Fantasy Baseball Today - Christian Walker's Big Second Half, Week 24 Sleepers & Two-Start Pitchers! | Fantasy Baseball Advice

Episode Date: August 29, 2025

Chris Towers and Scott White recap all of Thursday's action and then get you ready for Week 24, looking at the schedule, two-start pitchers and sleeper hitters! 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

Hello and welcome to fantasy baseball today on Friday, August 29th. I'm Chris Towers. Here with Scott White, we are going to recap everything you need to know from a scintillating slate of MLB games on Thursday. And we are going to preview week 24, which hopefully will be more interesting than Thursday's games. Scott, we were talking before the show. Thursday might have been the least interesting day of the season. Listen. For fantasy baseball.

Listen, you can't start a podcast like that. You can't do that. Okay, people have choices. Why do they need to listen to us if we have nothing interesting to say? No, I mean, there's plenty to talk about. Two big things happen. Two really big things happen. A couple of big things happen.

Then we're going to talk about, we're going to preview week 24, make sure. your lineups are set. There's a lot to stick around for, but that's a good point, Scott, and that's why Frank is the professional host, and I'm the backup. Let's kick it off with, oh my goodness gracious players from Wednesday, and we got to start with Kyle Schwerber. What an unbelievable season he's having. He hit four home runs on Thursday. Ironically, none of them against the position player that he faced. I thought, that was pretty funny. He popped up weekly when he faced a position player, but you got four home runs off real pitchers. Nine RBI. Kyle Schwerber now has, after today, this was a new career

high for home runs. He did it in style, 49 home runs for the season. He has driven in 119 runs, also a career high. He has scored 94 runs. He is 16 short of his career high. I feel pretty confident in saying he's going to break that one as well he has matched his career high with ten stolen bases uh he's not he's probably not going to set a career high and batting average that's 266 he's sitting at 248 but not impossible with a good final month incredible stuff what a walk year for kyle schwarber i think his free agency is going to be fascinating and it's going to be really interesting to see what we do is him for fantasy in 2026 because he is almost certainly going to be DH only again.

Yeah. The DH only pool will likely be a little shallower this year. Last year we had Brent, we're coming into this season. We had Brent Rooker as a DH only guy. We had Marcelo Zuna. We had four like top 75 picks as DH only. This year it will be Shohei Otani. It will be Kyle Schwarber.

There probably won't be another DH only player picked in like the first 150 picks or so unless I'm really forgetting someone. Yeah, there might be somebody we're forgetting because we're just doing this off the top of the dome. But either way, Schwerber having by far the best season of what has been a very good career, he is going to be 33 on opening day next year. We don't know where he's going to be playing. So all that being said,

Kyle Schorber guaranteed top 50. next year, right? Oh, yeah. Every format? Top 40? Yeah. Third round pick? I mean, usually,

usually he meets that criteria and he's coming off a career season, a season that... He was 69th in ADP this year. Okay. Okay. Yeah, I, look, when we did our first two-round redraft for the second half, we all put him in round two, and that was pre-4-Homer game. And he did have Al-Less.

Outfield eligibility at that point. He's picked up, he's played eight games there this year. So five in season to gain eligibility, but 20 to carry it over to the next season. Since we don't know who he's playing for next year, we don't know how willing they're going to be to play him in the outfield, how likely he will be to pick that out. At first base, which he does have a little bit of experience playing. But recently, because he's outfield eligible, I moved Chorber up to second in my outfield rankings ahead of, oh, well, behind only Aaron. judge. And that's for points and for Roto because he's not nearly the batting average liability he used to be in a couple years of him being respectable in batting average.

So I think he is, I mean, look, he's about to have a 50 homer season here. And clearly one of the biggest power bats, a guy who gets on base a tonne. So he scores runs. He just had nine RB. Like he is a three category monster. and not a big negative in the other two categories. I don't know how likely he is to steal double-digit bags again. But, you know, he's so good in those three.

And I think power home runs is the more critical category to fill early. So I think Schwerber at worst is a third round pick next year. And he may sneak into round two. You know, if you want to do the dumb, real, home run king thing. Can you make a case that Kyle Schwabre could become the National League's true home run king this season?

The top six guys are all steroid guys. Then you got John Carlos Stanton at 59. Cowherber's got a chance at 60. Single season? Yeah. The asterisk thing? Yeah. Yeah? We're not going to do that.

After he was All-Star of the... No, I've said that backwards. After he was MVP at the All-Star game with a very clutch performance in the first ever swing off. Like, it's the year of the Schwaber. It's also, I do think we need to point this out, the year of the Four Homer game. Yeah.

Because we entered this year. We entered this year. There had been seven Four Homer games for the entire 41 years I had been alive, beginning with Bob Horner's Four Homer game in 1986. There had been seven for my entire life. this year there has been three. And a year where it's not even a great year for home runs. That is crazy.

Yeah, that is 14% of the three, four homer games in MLB history have come this season. Three out of 20, there have only been 21 ever. So that's pretty bonkers. The last quarter of the 20th century, there were two four homer games for the entire last quarter of John Green was one of them? 20th century. No, he was in the 21st century. It was just Bob Warner and Mark Whitten in 1993.

All right. I would not have guessed those names ever because I don't think I've heard them before. I'm sure I've heard them before. You don't remember him? No, I don't remember him. He did that when I was five years old, Scott. Kyle Schwerber, not the only player to have a good game on the Phillies. They dropped 19 on the Braves.

and Bader went four for five with actually weirdly no RBI. That's, I don't know how often you see a four for five game with two extra base hits and zero RBI in a 19 run game. 19. Yeah, exactly. Well, Kyle Schwerber had nine of them. So, yeah, not a lot to go around else only 10 other RBI to go around for the, for the Phillies. Scott, let's get your, oh, my goodness, gracious player of the night.

And I think the, by far the most interesting waiver wire pickup or target. from Thursday's action, right? Yeah, let's talk about Braxton Ashcraft. This is not the second of the big things to happen, by the way, where that's still to come. But Braxton Ashcraft had a pretty nice start here

against the Cardinals. Five and two-thirds inning, so it came within one out of a quality start. Only one earn, run, allowed, five strikeouts. Nice whiff rate, 11 on 73 pitches. These starts just keep getting longer and longer for Braxton Ashcraft. So they introduced him, the pirates introduced him in sort of the same way they're doing,

they're introducing Bubbitt Chandler as a bulk relief guy. And recently Ashcraft has transitioned to the rotation. This is three starts in a row now, five innings or more. So he's meeting that minimum threshold to matter in fantasy. And the supporting numbers are pretty good, especially the ground ball rate. It's over 50%. and if you're throwing strikes with a ground ball rate that high, you're usually going to be pretty good,

all the more likely when you miss bats at a decent clip, which Ashcraft does. Like I said, Goodwif rate in this one. For the season, his swinging strike rate is round up to 12%. That's pretty good. That's solid, yeah.

And he wasn't a prospect of the caliber of Bubba Chandler. but he he was like a borderline top 100 guy he had some there were things to like there for Ashcraft in the pirate system and he may be putting it together he may be emerging as a useful

at least matchups type down the stretch here so I don't think some bad news on that front though it's the Dodgers next week oh Dodgers yeah you're not going to use them for that and and you're not picking up Braxton Ashcraft on the level of like Nolan McLean

or who are some of those other rookie pitchers? Jonah Tong who's going to make his debut Friday. Who else am I missing here? I'm drawing a blank. He's closer to the Messick. Yeah, Parker Messick. Yeah, I would take Parker Messick over Braxton Ashcraft pretty easily. And even Louis Molina, who we weren't, we didn't speak all that fondly of after his later.

great start. I'd still give him the edge over Ashcraft, but I think Ashcraft is somebody worth mentioning. And, uh, you know, if you're in a deeper league, all those guys are already rostered. Good, give him a look. Not against the Dodgers, though. I will point out, having poo-pooed him for this coming week, week 24, if you've gotten eye on week 25, especially in a roto league where you don't, you'll still be alive, I guess is the way to say. You, you might lose your playoff matchup this week and week 25 doesn't matter. But for week 25, it does look like he could be a two-star guy at Baltimore at Washington. Now, we're far enough away that you can't say that for sure,

and the pirates might choose to put Bubba Chandler in the rotation and go six-man the rest of the way, and that might squeeze it, but could be a two-start pitcher with decent matchups two weeks from now, Braxton Ashcraft. So that is something to keep in mind, and we are going to take our first break. We'll be right back. And we're back. Let's talk some news and notes from Thursday. And Scott, I assume this is what you were referring to when you said there was one other very interesting thing that happened on Thursday. And that is the Red Sox deciding to call up their top pitching prospect, Peyton Tolly. If you have trouble forgetting that,

actually, I'm not even going to make. I was going to make a terrible joke. And it's not worth it. We got to move on. I'm showing some rare restraint here. He will make his MLB debut on Friday against the Pirates. He was the team's second round pick last season. He's just been absolutely tremendous this season, fighting his way all the way to the majors as a 22-year-old. 304 ERA, 099 whip, 133 strike cuts to just 233 walks in 91 and 2 thirds innings. Do you think he sticks around? I think he's a viable streamer for Friday at the very least.

Yeah, another exciting. a rookie pitcher call up and a big riser among prospects this year Peyton Toley was actually 34th in my midseason top 50 so one to take seriously here you gave some of the numbers already there are really two here that kind of tell the whole story for me and I'm just going to focus on his nine starts since reaching AA he was great at high A before then too but just looking at the upper levels of the miners, what, what, uh, what Peyton totally did and his nine starts after reaching

double A, sixty nine percent strike rate, 19 percent swinging strike rate. Both of those are as good as it gets. And if you're, those two specific percentages, when they are outliers like that, obviously in the right direction, that's basically all I need to know. You're, you're a good pitching prospect. Now, how Tully comes about it is pretty interesting because he has

on his fastball, it is both, he has both the velocity. Approaching triple digits with that fastball, and he has the shape because he gets, he throws it from like almost a sidearm delivery

the way a lot of lefties do. And so when you're combining that kind of velocity with that kind of coming in from that kind of angle. It's kind of Chris Sale-like, you know? And Chris Sale has that phenomenal control, too. So I don't mean to throw out such a lofty comparison. Or maybe I do.

My point is just that Peyton Tolly is another one to get excited about. In fact, maybe second only to Tong in terms of my excitement level upon hearing he was being promoted. Yeah, FanGraphs has it as a 70-grade. fastball. He also has a whole full arsenal. Cutter, change-up, slider, curveball. Cutter in AAA has been his second most used pitch. He throws the fastball about 50% of the time. It's got a 32% whiff rate. It's only three starts, but looks very, very good right now. He is, by the way, just I'm excited to watch him just because he looks fun aesthetically. He's 6'5, 250 pounds. I'm pretty sure he's got a mustache. It's just a great look.

thicker than Chris Sale for having just made that comparison. On the opposite end of the spectrum in many ways. But he gets a ton of extension. It's like seven and a half feet of extension. So yeah, I think that fastball could be a legitimate weapon. I think Peyton Tolly is someone very much worth getting excited about. And if you missed out on Jonah Tong, I think you should look to add Peyton Tolly. And look, there's an opening in the Red Sox rotation right now.

They moved Walker Bueller to the bullpen. This is not like the Mets where we're kind of, I think we're just hoping the Mets go six-man, right? And then leave Jonah Tongan, whereas the Red Sox have a legit hold. They can easily bump Clay Holmes to the bullpen, as bumpy if a ride as it's been for him. And so I'm checking now, and I'm kind of doing this on the fly with Tolly,

because I've had my nose and so many other things today. You know what? But this is his first professional season, so we can't really look at his history innings-wise. I guess we can look at college last year. He had 81 in a third innings. His high there was 85 and two-thirds. He's at 91 and two-thirds this year. But with his little calendars we have left, I don't think being six innings over his previous high means that's something they're going to have to monitor.

I think he's fine. I think like Jonah Tong, Peyton Tolley has. has runway here with the innings. And yeah, spot to call his own, like you're saying. So Tong, we don't know exactly what the Mets are going to do

if they're going to stick with a six-man or shift somebody to bullpen or what. I think they are. I mean, I think Tong's here to stay. It would be kind of silly to call him up. I mean, if he just completely flops,

maybe not. Maybe not. Yeah, if he flops. But to your point, totally. probably has a little more margin for error than Tong does. All right.

Let's move on to just some absolutely, a couple of absolutely brutal injury updates. The first one, Francisco Alvarez, suffered a fractured pinky while on his rehab assignment for his sprained thumb. Just absolutely terrible luck. Alvarez said he hopes he can pitch or catch again before the end of the season, but I think... Pitching would be interesting.

That'd be tough, yeah. From a fantasy perspective, I think his season is almost certainly over. And that's really frustrating because I do want to point out, because this might be the last time we talked about Francisco Alvarez until the offseason. I don't want anyone to forget it. He played 21 games after his return from AAA and looked exactly like the guy we always hoped he would be. He had a 22.5% strikeout rate, totally manageable, 94.6 mile per hour average exit velocity, and hit 323 with a 1053 OPS in 21 games after returning from that stay at AAA.

And that stay at AAA, he was homering every game, basically, or every other game. So it's really frustrating. Looked like he was starting to figure it out. And I, as excited as we are about the catcher position, and I do not think Francisco Alvarez will be even in the top 15 for next season, he is going to be a high priority number two catcher target for me in any number in two catcher leagues because I just if he figured it out it's frustrating that we didn't get a chance to see you know the final month and a half to see if he really did but if he figured it out we know

the upside is still top 10 for sure maybe top five so still worth getting excited about and the other one are we going to hold Corey Seeger? having an appendectomy against him. I know he's had a lot of injury issues. This is just bad luck, just brutal luck for Corey Seeger, who has missed a lot of time over the years. There's nothing you can do about this one. Chris Young, the team president, did note he does not expect Seeger to miss the rest

of the season, but he will go on the IL. Just, I don't even know what you say. He was having another good season after another slow start, had really put it together over the past couple of months. And I don't know what you do with Corey Seeger for 2026. I don't know if you have any thoughts there. Oh, I think you draft them as usual. I mean, obviously, yeah, I don't see why, like you only have appendectomy once in your life.

That's not going to happen again. It'd be real weird if you have to say. Yeah. And so. I've only had one. reason to hold that against you you have had one i have had one it was a while ago without your appendix i am it's we i'm missing an organ isn't that weird it is i can't relate i can't relate don't have an organ i don't have all my i had my wisdom teeth out so i don't have all my teeth but

just just the ones that you are usually taken out yeah i mean the appendix is vestigial is that what we call it i don't know something like that be uh uh uh Seeger, I think the biggest knock on Seeger is that he'll be 32 next year, pretty early next year. He turns 32, and he plays the most loaded position and a position where we're struggling to rank certain guys high enough. Geraldo Perdomo, I look at my shortstop rankings, and I am both appalled that I don't have Perdomo higher. and also unwilling to move him higher. So that's kind of the stay of the shortstop position. Bobichette's good again.

You got Zach Netto emerging as a true stud. I think Corey Seeger is going to rank similarly, probably ahead of those two, at least Beset and Netto in a points league. But in a categories league, I don't know that that is a sure thing. It's, it's, uh, he's probably, Seeger probably not going to be drafted in the first four rounds next year, which means I'm more likely to have him. I'll be thrilled to get him in round six, but I think that's the reality for him now. All right. Uh, moving on, David Festa coming back from a shoulder injury, we'll make his first minor league rehab start at AAA Thursday.

Could matter in September, but I think we're at the point where he's got to show us at the major league level before we get excited anymore. The Angels opt in Jack Cohenowitz to AAA Salt Lake. He throws really hard and has a 681 ERA this season. Nolan Aeronado is heading to St. Louis to have his shoulder evaluated by team doctors and could be cleared to begin a rehab assignment if all goes well. So he could be back, which I don't know if that complicates things for JJ Weatherholt, their top prospect, who we hope to see in September, but not necessarily sure we will. It shouldn't.

He can play third, short, second. He can bounce around between the three, as he's been doing in the minors. And he has nothing more to prove there. I can't imagine a scenario where JJ Weatherholt is not on the Cardinals opening day roster next year. So why not make that transition easier by getting his feet wet now? It doesn't make sense to me why the Cardinals wouldn't call him up. I would agree, but I would have called them up by now if it was up to me. Yeah, for sure.

It's not my decision. Yiner Diaz was out of the lineup yet again for the Astros on Thursday. He has not played since being hit by a pitch on the wrist on Sunday. Always frustrating when we get these kind of situations. Not clear if he's going to go on the IEL yet. Nathaniel Lowe was placed on the paternity leave list and will miss three games. Miguel Vargas left Thursday's game with a wrist injury after a collision with Aaron Judge at first base. I believe it's being called a contusion, so hopefully it's not too serious.

And then Frankie Motas will have surgery to repair the UCL and his right elbow, likely a Tom and John surgery. So we won't see him again until 2027. If we're being honest, there's a non-zero chance we don't see Frankie Montas again. He'll likely get some kind of contract then, but he will probably, I think he'll be 34 by then. So a lot going against him, unfortunately. That's going to be a tough one to come back from. And that's going to do it for news and notes. Let's move on.

Take one more break and then we'll get to the week 24 preview. And then more of what you need to know from Thursday. And a quick reminder before we do all that, though. No live show on Sunday night for Monday. We will be recapping everything you know from the weekend on Tuesday's show. So Monday night, we will have a special pre-recorded episode where Scott and I did a bunch of bold predictions for 2026. That was a lot of fun. to kind of talk out some kind of half-baked ideas that we've got looking ahead to 2026.

I know there's a full month left, but that was a fun conversation. So we'll have that for you in your feeds on Sunday night, Monday morning. Look forward to seeing that, and we'll be right back. Welcome back to fantasy baseball today. Chris Towers here with Scott White. And let's look ahead to week 24 before we finish up what you need to know from Thursday. First up to schedule, we got 24 teams with six games, six teams. with seven games.

The White Sox, Guardians, Astros, Angels, twins, and Rays. I'll get that extra game on the schedule, but mostly a nice balance schedule. What about the Rockies? Well, all six games are at home in Corse Field. That's what you love to see. Three against the Giants. Three against the Padres. And that makes the Giants the best hitter matchups of the week,

because they've got three at Colorado, three against the Cardinals. We've got the Angels, the second best hitter matchups of the week. They've got seven games. We've got the twins with seven games as well. The Padres get six games, with three of them are at Colorado, three versus Baltimore. And then the Royals with six games, the Angels and Twins, the worst tenor matchups. Blue Jays, Orioles, Braves, Pirates, and Phillies. Scott, I know I'm going out of order a little bit.

Did you want to add anything about the best and worst hitter matchups? I'm usually not on Thursday, so I don't actually know. Well, I can tell you we're doing it a lot earlier in the show than we normally do. You know, we're usually bumping against the hour once we get to this, and we're not even at a half hour yet. But that's great. This is what people want to hear. And, yeah, that full week of games at Corse Field is good for the Giants and the Padres.

It's good for the Rockies, too, but they're facing some pretty tough pitchers from the Giants and Padre's pitching staffs. All right. Let's talk about some pitchers to target or first. what? Let's talk about two-start pitchers. Let's talk about two-star pitchers. Because it is a small group this week, in part because there are so few teams playing seven games, in part because there are a lot of six-man rotations right now,

or at least rotations that we perceive as six-man, even though it may not be official yet. And so it's hard to zero in on exactly. who is making six starts or I'm sorry two starts in week 24 um but among the pitchers who are you have McKinsey Gore you have Jacob Mizzerowski who did throw a five inning start last time and you also have Spencer Strider and I think given the small number of two start pitchers I think those three are all pretty advisable also Strider you are starting.

Yeah, it's Cubs and Mariners. It's a couple tough matchups. I'm not saying you have to. It's not in the must start. In fact, I only have six must start two-start pitchers for the week 24, and one is Brian Beaux, being pretty generous,

calling him a must-start two-star guy. Spencer Strider is 12th in my two-star pitcher rankings for next week, but I brought up a couple times his last start against the Marlins. He didn't get a lot of strikeouts, but the fastball looked best. And he spent some time, you know, skipped a turn in the rotation to work with one of those pitching facilities nearby in Atlanta and gained a couple of inches of induced vertical break on his fastball once he was back on the mound.

So, like, he seems to be on the right track. It could get throttled again. It's a risk. It's not like you have to do it. But I think in most cases, if you're still rostering strider, probably going to start him as, I'm a – As I'm saying this, as I'm saying this, it occurs to me. This is the third straight week. Strider has been listed as a two-star pitcher.

Okay. And it has yet to actually happen. They keep pushing him back? They keep that in mind, too. But I do rank it. So just some of the pitchers I have behind him, directly behind him in the two-star pitcher rankings, Bailey Ober. Would you rather start Oprah or Strider?

Charlie Morton, do you rather start? him or strider. Ober has got better matchups for sure. Oprah does have better matchups. That's the only reason he ranks as high as he does. Pretty bad right now. Yeah. Shane Paz is the pitcher ranked third after Strider in the two-star pitcher

rankings. Luis Castillo. I mean, even Shamanaya. Sean Minia, so I just removed him. Okay, okay. Because I think the Mets are going six men next week. They only have six games. Yeah.

That's, um, and then you've got you say Kikuchi. at Houston versus the A's. Yep. I'd prefer not to start Shane Baws. I'd prefer not to start U.S.a Kikuchi. I prefer not to start Bailey Ober, but if you're, I think this is maybe a week in a Roto league. If you're worried about your, like,

I'm in a couple leagues where I don't really care about my ratios. I'm just trying to move up the rankings, and the easiest way to do that's going to be trying to tackle volumes. So I might be more willing to start guys like that. But if you're trying to protect your ratios, if you're in first place and you really don't want to move down the rankings, this might be a week to protect your ratios even more and avoid the two-star options.

So the last three in that second tier of two-star pitchers, Strider Ober Morton. I was on the fence about whether to call them advisable in most cases or advisable just in head-to-head leagues. I went with advisable in most cases. But, you know, if you don't want to start them in a roto league, because you're protecting ratios, I get it. All right. Some two-start pitchers to consider adding in streaming.

And I actually, I do think we got some good options who are pretty widely available. You know, Kyle Braddish, 63% roster. 63. What in the world? Well, so I pointed this out maybe four weeks, three or four weeks ago, that him and Shane Bieber were basically on the same time. table. Uh-huh. Uh, and Bieber was like 80% rostered and Braddish was like 20% rostered at that point. Yeah. People just did not really take it seriously until like a few days before he actually debuted and I, I feel like. You'd and looked amazing. I think, I don't think you're on the show when

I brought this up, but I feel like there's this collective amnesia about how good he was. Kyle Bradish. Like people forget, I don't know if it's because he came on. So, suddenly that people didn't have time to process him as as a high-end starter but in 388 starts between 2023 and 2024 281 ERA 105 whip uh the k-per-9 rate was almost 10 he was fourth in a l si young voting in in 2023 so i don't know way better and then was better yeah and the eight starts the next year right exactly like every like his velocity was up and it was mostly back in that first start. I think, like, I feel a little better about Shane Bieber than Kyle Bradish just because he's further removed from his surgery, but they're back to back in my rest of his

rack. For 2026, I might prefer Cal Bradish. He might just be a better pitcher. And that's not, that is not faint praise. I think Shane Bieber is really good. I just, I really think Cal Bradish might have top 12 upside for 2026. I'm really excited. And definitely excited for him making two starts in week 24 Podres. Tough matchups. Well, Padres aren't so tough. They just don't strike out much. But the Dodgers are definitely tough, the second matchup.

Still, I think easily the number one streamer pitcher. He is in the must-start tier of my two-start pitcher rankings, Kyle Bradish. And I think this is the first time all season. I've been able to call a must-start two-start pitcher, also a sleeper pitcher because of how rostered he is. We've also got Ryan Nelson, who's got the Rangers and the Red Sox.

He's 76% rostered. That's one that he'll probably push close to 90%, but it doesn't need to stay that way. Yeah, it's just so reliable. The matchups could be better, but yeah, I think Nelson's a pretty easy play. And then we've got Parker Messick at Boston at Tampa Bay. Don't love the matchups.

A lot could go wrong for a guy with good, but not necessarily great stuff. But I've been pretty impressed by what he's done so far. Mm-hmm. Yeah, he's only 40% rostered zero walks in the last two. I don't think that'll continue. I think he's gonna walk some more guys as we move forward, but he hasn't had a miss yet in three starts and so when you're talking about streaming pitchers off the waiver wire It's about as trustworthy as you're gonna find Parker mess and then we got Bailey over versus the white socks at Kansas City like we said There's a really good matchups. Those are two bad offenses, but can you trust Bailey over I would prefer not to if I could avoid it, especially because, man, even if you're just chasing volume, you might only get like eight or nine strikeouts from.

So don't love it. Charlie Morton, you're going to get a lot of strikeouts. It's just, it might kill your whipping ERA versus the Mets versus the White Sox. It's hit or miss. Yeah. Let's talk some one-start streamers. We've got Nolan McLean, who, by the way, I looked at, I watched the Mets broadcast the other night. I think it is McLean.

And not McLean. I think it's McLean. I don't take me at my word. I'm an unreliable narrator at best, but I think it's Nolan McLean. That's what I heard. Anyway, he's 78% rostered. He should just be 100% rostered. He is not a street. Yeah, I feel kind of

like it's cheating to put in here, but I'll take it. I'll take the layup when it's coming up with 10 sleeper pitchers every week because then you got like half of them. Emishian with a great matchup at Pittsburgh. Clayton Kershaw also great matchup at Pittsburgh so both of those guys

Emmishian's 52% roster coming off probably his best start of the season. Seven innings and that's all of a six innings starts so he's he's getting some real length now. Like in liking that Clayton Kershaw it's just every start is like six innings one run three strikeouts. I don't quite understand how he's getting away with this but

uh his Have you seen Clayton Kirchall's throwing a splitter? I haven't noticed that. Yeah? I don't think I'm making that up. I think Clayton Kirchall is now throwing a pretty good splitter, which is an interesting thing. Yeah, he has thrown 75 splitters all to Ritees this season. He has a 38% whiff rate and a 214X Wobah.

Maybe throw a more. Get some whiffs. Yeah, that's, that's interesting. That is something that I noticed. Jose Soriano, I feel like this is what the 24th streaming pitchers column of the season, maybe 25th. He has probably been in every single one of them. He's just always right around 70% rostered. He can never get quite over that hump.

I think for good reason. He's an incredibly frustrating pitcher. And then Ian Seymour, Tampa Bay Ray's lefty, is he SPARP eligible? He is. He should be, yeah. He's got the Guardians, probably a two. start pitcher for the following week. So that is something to keep in mind for those of you in points leagues.

The rays are only going five men currently because they sent down Joe Boyle to get Ian Seymour in. Ian Seymour is, I feel like I've been making a lot of Joe Ryan compared since recently, but he kind of has that profile from the left-handed side. Certainly like if you compare him to Ryan when he first came up, I think Joe Ryan stuff has gotten better since he came up to the majors. but the original read on him was that he dominated in the minors, thoroughly dominated, despite having really unimpressive stuff. And it's just optimal shape on the fastball, making it difficult to connect on even with modest velocity. And that's been the case for Ian Seymour throughout his minor league career too.

His last start was excellent. Cleveland's been terrible offensively all season, but especially lately. And so it's kind of a deep league special here. Seymour only 20% rostered. But hey, if you want to get wild here, he is a good deep sleeper. All right.

Let's transition over to some sleeper hitters. Do you want me to run through all of them? Or do you want to just take the baton? I can run through him. I'll take the baton here. Save your voice. Save your voice. Ramon Luriano probably should not qualify for this list.

but he technically does. Padres of the fourth best hitter matchups three games at Colorado. You may start him now and never sit him again. That's how good Lauriano has been. Mark Vientos is surging here. Nothing special about the Mets matchups, but they're not bad. I think he just got to get the hot hand in your line of Mark Viantos. The past couple weeks has just been on fire.

Joe Adele has also been on fire, and the Angels have the second best hitter matchups, one of the few teams playing seven games. Matt Walner, seven home runs in August. So he is going on one of his patented home run binges. And the twins have the third best hitter matchups, just one lefty on the schedule in their seven games. Good time to take advantage of that with Walner.

I also have Lou Keishel on here for the twins, who's surprisingly been much better against Ritey's. I don't know how seriously to take that, but I just mentioned the twins have six Ritey's on the schedule. So just putting it out there. Keishel's numbers are phenomenal against them. Dalton Varsho is... Only 48% rostered.

That's too low. You know what? I'm going to take Dalton Varsho out. I think I misread this. I'm going to take him out. I think I was looking at Texas's schedule when I picked Varshow. I'm going to, you know what? I'm going to say keep him in.

48% roster still too low for Donald Vars. It's too low. It's too low. but actually the Blue Jays have the toughest hitter matchup next week. So my eyes just drifted to Texas and things. Maybe a couple of, do they face the Yankees lefties as well? That would be tough. They are, yes.

Well, they're facing Freed and they're facing Lodolo, who isn't a Yankees lefty, but he's a good lefty. So yeah, no Varsho, forget that, scratch that, taking his place. Should I put Marcy? That feels cheap, but I'll probably do it. Take the easy wins when you can, baby. Take the easy wins.

You mentioned the Giants have the most favorable hitter matchups of all. I think it's a good time to try out. Jung Hu Li again. It was at least been hitting for average. It's a lot of hollow batting average. But with the three-game series at Colorado, hopefully the rest of the lineup will knock them in a few times. Also, Luis Matos, this is kind of the Deep League special,

because he's only 7% rostered, but he's suddenly become an everyday player for the Giants and has been piling up multi-hit games. I don't have a lot of confidence to Luis Matos long term, but with the Giants matchups this week with the kind of run he's on, I think in deeper leagues you could give him a look. Mike Estremski has been... Yeah, he's been really good.

Really good since joining the Royals. And is elevating better, is hitting the ball harder, is just kind of doing everything better. And it's shown in the production. The Royals have the fifth best-chair matchups. Only one lefty on the schedule. So that's another deep league possibility. And finally, Luis Garcia here.

Good matches for the Nationals. They just missed being among the top five. Only one lefty. Pretty much any time it's a light lefty schedule for the Nationals, Luis Garcia is somebody you can consider. All right. Let's move on to the rest of what you need to know from Thursday. And I guess there's one waiver wire pitcher to talk.

besides Braxton Atchraff, but I'm going to be honest. I don't see much about Jason Alexander to be that interested in. I think he's fine. He did what he was supposed to do against the Rockies. Today, well done, random streamer. Five and two-thirds, three earned runs, one walk, eight strikeouts. Am I being too harsh on Jason Alexander? He does have a 217 ERA in August with 26 strikeouts in 29 innings.

He got 16 whiffs in this start, 11. with that change-up, which has been a very good pitch. I just think it's the only good pitch. And, you know, one thing I was thinking with, like, Parker Messick and, you know, a couple of the other, or no, Ian Seymour was the guy that I was thinking of. When you're a lefty with middling stuff, but you've got a great change-up, you can kind of get away with it, right? Like Jeffrey Springs, Matthew Boyd is kind of like that,

just because you're going to face a lot more righties than lefties. So if your best pitch is a change-up, you can lean on that. When you're a right-y, it's a lot harder to do. Because change-ups are primarily about neutralizing the platoon advantage for opposite-handed hitters. He's just not going to see as many opposite-handed hitters as a right-y. So I think that might be the distinction here. And then Jason Alexander gets the Yankees next week. So even if you do think I'm being too harsh on him, you're not going to start next week anyway.

You're not being any harsher on Jason Alexander than the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The greatest, the most shameful denial of an Emmy in television history. Well, I don't know about that. For the greatest sitcom character. I don't know. There's some pretty, I don't think John Hamm ever won for Mad Men. There are some bad ones for sure. But, like, what's your name from Better Call,

saw i don't know you never watched that one but she never won that was crazy she was incredible there are a few like michael mckeen i think probably put on the best the the best performance there and better call saw didn't steve carell never win for for the office yes okay that's that's actually comparable that's crazy because i think if you're carving the mount rushmore of sitcom characters i think you start with george costanza played by jason alexander that's what got us on this thread. But Michael Scott is on that Mount Rushmore.

I think Mount Michael Scott's on there. Yeah. Yeah. So probably Archie Bunker. Yankees' legend Jason Alexander. Yeah. Who would be the fourth one on the Mount Rushmore? What's his name?

What's his name? What's his name? I can think of the actor's name. I can't remember the character's name. Ted Denson. Oh, you think so? Sam Malone. Sam Malone?

Come on. I don't know. that fourth spot. That fourth spot has always gotten me. If you want to do like animation, you could put Homer Simpson in there, but I don't know that I want to do that. I don't, I don't know. This is a conference. I mean, look, like I said earlier in the show, we've padded it out.

There's not a lot to get through for Thursday's games. So we could keep talking about sitcoms, but let's talk about baseball. Ted Danson's character in Cheers famously was a baseball player, by the way. So that could be topical. do these pitchers still matter we'll start at the top I mean he's not at the top anymore Aaron Nola

who gave up four earned runs over six innings four strikeouts three walks velocity was up but only seven whiffs on 95 pitches he has given up 12 earned runs and 14 in a third innings since coming back from the IL can you give me any reason to be optimistic about Aaron Nola right now he's throwing the fastball harder his last two starts yeah

And he turned in a quality start last time when he did that. This, for some reason, this turn against the Braves, he threw his fast pole 55% at the time. I don't think that was ever. Nothing else is really working. That was ever a winning formula for Nola. Fair point. But in that previous start, which was, again, a quality start. He threw his curveball 44% of the time, got 11 whiffs on it.

So I guess if you're asking for a reason to be encouraged about Aaron Nola, I would say look at his previous start. Sure. And then consider that he maintained the fastball gains from that. So, you know, I rank him outside my top 50 starting pitchers rest of season. It's a big fall for Aaronola. No way you can start. But I'm not entirely without hope. No way you can start him at Milwaukee next week, right?

Yeah, I'm trying to think of a situation where I might, but I'm not. Yeah, you'd have to be pretty best. I'm drawn a blank. Drawing a blank. Does Clay Holmes still matter? Not really, no. Five innings, two earned runs. It wasn't like a terrible start, but it was four runs, two earned, two un-earned, two

strikeouts, one walk. He has a 464 ERA, a 144 whip since the start of July. He's at Detroit next week. I don't think he's going to be a two-start pitcher the following week because they're likely to be in a six-man rotation. Even as a spark in a head-to-head points. I just don't think Clay Holmes really matters anymore. He's still like 75% rostered or something.

I think it's way too high. Yeah, I agree. There's nothing there. He hasn't been horrible, but he hasn't been good enough to be usable either. And they probably should just transition him to the bullpen at this point, honestly, if Tong proves good enough to stick around Friday. Do we care about Will Warren?

I know he has a 284 ERA in August after he only, It was zero earned runs on Thursday. Again, there were four runs, zero earned. Only two, only three strikeouts. He has a 284 ERA in August, like I said, but 21 strikeouts and 25 and a third. Only one start with more than five innings. Strikeouts have been pretty mediocre since July, and he gets the Astros next week. Is Will Warren really worth rostering at this point?

It's been a couple months since I would have said he was, apart from streaming. So it's another one that his roster rate just rose to a level. Peaked at a certain level when there was maximum enthusiasm for him and it just stayed there. Yeah, he's a 71% still. I don't get it. Fall in a little bit then. But yeah. It's still too high.

It's still too high. I still don't see much reason to use Will Warren. Like even if he had a good matchup, he would be in the back half of my sleeper pitchers for the upcoming week. you would not be one that I'm especially excited to use. And then we've got Jose Cantana who, like sometimes the random number generator pops up a bad number. Look, I'm laughing at some of the suggestions for that fourth spot on this sitcom character, Mount Rushmore.

It's a grandpa monster. I don't know why. It just made me laugh. I don't think it's going to be Grandpa Monster. I don't think so. I think we could come up with a better option than Grandma. But no disrespect intended. It was a fine performance.

But, but, yeah, I think we can do better. Not the first one that would come to mind for me. You know, I will say, I think sitcom actor, Mount Rushmore is a more interesting conversation, just so you can broaden it a little bit. And the first two names you're chisling there, Ted Danson and Julia Louis Dreyfus. Just like, no question. They start in so many good ones. I still think Jason Alexander and maybe Steve Carell both make it on just on the strength of that one performance.

Yeah, maybe. Yeah. And then, yeah, Jose Cantana, look, he has had an ex-ERA over 450, three straight years, and an ERA below 370, three straight years. Doesn't make any sense. He keeps doing it. I wouldn't start him against Philadelphia next week, but he might have a, quality start would not really surprise me. Some more, some hitter leftovers.

Willie Adamas went two for four with a pair of homers. He has an 865 OPS, it looks like, in the second half of the season. Kind of think Willie Adamas numbers are just going to end up where they normally are outside of last season. Yeah. And we just, you know, overdrafted him a little bit based on last season. He's a... Wait in it.

Well, yes. You love the Royal We. And it, you know, but the downside to using the royal we in those situations especially is that you end up undercutting our wisdom. Because we knew better than to target Willie Adam is based on last year's performance. Now, he is having a big enough resurgence here at the end of the season that I don't think the worst fears are going to end up being realized. Solum middle and field. The venue change was not as big of the deal. It was just more he regressed to

To the mean and and Is somebody who You know probably deserves to rank in the the mid-teens at shortstop rather than Where was he being drafted was he being drafted like eighth or ninth? He was like a top 80 90 pick. Yeah It's too high Ridiculous A head of Boba Shett ridiculous ridiculous all right Chris Walker also had a two homer game that's eight home runs in August OPS over 850 since the

start of July. Are you buying the bounce back here? It's worth noting over the past 250 played appearances. Only a 320x, Wobah. Where are you at on Christian Walker? I think Dick Van Dyke probably needs to rank on the Mount Rushmore you were proposing of sitcom characters. Of sitcom actors, excuse me, not characters, but actors. So not a lot of interest in Christian Walker.

No, I mean, here's the thing about Christian Walker. You're trying to keep us on track here. I'm having far more interesting discussions, but that's fine. It's almost September. Come on. Enough with the baseball already. Christian Walker, did you give the number since July 1st? It's like an 850 OPS.

It's great. Yeah. It's since July 1st, 46 games with these two home runs Thursday. Christian Walker, 279 batting average 11 home runs, mid-800s OPS. He's basically been Christian Walker since July. Now, it hasn't been this burning hot stretch that corrects a lot of the underperformance from earlier in the season. Like the overall stat line still looks pretty bad for Walker, but I think he's shown over these last two months that he's still the same guy. He's just kind of normalized.

And I have him as a top 16 first basement rest of season. I think he needs to be a rostered in basically all leagues. And he is, isn't he? He's above 80%. Yeah, he's like 91% actually. I was kind of surprised by that. Jazz Chisholm had a sock and a shoe. Nine homers, 14 steals since the All-Star break.

He's kind of having the season we hoped he would. It's just that he missed a little time with injury. And that's going to hold the, the counting stats back. I will also point out Kelsey Grammer. I mean, it was for the same character, but 11 nominations for outstanding lead

actor in a comedy. Well, I mean, he's got cheers and Frazier. And and Frazier. Right. So. Playing the same character, but Michael J. Fox, multiple, very good series. So, well, it's true. He

has had multiple, has it? There's some, there's some options out there is what I'm saying. That's, that's all. Let's move on to some pitching leftovers. Garrett Crochet. He's awesome. He already down to 240. He gave up two earned runs and six innings,

seven strikeouts against the Orioles. I think it was only two solo homers that he gave up that caused him problems. The only question, can he steal the Sall Young from Terek Skubel? And is he the number two starting pitcher for 2026? I think I would take him over Paul Skeens. Mm-hmm.

Just it has the strikeout edge. Yeah. But all three of those top guys, There's going to be a clear top three in 26. And then there might be like 14 guys who were fighting for as the number four starting pitcher next year. Probably an exaggeration, but who would be your early favorite for number four starting pitcher next year? That's a good question. And I mean, because right now, rest of season, I have Christopher Sanchez there.

I don't think it can be Christopher Sanchez. I just don't think he's run hot. Um I can't If Chris Sale dominates in September Is it in? Just because of the strikeout upside You might be able to make that case

Logan Gilbert Maybe it might be Logan Gilbert It might be Hunter Brown I think Logan Gilbert I think that that's where I'd go right now I think he's kind of It's a clear tier drop But

it hasn't showed up in the numbers But Logan Gilbert There are some reasons to believe this is the best version of him and we just haven't quite seen him put it all together yet because that splitter's been outrageous this season. So yeah, that could be it. Logan Webb, seven innings, three-on-runs, seven strikeouts, just dudes being dudes. Don't have anything here to say unless you do. Moving on, Shodiminaga. On the other side of that one, basically the same exact start, three-run runs over seven innings, five strikeouts in this one,

continues to throw that sweeper around 20% of the time, but it was the splitter that carried him today. Nine of his 11 whiffs on that pitch. He's had to adapt on the fly this season, but I actually think it's been very impressive the way Shoday Minaga has found ways to overcome. You know, what he did last season didn't really work as well. So he's introduced this sweeper that was there,

but wasn't a big part of his arsenal. And it's been a pretty good pitch for him. So I think he's a worse pitcher than last year, but maybe a more sustainable. Is he a top 30 starting pitcher for next season for you? Ish. Ish, ish. Yeah.

I think when you start lining up the names, I can get excited about some others that will be in that same range, more than Imanaga, who's really taken a big step back with the strikeouts this year. But he is somebody who I would feel okay about having is my third or fourth starter. I can say that much. All right. And then I just want to point out Adam measure, not Adam Azer.

Adam Major. I know. I know. I hate there's never been a more disappointing pronunciation of a name than Adam measure. Come on, man. He went four innings, gave up to her runs, two strikeouts. I don't care. Who cares? Nobody cares. Just call up Robbie Snelling, you cowards. Let's see Robbie Snelling in September. It's what the people want to see. And then... What's the downside? None. Very little, I would say.

Dark Horse John Ritter, another guy who had multiple characters and shows. Caleb Quokho, I think... I don't think she'd go up there, but I think, you know, she was in John Ritter's last sitcom, rest of the piece, and she was in another very successful sitcom. Big fan of her work on Harley Quinn on HBO, very funny vocal performance. I haven't seen it, but I do think, you know, Julia Louis Dreyfus gets a lot of credit for, like, her comedic timing, rightfully. I think I think Kaylee Quo goes up there. She's very funny.

She's very funny. Yeah. Called to the bullpen, Brian and Brady got his fourth save in 15 days, and she remained an elite. closed with the rest of the other with Josh Hater out. Daniel Palencia has been a little shaky in August. He hasn't had like a big full-blown meltdown, but he has given up a single run in four of nine games in the month of August. Any concerns here for Daniel Palencia?

This is not something I've noticed. Probably because he hasn't had the big meltdown yet. Yeah. Which might just be a reason to not be worried. Yeah. That's not like. it's Robo Scott here We know a Robo Scott appearance

Right at the end You're fine you're fine Robo Scott speaking of robots and sitcoms You know Vicky from Small Wonder Why not I don't know that one I'm gonna be honest No know that one

It's probably for the best that you don't know that one A Rollis Chapman got the day off On Thursday so Stephen Matt's worked a night For the Save I feel like they just have a different guy Like if O'Roldus Chapman wasn't the closer, there would be no closer in Boston. Because I feel like they just get a different guy to get a save every day. And somehow it was Stephen Math's turn.

For the Diamondbacks, someone named Taylor Rashi got a three-inning save. So that's very great for him. Jojo Romero got the fifth save of the month of August. I guess there's been a couple of times when he hasn't gotten it. But seems pretty clear he's the closer. And then the Marlins are just weird. Calvin Foshae got the save on Thursday, his 13th of the season, and second in a row. He hadn't had one since August 2nd before that.

Well, three different players had had a save for the Marlins in between. He has, Calvin Foshae, has five of the Marlins last nine saves. Yeah. So I think he's as strong of a closer as they've had all season. Yeah. That's how I'd put it. He matters in 15-Team Roto leagues. and not much else.

Yeah. I think that's probably the right way to put it. And that is it. It's almost done here. For the call to the bullpen. You know, I said yesterday I was going to put the streamers together and I didn't. I've been trying to do it on the fly. So we've got some options.

Friday. Jonah Tong versus Miami. Peyton Toley versus Pittsburgh. Those are your best streamers. It's a little cheating to call them streamers because we love their talent. a lot more than everyone else, but they are technically streamers. After that, would you trust Jack Leiter at Sacramento? I don't think I would.

That's a terrible place to pitch. Yeah, don't love it, but there are some other good ones here Friday. Jonah Tongue against the Marlins. Did you talk about him already? I said, John Teton Tully. Well, let me ask you this. You've got sitcoms on the brain. How do you feel about Ed O'Neill?

Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's another one with multiple. I can't say, I've watched a little bit of married with children, but not like a ton, but. Yeah, I always thought it was kind of, I always, he's great in the modern family. I mean, I think that was kind of the point. Yeah. I don't think they were going for for the most hotbrow comedy there. But not in a way that made it worth watching. I would watch a sitcom occasionally or a rerun occasionally. Or a rerun occasionally. occasionally. Okay. I'd be Be Arthur. So who did you say you like from Friday?

You like Tong, you liked Tolly. Christian Javier. I know it's been rocking, but he's got the angels, a lot of strikeouts there. Nestor Cortez at the Twins. I don't mind Dean Kramer at San Francisco. I don't mind the last three starts have been excellent, and that is a forgiving environment in case the bad Dean Kramer shows up.

I agree with that one. I don't mind it. And then Jack Leiter at Sacramento, I just can't bring myself to trust that. He was awesome. His last start, 10 strikeouts over seven shutout innings. But that is just such a bad place for a volatile pitcher to pitch. So I'd have to be pretty desperate to go with that one. On Saturday, Quinn Priester at Toronto, don't think I can do it.

He, it was a wrist injury, so not too concerning, but just a tough matchup. I don't trust you all on Oviedo, but I know he's done some nice. things lately maybe Michael McGreevy at Cincinnati Big no on Spencer Arrogetti can't do it with Shane Smith versus the Yankees and I don't trust McAbel versus

San Diego so do you like any of these guys I'm gonna throw a wild card at you hit me with the wild card Patricia Heaton Now I think she is the I only know the one She was everybody loves Raymond and the middle

Okay. Is that with the janitor from Scrubs? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, she was married to the janitor from Scrubs in the middle. I think she was the unsung hero of everybody loves Raymond. Yeah. Because my wife and I rewatched it recently. That stretch where she's out, I think, for what was for maternity leave, the show really suffers.

It really suffers. It's just missing a certain tension there. So, yeah. I think Scott can you can you give me a Ray Romano you got a Ray Romano in you? I've never really

I'm trying to conjure that one I've never attempted it before no oh Deborah okay that's that's a little better it wasn't very good Robin

we need Frank back on Sunday would you start Brad just we got to go yes or no on these start Brady singer versus the Cardinals?

I'd lean yes. Start Taj Bradley against the Padres. No. Start Ian Seymour against the Nationals. That feels like a big yes. Yeah. Well, I mean, if that goes poorly, then I may be swapping them out

the Sunday update of the sleeper pitchers. Brad Lord versus the Rays. No. Bryce Miller at the Guardians. I think he counts. Uh, yeah. Uh, Jose Soriano versus the Astros. I'm always down for Soriano, as you know.

I know you're not a Louis Heel fan, but versus the white socks? Uh, eh, you could do worse. It's not automatic, but because of the matchup, but you could consider it. Tomo Yuki Sagano at the Giants. Eh, doesn't feel like enough. reward to justify the risk. And I think that's the last one, but I do just want to say Tony Hale, Veep and Arrested Development to outstanding performances, he's very, very good.

So that's another one I want to put out. For that matter, was Jason Bateman in anything else? Ozark, but that's not a... Yeah, that's obviously not a sick. And there's obviously been a lot of movies. Yeah. Jason Bateman is fantastic. I mean, if you're just doing TV, Andre Brower, you know, Brooklyn 9-9 and homicide life on the street, that's an all-timer.

R-IP. And that's going to do it. We've gone over. We're wasting time. I didn't think we were going to get an hour and six, an hour seven out of this podcast. Way to go, Scott. We rung it out. Frank will be back on Monday night going into Tuesday.

We've got the bold... The Tuesday show. By the time we start recording, it's the next day. Just say Tuesday. Well, it's not the next day until you fall asleep. We all know that. That's a fact of nature. We'll see you on Sunday.

Goodbye. Thanks for listening.