Fantasy Baseball Today - Chris Sale On The Rise! Week 23 Sleepers & Two-Start Pitchers (8/27 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 27, 2021

Yea, Chris Sale looks like he's back (2:30). ... Carlos Carrasco looked pretty awesome on Thursday, too (4:28)! Do we need to add Bobby Dalbec after his massive game? ... Jose Ramirez and Rafael Devers did some awesome things (10:32). ... News and notes (12:16). Rhys Hoskins is out for the rest of the season, Corey Kluber will return Monday and more. ... Prospect Report (22:32)! Keibert Ruiz coming soon? No Bobby Witt this year? ... Week 23 Sleepers (30:15)! Which two-start pitchers should you rely on? Which hitters have the best matchups? ... Start or sit these fringy pitchers next week (37:22)? ... Should you add these hitters anywhere (43:02)? ... We have Thursday leftovers, bullpen updates, and streamers for the weekend (48:48). ... We wrap up the week with Fantasy Justice For All (56:09)! 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  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

Domingo. Be Kokomo Friday and welcome in to fantasy baseball today, presented by Lining Cougals. More on their great variety of beverages later on in the podcast. Friday, August 27th. Frank Stenville joined by Scott White here to get you ready. For week 23, we have sleepers, two-star pitchers, a prospect report, Thursday's action, fantasy justice, and much more. But first, Scott, I have a piece of advice for you.

Are you ready? Sure. Do not eat an egg sandwich and then go play tennis in 90 degree weather. Is that what you did? That is, I have some color here. I didn't really realize until we went live here. I guess the red shirts kind of bringing it out a little bit. But yeah, I did that on Thursday.

And you know what? It was awful. It was awful. Why would I do that? Why would anybody do that? And I do that all the time, right? Like I eat right before I go to do some kind of physical activity. It's such a bad idea.

Why do I keep doing it? Don't do that. I don't know. I don't know. You're young and inexperienced and you make mistakes like everybody else. I sure do. Don't be so hard on yourself. Just remember for next time.

File it away. I always say that and then I just never do it. By the way, I was playing tennis with Ariel Cohen, who we've had here on this podcast and he does great work. You can follow him on Twitter at ATCNY. And Ariel put the works on me, man. He beat me. I was gas.

I had nothing, man. like I had nothing. So shout out to Ariel Cohen. Tennis is exhausting. And in, dude, it was like 93, 94 degrees here in New York. It was just like an awful idea. I have no idea what I'm doing. Anyway, let's talk about baseball.

Nobody wants to hear about my eating habits or tennis or whatever we might talk about. But also, I will just preface everything with, if I go crazy at any point throughout the podcast and just start freaking out, it's because I have the Yankee game on here. I'm not used to watching the Yankees on the West Coast. So Yankees on the side, we're doing the podcast. There's a lot going on right now.

Let's start with the Yankees nemesis, the Red Sox. Chris Sale is back, baby. And shout out to you, Scott, because you were not worried all along. You were like, nah, he's fine. He's Chris Sale. And he reminded us of that in his third start of the season on Thursday, five and a third, two runs, eight strikeouts, 14 swinging strikes on 80 pitches.

He had an immaculate inning, the third of his career, tying Sandy Kofax. But what was even more impressive was the fact that he had, average 94.3 miles per hour on the fastball. By far, his hardest fastball velocity of the season. It's only been three starts. But yeah, this was the best that he's looked. He maxed out at 98 miles per hour on that fastball through more sliders. And Scott, I did a massive rankings update on Thursday. I moved Chris Sale up to SP 13 in the ranks. That's high. That's pretty high. I think there's certainly a case for.

it. Yeah, I don't think there's anything wrong with Chris Sale. And I don't care whether he's throwing 92.5 or 94 as he was today. You know, I think we've seen him miss a ton of bats since he came up. Nobody's hitting him particularly hard. I would like to see him go six innings eventually. Let me check where I have him at the last update 20th. Oh, I need to pull Jack Flaherty down, though. But yeah, clearly, clearly somebody. who you should plan to just leave in your lineup. He's a fixture there now. Doesn't really matter what the matchups are.

How many games he's starting for the upcoming week? Chris Sale is an ace and deserves to be treated like one. Absolutely. Just ahead of Chris Sale in the ranks, I have Carlos Rodan, Luis Castillo, and I moved Robbie Ray inside of my top 10, just behind Chris Sale, Aaron Nola, Charlie Morton, and Sandy Alcantra.

Let's talk about some other players who went off on Thursday. My goodness gracious. All right, Scott. Who you got? I got Carlos Carrasco, who also had his best start since returning from the I.L. But he really needed to have a best start since returning from the I.O. There had been a couple rough ones, but against the Giants on Thursday. So, you know, not exactly.

Not one of these teams that stripped down their lineup at the trade deadline, and they're basically fielding a bunch of AAA guys now. The Giants, the best team in baseball, according to win-loss record. Seven strong for Carlos Carrasco. Only needed 78 pitches to get through those seven innings. Strugout 5 allowed two runs, three hits, no walks.

Velocity was up more than one mile per hour on his four most thrown pitches. So across the board, he showed velocity improvement. But, you know, his previous start, he looked like he might be beginning to come around, three and runs in five at the Dodgers, so another really tough matchup. And it kind of seemed like he was getting back under control. You know, not a great result in that one, but a step in the right direction. And then we saw him look like retro Carasco in this one, again, in a very tough matchup.

So he has, he's facing the Marlins. next week. So that's a great matchup. He's 76% rostered in CBS Sports Leagues right now, so I can get away with putting him in my sleeper pitchers for the upcoming scoring period. And in fact, he's my number one sleeper pitcher for the upcoming scoring period

going against the Marlins as he is. I'm with it. 100%. Some people might have lost the faith, obviously based on that roster percentage. But yeah, against the Marlins next week, everybody dominates the Marlins. Except Patrick Corbyn. Did you see Patrick Corbyn against the Marlins on Thursday?

Look, I apologize. I truly do apologize because I think I might have said before the week to start him in this matchup because he had all the velocity was up or I might have said when we do streamers at the end of the podcast he is him. But he's, oh my gosh. Remember what I said about Zach Plesack yesterday, Scott? Do you remember? You wish you hadn't recommended starting him against the Rangers. Yes.

This is what everybody does. They overrate matchups. Matchups are important, but they're not nearly as important as the pitcher, you know? You're not wrong. You are not wrong. Zek is not a good pitcher. Corbyn, highly combustible. No, there was the strange matter of Corbyn.

His velocity was way, way up at his last start. Unlike we're used to seeing him in his entire career and had a good result. I forget who he was facing. in that outing. But, you know, it was an aberration that we had to see him do it again, I think, given how combustible he's been this year. And we didn't.

The velocity was back down against the Marlins, and things went cabloowy for Corby. Well, when I asked you, if you remembered my analysis of PLISAC yesterday, what I wanted you to say was, he stinks, which is exactly what Patrick Corbyn does. I hit up Chris Towers. He was at the Mets game. He was there live. I asked him for an in-person scouting report of Carlos Carrasco. He said, I thought he looked good, but didn't seem amazing to me. I never

feel super comfortable doing that from the game because it's such a weird angle. All right. That's fine. Thanks, Chris. Yeah, I mean, you could probably assess it better on TV than you can from the stands. That's true. That's true. I think that's fair. Oh my goodness gracious for me. Let's talk about more Red Sox, man. Bobby Dalbeck, three for four with a double dong. He had seven RBI in that game against the twins. He sat out his previous two games. He's only 29% rostered, seven games on the schedule next week, but only two lefties. Scott, did you have Bobby Dalbeck as one of your sleepers heading into this week? I did. Yeah, I had him as a sleeper for this current week that's happening right now and breathing a sigh of relief with this game because it was a big enough

that it made the recommendation worthwhile. But I'm not willing to do that again for Dahlbeck. Bobby Dahlbeck. I'm not willing to do that again for him next week, even though the Red Sox have the most favorable matchups of any team, given that Travis Shaw has really thrown a wrench into things. And he started the previous two instead of Dahlbeck, as you mentioned. And not only that,

Kyle Schwerber, I believe, made his first appearance at first base in this game. Now, he started at DH, but he shifted the first base later on. And so it's real now. It's real. It's real Kyle Schwerber getting playing time at first base, and I think their most optimal lineup is with him there and with J.D. Martinez at DH. So it doesn't mean Schwerber's now the everyday first baseman, because he moved, he shifted there late in the game,

but it does mean that it's something we do have to worry about if we're considering Dahlbex prospects for the rest of the season. All right. So this was an awesome game, 29% rostered, probably don't need to add him. But if you do play in a daily league where, you know, set your lineup every single day, whenever he's in the lineup, you can get him in there

because he's probably going to play against lefties, some lefties. and he crushed his lefties. So that's probably where you want Dahlbeck, but in a weekly format, he's probably not going to give you enough consistent playing time. I did just want to talk about a few of these hitters up top,

some stud hitters that were doing studly things on Thursday because there was like some really awesome performances. Jose Ramirez went two for three with two walks, two walks, three runs scored, and three steals. He is now up to 29 homers and 19 steals. There was a while there where we were worried about the steel total and he wasn't really running, that doesn't seem to be the case anymore

for Jose Ramirez. Raphael Devers, a sock in a shoe, his 30th home run, his fourth steal of the season. Marcus Semyon, double dong, now has 32 homers. He's batting 271 with 13 steals. I was thinking about this earlier today, Scott, a few players that are going to be hard to rank for next season,

and I think Semyon is one of those guys. And maybe he shouldn't be, because now it's two of the past three years where he's just been awesome. But I don't know. I think he should be. I think it should be. Yeah.

I'm kind of interested about like where his value is going to fall into place next year. Jonathan India is another one of those players where I'm very interested to see what his value might be for next season. Shohei Otani hit his 41st home run. Salvador Perez hit a grand slam. It was his 35th homer of the season. He has 86 RBI. He is a catcher.

I mean, he plays more than other catchers because he's Salvador Perez. He's an Iron Man. But like, he still doesn't play. every day. He has 35 homers and 86 RBI. It is just mind-boggling how amazing Salvador Perez has been this year. And maybe this guy isn't a stud, but he might win you, your league, your championship, he's getting hot at the right time, and he's someone who can really carry you. John Carlos Stanton hit his 23rd homer. He is now homered in three straight and five times in his last eight games. News and notes, unfortunately, Reese Hoskins will undergo surgery to repair a lower

abdominal issue and will miss the remainder of the season. It's a pretty massive loss too because he is the 11th best first baseman in Roto. And considering he missed some time, that's pretty good. He is tied for sixth in fantasy points per game among first baseman this season. So a big loss with Reese Hoskins. Scott, how would you rank these potential replacements? They are all under 60% rostered. Jamer Candelario, Miguel Seno, Brandon Belt.

All names that we kind of talk about a lot. Well, if you're limiting it to these three, I would go Sono Belt Candelario, but I see the names you're going to mention next. But I think I prefer both of them to the three. Go ahead and mention the other two. Okay. All right, so I wrote down in a deeper league, Connor Joe and Frank Schwendell, because they are much more widely available. They are under 30% rostered on CBS. You would take both of them over

the three names I just mentioned. Yeah, in fact, both Joe and Schwindell are on my sleeper hitters for this upcoming week. The Cubs and Rockies both are among the teams with the five best matchups, and obviously they've been very productive of lay, both of them. And Joe especially, like if Conor Joe remains a full-time player for the Rockies, and it doesn't sound like Rye Mill Toppy is that close to returning, I think he's somebody you might just leave in your lineup rest of season. I think the ways his skisks.

is limited, are going to be counteracted by Coorsfield. And, you know, he's just such a disciplined hitter that... I don't know that he really has a stud skill set, but I think he could end up looking like that, given where he plays his home games. I'm very excited about Connor Joe at this point. All right, Connor Joe, let's do it. Catelle Marte left Thursday's game with left hip discomfort.

Scott, have you ever watched Cotel Marte play the outfield? I doesn't stand out to me he's bad he's really really bad there was a there was I guess it was like a hard hit fly ball slash line drive to center field

and he turned every which way that you could possibly turn just like in one straight line but he's like turning this way he's turning that way he's turning and it like hits off of his glove and then he gets to the wall and he like does a split and he falls down and he like passes the ball to his teammate it was man

Do not let your kids watch, Catelle Marte in the outfield. They'll pick up some really bad habits. I hope he's all right, but man, he's really bad out there. Mookie Betts returned and was batting third on Thursday behind Trey Turner and Corey Seeger. It's worth mentioning that Max Muncie was not in the lineup due to back tightness. And with bets returning, Gavin Lux was optioned back to AAA. And Scott, I just wanted to get your thoughts on Gavin Lux from a dynasty perspective. Obviously, he hasn't performed to this point.

He's only played 127 major league games, but in those games, he's betting 217 with a 647 OPS. He can't hit lefties. He's still only 23 years old, but have you seen anything from Lux that gives you hope? Would you try to buy low on him in a Dynasty League? I don't know that I would. I'm very concerned about his long-term prospects at this point.

You're right to point out that he's only 23, and that is too early to write off a player. but yeah, I can't. Like to me, if you're, if you could buy very low on Lux, I assume. You could buy very low on him. And if it's a deep enough dynasty league, you know, I wouldn't mind taking a flyer on him if the guy who has him is just basically punting on him at this point.

But I don't have particularly, I hopes myself. We had two big returns, U. Darvish and Carlos Rodon. Let's start with Rodon. He was at the Blue Jays, five innings, two runs, three shrubs. only through 67 pitches, so they're still kind of working him back up. The fastball was down almost one mile per hour, but it's nothing too worrisome. Next week he is up against the Pirates, so you're going to want to make sure Rodon is in your lineup. U. Darvish up against the Dodgers, six innings, four runs, six strikeouts to just one walk.

He had 15 swinging strikes on 102 pitches against a stacked lineup. Mookie Betts was back in it, but the velocity was down about 1.4 miles per hour, on all of his pitches. I mean, he throws like six pitches. U. Darvish does. The positive in this start, he had a 47% ground ball rate, and the lack of ground balls

has been a big issue for U.S. Darvish this season. Two starts next week, Scott, versus the Astros and at the Diamondbacks. I assume you have to get him back in there, but, you know, he's been very fringy the past couple months. Yeah, I mean, I consider him a must start

with those two matchups, especially since one of them is, highly favorable but it you know it makes me a little nervous sure you mentioned the ground balls were up in this start and that's good also the swinging strikes were up he had 15 of those

that's been an issue for him this year too even when he was going well his swinging strike rate was down from the past couple years so you know a mixed bag a mixed bag in his first start back from the IL hopefully

the time off did him some good and I think he, you know, like we've been saying for Zach Wheeler, I think you Darvish, I think he's earned the benefit of the doubt, even though he's having, it's been kind of a bumpy ride here the past month or two. Alex Cora suggested that Matt Barnes may not be used in a safe situation the next time he pitches, which was true on Thursday technically, because Matt Barnes pitched in the, I guess that would be, yeah, that was the ninth inning. It was a scoreless inning, one walk, two strikeouts. What do you think, Scott? Does Matt Barnes get the next save opportunity?

Would you look to add Adam Adavino in some deeper leagues? What do you think? I mean, in a league where there are no saves out there, I don't think it hurts to speculate on Atovino. But I suspect Barnes is going to get back on track and end up being the closer to finish out the season. You know, usually when you see a closer just have a really intensely bad stretch of games here that just seems totally out of character.

Usually he figures it out. Usually he figures it out. Usually he comes back around and gets back to being the guy we knew him to be. But obviously, if you can afford to sit Barnes now until he shows he's back, that that would be the preference. Apparently, Corey Kluber will be activated and start Monday, against the Angels, the Yankees broadcast said the plan is for him to go four innings with Andrew Heaney as a piggyback reliever. So Cory Kluber is 66% rostered.

Should we be adding Corey Kluber at this point, Scott? Well, if he's going on Monday, let me see here. That would make him, I'm going to have to update that. That would make him a two-start pitcher, but he's only going to go four innings Monday, you said. So that prevents him from having a chance for a win. I mean, sure, he needs to be picked up. I think that goes without saying,

would I activate him right away? I doubt it. I doubt it that seems risky. I mean, after such a long layoff anyway, it seems risky without even knowing he's going to be limited to four innings. But I would make sure he's rostered because he had seemed to figure things out

before he got hurt and was looking like a must-start pitcher again. Yeah, his final six starts, obviously it includes the no hitter before he went on the IL. He had a sub three ERA in those six starts. So, looked like he was coming around. And I believe, I was looking it up to see if I could find it. But I think he got built up to right around 60 pitches. So I don't think they'll push him much further than that here in his first start. Lewis Brinson left Thursday's game with a left thumb sprain. Quanghan Kim will indeed start Sunday for the Cardinals. He's 43% rostered. Any interest in.

Kwong Han Kim? Mild interest. Mild interest. He's somebody who I'm scared of because like none of the underlying numbers, he's drastically outperformed his ex-fit over the past couple years. But it's been going on long enough that, you know, I may need to start to give Kwang Kim some credit. I just, I don't think he's,

I think it's only going to be with the right matchups, though. Buster Posey has been out two. straight with a knee injury. He is day to day. Hunter Renfro went on the bereavement list and Jaron Duran was recalled and Jaron Duran went one for three with a walk and three runs scored in his return to the Red Sox. I think once Renfro is back, they're probably just going to send Duran back down, but it's notable. T.J. Antone will undergo Tommy John surgery on Friday. I am sad. Zach Eflin did not make his Thursday start after he experienced discomfort in his right knee while warming up.

Gio Urchella returned to the lineup for the Yankees and was batting eighth. Luke Voigt was out of the lineup for the third straight game and two of those were in Atlanta, so no DH there. It's tougher, I get it, to get him in the lineup. But this game was in Oakland

and Luke Voight still wasn't in the lineup. So, I mean, at what point, Scott, does this lack of playing time mean that we move on from Luke Voight and pick up someone else? I think in a head-to-head league, particularly shallower, like 12 teams or fewer.

Probably to that point. And in Roto League, it's harder because you've got a lot more lineup spots to fill, and the quality of hitters available on the waiver wire is not great. So you hold out hope that something gives here and Voigt gets back in the lineup in that format, I think. But in head-to-head, it's kind of hard to keep them around. The Prospect Report is currently live on CBSports.com.

It was published on Thursday and, of course, written by Scotty Dubbs. Five on the verge. Bobby Witt, Jr. I guess there's no junior anymore, right? It's just Bobby Witt. Jose Miranda, Seth Beer, Vidal Bruhan,

and with Edward Cabrera graduating to the Biggs, your new edition is Kbert Ruiz, and you think he could be coming soon. K-Bair Ruiz, yeah. K-Ber-Ruiz. I think so.

I stink. No, nothing. It's K-Bair. No, no, you're right. Yeah, that's why. I said it wrong, and then I said I stink. Not actually.

You know, I took a shower when I got home, but you get it. It's taken a while for us to get there, but I think we've settled on the right pronunciation for Mr. Ruiz. Yeah, he's had a, he's had back-to-back two Homer games on Tuesday and Wednesday. I don't know what he's done on Thursday, but obviously he's heating up. But you got off to a slow start after joining the national system, coming over from the Dodgers, obviously.

So you could understand why they weren't in a hurry to bring him up, but look, they put Josiah Gray right on the big league roster, so they weren't worried about service time considerations for him. Ruiz has already played some in the majors, both this year and last year for the Dodgers. So I think it's possible they give him a trial run as their starting catcher heading into the offseason. Can't guarantee it, of course, but it's possible.

Ruiz... looks like he could be a stud catcher now. He's been a top 100 prospect for several years now, but a lot of it was, well, most of it was because his contact rate is just amazing, like 10% strikeout rate, puts the bat on the ball a ton, and, you know, it has some defensive upside as well that factored into it. But he has exploded as a power hitter this year. So you add, you put legitimate.

home run power with that kind of contact rate. And the ceiling is very high for K-Ber Ruiz. And it may begin here in the final month of the season. So keep an eye out for that. Scott, what if I told you that Ruiz, on Thursday, went one for four with nothing else? Does that help his chances? I don't think so.

He is currently 18% rostered. Would you try to stash him in two catcher leagues for now? I mean, if you have the ability to do so on your bench? Probably depends who my second catcher is already. Dalton Varsho is pretty available, I think, still, and there's no way I'd pick up K Bear Ruiz over him. Max Stasi, I think I'd go with him over Ruiz. I think I'd go with Travis Darno over him.

So you just, you know, there are catchers with upside, and there are catchers without upside. And right now there happens to be a certain number of those catchers. with Upside out there already, and I go with the proven ones over Ruiz. But, you know, Ruiz has a bright future, for sure. Scott also wrote about how he doesn't think Bobby Witt is going to get the call this season, but I want to give people a reason to go read the article so you can find that again on the site. Five prospects on the periphery, unless you want to talk about it, Scott,

because you kind of look like you want to talk about it. Well, you know, I'm just guessing, obviously. I haven't seen anything concrete along those lines. I just get the feeling they're going to wait until next year. Only two September call-ups this year, and the AAA season runs through September. So not a ton of incentive to get him on the major league roster. I still have him as the top prospect to stash

just because if he does get called up, the impact would be huge, potentially. No other prospect who has a chance of getting promoted comes close to Witt's impact potential. So he's still the top prospect to stash, but that's where we are. with stashing prospects right now, that the top prospect to stash is one who's probably not going to be up.

And I do wonder if, well, first of all, I wonder what the CBA is going to look like because they need to settle that this offseason. Hopefully we have a baseball season next year. Who even knows? But I think one of the big talking points in that CBA will be how prospects are handled because since there's been so much manipulation with service time

and not calling up a player or having a player start on the major league roster, even though they're ready. Chris Bryant comes to mind. I could see something similar happening to Bobby Witt next year. I mean, if it's a similar service time situation, they'll make some excuse like, oh, he's got to work on his defense for two weeks, and then we'll see him in mid-April or whatever it is.

But definitely something worth paying attention to is how does that CBA handle service time for prospects for starting next year and beyond? Five prospects that are on the periphery, Cardinal second baseman, Nolan, who is tearing it up right now. Pirates, second baseman, Nick Gonzalez. He was their first round pick in last year's draft 2020.

Cleveland outfielder, George Valera, Texas first baseman, Dustin Harris, and Diamondback starting pitcher Dre Jameson, who I was just listening to the Welsh's Prospect Podcast, Prospect One, which you should all check out. It's very good. And he was pumping Jameson up. He is pretty excited about Dre Jameson. And recently, I was just kind of scrolling through,

like, last 30 days in the minors, and he has a ton of strikeouts, a great ERA. So the Diamondbacks have some pretty interesting pitching prospects. They don't really show up on prospect lists, but they're performing well. They're performing well. And Jaymison, Dre Jameson in particular, I don't really understand what the detractors have to say about him because I look at the scouting reports. He has four pitches graded 55 or better.

he has a fastball that he hits 98 with. He's kind of small, and apparently the command isn't as good as the control. So I don't know. But he still seems like a legit prospect to me. Yeah, the size is everything that I've read is why he kind of gets pushed down. It's because he's a smaller pitcher. Visually he kind of reminds me of Tim Hudson, who was also small. All right.

Just visually. Yeah, obviously that's like a huge cop, right, Tim Hudson. deeper. I don't know that I go deeper into the comparison than that. All right. Let's take a quick break. When we return, we'll get you ready for week 23 here on fantasy baseball today. The week 23 pitcher and hitter planners presented by lining Coogles. And let's start off with scheduling for next week. One team has five games. That is the Chicago White Sox. 19 teams have six games. Nine teams have seven games. And then there is one team that plays eight games next week. They will have a double header. That is the New York Mets. So with that,

let's get going with some two-start pitchers that you like for next week. Who you got, Scott? Two-star pitchers. There aren't many I like that are highly available. So not a great week for sleeper two-star pitchers. However, some that you might be on the fence about, Josiah Gray, gets the Phillies and that's I think he's pretty close to must start with those matchups. Wascari Noah, the matchups aren't great

at the Dodgers, at the Rockies. I still think you probably got to start him with it being a two-star week. Let's see. Others you might second guess. It looks like Shohei Otani is going to make two starts this week. The Angel's rotation is depleted.

I don't know that they're going to be able to base out his starts as much as they normally like to. So there's a good chance he makes two starts this week. And one would be against the Rangers. The second one, though. Let's see. So Terrick Scoobal, he's 75% rostered.

He may be out there. The matchups are nothing to write home about athletics and at Cincinnati. But, yeah, last three starts were good. In particular, the last one, he got the whiffs back. The controls looked better for a while now. So Terrick Scoobal, it's probably worth a roll of the dice. For points leagues only, I have Austin Gomber here, and I have Hermann Marquez, too, for what it's worth,

though he's more rostered than Gomber. At Texas and versus Atlanta, both of them have, you know, for the season as a whole, they've done fine at home this year. But they've both been rough lately. They've both been rough lately. So my interest in them is limited to points leagues, where you don't have to worry about them harming your ERA and WIP. It's just, do they score positive or do they score negative?

And I don't know, those are the most attractive ones. I don't really have Eduardo Cabrera, who is highly available, 36% rostered. I don't even have him in the points league only tier. I have them outside of that at the Mets versus the Phillies. So pretty good manships there. And, you know, quality start is major league debut, but we talked about it yesterday. didn't miss many bats,

ended up having issues with walks after being really efficient early on. So I think he still has a lot to prove and I'm not willing to roll the dice on him even though there's a two-star week coming up. And that is Edward Cabrera because you did say Eduardo, Scott. Just want to give you a heads up there.

Edward Cabrera, yes, thank you. Despite having two starts next week, we are not starting Zach Plesack or Patrick Corbyn. And why is that, Scott? Because they stink. Yes, yes. That is exactly right, because they stink.

All right, some single-start streamers that we like for next week. Who you got? Single-star streamers. Let me pull up that list here. All right, so I mentioned Carlos Carrasco already. Ranger Suarez, my guy, he's also facing the Marlins in Miami, as if he didn't already have enough home-run prevention going for him. Nestor Cortez going against the Orioles.

We've been saying a lot recently, the Orioles are pretty good against Left Handers, actually, but it seems like every time Left Handers face them recently, the Orioles just look really bad right now. Eliezer Hernandez at the Mets, he was decent in a start against the Nationals here on Thursday, and at the Mets, that's obviously a good matchup. Tyler McGill at Washington, I think that's okay.

Those are my favorites. Sleeper hitters for next week that are rostered in less than 80% of CBS leagues. So the Rockies are one of the few teams playing seven games, as you mentioned, and four of those games are at home. And the other three are in Texas against a really bad pitching staff. So I like the Rockies this week. I like C.J. Crone. I like Brendan Rogers. Of course, I like Brendan Rogers. I like Connor Joe. I mentioned that already. I don't think Toppy is going to be back at any point this week.

So they're all, there are three of my top four sleeper hitters for this week. I got Enrique Hernandez in here again. He's the only red sock I have, even though they have the most favorable matchups. They don't have hitters that are widely available. Hunter Renfro's two rostered at this point. Frank Schwendell, Ian Hap, as hot as he's been. Got both of them in there for the Cubs as well as Raphael Ortega. But he's actually been, he's been pretty horrible against left.

and three of the six pitchers. The Cubs are facing are lefties. So, you know, not as wild about Ortega, but he is among my 10 sleeper hitters here. I do like Kyle Farmer with the Reds facing four lefties. Yes, Scott. Yes. His lefty splits are favorable.

And obviously, you can start him in a lot of different positions. And I will leave it at that. Those are my, those are the sleeper hitters I want to recommend here on the podcast. There are a couple more. I'm going to have to check out the article. To find those out, though. Yes. And just to recap, the five teams with the best hitter matchups, the Red Sox, the Cubs, the Reds, the Reds, the Rockies, and the Yankees, the five teams with the worst hitter matchups, the Cardinals, the Giants, the A's, the Diamondbacks, and the Dodgers. So there you have it.

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for more information about all of the delicious beers that they brew. Start or sit for next week. I have a few starting pitchers here that are kind of fringy. They're not must-start pitchers, matchups. Let's see if we like the match-ups for some of these. Sunny Gray was at the Brewers on Thursday. Six shutout, six strikeouts. Pretty good start.

Now over his last two, he has 13 shutout innings pitched. Next week, he is at home against the Cardinals. Would you start Sunny Gray there? Yeah, that's a good matchup. I would. All right. I did want to pull up Sunny Gray's splits real quick, just to see how he's doing at home this season

because obviously Great American Ballpark could be a little bit tricky at times. He has a 4.75 ERA at home and a 3.38 ERA on the road. Does that influence your decision at all? I don't think so. All right, Hyunjin Ryu was up against the White Sox and, man, the wheels are just coming off.

I have Ryu in my most important league and I am struggling to find pitching right now and this just did not help. Three and two-thirds, seven hits, seven runs, and his average exit velocity against in this start, 94.6 miles per hour, so giving up a lot of hard contact. 15 starts now since the beginning of June, Ryu has a 4.76 ERA,

only 57 strikeouts over 85 and 2-thirds innings pitch. I mean, that is just, there's, like, below a strikeout per inning, and then there's that. That is like severely below. I mean, we're talking 30 less strikeouts, nearly 30 less strikeouts than innings pitched. Would you start or sit Ryu next week against the Baltimore Orioles?

Boy, they're making it tricky with these matchups, huh? Yep. For what it's worth, he has a 2.89 ERA and three starts against them this season. I think I'd lean toward, yes. I think I would. But obviously it depends on what kind of pitching depth you're working with.

Ryu has... Yeah, he doesn't look right, but he still has good starts often enough that I don't think we can... I don't think we could just cast him aside, especially with matchups as favorable as that one. And I should have prefaced this with... These are for 12 team leagues, obviously.

So, Zach Gallen, he was at the Phillies on Thursday. Five innings, two runs. Zero earned, actually. So some questionable defense behind him. He did have six. strikeouts, only nine swinging strikes, 21% called strike plus swinging strike percentage. That's pretty bad. But he's only allowed two runs over his last two starts now. Zach Gallen has starter sit next week at home against the Padres. I would sit. I'm not sure whether or not to be

encouraged by these last two starts. He's not missing a lot of bats. He threw his fastball two thirds of the time, 67% of the time in this one. Very few curve balls. That's been his hardest hit pitch this year, but it's also been one of his best swing and miss pitches historically. So I don't know that that's a long-term solution, given up on the curveball like that. And as I've said before, I still have some concerns that maybe he's not full strength here after having the elbow ligament issue earlier this year. All right.

We sound the alarms. We had a regression alert on Thursday. James and Tyone at the Oakland A's. Three and two-thirds, five runs allowed, three walks. Yeah, he was bad. I was watching the start. He didn't really have much.

He couldn't command any of his pitches. He was getting hit pretty hard, too. It was bad. He's now been pretty mad over his last three starts, actually, James and Tion has. He's given up four homers during that stretch, and he was giving up a lot of fly balls all season long, so this is always a possibility with a fly ball pitcher.

Start or sit next week at the Angels. They have really struggled the last 30 days. Offensive. Yeah, but I'd still sit him. I'd still sit him the way the last three starts have gone. After we were suspicious of his July performance, yeah, I think it's time to sit Tyone. Not necessarily.

I wouldn't be opposed to dropping him, to be honest. But he might still be a worthwhile matchup. play. I just don't think this week is the time to use him. All right. Let's last one here that I have is Yusay Kukuchi and he was actually cruising through five starts. He started the sixth inning and it basically all unraveled for him there. So the final line, he goes five plus. He gives up four hits, four runs, three strikeouts. He actually left the start with the bases loaded. The reliever came in, gave up that grand slam to Salvador Perez. So all those runs get charged to Yusay Kukuchi. And next week he is going up against

the Houston Astros. I don't think you want to do that. I don't think so. No, I wouldn't matter who you said, who you said, to be honest, whether it was the Rangers or... You mean who you say? Yeah. That's what I meant. Yeah. No, he's... He looks like a mess right now, and his velocity continues to creep down.

I don't know exactly why things have gone so wrong for Kikouki. cheap, but as we've seen from him his entire career, when things are bad, they're very, very bad. Aroldus Chapman is in to close the game. In a one-run game, I have no faith whatsoever in what is about to happen. But we'll see. Should you add these hitters anywhere? Luis Arias hit his 17th home run of the season. He is 63% rostered, has started seven straight, and he has a hit, at least one hit in each of those games. He's been playing. playing more regularly because Willie Adomas is, I think it's a calf injury he's dealing with, he's day-to-day.

Luis Arias, he's heating back up here, Scott. Would you look to add him to any of your rosters? I think he's a fine utility option. You know, kind of a poor man's Josh Rojas, maybe. They're probably rostered similarly. But I do like Rojas more if you're choosing between the two of them. Yeah, no, it's been a nice season for Luis Aras, right? I mean, former top-ish prospect.

We wanted to see something, and he's played very well this year. So shout out to him. Colin Moran went four for five with a home run on Thursday, but he sits against lefties pretty consistently. 19% rostered. Do you need to add him anywhere? Maybe like 12-team roto with corner infield?

No, I mean, this isn't part of like a trend for him or anything. It's just kind of an isolated, good game. So I would not be moved to pick up Moran. All right. I brought up Nick Soak the other day. He was recalled by the Rangers. He has played four games since returning and he has six hits, one homer, one steel, 26% roster, has second base and outfield eligibility. Would you look to add Solek anywhere? I mean, another one where maybe in a 12-team Roto League, middle infield, five outfielders. What do you think? I don't have a lot of confidence. I could see things going well for him. I'm just not sold based on four games. games. At AAA, he did hit 353, but he also hit just one home run. Yep.

In, I think it was 85 at Bats. I wrote games here, but I think it was 85 at Bats. So, you know, I don't know. I want to see more from Soak. It just kind of depends how deep the league is. All right, last one that I have here, Brendan Nimmo went

three for four on Thursday and over his last 15 games. He is batting 311 with two homers and one steal. He's 61% roster. and I know points leaves are shallow. They're only three outfielders, but I mean, that's probably Nimmo's best format because he walks, he leads off, he gets played appearances.

Oh, yeah. Would you look to add him in a points league? He's been a quality points league option in the past, and I like that he's playing every day. But we're not seeing enough power, I think even for those formats, if you're talking about a standard 12 teamer. I don't think he's,

He's really been impactful. Even though he's hitting for average, I just don't think there's been enough power. I'm trying to see what his point per game average is. So entered Thursday exactly 2.5 fantasy points per game, which isn't horrible, but it's not somebody who needs to be rostered either. That's like Dylan Carlson is right there.

Josh Rojas is right there too, but obviously he's more versatile than Nemo. For what it's worth, the last 14 days, which is basically this span that I brought up where he's batting over 300, he's averaging 3.1 fantasy points per game, but it's a much smaller sample size. Yeah, and if that's, I mean, 3.1 would be fine if that was like something he could sustain over the full season, but if that's his hottest stretch, just not particularly moved by it. All right, let's talk about some options potentially in deeper leagues. And I've been meaning to bring up any. Ibany Banya's for days now. We just haven't gotten to him. He had two more hits on Thursday. He now has multiple hits in six straight games for the Texas Rangers. He's 4% rostered. He has first, second, third eligibility. The Rangers play six games next week. I'll throw a bunch of names your way,

Scott. You tell me if you like any of these, obviously deeper than 12 teams. It could be a 14 teamer, 15 team roto, whatever it might be. Ramona Rias with the Orioles has 11 hits, including two homers over his last seven games. Lauri Garcia has three straight multi-hit games since returning for the White Sox. Bradley Zimmer went two for five with a sock and a shoe on Thursday. He now has six homers and 11 steals. And then, excuse me, Michael Chavis went four for five with a double and two runs scored. He has started four straight games for the Pirates and he has seven hits during that span.

Those four starts, two lefties and two righties. Ramona Rias, Larry Garcia, Andy Banya's, Bradley Zimmer, Michael Chavis. Anything to see in deeper leagues? in deeper leagues Ramon Arias is playing enough and isn't a total dud at the plate so I could see in a really deep league

having some interest in him and Bradley Zimmer I mean he has four home runs four steals in August and he's batting right around 200 I think a little over 200 for the month so he's still not there's still not like an impact player but if you get in a deep enough

League, anybody who can provide home runs and stolen bases in some measure has value. And I'm keeping an eye on Michael Chavis because obviously he's been somebody who's intrigued us in the past and he kind of got in a bad playing time situation with the Red Sox, the strikeouts contributed to that. His rate this year is still awful, but maybe the pirates will help get him back on track. All right, so I'll give you a Yankees update. Stalling Marte got a single, he stole second base. There's two outs. Very pivotal at bat right now going on in the Yankee game.

All right, some Thursday leftovers. Ryan Moundcastle went two for four, and in the month of August, he is batting 353 with six homers. He's 80% rostered. He might be floating around in some three outfielder, shallower leagues, whether it's a headset categories,

a head-to-points league, but Mountcastle is playing very well right now. He's hot. Jonathan India went two-for-four with his 17th home run. He's betting 275, also has eight steals. Luis Robert is on fire since returning. He's batting 356, three homers, one steel, and 876 OPS with just a 22% strikeout rate since returning.

So that's massive because the strikeouts were a huge issue for him last year, Scott. He's having a weird year when you factor in his numbers from before the injury and after. He only has four home runs in 154 at bats. but his average Xx velocity, his hard hit rate, certainly his strikeout rate are all improved from last year, and it's not like he has launch ankle problems. So him hitting 331 with four home runs and 154 bats, you know, that seems like the batting average

and the home run production, that seems like the opposite of what we expected. And both of those, but I think the home runs are going to improve some. The batting average is going to come down some, obviously. but I still think the end result is going to be an even better player than we saw as a rookie last year. Tommy Edmund has multiple hits in seven of his last 11 games. Sounds about right. I think two weeks ago I poohed Tommy Edmund, so thank you.

Nolan Aronado hit his 26th home run, and I put out a poll on Thursday night, Scott. He's batting 255 with an 808 OPS. 26 homers, 84 RBI. The power production is actually pretty good for Nolan Aronado. Given that entire stat line, again, 255 batting average, I asked if you drafted him where you did, let's say fourth or fifth round, that was probably where his ADP was, are you pleased with the production that you have gotten from Nolan Aronado this season? What do you think? No. No? No. No. Yeah. I mean, we talked about it yesterday. This was kind of our worst fears have been realized.

He's just become a home run focused right around 800 OPS guy. He doesn't really stand out at his position, which has become a pretty thin position, or among hitters in general. And next year, I don't know that we'll be drafting him in the first eight rounds even. First eight rounds, wow. I mean, well, if he still gives you 30-plus homers,

And 100 plus RBI. The comparison I made yesterday was Mike Mustakis. Have we ever drafted Mike Mustakis in the first eight rounds? Good Mike Mustakis, obviously, because he's fallen off quite a bit the past two years. Sure. But when he was a 30 to 35 Homer guy who hit about 260 with not great on base skills. But correct me if I'm wrong, he only did that for one season, right? Mustakis?

I mean, at least with Aeronado, like it is. sustained success. So there's more of a floor with Aeronado than there ever was with Mustakis. No, Mustakis had a three-year stretch, 38 homers, 28 homers, 35 homers. Oh, all right. Yeah. That's pretty good. All right. I guess we'll see. Another one, Aronado, he's going to be an interesting one. You're right, by the way. The poll was, we're right around 54% say, nope, that is not enough. I am not happy with Aronado's production this season. A few other notes from Thursday. Pete Alonzo went two for four with his 29th home run, Juan Soto, one for three with his 21st. He's batting 300 with a 953 OPS overall. Joey Gallo hit his

30th home run. Kyle Seeger also hit his 30th home run. Kyle Seeger has 83 RBI. I thought that was pretty interesting. He's only betting 219 by the way. Max Scherzer, got to give him a shout out because he was just awesome. Seven and two-thirds shut out, 10 strikeouts against the Padres. I mean, it's just too easy. The call to the pen, some bullpen updates, and can you believe it? Of all the dramatic things I've ever seen. A roll this Chapman closes it out and he picks up his 24th save of the season. For the Reds, they had a four-run game. Michael Lorenzen was used in the eighth inning to face two, three and four in the lineup. Michael Givens was used in the ninth. For the White Sox, Craig Kimbril picked up his 24th save. Liam Hendricks was not available and for anyone who left

him left Kimberl in your lineups, you can thank me because I finally. I finally Benched him in one of my category leagues, and there you go. That's the week that he gets to save. For the Giants, Tyler Rogers got his 12th save. Jake McGee had pitched three of the last four games. To stream or not to stream, let's start with Friday. Chris Bubich at the Mariners, Jake Odarezi at the Rangers, J-Hap at the Pirates, Michael Waka at the Orioles,

Rich Hill versus the Nationals, and Paolo Espino at the Mets. Waka at Baltimore, Bubich at Seattle are probably my favorite to, but I don't love even them. On Saturday, we have Nestor Cortez at the A's, Carlos Hernandez at the Mariners, Tyler Anderson versus the Royals, Stephen Brault versus the Cardinals, Adrian Howser at the Twins,

and David Price versus the Rockies in L.A. I will say Nestor Cortez at Oakland is by far my favorite. I most worry about home runs with him, but won't be as much of an issue at that park. Uh, who's my second favorite? I guess probably Carlos Fernandez at Seattle. Yeah.

Just because David Price, I mean, the, the Dodgers haven't shown a willingness to let Price go six innings. I don't think he has in a single start yet. So his upside is limited even with a favorable matchup like that. And then on Sunday, we have Daniel Lynch at the Mariners, Eric Fetty at the Mets, Tyler McGill versus the Nationals, Chris Archer at the Orioles. And for fun. Will Crow versus the Cardinals. Tyler McGill,

well, Daniel Lynch in Seattle would be my top choice, but Tyler McGill versus Washington, I like that too. Will Crow, you know what that made me think of Scott? The movie The Crow, have you ever seen it? I haven't.

All right, well, I can't make fun of you because I haven't seen a bunch of movies that you bring up, but The Crow is a very good movie, and I do recommend it. And it's not like a Pauly Shore or Adam Sandler movie. Oh, I know, I know.

It's actually a very, It's a very good movie. Brandon. Brandon Lee died filming that movie. Right. That's what I was going to say. Like that's all I, whenever I hear the crow,

that's all I can think about. I think it would kind of make for a somber viewing experience. Oh, yeah. I mean, it definitely is. But it's an awesome movie. Yeah. I mean, it's pretty powerful movie, I would say. I watch it a lot.

Okay. Probably, I was probably too young to watch it when I did, but I've watched it many times in my life. Not a lot of adult supervision in the stamp full household, huh? No, no, no, no. There was a lot going on. Fantasy justice, let's wrap up the week and help some people out. This one's from Jacob.

I'm currently in second place in a 12-team Head-to-Head Categories League with four indefinite keepers each year. We had a sticky situation arise in the last few days where one team took a dump for mookie. What? A dump for mooky strategy on August 19th, the offending team, who is out of playoff contention, sent Trevor Story, Nick Castiano,

and Charlie Morton for Mookie Betts. For four Mookie Betts on the third place team. Outraged as I was, I contacted the league manager, and he said he wouldn't do anything since we don't have vetoes, I guess he would say, which I know. We do have videos. We do have Vitos, which normally I hate. I'm doing a terrible job, I'm sorry.

And that I should voice my concerns to the league, Being as late in the season as it is, I opted to email everyone not involved in the trade individually, voicing my concerns and asking them to vote against the trade if they saw it as I did, as destructive to the integrity of the league. A whole drama played out with some nasty messages called my actions collusion when all I was trying to do was get those who are disengaged to take a look and vote. So what is your take on this situation? FYI, the trade was upheld, so it did go through.

So it was story, Nick Cassiano's and Morton for Mookie Betts. Well, I don't like trades with a voting system like that. Yes. It kind of surprises me that with a voting system, it passed. So I think that that's your answer right there. In terms of you being accused of collusion, I think these things are better done out in the open. if you had concerns that you wanted to make the rest of the league aware of, just blast it out to the entire league.

And yeah, you'll probably have to deal with the people who made the trade defending the trade. But that's what happens when you criticize trades and want people to veto them. You've got to be willing to deal with that. As for whether or not the trade should be allowed, look, I get what you're saying. It's a lot to give up for Mookie Betts, but the rules your league set up, the guy was making the trade in his best interest. Mookie Betz is going to be a first rounder next year in all likelihood,

and none of the three players he gave up are. So when there's only four keepers, when there's no incentive of any kind for the teams that are out of it to win, these trades are going to happen. Yeah. And I hate stuff like, this because it happens in my home league. It's a keeper league. We only keep four players. It's actually very similar to this. It's a 12 team heads head points league. But right around the

trade deadline, we get a bunch of stuff like this. Whoever's out gives up three or four of their best players for one or two really good keepers the next year. And it's frustrating, but I guess my advice to you would be go out and make a trade as well. If you have anyone who can, who's a good keeper for next year, trade him to a team that's out. of it and try and get a few of their really good players. I mean, it might be tough if those people are not paying attention, but I fight fire with fire, right? That's, I think that's probably the only way to do it. Make a trade yourself.

So I get what you're saying, but it's, it's tough. This next one's from Jeffrey. I play in a 10-team, Roto Category Keeper League that has 20 years of history with high school friends who are very competitive. The league has a history of questionable behavior directed towards whoever the defending champ is at the time. My team is going for its third straight title and has been locked in a back and forth battle with one other team for most of the season.

That team is currently in first by a couple of points and just made a blockbuster trade with a middling team who was out of contention. That middling team received Matt Olson and Trevor Bauer, who both can be kept for one more year and gave up Max Scherzer, Jose Ramirez, and Jared Walsh. Only Walsh can be kept. Our league has five keeper slots with a two-year keeper. eligibility and no value attached.

The keepers represent the first five rounds of the draft. You must keep either three hitters or three pitchers. Basically, all right, this is a lot of information. Yeah, there's a lot of stuff here. There's a lot more. In my opinion, this was clearly a dirty, lopsided trade designed to knock off the two-time defending champ and was disguised as a middling team building for a next year trade. I assume you're saying, though, because if Jared Walsh is the only one that can be kept,

you're not going to keep him for one of your first five-round picks, right? So the trade doesn't make sense then. Oh, I know, that was the person who was receiving it. Okay. Right. Okay. Right. Yeah.

Yeah. The person. Matt Olson and Trevor Bauer. Yeah, I guess. Yeah. The person in first place by a couple of points was receiving a couple of awesome players that aren't going to help them, that aren't going to be worth, that aren't going to be capable for the guy who gave them up, Scherzer and Ramirez.

Yeah. Right. There's no reason for the middling team to hold on to them because he's out of it this year and he can't keep them. So he needs to get keepable assets in return. Are Matt Olson and Trevor Bauer good enough? I would hope he came to you too as the second place team and see what you were willing to offer for Max Scherzer and Jose Ramirez. Yep. That's frustrating to me when I see a blockbuster go through that I wasn't even aware was a possibility.

You know, like you don't normally approach somebody out of the blue say, hey, you're willing to trade me Jose Ramirez. It's just, that's just, you know, you're not going to have a high success rate doing that. So it stinks when the people don't value their own assets enough to really, really let the whole league participate in making offers. And I think that's... But I think it's fair. I understand why both teams did it.

Yeah. I think that's a good point, though. Scott, when you're getting ready to make a blockbuster trade, I mean, specifically in a keeper league like this, you want to shop around, shop around to everybody. I guess probably the teams that are in contention that makes more sense, but see who the best keepers you can get in return are. Right. I'm not sure, for Scherzer and Ramirez, two first round or borderline first round guys. Matt Olson is basically what you got, keepable Matt Olson. Because Trevor Bauer, I mean, who knows? Yeah. Maybe he'll be worth keeping

I suspect probably not. So, yeah, I'm just not sure that's quite a good enough return. Yeah. I mean, look, it's worth mentioning again that Scherzer and Ramirez cannot be kept in this instance. So they're really, they're just helping the team that's trying to win it this year. It's very similar to the last question that we got as well. It's, you know, it's a keeper trade. You'd like to see probably a better pitcher in there or someone with, you know, more stability that we know what's going to happen for next year.

But we don't. So I don't think it's, I don't think it's an awful trade. in a keeper league, but yeah. Again, my advice, go out and make a trade of your own. Justice has been served. For Scott, I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching

Fantasy Baseball today. We will be back again on Monday. Bye-bye.