Fantasy Baseball Today - Cardinals Promote Masyn Winn! Week 22 Sleepers & Two-Start Pitchers (8/18 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 18, 2023

The Cardinals are promoting Masyn Winn on Friday (1:15)! ... Triston Casas continues to crush in the second half (10:53). ... Chris Sale's velocity was way down Thursday (14:15). ... Julio Rodriguez is on fire (19:58)! ... Let's talk waiver wire outfielders (23:09). ... Jose Quintana continues to pitch well (31:52). ... Lance Lynn vs. Corbin Burnes was fun (34:34)! ... News (38:07): Tim Anderson will start his five-game suspension. ... It's time to preview Week 22 (42:34)! Which two-start pitchers and sleepers should you target? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (56:20). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And welcome in to fantasy baseball today on August 18th. I am Frank Sample joined by Scotty Dubbs, Scott White. Today on the show, fun little pitching duel between Lance Lynn and Corbyn Burns. Sal Freelick was running wild in that game. He had three steals, week 22 sleepers, two star pitchers, and much more. Before we get started, help us out by liking this video and subscribing on YouTube. If you haven't already, and if you're listening on the audio side, download, follow, and leave a five-star rating on.

Apple or Spotify, we really do appreciate it. And Scott, even before the players of the night, we must talk about the Cardinals promoting their number two prospect, Mason Win. The corresponding move here, the Cardinals placed Lars Neupar on the IL with a foul ball off the you know where. Mason win, 21-year-old shortstop, a second round pick back in 2020. The defense coming into the season, it was Major League ready. He instantly gives the Cardinals one of the best infield arms.

in the majors. But I have been pleasantly surprised by the offense this season as I think most people have. A 288 batting average with 18 home runs, 17 steals, and an 833 OPS at AAA this season. Scott, Mason Wynn is 20% rostered.

Your thoughts on him, and maybe what size leagues we should be looking to add Mason Wynn? So I think you should add them wherever you need a shortstop, frankly. I mean, it's one of the most difficult positions to fill off the waiver wire. We've talked in recent years about how it's a deep position.

And there are a lot of really good players at the top of the position. But they're all rostered and have been rostered since the start of the season. And it's obviously the position with the highest defensive threshold. I guess you could argue maybe catcher is. But among the non-catcher position, certainly it's the position with the highest defensive threshold. So not as many players become multi-eligible there. And so it could be really difficult to fill if you lose a shortstop. and Mason Wynn offers the kind of across-the-board skill set that could pay off nicely.

Of course, it doesn't mean that's going to be how it plays out. Of course, we've seen the majority of prospect call-ups this year, I think haven't delivered in fantasy the way we hope they would, and maybe Mason Wynn will fit into that bucket. But there's always that chance, you know, if that's an area of need for you, if you need an upside play, he is the upside play,

or at least one of two, I see who are widely available at the shortstop position. I'll get to who the other is in a second. But to kind of break down win from the skills perspective, low strikeout rate, so makes a lot of contact,

good speed. He's a really athletic player, and this shows up most, I think on the defensive end, particularly with the arm, he was a pitcher for a long time, and he can throw the ball. He's been clocked with 100 mile per hour throws to first base from shortstop. So that'll lead to some highlight plays for win.

That'll be incentive to ensure he sticks at shortstop. The power has been the most questionable part of his game, but it has come around this year, especially and of late, especially. In his last 27 games at AAA, Mason win hit nine home runs in those 27 games while batting 349 and 1153 OPS. So the Cardinals are calling him up when he's so hot

that there's a pretty good chance he'll hit the ground running here and make a nice contribution for your fantasy team down the stretch. there is a very significant drawback that we need to talk about for Mason Wynn. It's obvious that the Cardinals time this in a way that will preserve his rookie eligibility because one of the ways you can lose rookie eligibility

is by having more than 45 days on the active roster. With this call-up, presuming he stays in the majors the rest of the year, it'll be exactly 45 days. So they waited until as they ensured that they would get the maximum number of days of win on the roster without him losing his rookie eligibility. Another way he can lose rookie eligibility is getting 130 at bats, getting more than 130 at bats, which means he can only average like three a game rest of season,

which means he's going to have to sit sometimes. Now, right now, Nolan Gorman's on the IEL. I imagine when he's going to play a lot. When Gorman comes back from the IL, I don't think it's, I don't remember exactly, what is the injury for Gorman?

It's not going to be something. It's a lower back injury. He got an injection on Thursday. Pretty vague timetable with that. But I imagine with him getting an injection, they are anticipating him returning sooner than later. So you may not. be able to rely on being in the lineup every single day, even if he is performing up to the way we hope.

And that's partly why, if shortstop is a need for you off the waiver wire, I would prioritize Royce Lewis over Mason win. Lewis is still too available given his upside. He's still a great. It's been a major league career that's been often interrupted by injuries. But in the 40-year-old or so games he's played in the majors. He's been amazing. He'd about 3.30. Had a couple of very hard hit balls on Wednesday and looks to be their primary third baseman. Now these back in the lineup with shortstop eligibility. Mason Win is the better base stealer of the two, I would say. So if you're specifically selling out for steals, okay, maybe you prioritize win in that case. But I think most people, if Lewis and Wynn are both out there and you're looking for help at shortstop, I would go Lewis overwin. But if Lewis is already gone,

then wins probably your best bet. As I mentioned, Mason win, 20% roster on CBS, so widely available. I think any 12-team Roto Leagues with a middle infield spot or deeper, you know, over at the NFBC, a prospect doesn't become available until he makes his debut.

So people bidding this weekend, they're going to have the opportunity to bid on a Mason win. Again, I know prospects have mostly let us down this year, but I just don't know if there will be another impact prospect to this level. You know, it's got rest of season. I would be surprised.

Yesterday I asked the Welsh for some names that he thinks could get called up in September. And I've actually heard this from other outlets or seen this from other outlets as well. Pete Crow Armstrong with the Cubs is another option. He's another one where I don't know if he would play every single day if he got called up by the Cubs. He's obviously a big impact bad as well. Maybe he's the only other one, but obviously Mason Wynn is here now. So there's a priority on him. And Crowe Armstrong, I think, would be similar in terms of potential fantasy impact,

obviously a different position outfield, but he is a defense first prospect, speed overpower, but some of both. Like, you could see him, you could see it going either, sort of like with Wynn, you could see it going either way, where he, I mean, I think Wynn has the potential to be maybe a Randia Rosarena type at shortstop,

but that's if everything goes right. And obviously there are a lot of outcomes below that. I think Crowe Armstrong would be similar in that way. So, yeah, we could keep an eye out for him. I don't think it's as certain he gets called up as, you know, when we were kind of expecting this to happen at some point late August. I think it's maybe a week earlier than I thought it was going to happen. But it did seem like it was going to happen at some point.

Crow Armstrong a little more uncertain. There's also, I always forget how to say his first name, Seidon Raphaela of the Red Sox, similar in that defensive first prospect. he's a centerfielder, speed and some power, how much the hitting is going to translate to the majors is hard to say, but he's been performing well at AAA lately. And the Red Sox are kind of,

they're taking their, maybe this is a little too harsh, to put it this way, but they're taking their lumps in center field. Adam Duvall, Jaron, Duran playing out there. Neither one of them is a great centerfielder. I think in an optimal, an ideal situation,

they'd move Tanaka. to D.H. You mean Yoshida? Yeah, I'm mixing up his first and last name. Sorry, what's the name? Masataka Yoshida. Correct. And an ideal scenario,

they moved Masataka Yoshida to DH and let one of those two, Duval, Duran, Duran play left field, have Rafaela, Cedan Rafael, play center field to maximize their defense. But I don't think that's 100% sure to happen. And I don't think he's quite of the caliber for fantasy that win or Crow Armstrong

would be. But yeah, I mean, the minor league ranks have been thinned out a lot. A lot of the most interesting players down there we've already seen in the majors before and they just didn't get much of its look or didn't perform well with it like Michael Bush and and Colton Couser. And it's it's never as exciting when the guy gets called up for a second time is when he gets called up that first time. So all of which is to say, this Mason-Win call-up might be the last impact, potentially impact promotion we see this year. All right.

Again, Mason-Win being called up by the Cardinals should be in a lineup here on Friday. With that being said, let's get into the rest of Thursday's action. In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened. All right, Scott, why don't you kick us off here? your player of the night. My player of the night is Tristan Kossis, another Red Sox. Red Sock? Another Red Sox player, Tristan Kossis, one for three with the home run, his 20th home run.

So obviously he's been hot in the second half. We've talked about that quite a bit betting in the second half now, Tristan Kossis slashing 337, 427, 726. He's home at 11 times in 30 games. and this something's changed for him recently something that I was anticipating but I didn't notice

it actually happening until now I was saying the one hesitation with Tristan Koss is for as hot as he is for as much as as as as good as his upside is the one hesitation with him in fantasy is that the Red Sox had been sitting him

basically against every left-handed pitcher and then until that changed he could only have so much of an impact. Well, that has changed. That has changed in a way that leaves no question as to whether or not it's intentional. He started 16 straight games now, as Tristan Kossis. Six of those 16 have been against left-handers. And that includes this game.

That home run he hit was off a left-hander. Patrick Corbin. It was only as... I was going to say, does it count if it's off Patrick Corbyn, though. Hey, Patrick Gordon. It's the only thing they did against Patrick Corbyn today. True. It's third home run of the year off a lefty.

The numbers against lefties still aren't great, but they're giving him chances against them now, and he can only get better against them if he gets those chances. And I think he's a high-end enough prospect who's doing well enough in his rookie season, that they should give him a chance to be a true everyday player for him. He's getting it. And I think, you know, he's mostly rostered in fantasy now, at least in CBS sports leagues. But now I think I can come closer to saying Tristan Kossis is must start. Tristan Kossis up to 84% rostered on CBS.

He is 64% rostered on Yahoo. So if you do play there in the daily lineup leagues, I would say go out there and get Tristan Kossis. He's playing every day. As Scott mentioned, he's hitting the ball hard. He's putting it in the air. He's walking a ton. He's got a great eye at the plate. And you pointed out the numbers against lefties are not great.

The batting average in particular, 197, is OBP against lefties 338? So if nothing else, he is getting on base still against lefties with a 747 OPS. So it could be worse, and it's nice to see that the Red Sox are kind of buying in on Tristan Kossis. And I would prefer him, you know, whether we're talking rest of this season or in a dynasty league, I would prefer Tristan Kossis to a guy I know you guys talked about a lot yesterday, Spencer Torkelson. Not that Torkelson is a bad option,

but I do like Kossis more. I do as well. I updated the rankings the other day. I have Kossis as my 18th ranked first basement. I have Torkelson at 21. So not far off, but I do. I think Kossis has been a little bit more consistent, at least in the second half.

Since the start of July, honestly, Tristan Kossis has been really, really good. Player of the night for me, I'm going to stick with the Boston Red Sox here and talk about Chris Sale, who had an okay outing his second start back from the IL, four and a third innings, three runs, two of those were earned, three walks to three strikeouts. He was fine. The big thing here was the velocity, way down for Chris Sale, and we've seen these fluctuations for, I don't know, it feels like the past five years in velocity when it comes to Chris Sale.

He was, I should probably point out what it was. His fastball is down 2.7 miles per hour. His slider down nearly two miles per hour in this start. His first start back, it was 94.5 miles per hour on the fastball. This one, 91.8. So that is obviously a significant drop. And he was asked about it after the game. Chris Sale said, quote,

just coming back and fighting through it, the ball wasn't jumping out of the hand like I wanted it to, but I was able to, for the most part, make pitches when I needed to. Which I think is indicative of the line. He's right. Like, you know, whatever, he made pitch. pitches. The final line was okay. The question, I think, is for next week, Scott, because it looks like Chris Sails lined up for

two starts. Two very, very tough starts at the Astros, home against the Dodgers, and both of those teams rank in the top three in Wobah against left-handed pitching this season. Your thoughts? I think I would start him, but it is more of a question now than before. something I've pointed out a lot over the past few years with Chris Sale is that his velocity tends to fluctuate a lot. And the fact I've pointed that out a lot is probably a testament to the fact that his velocity tends to fluctuate a lot. Because here it is, again, fluctuating. And so I'm having to point out it's fluctuating a lot.

That said, this is the lowest. It's been in any start this year, 91.8. is what he averaged on it. His previous low this year was 92.1, which happened in early April, I believe his second start of the year. It's also the lowest. His velocity has been in any start since 2019.

So it has been this low before, but it's been a few years. The fact they're not worried about injury, okay, I'm a little more worried than they're expressing, but I'm saying like it's not a sure thing that, okay, Chris Sale is damaged goods based on his velocity being down almost three miles per hour in this start, because again, his velocity tends to fluctuate a lot.

Having said that, I'm also worried that he threw only like 58% of his pitches for strikes in this one. And this was only his second start back from the IL. So it's not like, you know, it's not like we can feel confident that that stress fracture in his shoulder, I believe it was, right? I think so. It's a pretty significant injury to come back from,

and it's not like we can feel confident that, you know, we know he's totally past it, especially since I believe a velocity drop is what caused them to look into the shoulder in the first place. So I do have real concerns for sale. And it's, for us, frustrating that the two-start week lines up right after that. But I think I would have to start him in most cases.

I'm not saying he's must-start, but in most cases I can't imagine I have a good enough alternative to pass up the potential of what sale can do in a two-star week. But I don't know. Do you disagree? I think you said it right. I don't think he's a must-start.

I think in points leagues you can get away with it. I think that's fine. I think in category leagues, you might have to be a little judicious with Chris Sale. If you're protecting the ratios, I think maybe I would play it safe and probably not start him. But if you're chasing strikeouts, if you're chasing wins, maybe you don't care much about the ratios at this point. Then I think it would be fine. So it probably has to be the right situation in a Categories League, but in a points league, I think you're okay to start Chris Sale next week. I mean, and there's always a chance that he doesn't end up making two starts.

I don't know exactly when Tanner Hauk is due back, but that could. Actually, I saw you had him as a two-star pitcher. I think Halk is- No, I do have Chris Hale as a two-star pitcher. I do. That's what I meant, but I think Tanner Halk is supposed to be back on Monday is what they announced. Okay. Howke, the latest update that we got from Roto Wire is Tanner Houton Tantitatively lines up to return Monday in Houston, and he could be part of a six-man rotation if the Red Sox elect to keep Nick Pavetta in a starting-

So I think we're fine then because Paxton, I had Paxton and Sale as two-star pitchers for next week, but Paxton is the one going first between the two of them. And it's not, so would they go, did you just say they were going to go six-man this first time through? They could. It's not, it's not guaranteed. Okay, so presuming Hout does come back Monday and presuming it's a six-man rotation at that point, howk would be the only two-star pitcher for the Red Sucks next week. presuming they kick out Pavetta or something,

then it would be Hauke and Paxton as the two-star pitchers and not sail. Presuming Hauk doesn't come back Monday, comes back later in the week instead, then you're still probably not getting two stars from Chris Hale. So that, I mean, that makes it easier. I'm sorry, it took us five minutes to figure out. Yeah, bench Chris Sale for next week. Yeah, one start at the Houston Astros.

It's, you know, not nearly as enticing, I guess. Oh, my goodness gracious, shout out to Julio Rodriguez. who, you know, if you were ready to label this guy a bust in the first half, which he did underperform, I get that, we still have a whole other half of baseball to play. And he just put up his first five-hit game of his career. He went five-for-five on Thursday with his 20th home run. He had five RBI in that game.

He had four hard hits. Two of those over 1-10 exit velocity. And so far in the second half, Julio Rodriguez, batting 321 with seven homers, eight steals, and a 941 OPS. He became the second player in MLB history to go 2020 in each of his first two seasons. Scott, do you have the rundown up?

Because if you don't, then I will quiz you on who the other player was. Yeah, I spoiled it. Ah! I thought it was so interesting. He joined Bobby Witt, Jr. So they both did it in their first two seasons. The first two players to ever do that.

That's awesome. But it just shows the company that those two players are in right now. Julio Rodriguez, It looks like. They're in company of their own. That's right. There is no company.

They are, they are excluding all company from their club of back-to-back 2020 seasons to begin the year. So just in his last two games now, Julio Rodriguez is 9 for 11. Here it is mid-August in a two-game stretch has been good enough to raise Julio Rodriguez's batting average, 13 points. Wow. from 256 to 269. Which coming into the year, Scott, if you said, what, the median outcome for Julio,

probably what, 260, 270 batting average? And look where he's at. Yeah. I mean, it was 284 last year. He did overperform his expected stats. And the expected stats are actually better this year than they were last year. I'm going to make a bold prediction right now. Uh-oh.

Julio Rodriguez beats last year's batting average. He bats better than 284 this year. Let's go. 269 right now. So it's, he's not going to be getting four or five hits every night. But I'm still going to, I'm still going to make that bold prediction. Let's go, Julio. Let's also take our first break.

And when we return, we'll talk waiver wire hitters, waiver wire pitchers, a pitching duel between Lanslin and Corbyn Burns. We'll talk about that right after this. Welcome back. And yesterday I mentioned our friends over at the Fantasy Football Today podcast. They have their annual draftathon coming up on Wednesday, August 30th from 4 to 10 p.m. Eastern Time. And they've been raising a bunch of money with all of it being donated to St. Jude's Children's Hospital. And if you want to help contribute, you can head to tiny URL.com slash FFT donate.

And you'll find some fun listings on eBay. We currently have another spot in one of our 2024 FBT listener leagues on there, as well as a guest spot on this very podcast. Again, head to tiny URL.com slash FFT donate or scan the QR code in the top right corner of the screen to start bidding. Again, all proceeds will go to St. Jude's Children's Hospital. Let's talk Waverwire hitters here, Scotty, and I've got four outfielders who performed quite well on Thursday. Joey Menesis continues his strong second half. He went two for five with two doubles and five RBI.

I looked up his last 28 days entering Thursday. He was averaging 3.5 fantasy points per game. that was good to make him a top 10 outfielder and a top 10 first baseman during that stretch. Also a top 70 player in Roto during that time. Tyler O'Neill went one for three with his seventh home run of the season. He's got

five homers and two steals since returning from the IL. Tommy Pham went one for four with his 12th home run and in 12 games with the debacks, he's hitting 244 with two home runs and three steals. And Sal Freelich Running Wilde when one for two with two walks and three

steals. I think it was last week's Scott, you said, I want to see South Freelick start running. Well, guess what? He has five steals in the past week. He's done exactly what you've asked him to do. How would you rank this group of four? Joey Meneses, Tyler O'Neill, Tommy Fam, and Sal Freelick. I will go, Sal Freelik one.

I think I'm going to take Tyler O'Neill ahead of Menaces. As good as Menaces has been now for, what, a month and a half. I still don't really trust him to sustain this power production. given what the exit velocities look like and given the complete lack of power prior to this month and a half run for Joey Meneses. So I'll have him third.

So Freelick O'Neill, Menesis, and then fourth. Who was it again? Who's the fourth? Tommy Fam. Tommy Fam. Yeah, distant fourth for him. Though he does have a little more job security after Jake McCarthy got sent back down to the minors.

not see that coming. I had him as a sleeper hitter for the week we're in. But yeah, he's out of the mix. So that does give family a little more job security. I just don't think, don't think, like, he's only been good for stretches for the past two or three years now. I don't think that's going to change. I have two other names that we spoke extensively about yesterday. Kerry Carpenter with the Tigers and Max Kepler with the twins. Would you take either of those names above the group of four we just spoke about? I would take Carrie Carpenter over all of them.

Even Freelick. I think so. Unless you specifically needed steals, which obviously Kerry Carpenter's not going to give you. Freelick, let's see. How much has he been playing against left-handed? So he did play against the last left-hander. He did start against the last left-hander the brewers faced

on Wednesday but I think that's the first time and hopefully it'll continue but that's my biggest concern with Freelick is how much is he going to play and obviously the power production

you'll give Carpenter the edge there it's not even really an edge Carpenter is a much better power hit in South Freelick is what I'm trying to say Freelick's better at everything else but all things being equal

I usually want the power guy what about Max Kepler Yeah, Kepler So he's behind those two Is he ahead of O'Neill And Points Leagues, he's ahead of O'Neill I don't know about in Roto Okay

Let's talk about who else did I have Caber Ruiz We talk about these catchers every day They're just doing something every day It's so interesting Caber Ruiz went three for three With a double and a walk So far in the second half

He's betting 352 with six homers and a 10-10 OPS. He's 59% rostered. So if you're just kind of streaming the hot hand in a one-catcher league, the back half of the catcher position, I know, like Francisco Alvarez has been ice cold lately. I'm not saying I would drop Alvarez for him,

but, you know, if you have an extra roster spot, the other two, we keep mentioning, MJ Melendez, he had two more hits. He's having a big second half so far. Cal Raleigh keeps hitting home runs. He had a pinch hit Homer here on Thursday. So once again, Scott, I'll ask you. to rank Cabr-Ruiz, M.J. Melendez, and Cal Raleigh.

I'm going Ruiz number one, definitely in points leagues. But I think in both of the major formats, and Raleigh 2, Melendez 3. I'm getting to be pretty high on Caber-Ruiz, I have to say. You know, we thought of him as just kind of a slap hitter, basically. the contact skills were so good that it made him usable in points leagues. I know as of yesterday,

he was one of only two qualifying batters with less than a 10% strikeout rate, Luis Ery's being the other. So Caber Ruiz is definitely good at making contact, but the exit velocities have been so low. It's mostly the average exit velocity reading, though. His max exit velocity is 60th percentile, which is obviously better than half the league.

So he can put a charge in a ball. I think his average exit velocity suffers just because he puts so many balls in play that some of them are going to be weaker than others. But he can put the ball over the fence. You know, his last minor league season, he had 21 home runs. He's up to 15 now. And I think he's a top 10 catcher in fantasy at this point. I did want to point out with the Nationals.

I heard this on their radio broadcast on Thursday that they now have 55 wins this year the same amount that they had all of last season. They've done that in oh man, I can't do this kind of math on the top of my... What is this? Like 120 games we're in about 122. So yeah, that's pretty impressive for the Nationals.

You know, I mean, some of these young players emerging, Cabot Ruiz, C.J. Abrams, obviously they have a bunch of other young players coming over the next couple of years. So shout out to the Nationals, man. Turning it around. two outfielders in deeper leagues. We're talking 15 team, five outfielder leagues.

I asked the Welsh about these yesterday. He was kind of optimistic about Nelson Velasquez, Scott. Velazquez now has four home runs in six games with the Royals. He started five of those, and so far this season, the strikeout rate is actually down. He makes a lot of hard contact.

We've seen that in years past, in the minors. We know he can make hard contact. It's just how much contact in general can he make. And Stone Garrett went two for four with a double and three RBI. He has started six straight games for the Nationals. He has 10 hits, two homers, 11 RBI during that time.

In those deeper five outfielder league, Scott, any interest in Stone Garrett and Nelson Velaskins? I would say, yes, in a deep enough five outfielder league. I mean, we were hoping Stone Garrett would get more playing time than he has gotten up to this point. A plus name, by the way. I mean, Stone Garrett, Come on.

Yeah. Awesome. I think we're, I mean, the minor league numbers last year were great. I think we'd like a lot of the data with him, you know, makes hard contact without, we just double-check this as I'm saying it. Him trying to remember. I wasn't sure you were going to ask me about Stone Garrett today. Yeah.

81st percentile max exit velocity, 80th percentile sprint speed. He does strike out too much. but you know it seems like the nationals they've moved on from like Corey Dickerson and that opens up at bats for other guys

remember Alex Call was starting for them early in the year these guys are not so much in the picture anymore and so Stone Garrett is getting his opportunity and doing well with it and that is a good thing I think and Velasquez yeah

a lot of power but a lot of strikeouts it's a common profile. Sometimes it pans out. Sometimes it doesn't. I think the fact he's with the Royals, well, that means a lot more playing time. But obviously, there are factors work against them, bad lineup, bad ballpark.

So, I don't think either of these are players that need to be on the standard fantasy players' radar right now. But I think they both have the potential, Stone Garrett and Nelson Velasquez to

get on their radar if they sustain this for, you know, a week or two more. Two waiver wire pitchers, Jose Cantana has turned in five straight quality starts. He was at the Cardinals where he allowed just two runs over six innings. He had five strikeouts with 11 swinging strikes on 97 pitches. He's 32% rostered. The obvious massive problem is that he is at the Atlanta Braves next week and they are first in Wobah against everybody, but that would include left-handed pitching. And I've got to mention it.

I know it's gross, but it was an interesting start. Patrick Corbyn up against the Red Sox, six innings, one run, six strikeouts, a zero walks. He had 15 swinging strikes on 96 pitches. And his slider velocity was up 1.8 miles per hour. We were talking beforehand. You said, it's been up for quite some time. It hasn't really mattered.

Probably doesn't matter in the long run. Anyway, Scott, anything to add here on Jose Cantana and Patrick Corbyn. So I think the first start it was up was June 28. where he threw seven shutout innings, struck out nine. That was at Seattle. And then the very next start, six earn runs on 10 hits and five innings. And then the start after that, one earn run and seven innings with six strikeouts. So, like, we have seen good starts from Patrick Corbyn since that velocity on a slider jump jumped like one and a half, two miles per hour.

But not the level of consistency needed to really make him worth pursuing in fantasy again. and this start, you know, doesn't change that. It was a good one, but there have been a lot of bad ones mixed in with the good ones. As for Kentana, I wouldn't mind, again, if you have a dead roster spot, I don't know that he's a huge priority. I think he's a pretty limited pitcher. He's a high floor guy, not big upside. But, you know, if you can just stash him on your bench, play him in the right matchups,

that's the role for Jose Cantana at the Braves next week. That absolutely is not the right place to play. Not the tight right time to use him. But as I said, before with Kintana, this was, so this was his fifth straight start with six innings,

five of six since coming off the IL. And that was his big problem last year. Remember, he had the great ERA, but he was often limited to less than six innings, so he just wasn't having a huge impact in fantasy. You know, I think the Mets are giving him the length he needs and he's coming through with it.

Yeah, I agree you have to play the matchups with him, and you want to start him against, team like the Braves, but I think Kentana deserves to be in the glob. And I mean that in a good way. Sometimes I mean in a bad way. But I mean in a good way in this case.

All right. Kintana has graduated. Your diploma? A glob. Let's talk about a good old-fashioned pitcher's duel out in Los Angeles. Lance Lynn versus Corbyn Burns. Burns, seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts,

including 17 swinging strikes on 98 pitches. Did a good job limiting the hard contact in this one. And for the ride that it's been, I understand if you used a first or second round pick on Corbyn Burns, you probably haven't been pleased to get to this point. But a 343 ERA and a 106 whip in this pitching environment, it's still pretty good. It's still pretty good there for Corbyn Burns.

Lance Lynn, this one is so, look, we still have a second half where he can, help us, but it's just so frustrating, Scott, because like, this is the player that we knew was down there all along this season. We knew that Lance Lynn still had this potential, and what happens, all he needed was a little kicking the caboose and a trade over to the West Coast, joining the Los Angeles Dodgers, where on Thursday he threw seven shutout innings. He only had three strikeouts, but he also only allowed five base runners in this start and continues to go four seam fastball heavy so far with the Dodgers.

and in four starts with L.A. He's got a 144 ERA, a 0.88 whip, 25 strikeouts over 25 innings pitched, not walking as many, not giving up as much hard contact. Lance Lynn, he's in the glob. I think he's in the glob, Scott, and I think he is back to, he's not a must start, but I think we are starting him next week at the Cleveland Guardians.

I think so too. Yeah, I mean, four for four in terms of delivering a good outcome with the Dodgers, four total earn runs across those four starts. This was why I know I did, and I know you did to some degree too, why I remained faithful. That's the word I want to use. I remained faithful. Lance Lynn, full of faith for that big guy.

It seemed like he was still a good pitcher and was just getting terrible results for reasons that are hard to explain, but the Dodgers thought so too, and it's gone well since they acquired him. So I have a lot of, I have continued faith in Lancelan, I would say. I can't take as much credit for you, Scott, because I do remember a specific instance where on this very podcast, I just said, I'm done, I've given up on Lance Land. It must have been one of his, I don't know, six, seven, eight earned run starts back in June or July with the White Sox.

At some point, I was out. I was completely done. I didn't even know if he was going to get traded because I didn't know if any team wanted Lance Lynn the way that he was pitching, right? But here you go. I mean, you wind up on one of the best teams in baseball and they've figured it out so far. To be totally fair, I think I reached a point his very last start with the White Sox. And then he got traded and I was like, well, the Dodgers want him. Let's hold on just a little bit longer.

Yeah. My faith in Lance Lynn isn't totally unblemished, but I helped on a lot longer than most people, I would say. Yeah, I held on to him so long in my home league, too. It's a 12-team head to head points keeper league, and I think I dropped him at some point right before the trade deadline, and someone else that I'm chasing picked him up, and it's, gosh, it's so frustrating. But that's the life of a Lance Lynn fantasy manager. Let's talk news and notes. Tim Anderson will begin serving his five games, five games,

on Friday, Lenin Sosa is expected to be called up in his place. Ryan Helsley will resume his rehab assignment Friday at AAA, which is a little surprising. He was just pulled off that rehab assignment on Wednesday with renewed discomfort in his forearm. So maybe he feels a little better. Nolan Gorman was placed in the aisle with a lower back strain. He received a pain-killing injection on Thursday. We mentioned earlier Lars Neupar is on the aisle. Jared Kelnick had the walking boot from his fractured left foot.

removed on Wednesday and resumed some baseball activities. He's 57% rostered should be back sometime in early September. Scott is it a priority to stash Jared Kelnick right now. In a five outfielder league, but he was crashing pretty hard before his IL stint. For a long time prior to his IL stent, actually. That doesn't mean he won't come back hot. He very well may, but in three outfielder leagues, you know, you got, you got, you Marcelo Zuna is still out there

and 30% of CBS Sports Leagues and Chas McCormick still out there and 25% of CBS Sports Leagues. Is that true? Yeah. It feels like it shouldn't be true. Well, I mean, I had Marcelo Zuna as the cover boy for the Waver Wire article

that came out on Wednesday morning. So I think that caused his roster rate to jump from 67% to 70, 71%. So it was just, as of yesterday, it was Marcelo Zuna is rostered in only two-thirds of CBS sports leagues. And that was the highest it had gotten all year. So people reluctant to buy in. But, you know, I came around, I brought that up because it's hard to imagine in a league where Marcelo Zuna is available. You need to be stashing Jared Kelnick.

Yeah. But in something, again, five outfielder leagues, then probably worth doing. just to see if he gets hot. Chas McCormick, by the way, is up to 77% rostered, but that means he could be out there in some 10 or shallow 12 team leagues. He's only 68% rostered on Yahoo.

And I know he kind of scuffled there for a little bit, but if you look at McCormick, his last four games again, he's got seven hits, two homers, a steal, one of the best lineups in baseball. That guy should not be a free agent in any leagues at this point.

Brian Wu is on track to rejoin the Mariners rotation early next week against the White Sox. He is 44% rostered. Would you be looking to re-add Brian Wu? Or, woo. Woo. Sure, why not? There are probably some pitchers I could come up with

to add, before you add Brian Wu. Would you rather have Kentana or Brian Wu? I think Wu, all things being equal. But I'm more... I might take Kentana in a points league, Brian Wu and categories. I mean, Wu is the upside play. Kenton is the safe play.

So it kind of depends what you need more. Yeah. Mason Miller struck out two and gave up no hits over two scoreless innings in his rehab start Wednesday at Singale. Mark Vientos was placed in the aisle with left wrist tendonitis retroactive to August 16th. Michael Brantley played left field

in his second rehab game Thursday. He has not played in a major league game since June 26th of last year. Any interest in Michael Brantley? I can't imagine. I don't know how he's going to where's he going to play? Well, that's part of it.

Yeah, I mean, the way Chas McCormick has come on. They've got Yonner. They got Yonner Diaz that they could play at D.H. You know, it's... Yeah, that's true. It's tough. It probably won't be everyday duty for Michael Brantley. Now, could he in that lineup

get hot and become an attractive pickup at that point? Yeah, but I'm not going to presume that fresh off the IA after that long layoff for a guy in his late 30s. Right. So a lot of odds to overcome there. All right. Javier Baez is expected to return from the bereavement list on Friday. And Joey Luc Casey will be called up Friday to start for the New York Mets.

Let's take our final break. And when we return, we will preview week 22 here on fantasy baseball today. Welcome back. And let's talk week 22, the schedule for next week. We have seven teams with seven games, the Red Sox, the Cubs, White Sox, Reds, Astros, A's, and the Pirates. We have 22 teams with six games and one unlucky team with five games, the Milwaukee Brewers. What's going on with the Rockies next week? They have six road games.

So, nah, not great for the Rockies, and obviously no opportunities there to stream in Coorsfield. All road games for the Rockies, all road games for the Reds, all home. games, I will point out for the Tigers, which looking at some of their home away splits is something to take note of. I had Spencer Torkelson and Carrie Carpenter as sleeper hitters initially, but then I saw it was all home games for the Tigers and I said, never mind. Start or sit these two start pitchers and again, we don't know exactly what's happening with the Red Sox, but let's say James Paxton does make two starts. He's been mostly good, but tough matchups at the Astros home against the Dodgers. Your thoughts? Yeah, I've leaned yes on him.

He's been okay. It's been shorter starts than we had been seeing from him recently. And as you point out, the matchups are tough. But I haven't lost trust in Paxton. I've just been a little less than impressed. I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this one, but let's say Tanner Howe does return on Monday. Same matchups. Astros and Dodgers, 15% rostered. I'm going to guess it's a no. It's a no. All right.

Bailey Ober. Not that I have no hope for Howk making an impact in fantasy, but that's a long odds with those matchups in the first start back. Yeah, for sure. He is a spark. So again, if you want to add him in a points league and kind of hold on to him, that's fine, but not starting Tanner Hauk next week. Bailey Ober has a 6.63 ERA over his last four starts.

And next week, he's at the Brewers and home against the run. Rangers. Yeah. I'm fine with that one, good matchup, one not so good matchup. It's, he's,

he's been shakier recently as he's well over his previous high innings now. But the, the, it hasn't been as, he hasn't like fallen apart quite to the extent

that like a Jose, Jesus Luzardo has. So I still think, I still think you could trust Bailey Ober with two starts. Bryce Elder is coming off his best. start of the season, but even with that, he has a 637 ERA over his last seven starts.

Next week, he faces the Mets and at the Giants. So I'm thinking just points leagues for him because even though his last star was good and maybe got him back on track, throwing the slider more. You know, there have been a lot of really bad starts recently too, so you want to protect that ERA and whip and roto. Plus, he's not a big strikeout guy. So, you know, sometimes you're willing to take the chance. on ERA and whip damage in a category's league

because well, at least I'll get strikeouts from this guy, like in the case of Chris Sale, for instance. But Elder, that's probably not true. So I'm leaving him for points in leagues this week. One name that I noticed you have further down the list, he has pitched well recently. I don't completely buy it, but he's got great matchups on paper next week.

Javier Assad at the Tigers and at the Pirates. He's also a spark for points leagues. Your thoughts? Yeah, I don't see enough to like in the profile. to trust in it. I assume, I mean, I imagine if you're like super streamer guy who just always goes for the pitcher who has the good matchups,

provided he's not, provided he hasn't been a total disaster recently, then you're going to be attracted to Javier Assad. But I'm not the biggest, I'm not the biggest streamer of pitchers, Frank. And I think it's too much risk for, too little reward. I mean, even if he pitches well,

it's not going to be with many strikeouts in all likelihood. All right. With that being said, let's slide over to some two-star pitchers to add and stream for next week. You have five names on the list. One of them who was on the list last week, Graham Ashcraft. I guess he lost his two starts.

I guess he does. And that's been happening a lot. I mean, it happens throughout the year. It's so hard these days to predict a week ahead of time how a team's rotation is going to line up. But particularly this time of year, teams are moving six starters in and out constantly. It was a pretty full schedule this week, but I only have come up with 26 two-star pitchers. So it's a really short list to begin with.

Okay, but among those who I do like as streamer options, two-star pitcher-wise, Zach Lattel, who's pitched well recently for the race, his matchups this week, both home starts, one against the Rockies, one against the Yankees. he's only 24% roster Graham Ashcroft as you mentioned pitched well lately the matches could be better at the Angels at the Diamondbacks but you know

I'm just keeping my fingers crossed he keeps it going don't have a lot of faith long term but it's been a long run of pitching success for him erkiti Jose Orkidi coming off a good start he's going against a Red Sox lineup that hasn't been performing its best recently and then he's at Detroit for a second start, which is obviously a very good matchup.

Paul Blackburn has had a fair number of strong starts for the athletics this year. Obviously not a lot of win potential, but the matchups are very good against the Royals and at the White Sox. And then Mike Clevenger, you could think about him too.

His last two starts were good. Not in a way that gives me a lot of faith, but I don't know. He's my 10th streamer pitcher option for this week. It's hard to come up with 10. he is making two starts. Last two starts were good.

Matchups are Mariners, athletics. I'd be hard-pressed to start on myself. But if you have a higher tolerance level for risky streamers, then Mike Clevenger is somebody you could consider. And I do prefer him to somebody like Javier Assad. Well, Scott, I think that I might have a higher threshold then because famous last words. But I kind of like Mike Clevenger for next week.

I agree. What he's doing does not seem sustainable based on the underlying metrics. The matchups pretty good. I know the Mariners have hit better recently, but the Oakland A's, that's pretty good. So I kind of like it. Mike Clevenger, 45% rostered for next week.

Single-star streamers, you've got five names on this list. Who are they? Okay, and so the top three here I like better than my top two-start streamer, which was Zach Lattel. Cole Regans at the Athletics. Chase Silseth at the Mets, I think those two are the leading contenders for top breakout pitcher of the second half. They both will have a start prior to us setting our lineups. So when I do the Sunday update as I do every week for these sleeper pitcher and hitter recommendations,

I may have to move Riggins and Silseth down depending how their weekend start goes. But in theory, you know, they pitch well of late in ways that look like they could be, sustainable and those are great matchups obviously at Oakland for Regens at the Mets for Sil Seth. I also like Seth Lugo. His matchup is against the Marlins. That's still a good one.

And then after some of those two-start streamers I also have here Kyle Hendricks at the Pirates, Ranger Suarez against the Cardinals, two guys who probably aren't going to dominate but have a very good chance of giving you

a quality start. All right. Let's slide over to the hitters. Best matchups for next week. The Oakland A's, the Pirates, Cubs, Mariner's, and the Nationals. The worst hitter matchups for next week. The Brewers, Giants, twins, Red Sox, and the Padres. With that being said, Scott, your 10 sleeper hitters for next week. And oh my, I just, I love it.

Full circle, the first name on this list. Oh. Love it. Zach Gelloff. Yeah. Who, by the way, I will point out that when I did my Sunday update last week, I inserted him as the number three sleeper hitter. So if you checked the most updated sleeper hitter list,

you would have seen Gelloff third on that. I'm still going to say he's mostly just really hot to begin his career. But remember last time I talked about Zach Gelloff extensively, I said that while he does, hit line drives at a high rate, hit fly ball is at a high rate, pull the ball at a high rate, and that might be enough for him to be productive

in spite of the relatively low quality of contact and high strikeout rate. That's a combination that shouldn't work. Low quality contact, high strikeout rate. And I'm still going to bet against it. The odds are better than not that Gelloff will regress in a pretty significant way moving forward. I did say at that time, though,

that I couldn't think of a single player with a profile like that making it work. Matt McClain's profile is an awful lot like that. Not quite as extreme as Gelloffs, but it's in a similar vein, and he has made it work. Now, obviously, he's making it work in the most Homer-friendly ballpark and baseball, well, Gellof's environment is not that.

But I do maintain some skepticism, but I do see a path that maybe Gelloff can remain a long-term fantasy option. That's not even really the point of this discussion. It's just as is he a good start for the upcoming scoring period. And yes, the athletics have the best matchup. He's obviously very hot. Zach Gelloff is in for me.

Also, Marcelo Zuna, Chas McCormick. In both of their cases, it's just, well, their matchups aren't bad and they've been good for a long time, so really they shouldn't even qualify for this list, but they do by roster rate. Josh Bell and Jake Berger, the Marlins' two acquisitions have been,

two deadline acquisitions have been hot lately. Kivirt Ruiz, who we talked about, if you do need a catcher option. Brian Hayes, who has been swinging a hot bat, the pirates have the second best hitter matchups, as you pointed out, and they're scheduled to face four lefties. These numbers are much better against lefties.

So I think that's a good reason to believe Brian Hayes could keep it going, Joey Manessus. Nationals having the fifth best matchups. I think he's a good bet to keep it going, at least for one more week. And then if you need to go a little deeper here for a sleeper hitter,

two guys who are less than 50% rostered. Lawrence Butler, the rookie can hopefully take advantage of those very favorable matchups for the A's. Luke Rayleigh of the Rays has done some damage lately after a long cold stretch

and they're scheduled to face four righties so he should get a healthy number of a batts. Last point here on Zach Gelloff. I thought of another player that I think kind of fit that mold

where doesn't have the most impressive quality of contact and does strike out quite a bit and you and I actually debated him earlier this season. Josh Young and Josh Young has, before he got hurt,

had a pretty successful rookie season. So that was another one that came to mind. And you keep saying the quality of contact is not good, Scott. Or I guess not good compared to the strike. I know the high, I know the average exit velocity is high for Gell-off. But when you're hot, your average exit velocity is going to be high.

It's more than max exit velocity. I hear what you're saying. But a 46% hard hit rate, a 14 and a half percent barrel rate? Yeah, well, you're hot, especially barrel rate. I mean, that's, I say that all, the time. That's a, that's a reflection of how hot you are. I know. I'm not saying players never have better barrel rates than others, but when you're hot, it's hard not to have a good barrel

rate, basically. I just, I want to give Gell off a little bit more credit on the quality of contact because the max E.S is lacking, but overall, I think it's been pretty impressive. So, I, the Josh Young comparison, I can see to some extent, but just to demonstrate the difference, his max at exit velocity Young's is 59th percentile. So better than, you know, more than half the league. Gelloffs is 31st percentile. So far. So far.

It's a blue slider while Young's is a pink to red slider. All right. All right. Where are we using Otani next week? I think at this point, we've seen, he's been fine as a pitcher, but he's also kind of left with some, you know, fatigue and some blister stuff over the past month. So I think it's just use him as a hitter for the time being. Maybe if you're really, really desperate for pitching.

But as a hitter next week, Otani will face Graham Ashcraft, Andrew Abbott, TBD. Never heard of him. Joey Lucchase, Kodaisanga, and Carlos Carrasco. Let's wrap up with some leftovers here on the hitter side. Pete Alonzo stayed hot, one for three, with his 37th, home run and in the second half he's batting 257 with 11 home runs and a 969 OPS. It's very Pete Alonzo-esque. And I did want to point out with Francisco Alvarez.

July was a great month. He had 275 with a 974 OPS. But if you look at his monthly production, he has been so streaky. His OPS by month this year starting in April, Francisco Alvarez, 494, 974, 534, 974, 974, 542. So I guess that just means he'll be awesome in September. That is Francisco Alvarez. Few pitching leftovers here. George Kirby had a subpar outing at the Royals. Six innings, four runs allowed, with only two strikeouts. He allowed 12 hard hits in this game. And that is how George Kirby, when he does get in trouble, that's how it usually happens. Obviously,

pitches more to contact and gives up a decent amount of hard contact at times. And speaking of hard contact. Zach Gellon, Gallen, Gellon, who's Gellon? Zach Gallin turned in a quality start at the Padres. Six and a third innings, one run allowed with three strikeouts. He only had three swinging strikes. 14 hard hits in this game for Zach Gallen. I was watching it. Lots of line drives right at defenders,

a few fly balls to the warning track. I think it was a pretty lucky start here for Zach Gallon, at least based on what I saw. Anything to add on Corby, what is wrong with me, Scott? It's the end of the week. I'm saying names wrong. What's happening?

Kirby and Zach Gallen. Any thoughts? Well, yeah, there is a concerning trend here with Zach Gallen. So his last eight starts, he has a swinging strike rate of less than 10%. I think only one of those eight starts had double-digit swinging strikes. So he's just not missing many bats lately. It hasn't so much mattered in terms of performance. he, during that same eight-star stretch, a 320 ERA, a 0.99 whips.

So those numbers have actually gotten better than what they were prior to that. Less than a strike-out per inning during that stretch. And that's concerning in its own right. But I will also point out, Zach Galen has had stretches like this in the past, and I worried too much and called him a bust candidate, and it turned out he wasn't a bust. So I'm trying to be careful not to over it. overreact. He's what's the

Cy Young frontrunner in the NL still, right? I would say. Him and Blake Snell, I think. Wow, that would be amazing. Blake Snell? Blake Snell leads baseball in ERA and walks.

Never been done before in Major League history. I mean, innings-wise, he's got to be way behind Gowan, right? I would imagine. I'm not going to pull up the wars and compare them. But I'm going to say, Gallon is the front runner currently and that's reason enough not to

consider sitting him. But yeah, the swinging strikes have been concerning. They have indeed, let's see, Blake Snell a 265 ERA over 136 innings and Zach Gowan, where are you

Zach Gowan? Ah, 317 ERA over 162 so what is that? That's 26, 26, 26 inning lead for Zach Allen there over Blake Snow. For four to five starts worth of innings. Yeah. That's a lot.

The call to the bullpen. The Mariners, Andres Munoz, was given another day off. Matt Brash struck out one for his fourth save. A save that is back-to-back games with a save for Matt Brash. And, Scott, do you think in deeper category leagues, Matt Brash might be worth an ad? Yeah. Yeah, as insurance for Munoz,

The fact he got saves in back-to-back days doesn't mean much to me because Munoz obviously needed those days off. He threw 42 pitches two days ago, and it worked a lot in the days leading up to it. So there was no way they were going to bring him back for either of these games. Brash almost blew the save the first day. He was fine in this one, but I still think Munoz is the obvious closer for the Mariners.

For the Nationals, Kyle Finnegan gave up two hits but picked up his 19th save. For the Mets, Brooks Raleigh and Adam Anavino were both unavailable. Trevor Gott picked up his first save of the season. For the Diamondbacks, Paul Seawald was unavailable. Flamethrower, Justin Martinez. This guy was regularly hitting 102 miles per hour. It was pretty impressive to watch.

He picked up his... He does not know where it's going, though. No, he does not. 40 walks and 40 innings at AAA. Ooh, gosh. First save of his career for Justin Martinez. and for the Dodgers, Evan Phillips picked up his 18th save of the season. Let's wrap up with to stream or not to stream, Scott's favorite segment ever.

Yeah. We will start with Friday where I think I know Scott's going to be pretty excited about Cole Reagan's, maybe, at the Cubs. Cubs lineup is hot, though. Oh, yeah. I mean, they're top five offense now in terms of runs scored. Let me just double check that to make sure that's still true. It is. But not as good against lefties, and Cole Reagan's shut down the Red Sox a couple turns ago.

I like a lot of the improvements he've made. It's risky, but that's inherent to any pitcher we would mention here. That you're taking a big risk that you're probably better off not taking. Reagan's at least offers the potential for high rewards. I'm pretty sure risk is Andrew Heaney's middle name, but he is facing the best. Brewers on Friday and Seth Lugo against the Diamondbacks. I think he's fine. Also risky, but yeah. All right. Those are the best three choices. Let's slide over to Saturday where another favorite, Chase Silset will be facing the Tampa Bay

Rays and other names that I think we could. I'll just throw them out to you. Let me know. Brady Singer at the Cubs. We've got Christopher Sanchez at the Nationals. Brandon Williamson has pitched well. He's facing the Blue Jays. Cole Irvin in a revenge game at the Oakland A's. Hmm. That's interesting. But you could see that going disastrously too. I mean, it's unfortunate that the best names don't have very good matchups,

as is the case with Chase Silseth, but the Rays haven't been as good recently. So I think he's the top choice for Saturday. Number two for me would be Christopher Sanchez. and number three would be, I'm going to go with Williamson. It's a distant third. Cole Irvinforth,

if you're really pushing it at Oakland. You know, he had a lot of success pitching in Oakland specifically the past couple years. And on Sunday, the names that I am looking at here, I think Logan Allen against the Tigers, You know, Ranger Suarez has been up and down. He's at the Nationals. They're actually pretty good against left-handed pitching,

but, you know, he's been solid. Kyle Hendricks, again, he's solid. Facing the Royals, I'll point out the Royals in August, they have been crushing the ball, so it's not as easy of a matchup as it used to be. So just throw that out there. I think Dakota Hudson against the Mets is okay. I think Logan Allen's probably my favorite, though.

Yeah, I agree. Allen, then Ranger Suarez. than Kyle Hendricks are my top three from Sunday. All right, 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 Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again next week.

Bye-bye.