rediscover how to throw strikes. You know, his pitches are going to move a little differently. Right. I mean, if your arm action is changing, then that is,

that introduces a, a major variable to the equation here. So I don't really know what to make of Kyle right yet, but I guess I would say, other than the walks, I wasn't especially discouraged by what he did today. Okay, I had a segment lined up asking about waiver wire hitters,

where should these guys be rostered. We're not going to get to all of them. The one that I do want to highlight is Josh Lowe, who had a big game. He went two for three. Shout out to the raise, by the way, 11 and 0. They are just,

they are cruising on by right now. Josh Lowe went two for three with a sock in his shoe, his second home run, his first steal. The home run, 109 miles per hour off the bat. It was over 400 feet. Last year, strikeouts were a huge issue for Josh Lowe. He's got the strikeout rate down to 15% so far. It's very small sample size, only 27 plate appearances. 15% rostered.

Chris, this is someone I know that you had, you know, mild interest in as a deep sleeper. What size leagues do you think Josh Lowe needs to be rostered in right now? you are muted sir you know I hit the button and I'm now realizing that I muted myself when I thought I was already Josh Lowe probably needs to be rostered in I can't say 12 team 5 outfielder leagues yet

so anything deeper than that but he's just you know the fact that he's probably not going to be playing every day until deep deep into the season I think you know limits the appeal yeah I was kind of on the fence I was like, maybe if you're really desperate in a five outfielder 12-team league, I could see it, but probably not a must yet in formats like that. This was only a sixth start, which is, you know, speaks to what Chris was saying.

And I would guess not against any lefties. Right. Shout out to Brandon Lau, who has homered in four straight games and the back looks good so far, and hopefully he can keep it up. Let's talk about some bullpen updates for the Oakland A's. I just have no idea. Danny Jimenez entered in the seventh inning with the game tied bases loaded he gave up a single and then a grand slam no clue I mean that kind of sounds like you know fireman usage he's just you know it doesn't doesn't make me think that the outcome is going to lead to more fireman usage pathetic choice of fire the fire out yes exactly

yeah if that fireman showed up to your fire you would be calling your insurance company because it's over. Not great. For the Braves, AJ Minter, unavailable, Nick Anderson pitched a clean ninth for his first save of the season. A name to watch, I would say in deeper leagues. For the Minnesota Twins, Yohan Duran

got the ninth inning in a one-run game. He gave up a game-tying home run to Luis Robert, who, by the way, is off to great stuff. Very quietly, yeah, five home runs for Luis Robert. Yep, he's looked very good. For the White Sox, for Arnold Lopez, pitched a clean ninth with the game tied. For the Rangers, Will Smith pitched a

a clean eighth with a one-run lead, then gave up a single to lead off the ninth. So they were, I don't know if they were going to leave him out there for a two-in-nings save, but maybe. And then Jose LeClerc came in, he walked one, and then gave up a game-tying single. On the other side of that game for the Royals, Arolda Chapman pitched a clean bottom of the ninth with a game tied, and then they took the lead, the top of the 10th. Scott Barlow comes in, the bottom of the 10th, gave up a game-tying single to a Dolias-Carsia,

and then a walk-off three-run homer to Jonah, time. And it's just, you kind of feel things starting to tilt in the favor of a roll of the Shatman here. It's all coming together. I don't know if Chapman's going to lead the team and saves the rest of the season because he's very likely to get traded at some point. But as long as he's on the roster,

I'm going to play on my flag and say he leads the team and saves until that point. Yeah, the velocity is up. He's looked really sharp so far. So it seems like it might be going that way for the Royals. For the Rockies, Pierce Johnson entered the ninth of the game tied. Tide no more. He gave up three runs and he took a loss in that game.

For the Angels, Carlos Estevez walked one but picked up his first save. 52% rostered, if you are looking for saves out there. For the Dodgers, Evan Phillips entered the ninth down to runs. Not really sure why. Maybe there's needed to get him some work. He proceeded to give up three more runs, including two homers. So not the best. Dave Roberts, I believe before the game said Evan Phillips was pitching tonight no matter what. All right.

And David Roberts over the weekend kind of anointed Phillips the closer. Not in so many words, but about as directly as Dave Roberts is capable of doing. So this was a discouraging turn of events. But I still think Phillips is an exciting choice if he's still out there in your league. The regular closers for the pirates, David Bednar entered the ninth with a two-run lead. He gave up two runs. One of them was earned. and he wound up with the win because

for the Houston Astros, Ryan Presley pitched the bottom of the ninth. Game Tide gave up a three-run homer to G. Juan Bay and frankly, Ryan Presley has looked kind of off to start the season here and we know he's dealt with injuries in the past so we'll have to see. Obviously there's some pretty good options there

with Raphael Montero also in that open. For the Padres, Josh Hayter entered with the three-run lead. He gave up one run but picked up his fourth save and Ryan Helsley pitched a ninth inning in Colorado with a three-run lead and picked up the save there as well. To stream or not to stream,

let's start with Wednesday. Clark Schmidt at the Guardians. Not me. It feels like I brought him up three days in a row. I mean, when is this guy going to pitch? I don't know, weird. Your segment here, Frank.

Yeah. I don't know how it became my segment, but it is. Tyler McGill versus the Padres. No. Edward Cabrera at the Philly. No, you can't. Would you guys drop Edward Cabrera for Tage Bradley?

Because I actually told someone to do that on Twitter. And then I was like, I don't know. But it's kind of close. Like it's the sort of thing where if Edward Cabrera is great at Philadelphia, I'll regret that move immediately. That's true. So probably not. But it's more justifiable than most of the examples he gave.

All right. McKenzie Gore at the Angels. I think that's probably going to be the closest to a yes from me for for Wednesday here. Ken Waldichuk at the Orioles. It's not an enthusiastic yes for what it's worth. No. No to Waldecheck. Dean Kramer versus the A's.

No. Brad Keller at the Rangers. No. Brad Keller, watch him though, because he's doing some different things this year. Eduardo Rodriguez at the Blue Jays. Do I have to watch Rod Keller? We're like bad Keller. No, he's going to be a good Keller this year.

Maybe. More like Rad Keller. Drey Jamison versus the Brewers. First start. It's probably the second best option, but I'd rather not do it. It's scary. This one's kind of interesting. Griffin Canning is making his first start,

and he's going up against the nationals. Yeah, I'm interested in seeing what he does, but I'm not going to use them coming off a long injury layoff. That's fair. How about Tage Bradley in his debut against the Red Sox? Too risky. Yep. No.

Thursday, Cole Irvin versus the A's revenge game. Yeah, I kind of like that. Chris? I'm okay with it, yeah. I actually just wanted you to stall for a second because I was going to play the soundbite. Do you know where this is from, Chris? I will have my vengeance. Yes.

In this life or the next. Yes. I do. Well, where is it from, Cruz? We're getting a, we're going to, we're getting a gladiator sequel, apparently. Ah, come on. I mean, look, it's an awesome movie, but some things are just better left the way they were, right? The way they ended. There have been some rumors about a sequel to Gladiator 2 for a while that are just wild, like, like, that he goes and like fights the gods. I don't think that's what Gladiator 2 is ultimately going to be, but there was like a spec script floating around. Look it up. It's wild. Sequel's 25 years after the fact. Like, this is becoming a more common thing. We're getting heat too, baby. Oh, gosh. We're getting heat too, seriously?

I think they're trying to tap into this nostalgia a little bit too much with these, I don't know. Those guys are so old now. 25. Nero and Pacino. Yeah. I don't know. Did either of them die in the first heat?

I can't remember. I've actually never seen heat. Oh, okay. Well, you know I haven't seen it. That's my frank impersonation. Corey Klooper at the Tampa Bay Rays Not with the way they're playing No even though that is a revenge game as well

I just realized belly falter at the Reds Sure Clooper has very hard feelings toward the race Yeah I think we're no on Bailey Falter Johnny Brito versus the twins No Okay and Nick Martines

versus the Brewers It's not the worst, but I'd rather not. Yeah, if I'm choosing one on Thursday, it's Cole Irvin, and hopefully he just doesn't get destroyed. All right, we're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks for tuning in to fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We'll be back again tomorrow.

Bye-bye.