Fantasy Baseball Today - Chase Burns Disaster, Wilyer Abreu Historic Night & BUY OR SELL (7/1 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 1, 2025

Chase Burns got destroyed by the Red Sox (2:30). ... Jacob Lopez also had a rough outing (8:25). ... Wilyer Abreu had himself a historic night (12:40). ... News (21:55): Jeremy Peña went on the IL with a fractured rib. ... George Kirby might be back (33:45). ... Adolis Garcia is picking things back up (35:29). ... Ryne Nelson keeps getting away with it (45:26). ... BUY OR SELL, June struggles edition (50:28). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (1:03:15). 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/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Our sincerest apologies if you started Chase Burns. Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today and welcome to July.

It's already July. I am Frank Stiffel joined by Scott White and Chris Tower. Today on the show, we had a historic night from Williare-A-Brayu. George Kirby might be back. We'll do a little buy or sell and much more, but let's jump in. Oh my goodness gracious. I feel like that was the only way to go into Chase Burns' start because it's just fitting. Chris, take it away. It was really bad. He gave up five runs on five hits in a couple of walks while recording just one out. Seven total runs, five of them earned.

It was the ninth start of the season where a pitcher failed to get out of the first inning while allowing at least five runs. That's really bad. And I don't know. Does it change how I think about Chase Burns? Not really. I don't know if you guys saw, but there was some like talk that he might have been tipping his pitch.

I saw a A screenshot that he kind of had his glove a little more closed when he was throwing his slider And he was raising his leg a little more when he was throwing his four seamer and it's like Well, there's only two pitches. Well, yeah, I mean he threw like two changeups But yeah, I I don't know that that's one of those things where it's like could that really be the explanation? But then you like you remember Jesus Lazzardo and it was something similar where or pitches his glove was to open and I don't know. Yeah, too open on the change up.

Yeah, these things feel like they shouldn't matter as much as they do, but it's just a reminder that like the margin for error when you're competing against the absolute pinnacle of the sport is minuscule, even if you throw 99.3 miles per hour with your fastball like Chase Burns did. But I did want to just kind of look back through history and see were there other. examples of pitchers in the last few years early in their careers having starts like this and went on to succeed. And I found a couple. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, if you guys remember, his very first

major league start, he gave up five runs in one inning. Clearly that has not stopped Yoshinobi Yamamoto from being a good fantasy pitcher. Yuri Perez, obviously not as established, but he also had a start like this within his first 10. and Jose Barrios had a start way back in, I don't know, 2016 or 2017, whenever he was a rookie, where he walked four, gave up five or six runs in one inning, didn't get out of the first, and clearly it has not stopped him from having a good major league career.

That's kind of the end of the list of pitchers who have gone less than an inning while allowing five runs within their first 10 starts, which are the parameters I used. but it just goes to show that a start this bad does not necessarily mean chase burns cannot be a good pitcher moving forward i think you look at jesus lazardo's struggles over those two starts as another example of that and i think you just i think it's fine to let your faith in him be shaken especially in the short term if you have the choice to start chase burns for his next start i think it's reasonable to not do that I'm certainly not dropping him. And my long-term expectations for Chase Burns have not really changed. One start, no matter how bad or good, does not define a pitcher. And I don't think this start will be definitional for Chase Burns.

I do think the tipping pitches is a fair explanation. Just looking into the numbers here, he couldn't fool anybody. I mean, five hard hits, 96.3 average exit velocity. So they were on him. It's almost as if they knew it was coming. The Red Sox broadcast speculated. You know, you saw Jaron Duran go back and kind of talk to whoever was on the on deck circle there. So, you know, I think that's a fair explanation based on how this one played out

and how much hard contact and the way that they were just, you know, very clearly squaring him up in this one. I agree at the Phillies next time. It's another hostile environment, tough place to pitch, tough lineup to face, Bryce Harper's. back there as well. If you're locked in in a weekly lineup league in a two-star week, you know, just pray, say a prayer tonight, tomorrow, whenever you're listening to this because

not exactly sure how that's going to play out. I agree with you long-term. This doesn't really deter or change how I feel about Chase Burns, but for the short term, I mean, it might take him a couple starts to kind of figure this out and I don't know, not tip his pitches, I guess, right?

Well, a pitch tipping thing is very simple. figure out how you're tipping the pitch and stop doing it. And I don't think if that's what this is, if that's what's going on here, and it sounds like there's a lot of speculation, both online and even on the broadcast itself, which means it's going to make its way back to the Reds. I mean, and I think they'll solve it. So, you know, next start, he may go out and dominate. I agree that just to play it safe, if I am in a daily lineup league,

at probably bench Burns for that start. But if that turns out to be what happened to Burns in this start, it's going to be a very quick turnaround. On the other side, by the way, if you were hoping this was some kind of awesome pitchers duel, I mean, Crochet was fine. It was kind of a mixed start for him too. But even he gave up five runs in this one,

four earned, six innings, nine strikeouts. Just the third time the season he's allowed four earned runs in a start. He has nine plus. The third time he's allowed more than two earned runs. in 18 starts. He has been money. Nine plus strikeouts in eight of 18. Six plus innings in 13 of 18 starts for Garrett Crochet.

So, you know, mixed results here. Still wound up with the win, obviously. He's been so great all season. But obviously, Chase Burns was a big talking point for today. We'll get to what the Red Sox did on the other side in this one. But before we do that, let's just get all the bad out of the way. Scott, your player of the night for some more. wrong reasons.

Yeah, the second widely started to start pitcher, who was bad. My number one sleeper pitcher for this week, I will add, Jacob Lopez. Against the athletics, he allowed four runs, three earned in just three and a third innings. Leg Burns wasn't missing any bats,

one strikeout, just three swinging strikes on 50 pitches. And it's certainly possible. that the gimmick is just run out here. It's just run its course. The unique look that Jacob Lopez offers from the left side, you know, enough video has gotten around that teams know what to look for more and he's just not going to be able to follow him.

That could be what's going on here. But I will note that the movement was off on his best two with pitches, is the change up and slider both had a couple more inches of vertical break than they usually do. And so, you know, if your pitches aren't moving right, then it's probably not going to go well, regardless of how unique your delivery is. So it may be that too, but it's another situation where, like, Jacob Lopez isn't established enough that we could just brush this one off and assume he's going to be fine next time.

So sort of like with Burns, if you have the option of benching him for his second start this week, which I don't think is a particularly favorable matchup, that was the thing about Jacob Lopez is like the matchups weren't great, but there was two of them. But if you have the opportunity to sit him, then that would probably be wise. And if that one goes poorly, then we're probably talking about dropping Lopez, which is not something I'd say about Burns. I'd give Burns more time than back-to-back bad starts. but Lopez doesn't get that same benefit of the doubt. His older stuff is just not as good. You know, we've talked about it a few times,

but I think a big part of his success so far is just he's really weird. His arm slot is weird. His delivery is weird. His pitches don't move the way most left-handed pitchers move. And so even in this one, like he still had seven of his 14 batted balls, had an XBA below 200. So he was generating some weak contact, but it was also only three swings and misses.

This is one that whenever hitters caught up to him, I figured it would happen pretty quickly. I wasn't necessarily saying it was going to happen in this start, and I would have started him and did start him in a few spots. But I think this does just highlight the margin for error here is probably pretty slim. I have a theory So he was a former Ray's pitcher

Perhaps they had the book On Jacob Lopez He I did see one of the Ray's beat writers saying That like six of the guys that were in the lineup today played with him In AAA last year So yeah they've

Almost certainly seen a lot of him Yeah just a theory And that's another reason to hold on a little longer if you're talking about dropping them right away or not it's also another reason to think that eventually with enough looks the league is going to catch up to him

if some of the hitters who knew him best were able to see through his trickery so that's kind of a good news bad news situation yeah and that was another game just bad pitching all around drew Raspicin on the other side three innings four runs only two strikeouts in that one. He gave up a good amount of hard contact. Everything just got hit hard, basically.

But it's also just the third time he's allowed four earned runs this season. Still has a 278 ERA and a one whip on the nose there. So Rasperson has his limitations on a start-to-start basis. He's not going to go that deep, but generally when he's pitched, he's still been very, very good. Just a rough outing here against the athletics.

Let's get back to the good and talk about this historic game for Willier-Abrey, which came against Chase Burns, at least part of it did. First player to hit a Grand Slam and an inside the park homer since Roger Maris did it back in 1958. So, awesome game here for

Abreu who is now, now has 16 home runs in the season, 45 RBI, four seals. That's with an IL stint in there, so it's been a very nice season all around for Willie Arbrew who's hitting the ball hard, his barrel rate looks good, his numbers and expected numbers

are basically like two T exactly so everything has this kind of worked out very nicely here for Williare Brayu. I don't know that there's much more to say outside of he's having a great season and I just pretty much buy him as a must-start outfieler. I will just say he really needed a good game because his expected stats have really been in the tank lately. I guess he's had a couple of good games in the past three, but his ex-Wobo over the past 100 plate appearances, 248. That's pretty bad.

So I think I'm more skeptical about a Brayu, but I think he's probably fine. He does still sit against a lot of lefties, so I would stop short of calling a must start in three outfielder leagues, but in five outfielder leagues, I would give Williard Brayu the must start. I think so.

Yeah, he has been subpar against lefties this season. 229, batting average, one homer, 696 OPS there for Wilierey. But on the whole, when you just look at everything he's done, it's been a pretty great season, a breakout campaign here for Wiliaree. Let's stick with the Red Sox because they put up a bunch of runs

in this game. Trevor Story wraps up a very strong June, 2 for 4 with his 12th home run. In the month, hit 286 with five homers, 23 RBI, four steals, and 827 OPS. He had a solid April, awful May. Very good June. Overall, 237, 12 homers. 13 steals.

65% rostered for Trevor Story sounds right. I mean, his plate discipline's awful. I don't think he needs to be rostered in points leagues, but probably in all middle infield leagues and maybe even, you know, head-to-head category leagues just because he provides power and speed. Sure, I agree with that.

And I would think that some of the people who lost Jeremy Paynea today in those 35% of leagues where Trevor Storries available, he might be their best option on the Waverware. Oh yeah, we will get to that. little bit. Nostradamus, Dr. Chris Towers, called that one right on, right on the nose. Roman Anthony, slowly coming around. Three straight multi-hit games for him.

Just a name we haven't really talked much about since he's been called up. Overall, you know, it's been underwhelming, 210 batting average, 6.68 OPS, but the play discipline metrics look amazing. He's hitting the ball extremely hard. The one thing that's kind of holding him back is he has a 55% ground ball rate, but based on everything else under the the hood, I would say good things are coming for Roman Anthony. And Anthony had some issues with hitting the ball on the ground too much as a prospect. And that might just be, you know, maybe that's the thing that holds him back from being a superstar. I don't think it's going to hold him back from being a very, very good hitter. And obviously, I think if he figures it out,

like you said, most of the process stuff is very good. And so if what we're seeing right now, like the skill set is what he becomes, I think that's probably still a very good player. And then if he starts elevating the ball more consistently, you're talking about unlocking some of those superstar upside outcomes. And I feel like this is the norm rather than the exception for a high-end prospect. To be a high-end prospects these days, you pretty much have to make very hard contact. And usually that hard contact manifests more as ground balls. as a player is coming up through the minors and has to make that adjustment into his big league career

because there's it's time to get it started you know you can't you can't wait for that part of the development process to happen in the miners always you know we saw it with james wood last year it's not like it's held him back here in his sophomore season and i think in the long run and nothing nothing no matter what if anthony's groundball rate was 85% It really shouldn't change your long-term outlook for him, but certainly at 55% and with him beginning to get some hits. I think by the end of this year, we'll view Anthony as a must-start player.

Last name I wanted to bring up was Jaron, who went one-for-three with his sixth home run, and he has been slumping previous 22 games before this. 183 batting average 609 OPS 30% strikeout rate. Interestingly enough, he's hitting the ball harder this year. I mean, elite level stuff, 92.1 average exit velocity, but his home run to fly ball rate has been more than cut in half. So I kind of think Jaron's a buy low.

Do you guys agree? Yeah, I was actually just writing earlier today about, you know, as we're at the unofficial halfway point here, about some hitters who still haven't really come around, some that I believe in, still and some that I'm not believing in as much anymore. And I ultimately chose not to write about Jaron Duran because I didn't have a strong feeling either way. I mean, on the one hand, his expected stats are pretty lame, even with the harder average

exit velocity, the higher average exit velocity. But on the other hand, they've always been pretty lame. And he managed to put up a very similar slash line each of the last two seasons. overachieved to the same degree. So I'm not sure that should really sway me the fact that he has a 258XPA, a 406 X-slug. If his other readings, the exit velocity, the plate discipline, the pull air rate, if they're the same or better than the last two years, then in theory, Jaron Duran should be too.

And so that's my leaning on him right now. I haven't really moved him down in my outfield rankings. I moved a couple of outfielders past him, James Wood and Pete Groh Armstrong. But I haven't really moved Durant down, and I maintain that. The one thing I would add is his average exit velocity on line drives and fly balls is actually down from 94.8 to 94.5.

That's negligible. It's basically the same as last season, but it does suggest that like the growth in the average exit velocity is not necessarily, should not necessarily come with the expectation that he's going to be a dramatically better hitter because he's not hitting the ball in the air harder. He's also struggling mightily against left-handed pitching 2.13 batting average, one homer, 565 OPS. That, I don't know, that kind of seems like a theme right here for lots of Red Sox hitters.

But I know he was bad against lefties last year. that bad. So hopefully it does get better. I still think there's a buy window here on uh, Jaron Duran. I generally agree with that. Yeah. Big thanks to those watching us 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 today. Let's hit the news and notes. Chris, you called this one Jeremy Pena placed on the IL Monday due to a small rib fracture on his left side. Bummer because he's been one of the

surprise breakouts so far this season. But if you are looking for replacements, in particular, if you need speed, Xavier Edwards, 70% rostered. Still could be out there. Trevor Story, who we mentioned earlier. The other two names that popped up as just they're hot right now,

Ceylon Raphaela and Otto Lopez. Those kind of feel like the kind of obvious shortstop replacements, I guess. I think they're all fine And We were talking about Otto Lopez yesterday And I happened to notice today He's at 2.94 head-to-head points per game

This year Which is pretty solid It's higher than Brendan Donovan at this point I know Donovan's kind of cooled off It's pretty close to Moogie Betts I know Moogie Betts is having a bad season but yeah that definitely puts auto lopez even in the head-to-head points discussion not just rhodo not just middle infielder leagues that said i think i would take zavier edwards over him

edwards had a good june i can use past tense now because it's july first um and he he hasn't been running as much as last year but he hasn't been getting on base as much either so i i think both of those are going to correct. I think better days are ahead for Edwards. I'll also throw Ernie Clement is shortstop eligible along every other position basically. He's hot. Brooks Lee

is also hot. His batting average has been pretty solid for a while now. I don't know how much I buy that, but if you want to play the hot hand in a deeper league Yeah. Yeah, I don't believe in Brooks Lee. Those are probably, yeah, the extent of the... Because it's

low... He doesn't hit the very hard at all and it's bad plate discipline, but in deep leagues, he might be your best choice. And then in really deep leagues, it's bad at shortstop, but Joey Ortiz has at least shown signs of life over the past month.

He's been a lot more aggressive. He was like, he was swinging at like the lowest rate of pitches of any player in baseball through the first two months, and he's been much more aggressive and it's led to better results. So if you're truly definitely, desperate, I guess Joey Ortiz can be an option as well.

All right, Corbyn Carroll will begin taking dry swings on Tuesday, first time swinging a bat since going on the IL with that chip fracture in his left wrist. Hunter Green is scheduled to throw a bullpen on Wednesday. He'll throw again this weekend. And if all goes well, should begin a rehab assignment sometime next week. Wyatt Langford is expected to return from the IL when first eligible on Saturday, which leads me to believe maybe this injury, wasn't that severe and perhaps they were using this as a bit of a reset for Wyatt Langford who obviously was really bad for the month before he got hurt so well yeah I mean I don't want to read into it that much it could just be an abundance of caution that since in recent years the IL for position players has been reduced to 10 days it kind of incentivizes what what might have been considered day-to-day injuries in the past

to just put them on the IEL, make sure they're totally fine. And we don't rush them back too soon. So it might be as simple as that for Langford. Alex Bregman is feeling great and we'll have his status reassessed this weekend. Shane McClanahan is scheduled to throw a full intensity bullpen session here on Tuesday. Boba Chet was scratched from Monday's lineup due to right knee discomfort. He's day-to-day and is not expected to undergo additional testing. However, I will point out that the wrong.

Right leg is the one that's given him a bunch of issues in his career. Last year it was the calf. In 2023, it was both the quad and Pateller tendonitis in that same right knee. So I think it's a situation to watch and monitor here for Boba Shet. Hunter Goodman is expected to go on the aisle with that hamstring strain. George Springer left after a hard slide at third base where he banged his head and throat off of Jazz Chisholm's knee. It looks a little scary during the moment, but. But he was able to...

Not like banging the throat. No. He was able to walk off and expected to play on Tuesday. Trent Grisham left early with left hamstring tightness. Josh Naler has missed three straight due to neck spasms. Matt Chapman may be able to return when the Giants begin their next home stand on July 7th. Anthony Santander is nearing the start of a hitting progression. And it turns out that he suffered a partial dislocation of his shoulder back in early May.

It wasn't, well, I guess it was inflammation, but they learned after the fact. That was the source of the inflammation. Yeah, that it was kind of a severe injury there. Blue Jays doing their best Astros impersonation, I guess. Jordan Westberg said Monday that he's likely... Well, he played almost all of May, Santander. It's worth noting. So this happened at the beginning of May, and he played the whole month with that dislocation.

So it might help contextualize his awful number. I mean, April, anybody can have a bad April in the coldest month of the year, but then he was terrible in May too, and that might explain it. He was playing hurt. Jordan Westberg said Monday that it's likely his injured left index finger won't be 100% for a while,

but he's hoping it will be, quote, good enough to play within a day or two. Austin Wells will be unavailable the next couple days due to a circulation issue in a finger on his left hand. As expected, Zach Eflin was placed in the aisle with lower back discomfort. Tyler Malley has been diagnosed with a right rotator cuff strain and will not return until August at the earliest. Jake Berger will begin his rehab assignment Tuesday and is expected to be activated this weekend, assuming there are no setbacks.

Tyler O'Neill could be activated at some point during the Uriel's current road trip. He's 44% rostered and a name in category leagues if you need power. Charlie Morton's next start has been pushed back from Tuesday to Friday due to low-grade right elbow. and denitis. The A's promoted outfield prospect Colby Thomas, but the plan is to primarily use him as a pinch hitter against left-handed relievers, which doesn't sound like the best use of a prospect who's put up big numbers in the minors, but... Where are they going to play him? Yeah, I guess. Like, unless they just want to bench Tyler Soderstrom, but I don't think they're quite there yet,

but, you know, if they're willing to pull him out of some games late and maybe give Colby Thomas a a start against some tougher lefties. You know, that could tell us something about how they're feeling about Tyler Soder Shaw. I know we like those highlight real catches Denzel Clark has had, but he has been dreadful as a hitter. I don't think they can sit him. Their outfield defense is so bad without him.

And even with how bad he's been as a hitter, he's been worth 0.7 war from fan graphs in 32 games because he legitimately might be the best defensive player in baseball already. It's crazy. It's not just the highlight real catches. There was one today I was watching where like he covered 60 feet in like the blink of an eye. He is so good out there. Yeah, I don't think there's any way they can sit him. Yeah, the early returns on the metrics here, 99th percentile outs above average for Denzel Clark, 95th percentile sprint speed. So it covers lots of ground and last I saw he was like a run behind Pete Kerr Armstrong as the most valuable defender in center field in like two third or a third as many innings. He's been outrageously good. And Casey Schmidt was placed on the aisle with a bone bruise in his left wrist.

Tyler Fitzgerald was recalled. Can I add one other big piece of news? Yes. Chadwick Trump hurt his back and is likely to go on the I.L. I don't think the Orioles are likely to do it. Ooh. But the universe really wants them to call Samo Basayo up because this is like the eighth catcher who's gotten hurt for the Orioles in the last month.

And Boussio, his numbers in AAA. Have you seen his numbers in June? I know he's destroying the ball right now. It's an 1119 OPS in June with an 18% walk rate, 17% strikeout rate. Jeez. I mean, I don't think they're going to call him up, but they're already playing Gary Sanchez a ton at DH, including, I think, in this game to start.

Yeah, that's true. Well, I mean, here's the thing about that. But Basayo isn't just a catcher. He split his time almost evenly between catcher and first base. And they do have Ryan O'Hern, who's having a good year. How much outfield does O'Hern play this year? Because he can play outfield. And there's also the DH spot where they don't really have a dedicated option.

So the thing is, like, even if you look at it from the perspective, okay, Adley Rushman isn't expected to be out long, and he's obviously their start of catcher. well they could probably find all the abats basio needs even after rushman returns and look i don't think it's likely to happen but no i i i hadn't considered the possibility but i i'm i'm more open to the idea than you are i i think it's legitimately a possibility i he's 30% roster on CBS, I'm already stashing him in a league because I think it is a real possibility. I am going to add him to the waiver wire column for tomorrow.

Yeah. Just in case. All right, Scott. You have a new addition to the prospects to stash for later this week. I'd been eyeballing him for a while, but I hadn't broken it down by month to see how good as June was. I was just looking at the overall numbers. It also should be said. Maybe we'll get to it.

Gary Sanchez is killing it right now. He's been so good this month. It's weird, and I don't expect it to last, but I think if you're in a two-catcher league and you don't have a good second catcher, go ahead Gary Sanchez, just play the hot hand. For sure. Yeah, he's crushing it right now. While we're on the news,

the thumb remains an issue for Max Scherzer. Not surprised by this, but he did pitch well in just 71 pitches, five innings, two runs, seven strikeouts to zero walks against the Yankees here, velocity was up a little bit across the board, but he left after just 71 pitches. And watching this start, they came out to visit him in the fifth inning. So they saw something, something happened that alerted them.

And then after the start, John Schneider said, the Blue Jays will monitor Scherzer's thumb ahead of his next start. Quote, the thumb was still kind of fatigued. So, I mean, it's just kind of the expectation at this point, right? For Scher. Yeah, too many thumb wars. I think 79% rostered is probably too high at this point. Yeah, it's tough.

George Kirby might be back. Had one of his better starts since returning against the Royals, six innings, one run, five strikeouts. The Royals offense is very bad right now, but a great start here, 13 whiffs on 85 pitches. And back-to-back quality starts. So I'm kind of thinking, all right, George Kirby might be back.

What do you guys think? One thing that I've noticed with Kirby, he did not throw his splitter at all, in this start and he's barely been throwing it lately he's been throwing like a different change-up weirdly which i don't know if that's just not having the feel for the splitter and he's just not throwing it right but i don't think he's back at least to 2024 levels just because he doesn't have the full arsenal right now um i think he's good enough to be worth using and i'm I'm certainly not sitting him where I have him,

but that's the next thing I'll be looking for is, you know, the slider command was a little better today. The fastball command was great, I thought, watching it. But now the next thing I'm going to be watching out for the next couple of starts is does he bring that splitter back?

Because that was a very useful pitch for him last season. I do know that the splitter adds a lot of strain on the elbow and wasn't that his injury early on in the season? I was shoulder for him. shoulder. All right. Forget everything I just said then. All right, we'll see what happens with Kirby.

But in terms of just the fastball sinker slider, they were all great in this start. So I don't know if he can be as good as last year, but, you know, he's been better, which is what we needed to see from George Kirby. He was also facing the worst offensive baseball. Absolutely. They are bad. The Royals are bad. Waiver Wire hitters, some names in the shallowest of leagues.

Adolas Garcia is hitting better. So he had a sock in his shoe in this game. his 10th homer, his eighth steal. 19 games since getting that mental break where he sat out a couple games. 253, but 3 homers, 17 RBI, 2 steals, 94.7 average exit velocity. If Adoles Garcia was dropped in any shallow leagues,

he's 77% rostered, is this someone that you would rush back to re-add? I had a couple points leagues this weekend where I think he was available and I didn't have any immediate needs. That's probably the only leagues he's available in, and I think at this point, he's pretty fringing in a points league.

His average exit velocity for the year is 93.4. So I perked up when you said 94.5 during this 19 game stretch, but that hasn't been his problem. In fact, Adolias Garcia has the highest average exit velocity of his career already this year. I don't know. Is a hot stretch where you're still batting 254? After a year and a half of miseries overstating it, but not good production. Not significantly moving the needle for me.

I think in three outfielder leagues, I'd be happy to leave Garcia alone. And what's working against him is all the names that we spoke about yesterday. I mean, there's just an abundance of interesting outfielders right now. So I generally do agree with you guys there. What about Matt McLean, who has quietly had a solid June 3-4-5 with a double and 2 RBI here in the month, hit 287, three homers, 16 runs, zero steals. Don't love that part, but an 804 OPS, very clearly his best month yet. Scott, I know before we started, you had a few things,

or you were interested in, at least, in talking about Matt McLean. I was because he is one player that I did address in the article I talked about writing earlier. Three months in, do I still believe in these struggling hitters or not? And even though McLean's June has been okay, clearly his best month, I don't really believe in him. He falls into the not category. And a lot of this goes back to the rookie season where it didn't seem like his performance then as good as it was. It was kind of hard to believe he outperformed his expected stats in a significant way. But really it goes beyond that middling exit velocity.

ratings and very high strikeout rate. Usually that is a combination that's not going to work. High strikeout rate, 28, 29%. That's a big problem to begin with. But you can overcome it by just hitting the crap out of the ball. That's not McLean. So I already had those doubts. But since then, on his baseball savant page, we now have this pull air rate.

I can see that his pull air rate was in the blue that year, which makes it even more confounding that McLean hit for as much power as he did. Because normally the only way middling exit velocity guys can hit a lot of home runs is by angling the ball properly off the bat, having a very high pull air rate. So everything seems suspicious about that 2023 performance for McLean. And then this year, I mean, that's why his numbers, they're so terrible overall, even though exit velocity is about the same, strikeout rates about the same,

pull air rates still low. So it's not like he's fixed that. He also just didn't have that long of a track record as a prospect of playing at a super high level. It was basically two months at AAA before he got called up. But I think the year before that, at double A, he hit like 210 or something.

And as we were talking about the other day with Ozzy Albies, the one year in the last four, where the ball has carried decently, where the league-wide home run-to-fly ball rate has been above 12% was 2023. And that was McLean's rookie year. So add it all up, it's really not that surprising that he's been this bad. Now, maybe this bad, you know, he was batting under 200 for most of the year.

Okay, maybe that that was bound to correct some, and we're seeing that in June. But I don't think we're going to see anything close to rookie level McLean moving forward. Next up, Austin Hayes is picking up right where he left off, two for four with a triple, and his seventh home run. That home run came off of Garrett Crochet, who is one of the best pitchers in baseball. Austin Hayes has played 21 games a season. He's hit 295 with seven homers, 26 runs, 29 RBI, and a 904 OPS. 48% roster. I know yesterday you guys had ProFAR and Cam Smith, I think universally at the top of that outfield list.

Austin Hayes just might be the next name up. And Hayes, remember on the Express, I couldn't think of the third outfielder I chose in the full-length one. I think it was Hayes. Yeah, because he wasn't on the, I think I had to mention him. Yeah. Get him on that list. Yeah. Yeah, no, I think.

I lie. He's played 35 games. Yeah, it's been 35 games. 9-0-4 OPS. He's not that good. Like, he's not going to hit 295 the rest of the way. But he's got enough power. Like, this is not a Matt McLean situation where it's truly below average power.

It's solidly average to above for Austin Hayes, and then he's got the great home ballpark in Cincinnati, and he pulls the ball in the air a lot. So I do think I'm expecting a 25 homer pace the rest of the way from Austin Hayes. Yeah. With a 270-ish batting average. I like Hayes more than ProFAR in Categories leagues moving forward.

The reason... I think that's reasonable. The reason why... I put Profar on the top of the list yesterday to reiterate was that he is possibly even more viable in points leagues than Roto. And points leagues, that's a tougher threshold for an outfielder to meet. ProFar, that's always been his format. He's always been a good plate discipline guy.

So I would probably gamble on him over Hayes in a points league because Hayes hardly walks at all. But the fact that it's even a competition, given how bad. bad Hayes walk rate is, I think is very much to his credit. All right. A couple names in deeper league. Spencer Horwitz had a nice game for the Pirates, two for four with his second home run.

And Ramon Luriano quietly doing some things for the Orioles. He had four hits here, three runs scored. In June, 282 batting average, four homers, a bunch of counting stats, has started 12 of the past 13 games. He's only 10% rostered. Any deep league interest in a Spencer Horwitz or Ramon Luriano? I don't get it with Ramon Luriano. I don't really understand how he's doing this, but...

Razor, Ramon. But I think it's... If you want to play the hot hand, it's fine to do that. I just... I think he's likely to fall back to Earth. He was... He was like a high 700s OPS bat for the Braves, right? Because I remember him actually being...

He was pretty good. He was 832. OPS with the brave hit 296 I would guess that was mostly playing more against lefties than righties but the Orioles are basically playing them every day right now so yeah yeah I don't know I think there deeper five outfielder leagues I think I added them in a 15 team or this weekend and yeah it's just in a league that deep that makes sense ride the hot hand it's I mean if we're we're talking about in leagues that deep 15 team five outfielder leagues it's it's It's not even so much writing the hot hand. It's just what other choice do you have if you need an outfielder? He's actually producing and everyone else stinks. I think I dropped Mauricio Dubon for him. So just to provide some context there.

Let's take our final break. When we return, some waiver wire pitchers, a little buy or sell. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Waiverwire pitchers from Monday's action. Ryan Nelson, he did it again. I don't know. I don't know.

to say about this guy, but another great start. Six and two-thirds innings, two runs, seven strikeouts, zero walks, had 15 whiffs on 88 pitches, 13 of those on the fastball, and since joining the D-Backs rotation on May 20th, a 263 ERA, a 0.90 whip. 64% rostered.

He's the second most added starting pitcher on CBS, likely because he was a two-star pitcher. But if you add him for the two starts, you might just want to hold on. This was the hardest one. The next one's against the Royals. And you mentioned Ryan Nelson's numbers after joining the rotation this year, 263 ERA. Look back to last year over his final 14 appearances, where he was basically a starter that whole time.

He may have followed some openers, which is why I've got to say appearances instead of starts. But final 14 last year, Ryan Nelson had a 305 ERA. So we're talking about a span of 22 straight starts more or less where he's had a sub 3ERA combined between them. And in this start, he threw that fastball 75% at the time. 70% I think. 70% of the time. I've noticed when it's like 60 and up on that fastball.

It's really the only good pitch he has. But I don't know why it's so good. But when he when he leans on it that much, that's when Ryan Nelson seems to be at his best. I don't think he's going to be a big strikeout guy. But it's gone on long enough the ERA suppression, the effect he can have on that number for you. I think he's worth taking seriously as a streamer, if nothing else. Yeah, over the past calendar year, he's got a 336 ERA, a 1.1 whip. Not quite a strikeout printing, but not far off.

I have a hard time believing that this is sustainable. You know, like nobody throws a fastball 70% of the time, or he's at like 61% of the time for the season now. Going back to the start of last season, he'd thrown his four seamer more than anyone in baseball. And it usually isn't a great swing and miss pitch. last year was 19.5% whiff rate. This year it was 19.3% before today.

Obviously, look, it was humming today. 13 whiffs on 38 pitches or 38 swings is a bonkers mark for a four seamer. It got hit hard when they made contact with it. He's got this super over-the-top delivery. He gets a lot of backspin on the ball. It's got good vertical. He commands it well. operant up in the zone. I think it's kind of like Jacob Lopez where I feel like it's probably

calling it a trick is probably too unfair, but it just it's probably not sustainable over 160 innings. But he's getting it done right now and I'm fine using him moving forward. A couple other names here. Andrew Heaney was great against the Cardinal six and two-third shutout with seven strikeouts. He completely changed the pitch-making. through more sinkers and curveballs, lowered his fastball in slider usage. He also had seven earned runs and back-to-back starts before this one. And Trevor Rogers, a solid outing at the Rangers.

Five and a third, two runs with five strikeouts, had 16 whiffs on 91 pitches, and 14 of those came on his fastball. So I don't know what was going on today here on Monday, but lots of whiffs on fastballs. It has been a good bitch for him this season. Velocity has been up. I don't completely, I don't really trust it, buddies.

The velocity has been up. I don't buy it at all. It's been up from where it was last year and the year before. It's still way down. It's like a mile and a half per hour down from when he was actually good back in 2021. And it was even lower in this start with the same induced vertical break. So it looked like not a very good fastball still. I wasn't surprised to see Ryan Nelson's fastball have so much success,

but I was surprised to see Trevor Rogers. And back in 2021, he had a good fastball, and he paired it with a really good changeup. His change up doesn't look like a good pitch anymore. So I don't know. It's nice to see him having success after the last few years have been so rough for Trevor Rogers. If you can remember back to 2021, he was one of the most exciting pitchers in baseball that year. He was amazing. But I don't really think he's getting back to it.

However, he's got the Marlins on the schedule next week. so I think he's an okay streamer to add for next week. All right, let's do a little buy or sell, struggling hitters in June edition, and we do have to do this a little rapid fire because we don't have much time left. But let's begin with Jack Caglione, who had that two-home run game a couple weeks ago,

but otherwise, nothing. Lots of ground balls here. He's hitting 157 with a 460 OPS. And Chris, you can get us started here. Buy or sell. you should continue to hold Caglio despite his struggles. People always get mad when we say,

like, you have bench spots for a reason and they're like, well, I have to use my bench spots. I don't know. If you're in a daily lineups league, I get that it's hard to hang on to pure stashes, which I think is what Jack Caglione is. I would really try to hang on to him, though. He's a super talented player.

You're not going to find someone with similar upside in most leagues. I would be trying to hang on to him. You held on to Churio last year. You held on to Jackson Merrill last year. You held on to who else. It basically takes at least two months. So if you care about upside, you know, if you're not just flying by the seat of your pants every week, hold on to Caglio. What about Marcel Ozuna?

It came out on June 2nd that he's been playing through a hip injury. and for the entire month, not so good. 188 batting average, two home runs, a 48% ground ball rate, not hitting the ball as hard. Overall, he's down to a 247 batting average 770 OPS. Scott, buy or sell that you should bench Ozuna until we see something. I don't think it's unthinkable. I actually did bench him for Max Muncie in one 15 team roto league

where I was having trouble finding another place to start Muncie. You know, that's a very hot hitter, obviously, who I think at this point in Points Leaks has probably outperformed Ozuna, as hot as he's been. So Ozuna has had issues in the recent past with middling pull air rates, let's call it. Like when he's been bad, it's because his pull air rate's been middling when he's been good. It's because it's been fairly high. And it's middling now this season. but I think most of that is about the ground balls,

the ground balls themselves being, like he's just not hitting his many fly balls rather than his fly balls aren't being pulled as much. And so I find some solace in that. Like he still needs to elevate the ball clearly. He says his hip, he's been saying recently his hip is feeling better. So whatever effect that had on his ground ball rate,

hopefully he's past it. Look, I don't know. He's a guy in his mid-30s at this point, But I feel pretty optimistic looking at the data aside from the ground ball rate that Marcelo Zuna is going to turn things around. Christian Walker, oddly enough, June has been his best month, but that's not saying much. It's a sub-650 OPS each month this season. He had the oblique injury right before the season started. It's also his first season outside of Arizona.

So perhaps there is a bit of an adjustment here, but it's been half a season. Chris, buy or sell that Christian Walker is toast. I think he's better than he has been so far. Is he toast? Toast sell that. I will sell that just because that is harsh. It's too strong. And I think toast implies that he will never be a useful player.

Like, all right, the thing is, toast has gradients too. You know, I actually don't know. Like, do they still make toaster ovens or toasters with like the little dial and you put one for one toast? And then you have like a five toast. Do they still make toaster ovens? Well, toaster. I haven't owned a toaster in like a decade. You don't eat toast?

I just, I use the broiler in my oven. And it does the say, it gets the job done. I don't have a toaster, but I have a toaster oven. Yeah. Sounds like, is that a lot more effort? Yeah, I have a toast. We don't have a toaster even, but a toaster oven. Anyway, but like, you know how you have like the, you know, like the one toast and he'd turn it all the way up and it's like, oh, this is six toast.

So where is Christian Walker on the toaster? I think it's probably like a two out of six, three out of six. I think he's more probably more toast than not, but it's not burnt, you know? He's like properly toasted. He's not, yeah, it's not like charred. Oh, who's going to eat this? You don't have to scrape the like super burnt parts off just to eat it. But I don't have a lot of confidence in him figuring it out either.

Is he dropable in shallow leagues, Christian Walker? Yeah. Yeah, I think in a 12-team points league, he's dropable, yeah. All right, next up, William Contreras, and we know that he's been playing through a fractured finger, and June has been his worst month thus far. 217 batting average, 6.50 OPS, a 58% ground ball rate, just two barrels in the month.

Scott, buy or sell, that this finger injury will derail William Contreras all season long. Isn't it healed? I don't know. It should be healed by now. Doesn't look like it's healed based on his June numbers. No, it's in his finger, not his foot. Yeah.

That's dumb. I'm sorry. That was, we'll let it go. I mean, broken bones don't stay broken forever, really for that long in the grand scheme of things. So, no. I don't know how likely they are to heal while you're playing through it, though.

I don't think they'd let him play through it if they didn't have it so that it could heal No, I don't think this is going to be an issue in the long run He is the fifth best catcher this year, at least in points leagues for what it's worth. So it hasn't been as bad as like a Christian Walker situation. What about Tyler Soderstrom, who we mentioned earlier? He had the awesome April and then he fell off in May

and he's fallen off even more in June. 227 batting average, two home runs, 655 OPS. He's been awful against lefties as well. 529 OPS there. Overall, the expected stats to look good. Chris, buy or sell that Soderstrom is a bench until we see something.

Yeah, I think that's reasonable. The struggles against lefties are a real concern, and he's actually turned the... He was striking out way too much in May. It was probably close to a 30% strikeout rate 37 times and 120 plate appearances. It's only 18 times and 101 so far in June. Well, it was only 18 and 101 in June. So that's a good sign, but he's also just not hitting the ball nearly as hard.

And that's continuing a multi-month trend where his quality of contact has gone down every month since April. I'm not sure he should be an everyday player because of his struggles against lefties. yeah, I think Soder Shum is certainly not a must-start player. Is he a drop anywhere? I think it points. I think it's fine, yeah. All right, what about Jackson Meryl, who we know missed a month with a hamstring injury and then a week on the concussion aisle, but 37 games since May 13th.

He's hitting 2.13 with one homer, zero steals, and a 600 OPS. The quality of contact during that time is awful. Even with that, his expected number is still look good. It's just, I don't know. With the way things have played out the season, I don't know how much to put into expected stats right now. Scott, buy or sell that we got duped by Jackson Merrill last year? I sell that.

I think we need to give him his summer. Obviously, there have been some fits and starts here with injuries. And, you know, a lot of, I know you say you don't want to put much on the expected stats But his expected batting average is 96% die It's still 304 It's actually higher than last year His expected numbers are actually better than last season yet

Yeah So No I want to give Jackson Merrill more time He's too talented His rookie season was too productive Theory theory There's a space jam situation Going on

Where Michael Harris Yiner Diaz, Ozzy Albies, and Jackson Merrill, all these super aggressive but plus plus contact and power guys. They've had their skills taken. They've had their skills taken. You know who took it? The Piquor Armstrong. Oh.

That's why Michael Harris and Jackson Merrill and all these guys stink. It's because Pekre Armstrong has stolen all of their bad ball hitting abilities. He's got some Hollywood connections. Oh yeah, that is true. I think you were going same team. I thought you were going to go with like, oh, Gavin Sheets stole all of Jackson Merrill's skills this year. No, it's specifically just the terrible plate discipline.

Got it. Good hitter, hitter guys. All right, last name to talk about is Mookie Betts. And honestly, I could have had all the Dodger hitters not named Max Muncie on this list because they have all been pretty rotten in June. Teasca Hernandez, Freeman, Tommy Edmund. But let's focus on Mookie Betts,

who's down to a 249 batting average, a 707 OPS. His June, he's hitting 240, just one homer, one steel. Quality of contact is way down. He had that illness right before the season. You know, perhaps that has played an impact this year. Buy it or sell that this is a legitimate decline for Mookie Betz. I'm starting to buy it. I mean, he's 32.

It wouldn't be unusual at that age to, to lose some of your strength. I mean, maybe it is tied to that illness where he lost all that weight in the season, I imagine it would be hard to regain that. I mean, as long as he was sick, it wasn't just water weight he was losing, you know? And I imagine it would be difficult to gain that back

when you're playing baseball every day. So it could be that, but that doesn't really help for the rest of this season, even if it is. And yeah, the fact that his, exit velocities which apart from a couple of seasons were never that high to begin with but now they've average exit velocity has dropped a couple miles per hour in a year where the ball isn't carrying as well so that's going to affect middling exit

velocity guys more I am starting to become genuinely concerned about mooky bets I think he's going to remain must start he's he's performed as well as that at least but is he going to perform like an early rounder? I am not sure if we did or when we do the re-ranking the first two rounds or redrafing the first two rounds. I'm not sure he makes it. I don't think so. I'm not sure Mookie Betts is a top six shortstop right now.

That one's pretty close. And he's probably a top 10 outfielder rest of the season, but I don't. It's a close call. If, yeah, like, if Jackson, Churio or Jaron Duran wanted to push him, it wouldn't take much. It's just those guys are pretty disappointing so far, too. But, like, Trey Turner or Mookiee Betts the rest of the way,

I'll take Trey Turner. Yeah, me too. C.J. Abrams versus Mookie Betts, I think that's really close. If I had more faith in C.J. Abrams avoiding the second half drop-off that we saw last year, I think I'd go ahead and do that. And part of it is just the drop-off already happened last year. The quality of contact metrics were significantly worse last season than they had been in a really long time.

His expected well-bond contact last year was 3.57. That was his worst since 2017. Remember, 2023 was the best of his career, or the second best, I guess. And he's just, he seems to have lost the little bat speed. He's not generating quite as much power. again, I still think he's a must-star player, really good player. It's just, I don't know if he's like a true difference maker anymore, Mookie Betts. Yeah, I think that's all fair.

Let's wrap up with some leftovers here on the pitching side. Zach Wheeler was awesome against the Padres eight shutout innings with 10 strikeouts, zero walks. Carlos Rodon, not as efficient here at the Blue Jays, five plus innings, two runs, three walks, four strikeouts. Logan Webb, a quality start. at the D-backs, six in a third, three runs with seven strikeouts, and that is it. I thought there was another name, just those three.

Anything to add? Is this the year Zach Wheeler finally gets his Sanyang? Please, please make it. I mean, this is like Leonardo DiCaprio, not getting his, what do they get? Oscars, right? That's the thing. Yeah, Oscars, yeah. Who else is in the discussion?

I guess Skeen's. I mean, Skeens is, I think, leading the NL in Fangraph's war, but Wheeler's been. Chris Sale removed himself. Yeah. I know voters don't put nearly as much on win-loss record anymore, and they shun it, but Paul Skeen's really bad. It's upside down. Yeah.

Logan Webb, you know, he's up to like 115 innings or something of a 250 ERA. He's been pretty awesome. If the season ended today, I think I'd go Wheeler. And part of that is just, yeah, let's get this guy, Siyo. As somebody who has a Spencer Schwellenbach's Cy Young ticket, I hope. he still makes a push here. You know, he's been really, really good. So if he keeps it up, rest of the season,

maybe there's a chance there. One thing I wanted to point out with Logan Webb, I did notice he has a sub 10% swinging strike rate in three straight. So just wondering a little bit if some of that early season strikeout magic is wearing off. Yeah, maybe. I don't know that three starts is going to really sway me. But the rest of his career, history, would lead me to believe. It's probably, he's probably going to give some of that back.

Yep. Some hitting leftovers, Jazz Chisholm stayed hot, hit his 14th home run, updated numbers since returning. 318 batting average, seven homers, four seals, 992 OPS. Welcome back to Shea Langalears, who went one for four with his 11th home run, a three-run shot. He is striking out a lot less this season, but I think he's also kind of given back some power. as a result of that. Junior Caminero hit another home run. Caminero!

34 games since May 23rd. Caminero is hitting 296 with 13 home runs and an OPS over 1,000 during that time. Marcus Semion rams up a nice June. He went 3 for 3 with his 8th homer. And in the month, 324 batting average, 4 homers, 2 steals 932 OPS. So a great bounce back month there for Semian. Gunner Henderson was clearly listening yesterday, and that's why he went out and hit a home run.

here on Monday. And Cal Raleigh, the Big Dumpa. Another one. 33rd home run of the season. I think if I heard correctly on the broadcast, that is the fourth most home runs by the end of June. I thought I heard it was the third most. Something like that.

Yeah. So, I mean. So I was actually going to write for Monday, redrafting the first two rounds. And it was just taking me too long to narrow down the 24 players that I want in there. So I decided to put it off till the All-Star break. Unless something dramatically changes between now and then Cal Raleigh probably has to be in it, right?

Yep. I haven't gotten quite there in my overall rankings, but he's very, very close. I've got him up to 31 overall now. I was able to narrow it down to 25 players, and Cal Raleigh was among the 25. So it was just, who should I kick out? Always a fun exercise, at least I think so. So that'll be fun to do during the All-Star break. Call to the bullpen for the Blue Jays.

Jeff Hoffman got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He allowed a hit but picked up his 19th save. For Tampa Bay, Pete Fairbanks got the ninth with the game tied. He gave up two runs on three hits, took his second blown, not blown save. Took his second loss because the game was tied. On the other side, for the athletics, Mason Miller picked up his 16th save. For the Rangers, Robert Garcia got the ninth inning with the game tied. He retired the side in order.

Then he came out for the 10th, and he gave up a two-run homer to Gunner Henderson. The Rangers would tie it up in the bottom of the 10th, and then eventually lose the game in the 11th. But the Rangers bullpen, it just doesn't feel like there's anybody reliable. That's part of just their overall team problem. Chris Martin's reliable. I know he had a bad outing. They do not want to rely on him, though.

Yeah, that's true. That is a problem. I think that's got to change at some point. if they want to win games, right? It's got to change. Yeah, Chris Martin this season, 233 ERA and one whip. If you had told me that the Rangers would have the lowest ERA in baseball at the end of June, I would have thought they were on pace for 100 wins.

Do you realize the Rangers had a 327 team ERA coming into this start? Wow. I did it. Yeah, that is wild. And they are, what, three games under 500 now? I mean, obviously Avaldi did a lot of heavy lifting. Jacob de Grom has been awesome. Tyler Malli had like a two-year.

Yeah, that's true. Their pitching's been excellent. Their bullpen hasn't been great. And their offense has been terrible. Surprisingly enough, Patrick Corbyn's actually been like okay for them. Yeah, Patrick Corbyn's been super serviceable for them. Which is weird. Crazy stuff.

And then for the debacks, Shelby Miller got the final four outs for his 10th save of the season. To stream or not to stream on Tuesday. Some options. Andre Palante at the podcast. Pirates, pirates are kind of hot right now offensively, so I don't know if this is as much of a cakewalk. I heard yesterday the Red Sox are cold. Look what happened. Well, I think the Pirates have 37 runs scored in their past four games.

I saw some kind of weird convoluted stat where they're like the first team ever to score at least 37 runs and allow four runs in a four game stretch. And it's like, all right, well, that's not a real stat. Let's give Pirates fans something to applaud. The craziest part, Paul Skeen didn't pitch in any of those games. There you go. Just baseball. I don't love the Monday streaming options. Well, Palante and Ed McIrarra.

We're looking at Tuesday. Whatever, the Tuesday, you know. Yeah, I would use Cabrera first and I guess Palante second. Yeah. Give me Palante. Quality start, guaranteed. Oh, right. Guarante.

Of course, Scott says this when he's not on the Tuesday Day podcast, so if it doesn't happen, it doesn't matter because he won't hear about it. What about Wednesday? We have Mick Abel against the Padres, Nick Martinez at the Red Sox, Brian Beaux versus the Reds, Tomoyuki Sugano at the Rangers, Noah Cameron at the Mariners and Landon Roup at the Debacks. Well, I don't like this group either. Cameron is fine because it's at Seattle.

I'm avoiding Nick Martinez. He had gone from two relief appearances to 160. pitches in his last start. I think that one's a stay away, so I don't really love any of these choices. Yeah, me neither. I agree with you on Cameron. Sagano

could work out just because the Rangers have been so bad offensively. He's turned back into a pumpkin. Yeah, that's true. Brian Beio? Rup has pitched well, but... Bajo's okay. Rup has pitched well lately. I don't really buy it, but yeah. I like Bayo best, I think.

So let's go Cameron at the top, and then Bayo and then and then Landon Rup, I guess, but yeah, with not much confidence. We did have some team names. We'll save those for next week. Continue to send those in. We are going to wrap there for Scott and 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. Mount Podcasts.