Fantasy Baseball Today - Buy or Sell, More Tough Rankings & Updated Playoff Picture! (9/24 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 24, 2025

Gavin Williams just had one of his best starts of the season (2:53). ... Ohtani threw six innings for the first time this season (9:55). ... What's the updated playoff picture (15:42)? ... News (18:54): Bryan Woo should be ready to go when the Mariners need him. ... Are we using these pitchers later this week (32:20)? ... Let's do a little Buy or Sell for next season (39:05). ... Oneil Cruz and Cole Ragans will be tough players to rank next season (47:55). ... Anything to see with these deeper players (1:01:06)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (1:04:06). 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, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@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/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Hey there. Welcome into fantasy baseball today on Wednesday, September 24th.

I am Frank Sample joined by Chris Towers. Today on the show, we have a little buy or sell for next. next season, hitters who are finishing strong, updated postseason picture. It was a crazy Tuesday night and much more. Let's jump in. All right, Chris. We'll start with you. Talk about your arch nemesis, Gavin Williams. Yeah, I mean, the thing about Gavin Williams is he's been really good the last two starts after not being all that impressive, despite a very low ERA for most of the season. And, and this is all, always the thing that I have to try to remind myself of.

And I think I do an okay job of mentioning when talking about a guy like Gavin Williams. I think it also applies to like Kate Horton. What they are doing is not sustainable based on how they are doing it. But these guys are really talented. And they could make the adjustments needed to become as good as their ERAs this season have made them look. And, you know, Gavin Williams, it's now. 21 strikeouts over the past two starts. He got 12 of them in this start.

It was, I believe, 18 swinging strikes, seven on the curveball, six on the sweeper, if I'm remembering correctly. And it was arguably the most dominant start of his season. I think his two best starts have come over the last two. And it's the kind of thing that if he could do this more regularly, he could absolutely be a low 3 ZRA pitcher. a studly fantasy option.

And at least now he's giving us some hints that he is capable of more than he has shown this season, which I understand is people will take umbrage with me saying that about a guy with a 3.06 ERA, but the underlying numbers are significantly worse. He has been like bottom 15 in K-minus walk rate this season. he has not been nearly as good as his ERA. The last two starts are showing that he could be, and that's big. And there have been some under the, you know, he's been kind of a different pitcher at various points, not just throughout this season, but throughout his career. He changes his pitch mix a lot this year.

It's expanded five pitch mix, but it's more curveballs and sweepers lately. It was 49% combined today, and, you know, maybe that's the answer. Maybe it's just that he needs to use those pitches around 50% of the time, throw a bunch of four seamers, which is a good with pitch for him. And maybe that's the answer to Gavin Williams living up to all that the potential that he has shown. I don't know. This is the kind of start that does make me get FOMO about the fact that I'm not likely to draft Gavin Williams very much next season. And I think it goes back a little bit further than that. You can stretch back and kind of pick his season apart.

And, you know, if you start the arbitrary endpoint at a certain point, I think his ERA over his last 15 or 20 starts is amazing. But specifically over his last five starts, it's a 174 ERA and a 106 whip. 38 strikeouts to 11 walks over 31 innings during that time, with a 13% swinging strike rate. I mean, you're getting whiffs at that rate. And we think he's capable of doing that, right?

his breaking pitches are amazing. Now his fast balls have been hit pretty hard and his control is still very suspect. I don't want to put a cap on a pitcher who is just 26 years old and had a ton of prospect pedigree because, again, he could take another step forward next season. I still think there's a lot of volatility in the profile specifically because of the control. But he is reminding us that, yeah, those breaking pitches are amazing. And look, this was a tough spot. too, right?

Oh, yeah, huge performance. Must win game against Terek Scuba. Now, you know, Scoobel kind of did some questionable things himself to kind of cause the turnaround in that game for the Guardians. But, yeah, Gavin Williams was

incredible in this one. And he's done it two times in a row against the Tigers, too, when they've needed them most. The spirit of Mark Burley overtook him and then... What was that, man? What was replaced by the spirit of Mark Hendrickson?

mid-play because he tried to do the burly through the legs with the glove and uh rocketed it out to right field and you know terrick scuba gave up three or three runs in this one only one earned it's one of those ones where it's like if the pitcher makes the error it should be earned right like is that am i am i off base here for a while they were earned runs and then they changed it after the inning. As someone who is rostering Terrick Scubel in Tout Wars and trying to chase down first place, I was like, no, no, no, please don't

charge these runs, but you're probably right. There's probably something to that, especially, I think the other unearned run was a wild pitch that he also threw, so. Yeah, and the, but the three runs he allowed, I don't think the guardians hit the ball out of the infield. No, no, they did not. In that inning.

No, they didn't. So, yeah, weird stuff. Look, it's only a two-star or five-star stretch here for Gavin Williams, but is he showing you enough to change your mind for next season? Maybe it's enough to make him more of a top 40 or top 36 starting pitcher where I don't think I was going to do that at the beginning, you know, at the end of August. You know, it is still like a 435 XERA.

Entering this start, it'll certainly go down. the whip or the the the FIP is still 440 um so I'm still much more likely to I'm more likely to have him outside of the top 30 than inside I don't know what that means as far relative to ADP or consensus because that hasn't happened yet and we're kind of value is ultimately what matters especially a pitcher um and so you know I I do think you can say like, gosh, where do we think Dylan Cease is going to be ranked? Do you think Dylan Sees will be ranked higher than Gavin Williams? I think so, given his track record, I guess the landing. Much better peripherals too. The landing spot could kind of, you know, sway some of that as well. I was,

I could be way off about this. I don't think Gavin Williams is going to be close to drafted as a top 30 pitcher next season. Okay. I think he's going to be closer to 40. I think a lot of people who do what we do and play fantasy baseball competitively are going to look at a lot of the same numbers and realize, all right, you know, maybe Gavin Williams was pitching over his head a little bit. Now they'll look at the end of the season and say, all right, he started to kind of figure it out here.

I think it'll be more like a top 40, top 36, you know, draft it's like your SP3 or SP4 for next season. And that, yeah, and at this point, that feels okay. Yeah, and again, we're so early in the process, I could be way off about that, but we'll see. Player of the night for me is Otani, the pitcher. We spend so much time talking about the hitter. He tossed more than five innings for the first time this season at the debacks. And entering the start, the Dodgers said that they wanted to have Otani pitch into the sixth inning, stretch him out a little bit more because they want to use him as a starter in the postseason. And based on the way that this start went, that's a good decision. I think that they should use Otani as a starter rather than a reliever and outfielder in the postseason and kind of... He might be their best pitcher. which is crazy.

I mean, based on what he did here, obviously, look, Blake's now, Tyler Glassnow, those guys are awesome as well. But Glassnow here against a really formidable DeBacks lineup. I said it, yeah. Otani, six shutout innings with eight strikeouts to zero walks, had 16 whiffs on 91 pitches, nine

of those on the fastball, three on the curve, three on the sweeper, and he has allowed just one earned run total over his last four starts, also has 27 strikeouts, just four walks during that span. And it lowers his ERA on the season to 287 with a 105 whip, nearly 12K per 9 under two walks per nine. Yeah, he looks like the real deal. And, you know,

if he can maintain throwing around 90 pitches, he probably should just be a starter in the postseason as well. For most leagues, at least on CBS, where he's just one player and you have to decide before the week starts, whether to use him as a hitter or pitcher. You know, his pitching performances don't really matter to you all that much because you're never going to use him. I have argued this before and I will argue it till the end of time. I think that if you draft Otani, you should get all of his production and he should just completely break fantasy because that's what he's done in real life.

But, you know, I've got to talk to some developers about that and making that a thing on CBS. That's fine. I will just say, when your position play, are out there pitching in a blowout and they give up eight runs, that should hurt your ERA too. That wouldn't really matter. There aren't really any fantasy relevant guys who actually do that. But just, I think we need to be consistent. I do want to point out with Otani, this stretch of four starts where he's been absolutely dominant. It's like 27 strikeouts in 17 innings or something crazy. it also basically coincides with him bringing out his full arsenal.

I think he threw his curveball for the first time, maybe one or two starts before this four-start stretch. I think that was his second most used pitch today, if I'm remembering correctly. And it's been a great pitch. He's got a full seven-pitch arsenal now. Yeah, he had three whiffs through it 12 times. It might just be that the last four or five,

starts and one of them was really bad, the next four have been amazing, are just the first time we're seeing a fully unlocked Shohei Otani as a pitcher, and it's a reminder that he might be a top 10 pitcher in baseball as well. Yeah, I mean, that's where I was going with this discussion, is for people who play in leagues where he's two different players, if you play on Yahoo, I believe he's two different players, I think on ESPN, you do just get all of his stats as one player, at least in a points league I know that

I'm not too sure about Categories leagues on ESPN as a pitcher next season it's so hard to project his innings we have no idea but I mean I would say there's an argument that he's

he'll be I mean probably deserves to be drafted ahead of Gavin Williams as just a pitcher yeah I mean I think he's a better pitcher oh for sure I don't actually think there's not much question on a per inning basis he might be a top 12 pitcher we just yeah how many innings do you like 100 next season I don't

I would think 150 is the absolute max. You know, what's he going to end up with this season? Like 60? Right now. Maybe he gets up to closer to 80 with the postseason if they make a long run. Yeah. He is up to 47 right now. Okay, so right around 50.

Yeah. Maybe 150's a little aggressive, but he is probably 100 to 125, I think. But, you know, maybe 150 in an absolute best case scenario, isn't impossible. And if that happens, I think he's probably just going to be a top 24 starting pitcher. And even if it's just 125 innings, I mean, top 40 pitcher, you're going to get a very good pitcher when he's out there. And, you know, they might skip a few starts or whatever. I think he's someone you definitely want around. It'll be hard to draft him. He will be someone who is ranked higher in season than he is preseason, I would say. And Otani did throw 132 innings

back in 23. He got all the way up to 166 back in 2022. His career as a pitcher before this start,

303-ERA 108 whip 11.4K per 9. I mean, that's Ace Production from Otani. So yeah, in leagues where you play

with him as just a pitcher and you're going to use him there, he's definitely going to be relevant for next season. Before we get

into the playoff picture, I just want to let everyone know that I have won the Taylor Ward Serial bet. So take that, Scott. 35 homers for my guy, Taylor Ward.

I don't know. What serial should I request? I don't know. Let us know in the comments, tweet at me and Scott. I got to think it through. I have a few of my own favorites, but perhaps I will allow the audience to influence my serial decision here

on this Taylor Ward winning bet. Congrats to the Mariners and Yankees who clinched playoff spots here. The updated playoff picture, the Blue Jays also lost here, on Tuesday. The Yankees now one game behind in the ALEs. Technically two games because the Blue Jays have

the tiebreaker, so they have to finish, the Yankees would have to finish one game ahead to win the division. The Guardians, as we mentioned, they were down two Zip in this game against Terrick Skulwell. They came back to win it. The AL Central is now tied. The Tigers had a 15 game lead

at the beginning of July. It was like 12 and a half a month ago. It's September 24th and... It's bar. It's tied right now. So, yeah, just, and I have two more games left to play. Crazy final week here.

Shout out to the Mets, they were down five to one in that game. They came back to win. The Reds also lost, so the Mets have reclaimed the final NL wildcard spot. They have a one game lead over both the Reds and the D-backs, who were down to run entering the ninth inning of that game. They scored two runs off Tanner Scott, came back to win. They're also just one game behind the Mets here. So still lots, too.

to play for and lots to decide here the final days of the season. Just a reminder that starting next week, we are down to two podcasts per week, basically through December. Once we get to January, we'll start to ramp things back up there a little bit. Those podcasts will be out Tuesday and Thursday mornings in your podcast feed. We will not have a weekend recap this Sunday night.

So if you're looking for that, we won't be here. So just a heads up. Thanks to those watching live, make sure to hit the like button and subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already. Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball Day. News and notes. Brian Wu will not start in his usual rotation spot on Thursday.

He left his last outing with Pexsornis and the team said they don't plan to place him on the IL. I was watching some postgame interviews after they clinch the playoff spot and, you know, they're all throwing champagne all over each other and stuff. And they interviewed Brian Wu and they asked how he's feeling. He said, I'll be ready when the time is, like, whenever the time comes. So maybe that'll be the playoffs. Maybe he'll get us start this weekend. So sounds like Brian Wu has averted disaster.

The Brewers are hopeful Trevor McGill will be activated from the IL on Sunday. Kyle Tucker did some running on Monday. He and has returned to Chicago after rehabbing in Florida. So sounds like we're getting closer on Kyle Tucker. The Dodgers, which you already mentioned, they said Otani will be used as a starting pitcher in the playoffs in addition to his usual DH duties. Roman Anthony has yet to resume baseball activities.

He's on the I.L. with an oblique strain. And this is just a tough break for the Red Sox here because look, they're still in a playoff spot. I still think they're going to make the playoffs. But let's be honest, they are far less dangerous without Roman Anthony in their lineup. Yeah, no, it's a tough spot to be in just not, not really knowing if he's going to come back.

It's asking a lot of a rookie to come back with no rehab appearances, come back in the playoffs and be a big part of the lineup. But they kind of do need that because a lot of the guys who were doing a lot of carrying in the first half of the season have fallen off. Saddam Raphael and Williore-Bray who have not been nearly as good in the second half. Luckily, Trevor Story has remained outstanding, but they could definitely use another impact bat for sure. We spoke about this yesterday too.

Since Alex Bregman has returned from that quad injury, he's kind of just been mid. It's around a 750 OPS. And look, the defense is still great. Roman Anthony in his short time, and look, I'm not breaking any news. He was the top prospect in baseball. He has elevated himself to the level

where as a Yankee fan when they're facing the Red Sox, I am most scared when Roman Anthony comes to the plate. It's just there's no other way around it. He, you know, has elevated himself to that level. Kate Horton left his start early due to back tightness. It sounds like they were just being really, really cautious about that one. Obviously, they want Horton ready to pitch for the postseason. Wyatt Langford was removed from Tuesday's game with left side tightness.

He also missed two games over the weekend with the same injury. Just been an ongoing thing all year. It's both obliques have caused issues here for Wyatt Langford. I kind of feel like maybe he's going to be a tough one to rank for next season. maybe I'm overthinking it, but I still think there's a lot of potential there, but you know, he's fine. I think he's gone 2020 this season. He just hasn't really lived up to, I guess, the lofty expectations we've put on him. He's been a disappointment. That's not the same as he has not been good, but I don't think anybody could disagree that he's been a disappointment.

It's just a question of how likely do we still think he is to turn it around. I think it's somewhat likely. You know, I'm certainly not. giving up on him but it's um he has to go later than he did last season right yes he was still like a top 50 pick yeah he was a pretty consistent third or fourth round player yeah we don't think we can do that again um but the underlying numbers are still better than the actual numbers young where he obviously can still very young still has the tools and like you said i think it's 2020, right? 22, 22, and his, his quality of contact has taken a big step forward this year.

91.4 average exit velocity, 14% barrel rate. And that's 22, 22, while missing, what, 25 games or so? Yeah, he's at 134 games now. Yeah, so there's, there's no question there is still plenty of upside here. And it's one of those ones where if you bet on the upside and you're wrong, it doesn't really cost you very much because he's still, got a decent floor. It's not like he sank you or anything this season. Yeah, he wasn't worth what you picked him for,

but he should probably still be a top 100 pick, I would say. Sank? That's probably sunk, right? He hasn't sunk? Sunk, sank? I think Sank is... All right. It didn't sound right when I said it, but...

Is sank a word? Sank? Feels like the kind of thing we should know. Professional communicators. I am... I would barely call myself a professional. Yeah, you sank my battleship. Yeah, why did that feel weird?

Yeah, it just felt weird saying it, right? You know what it is? Every time my snooze goes off in the morning and I wake up, I always look at the word snooze, and I'm like, that's not right. I don't, that combination of letters doesn't seem right. I know it is. They wouldn't put it on the phone. If not, you can't put things on the phone if they're not true.

Yeah, absolutely. But it's just, it always, every time I wake up, I'm like, that word's not right. I'm going back to sleep. Luke Keishel was removed with a left thumb injury here on Tuesday. J.T. Rilumuto also left Tuesday night's game with a right index finger contusion. Scary moment for David Frye, who was hit in the face by a 99 mile per hour fastball while attempting to bunt. He was carted off the field immediately and transferred to a local hospital. So hoping everything turns out all right there with David Fry.

Mackenzie Gore's season is over as he was placed on the aisle with a right ankle impingement. The Rays announced that Ian Seymour will pitch out of the bullpen this week. Would have been nice to know that earlier, right, if he's already locked in. Fernando Tati's Jr. has missed two straight with an illness. Jeremy Pena has missed two straight with oblique sorenas. The Astros, by the way, man, they are free falling here. They're currently out of a playoff spot, which is crazy. Yeah, the thing about Brian Wu that I was going to mention earlier is,

I think the Mariners' magic number to win the divisions down to one. I think if they win tomorrow, they win the division. So, I think so. They might not have any reason to bring Brian Wu back for the final week of the season. Sure. Yeah, just make sure he's okay for the playoffs. Zander Bogartz was activated from the IL on Tuesday. I believe he went 0 for 4 in that game.

Austin Hayes has missed two straight with back spasms. The Blue Jays activated Anthony Santander and DFAD, Alec Manoa. Even though Santander was activated, he was not in the lineup, which felt kind of weird. but just a fall from grace for Alec Manoa. Part of it, okay, yes, he had Tommy John surgery. He's still kind of coming back from that injury. But he finished third in Syung voting back in 2022 and was just never the same after that.

They must really have not liked what they saw in his rehab assignment. I guess he's just pitching at AAA now. He hasn't been terrible. He hasn't been particularly impressive either, 18 walks and 33 and third innings, but a 2907 ERA. If I was a major league team, I'd take a flyer just to see. It's a cheap look at him over the offseason.

Still 27 years old, right? Yeah, I would imagine he's arbitration eligible and maybe a second year arbitration eligible, so it'll cost you a few million dollars, but baseball team spent a few million dollars on dumber things than seeing if Alec Manoa can bounce back. Yeah, his walks per nine over over five right now in the minor. That is a problem.

Corey Seeger and Marcus Semyon both will not return for the rest of this season. Seeger ends his year with a 271 batting average, 21 homers in 102 games. Semyon ends his with a 230 batting average, 15 homers, 11 steals, and 127 games. I feel like we should get pretty steep discounts on both guys entering next season. What does that mean for Seeger? he was like a third, fourth round pick this year. Is he around 75th, 80th? That sounds right.

You know, we were talking about shortstops yesterday and kind of that there's a really big tier. I think you've got those first rounders, maybe let's call them top 20 picks, Bobby Witt, Ellie Delacruz, Francisco Lendor, Trey Turner and Gunner Henderson. They'll probably be top 20 picks and basically every draft,

certainly every rhodo draft. And then after that, think you drop like another 30 picks or so. But then you've got a really big tier that I think might end from like run from like the 50th pick to the 100th pick. And you've got Mookie, Pardom, C.J. Abrams, Zach Netto, Trevor Story, Boba Shett, Jeremy Pena, where you could almost go in any order with any of that group. And, you know, it kind of depends on what you want. If you want power and speed, there's a few guys there. If you want batting average, you know, certainly Mookie and Boba Chet.

I think Corey Seeger's absolutely in that tier. And he might just be dead in the middle of it. And that might be around the 75th pick or something. Semyon, I think he's just a middle infielder for 2026. Like we saw some flashes, but if you go month by month for Marcus Simeon, I'm pretty sure it ended up just being one good month. I think he had a good, if I'm remembering correctly, I think it was a really good June.

And I think that's the only month he had with an OPS over 700 this season. Either June or July. It was June 932 OPS, four homers, 324 batting average. His second best month was July with a 699 OPS. So, yeah, I think he's a very low priority second, middle infield option. Again, that was Marcus Simeon. Andrew Benitendi was placed in the aisle with. left Achilles tendinitis.

The Dodgers will reinstate Roki Sasaki from the 60-day IL on Wednesday. He's expected to pitch out of the bullpen. Astros pitcher Brandon Walter underwent Tommy John surgery on Monday. He was pretty good when he pitched, but now he'll miss most, if not all, of next season as well. Lane Thomas underwent surgery on his right foot on Tuesday and will be sidelined for three to four weeks. And rejoice.

At least some people will. Maybe not all baseball fans. the old heads. The ABS challenge system is coming to baseball in 2026. Each team will receive two challenges per game. Believe they earn more challenges and extra innings. You only lose it if you mess it up. Mm-hmm.

I love this. I thought in the All-Star game and during spring training, I thought it was a huge success. If we have the technology to get it right, why not? I will say the most exciting part of this for me was the suggestion that the strike zone box on broadcasts will likely be eliminated as a result of this. At least the live one, they'll have one afterwards.

But that is the best news for me because I think the K zone box on your screens has broken all of your brains and made you think that there is a level of, there is a level of umpiring that is possible, and it's not. Like, these guys are missing by like an inch, and I see every single person on Twitter losing their mind.

And like, there seems to be this belief that there is like an umpiring epidemic at the major league level, and it's just not the case. And the K zone is part of it. These accounts that exist solely to rage-based. about umpiring our part of it. I think the ABS challenge system is a perfect balance. I personally like the human element.

I think like having Patrick Bailey's of the world who are just defensive whizzes and can get their pitchers extra value, I think that's great. But yeah, let's get the most egregious ones right and give people a chance. What I like is that from what I understand

in the minors and in spring training, when players challenged, it was basically 50-50. Pitchers are a little better than hitters, apparently, at knowing what was the right call and what was not, which makes sense. They've got a better vantage point, I guess. But these, like, super egregious calls, they're still 50-50 for the guys involved in them.

So I think that tells you the amps are actually unpopular opinion. The umpires are not that bad. That's my that's the take they're going to burn me for It is weird that I guess there's only Two per team per game so you have to You know you got to pick and choose wisely right You don't want to use it in the first or second inning on a strike one call or something like that But also you don't want to use them all up before the end of the game because you know

You might have a huge moment in the ninth inning or something like that So it'll be interesting to see the strategy behind using the a BS challenge system them next next year as well. For those still playing in daily lineup leagues where you can make changes, if you're looking for pitchers later this week, I want to talk about a few of these names. Edward Cabrero was okay in his return at the Phillies. Four innings, three runs allowed, three strikeouts.

He didn't give up three homers in this one, but you want to see the velocity of coming back from an elbow injury. It was fine. It was actually slightly up on most of his pitches here. He's 60% rostered, might make a second start later this week against the Mets. Chris, can I interest you at all in Edward Cabrera against the Mets? There aren't

a lot of pitchers making a second start who might be available, so he might be the best one, but I can't say. It's such a tough matchup, too. Yeah. Look, I think he's a very interesting pitcher for 2026. I would guess he's not a top 50 pitcher

in ADP, but he pitched like one this season for sure. He pitched like a top 36 pitcher before the injury. So I think Edward Cabrero is going to be on a decent number of my teams in 2026. Shane Smith had a mixed outing at the Yankees five innings, one run allowed, but did have four walks in this game, eight strikeouts as well. In the 10 starts since returning from injury, a 352 ERA, a 114 whip over a strikeout per inning for Shane Smith during that time. I know

the underlying numbers don't exactly buy it. Could get another start at the Nationals on Sunday. That seems kind of interesting for Shane Smith. Yeah, that's not bad. I'd rather use him than Cabrera, given the limitations that Cabrera is likely to still face. I don't think Smith is great. I think he's like a 4-ERA pitcher who probably needs to take a step forward to be much more than that. But against the Nationals, he can be fine, yeah. Luis Heel turned in a quality start against the White Sox, six innings, two runs,

three strikeouts to two walks here, through 64 percent of his pitches for Strikes, velocity was down quite a bit in this start. His fastball was down 1.9 miles per hour. He averaged 93.7 on that pitch. And last year when he was at his best, I mean, we're talking 96, 97, 98 for Luis Heel. So it was down quite a bit here. He does have a quality start in three of his last four outings. His previous start before this one was obviously very bad.

I think people picked him up hoping for the two-star week. You still might get it. Faces the Orioles later this week. what do you think about that matchup for Luis Heel? I think he's bad. I just don't think he's pitching well, man. I think he's gotten away with a lot. Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, he has a 562X-FIP. 424 FIP, if you assume that he has some control over not giving up home runs, which last season he did have very good results on balls and play. But yeah, he might be good against Baltimore, but I don't have very much confidence in it. Yeah, along with the velocity, his whiff rates are down a lot on his fast. basketball and change up this season. So I think he just hasn't been right. I don't know if it's just, you know, he missed so much of the season with that latch train.

Is he completely healthy? His velocity has been down the past couple of starts. I think there are real questions there for Luis Heel. And, you know, we'll see what he does in the offseason and how he shows up to spring training, what the velocity looks like that. I think there's talent there. He also has this Blake Snell thing going on where he just, he's so frustrating to watch because he walks so many batters.

sometimes he's pretty good at kind of wiggling out of trouble here, but he puts himself in the line of fire just way too much for my liking. I am not sure he should be in the Yankees rotation next season. Or at least I don't think he should be guaranteed a spot in the Yankees rotation, especially once Garrett Cole is ready. I know that if he's not ready for opening day, that'll change things a little bit, but I've just been thoroughly unimpressed by what Luis Heel has done this season.

Yeah, I mean, if you think about their rotation for next. season you've got Cole, Freed, Rodon, obviously. I mean, the way Schlittler has looked, he kind of. I think Schlottler's in, yeah, he's in, and then you have Louise Heel, Will Warren. You have some other pitchers that are not that far away. I mean, they have some prospects who are in AA, like they could be knocking on the door at some point next season as well. I mean, maybe Louise Heel's better deployed as a reliever, but again, it's in high leverage situations. If you walk that many, it's, I don't know. I don't really know what they'll do. with Luis Heel. Jeffrey Springs was solid against the Astros here. Five innings, one run.

Only three strikeouts here, but mostly averted damage. His six starts before this one, not great. 470 ERA and a 150 whip. Looks like he lines up for the Royals on Sunday. Pretty good matchup. Also pitching in Sacramento. What do you think about Jeffrey Springs? Flip a coin. You might get five decent innings out of him. You're not likely to get much more than five decent endings out of him. He very rarely goes more than five innings, but it could happen, yeah. All right, let's take our final break when we return. I've got some buy or sell for next season. Some more tough players to rank O'Neill Cruz,

Coles of Montgomery, Cole's of Regens. We'll talk about those right after this. Buy or sell for 2026. Riley Green is first up here. Hit his 35th home run of the season. He also has 110 RBI and 812 OPS. He has added more power to the season at the expense of striking out more.

He's up to a career high, 31% strikeout rate. His 17% barrel rate is also 10th best in all the majors. So, I mean, based on the power metrics, his 35 homers seem pretty legit here. Buy herself that Riley Green should be drafted as a top 20 outfielder next season. That feels like a pretty easy one. I'll buy that one.

Top 15 outfielder next season. 15 is a little tougher. Yeah. If you're in a 15-team league and you get Riley Green as your first outfielder in the, I don't know, fourth round. Are you all right with that? That feels okay, yeah. I mean, you're not, I don't think you're ever going to be able to get a great batting average from him. And if I remember, he was, his batting average was pretty high in the first half and he's down to 223 in the second half. But the power has still been there. Yeah, I think you look at the 260 batting average. I think he's got. That's probably about right. Maybe the XBA is 251, so that range.

So not helpful, but probably not too harmful. I think the 30 plus homers are legit. I think it's going to be a lot of RBI. He's really solid. He's not a superstar. But I think Riley Green, you're perfectly fine with him as a number two outfielder in a 12-team league. Brandon Nimmo made his first start in center field since last year and hit a big home run in this game,

two for five with his 25th homer. Three RBI has three homers in his past eight games, and he's just quietly been really solid this season. 261 batting average, 25 homers, 91 RBI, 12 steals, hitting in the middle of a pretty darn good Mets lineup here. Buy or sell Brendan Mow drafted as a top 30 outfielder next season. I don't think you will be drafted that way.

You don't think? I don't think so. Okay, so you're selling it. What? So you're selling it unless you would do it. Well, I think he, I think he's pretty likely to finish as a top 30 outfielder. I don't know where he is right now, but I would guess he's...

I think he's 20th? Yeah, that sounds about right. That was what I was going to say. So I think he's just someone because he's old, because he's not, he's never had a lot of upside. It's fairly easy to pass on him for younger, more interesting guys. He's a good deep league player, you know? Yeah.

Really solid? Know what you're going to get. But I just don't think anybody's going to be particularly excited about Brandon Nimmo. So I would guess he gets drafted outside of the top 30 next season. All right. Next up, his teammate Francisco Alvarez, one for three, with a massive go-ahead home run in the eighth inning of that game. It was his 10th homer, 37 games since coming back from the minors. There are multiple IEL stints in there, so I'm kind of slicing and dicing here.

But since coming back, he's hitting 282 with seven homers and a 936 OPS. He's looked really good following whatever adjustments he made in the minors. He was mashing down there as well. By herself, Francisco Alvarez, back over 20 home runs next season. Bye. I'm really, really excited about what Francisco Alvarez has done since he was demoted. That includes the, what, 12? 12 homers in 26 games that he hit at AAA, but also the 7 in 36 or 37 games since coming back from the miners.

He's cut the strikeout rate. The average exit velocity has been like 93 miles per hour since then as well. He won't be a top 12 catcher next season in the rankings, which is probably not amazing. But he's going to be a high priority number two option for me. In any two catcher league, I am going to be trying to get Francisco Averaz is my number two. I would, I do have him very preliminarily 16th, but that's

with Adley Rutchman ahead of him. I have no idea on that one. Also, like Alejandro Kirk is safer, but there is just no upside there. Does he even have 50 runs this season? I don't think he... Kirk? No way.

No, like, as good as he has been, he has 69 RBI and 42 runs. He is just basically just a batting average source. So if you wanted to take Francisco Alvarez ahead of him. 69 RBI for a catcher is pretty good. It's okay. I think it's like seventh at the position. Good for a second catcher, I would say.

Yeah. But it doesn't really provide much else. The thing is Alvarez could be a difference maker. He's only 24. Actually, he doesn't even turn 24 until November. November. So I might be able to talk myself into Francisco Alvarez as high as 14th catcher. All right. And the last name here. Logan Webb turned in a quality start against the Cardinals, six innings, eight hits, three runs, two walks, five strikeouts, just four whiffs

on 97 pitches. And his whip is so harmful, man. It is a 126 whip. This doesn't matter as much in points. Leagues. Webb is better. points leased he gives you quality starts he's volume base he's surpassed 200 innings three years in a row now so from a points league perspective i i still think he's fine but a 126 web according to the player raider he has provided negative five dollars in that category this season and the buyer sell here is that logan webb should not be drafted as a top 20 starting pitcher in roto next year in rhodo I would sell that WIP is

important and easy to overlook and that is true and it's hard to make up late in the season and it's hard to make up for sure but I guess it was 123 last year although I think he's pitched much better this season

so I just think he'll have a better whip next season like he's got a super high batting average on balls and play he he is a ground ball pitcher that can be a problem you know you're not going to give up a lot of extra base hits but you make up for that by giving a lot of singles i don't know i if he had a 115 whip and was totally fine next season in that category it would not surprise me the gains he's made as a strikeout pitcher i've been very impressed by um Logan webb might have like one of the highest whiff rates on his foreseamer of any starter in baseball, which is really fascinating because he uses it in a completely different way than anyone else.

It's basically just a putaway pitch for him. He only throws it in two strike counts, but it's got a 33% whiff rate with the four seamer. So I think he's really good. I think the whip is obviously harmful, but I think I'd still take him as a top 20 guy. I think he's going to be right on that fringe for me. And you just need to be cognizant where if you draft him as your SP2 or as your SP1,

you just have to surround him with other good whip pitchers. At least based on the last two years, it's 123 whip or higher. Here in the second half, it's a 139 whip. That's over a 13-star stretch. So I can tell you, I have Logan Webb in a lot of leagues this season. I did last year too. I always wind up drafting Logan Webb. But he's sometimes he's a frustrating.

pitcher watchman. Absolutely. He gives up a lot of hard contact. It's been more line drives this year, which has contributed to the BABB and the hits being higher against him this season. So it's frustrating at times. And giving you that much volume, it does hurt the whip quite a bit there for Logan Webb. He does have the highest whiff rate among starters with his four seamer, 33.1%. It's like a 92 mile hour pitch. It's phenomenal. How often does he throw that pitch? It's about 10% of the time, but it's I think more like 20% in two-strand. situations, he basically never throws it outside of two-strike situations. He only throws it up in the zone. It's just ahead of Brandon Woodruff and Jacob Mizirowski. So that's a fun trio of best whiff rate for Seemers.

All right, on to more tough players to rank for next season. We spoke a little bit about this yesterday. We didn't get to O'Neill Cruz, who actually just hit his 20th home run of the season. It was just his second homer since August 2nd. and he does have 38 steals, which helps, but he's hitting 203, a 686 OPS. It's just another one where I don't want to write him off. Like maybe he could just get better, but at some point, man, the strikeouts are what they are. The low batting average is what it is.

He's only going to be outfield. The other inability to hit lefties. Yeah, like, he's only outfield eligible for next season. I think he's still a big boomer bus play, but yeah, he's going to be a tough one rank for next year. I mean, the other thing is he's going to be 27 in 10 days, I think. He's not as young as you think.

Like, I'm not saying he's a completely finished product, but there's not a ton of room to expect huge growth here. So, I don't know. Top 40 outfielder, maybe. Yeah, he'll definitely be drafted that way for it. But probably not much more than that. He'll probably still be drafted as a top 30 outfielder, I think. Man, that's...

In Roto leagues, in points leagues, he absolutely should... Oh, I don't think he's even worth being drafted in points leagues. I don't think O'Neill Cruz deserves to be an everyday player. He's hitting... He's hitting under 200. Well, he's right around 203, so this shouldn't surprise anyone. He's hitting around, like, 185 since the start of June. It is abysmal.

I think he's hitting 180... I think he's hit... Sorry, I think he's hitting 103 against lefties. Oh. For his career, he has a 172 batting average and a 560 OPS against lefties. It's only 401 plate appearances, but that's also like, God, what is, is that like a 40%? That can't be, right?

I'm trying to do the math in my head. And I don't know. And that's always risky. 38% strikeout rate against lefties in his career. That is untenable. I don't know what the answer is either because I think I proposed this last offseason, not that O'Neill Cruz or the Pirates listen to this podcast, but

maybe taking a little bit off and not trying to hit for as much power and just focusing on putting the ball and play a little bit more. And even if that leads to a 250 or 260 batting average, you're on base more, it allows you to run more.

And I can't even say that he's sold out for power this year. He has 20 home runs. So it's not like he's hitting 203 and striking out over 30% of the time and he's giving you 40 home runs. He has 20. So it's,

Maybe we find out after the season he's been playing through something. I don't know what else the answer would be. I'm pretty pessimistic about him moving forward, yeah. Colson Montgomery destroyed a baseball. He hit his 19th home run. It was hit 113.7 miles per hour off the bat and traveled 428 feet. But he was struggling before this game. Previous 14 games, he was hitting 174 with zero homers, a 37% strikeout rate.

he has 19 homers in 66 games that's a full season pace of 46 home runs i think the power is pretty legit i i also think the strikeouts and the batting average are again i don't want to like just pencil him in because he's such a young player obviously he can make improvements but the strikeout rate is worrisome and will likely lead to a lower batting average yeah he also just i know he has prospect pedigree but he played 236 games between AA and AAA and AAA. And there was some power. He hit like 217 across AA and AAA with like a 725 OPS combined.

He was really not very good at the minor league level. Remember he had a 733 OPS before getting called up. I just, I don't know. He is young and he has pedigree and all of that is. true I kind of feel like he's Matt Walner and maybe that's not giving him enough credit but like Matt Walner has had stretches with a ton of home runs in a very small amount of time but we know the batting average is always going to be bad that that just it feels like Montgomery is probably like a 220 30 hitter and okay if he hits 45 homers who cares right

a Hugh Hini Suarez is pretty good but if it's 30 to 35 homers I think that's a pretty fringy player. That's not a starter at corner infield, especially at shortstop, especially if he's not going to steal any bases. It's probably an okay middle infielder, but it's a hard profile to build a lineup around because you've got to account for that batting average. And usually that means either, hey, your early round picks hit for good batting average or you've got to take a flyer on a Luis Aras who just doesn't do anything else. Yeah. Did you do your preliminary shortstop rankings yet? Uh, haven't totally finalized it, but yes, and he is 20th. Uh, next up we have Cole Regans, who is great at the Angels, five innings, two runs,

10 strikeouts with 17 whiffs on just 72 pitches. No surprise, 13 of those on the fastball. We know the Angels swing and miss a lot, especially on fastballs here. He is incredibly tough for next season because while the service level stats are not great, the underlying stuff is still tremendous. Mendez for Cole Regans. On top of that, he has, you know, he missed a large majority of the season with a rotator cuff strain in his pitching shoulders. So I don't, like a low end SP2 with upside to be an SP1, maybe, I guess. I think that's exactly right. I think you draft him around 20th among

pitchers. Like, I can't come up with a good reason why I would draft Blake Snell. ahead of him, right? Like, I think Cole Reagan's is, I feel better about projecting Cole Reagan's performance than Blake Snow. And while Blake Snow has had more, less serious injuries in this one,

he missed time this year with the shoulder injury as well. So I would think those two guys are going to be in the 20 range and should probably just be drafted very, very close to each other, if not back to back. Cole Regans or Logan Webb? Very different pitchers. Might depend on who I got with my first pick. Yeah.

My first pitcher? Actually, I don't know because I probably just go Logan Webb. But I, that's very tough. Yeah. Next up, David Peterson continues to struggle big time. This start at the Cubs, he only lasted in inning in a third. He allowed five runs in this one. And over his last five starts, a 1254 ERA and a 2,000.

30 whip. He's allowed 26 earned runs over 18 and two-thirds innings. The underlying numbers still say he should be more like a mid-to-high-high-3s. ERA guy. But, you know, we kind of felt like he was pitching over his head at times throughout the course of the season. He kind of just feels like a, I don't know, top 75 SP that you're using the right matchups type guy. He does not need to be drafted in a 12-team league. I think he's a little bit better than that. He'll still be pitching for a good Mets team. And he goes deep into starts typically.

My thought process here is David Peterson, his ex-ERA the last three seasons, 493, 456, 444. Now, last year, his actual ERA was 290. And up until about the midway point, maybe end of July this season, it was like right in that same range. I think it was sub-3 again.

283, the end of July. And so the argument was, well, the peripherals say what they say, but we're going on a year and a half now of him being a sub three IRA pitcher. The problem was even when that was happening, it was a 125 whip. It was pretty mediocre strikeout rates. He was going somewhat deep into games pretty regularly. He was getting some wins. Okay, that's all great. But a lot of his value was dependent on him being a standout in ERA in a way that his peripherals did not back up. And now the actual numbers reflect that the peripheral wasn't very good.

And so that shatters the illusion that he has some ability to outperform his peripherals that other pitchers don't. I just don't see much reason to buy into that as a result. It could just be maybe I'm being unfair. I'll grant, but I was not a believer in David Peterson. the last two months have made that look good. But when I'm looking at guys to rank in the 60 through 75 range, I just don't see a lot of reason to draft and rank a guy like David Peterson who just doesn't have a ton of upside.

Yeah, outside of a deeper league, you probably just want to shoot for upside in those later rounds of drafts. You know, in deeper leagues you kind of just want quality innings and guys that maybe pitch on good teams, give you a chance at wins and things like that. So it might just be format in league size dependent where David Peterson's being drafted. Is he guaranteed to be starting for the Mets next season? Yeah, I was just thinking about that too.

You have to think the three kids will be in there. They still have Maniah. They're paying a lot of money. Yeah, I would think Menaia is ahead of him. Do they use Clay Holmes as a starter or reliever? Yeah, I would think Clay Holmes can be in there. Kodai Senga is still getting money? Kodaisanga, if he gets back on track,

I would guess we're going to see a lot of six-man rotation from them next year. I also think that's been their biggest weakness all season. I know that the David Stern's philosophy is not to pay for pitching, but kind of feels like they need to go out and get a legit kind of SP1, right? Would not surprise me if they did that as well. So yeah, I think there's a decent chance David Peterson is more of a spot starter for the Mets or rotation depth. Yeah, it might be. Last name on this list is Hurston Waldrop, who was solid.

against the Nationals, six innings, one run, but four walks here to five strikeouts did get a ton of wiffs. 17 on 92 pitches. Velocity was up in this one. But, you know, he's been walking quite a bit. Four plus walks in three of his last five outings. That was a pretty big problem for him in the minors as well. The overall numbers still look very good, and he, young pitcher, big pedigree, should be on a very good Braves team next year. I think there's upside here, but maybe more volatility than the other young pitchers that we're excited about for next season. I think there's a chance that he's just running out of steam. All right.

Like he threw 101 and two-thirds innings in 2023. Actually, 131 innings in 2023 between college and his pro debut. He threw 903. He threw 100.1 last year and now he's up to 140. 47 or something. So I think there's a chance he's just running out of steam and that explains the walk rate. But up until the last, what, seven or eight starts, there wasn't a ton to get excited about with Hurston Waldrop.

I know he had prospect pedigree before last year, especially. I honestly have no idea at all what to do with Hurston Waldrop for 2026. I still think he's an exciting pitcher. You know, he gets decent whiffs and gets a lot of ground balls. He's got the splitter is a standout pitch. It's a really legitimately great pitch. I'm thinking top 60 starting pitcher, but probably not top 50. Probably sounds right.

Without having done, I will have a better answer by Thursday evening. I'm not going to be on the podcast on Thursday. So I don't know. The next time I'll be on the show next week. next week yeah uh Monday's Wednesday right Monday night we'll be doing

today's Tuesday today's today's Tuesday so I'll be back tomorrow now it's Wednesday well now it's Wednesday we haven't gone to sleep yet it'll be it'll be Wednesday at like 4 in the morning so I will have I will have my initial rankings done in a week

whenever I'm on the show again after tomorrow I will have a better answer although I think I'm only going 48 deep at starting pitcher and Waldra probably won't be in that so yeah I guess I have an answer for Hurston Waldrop until much later in the offseason. Anything to see here for these lower end players, anything to see for next season with these guys. Herberto Hernandez of the Marlins, three for five with his 10th homer.

He has three home runs in his past 10 games. He's been solid 269 batting average, 785 OPS, did hit 23 home runs in 104 games in the minors last year. Zebby Matthews had a great start at the Rangers, seven innings one run, Six strikeouts to zero walks. Randy Vasquez randomly had a great start against the Brewers through seven shutout innings there. His velocity was up a lot across the board as well.

Somebody named McCaid Brown had a strong start for the Rockies. They were facing the Mariners. Five innings, one run, ten strikeouts here for him. And his velocity was also way up. He actually had great numbers in the minors this year, but he plays for the Rockies. So do you think any of these names can matter next year? season, Chris, and likely deeper leagues? I think two of them can. McHade Brown, he's not a totally

uninteresting player, but it's the Rockies. He's not interesting enough to matter there. Randy Vasquez, I don't see any reason to be interested in him. I think he's just a sixth starter for them. Zebby Matthews, we've talked a lot about this season, and he's made us look kind of dumb for a lot of the season, but the things we like about him are still there, 25% strikeout. rate, 7% walk rate, those are both very good marks. His slider gets a ton of wifts. His changeup has the potential to as well. The biggest problem is he gets hit really, really hard.

And that is a bad thing. You don't want to get hit hard as a pitcher. Not bringing any ground there. But it's also something that fluctuates a lot from year to year. And so if that's your biggest limitation as a pitcher, that's not a bad pitcher to bet on. I don't think Zebby Matthews has to be a, I don't even think top 75 pitcher for next season, but a bench throw, a dart throw in a 12-team league or, you know, even in a 15-team league, he might make it to the bench rounds.

I think he's interesting enough for that. And then Hernandez is, there are some skills here. He's been actually, like, putting up pretty decent underlying numbers all season. He has a 423 expected Wobo on contact. It's a very good mark. 341 expected Woba compared to a 332 actual Woba. I don't think he's likely to be more than a high 700s, low 800s OPS bat. But I think he's in a 15-team league.

Herberto Hernandez could matter as a bench piece for 2026. Yeah, we have to see what the Marlins do in the offseason and whether or not he'll have an everyday job or anything. But, you know, he hits the ball pretty hard. He's mildly interesting there, Herberto Hernandez. Hitters who are finishing strong, Francisco Lindor. He had that rough June and July. He was dealing with injury.

But since the start of August, he's hitting 319 with nine homers, 45 runs scored 14 steals, and an OPS over 950. He is one homer away from going 30-30. And I think he's never done it. Is that true? Didn't he do it two years ago? Maybe he's done it once then, but it was surprising. He just missed it last year.

Yeah, when I was looking recently, I don't think he got there. Oh, he did have the 31-31, his second, third year with the mats, yeah. Yeah. He's just, look, you look at the last three years, he's right around 30-30, you know, $255 to 270 batting errors. He's pretty consistent. Awesome second round pick, for sure. Michael Harris, two big games in a row.

He hit two home runs here on Tuesday, and on Monday he had three steals in a game. His updated second half numbers, 296, batting average, 13 homers, seven steals, 837 OPS. Kind of crazy that he's up to 85 RBI with how bad he was in the first half of the season, but the Braves have a lot of great hitters, so I guess that has contributed.

Nico Horner, big September, hitting 373, with 20 runs scored, six steals, 922 OPS and Yvonne Herrera hit another homer last 23 games for him. 293, nine home runs in OPS over a thousand during that time. Anything to add on Harris, Horner, or Herrera? Triple H. Herrera's awesome. Niko Horner is what he is.

Great source of batting average. Score about 90 runs, steal about 30 bases. That has value. Harris is the wild card here. I have no idea what I'm going to do with him in the rankings. He is still, I think, only 24 years old. Is he even 24 years old? That sounds crazy.

He was so young when he broke it. He's 24. He turns 25 in March, so just before opening day. He has, I mean, he hit a home run. I think his second home run today was 450 feet. Wow. Like the physical tools remain outstanding. He hits the ball really hard.

He makes a lot of contact despite having pretty terrible play discipline. I think there's a decent chance that we're looking at the end of 2026 and Michael Harris had a better season than Pete Kromstrung. I think they're very similar players. Kronstrom, a little more in-game power right now because he pulls the ball. But I think those guys, look, you're going to draft Pete Kromstrung head. He stole more bases, but much higher. But they might go 100 picks apart. Yeah, and that might be a situation where it's like, okay, yeah, you'd rather have Pekker Armstrong, but if that's the price difference, I might take Michael Harris and just pass on Pekar Armstrong and just take Michael Harris.

He's only a year younger than Pekar Armstrong. Like that is bonkers. He's almost exactly one year younger than Pekar Armstrong, Michael Harris is. Yeah, that is, you forget how young he was when he got called up. Harris was, but look, he's still great defender. As a result, he's going to play. There's no playing time risk. Yeah. Yeah, it's, it's, and the Braves lineup as a whole should bounce back next season as well. Although, we said that. Almost exact same words this time last year.

That is true. Some leftovers here, Ellie Dela Cruz, might be coming back to life here. Three for three with his 21st home run. He's homered in two of his last four games. Kyle Schwerber hit his 54th home run of the season. Terrick Scoobled pitched well. Also made some boneheaded plays in that game, but six innings, three runs. One of those earned with eight strikeouts here. Christopher Sanchez was great again this time against the Marlins. Seven shutout innings with six strikeouts,

and he leads all of baseball with 22 quality starts on the season. Anything to add on Sanchez, Scouble, Schwerber, Ellie? Nope. Got nothing to add. All right, the call to the bullpen for the Guardians. Kate Smith struck out two for his 16th save. For the Pirates, Dennis Santana got the ninth with a two-run lead. He picked up his 15th save.

Hunter Barco also made his debut. He pitched in the sixth inning of that game. He allowed two hits and actually picked up his first Major League win. For the Phillies, Yohan Duran got the ninth with a one-run lead. He allowed a game-tie-homer took his fifth-blown save. The Phillies would eventually lose in extra innings. For the Red Sox, Irold as Chapman, picked up his 32nd save. for the Braves, Reisel Iglesias, his 28th save.

For the Mets, Edwin Diaz was amazing. He pitched two perfect innings with five strikeouts for his 27th save. How wild is that the Ryssel Eglacius has more saves than Edwin Diaz? Pretty wild. Like, Edel Wiglias. Iglesias lost his job. For like, what, two months? It was like a long time.

At least one month, I would say, yeah. And the Braves are a significantly worse than the Mets. That's weird. Did Diaz get hurt or kind of lose his job for a little bit? I don't think so, right? I think Diaz has had like a fairly quiet year for him because I know the last couple of seasons

there have been some ups and downs but I don't think there's been in, no, he's been available. It's just... Saves are just impossible, Chris. He had... He has four saves since the start of August despite a 255 ERA

entering tonight's start. Edwin Diaz, that is. Edwin Diaz, yeah. Well, that's because the Mets haven't been winning a lot of teams. Yeah, yeah. For the twins, Cole Sands got the ninth inning with a three-run lead. He picked up his third save. For the Mariners, Andrus Munoz picked up his 38th.

For the Giants, Ryan Walker got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He gave up two runs on four hits, took his seventh blown save and seventh loss. Also blew the win for Logan Webb, unfortunately. For the Cardinals on the other side, Jojo Romero got the bottom of the ninth inning with a one-run lead. he recorded two outs, he gave up a hit. He was replaced by Riley O'Brien, who got the final out for his sixth save, and for the Dodgers, this bullpen remains a problem.

Tanner Scott got the ninth inning with a one-run lead, gave up two runs on a hit-by-pitch, a walk, and a hit, took his 10th blown save and fourth loss of the year. Tanner Scott, a 491-year-A and a 127 whip. I have joked that his strategy this season has just been to throw the ball down the middle of the plate and just see what happens. And that's only kind of a joke because his walk rate is way down, but he's become a much worse pitcher as a result.

The game-winning hit to Herald or Pardoma was literally like, I don't know if there has been a more center of the strike zone pitch than the slider he threw to Hroldo-Predomo to end the game today. It could not have been more right smack dab in the middle. He's been bad. I don't know if it's a decision that he made, if it's a Dodgers decision, but all season long, his walk rate has been better than ever. I think it's the lowest of his career. And his expected Wobon contact is by far the highest it's been, I think, since he was a rookie.

And I don't know if it's a conscious decision. I haven't read anything to that extent, but this has not been a tradeoff worth making. You would rather have the unhittable but wild Tanner Scott than what they've gotten this season. To stream or not to stream On Wednesday, we have Bryce Elder Against the Nationals, Tyler Wells Against the Rays, Ryan Weathers at the Phillies,

Max Scherzer against the Red Sox, Tosh Bradley at the Rangers, Stephen Kolek at the Angels, Jonah Tong at the Cubs, Yus Seekuchi against the Royals And Luis Severino, Home Against the Astros. Coleg is okay.

I like Tyler Wells. I think Tyler Wells is fine. I could see a good star from Taj Bradley. I could see a good star from Jonah Tongue. I could see a good start from Usake Kukuchi. I don't think I want to use any of the bottom three, though. Yeah.

I would go Wells, Kolek, and I've said it all week. I'm going to stick with it. Bryce Elder. I think he has a good start against the National League. I picked him up and I'm starting him in a few leagues, so let's go, Bryce Elder. Maybe. He's had a decent run, and the Nationals are very bad. And then on Thursday we have Braxton Ashcraft at the Reds.

I think that will probably be a pretty short start. That's what most of his starts have been recently. Tyler Malley against the twins, J.T. Ginn against the Astros, Jansen Junk at the Phillies, Walker Bueller against the Marlins, Parker Messick against the Tigers. I think Parker Messick's the only one I like. I think Tyler Malley could be okay. I just don't expect him to throw many pitches. He only got up to what, like mid-60s?

Yeah, so maybe 75. Yeah, I think you're probably hoping for 75, maybe 80 at the most. And he could get through five innings. It's possible he gets through six. It's just that's not a great bet to make. He might be second. I would not be surprised if Jansen Junk and Walker Bueller had decent starts, but I'm not going to bet my season on that at this point.

Yeah, Tyler Malley threw 68 pitches in his last start. So maybe 75 to 80 something around there for Tyler Malley. We are going to wrap there for Chris. 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 tomorrow. Bye-bye.

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