Fantasy Baseball Today - Bryan Reynolds for Three! Ranking Kirilloff & Strange Stats (6/30 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 30, 2022

Bryan Reynolds for three (1:00)! ... Is it time to drop Eric Lauer (5:40)? ... How does Alex Kirilloff rank among the hot corner infield adds (9:40)? ... What about these other waiver wire hitters (12:40)? ... How can we replace Jazz Chisholm (16:18)? ... Let's take a look at some strange stats, starting with Juan Soto (20:45). ... What about Castellanos, Drury and Pivetta (31:25)? ... News and notes (43:12): Yordan Alvarez had a nasty collision with Jeremy Peña. ... Jake Cronenworth and Rhys Hoskins had huge Junes (46:48). ... Time to add these two-start pitchers (48:27)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpens and streamers (51:05). Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get 20% off Fantasy Baseball Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection 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. Nick Castellanos currently has a 376 slugging percentage, which ranks 12nd among qualified hitters this season.

Time to investigate. Welcome in to Fantasy. see baseball today on Thursday, June 30th, Frank Stample, joined by Chris Towers today on the show. We've got some strange stats to reveal, although I guess I already gave the main one away. Jazz Chisholm replacements, beat the waiver wire for two-start pitchers, and much more. But first, even before, oh my goodness gracious, the standout among all standouts on Wednesday. Brian Reynolds, you beast, triple dong, three home runs on Wednesday now brings him to 15 home runs on the season.

On pace for 30 home runs is Brian Reynolds, and he's just having an absolute monster June. Chris is here as well. I always feel weird when I start off the podcast talking by myself for like a minute, so I'm going to let you talk, Chris, but I have moved Brian Reynolds inside my top 20 outfielders. Is that reactionary?

I mean, there's nothing inherently wrong with being reactionary, even if it was. But no, I mean, I've gotten him 22nd, and like I still have Nick Castellanos ahead of him. I still have Cedric Mulletons ahead of him. And I can't really make like a strong affirmative case for why those guys should be ahead of him. So maybe I do need to move Brian Reynolds into my top 20. He is, he's been really good over the past month or so, like you said.

And it's good to see because he got off to such a bad start. and, you know, there were some, I think, concerns that maybe last year was a bit of a fluke for him, but the way he's playing right now, I think you have to feel pretty good about Brian Reynolds, at least as good as you did coming into the season, maybe a little better. So, yeah, like the expected stats, they largely suggest that he's earned what he's done so far. The interesting thing is the batting average. it's 258 overall the expected batting average is 255 so you know he's having a really nice power season actually 15 home runs already that puts him on a 30 plus homer pace but the batting average

still low and still seemingly deserves to be low now when you look under the hood it's hard to figure out why line drive rate still very good 25.4 percent he's actually hitting more ground balls than he did last season, actually the second highest ground ball rate of his career. He's hitting the ball up the middle more often, pulling the ball a little less. So there's nothing specifically in the batted ball data that suggests that he's a worse batting average player, except that he's just not hitting the ball as hard as consistently. So I don't know what to make of that. But I would bet that given that Brian Reynolds has been a very strong batting average player,

two out of the three full seasons of his career. And really the two full seasons of his career because the outliers 2020, I think he's a good bet for batting average moving forward. Yeah, I think the ground ball rate coupled with the strikeout rate, which is elevated the season compared to last year. I think those two things combined will, you know, contribute to that 250, what are we at?

258 batting average and why his XBA kind of lines up with that. So starts to put the ball in the air a little bit more. Not that he really needs you, right? because he's hitting for all this power. So it's working out for Brian Reynolds. In the month of June, a 337 batting average, eight homers, 19 RBI, and OPS over 1,000, 90 mile per hour average eggs of velocity.

Just having an absolutely awesome month is Brian Reynolds. And I think that there is greater than 50% chance he gets traded. What do you think, Chris? Yeah, there were a lot of rumors about that happening in the offseason and obviously the pirates. on the fast track to nowhere again this season. So I think there's a decent chance. I don't know.

The pirates, they, I don't understand what they're doing in a lot of ways. To put it mildly, they seem to be not prioritizing young players as much as they should. So I don't know. It's possible that Brian Reynolds doesn't get traded and the situation where,

like, it's not like he's a free agent after this season. So they don't have to trade him. He's got a couple years left after this one. So I think there's a chance he gets traded, but that doesn't necessarily affect how I view him. I'm pulling up his, wow, his contract situation. Yeah, he's under team control through 2025, right? Yeah, so that's pretty long.

But, you know, if they want to maximize their return, I guess now is probably the time to cash money. Yeah, he's already making real money. And once that happens, you know. All right, well, Brian Reynolds is having. Yeah, you can get traded at any time. Brian Reynolds is having a great season. I actually hope he does get traded for the sake of his fantasy value,

but nonetheless, he has been great. Well, let's get into other standouts here from Wednesday. Oh, my goodness gracious! All right, Chris, oh my goodness gracious for you. Yeah, we'll go with a standout in the bad direction today, and that's Eric Lauer, who gave up three earned runs in four and a third inning, three strikeouts, two walk, six hits loud. ERA back over 4402 for the season now.

Velocity was actually okay today. He just wasn't particularly effective. And I don't know exactly what to make of that because, you know, I did think that if his velocity was going to be up, he'd continue to pitch better. And that hasn't really been the case specifically over the last couple of starts where his velocity has bounced back after trending down. And the production has still been pretty mediocre.

but you look at the ERA estimators, you know, he's got an ERA over four now with ERA estimators that mostly back it up. The strikeouts haven't really been there in the month of June in particular. He's got 19 and 27 and two-thirds innings now. That was 27 and 27 a third and 34 and 23 in the third, so it's been trending down all season. I think he's better than the 683 ERA he has in the month of June, but I think we're past the point where Eric Lauer's a must roster player in certainly 12-team points

leagues with those shallower rosters. Yeah, so Lauer is still 95% rostered, and I agree, Chris, I think in a vacuum, you can probably look to drop them. The question is that he has two starts next week. Yeah.

And at least one of them is against the pirates. I wrote the Brewers and the Pirates, but I don't think Eric Lauer is facing the Brewers. So would you... I mean, it could happen. Would you still drop Eric Lauer knowing that he has two starts next week? Probably not.

You know, because like I said, those shallower points leagues, that's where the two start week arguably has even more value. So I think you probably still want to hang on to him. But I guess what we'll say at this point is his lease is very, very short now.

I've moved him definitively outside of the top 50 and possibly outside of the top 60. I'm going to do my big rankings update tomorrow for the trade chart. And yeah, it's entirely possible that he drops out of the top 60. Yeah, so I moved him down to SP66 on Wednesday, which is right in line with like Blake Snell, Hunter Green. You know, names like that.

I'd rather have Blake Snell. I think I'd rather have Hunter Green, Hunter Green at least. Yep. You know, it does bring some more upside to the table. I think, you know, it's interesting to compare him to someone like Tyler Anderson, who I think we viewed similarly coming into the season. which is not particularly interested, viewed pretty similarly after the first couple of months, which is very interested and both trending down now. So I think that's probably about the range.

All right. Well, I was going to ask you if you would drop him for any of the most added starting pitchers right now. Keegan Thompson, Ross Stripling, Zach Plesack, John Gray, Graham Ashcraft. If you need a two-star pitcher next week, I would hold, but I now have John Gray ranked higher than Eric. Oh, John, okay. I didn't, I didn't hear John Gray. Yes, John Gray, I would rather have than Eric Lauer at this point. Even, like, even if I'm desperate, unless I'm desperate for a two-star pitcher next week, I would rather have Gray. Yeah. And Gray, is he a two-star pitcher this week? I think he is, because the roster rate is all the way up to like 78% now, so. Well, he's also just been great, and I think we just kind of think the roster rate at 78% is probably a little

low at this point. Yes. He, yeah, he makes another start this weekend. So John Gray is a two-star pitcher. Yeah, now 79% rostered. Yeah, that number, you know, he should be universally rostered. John Gray is pitching very well right now, a move that we would make. Drop Lauer for John Gray. Oh my goodness gracious for me, Alex Kiroloff, please, just stay healthy, man. He looks awesome since returning. Nice call by Scott, who predicted the breakout week here for Alex Kierloff. And on Wednesday, he went three for four with a double, hit his first home run of the season, in 12 games since returning to the Twins. 325 batting average, one homer, five doubles, 12 RBI,

average exit velocity of 93 miles per hour. He's got a 50% fly ball rate, which is actually a touch high, but the fact that he's hitting the ball hard, putting the ball in the air, he makes a lot of contact. Chris, he really just needs to stay healthy. And right now, Alex Kirillov looks healthy. So 67% rostered. I know we've talked a lot recently about, you know, Juan Yuppez and Vinnie Pasquantino.

How would you rank Kierloff among that group with Yuppez and Vinny P? Right in that group. I think that's an interesting collection. I think Kierloff probably has more upside. And so the fact that he looks good right now, I'm going to go ahead and give him the edge. You know, the, you know, Pasquantino was awesome in AAA. I'm not sure he was better than Alex Kirillov was now You know Kirillov has failed at the major league level before which is always you know

That tends to get held against hitters at times, but yeah, I think I think I would take care of love Yeah, I can't tell if I'm just a prisoner of the moment and it's just this massive game When I did my rankings update on Wednesday I had Vinnie Pasquantino ranked ahead of Kiralov, but I don't think I want to do that now I think I think I won't Carol off too so I I I I I might just be overreacting, but there's a lot to like. I mean, the Twins lineup in general has been much better over the past couple of months. Correa has been great.

Luis Arise is hitting like $3.50 right now. So I would want to get a piece of that offense. And again, it just comes down to health for Alex Kierloff. I guess I could have threw this first basement in the mix as well. Routi Telez hit a double dong second time in his last three games and could be heating back up here for the Brewers. 65% rostered is Routi Telez. Would you take Kierloff over here? him, Chris? I think I would. You know, Telez, we've already seen the ups and the downs so far for him this

season. So that's what makes it hard because I do think there's a decent amount of upside with Telez. He's got power, obviously. He makes a lot of contact. But I think Kearloff's overall upside's a little higher. I think it comes down to maybe what you need to. If you need a little bit more pop, Roddy Telez probably makes more sense for you. He does have 15 home runs on the season. If you need batting average and I think the counting sets probably will be similar between the two so it's probably just a batting average

versus power thing depending on on what you need for your team and if we're just talking point Lee that does help Kirillof though is he is outfield eligible as well yes for sure if we're just talking to points league I would take Kirloff I think his um his value

makes more sense in that format alright let's move over to some other waiver wire hitters was going to save these for later but they are making some noise recently Evan Longoria went two for three with his eighth home run has now homered in three of his last five games, 25% rostered, seven road games next week,

and just going to compare some of these hitters to other most added at their position. Chris, who would you rather have Longoria or Isok Parades, who is having quite the June himself? I would rather have Longoria, I think. I know, I don't know, Parades, his quality of contact metrics

are still really mediocre, whereas Longoria's are pretty good. You don't get credit for what Paredes has already done. So I'll take Longoria. I saw you picked up my scraps in the Scott White Dynasty League too. I dropped Longoria. You scooped them up. Yeah, that's a good find in a league like that.

I mean, Longoria's quality of contact metrics over the last four seasons, really, since he got to San Francisco, really. I guess he had 2018 was pretty down. But since then, his expected Wobah has been 351 or better, four straight years now. So, yeah. And we've seen good production from him at times. Obviously, the issue is yes, to stay on the field. But 121 games since the start of last season, he's got 21 home runs. It's pretty good.

Pretty good indeed. Stephen Kwan has been pretty good in the month of June. He went three for four with three runs scored. On Wednesday, he added his fifth stolen base of the season. And in the month of June, 3.54 batting average, five RBI, three steals. You know you're going to get next to no power from Stephen Kwan. but I do like the fact that he is running a little bit more recently. He's 36% rostered.

He's got seven games next week. Chris, how would you rank Stephen Kwan with his teammate, Oscar Gonzalez, and Edward Olivares? These are more for five outfielder leagues. I would go Gonzalez, Kwan, and Olivares. I like Olivares, but he sat today against the Ritey. I think he sat the last two games against Ritey is now. I don't understand that.

I don't understand why the Royals won't just give them a chance to really play every day, but they don't seem to believe the same way that the fantasy baseball community does in Olivares. So I would, I would, I'm okay with Kwan over Olivares. Maybe, you know, maybe in a, because the problem with Kwan is he's kind of just a one category guy. And like that can, Luis Arayes is a one category guy. and when things are going well, that one category can end up spilling over into the other categories. But the margin for error is fairly slim there. So, you know, if you don't need to start someone, maybe Olivares has more upside.

So that's the way I would look at it. I would argue in defense of Luis Arise that he's at least a two-category player leading off for the Minnesota Twins, scoring a good amount of runs right now. Sure, yeah. I mean, Kwan has the stolen base edge as well. so you could argue he's a two category guy as well. But it's really like, I think the best case scenario for both of them is there are one category standout where the everything else kind of flows from that when things are going well.

All right. In the deepest leagues, if you need speed, Sam Haggertie, a name to pay attention to. He started for the Mariners on Wednesday. He went three for three with two doubles, two runs, and a stolen base. And so far this season in the minors, he was hitting 283, six homers, 15 steals, in 869 OPS. The name there, Sam Haggurty, deepest leagues, 15 team,

five outfielder leagues, desperate for speed. He's someone to look at. Jazz Chisholm, unfortunately, Chris, you called this one. He was placed on the IL with a lower back strain,

and we are going to need replacements because while there's been ups and downs, overall, Jazz Chisholm has been one of the most valuable players in fantasy baseball this season. So in shallower leagues, let's start here.

Two names that stood out to me, middle infielers, Ameta Rosario, went four for four with two doubles and his ninth stolen base on Wednesday. He is having a great June as well. 376, two homers, seven doubles, six steals, 927 OPS. He is 64% rostered, has outfield and shortstop eligibility. The other name is Christopher Morel, who was slowing down a bit recently.

The Cubs dropped him to ninth in the order, and he took that personally, because he went two for four with a sixth home run. He's still batting 261. He's got seven steals. I think both players are pretty interesting, but in shallower leagues, Chris, who would you go with? Amid Rosario or Christopher Morel as a jazz replacement?

I think I would go with Morrell. Rosario, 64% roster, that actually sounds a little high to me. He's been really good in June, and there are things to like about him. He's cut the strikeout rate a lot, which is a big deal for a guy who doesn't really hit for any power. The frustrating thing is he actually, his max-aggot-de-bilo is 111 miles an hour.

So he's got some pop. He just doesn't put it into games at all. So I think I would rather have morale. The caveat would be if Rosario keeps running, you know, that could tilt it in his favor, but that's been so inconsistent for him throughout his career that I don't want to buy into it yet. I don't know why.

I just have a soft spot for the Cleveland Guardians' middle infielders. Ahmed Rosario and Andres Jimenez, I don't know why. I just always am so intrigued by their potential. And, you know, I see a stretch like this and I'm like, told you so, let's go. I'm Ed Rosario. But, like, I think they're both talented. It's just we have enough of a track record of them just being kind of meh, you know?

Yeah. No, I mean, look, Jimenez, I think is much better than Rosario this season. And he's shown it. And he deserves to be rostered. I think the roster percentage is pretty high so far for Jimenez. in medium depth leagues, the three middle infielders we talk about constantly, Chris, they're still pretty available. Luis Garcia, Gavin Lux, Nico Horner, they all have a bit of

upside themselves. How are you ranking those three at this point? I know some days we like Luis Garcia. I know you really like Nico Horner. How do you rank those three as of now? Moving forward. I believe it is Garcia Lux and then a little bit of a gap to Nico Horner for me. That's the way I haven't ranked, yeah. All right. So I would imagine in some Roto,

leagues with a middle infielder. Some of those names are available in 12-team leagues. And then... Yeah, I think all three are worth rostering in leagues with a middle infielder spot. In the deepest leagues, if you need a middle infielder, Josh H. Smith, someone we've talked about the past couple of days, let off again for the Rangers on Wednesday against a right-handed pitcher. Miguel Rojas has been solid recently. Playing time should be there with Chishol on the I-L. And then Luis's friend Heifo, I saw he hit a home run here on Wednesday, and he has been, he's been heating up the past couple of weeks or so.

So in the deepest leagues, Chris, who do you like most of that group? Josh Smith, Miguel Rojas, Luis Renhifo. I feel like the angels just have this like codery of completely anonymous, replaceable middle infielderers, like Luis Renhifo and Andrew Velasquez and Tyler Wade. Yep, yep. Who's the guy on the IL right now? Oh, Matt Duffy? No, no, the other guy.

The guy who never strikes out but doesn't know anything else either. David Fletcher. David Fletcher, that's the guy. I mean, they're all... Matt Duffy could have fit that explanation as well. Sure, yeah, yeah, no, that's... I don't see much reason to believe in Renhifa.

At least Rojas will give you batting average. You know, he's probably not going to give you anything else. But, yeah, I think Smith is by far the most interesting of this group. Last seven games. for Luis Rahn Heifo, he's batting 400 with two homers, but as we often say, you don't get that production. So, moving forward with Josh Smith, he's the most interesting of that group.

All right, Chris, in honor of Stranger Things returning on Friday, let's take a look at some... I love that song. You know, somebody asked me recently, not recently, I don't even know why I said recently. This was probably a couple of years ago. They asked, what would your walkout song be if you were in baseball.

And I said the Stranger Things team song. That's a good one. You know, you would think that, like, I'm such a music-centric person that I would have a good answer for this. And I have never, like, I have never had a good answer for that question. But how awesome would it be, right?

Just, like, walking up to the play with the Stranger Things theme song, that would be sick. Juan Soto. We'll start with Soto. We'll get into NICastiano's. Chris did a bunch of... I thought, I'm going to go,

I'm going to do a little pit. of it because I think I thought what you were referring to with this was the that same game. Do you see that weird play where the the pirate scored on a on the third out of the inning where a player didn't tag up? No, I didn't see it. So yeah, I'll walk you through it. It's but the there's a quote from the umpire after the game. This is the first time I've been on the field for something like this. Uh, and what happened was there were one out in the game. I'm watching the play now. Yeah, Hoy Park on second base, Jack Swinsky on third with one out.

Cabrion Hayes lines out to the first base and Josh Bell throws across the infield to the third baseman who tags Park, who was on second base to complete the double play and record the third out. Prompting the Nationals to return the dugout thinking they'd escaped the jams from MLB.com.

Swinsky, though, had crossed home plate during the defensive flurry to score what was at the time the go-ahead run, all without tagging up at third. Hayes was credited with an RBI. However, because the Nationals did not appeal at third before leaving the field, the officiating crew ruled that the run counted, citing Rule 509C4 regarding appeal plays.

So that's what I thought you were referring to in the stranger things, because that was one of the weirdest plays I've seen ever in a baseball game. I didn't realize that was a rule. That is a very weird play, too. You did a good job describing it too because I'm watching it while you're talking it through. And it's, I have not seen anything like that. I like, this is completely random, but I like what teams have been doing this year where I think there's, like there's two outs. There's a runner on first and third.

And the runner on first, say there, it's a ground ball hit and they're going to second. The person just runs completely through the bag. Have you seen that happen this season? Yeah, like Nolan did it earlier in the year where he runs through second base and just keeps running to second. to third to allow the run to score at home. And, and, like, you're going to end up out at third base, but the runner, the run still scores. It's a very interesting play.

And I've, I've never seen it happen before this year. So, uh, completely sidetracked, but yes, if you, if you wanted some random, it's Vecna, it's Fekna's fault. If you wanted some random baseball talk, that's what we give you. Uh, Juan Soto, let's talk about him. He's batting 224, which is tied for 129th among qualified hitters. And we're waiting for him to come around. We keep telling people he's gonna come around.

I still believe he's gonna come around, but he's hitting 195 in the month of June, which is about to wrap up. He's been awful against lefties, something that's never been a problem for him. Chris, what is going on with Juan Soto? And will he get back on track? Yes, definitely.

Will it be this season? Yes, definitely. I have a lot of faith. I mean, it's really just the batting average, right? Like, he's still walking a ton. He's still hitting for a decent amount of power. Even in the month of June, he's got a 219 ISO. So it's not like he's just been awful.

It's just that he's not hitting for batting average. And this is a guy who, over the past two seasons, hit 351 and 313. So I have a lot of faith that he's going to start hitting for batting average. average because batting average just fluctuates. It's just a thing that happens and that's not to say that there's not reasons for his batting average to be lower. His quality of contact metrics are a little worse this season. They are, I will say this Chris, they are considerably worse. At least in terms of average exit velocity, he's down three and a half miles per hour. You know, that's, that's pretty massive. That's, that's not insignificant. Um, hard hit rate down from 53% to 44% expected woe bond.

contact down from 447 to 426, although given the exit velocity drop, that's actually not nearly as significant as you would think. However, we also know that this season, the expected stats, don't have as much value predictively as they have in the past because they're based on previous run environments that aren't necessarily in effect, you know, because of the way the ball is traveling. And it's possible that Juan Soto and Nick Castionis is another guy like this, who may be impacted because these aren't guys who typically crush a lot of like home runs to the pull side of the field. You know, they're not Nolan Aeronado,

where they're just cranking out home runs that are 390 feet down the left field line or right field line, as it were, for Fon Soto. These are guys who go the opposite field a ton and hit a lot to the power alleys and hit a lot to center field. And that's where they derive a lot of their power from. and Freddie Freeman's a similar player. And so that is a type of player who could be especially harmed in this offensive environment where the ball is not traveling as far.

And balls hit to center field and to the opposite field will tend to have more slice or what's the opposite of slice in the parlance of golf? I don't know. Hook. They tend to not fly as true, I guess would be that they, they travel a further distance because they're curving. And so, you know, if the ball has to cover more distance to get to the same length of the field, and the ball's not traveling as far, and you have to hit it further to get it out when you hit it to center field or to the power alleys than you do to the pole side,

like that is the type of power that would be more adversely affected in a situation where the ball is not flying as well. And that is what we're seeing. If you look at Wobah minus expected Wobah on line drives and fly balls hit two straightaway, as stat cast defines it, between 2016 and 2021, the average major league hitters as a whole, underperform their expected Wobah by between 0.097 and 0.108. That's line drives and fly balls hit straight away and makes sense. Expected Wobah doesn't account for expected stats don't account for the direction the ball's hit. So a 400 foot ball hit to center field.

We'll have a lower expected, we'll have a lower Woba than relative to the expected Wobah than one hit to down the left field line. Right? That makes sense? Am I explaining this well? Okay. This season, the Wobah minus expected Wobon line drives and fly balls hit straight away is minus 159. That's a huge difference. Yeah, batters are underperforming their expected stats on batted balls hit to straightaway, line drives and fly balls, more than they ever have.

And Juan Soto, Freddie Freeman, Nick Castiano's, there are plenty of other players who have that profile. You know, that is they would be more impacted by that. I don't think that explains everything with Soto or Castiano's, but I think it's a relevant, a highly relevant factor at the very least. No, I think that's a great fine too, and it's not really anything I've heard so far this season, but it makes sense based on the ball and the humadors and just not traveling as much as it has in the past. So specifically those names that you brought up, and we'll talk about Castiano in just a second, I think it does make a lot of sense for Juan Soto as well. Just putting a ball on this conversation with him, you know, we get a lot of emails, talk about Juan Soto.

The thing is, Chris, what are we going to tell you to do? What is actionable with Juan Soto? There is nothing, I don't think that we can give you to do when it comes to Juan Soto. Just keep putting him in your lineup, right? Like, what are you going to do? Sell low on Wan Soto. I have moved him down. I moved them behind Judge and Yudan Alvarez, which, okay, that's already a pretty big move.

What am I going to do? Moving behind Kyle Tucker and Luis Robert and George Springer? Me personally, no, I'm not going to make that move. I wouldn't trade him for those players straight up. So the answer is just keep starting him. We're two months removed from the popular opinion being that Juan Soto was now the best hitter in baseball. And we're, you know, a year removed from him having an 1164 OPS after the All-Star break. And he was the best hitter in 2020.

And obviously the offensive environment has changed and maybe that explains some of it. But I just, he, Juan Soto is too good and too proven and too young and too every. for me to be able to justify any kind of sell low on him. Like, I just, I don't think there's any move that you could make. Like, if someone wants to give you Aaron judge for Juan Soto, okay, fine. If someone, like, he's still a top 10 outfielder in points leagues. He hasn't been as great in Roto, but. And no one's doing that either, Chris.

I'll just tell you, no one's giving you judge for Juan Soto. Like, if, if you want to give me your, Yordon Alvarez, for Juan Soto, okay, but I'm not giving you Juan Soto for Kyle Tucker or George Springer or Byron Burence or any of the Toscar Hernandez, any of the guys after that. Like I just, I agree. There's nothing that you can do with Juan Soto. And look, if you're going to lose because Juan Soto has a random season where he hits 240 as a 24 year old, like, okay. Like that, those seasons happen. There's no way that I could sell Wonsodo right now because I'm not going get anything like the right amount of value for the kind of player, we all know he can be.

All right. Let's talk about Nick Cassiano's who, you know, you've already brought up. He's in the same conversation. I mentioned his 376 slugging percentage ranks 122 among qualified hitters. More ground balls this season. Home run to fly ball ratio is way down, which again feeds into the theory that you have, Chris. The average exit velocity on fly balls and line drives this season is down two miles per hour compared to where it was last year. So if you're trying to find a reason for why his home run to fly ball ratio

is as low as it is and why there's been this power outage for Nick Cassiano's, he isn't hitting the ball as hard when he puts it in the air. And then we also have the fact that he is no longer in Cincinnati. His home road splits last year, Chris,

we highlighted that in the off season. He was great in Cincinnati, in Great American Ballpark. And as good as Philly is and Citizens Bank is a good place to hit, It's not Cincinnati. So I think all these things are coming together. I still think Castellanos is a by-low,

but I will acknowledge, I could see this being a just down-across-the-board power season for him. Yeah, I mean, Cassianos was someone who remember back to his time in Detroit. He would always have these amazing expected stats and all these underlying numbers that suggested that he wasn't just a good hitter. He was one of the best hitters in baseball, you know, massive batting averages, massive expected slugging percentage. And he always disappointed.

And the explanation for that, you know, I think the most compelling one anyway, was that the power alleys in Detroit are really, really deep. And it was hard for him to get the most out of his power. And I actually think the explanation that I offered about Soto with regards to how the ball is traveling, I think that's a better explanation for Castellanos and his struggles. Because you look at, you know, just the simple spray chart of his batting. ball's he doesn't have a home run between he has one home run to the right side of the field he has

one to dead center and like look he only has seven home runs so obviously he's not going to have many to any part of the field but he doesn't have any to the power alleys to right field and very few to the power alleys and left field and he's never been someone who pulls the ball for for power either so you know if the ball's not traveling as far to those power alleys and then that is the type of power that's being suppressed, you know, that could be a good explanation. You see it in the in the home run to fly ball rate specifically to the straightaway part of the field. For most of his career, he was sub 10%.

And that's explained by, I think, Detroit. Then he gets out of Detroit 2020 and 2021. He has a home run to fly ball ratio on straightaway balls to fly balls to fly balls and line drives to straightaway center of 25 and 23%. And this season, it's down to 7%. Wow. That all fits with the hypothesis that he's just especially impacted by this offensive environment. That being said, I think he's going to be better than he has been so far.

And like you said with Soto, I don't think there was any way to see this coming with Soto. Castiano, it's not just the offensive environment. He's also just not hitting the ball as well. He's striking out more. His average exit velocity's down. His hard hit rates down. He just hasn't been as good. And maybe he'll continue to be not as good.

And these kind of things can tend to snowball. But I think he'll be better than he has been moving forward for sure. And I still think Nick Castionis is probably going to be close to a top 20 outfielder the rest of the season. And if you remember his first season with Cincinnati, which was the short in 2020. So I don't know how much stock you want to put into this. Yeah, he was a disappointment then as well. So, you know, first year in a new location, new contract. It could be part mental for Nick Castianos as well.

Last thing I'll highlight in terms of the park factors, according to Statcast, three-year rolling average, Cincinnati, Great American Ballpark is by far the best ballpark for home runs. It is not close. And Philadelphia Citizens Bank Park is 10th on this list. So I do think that that is something that could be contributing to Nick Castellanos's power outage as well. While we're talking about the Reds, Brandon Drury, strange stat. Top five second baseman and third baseman in Roto this season, a top eight second baseman and third baseman

in head-to-head points. He went two for five on Wednesday, hit his 16th home run. He's got 48 run scored, 40 RBI. The batted ball distribution is equal across the board. He's 86 percentile in Max E.V. He's 77th percentile in barrel rate. He is not swinging and missing. That is the biggest change that Drury has made 6.8% swinging strike rate is absolutely massive for him. And of course, his home road splits. He's much better in Cincinnati. Chris, I don't know how much is actionable with him. Some people might say to sell high on Drury.

I say no, because he's one of these players that just kind of pops up, kind of like Max Muncie a couple of years ago with the Dodgers, right? Where people are going to be skeptical all season long, they're not going to give you a fair return for Brandon Drury. I would just hold on to him. Yeah, I'm just, like, he's already one home run short of his major league career high. He is eight short of his professional career high, which came back in 2014 as a 21-year-old playing in double A and high A. Yeah, I would say sell high, but I also think a lot of people are going to think it's a 29-year-old Brandon Drury.

I'm not going to give you anything for him. So that's the tough thing. As Sel High is all about perception, and I can't imagine there are too many people who perceive Brandon Drury as being all that valuable. I certainly don't. So I would just say keep riding it.

Would you trade Brandon Drury for, like a struggling Jose Berrios right now? Sell High, by low. Yep. Would you do it for Terrick Scouble? Yep. That one's a little less sure. Yeah.

Just because Scouble, himself doesn't have much of a track record but you know like the one that I came that I thought of was like Yon Moncada No I don't think I would and that's really tough

I'm taking jury over Y'amakata yeah I would see if like Cabrion Hayes I would see if you could swing that man I like because Cabrion Hayes has been so disappointing and I think the underlying

numbers suggest that he could have just a massive stretch, but, you know, I don't know if that's enough to get Cabrion Hayes. I'm not sure, but I would do that. Yeah, I would want Cabrion Hayes plus, but I don't, maybe I'm just, I'm riding high on Brandon Drury right now. I haven't been a few leagues. He's been so, so awesome this year. Yeah, no, he's been great. Hitting in Cincinnati, I think it really, really, you know, helps him out there. Last one I wanted to mention, Nick Povetta. He now has quality starts in 10 of his last 11 outings, and during that span, he's got a 1.9,000, 95 ERA, nearly a strikeout per inning, 2.1 walks per 9, but he's doing it with a sub 9% swinging strike rate.

The BABIP is very low. The strand rate is very high. The underlying numbers don't support it. Chris, this is kind of strange what Nick Povetta is doing. What do you make of it? Yeah, I don't buy it at all. I don't know. Maybe he can be like a 410 ERA guy who's useful, but I just, I don't think there's much of anything

here. I think he's, like, ideally, you would think, okay, well, he's not getting a lot of strikeouts. He's not getting a ton of swings and misses, but, you know, maybe he's converted into this, like, quality of contact guy who can, you know, get away with that. And that's not the case. His expected Wobon contact is 4.04, which is actually one of the worst marks of his career. It's 20 points of worse. And obviously, the usual caveats apply about expected Woba. expected stats not being as predictive right now, but I still think there's a large gap between where Nick Povetta is and where he's likely to be moving forward. If I could get anything for him, I would look to trade him because I don't think, do I have Povetta in my top 80? 75. That is how much

how much faith I have in Nick Povetta right now. I moved them up to SP67, but I feel like he should be higher. I'd rather have Pavetta than Eric Lauer, just the way Povetta's pitching right now. Chris, how about this for a theory, though? We've said this for a few different pitchers, and maybe it just happens that it's taking longer for regression to come than usual, but maybe based on this year's environment and the fact that offense is taking longer to come around, there's a chance that these pitchers pitching to contact can kind of just luck their way through it. The Martin Perez's, the Nick Povetta. I feel like there's a few, like, there's at least a handful of pitchers that are pulling this off right now, and maybe it'll work this season.

And it's not entirely luck. Like, that's, right, Martin Perez is actually pitching better. And Nick Povetta is, I think if you're looking for a reason to buy, it's the really high pop-up rate right now is kind of the only thing that he's doing at a well above average. The control has been much better. Yeah, I mean, the control lately, but overall he's got an 8.1% walk rate. so I'm not I'm not super enthused about that. I just, it is possible that guys in this offensive environment,

like there could be more fluke low ERA seasons this season than normal, but I don't see any real reason to think that like Nick Povetta is more likely to have a fluke low ERA than, I don't know, James and Tyone, who's had a. similar run or you know or even pitchers who I think are more talented like Tristan McKenzie you know let alone that so I I just I yeah I don't buy it I don't know all right fair enough before we hit the break just want to remind everyone that we do have a five minute podcast if you aren't subscribed yet fantasy baseball today in

five we talk about the biggest standouts from the days worth of fantasy baseball action so you can download and follow wherever you listen to this podcast and we're going to take a break and we'll be back right after this. All right, so the strange stats lasted a little bit longer than I expected, so let's run through this. News and notes, scary collision on Wednesday between Yordon Alvarez and Jeremy

Pena in short left field. Alvarez was carted off and both are being evaluated for concussions. Obviously both are very important to the Astros and for fantasy, so hoping for the best with both of those guys. Max Scherzer built up to 80 pitches in his second rehab

start on Wednesday. He allowed three runs over four and two-thirds innings while striking out eight. And it sounds like he could return next week, July 4th, potentially as a two-star pitcher. So that would be very welcome. Bryce Harper underwent surgery to repair his fractured left thumb and is expected to be sidelined for six to eight weeks.

We're looking at a late August return, hopefully. Jacob de Grom threw 27 pitches during live batting practice on Wednesday and is closing in on a rehab assignment. They've mentioned some time in July as a potential return date for Jacob de Grom. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he's quote, very optimistic Moki Betts will return before the All-Star break on July 16th.

David Bednar hasn't been available the past few days due to a sore lower back, but is expected to avoid the IL. The Yankees are leaning towards activating Aoldish Chapman on Friday. Say Suzuki will begin a rehab assignment at AAA on Thursday. Matthew Liberator will start Saturday.

against the Phillies. He's 21% rostered with a 4.0ERA, 1.61 whip in four starts this season. Chris, are you looking to add Matthew Liberator in any leagues? No, I don't think there's much appeal there. The Red Sox are considering using Garrett Whitlock out of the bullpen upon his return

from the IL. Would you drop Whitlock if you were stashing him? Yeah, I think that's fine. You know, maybe there's a chance that Tanner Howe struggles as the closer moving forward and Garrett Wicklock can take over there, but I think they prefer him in a more flexible role anyway. Yeah, I was going to say if Tanner Halk didn't emerge, Whitlock would have made a lot of sense as the closer, but Houtch has pitched well, obviously in all venues outside of Toronto. A gentleman named Derek Hall was called up by the Phillies to provide an extra left-handed bat, and they threw him right into the lineup, batting cleanup on Wednesday. and in the minors he was hitting 269, 20 homers, 67 RBI in 72 games.

Chris, he's not really a prospect. I looked at top 30 list for the Phillies. He didn't show up. He's 26 years old. But he was mashing in the minor, so he's a name that I'm paying attention to in deep leagues. Derek Hall, 2% roster. Yeah, I think it would have to be a pretty deep league

because he had a 601 OPS against lefties at AAA this season. So, you know, that, you know, it was 710 the year before. that's slightly less bad. That would play if he can mash Ritees, but I would be surprised if he's an everyday player. Oh, right. What else do we have here? Reds news.

Nick Ladolo will rejoin the Reds rotation Monday or Tuesday next week against the Mets. He struck out five over four and a third innings of one-run ball in his latest rehab outing, 39% rostered, and I'm actually pretty interested, Chris, in adding Nick Lidolo. He flashed some upside earlier in the season.

I'm going to have him ranked over Nick Povetta rest of season. I might already. Would you drop Eric Lauer for Lodolo? That's fine, yeah. Yeah, I think I would do that too. Tyler Nakewood will begin a rehab assignment on Thursday for those reds.

Hitters wrapping up big June's. Jake Croninworth, we've talked about him a lot. He went three for five with two doubles and two RBI on Wednesday. And in June, 308 batting average, four homers, 12 doubles, 24 RBI, a 953 OPS. Javier Baez over his last 12 games, batting 354, four homers, two steals, and hopefully when Ozzy Albies went down with injury, we told you go out and buy low on Javier Baez.

Hopefully you did that. Cedric Mullins is coming around. He went two for three with two walks and a run scored. And in June, not much power, only one homer, but hitting over 300, nine doubles, five steals, hitting the ball a little bit harder. good things coming for Cedric Mullins. And Reese Hoskins, he went two for four, hit his 14th home run,

and in June 305, six homers, 14 RBI, an OPS right at 1,000. Chris, anything you'd like to add on Cronenworth, Baez, Mullins, Hoskins, big June. Yeah, Mullins, I don't know if he counts as a by-low. His overall numbers are still pretty med, so, you know, it might be possible. And Baez, it's,

when he got off to this horrible start, I kept comping to the 2020 season when he was just dreadful and then came out in 2021. It was really good again. And it almost worked out perfectly. I think he played 55 games in 2020. The nadir of his season was 50, it was 50 games in when he had a 4-520 OPS.

That's that 12-game mark that you mentioned. So that's working out pretty well. I think Bias is going to be just fine moving forward. All right. Beat the waiver wire for these projected two start pitchers. Taiwan Walker has now turned in four straight quality starts. And up against the Astros, he threw seven and a third shutout with three strikeouts. Has changed out the pitch mix recently using his splitter and slider more,

which is definitely a recipe for success. I was surprised to see he's 81% rostered. He's going up against the Marlins and at the Reds next week. Cole Irvin mixed bag against the Yankees, not great results, but 17 swinging strikes thought that was interesting. He's going up against the Blue Jays and the Astros next week. Zach Rankie has now allowed one earned run in each of his two starts since returning, and he is going up against Cleveland and the Astros next week.

Chris Flexson, you know who Chris Flexen is. He's got a 4.32 ERA. He's got the Blue Jays and Padres next week, and Andre Palante has been serviceable for the Cardinals as a starter. He threw seven innings of two-run ball against the Marlins, and he's only 10% rostered. He's got the Phillies and the Braves next week, and he's SPARP eligible. So I think that's kind of interesting.

A lot of ground balls for him, 65%. Chris, what do you think about this group? Taiwan Walker, Cole Irvin, Granky, Flexson, Palante. We have a new John Gant in St. Louis. I remember how much you loved John Gant last year. I mean, I loved the fact that John Gant kept having like these five-in, one-earned run, four-walk starts. It was great.

I think he had like a two ERA and an X-FIP over five or something. Yeah. Flexen is a viable starter at home. I don't know how much appeal he has outside of that. But, you know, next week versus Toronto at San Diego, I don't love the matchup. So he's, you know, not someone I'm rushing out to add for a two-start week. So I would say Taiwan Walker, you know,

versus Miami at Cincinnati, Miami without Jazz Chisholm. I think that's going to be a very good matchup, even though they've been decent against Ritey's this season. So he's by far the most interesting. The rest of them, I don't love the matchups, even if I, like, was interested in Grinky or Cole Irvin. They both have Houston on the schedule. So, for the most part, I think I would avoid these group. All right.

Well, check back in with Scott tomorrow. By the way, again, I won't be here. Scott and Chris holding it down for you guys. We'll see if Scott likes any of these projected two-star pitchers. This person's not a two-starter, but he does have a solid matchup next week. Dane Dunning, two quality starts in a row, and he is at the Orioles. 26% rostered. So if you are looking for a single start streamer for next week. Pitching leftovers from Wednesday, Justin Verlander with his third eight-enning start of the season. He went eight-shut-out

with six strikeouts, has now gone seven plus in five of his last six starts. Chris, anything on Justin Verlander? It's weird that he's not getting more strikeouts, but the swinging strike rate was solid today. He's a star again. He is indeed. Nothing to add there. A top five starting pitcher. Find somebody who loves you the way that Sandy Alcantara loves facing his former team, the St. Louis Cardinals. He threw a complete game in this one, three runs, two of those were earned, only three strikeouts,

only nine swinging strikes, but it kind of seems like he was pitching to contact in this one, leaned into the slider more, has gone eight plus innings seven times this season. Sandy Alcantra, I mean, just, what a beast. Refused to leave the game in the ninth inning. I think they were one out in the ninth inning and a runner on, and he refused to come out and ended up closing it out,

and the Marlins ended up getting the win with a come from behind. They actually scored some runs in a Sandy Alcantra start. And he's the, if the season ended right now, he's the N. El-Sai young guy, right? Yeah. Yeah, I would say so. He's been outraged. Had a 0.99 ERA against the Cardinals in his career coming into this game

that actually did go up because he allowed. two-earned runs, but yeah, good call on him hating the team that traded him. Can we just end the season now, Chris? Because I saw the top two pitchers in points leagues. Shane O'Mack, Sandy O'Connor. Yeah, that's pretty good. I love it. Absolutely love it.

Shohei Otani has allowed one earned run total over his last four starts. He goes five and two-thirds shutout with 11 strikeouts to one walk against the White Sox, 24 swinging strikes, 2.68 ERA, 101 whip, 101 strikeouts over 74-ennings pitched. And Chris, while I should be excited and I should celebrate how amazing this player is that we're watching, every time I see a start, I just can't help but think. There are people out there starting him in their utility spot and they're getting none of this, none of these stats. And it just grinds my gears. Yeah, I mean, that can grind your gears. On the other hand, they've gotten a 997 OPS out of their utility spot in the month of June. So, uh, you know, that's still pretty

cool. I still, I will continue to defend this. I think we have to find a way to get all of Otani's stats at all times in fantasy. I know that. You know what? Now that the DH is in effect everywhere, I'm okay with it. I think just every, you get every player's hitter and pitcher stats. That, that, that's the rule. It shouldn't just be Otani. So if, uh, but there's no one else if you're starting, there's no one else is actually mad at Phillips in your, in your, uh, deep outfielders league, your deep league, you get his pitching stats. You know, that's the way it works. I'm down with that. I know that this would make Otani, like, the biggest cheat code in fantasy baseball ever, and it, it would break fantasy. But that is what he has done in the sport. He has broken the sport,

and I feel like it should be reflected in fantasy, and I will continue to defend that. It's very frustrating for me. Anyway, last two names here on this list. But if you draft him in that format, you don't get a second round pick. Wright gets back on track after two subpar outings. He goes seven innings, one run, four strikeouts, and Cal Quantrell, his first eight inning outing of the season. He goes eight, three runs, only three strikeouts. I don't really know how Cal Quantrell pulls off this Houdini act, but it's very Marco Gonzalez-esque. Anything you'd like to add on Kyle Wright and Cal Quantrell? Yeah, Wright, it's a little concerning that the strikeouts and swings and misses

have been, you know, inconsistent for sure over the last, you know, really month or so since he got off to such a great start. But I still feel pretty good about him. All right. Oh, actually, there is one more pitcher I wanted to mention. Real quick, Chris, would you look to buy Mike Clevenger before he really gets going? He looked great on Wednesday, six shutout, one hit, one walk, six strikeouts, 14 swinging strikes. But he hasn't really, really gotten going yet. Would you look to buy right now?

Yeah, I mean, his. like it's been a weird season because it feels like you know coming back from Tommy John Surger he's had all these disruptions but he hasn't really had any like arm issues right the the times that he's missed did he have like a back or a knee thing I think it wasn't and then he had COVID so I I feel like there might be a perception around Clevenger that it's been like a really rough recovery even though the results have been pretty good but yeah I do think he's a he's a buy I think he's looked quite good Good. Yeah, it was a COVID situation. He was dealing with something with his triceps earlier on. So that, that obviously is not great. Yeah, he was on the I.O. with a right tricep strain. So I think he dealt with a lower leg injury. Yeah, there's been a few different things going on with him. But when healthy, he looks pretty good. It looks like he's coming around. That is Mike Clevenger. Some hitting leftovers. Christian Yelich went two for four and has now let off 20 games for the Brewers. And in those games, he's betting 321 with two.

two homers and five steals. Still not much power, but we'll definitely take the batting average and the speed from Christian Yelich. Speaking of speed, Randy or Rosarena, two more steals. Now up to 17 total.

Josh Bell went three for three with two doubles, two walks, two runs scored. He is batting 319 with a 909 OPS. And it's a rough year, Chris, for the contract year isn't a real thing, crowd. I don't even know how you feel about contract years, but between Aaron Judge,

Joe Musgrove, Danesby Swanson, Josh Bell. There might even be others. Yeah. This is a rough year for people who don't believe in contract years being a real thing. I mean, Charlie Blackman. Yep. Yeah. Trey Turner, he's having a kind of mess season.

Craig Kimbril. There you go. That's the argument against it. Not great. Boom. Joey Gallo is a free agent. Oh, gosh. Just release him now. Please.

Oh, I just. I think. I think Chris he might be going through what Chris Davis went through. And I think this might just be the end of Joey Gallo's career, which is overstating things. But like, you strike out that much. That happens with this type of player. Yeah. The, the, this is what the, what, what Bill James used to refer to as the old player skill set.

And then the large, the high strikeouts, power hitters tend to age pretty poorly. So, yeah. You know, maybe. Speaking of those Yankees, they are now 12. 25 and 1 in games where Aaron Judge and John Carlos Stanton have both homered in the same game. Judge hit his 29th. John Carlos Stanton hit his 19th. He now has five homers in his last six games. You'll love to see it. M.J. Melendez went two for three with an RBI. But having a very rough June, I would continue to hold. I've got some questions about Melendez recently. I know he hasn't been great,

but still big upside and Salvador Perez is out for a long time. So hold on, stick it out with MJ Melendez. Vinny Pass Quantino went 0 for 1 with two walks, but his lone batted ball was nearly 104 miles per hour off the bat. He hasn't struck out in two games, so encouraging. Julio Rodriguez went one for four with his 12th homer, 109 miles per hour off the bat, 4131 feet. He's amazing. We're going to get Scott to put him in the first two rounds. Let's do it when we redraft around the All-Star break. Yeah, All-Star break's coming. We need some content.

Wilson Gutreras went three-for-four to his 13th homer. Brendan Rogers went three-for-five with his. the seventh homer, and the Dodgers enjoyed Corris Field on Wednesday. Will Smith hit his 12th, Freddie Freeman, his ninth homer, and Cody Bellinger hit his 10th. The call to the bullpen, some updates for the Brewers. Josh Hayter picked up his 24th save. Clay Holmes for the Yankees picked up his 14th save. Chris, what do you think about trying to sell high on Clay Holmes before Chapman returns? I mean, I feel like anyone who would be trading for him knows that Chapman's coming back. So it's a pretty transparent thing. But I don't know. I feel like there might be this perception

that Clay Holmes is just going to be the closer moving forward, at least among some people. And I just have a hard time seeing them sidelining Eraldus Chapman or him putting up with. Like, O'Olda Chapman doesn't seem like the guy who's going to be the good soldier heading into free agency working as a setup, man, you know? So I think Chapman's going to end up being the closer. I hope you're wrong. Whether it's the right. move or not is a different question. No, I hear you. I hear you. That's the way I feel like it's going to work out. Clay Holmes

absolutely should be the closer. I mean, it's, to me it's not close, but you're probably right. For the Astros, Ryan Presley struck out one for his 16th save. For the Royals, Scott Barlow, struck out two for his 10th save. The Tigers, Gregory Soto, a clean ninth inning for his 15th save. For the Braves, one day after A.J. Minter got the save, Will Smith tossed a perfect ninth inning for his third save. and this looks like a committee for now, Chris, without Kenley Jansen, Will Smith, 30% rostered. I'm not rushing out to add either, but I think in deeper leagues where you're desperate for saves, you probably can.

Yeah, yeah, I mean, we'll see what it looks like if like both of them get a day off in a row and then, and then who they go with, because, you know, they had both pitched a lot in the previous four or five days. So we'll see. For the twins, Yohan Duran. pitched the eighth and ninth in a tie game. Emilio Pagan stinks. He entered in the 10th inning. He gave up a walk and a double. He was relieved by Jarrell Cotton, who then

gave up a walkoff home run to Josh Naler, who is very fun to watch. I like watching Josh Nailer. For the Cardinals, Ryan Helsley entered with a one-run lead. He gave up a two-run homer to Avisael Garcia. He takes the blown save and the loss. And I just

saw that the Angels game went final. Reiselle Iglesiis, picked up his 15 save in that one. To stream or not to stream, we'll start with Thursday, Chris Archer at the Guardians, Adrian Howser at the Pirates, J.T. Brewbaker versus the Brewers, Graham Ashcraft at the Cubs, Kyle Hendricks versus the Reds, and Mitch White versus the Padres. I like Ashcraft, I like Hendricks, and that's it. All right, on Friday. Houser could be fine. Houser, yeah, Houser's okay. For Friday, we've got Rich Hill at the Cubs, Rwanzi Contreras versus the Brewers. Brad Keller at the Tigers, Alex Fayetteau versus the Royals,

and James Caprillion at the Mariners. I will pass. I don't like any of these. I'm starting Faieto in one of my deeper leagues. I don't love it, but the Royals lineup is not great. I guess if I had to choose one, it would be him or contraris. We're going to wrap there. For Chris, I am Frank.

Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today. I will not be back here tomorrow, but Chris and Scott will. I will see you again next week. Bye-bye.