Fantasy Baseball Today - Buy Christopher Morel? Week 11 Sleepers & Two-Start Pitchers! (5/31 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 31, 2024

What's up with Christopher Morel (3:13)? Buy-high on Jack Flaherty (8:10)? ... Let's learn more about Mets pitching prospect Jonah Tong (11:24). ... News (17:22): Ronald Acuña will officially get his ACL surgery on Tuesday. ... Nick Pivetta and Aaron Judge did some fun things on Thursday (24:05). ... Sell-high on Carlos Rodon (25:56)? ... What's wrong with these three hitters (30:28)? ... Any interest in these waiver wire pitchers (37:10)? ... J.D. Martinez is starting to hit for power but striking out a lot (41:00). ... Let's talk Week 11 schedule and two-start pitchers (43:18). ... Who are the top sleeper hitters for next week (52:47)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and weekend streamers (56:20). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome in Tough Fantasy Baseball today on May 31st. I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White. Today on the show, we have one by high pitcher, one sell high pitcher. What's going on with these four hitters, our week 11 preview, another prospect spotlight. But let's start with our players of the night. Maybe John Sterling was right. Gary is scary. That comes courtesy of the great Brian Anderson on the Brewing.

TV broadcast that came after a go-ahead home run from Gary Sanchez. For those who don't remember, John Sterling famously used to call Gary Sanchez. Gary is scary for his home run call. So I thought that was a nice little, nice little nod there. I actually didn't hear it myself, but a listener pointed out to me on Twitter. And yeah, if you ever hear an awesome call or anything, tweet it at me, email it at me, and I'll try and work it into the show. But Scott, you are up, your player of the night. Well, it being a Thursday and only half a slate, there weren't ample choices here for player of the night.

So I decided to go with somebody who had a good game, but mostly I'm picking him because I have some observations that we might not get to otherwise. And that's Christopher Morel, who went two for four with a homer. It was his 10th home run. He's only batting 198, which, you know, is obviously bad,

a batting average under 200, and that might say, that might lead you to believe, oh, Christopher Morel is bad. But, you know, for batting 198, he entered the day is the 13th best third baseman in points leagues. And as I believe it was the top 25 outfielder in points league, so still in the must-start conversation,

that's kind of just the, the situation we're dealing with across baseball, with Babips being down so much, batting average is being down so much, guys can be batting under 200 or in the low 200s and still be very productive. In Morel's case, it goes a little beyond that because he was in a pretty deep slump

prior to this two-for-four performance. He was four for his, he was four-for-48 leading up to this. game. So that batting average had been plummeting. Now, he was walking a lot. He was doing some things to contribute. But he was 4 for 48.

It's not in the way we've known Christopher Merrell to slump in the past. And by that, I mean, it's not like his strikeout rate is spiraled out of control. It's still down at only 22%. Which, if you remember the talk of Christopher Morrell prior to this year, it was like, okay, he's got a lot of red on his stack cast page, he hits the ball very hard, but he's going to strike out over 30% of the time that leaves little margin for error.

Well, he's striking out well under 30% of the time, and that was the case, even with the slumpies bin him. His expected batting average, Christopher Merle, remember his actual batting average is 198. His expected batting average is 264. His expected slug is 499. His stack cast page is stilled up in red. And I think, just one, by the nature of Christopher Merle being streaky, and two, with the expectation that offense is going to improve in the summer months, I think he could be one of the biggest beneficiaries of that.

I think Christopher Morrell is going to go off. I can't say for sure that this two-for-four performance with a home run is the start of it, but I am telling you emphatically to cling tightly. to Christopher Morel in spite of his 198 batting average because I think much, much better days are ahead. So I had a segment plan later on what's going on with these four hitters and Christopher Morel was one of them and for all the reasons you mentioned, Scott,

I do think that Morell is one of the more clear by-low hitters right now if you want to look to acquire him. The strikeout rate is way down. You talked about that. Some things that I noticed a little bit weird in the profile, like he's hitting the ball hard, He's not hitting it nearly as hard as he has in years past. So I think there's a little bit of give and take there, obviously,

like maybe not swinging out of his shoes as much, trying to make more contact. So that has changed the approach a little bit, but the expected stats obviously still look really good. So I'd be looking to buy. And one name that just came to mind that I think most people would be able to pull this off. You let me know if you would do it. Seth Lugo.

If you could turn Seth Lugo into Christopher Morel, would you do that? I think you absolutely could pull that off. I'd want to aim higher with Seth Lugo. He's the number, last I looked, he's the number two pitcher in fantasy. And for as much hope as I have for Christopher Morel, he's never going to have that kind of currency in fantasy that Seth Lugo theoretically should have. I think in the sort of leagues we play in deep roto leagues,

there's just no hitting to be found on the waiver wire at all. And people are pretty plugged in to advance stats and probably have a great deal of skepticism for Seth Lugo. I think we might not be able to pull off much better than that boat. But I think even we might be able to if we target somebody who's really gotten burned at starting pitcher. I think Seth Lugo's kind of earned he's gained enough value that I think he can aim higher than that.

A couple of their names a little bit lower down the list. Rinaldo Lopez, Rinald Blanco. We did you trade either of those for Morel? Ronell Blanco and who was the other one? Rinaldo Lopez. I'd have an easier time trading those and I think, I think, yeah, I would, in most cases. Cool. All right, let's talk about my player tonight.

It's going to be Jack Flaherty, who had everything working at the Red Sox, six and two-thirds shutout, one hit, one walk. nine strikeouts. That's now three straight starts with exactly nine strikeouts for Jack Flaherty. 15 whiffs on 104 pitches, seven on the slider, five on a fastball, three on the curve. He only allowed one hard hit in this game. That slider continues to be awesome for Flaherty. Had seven of those 15 whiffs, a 58% whiff rate on that pitch. Did notice the velocity was down across the board.

Fastball is 0.7, but the slider 1.2, the curve ball. down 1.4. And I've liked that the velocity has been up the season, but he succeeded in spite of that. So it was 62 degrees. Yeah. Strangely. Yeah.

So maybe that factor in a little bit here. And I was going to bring up Jack Flaherty as a buy high pitcher because I think enough people have been scarred. I think maybe some people aren't buying it. Jack Flaherty is the number one qualified starting pitcher. in K-minus walk rate.

That's really amazing. I mean, 30.2% K-minus walk rate this season. It's a 346 ERA. It's a one-whip on the nose. The fifth, the X-Fip, they're all much lower than that. 12K per 9. Jack Flaherty,

the results aren't completely there yet. I think he's about to go off, Scott. I think we're about to get like a crazy run of Jack Flaherty. And if you want to look to buy him, I think now is the time to do so. Yeah, I kind of think it's already started. It may not feel that way in fantasy because this was his second win of the year. So a lot of that's just win-loss coming into play.

And you'll remember, I pointed out after his last start, it was going to be a dominant start. He had allowed one-er-run run in six innings. They brought him back out for the seventh. He gave up a two-run homer. So that kind of, instead of his ERA going down for that start, it went up for that start, even though it was still a quality start. But yeah, with this latest start for Jack Flaherty, you look at his last six. If I can do some quick math here, that puts him at his last six starts.

Jack Flaherty has a 235 ERA. And his K-rate's been high all season. Just in terms of pure K-rate, not even K-per-9, it's the second best among qualifiers is behind only Gary Crochet. But yeah, over that same six-start stretch where he has the 235 ERA, Jack Flaherty also has a K-per-9 rate of 12.7. So, yeah, basically in line with his season rate, a little bit higher, I guess. But the point is, those are dominant numbers regardless of the pitching environment. And I know I have Jack Flaherty in my top 30 rest of season.

Same. And I think if the Tigers are just given, and more run support, there would be no skepticism at all, frankly. All right, it's Friday. You know what that means? Another prospect spotlight. Let's talk about a prospect who is a little bit further out. Met's pitching prospect Jonah Tong, 20-year-old right-hander drafted out of high school back in 2022.

He's pitched in nine games a season, seven of those starts between A-ball and high A. A.0.90 ERA, a 0.95 whip, 62 strikeouts, over 4.4.4.5. innings and what I read on this guy is a four-pitch mix including a riding fastball which seems to be the way is the game is trending we're seeing more of these like Joe Ryan and Imanaga and Christian Scott with this riding fastball and apparently a funky over-the-top delivery for Jonah Tongue Scott what are your thoughts on the pitcher is he a must roster in all dynasty leagues I mean that's that's kind of a weird combo because usually to get that rising effect with the fastball,

you have a lower release ankle. That's sort of the easiest way to achieve it. But, yeah, Tong has gotten a lot of prospect hype this year. I was not familiar with him coming into the season, but he has been dominant in the lower minors and has become a much better strike thrower than the little bit that he pitched last year.

And then that kind of regressed a little when he moved up to high A, but there's past couple outings. it's been fine again. He's been throwing tons of strikes, getting tons of whiffs. Jonah Tong is, I just wrote an article about the 10 biggest risers

among pitching prospects this year. He's in that list. He was one of the easiest choices to put in that list. And he doesn't rate especially high by the traditional indicators, like his fastballs low to mid-90s. It reminds me a lot of Joe Ryan,

actually, when he was climbing the minor league ranks. And he'd never got much credit as a prospect, I think, just because not everybody was really bought into the fastball shape thing so much at that point. But in terms of velocity and the effectiveness of that fastball, in spite of velocity, Tong reminds me a lot of Joe Ryan. His secondary arsenal, though, is much further along than Ryan's was,

I think, at any point in the minors. So still in a ball, like a, I said, Jonah Tong has a lot to prove on his way to the majors. But considering, I believe

he's 21, right? 21. 20. 20. 20. Okay. So, he could move quickly. I'm not saying he's going to be up this year, but if he doesn't hit any

major speed bumps with the next couple moves up the ladder, then I think we're seeing this trend of pitchers getting promoted faster than hitters do. One, because hitters are struggling to acclimate to the majors, and two, because teams realize there are only so many bullets in the chamber for every pitcher, and they want to capitalize on that quicker.

So I could see Tong moving pretty quickly. I think he's, if you're on a deeper dynasty league where all the obvious prospects are already rostered, I think Jonah Tong needs to be on your short list of, the prospects to add. And I'm seeing now that he plays for the Brooklyn Cyclones, I might have to get out to a game, try and line it up where I could watch Jonah Tong pitch because, I mean, not that it's close,

but it's the closest minor league ballpark to me. It's like an hour away, but yeah, why not? Go check them out. Jonah Tong was one of 10 pitchers Scott wrote about in his latest prospect report. Make sure to check out the article, which is live on the site, cbsports.com slash fantasy slash baseball.

Quick reminder to download and follow Fantasy Baseball Day in Five wherever you listen to podcast. We have a bonus prospect episode coming out every Saturday of the season. Let's take our first break. And when we return, we've got the news and notes right after this. Welcome back in. The news and notes, Ronald de Cunia will undergo surgery on Tuesday to repair the torn ACL in his left knee. And one question I didn't ask you about this, Scott, do you think he'll be ready for opening day next? year, 2025?

I think the odds are good. So this is happening almost two months before, a little less than two months before when it happened to 2021. And remember, he was back before the end of April in 2022, again, with that procedure coming almost two months later. So it doesn't mean he'll rehabilitate as quickly. And remember even when he did come, but for coming back as early as he. he did in 2021.

He kind of dealt with knee pain all year and was in and out of the lineup, especially early on. And I think we are going to take, speaking for myself anyway, I think I'm going to take a more cautious approach to drafting him next year than I did in that heading into 2022. And I was more cautious than most heading into 2022. Probably a second rounder is what I'm expecting Acuna to be based on the, little we know now. We'll hear more between now and then, I'm sure. Garrett Cole threw a 43 pitch simulated game on Thursday.

Aaron Boone said Cole could begin a rehab assignment as early as next week. Pete Alonzo is day-to-day after a CT scan confirmed no fractures in his right hand. He was out of the lineup Thursday, but I did notice that he had a pinch hit appearance in that game. Zach Allen left Thursday start with a right hamstring strain, the same hamstring that's been giving him issues off and on all season long. So hopefully he doesn't land on the IL, but we'll find out soon. Rays manager, Kevin Cash, said Zach Eflin will throw a ramped-up bullpen session Sunday before the raise decide his next steps.

Cash added that Eflin's back, if Eflin's back feels all right after Sunday, he could be cleared to return next week. Speaking of the raise, Josh Lowe will begin a rehab assignment at AAA this weekend and hopes to be activated on Tuesday. Life, uh, finds a way, Scott, because Clark Schmidt was placed in the aisle with a right last train and will be shut down for four to six weeks. I didn't mean that to come out as like celebratory. Obviously, it sucks because Clark Schmitt has been pitching really well for the Yankees.

But with this happening, and Garrickole will hopefully do back at some point in June, that means Luis Heel's probably going to stick around for at least the next couple months. Yeah. Yeah, and they may have found a way to keep him around anyway. It's, I mean, he's been there, like we talked about yesterday, Louise Heel has been the Yankees best pitcher. If the playoffs were starting today, I'm sure he'd start game one. So I don't think, I don't think there's any desire to remove him except that they might consider him to be the best pitcher in a playoff scenario.

in which case they want some innings left for a playoff scenario, in which case they're going to have to pull back on him at some point. And that's going to be necessary regardless of whether one of their starting five gets hurt or not. So in a way, I'm not sure that it matters that Clark Schmidt got hurt. It certainly takes some of the pressure off when they're making those decisions, when Cole comes back, oh, what do we do with these six starters who are all pitching well? But if they want Heal to be part of their playoff plans, they're going to have to pull back on him at some point.

With Clark Schmidt on the aisle, Cody Potete will start Saturday against the Giants, 29 years old, excuse me, and has been pretty mediocre in seven starts at AAA this season. If you're wondering why they didn't choose prospect Will Warren, it's because he has an 853 ERA at AAA. Brady Singer was scratched from his start Thursday due to an illness. Red Sox manager Alex Cora said he's optimistic Tyler O'Neill's stay on the IL will be a short one.

O'Neill went on the IL Wednesday with right knee inflammation. Garrett Whitlock underwent internal brace surgery on his right elbow on Thursday and will miss the rest of the season. Reese Hoskins could be activated as soon as this weekend series against the White Sox. Masataka Yoshida is set to begin swinging a bat in the competition. days. He's been out since May 1st with an injured thumb. Pete Crow Armstrong was recalled by the Cubs and Craig Counsel indicated the rookie could have a bigger role this time around. Crow Armstrong started Thursday in center field. It was Sayas Suzuki who was out of the lineup. My guess God is that Mike Talkman will lose the most playing time, but maybe it's just one of those things where

they give a player a game off per week, right? Where it's like Suzuki gets a game off and Ian Hap gets a game off and Talkman gets like a game or two and Bellinger gets a game list. And they just find a way to get Crowe Armstrong. Michael Bush, because Bellinger could play first base, obviously. Yeah. I imagine it probably going that way. Crowe Armstrong will obviously have to perform. He got sent down and just lit it up at AAA, which I think is the reason he's back and why they're saying,

okay, we need to give this guy more of a chance. There are no centerfielders in the game. Better than Crow Armstrong defensively. He's certainly among the best, among the very best defensively. He adds a lot of value on that side. So it's not like he needs to be an impact player with the bat to continue to earn starts. But he's got to do better than he's done in the major so far. I'm trying to find the exact numbers as I'm talking here.

But after being sent back down to AAA, Iowa, Pete Crow Armstrong. He took an offer in his last two games. But even so, he hit 387 with three homers, five steals, and seven games. Yeah. Yeah. Also added four doubles, 10 runs, seven RBI. It's just, wow, crazy numbers there. A name I think you could look at in deeper five outfield of leagues, Pete Crow Armstrong.

And according to Ken Rosenthal, Jesus Lozardo is the single player most likely to be traded this season. I don't think that's overly surprising. The Marlins have already traded away Luis Arise. But it could help. Lozardo's value if he gets to. traded to a team with much better win potential. Some quick fun stats I wanted to mention. Nick Povetta tied the Red Sox record with eight consecutive strikeouts here on Thursday.

He was up against the Tigers. He went five and a third. He allowed two runs, nine strikeouts, 16 whiffs on 92 pitches. Tough luck lost because he was going up against Jack Flaherty on the other side. And wanted to mention with Aaron Judge, who went one for five with his 18th home run. Updated May numbers. And there's still one day left. in May.

355 batting average. 12 homers, 12 doubles, a 1350 OPS for Judge. Two tweets that I saw from Sarah Lang's. Aaron Judge's 24 extra base hits this May are the most by a Yankee in a month since Joe DiMaggio had 31 in July of 1937. And judges 31 barrels in May

are the most in any calendar month by far in the Stackcast era. The next closest was Matt Chapman with 24. Anything Scott on Judge or Nick Povetta? Nick Povetta threw fewer cutters in this start and more sweepers. Of his 16 swinging strikes, eight came on the sweeper. So fewer cutters, more sweepers. That's a positive development because his cutter is his worst pitch and his sweeper is his best pitch. And so more of that for Nick Povetta, I think would be a welcome development. He's been pretty good. He's been pretty

good this year regardless, but I know he struggled in his last start. And given the volume of quality pitchers out there, it's easy to lose faith in a guy because of one bad start. Well, Nick Povetta reminded you with this start, just how good he can be. Earlier on, I mentioned there's one buy-high pitcher and one sell-high pitcher that I had. We already talked about Jack Flaherty. Carlos Rodan, is he a sell-high? I don't know. You tell me, Scott. Carl Sward on turned in a quality start at the Angels. He threw six plus innings.

Three hits, three runs allowed, five strikeouts. He had 16 whiffs on 87 pitches, six of those on the slider. And that slider has been awesome. And it's, I would say, almost as good as it was back in 2022, his final season with the Giants. He actually threw more changeups in this start than he normally does. And it was really good for him. He had five whiffs on the changeup, a 71% whiff rate. The issues with Carlos Rodan is that his fastball is not nearly as dominant as it was a couple of years ago.

That is the biggest clear difference. The fastball gets hit really hard. You know, the expected Wobah on that fastball is very high for Carlos Fordon, while obviously the slider has been doing the heavy lifting. But he's down to a 309 ERA, a 113 whip. It's five straight quality starts. The ERA estimators do not trust it at all, Scott. We're talking about a FIP, X-FIP, and expected ERA that are all up over 4.38.

How do you feel about Carlos Ferdon? Would you be looking to sell high? He also has the obvious injury history. Yeah, I'm actually surprised to see how that the ERA estimators are all over four because... I was too. I was kind of surprised. I was really skeptical in his first five starts. he was not getting many wists with the slider then

and the walk rate was way up and he's still, his season walk rate is still elevated because of all those walks he was issuing at the start of the year. It's been much better over his last seven starts and yet even over his last seven starts, I at least have FIPP available and it's mid-fors because he has allowed a bunch of home runs during that time. He's a fly ball pitcher.

It's weird to have the buy low or sell high discussion for any pitcher right now. I mean, it's any player on either side of the ball either because there is such an imbalance between pitching and hitting. And to the point basically where I think in 80% 8 out of 10 situations out there, I would trade any pitcher but the long-established aces for any hitter who I thought would be

impactful, you know? And okay, maybe Carlos Rodon is one I'd be more likely to shop than some of the others on my roster. But if somebody demands Tanner Halk instead of Carlos Rodan, I'm not going to make a big stink about it. I'm getting a good hitter. And I have enough pitching. I need hitting. Okay, fair enough. Is that going to be the state of things all season long? I have no idea. That's impossible to say. I do think, as we've talked about a lot, as the weather heats up,

hitting will improve across the league. I sure hope it does, or else we're talking about a real outlier season here. But I can't say that with confidence, obviously, just comparing May to May, this is the worst season for offense we've seen in nine years. Yeah, just to wrap it up on Carl's Horda,

I don't know, watching him pitch, he looks pretty good. So, I mean, that's just like my Yankee. I've watched him pitch a lot. And he looks good. And I was surprised that the underlying numbers are not buying it. I'm not saying you have to sell a high on him. But there is a case to be made, given his injury history. And, you know, of course.

Right. And a more recent positive development for Carlos Rodon, because I was pretty much back on board once the slider came around. But he got 16 widths total. Five came on the change-up, which he threw 17% of the time. And for most of the years, it's mostly been fastball slider that have been the keys to his success. But this is now the second start in three where Carlos Rodon has worked in that change-up. And it's been effective, at least in terms of the number of whiffs it's getting.

And so if he gets a legit third pitch going, then it may not matter so much that his fastball isn't. as overpowering as it once was. What's going on with these hitters? And we already spoke about Christopher Morel. I wanted to talk about, ooh, do I have that loaded up? I'm not so sure. Yes, I do. Vinnie Pee!

Baby! Vinny passed Guantino. He's had an up and down season, got off to a slow start, then had a little bit of a run, went back into a slump. Maybe he's coming back out of it now. Two for five with his sixth home run.

Only batting 229. He does have 35 RBI, so that's nice. But the OPS is only 713. I think overall he's been disappointing, but the underlying numbers, Scott, I think they all say to buy because he's hitting the ball hard.

It's a career high barrel rate. The expected batting average 273, expected slug 490. Maybe he's just one of these weird outliers that the numbers never catch up to the expected stats, but if you're just going based on that, you should probably be looking to buy.

Yeah, I agree. with that last statement. And, you know, look around the league. There are a lot of hitters who are underperforming their expected stats by quite a bit. And so Vinnie Pasquantino, it's easier to maybe hit him harder for it because he was a disappointment last year too. But, you know, it might just be the state of play right now and he's falling victim to it. like so many other hitters are. Two hitters who were in slumps recently,

and they kind of broke out a little bit here on Thursday. Ryan Jeffers, two for three with a double dong, three RBI in its previous 16 games before this one. A 127 batting average, 468 OPS, a 38% strikeout rate. And Riley Green, one for three with his 10th home run. It was his first homer since May 6th in 19 games since that last home run, 176 batting average, 458 OPS, a 28% strikeout rate. Anything actually concerning here, Scott,

or are these just normal slumps that we see from any hitter? I think there's reason for concern with both. Now, I've been kind of a Riley's green skeptic from the get-go, and so maybe there's a certain amount of confirmation bias happening here. but what I've noticed with him is the improvements that he made in April have basically gone away in May. He's striking out more in May. It's a lower fly ball rate in May.

And both of his marks for May are basically what they were last year when Riley Green was okay for fantasy, but he was not really a impact player at all. And with the kind of April he was having, we were kind of buying into the idea, okay, this is one of the few good outfielders out there. I'm skeptical of that again for Riley Green now, which isn't to say he needs to be dropped anywhere.

There's only so much quality to be found in the outfield, but I'm not sure in the end Riley Green is going to be somebody who sets your team apart. As for Ryan Jeffers, yeah, a lot of my enthusiasm for him early on was he was playing a lot more and he was striking out a lot less. And this slump, you mentioned 38% strikeout rate. It's got his strikeout rate looking pretty closer to where it was in the past as well. And with the slump, he's been out of the twins' lineup more and more. I don't know that it should be that way.

Christian Vasquez is useless at the plate at this point in his career. But Jeffers has, I mean, you just look at the twins last, how many is this? one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten games. And Jefferson Vasquez have started the same number at catcher. Now, Jeffers has made a few appearances at DH during that time, but it's less, he's out of the lineup a little more than he was before. And so I think I have him in my top seven at catcher. I don't know.

I look at the catchers I rank behind him, and it's not like, well, they obviously need to move ahead of Ryan Jeffers. but I think it's, I'm not sure he's going to be the standout that maybe we were all hopeful he'd be two weeks ago. You know, the names I have right behind him, it's like Jiner Diaz, who's been just kind of blah, like Logan O'Hoppy, who has done some good things. And I know he's home around back-to-back days,

but, you know, it's not like these other catchers are lighting the world on fire. Like Cal Raleigh, he's been okay, you know. It's just like none of them have been a standout. So. Yeah, I think I, I have, I've had Raleigh ahead of Jeffers in Roto all along. I did move Jeffers ahead of Raleigh in points because there was a strikeout disparity at one point.

Raleigh being a big strikeout guy. But now that strikeout disparity is going away. So I might, I might move Raleigh back ahead in points. All right. Let's take our final break. And when we return, we'll talk about some of the waiver wire options from Thursday's action. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in.

Let's run through the waiver wire pitchers. And the first group includes Christian Scott. He was solid up against the. the D-backs, five innings, two runs, four strikeouts. Trevor Williams continues to pitch well. He was at the Atlanta Braves, five and two-thirds, one run, four strikeouts, had 12 whiffs on 95 pitches, leaned into the sweeper more. That is a great idea because Trevor Williams' sweeper has looked really good this season.

Jameson Tionne turned in a quality start at the Brewers, six innings, three runs, four strikeouts, and Patrick Sandoval pitched well up against the Yankees. six innings, two runs, seven strikeouts is coming off a start where he got clobbered for eight earned runs. So that really killed a lot of the enthusiasm we kind of had for Patrick Sandoval, but he changed the pitch mix in this one.

The velocity was up, so I don't know. Maybe something will happen. Are you actually excited to add any of these guys? Sandival, Tyone, Trevor Williams, Christian Scott. You know I'm not. I mean, Christian Scott is is the most exciting because he's Christian Scott, big-time prospect call-up a few weeks ago,

who hasn't pitched poorly, but he hasn't pitched well enough to really push to be added in a pitching-rich environment like we're working with now, 8.1K per 9 across Christian Scots, however many starts, five starts or however many it is. 8.1K per 9. It was not great. I mean, he hasn't, the home runs haven't been as big of an issue as we feared,

at least not yet. But, you know, he was inefficient in this one, 91 pitches to get through five innings. That's not getting it done in this environment either. I say that, I say all of that. And a little sneak peek here, Christian Scott is my number one sleeper pitcher for this upcoming week. But that's because I'm having to choose between guys who are, between pitchers who are rostered in less than 80% of leagues.

It's not because all of these guys need to be rostered more. Christian Scott is probably appropriately rostered at 66%. All right, fair enough. You know, the Trevor Williams thing is kind of interesting. Look, he doesn't need to be added in like shallow 12-team points leagues.

He's at 48%, but he's in line for two-star six week and we'll talk about him in just a little bit as well. A couple of names in deeper leagues. Colin Ray pitched well against the Cubs, five and a third, one run allowed, five strikeouts. Spencer Arrigetti turned in the best start of his young career. He was at the Mariners. He threw six shutout with eight strikeouts. He had 14 whiffs on 90 pitches.

And Hogan Harris, who pitches for the Oakland A's, pitched well at Tampa Bay, five and two thirds, three runs allowed, only one of those was earned, seven strikeouts with 17 whiffs. That's what stood out here. but I kind of think that's just a raise thing that they just strike out a tonne. So I don't know. He's rostered in 0% of leagues.

Hogan Harris is a left-hander, right? Yes. Yeah. Against left-handers, the raise have the second highest strikeout rate. So that's part of it. And he's had an ERA near eight in the minors. So, yeah, there's, if I wasn't giving much thought to the idea of picking up Trevor Williams, I'm certainly not for Hogan Harris.

Yeah. These are like AL only type guys. I'll just say, let's see where this goes with Spencer Arrogetti because he does have some swing and miss potential. The underlying numbers actually look pretty good. He walks way too many, but 10.5K per 9. You don't have to add him, but he's an aim to watch. Let's see where it goes. We got to see a lot more for sure.

Some Waverwire hitters, J.D. Martinez launched a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning, and all four of his home runs have now come in the past 17 games, with the Mets. He's hitting the ball really hard. He's also striking out a lot. 32% strikeout rate for J.D. Martinez. Abraham Toro continues to hit. He went three for five with a walk, a run, an RBI, and his third stolen base. And then two names in much deeper leagues.

Jose Siri, two for five with a double dong. He also has a 188 batting average and a 36% strikeout rate. Gary Sanchez, I'll just quickly mention for anybody in like a deeper two catcher League. He has started eight of the past 10 games for the Brewers, and the power is there. I'm one for three with a three-run homer, his seventh home run of the season, 772 OPS. You're looking at any of these names, Scott, Sanchez, Siri. Martinez, we talk about a lot, but I don't know, that strikeout rate is pretty bad. Yeah, I mean, Abraham Toro.

He's the best of this group by far, J.D. Martinez, and it's still kind of surprising to me that He's as available as he is. The Mets have only five games this upcoming week. So it's not a situation. They have that game in London, right? I think. I think it's against the Phillies. Yeah, I guess.

So, okay. So, yeah, both of those teams have two days off in a row. And I guess that that's why. Both of them are playing both the Phillies and Mets playing only five games next week. So I don't think, I don't think that's the time to start J.D. Martinez. but the others I have low interest in. It would have to be a deep league context.

You said a two-catcher league for Gary Sanchez. And Jose Siri is actually not playing that consistently because of Johnny DeLucah. He's splitting starts with him in center field. and I think, frankly, we'd like Johnny DeLuca to start more. So that's, that's, you know, we're not, we're not exactly rooting for Siri to get more playing time. And we're not looking to pick him up with the playing time he is getting. All right.

Let's get into our week 11 preview. And we will start things off with the schedule, which includes eight teams with seven games next week. The D-Backs, Orioles, Reds, Rockies, Padres, Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Nationals. There are 18 teams that have six games. and just four teams that have five games next week, the Marlins, the Mets, the Phillies, and the Rays. What about the Rockies? I mentioned they have seven games.

Three of those are in Corse Field against the Reds, and then four are on the road at the Cardinals. Starters sit these fringe two-star pitchers, and Carter Crawford, look, for most of the season, he's a must start, he's been great, but as we spoke about yesterday, he has struggled recently. he is at home against the Braves and at the White Sox.

What do we do with Cutter Crawford? I think you start him. Yeah, I know he's kind of struggled recently, but these are good matchups. The Braves, okay, we don't think of them as a good matchup. They're middle of the road in terms of runs scored. Probably get better at some point, but look at what the Nationals pitching staff just did to them in a four-game series.

I wouldn't be afraid to start Cutter-Croffert against them. And then that second matchup against the White Sox, I cannot overstate how good of a matchup the White Sox is for pitchers. Everybody knows this, but if we're measuring offense by run scored, the White Sox have like 75% of the run total of the 29th team in Run scored. They are a distant, distant, distant last. And pretty much any pitcher can look good against them. Cutter Crawford is better than most.

All right, what about Bailey Ober, who is also struggling with home runs? He has one start in Yankee Stadium, one at the Pirates. Yeah, that one's a little more questionable, I would say, especially since him being a fly ball home run prone pitcher at Yankee Stadium against that lineup. I could see it going poorly for Bailey Ober, but if you're not going to put him in your lineup for a two-start week, then, you know, then he's probably doesn't need to be his rostered in as many leagues as he is.

Second matchup at the Pirates certainly helps his case. Those White Sox numbers, by the way, 161 runs scored, the Marlins 211. Yeah. Yeah. 50 runs behind the 29th team in run score. Oh, my God. That is, wow, that is so bad.

Nathan Avaldi, he is coming off his first start back from the IL, he only threw three innings in that one. So I wonder, could he be limited? He's going up against the Tigers and the Giants. Yeah, he could be limited, but I like those matchups for him. And probably by the second start, he won't be limited. So yeah, I think of all the pretty clear start this week. Tyler Anderson is the clearest.

He is the embodiment, the baseball embodiment of the Jesse Pinkman Giff. He can't keep. getting away with this. Mm-hmm. But he keeps getting away with this. And he faces the Padres and the Astros next week. Two top 12 offenses. And I would be reluctant to use him in a points league.

Okay, maybe. But for being a two-star pitcher this week with the kind of ERA Tyler Anderson has, I still was not able to justify putting him in my 10 sleeper pitchers. So what does that tell you? Tells me he can't keep getting away. with this. Tristan McKenzie is up against the Royals and at the Marlins. So many walks. It'll probably go okay since that second matchup is at Miami, who as we've talked about, have the second worst offense. But there is always damage being done to your whip whenever Tristan McKenzie starts,

even if he gets a good result. So I think it's a points league only kind of move. Frankie Montas and Andrew Abbott have the same matchups next week. They're both in Coresfield

and then home against the Cubs. Yeah, I don't think so. I don't think so. They're at two of the worst pitchers parks,

especially Andrew and Andrew Abbott's case that seems like trouble. Yeah. I would pass. Stay away. Last one,

we just spoke about him, Trevor Williams. He's home against the Mets and home against the Atlanta Braves, who he just faced on Thursday.

I think I'm all right with it, man. I don't know. Maybe I'm just, I'm falling for it. But I like what Trevor Williams is doing right now, throwing that sweeper more. I can get behind it. Scott's out. He's out.

I mean, I like, this isn't a comparison, but just to talk about it more. I like Mitchell Parker and Jake Irvin more from the Nationals rotation. I'm buying into them a little more than I'm buying into Trevor, Williams, but I'm not buying into any of them that hard.

And, uh, yeah, I'm, I'm, yeah, maybe in a points league you could start Trevor Williams. I guess I, I, I guess I would do him over the either of the Reds options, Frankie Molandas and Andrew Abbott, but not with a lot of enthusiasm. I agree. Yeah, points league. I could get behind it with Trevor Williams and a deeper category as league. Like a 15 team roto. I, I think it's all right. Uh, who are the two star pitchers that you're looking to add and stream this week. It looks like there are only two names on the list. That's correct.

Matt Waldron, who we've talked about a lot. Love it. The knuckleballer. Can we just become the biggest Matt Waldron fan club? Like, I just want a knuckleballer to succeed in baseball. Sure, we could do that. Why not? He's only 31% rostered in CBS leagues.

He gets the Angels first for a start and the Diamondbacks for a second start. But if his knuckles balls work, I'm not sure the matchup matters all that much. He is either going to defeat himself or he's not, and lately he's been pitching really well. The second two-start pitcher in my 10 sleeper pitchers here is Kyle Gibson at Houston, not such a great matchup, but then he gets the Rockies on the road, and he's kind of been, you know, he's done the normal Kyle Gibson on-again, off-again thing,

but his good starts tend to be really impactful, and I think at least one of his two starts this week, that one against the Rockies will. turn out that way. All right. What about the single-star streamers? That means you have a lot of these. Who are your favorites? Yes, I do. My favorite, as I said earlier, is Christian Scott, in part because his

matchup is against the nationals who are in the bottom third of the league in terms of run scored. And it's a really tight cluster there between the Marlins who are second to last and the nationals who are seventh to last, they entered the day just eight runs apart. So those offenses in the bottom third are all just kind of equally bad with the exception of the White Sox. So yeah, Christian Scott is facing one of them,

the nationals, and he's been okay. So I expect him to have an okay outcome with that matchup. My second favorite of the one-star pitchers actually has a bad matchup, Reese Olson. So that tells you where the rest of the group fits here. But Reese Olson, sub 2ERA, right? That counts for me.

That counts for more to me than the fact that he's facing the Brewers who happen to be in the top five and run scored. Christian Sanchez, with his good work of late, he's also facing the Brewers this week. Christopher. I'm sorry, Christopher Sanchez. Also facing the Brewers this week. He's been throwing harder even harder than his last two starts.

and yet he hasn't walked anybody. So hopefully he's figured things out there. Ben Brown coming off those seven no-hit innings where he looked absolutely dominant. Hopefully he continues to pitch deeper into games and isn't pulled after four innings anymore. He's at Cincinnati. So home run friendly venue,

but young lineup, strikeout prone, I think Ben Brown could take advantage of that. Colt Irvin and Braxton Garrett. I'm going to talk about them both at once. because they're both facing the same team, the raise. And as I just mentioned, the raise have the second highest strikeout rate against left-handed pitchers, which Braxton Garrett and Cole Irvin both are.

Let's see who else. Albert Suarez gets the Blue Jays. Now, he might be limited in terms of how deep he goes since he's recently returned from the bullpen. But he has been so effective every time he's pitched this year and the Blue Jays have they've been doing a little better on the offensive side,

but I still don't think their offense is particularly good. I think Albert Swaras. Only 7% rostered can take advantage of that. And finally, Alec Marsh, who's just been steady all year. I'm skeptical of it,

but he's facing the Mariners this week. And I think he should be able to pull it off in that matchup at least. All right. Let's slide over to the hitters, best matchups for next week, the Astros, Rockies, Padres, Cardinals, and Reds.

The worst hitter matchups, Brewers, Rays, A's, Yankees, and Dodgers. With that said, who are your favorite sleeper hitters for Week 11? Well, the Rockies have the second best matchups, as you pointed out. Brinton Doyle, I think, is the best choice to represent them. His roster rate's getting up there. He's at 77%. But he still makes the cut.

He's been, you know, the strikeout rate has improved enough that he's able to get to that power and speed. and since their first three games are at home, I think that makes it even more appealing. I like Jake Myers this week. If you check out his stat cast page, very impressive. A lot of red there. He, I think, is on the verge of breaking through for the Astros as their center fielder, Jake Myers.

And as you mentioned, the Astros have the most favorable matchups of all. You did not mention the Blue Jays among the most favorable matchups, but they're one of the teams playing seven games, and they close out that week against the athletics pitching staff. So the matchups are pretty good. I think you stick with Davis Schneider, who has certainly come through view this week as a sleeper hitter now for the second week in a row. T.J. Friedel, back hitting leadoff for the Reds.

They have the fifth best hitter matchups, as you point out, a series in Colorado. Friedel has a lot of ways of contributing, and I think he will make an impact this week. Ian Hap has finally shown signs of coming around. And the Cubs, they have a series in Cincinnati, and before then they're facing the White Sox.

So they're facing the White Sox pitching staff for two games, and then they have four games in Cincinnati. Hap in his career in Cincinnati, The numbers are ridiculous. I'm going to pull them up right now. So he has played 49 games in Cincinnati. Has it 17 home runs. Oh, my.

329 batting average 1160 OPS. And again, the Cubs play four games there this week. Jeez. So good time for Ian Hap to get hot. Let's see. You mentioned the Cardinals have the fourth best matchups. I like several of their hitters. As a result of that, five of their seven games are against Ritey's,

so that also benefits Nolan Gorman. We can trust him to play more. Mason wins a right-handed hitter, but he's batting like 3.30 against Ritees. Alec Berluson, a left-handed bat. We can trust him to play against Ritey's, and he's batting. What's he batting? He's batting 324 against Ritees. So, like all three of those guys, Gorman, win, and Burleson.

Matt Vierling's been hot, and the Tigers matchups are pretty solid this week. week. And finally, Dylan Moore, who has been cold, but has remained in the Mariners lineup. And I think he will for at least one more week because three of their six games are against left-handed pitchers. And he is their best hitter against left-handed pitchers with an 889 OPS. Plus, you can start him anywhere, just about. All right. That is your week 11 preview. Let's wrap up with some leftovers. I've got one pitcher to talk about. And it's Logan Gilbert. He's had a bit of up and down May, and he was up against the Astros.

He allowed four runs over six innings. Two homers allowed in this one, gave up eight hard hits, and last five starts for Logan Gilbert. It's a 597 ERA, a 136 whip. A little misleading because there is an eight-run start in that mix. Anything in particular stand out for Logan Gilbert? Scott, or do you just think this is part of the Logan Gilbert experience? Yeah, I was...

trying to find something. I did find something for what it's worth. He is throwing his slider a lot more in May. It's his most thrown pitch in May, as a matter of fact. But it's been effective. Like, throwing the slider more doesn't seem like it should cause problems. His other pitches have all gotten worse. And it makes sense because obviously he's giving up more damage in May.

it has to come on some pitcher or another. I don't know that those pitches are like just toast now. I doubt it. So I don't know. I guess it's just the experience, Logan Gilbert experience. His ERA is now basically in line with his ERA estimators. But it has been a bit of a struggle lately.

And given that you have a lot of quality pitchers on your roster, obviously, I could understand if you wanted to maybe play the matchups a little more with Gilbert for the time being. though I don't think you'll be doing that for long. Some hitting leftovers want to give some appreciation to Shea Langaleers, who's quietly been great for fantasy, two for five with his 12th home run that is tied for the lead among catchers. He's only batting 211, but it comes with a 768 OPS,

and the expected stats actually look much better for Shea Langaleers. He entered Thursday as a top nine catcher in both Roto and head-to-head-to-head-point. So shout out to him. He's been really good. Cody Bellinger has multiple hits in five of his last six games. He went two for four with his eighth home run. Surprised that he only has one steal so far on the season. The sprint speed is still 80th percentile.

So would like to see Cody Bellinger running more. That's the whole Cubs team, Frank. You lied to us, Frank. Not me. This is all your fault. You said Craig Counsel taking over the Cubs meant everybody was going to run more. but it's been just the opposite. You know who the liar is.

Craig counsel himself. Let these guys run, man. I don't know. I don't know what to do. I was surprised to see that they're up to 15th in steals because I know they were in like the bottom third for a lot of the season. So maybe they've picked it up a little bit recently.

Who's been doing it? Because it hasn't been Nico Horner. And it's not Cody Pellinger. So I don't know who. I don't think Morel is running. I don't think Suzuki's running. Who is running? Maybe everybody else in the league

also just stopped running at the same time. I don't know. Probably not. Neal Horner's the team leader with his six. Are we forgetting someone obvious? No, I'm looking at the... Ian Hap doesn't really run. Pete Crowe Armstrong has five

in a limited amount of playing time. Christopher Morel has five. I think everybody just has a handful. Well, are they really up to 15th in stolen bases? Unless I was in some other category, but I will... No, you're right. You're right. I don't know. Maybe it's just really bunched up and it's easy to move up in that category. Alex Breggman has hit for more power in May. He went two for four with a triple and his sixth home run.

And in May, he hit five of his six total home runs. He added 15 RBI. But we just need more. Still just a 220 batting. average and a 699 OPS in the month for Alex Breggman. Francisco Lindor had himself a monster game 4-4-4 with a sock and a shoe, his ninth home run, his seventh stolen base. Last nine games, 375 batting average with two home runs and one steal for Lindor. And Lane Thomas, speaking of stolen bases and running wild, he added two more steals on Thursday.

He has 15 in 26 games, and he is basically on pace. with Ellie Dela Cruz. Ellie had 17 steals in his first 26. Lane Thomas is just two behind that. So as long as he's healthy, I think we have a pretty damn useful outfielder in Lane Thomas. Some bullpen updates for the A's.

Mason Miller got the ninth with a one-run lead. He gave up a solo homer to Jose Siri. He took the blown save. And then the A's took a one-run lead in the top of the 10th. Mason Miller stayed out there. And he gave up a game tying sacrifice fly. so he basically earned himself two blown saves in one outing.

It's unfortunate. For the twins, Yohan Duran entered the ninth with a three-run lead. He gave up two unearned runs but picked up his ninth save. For the Brewers with Trevor McGill still day-to-day, after getting hit by that line drive earlier in the week, it was Elvis Puguerro who pitched a ninth and picked up his first save of the season. For the Mets, Reed Garrett got the ninth with a one-run lead.

He gave up a walk. but he picked up his third save. He's only 41% rostered. And if you're looking for saves, I think he's probably gonna, I think he'll wind up with more than Adam out of Vino. So if you're looking for saves, I think Garrett is the guy.

Okay, just to clarify, it's not actually, it's not like officially two blown saves for Mason Miller because you can't blow your own save. Yeah, I know. But he should get two. Since some league score blown saves, I just wanted to.

to make that clear. Yes, he blew us. He blew, let's see. Yeah, he blew the lead. He blew the save in the ninth, and then they got the lead in the 10th, and he blew that lead to, yes. How could you, Mason Miller?

And that's like the second time he's done that at a week, and he's bad, clearly. No, he's fine. He's, um, Yon Duran still just like doesn't seem, doesn't seem right. So in his last three, reappearances now.

Yohan Duran has given up five hits while registering just one strikeout. His fastball was 99.8 on average in this appearance, but that's down from 101.8 last year. I don't know. He's just been pretty hitable. And I don't think it'll last. He's been consistently used as a closer now for a couple weeks. so clearly he has the faith of Rocco Baldelli

but I don't know I'm waiting for him to turn the corner here because he doesn't look like a dominant closer at the moment to stream or not to stream on Friday hmm who did we oh yeah this is actually yeah Michael Waka against the Padres

and Jose Soriano at the Mariners uh-huh sure those are the best you can do on Friday dare I say Tobias Myers against the white socks I would not start

Tobias Myers against the white socks I mean maybe anybody could be good against the white socks we're really putting that theory to the test with that one Albert Swarres against the rays I like that one on Friday all right on Saturday

we have Robert Gasser against the white socks like that because he's facing the white socks there's some interesting ones. I don't know. You tell me your favorites. Ben lively against the Nationals, Mitchell Parker at the Guardians, Ryan Weathers at home against the Rangers, Alec Marsh against the Padres, Cooper Criswell against the Tigers. I mean, they're kind of interesting. Either the matchup isn't

right or the pitcher isn't right. Right. You know? Wrong. But yes, right. I don't know. Maybe Ryan weather's against the Rangers just because he's been on a roll lately. I want to say Mitchell Parker, but man, the Guardians are just killing the ball. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I might go Cooper-Kriswell against the Tigers. Their lineup is kind of bad. I had him as a two-starred sleeper this week.

Didn't it go so well the first start. True. All right. Anything on Sunday. What do we have here? Tyler McGill up against the D-backs, maybe. Jake Irvin at the Guardians. Ben Brown is home against the Reds.

Okay, okay. So Ben Brown's making two consecutive starts against the Reds then. I did. That is true. That's what it looks like. This one is at home in Chicago. The one where I talked about for sleeper pitchers next week is in Cincinnati. So we'll get a little sneak peek here.

Cole Irvin against Tampa Bay. They're bad against lefties. They are. Oh, man, he's making two starts in a row against the race. I got crazy. I got these matchups from ESPN, so I hope they're right. I know Brown is. They just, when I was talking about it for next week, I didn't think to mention it.

So I assume Irvin is as well. But that kind of diminishes their sleeper appeal for next week because generally to the offense's advantage to see a pitcher twice that close together. That's true. But if I like them for next week with those matchups, should like them for Sunday with those matchups. So Ben Brown and Cole Irvin, I would say, are my favorite two sleeper pitchers for Sunday. And I will add Tyler McGill as a third.

We're going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again next week. Bye-bye.