Fantasy Baseball Today - Buy or Sell! Foster Griffin Rising, Davis Martin Falling (7/9 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 9, 2026

Dylan Cease nearly threw a no-hitter (0:50)! ... Jared Jones was perfect for six innings (4:40). ... News (9:10): Kyle Harrison is pitching through elbow soreness. ... Buy or Sell (19:10): Luis Garcia Jr., Foster Griffin, AJ Ewing. ... Buy or Sell (28:29): Shane McClanahan, Davis Martin, MacKenzie Gore. ... Let's rank a bunch of waiver wire pitchers (37:52). ... Noelvi Marte had himself a big game (50:52). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpens and streamers (57:28).Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for the newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters

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. What's up and welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Thursday, July 9th. I am Frank Sample joined by Scott White.

Today on the show, Big Day for Pitching. Dylan Seas took a note. hitter into the ninth inning. Eventually lost it, but still an outstanding start. Jared Jones was perfect for six. We have buy or sell and much more. Let's jump in. Yeah, baby.

And that's exactly what everyone said when they saw Dylan Cease's line here from Wednesday. He took a no hitter into the ninth, eight plus shutout. He did give up a hit to the first batter he faced in the ninth inning. But 11 strikeouts to three walks, 16 whiffs on. 118 pitches. Eight on the slider, four on the fastball. Pretty normal pitch mix in this one. The fastball slider were both great for him.

I noticed his past couple starts. The change-up has been different. The velocity has been way down. And I had three more inches of drop in this one. The velocity down three and a half miles per hour. Wasn't a great pitch for him in this one, but it has been a better pitch for him this year. And overall, he's been a more complete pitcher this season

with the Toronto Blue Jays. I don't know that there's much to add to this outside of it was an amazing start. And obviously we need to highlight it, Scott. And Dylan Cease is a top 15, you know, borderline, top 12 starting pitcher, rest of season. The biggest thing is he's his own worst enemy at times. And that's always been the case for Dylan Seas. I guess, you know, previous years like some bad defensive stuff behind him. But when he throws strikes like he did here, 69% of his pitches for strikes,

he can be near unhittable. So it's, when Dylan ceases on, one of the best pitchers in baseball. Yes, he is. And I think expanding his arsenal has helped in the sense that he's led to weaker contact. It's made him, it's added that extra layer of deception so hitters aren't able to square it up as much. And that, that raises the margin for error. And I think that's part of the reason why, yeah, there's still been the ups and downs. there's still been the control issues,

but he's sustained an ERA below three, something he's done only once before. And I think the consensus view, when he did that in 2022, 220, 220 ERA in 2022, I think the consensus then was, yeah, it was obviously too good to be true, though, and subsequent years have validated that. But I don't know that the ERA he's put together this year

is too good to be true. The ERA estimators say, it's not. They're all under three as well. Even with him having more than four walks per nine. So I'm going to go as far as to say this is the

best version of Dylan's we've ever seen. I think so. And yeah, I think borderline ace is fair. His look, he's always been able to rack up strikeouts, but this season he is up to

13.6K per 9. His career high was 12.3 back in 2021. He's hovered around like 10, 11 the past couple of years, but I mean, he has taken these strikeouts to another level this season. I'm pulling up the live leaderboard. His updated strikeout rate is 37%. That is clearly ahead in the American League. I mean, it only trails Jacob Mizierowski,

because obviously the Miz has been amazing. The Miz at 40%. But yeah, Dylan Cs had 37%. His K-minus walk rate is 26% on the season. That's Dylan C's we're talking about. And yeah, recently, you know, he had some struggles with walks, which kind of limited

his starts and weren't as good in those. But the last two now, it's been, you know, three walks in this one, but he pitched deep into the game. Only one walk in his previous start. So, when he's on, when you can throw strikes, one of the best pitchers in baseball. If you're drafted Dylan Cs, says your, I think,

likely SP2 in a lot of leagues this year based on where his ADP was. He's borderline SP1. You should be very pleased with the Dillon Seast that has arrived this season. Jared Jones, Scott, let's go over to your player of the night. Perfect for six innings. I'm sorry against your Atlanta Braves.

But they wound up winning the game anyway. Yeah, they did wind up winning. But we're going from one pitcher here who's expanded his arsenal this year to a pitcher who retracted his arsenal here in this game against the Braille. J.R. Jones with a six perfect innings, eight strikeouts, clearly his best start by far, coming back from elbow surgery, 14 swinging strikes on 77 pitches. But what I want to highlight is he threw his fastball 71% of his time, his slider, 27% of the time.

Quick math there, that's close to 100%. They were basically the only two pitches he threw. when normally he throws a change up in a curveball a combined 30% of the time. This was very intentional, and he commented on it after the game. He said the fastball and slider are his bread and butter, and by leaning into him the way he did in the start against the Braves, he felt like himself.

That's air quotes I was using there, for those who are just listening. and you look back at his 2024 rookie season when he was kind of a bumpy finish but overall it was a very successful rookie season yeah he was pretty much just a fastball slider guy so maybe he just needed to refocus on his bread and butter as he puts it

I know there was some talk I was I was halfway watching this game I know there was some talk about visibility in the early innings because it's a game that started before 7 p.m. And on the other side, Grant Holmes, who hasn't been very good this year, also ended up putting together one of his best stat lines of the season. So that may have also helped contribute to Jared Jones' success in this one. But regardless, he's a talented pitcher. I think he finally showed it this year.

And I think that change in approach, could help get him back on track. Yeah, the underlying stuff has bought what Jared Jones is doing this season. His ERA is 437, but the whip is 114. His FIP 369, the XFIP 344 here. The K-minus walk looks good, 45% ground ball rate so far. He, I believe, is still going to be limited as the season goes on. He still only threw 77 pitches in this one.

Yeah. They took him out with a perfect game. even though he hadn't even thrown 80 pitches. So what does that tell you? That is a big obstacle worth pointing out. Yeah, he has not thrown more than 81 pitches in a start this season. And we said this recently, right?

Like, he has talent and he can matter for fantasy at some point. But the way that he can matter is kind of in a way that like Griffin Jacks matters for fantasy or Shane McClanahan in most of his starts. Obviously he was better here against the Yankees on Wednesday. But yeah, I think he's going to be pretty limited over the course of the season. And so, you know, I think it's mostly going to be five and dive if he's really efficient. Maybe he can get some six-inning starts in. 57% roster for Jared Jones.

I think it's a good wake-up call, a reminder of the talent that he has. I think if you missed out on that whole wave of Troy Melton and Joey Cantillo and Ian Seymour and even Jake Bennett, who we'll talk about a little bit later on, I would say Jared Jones is probably like right behind that group. Yeah, probably. And yeah, I'd put him behind that whole group. I was hedging a little bit on Bennett, but I think Bennett's just going to be more usable,

even if I don't think he quite has Jones upside. And it's good, man. I like Jake Bennett. We'll get to that a little bit later on. Before we hit our first break, just a reminder, Scott's top 50 prospects for the second half, heading into the second half of the season, are coming out here on Thursday.

So make sure to check that out. And on our FBT Express episode, which is also coming out here on Thursday, noon, Eastern Time, both on YouTube and in your podcast feed, we will count down his top 10 prospects on that one. So make sure to check all of that out. Let's take that break. We'll be back right after this. With Instacart Shopper notes, you can get specific about your groceries. Take strawberries. You don't want just any strawberries.

You want the ones that took their time, grown slow, the ones that weren't in a rush to get to the store. Bright red, but not showy. Firm, but, you know, polite about it. The kind you'd wash carefully, because, hey, they earned it. Okay, so maybe you can't get that specific with shopper notes, but you get the idea. Want to get groceries just how you like? Download the Instacart app. Welcome back, Fantasy Baseball today.

Let's hit the news and notes. This one, a little scary. Kyle Harrison said after another short start on Wednesday that he's been dealing with soreness on the outside of his elbow over the past few weeks. Now, I have questions. If he's dealing with elbow soreness and we're a couple of weeks before the All-Star break, why didn't the Brewers just kind of play it safe and put him on the IL and let him rest up a little bit? But perhaps it, you know, isn't that serious. And, you know, he probably told him he could pitch through it.

But obviously, he has not been pitching very well. He allowed three runs over four innings in this one. Only two strikeouts, zero walks. He allowed a homer. And his fastball was just not good, which is usually his bread and butter. seven hard hits against the fastball, 101.5 average exit velocity, nine hard hits total in this game,

94.5 average EV overall. He still is having a fantastic season, but Scott, obviously something like this does kind of bring his second half into doubt, at least a little bit. Yeah, so he said, I'm looking at the MLB.com write-up of this by Adam McAlvey,

and Harrison said, responding to the idea that the break is what he needs to resolve this. He said, I'm confident in that, and so are the trainers. So is everyone, it should be something that's just a little something. Pat Murphy said, it's obvious he's fatigued, and we've got to help him on that. We could have left him in there, but we're thinking about his future. I mean, you could have left him in there, but you were probably thinking about the game, too, because it wasn't going very well.

it's hard to think of any elbow issue being so minor that, you know, just a few extra days off is going to make it go away. But, you know, that does sound like what the Brewers Training staff is saying. I don't know how much alarm this is going to raise in the typical fantasy league. You know, the fact he doesn't sound like he's going on, the IL might prevent some of that. I don't know. It might be worth floating Kyle Harrison out there. just to see what kind of offers you could get. I mean, even if this elbow thing doesn't end up being a big deal

and he gets back to pitching like he was earlier this season, I do think he is one of the pitchers who is going to need his workload manages the most in the second half because he's, I believe, his career high innings is like 121, and he's now past 80. So last year wasn't his career high either. I think last year was like 112. Yep. So there could be issues with just how much he's limited in the second half.

Yeah, I would try to float them out there as well. I mean, obviously, if anyone reads the news or pays attention, you probably will not get nearly what you should for Kyle Harrison, but on the off chance, they haven't seen the news. Go ahead and try it. Well, it's just, you know, the Brewers are downplaying it, and he's not going on the IEL. So, you know, you don't, you.

You don't know how alarmist anyone is, you know, any particular person is. I'm not saying you should undersell Kyle Harrison, but he's pitched really well this year. And so in theory, he should fetch a good return. But you're right, just by virtue of having that Red Cross next to his name. It might be difficult to do that. Nick Kurtz left early Wednesday, which was originally speculated as a hand injury. It turns out that he's dealing with an ill. illness. He's day to day. Mike Trout was reinstated from the aisle after missing three weeks

with a right hamstring strain and he went one for four with a walk and his 18th home run. So right back in the saddle, nice to see from Mike Trout. Hunter Goodman has missed the last two games with a wrist injury. Dylan Dingler left early Wednesday after taking a foul ball off his right hand while he was catching behind the plate. X-rays came back negative, but that is one to watch. We'll see if he's in the lineup over the next couple days. Wilson Contraire. left early with a left foot contusion. He fouled a ball off of his foot during the third inning of that game.

Brandon Woodruff, who is on the aisle with a right shoulder injury, is seeking a second opinion and related to the Brewer's rotation. Logan Henderson will be activated to start Thursday in St. Louis. He is up to 80% rostered on CBS. Let me do a quick search here on Yahoo

and see what he is there. 47%. So if you play on... on Yahoo. Go, go check it out. I do think Logan Henderson is pretty close to a must-roster pitcher. Tyler Soderstrom was reinstated from the IL after missing 11 days with a left-hip impingement.

Ryan Jeffers will remain on his rehab assignment for the next three to four days. He's 64% rostered. He was really good before he got hurt, Scott. And I think if you, even if you're playing a one-catcher league and you have one of those back-end top 12 types, like a sandwich. Manuel Bessio or Francisco Alvarez, someone like that, I'd probably be seeking out Ryan Jeffers and just kind of hold on to him and see if he can pick up where he left off.

Yeah, and it isn't if. It is an if. It's certainly no guarantee. But just to remind everybody how well he was doing in those 122 of bats, 3.58, head to head points per game. A week ago, I was able to say that made him the hot, high of scoring catcher on a per game base has been rice has surpassed him again, but still, Jeffers would be the second highest by a large margin with the point per game average that high.

So definitely somebody who could regain top 12 or even top 10 standing in fantasy and short order. Owen Casey left early with right calf tightness. Brendan Donovan worked out Wednesday for a second straight day. The plan is for him to start a rehab assignment later this week. And I believe that he's still out there in like a third of fantasy leagues. And he's a very good points league player. And someone who can provide batting average if you play in Roto or a Categories League and you need help, it is harder to make a batting average as the season goes on.

But if Brendan Donovan's right, he's someone that can hit like 280 plus. So just a name to look for out there. He's 72% rostered, has second and third base eligibility. Again, that's Brendan Donovan. Andy Rodriguez was placed in the aisle with a left glute strain. Bileober is on track to be activated and start Thursday against the Guardians. He's 49% rostered. He had some good moments earlier this season.

I thought the numbers were better when I checked. It was like a 450 ERA. So I guess there were some blowups mixed in there as well. Do you have any interest in adding Belyober? Only in very deep leagues. He did have, he did get off to a pretty good start, but in a way that wasn't believable. He wasn't missing bats like he usually does.

he was giving up hard contact. It's a fly ball pitcher, which can sometimes work to a pitcher's advantage, but not if you're giving a hard contact. I think over, there's more downside than upside there. Samad Taylor was placed in the aisle with a right oblique strain,

and one of the best of his generation is Colin and quits. Justin Verlander plans to retire after the season. He has been named to the All-Star game as the legend pick, which is, I think that's something they've only started doing recently, but Scott, one of the best

in the past 20 years, right? It's like kind of a Mount Rushmore. I don't know who the fourth on the Mount Rushmore would be, but Scherzer Kershaw, Verlander of this generation. I mean, they were basically the standard. Probably sale, right?

Yeah. Yeah. A distant fourth, but he's of that generation still has a couple years left. Yeah, Justin Verlander, I was trying to remember what year he started, 2005. So my first year playing fantasy baseball was 2000,

and my first year of the Home League that's remained in tech since then was 2003. So his career's almost spanned that whole time, you know? I remember I had him as a rookie. You almost don't know fantasy baseball without Justin Verlander in it. Yeah, I really don't. He was obviously surefire Hall of Famer three times sung at Cy Young, winner MVP. People forget this, but in his early 30s, he looked like he was falling apart. 2014, he had a 454 ERA with the Tigers.

his strikeout numbers had dropped off quite a bit and then he had a resurgence before he even joined the Astros but like that kind of put him next level even and got two more Cy Young's out of it two of his three Cy Youngs came in the latter half of his career yeah I remember one of the one of my coolest moments with Justin Verlander not with him like I've never hung out with Justin Verlander

But from a fantasy perspective, I remember in 2011 in my home league, rounds three and four back to back. I took Verlander and Clayton Kirshaw, and they both won Sae Young that year. I think that was like the first championship that I won, and it was like, that's something you'll never forget, right?

Like, you draft both Syy Youngs, like back-to-back rounds. It was just, it was amazing. I don't know that I could ever pull that off again. No, you always remember your first one, Frank. All right, let's do a little buy or sell. I will throw a state. at Scott and he will tell us whether or not he buys or sells that.

Luis Garcia Jr. keeps on raking. Three for four with a sock in the shoe plus a walk and three RBI. Last 30 games, updated numbers, 3.46, 15 homers, 37 RBI, two steals, a 1219 OPS, 91.8 average EV, 17% barrel rate. 68 RBI second most in Major League Baseball. Are you kidding me? Louise Garcia, second most RBI

buying only Jordan Walker, which is crazy. So buy yourself, Luis Garcia will get to 30 homers and 100 RBI. The Nationals have 69 games left. Again, he's at 20 and 68. He gets to 30 and 100.

69 games left. Does he do it? I'm going to buy. I don't think it's a slam dunk, but I'm going to buy because I am trust that with him emerging like he has over the past month or so,

they're going to get him in the line of more. They're going to stop with this platoon, at least as strictly as they're platooning him. And that additional playing time will help bolster his counting stats. Obviously, his pace has to slow from what he's done recently, which is why I say it's not a slam dunk.

Sure, he's on pace to reach those numbers, but the pace has to slow. But I'm thinking the additional at bats will help make up for that. I agree. It was really close, and I know that sounds crazy, just how hot he's been,

but obviously this is the hottest stretch of Luis Garcia's career. But yeah, I mean, with 69 games left, the way that the nationals are playing and the lineup around him and just the things that they've done

to, I guess, advance the organization this year, I'm buying it. I think he gets to 30 home runs and a hunter-Rubia. Imagine I told you before this season, Scott, Luis Garcia, 30 homers,

100 RBI. That's baseball, Susan. I would have drafted him. Yeah, me too. Let's stick with the nationals and talk about Foster Griffin, who was awesome again this time against the Astros. Seven innings of one-run ball, nine strikeouts to zero walks, 22 whiffs on 99 pitches here for Foster Griffin. And over his last nine starts, a 149 ERA, a 0.85 whip, 55 strikeouts to eight walks over 54 and a third innings. And a 13 percent swinging. strike rate. So he's getting a lot more whiffs during the stretch. Obviously in this start as well. Byer

sell, which again, this is going to sound ridiculous the stretch that he's coming off of, but we don't have him ranked this high. Top 40 starting pitcher rest of season. Foster Griffin, top 40. Oh man, this is even tougher. I bring this number up exactly

because I updated the rankings earlier today and I have him at I put him at 51 that was before this start. But then when I look at it at 41, 42, and 43. I have a trio of guys that have underwhelmed for a large part now. Shoti Imanaga, Framber Valdez, and Freddie Peralta. And I just started thinking, like, wouldn't I just rather have Foster Griffin than these guys

the rest of the way? I don't know that I would go that far. I don't know that I want to rank up in my top 40, but I'm still going to buy this, and here's why. There is no specific reason. reason why I'd predict an injury for Foster Griffin, and yet pitchers get injured all the time. So some of those guys I'm going to rank ahead of him are going to get injured. Maybe Foster Griffin gets injured.

But I have no specific reason to predict that for him. So I'm going to assume here in this exercise that he won't get injured, but others will. And so by virtue of that, he'll finish in the top 40, rest of season. Do you have anything else to add on this nine-star stretch? where he looks like one of the best pitchers in baseball? Yeah, I sort of like with Louise Garcia, the pace has to slow. But I've been bullish on, I don't know, that oversells.

And I've been an optimist on Foster Griffin for a couple months now. Because even though there are some parts of his profile that are causes for concern, I think the positives outweigh the negatives. think he gives up weak contact most of it in the air that's a good combination uh good strike thrower and and at least good bat misser i mean obviously lately he's been a great bat misser nine strikeout three nine strike out efforts in his last four and the swinging strike rate has been going up that's the part that i don't think he can sustain i don't think he's that good of a

badmisser because he doesn't have a strong enough out pitch but i think he's a good enough batmissor with those other strengths. Again, as long as he's healthy, he's eating innings. I think he's going to remain reliable. Reliable, is reliable the word I want to use, a steady part of fantasy staffs. Let's talk about AJ Ewing, who keeps on hitting two for five with a double

and his seventh home run. The homer was a bomb, 105.5 EV, 420 feet. And over his last 33 games now, AJ Ewing, 313, six homers, 17 runs, 18 RBI, five steals in OPS over 900 during that span. So he has seven homers, nine steals in 53 games. Buy or sell, A.J. Ewing gets to 2020. The Mets have 70 games left.

So seven and nine in 53. Can he get 13 more homers, 11 more steals in 70 games? Buy or so. I think this one's a pretty easy sell. I think so too. But I wanted to make it bold, you know? You set the bar too high there. If you said 15 home runs, maybe we'd have a discussion.

But now, he wasn't much of a home run hitter in the minors. And I think there's a good chance he grows into being one. He's 21 years old and his exit velocities are solid, but they're only solid. And he's not somebody who pulls the ball in the air particularly well. This little power surge has been surprising, but I don't think he's to the point where you can expect him to double his home run pace for this point for it. I'm not even sure because he's at seven now and you're saying 13 more. So double his pace over the rest of the way.

I'm not even sure he'll repeat his pace over the rest of the way and get to the 15. Stolen bases, I'm a little more optimistic about that. He's been caught a lot. But this is a guy who stole 70 bases in the miners last year. and sprint speed comes in at 96th percentile. He's a dude, for sure. So I think he's going to improve his stolen base pace from here, but I don't think he'll come close to the 20 home runs, frankly.

I saw this tweet from the Just Baseball account on X, and only three players this century, age 21 or younger, have accomplished the following in their first 53 games. 15 plus extra base hits, 20 plus walks, nine steals. And that is Fernando Tatis Jr., James Wood, and now AJ Ewing. So he's in good company right now. And he's 58% rostered. We spoke about him yesterday.

Absolutely is a must-add must roster, even in three outfielder leagues, I think. And I'll throw a couple names your way, Scott, who are rostered in more leagues than AJ Ewing. Would you drop these guys for him? Kerry Carpenter. Yes. Let's see

Dalton Varsho 77% rostered? Yeah, that's definitely overdue for a correction. I'd rather have Ewing Varsho. The gains he made last year in terms of swing speed

and fast swing percentage they haven't carried over, sort of like George Springer. What about someone like Taylor Ward? It's just been a downseason and he's still 87% rostered. Yeah, I'd rather have Ewing at this point. Because I think Ward's upside is only so high,

even if he does turn things around. I'll throw two names your way that are over 90% rostered. We're getting a little bold now. Jaron Duran and George Springer. I don't have a problem with that exchange. If somebody wants to do it, I don't think I could. I want to I want to hold out a little longer on Springer

because he's been hurt so much this year although I guess we've talked about he hasn't been playing as much recently right he did play today and he homered yeah but yeah it's easier to drop Springer I guess for Ewing than it is Duran but they're both

defensible moves all right let's talk about the guy hit the music Shane O'Mack here comes the money Here we go. Money Talk. Here comes the money. Shane McClanahan just had his deepest start of the season against the Yankees. Six and a third shutout, four hits, five strikeouts to zero walks.

He had 12 whiffs on 85 pitches. His 85 pitches were his most since May 18th. And I was watching this game on the Yankees broadcast. Joe Girardi thought that the race might let him go deeper, give him a longer leash because this was his last start heading into the All-Star break. And I think that makes a good amount of sense here. for McClanahan. His velocity was up in this one. He only allowed one hard hit. His change-up was outstanding.

He threw 69% of his pitches for strikes, but still kind of has that cap on his ceiling, right? In terms of the pitches per start and the innings per start. So buy or sell after a six-and-a-third shutout start, this will be the high point in Shane O'Max season. Basically that he should be a cell high. I am inclined to buy that. the outings will remain short.

And you mentioned the change-up how effective it was in this start. I'm not confident he's going to be able to sustain that. So the change-up had four additional inches of drop. And he threw his fastball more than a mile per hour harder. So I think pairing it with the harder fastball, having a deeper drop accounted for him getting nine whiffs on it in this start. And I don't know.

I don't know if that was just a blip or not. I think the safer assumption, having seen him do it only once, is that it is. And that now would be a time to get out with him coming, having put together three straight quality starts. And was this best start of the season? I guess the May 1st start against the Giants is also a contender. But yeah, I think this one was slightly better. So the most strikeouts Shane McClanahan has gotten

and to start this season is seven. So it's mostly the ERA that's driving his value right now and that's always a difficult category to put your hopes in. Yeah, I think McLeanhan's a good sell high right now. In the honor of, I guess, defending myself because I can,

I can hear, read, see the comments coming in now about me being a Yankee Homer and trying to sell off Shane McClan after he dominated the Yankees. I think he's going to be good. Don't get me wrong. I think he'll be solid. He'll probably hover around like a low to mid-3s ERA the rest of the way. But I do think that there is just kind of again that ceiling because of just the limits that the raise will put on him. Maybe if he makes it through this season completely healthy and next year he kind of gets the Drew Raspisin

treatment where they've you know, they've, uh, it's a much longer leash with Rasperson, but for this year, I think the Rays are still going to be really, really cautious with Shane McClanhan. And rightfully so. I mean,

this is his first time really pitching since, what, like, 2022? So, what would Yankees Homerism even have to do with? I don't know,

because he just dominated the Yankees and we're telling people to sell them off. Like, I don't know. People will come up with anything, Scott. Yeah.

I can understand if you're saying the raise need to trade him. Maybe they should. To the, Yankees. Let's talk about Davis Martin. Another rough outing here against the Red Sox. Four innings, five runs allowed,

two walks, two strikeouts here. And his slider, which was so good early on in the season, at points had a whiff rate over 50%. It had zero whips in this start. And he allowed seven hard hits in this game. He did throw a good amount of strikes. But overall, his first 11 starts,

a two ERA. 0.99 whip over a strikeout per inning. 1.9 walks per 9, 13% swinging strike rate. Last 7 starts now, 634, ERA 190 whip, 5.9K per 9, 4.8 walks per 9. So clearly has taken a nosedive here. And prior to the season, he was kind of like a nothing burger for fantasy. He's 93% rostered. Buy or sell.

Davis Martin is droppable. Oh, I buy it. I buy it hard. you mentioned his slider didn't get any whiffs in this one. That's been going on for a long time. Like, amazingly, that pitch still has better than a 40% whiff rate on the season. But he hasn't had a whiff rate that high on the slider in a game since May 22nd, which basically coincides with those seven starts you laid out.

I think it's technically eight. But it's right in line with it. And only once during that eight-star stretch, did the slider have even better than a 20% whiff rate. So that pitch isn't working for them anymore. And it just seems like the production is collapsed in every way. I mentioned again that I updated the rankings earlier today. And that was before this start.

I moved Davis Martin down to SP 68. And maybe it deserves to be lower than that. But that is below names like Landon Rup, Joey Cantillo. Troy Melton, Trevor Rogers, Ian Seymour, J.T. Ginn, Logan Henderson, Sean Burke. So all the names that we've talked about recently, I know how Davis Martin behind those. And I think I might drop him for Jake Bennett, too, which after this start, I think I'm going to move Jake Bennett up as well. Yeah. All right, last name I have here is Mackenzie Gore, who had another rough one against the Angels.

Five innings, nine hits, seven runs. Did have seven strikeouts to just one walk, but two homers loud in this one had 14. whiffs on 90 pitches. So, you know, there is some good. Obviously, the line itself is bad. He allowed nine hard hits in this game. He's up to a 472 ERA on the season. It also comes with a 358 FIP and a 387 X FIP. So the ERA estimators say that McKenzie Gore should be better. Don't do it, Frank. Buy or sell. Mackenzie Gore is a good, buy-low candidate. Don't do it, Frank. I had to ask. Don't do it. Ash did not train him well enough. You evolved too quickly into a Charzard.

Don't make that trade. Yeah. I don't buy this one either, aka I sell it, but I just, I figured I would ask based on some of the ERA. Like, even his XERA is under four of the season. So it feels like there has been some bad luck, but it's just like we've kind of been here many, many times before with McKenzie Gore.

So I do agree with you on that one. A bonus buy or sell. After I saw a tweet earlier today that Scott was enjoying some ice cream. Chocolate chip cookie dough is the best ice cream. Buy or so. Best flavor ice cream. Oh, wow.

You know, it really depends on the brand what the best flavor is. I am a bit of an ice cream connoisseur. All right. Hit us. To the point that I hate too much ice cream and had to stop eating so much of it, which is why I was tweeting about enjoying a bowl and it was extra delicious since it is a much rarer event now. Chocolate chip cookie dough is a reliably good flavor across all brands, I would say.

But it's rarely the best flavor in any one brand. I would say the best flavor of both Mayfield and Breyers is mint chocolate chip. They're very different versions of mint chocolate chip, but they're both amazing. The Mayfield kind is green and has the very brittle, flaky. chocolate chips thoroughly immersed in there. The Briars has the thick, chunky chocolate chips that have a kind of a bitter flavor. But the highlight there is the white mint ice cream, which is just divine. Let's see.

What's my favorite flavor of Tillamook? It might be cookie dough for Tillamook. her cookies pretty good too. Bluebell. I used to like Bluebell a lot, not as much anymore. But the flavors are pretty consistent in that brand, I would say. Do you ever hit Ben and Jerry's? It's a little out of my price range, to be honest. Buy it, spending like $6 on a pint of ice cream. It's not really my speed. It is pretty expensive. But their chocolate chip cookie dough and their chocolate fudge brownie is exquisite.

Yeah. No, it's always. good sometimes I treat myself but usually just a special occasion. All right, well here, you heard it first. The ice cream connoisseur, Scott White, weighs in. Let's take our final break when we return. I've got the waiver wire names from Wednesday. We'll get into those right after this. Welcome back, Fantasy Baseball today and we'll jump into the waiver wire pitchers and

two names that keep on getting it done. Troy Melton, great. Once again, against the athletics, five and a third, four hits. one unearned run with a season high, nine strikeouts to just one walk, 15 whiffs on 91 pitches. His velocity was up in this one. His cutter was outstanding. And his wifts overall have been up recently.

So I know earlier on he was getting good results, but the strikeouts weren't there. That has turned around here for Troy Melton. And we've talked about him a bunch lately. He's 74% rostered. He's also a spark for those who play on CBS. And Jake Bennett, seven shutout innings, four strikeouts to one walk. Eight whiffs on 81 pitches here. And he continues to lean on this like basically three pitch approach.

Fastball sinker change up. And it works very well for him. He throws a good amount of strikes. He limits walks. Doesn't get a bunch of strikeouts, but limits hard contact, gets ground balls. He is 62% rostered. Four straight quality starts. He's gone seven or more innings in back-to-backstarts.

So, Scott, I'm pretty sure we both have Troy Milton ahead of Jake Bennett. but Jake Bennett, man, he is starting to look pretty good, starting to look pretty reliable. Yeah, he is. And it's more of a pitch-to-contact approach, which always invites more skepticism. I mean, you'd rather the pitcher just not allow contact at all. But it's worked for him.

It can work in the major leagues especially, much better than it does in the minors because defenses are so good as a whole, trying to remember where the Red Sox defense ranks in particular. Red Sox. Their defense is really good. Okay. So that certainly helps.

Jake Bennett's current approach. He was more of a bat misser in the miners. And so maybe we can see more of that as we've seen from Troy Milton recently. That skill has really broke through for him after a slow start. So maybe Bennett will get there too. But that's the reason. earlier why I was expressing, do I really want Bennett more than Jared Jones

when Jones has more upside? Ultimately, I decided I do, but that's, that is the one flaw I'm seeing here is the strikeouts have been pretty underwhelming. Somebody brought up Hagen-Daz. I had,

I had the chocolate peanut butter in Hagen-Daz for the first time recently, and that was, that was an experience. I've really warmed up the peanut butter in ice cream. I was never a big moose tracks, but I think a big moose tracks guy, but I think it was more they just put such a large chunks of fudge in it that it detract, like you'd get a bite of that and almost no ice cream in it and be like, I came here to eat

ice cream, not fudge. And so it gave it a bad taste, literally, left a bad taste in my mouth, the moose tracks. But, you know, you get like a peanut butter cup ice cream. It's pretty good. Yeah, I don't love... I don't love chocolate with peanut butter, usually. Which is, you know, I like... You're not a Reese's guy? I thought they were a Reese's guy.

I like Reese's, but, like, I don't know. Peanut butter and the ice cream, I typically can't do it. I had Hagen-Daz just the other day, and I'm trying to find the specific flavor that I had. It was pretty good, but... Oh, it was vanilla Swiss almond. So it was vanilla ice cream, but it was almonds that were also like dipped in chocolate. Yeah.

It was very good. Enjoyed it. I think that my favorite flavor of Bluebell, since I struggled to come up with one, I think it's actually pistachio almond. They make the best pistachio almond. Since you bring up almonds, it came to mind. So yeah, that's worth trying out from Hog and Das. I'm an almond guy.

My kids can't eat it. Don't get it to them. And might wind up in the hospital, but more for me. Yeah. How about we rank this whole group, Scott? Again, I just updated the rankings earlier today, so I just did this. But I have them in this order. And it's, let's see, I have seven names here, so it's a lot.

They're on the run on it if you want to check it out. Seymour, Sean Burke, Troy Melton, Trevor Rogers, Joey Cantillo, Jake Bennett, Land and Root. That's the order I have them in. Troy Melton's a good ice cream name. All right, say them again. Seymour, Burke. Troy Melton, Trevor Rogers, Joey Cantillo, Jake Bennett, Landon, Roo. That's the order I have them in.

I got to remember them all, huh? They're on the rundown if you want to control F. They're not in the same section, are they? I have bolded them. All right, so that's your order. You're giving me an order. How about I just critique, go through them one more time, and I'll tell you if somebody seems out of place.

Let's do it that way. Ian Seymour. Sean Burke I know you guys have I might get the edge to Burke I know you guys have Burke yeah yeah I'm Seymour over Burke Troy Melton third

okay Trevor Rogers okay Joey Cantillo maybe you would have Cantillo higher yep I'd have Cantillo at least ahead of Rogers maybe ahead of Melton

but I don't know this latest start from Melton yeah let's say Melton over Cantillo but not over not Rogers over over Cantillo And then I have Jake Bennett and Landon Rup as the last two. I like Rube more than Bennett.

All right. I like Rup more than Rogers too. I really wary of Rogers. I mean, I understand he needs to be rostered again, but I could see that falling apart. Somebody did bring this up to me recently about Landon Rup. Last year,

he only threw 109 and two-thirds innings, and he's already up to 97. So I wonder if Landon Root could just be limited a little bit in the second half? Could be. He's already 27. So I think he's less of a building block than some others. Let's see. Has he ever pitched more innings previously in his career?

Slightly more in 2022. But that was a long time ago anyway. Yeah, I mean, he's a guy who could see his workload limited some in the second half. That's fair point. maybe Michael McGreevy is better than we think he turned in another quality start this one against the Brewers six and a third five hits one run six strikeouts to one walk he had 10 whiffs on 90 pitches his velocity was up around

a mile per hour on all of his pitches in this one he's got a 301 ERA a 110 whip I know the strikeout rate is abysmal he gets ground balls has a really good defense behind him has a quality start in six of his last seven and he has he's 65% roster I don't know, Scott, do you think Michael McGreevy's maybe better than we give him credit for? I think he is a... Is he better than we give him credit for?

How much credit do we give him? I feel like whenever we talk about him, it's just in a kind of streamer sense. Like, maybe he's one step above. When I think about streamers, it's like the Shane Baws, Andrew Abbott's we talked about yesterday. Like, maybe Michael McGreevy is just like a tear ahead of those guys. Maybe. He is ahead of those guys. He's surpassed them in terms of reliability. And I don't, even though he's the worst strikeout pitcher of the three, I don't think the other two are good enough strikeout pitchers to obsess over that. But I don't know that I'd put him in an entirely different tier from them. I still think he's mostly a streamer. His expected ERA is 561. He's got to have one of the biggest gaps between expected and accurate. actual. Yeah. And, yeah, I don't, I don't think he actually deserves a 561 ERA. I think there are probably reasons why that number is coming in higher than it should. But it's a strong

suggestion that he's overachieved with the low three ZRI. We got a step in the right direction from Roki Sasaki. I do think we need to see a lot more, but it was a quality start against the Rockies, the Rockies in LA, six innings, three runs, five strikeouts to one walk, still allowed two homers in this one, but 15 whiffs on 78 pitches. That is a massive swinging strike rate and threw 72% of his pitches for strikes. So, 58% rostered, his previous four starts

were absolutely terrible. A name to watch. Let's see if Roki Sasaki could build off this start here against the Rockies. A slightly deeper name, Christian Scott, solid outing against the Royals, five shutout with five strikeouts to one walk for him. And he has a 317 ERA,

the whip is higher because the walks are a problem at times. 130 whip, but nearly 11K per 9. He's another one where he's limited. I don't know that they're going to let him go that deep into his starts, but, you know, outside of that first truly awful start of the season when he first got called up, he's actually been pretty good. He just doesn't go very deep in the starts.

Yeah. I see signs there, particularly with the bat missing. but the walks are so high, the outings are so short. I'm just not moved to really add him anywhere. Yeah, I think it's mostly just a deep name for now, like 15 teamers. And then an even deeper name is Tyler Phillips, who pitched well. I still am intrigued by his secondary pitches because he gets big whiffs on his curve,

his sweeper, and his splitter, but his fastballs are just really bad. His control is pretty bad, too. Scott, is there anything here, Tyler Phillips? I'm not going to say there's nothing there because he does have an arsenal with a lot of pitches capable of getting whiffs. Like, you point out. But it hasn't actually translated to a particularly good strikeout rate.

It's pretty bad, actually. You just look at the strikeout ratio for Tyler Phillips, and it's like, well, that's not going to work. Yeah. So that's where I'm at with him. I do want to stress with Roeux. He was really good against the Rockies. And I know we had our moment with him already,

where we were giving him a chance, and he crashed pretty hard and got dropped in a lot of leagues. And I think that makes sense. I do think we need to see more. But man, the good starts, when that splitters working like it was in this start, it really opens your eyes to how good Roekees could be, and maybe he will be one day.

But if you're reluctant to pick him up again, I get it. He's certainly not part of that. Certainly not on the level of that group we were talking about earlier. Do have some drop candidates here as well. Spencer Arrogetti just got destroyed at the Nationals. Four innings, eight hits, six runs, two homers allowed. His first eight starts, 134 ERA, 113 whip. His last seven starts, eight 74 ERA 160 whip.

He's still 75. 5% rostered. Scott, I think that number is way too high for Spencer. Yeah, he gave us a little hope with his previous start after a bumpy June. But then came right back down to Earth with this start. And it's really just that one good start since May ended. And he was an obvious regression candidate even when he was at his best. So I think we can safely move on from Spencer.

Arigetti. Not that there will never come a point when I might recommend him to stream, but I don't think he needs to take a valuable roster space in most leagues. And then Walbert Arrania struggled with the walks big time, four shutout innings, but five walks in this one. His velocity was down quite a bit as well. His fastball down 1.7 miles per hour. The changeup was down 1.1. I'm not saying you have to drop Walbert-Irania because I have specifically talked to him up at times. I think there's talent there, but the walks are just a massive problem at times. Four-plus walks and back-to-back starts. He has five walks three different times this year. So if any of those names from earlier are available, I would drop Walbert-Irania for them. It's less rostered than all of them, so it's probably not

realistic. But yeah, I think I'd be willing to make that swap with Walbert-Arania. Some waiver wire hitters. Noel V. Martei went two for five with his sixth home run for RBI. He's only started two of the past four games. And in 26 games since returning to the Reds, he's hitting 227 with seven homers, three steals. You know, the power and the speed is still tantalizing, Scott. But, you know, the batting average being down, hitting too many ground balls, playing time just being scarce. 43% rostered.

I think that number is probably okay for Marte right now, unless We need to see him play more and obviously just be more consistent. Yeah, I think what we've seen from Noel V. Marte over the last few years in both the majors and the minors is two different versions. He either looks like a budding superstar or he looks like he belongs in the minors, you know? And I don't think we've seen the last of him looking like a superstar. are. And maybe this will be the start of it.

I don't know. I think the question, thinking long-term with Noelvi-Marte, if you have him in a dynasty league, or you're just imagining what his career might look like, it's going to come down to how much patience the Reds have with him during those stretches where he looks awful, because he doesn't provide much defensive value. We know that. And he's a right-handed hitter who doesn't walk much. so they just may not have the patience to stick with them.

We've already seen their patients be tested in that way. So overall, I'd say I'm bearish about Marte's future, but it's less because I don't think he can be an impactful fantasy hitter. It's just he disappears offensively too often for them to put up with the downsides of his profile. J.J. Bladay with the slumpbuster. Two for four with his 14th home run. This one came off of a lefty. And it was his first home run since June 15th.

In 19 games between homers, Bladay hit 133 with one extra base hit of 434 OPS. The walks in the strikeout still looked really good during that stretch, but he just was not impacting the ball at all. He's 62% rostered. I mentioned his name earlier this week as one of the most drop players on CBS. It's only one game, Scott, but do you think people dropping J.J. Bladay was a little bit premature? So I'm curious to see what his average bat speed,

what his fast swings rate looks like during the rough stretch. Because for the season, they're still much better than they've been at the past. And that was what reassured me that there's legitimacy here. to the breakout he was having. But if they've come crashing down over that shorter stretch, then I'm going to be a lot more skeptical.

Let's see if I can pull this on the fly. So in that stretch where he did not Homer for, I think I said it was 19 games, his bat speed was basically identical. His fast swing percentage was only 24% during the time. that 19 star trech on the season it's 36%. But 24% is still a lot better than it was.

He was hanging out at 15% earlier in his career. So he didn't give it all back. Look, obviously three outfielder leagues he's disposable. I don't think I'd want to drop Ladei in five outfielder leagues. The tipping point there might be

if the Reds let me make sure they haven't. If the Reds begin to fade him, like stop playing him so much, they're pretty much playing him every day still. So in five outfielder leagues, I'd be patient with Bladay. And Caleb Durbin went two for three

with his 10th stolen base. He's been pretty good for a while now. Last 35 games, hitting 298, 7 homers, 21 runs, 21 RBI, six steals, an OPS right around 900 during that stretch. he's 60% rostered Caleb Durbin. I have

two names who are rostered in more leagues than Durbin right now on CBS that I think I would drop for him. Those are Nolan Aronado and Josh Young for Caleb Durbin. I would make those swaps. Yeah, I can't really argue with that.

It wouldn't surprise me if Young especially surpassed him, but it's not like my expectations for them are wildly divergent such that I forego the hot hand, which is clearly Caleb Durbin right now. And I did get a request for a deep name here. That is Kyle Caros from the Rockies. He went two for four with his eighth home run and he has started 12 straight games with the Rockies and basically since the start of June, his last 34 games, he's hitting 350 with five homers,

26 run scored and OPS over 1,000. He's 29% rostered. Scott, do you have any interest in Kyle Carrow's? Yeah, I was just noticing myself tonight how his numbers I mean, you gave the hot

streak there, but the full season numbers are looking awfully strong. Got an OBP higher than 360 and OPS higher than 800. And of course, he plays at Coors Field, which is going to help the batting average play Yeah, he might stick as their third baseman. And I don't think there's a ton of upside there,

but it is a position of need. And, you know, we were just talking about some of those other third basemen. I'd probably gamble on caros over Nolan Aeronado at this point. I don't know about over Young or Durbin, but he's emerged to somebody who's usable. Yeah, I think in leagues with corner infield spots and whenever the Rockies are home, like definitely could make for a streamer in that sense as well. So again, that is Kyle Caros.

Let's get into the leftovers on the hitting side. Cosimo Okamoto hit a grand slam. It was his 21st home run of the season. Updated pace numbers, 36 homers, 102 RBI. Pete Crow Armstrong, new month. Same PCA. Two for four with a double dong, three runs scored. Coming off that Monster June, he has played 6 July games so far.

He's hitting 476 with three homers, three steals, and a 1529 OPS. So he is amazing. Sayas Suzuki hit his 14th home run, 3 RBI. He had a terrible May, but over his last 30 games, he's hitting 283, 7 homers, 26 RBI, and an 888 OPS. Kyle Stowers, another home run for him. And over his last 18, he's hitting 333 with 7 homers and OPS over 1,200.

Yandi Diaz looks to get back on track. He went 4 for 4. He narrowly missed a home run in that game. And he's been dealing with his shoulder injury and he had slowed down a little bit. So just nice to see a good game out of him. Kyle Schwabber hit his 32nd home run. Again, he's at 32 before the break.

Last year he had 30 before the break and he wound up with 56. So how high will the number climb for Kyle Schwerber this season? Sal Stewart, 2 for 4 with a double. Dong, 3 RBI, and last 20 games, he has turned it back on. 288, 6 homers, 21 RBI, and OPS over 900 during that treach. Alec Burleson. I couldn't help but notice, though, the two home runs for Sal Stewart were both less

than 360 feet. Yeah, wall scrapers, right? I think they both went to the opposite field. I know one of them did, but, hey, man, that's part of the reason why we like them is playing in Great American Small Park, so take advantage. when you can. And Alec Berluson, I wanted to highlight two for four with his 15th home run. I just think he's having a really underrated season.

He entered this game as the 37th best hitter in Roto, providing $20 worth of value, and 3.1 fantasy points per game, which is better than Zach Netto, Cody Bellinger, and Pete Alonzo. So shout out to Alec Berluson. Lots of names here, Scott. Any anything you'd like to touch on? I guess I'm to the point with Stowers where, even in three, outfielded leagues. It's time to pick him up again. I don't know that he ever got dropped. I think he's still over 90% rostered.

Oh, that's surprising. Yeah, I was surprised by it as well. Let's, let me confirm that. If this page will load. Yeah, 95%. He was useless for the first almost three months of the season. There were some injuries in there. But even so, it's not like he had an extensive track record. So, Okay. I thought I was unusually patient with him, but apparently not. Apparently, I was just like everybody else. I did have one other name here. Joe Adele had a huge game. Two for four with a double dong five RBI.

It's been a down season, like undoubtedly, and so just trying to figure out why. And his strikeout rate is down. His quality of contact is also down. So it seems like a pretty clear correlation, Scott. I think Joe Adele has focused so much on making contact this season that he's just sacrifice a bunch of power well we have a number that states that pretty clearly or doesn't it will either confirm or deny it and that is fast swing percentage is he swinging with less intent and the answer is not really not really fact that's a really high fast swing rate that is that is

that is an incredibly high fast swing rate that is an incredibly high fast swing rate. This is a lot of intent there. I don't know. That's weird then. What are your intentions, Joe Adele? To hit home runs. Maybe a buy for the second half, Joe Adele?

Kind of hard to buy off this game, but. Yeah, well, how rostered is he? I'm sure that he's still rostered everywhere. Joe Adele is rostered in 84% of CBS Leaks. That's probably about right. I don't know that he needs to be rostered in every points league.

Some pitching leftovers. I have three solid outings and two bad ones. George Kirby, a quality start at the Marlins. Six innings, two runs, seven strikeouts to zero walks. Still just doesn't look completely right. He just doesn't look like the pitcher he has been in the past.

And obviously you see that with a 132 whip this year for George Kirby. Garrett Cole turned in a quality start at the raise, six and a third, seven hits, three runs, six strikeouts to one walk. Still just nine whiffs on 97 pitches. And just watching this start, when he gets hit hard, a lot of his pitches are just smack in the middle of zone. So his command is clearly not where it needs to be like pre-surgery, Gary Cole. And Michael King, a strong outing here against the D-back, six innings, one run, four strikeouts for him.

He does have a quality start in three of his last four. he's looked better as of late. Scott, anything here on King, Cole, and George Kirby? I look forward to the day when I can tell you, Garrett Cole is back. But that day, sorry to say, is not today. Same, Scott, same. George Kirby, so as we're seeing

Bryce Miller and Logan Gilbert lean into their fastball more, we're seeing Kirby get away from it. And it's been to his benefit the past couple of turns. It hasn't been nearly as effective of a pitch form this year as in past years. So

yeah, second straight start where he threw it roughly 15% of the time. And they've been two of his best starts the year. So I guess you could be encouraged by that, though I'd rather him have a good fastball. And then as for Michael King, I feel like he's kind of becoming the new

sunny gray. where whatever stretch of the season he's in, you can't feel confident it's going to sustain. You can't feel confident that version of Michael King is going to remain the same. And so analyzing him over these short spans of time, as we tend to do in a daily podcast like this, is just going to be pull your hair out,

kinds of frustration. I guess when you just look at the season line for Michael King, 341, ERA 115 whip. Strikeouts, not great. Underlying numbers don't particularly buy it, but whenever he's been healthy with the Padres, he's looked pretty good, right? So I think he just kind of...

He had that stretch where he was getting like 4K per 9. Yeah. There's a long stretch too, but... True. Nah, he seems to be fine now. Two bad outings from Wednesday. Logan Webb just had a terrible first inning that completely ruined his day.

seven innings, five hits, five runs, two walks, two strikeouts. The strikeouts from last year, it just looks like a pretty clear outlier for Logan Webb. The ground ball rate has been trending down as well for him. And Chase Burns struggled with the walks against the Phillies, five innings, three hits, three runs, six walks to two strikeouts. Clearly his worst start of the season in terms of control. Scott, anything to add on Logan Webb and Chase Burns. Yeah, Webb.

He had that awful start in Colorado last time that we kind of rode off as a Colorado start where he threw his cutter way more than usual, obviously trying to change the game plan for the thin air environment and just didn't work. His pitch selection was much closer to normal this time. It's not like he continued doing what he did in that Colorado start,

and it was still not great. So that's a little frustrating. I wouldn't overreact to it, though. Chase Burns, just the second time this year he gave him more than three walks and a start, and it was six. He's been very reliable. I wouldn't sweat over this start for him either. All right, the call to the bullpen for the Cubs.

Jacob Webb got the ninth inning with a two-run lead, and it was a clean inning for his fourth save. For the Braves, Reisel Iglesias got the ninth with a three-run lead. He bounced back for his 18th save. For the Marlins, Pete Fairbanks picked up his 13th save. For the raise, Brian Baker allowed a hit, but struck out three for his. this 25th save.

Legitimately, I was thinking about this, Brian Baker, one of the league winners, I think, in fantasy baseball this season, just in terms of picking a guy up off waivers, most likely, who, assuming he just doesn't implode in the second half, he's going to give you like 40 saves

and just amazing ratios. He's been amazing. For the Royals, Alex Lang entered in the eighth inning with the game tied, facing the heart of the Mets lineup. He got the first two outs easily, and then just implode. He was charged with five earned runs on a walk and three hits. He actually left the start with the relief appearance with one run and the base is loaded.

The reliever that came in after him just made a complete mess of it. So that all got charged to Alex Lang, unfortunately. And then for the Dodgers, Tanner Scott bounced back for his 13th save of the season. To stream or not to stream on Thursday, Merrill Kelly is at the Padres, Andre Palante against the Brewers, Anthony Kay against the Red Sox. Sean Mania against the Royals, Mitch Keller against the Braves, Bailey Ober against the Guardians.

Let's say, oh, we didn't like this day, did we? We talked about it yesterday. No, no, no, no. No, no. I would like any of them. Palante and Kelly. It's against the Brewers, so a very tough matchup, but I just,

my comfort level is higher with him than any of the pitchers with good matchups. Yeah. So, yeah, I would put Palante. I mean, Merrill Kelly has been a mess. He's looked, I guess his last start was okay. At the Padres, their offense isn't great, but it's risky.

Sean Mania maybe could have a good start against the Royals, but, yeah, Thursday's not so great. On Friday, we have Zach Lattel against the Yankees, who just cannot hit at all right now. Zebby Matthews against the Angels. Brandon Sproat is at the Pirates. Aaron Ola at the Tigers, Jack Flaherty against the Phillies. Brandon Young against the Royals, Luis Castillo at the Reyes. Not a great day either.

Yeah. Maybe a little better Zebby Matthews against the Angels. It's a high-risk, high-reward play as it usually goes against the Angels. They're the most strikeout-prone team at baseball. Brandon Young against the Royals seems fairly low-risk.

Luis Castillo at the Reyes I don't mind. That's probably the reverse order if I'd actually use them. I'd go Castillo 1, Young 2, Zebby Matthews 3. Flaherty has looked good since coming off to IL.

He gets the Phillies. Their lineup has been hit or miss. Flourty himself, I mean, is someone that can absolutely blow up and just ruin your whole week. So keep that in mind, but he's looked good since coming back. So if you want to risk it for the biscuit,

Jack Flaherty, another option. We are 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 Applers. Spotify and we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. Mount Podcasts. Tyler Reddick here from 2311 racing.

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