Fantasy Baseball Today - Civale to Rays, Sewald to Dbacks! Add Nick Pivetta, Drop Marcus Stroman? (8/1 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 1, 2023

Aaron Civale was acquired by the Rays in exchange for prospect Kyle Manzardo (1:05)! ... The Dbacks finally have their closer in Paul Sewald (10:20)! Will Andres Muñoz be the closer in Seattle? ... Jeimer Candelario was traded to the Cubs (21:22). ... Nick Pivetta was awesome in his first start since May (28:00). ... Marcus Stroman is struggling big time (33:05). ... Let's fire up the DROP-O-METER for Anthony Rizzo and Edward Cabrera (36:45). ... News (41:50): Mike Trout took dry swings. ... Noah Syndergaard pitched well in his Guardians debut (47:07). ... Brandon Lowe or Trevor Story (49:45)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (54:50). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. The raise traded for a pitcher and the be-backs finally have a closer. We'll break it all down.

Welcome in Tough Fantasy Baseball today. And welcome to August. I am Frank Stamville, joined by Scott White. on the show, we're gonna break down a bunch more trades. Nick Povetta finally had a chance to start, and he crushed it. The dropometer and much more before we get started. Please like this video and subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already. And if you're listening on the audio side, download, follow, and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify.

We really do appreciate it. Scotty, let's jump right in, man. We had a lot of trades here on Monday. The Rays acquired Aaron Savali from the Guardians in exchange for. First base prospect, Kyle Manzardo. Kind of caught me off guard a little bit. We'll talk about Manzardo in just a little bit. Aaron Savali this year.

We've talked about him a lot recently. Solid season, more than a solid season. 234 ERA, 104 whip. The underlying numbers, still pretty good. Doesn't strike many batters out. The curb ball has elite spin rate. The cutter has great results so far this season. It kind of feels like a Zach Eflin-type acquisition

for the Tampa Bay Rays. And they did a great job with Zach Eflin so far this season. Aaron Savali up to 87% rostered. Scott, do you think that he gains value moving over to pretty smart organization in Tampa Bay? I think it's impossible not to look at this deal from the perspective of, okay, well, the raise did it. So what are we missing? Given their track record, given what they accomplished with Zach Eflin, as you pointed out, biggest contract they've free agent contract they've handed out in their history and

it was Zach Eflin and look how it's gone he's been basically a top of a rotation arm for him this year I do think you know kind of putting myself in in that spot we were in this off season when the Eflin signing happened I do think there were clearer things to point to with him to say okay maybe there's something here than in Savale's case Savale okay Yeah, I gets a lot of spin on his curveball, I guess. It's never translated to many strikeouts. He has a career low strikeout rate this year. A career worst walk rate, too.

Not that it's a bad walk rate, but that makes it all the more surprising. He's pitched to a 234 ERA overall. And, you know, the ERA estimators say he's drastically overperformed. One of the more favorable ones is XERA at 367. 458 X-FIP, 469 Sierra for Aaron Savala. So this looks like, this has the appearance of a guy who's going to crash and crash hard. I know Chris Towers especially has been very dismissive of what he's done so far. I've been a little more open to it just because, you know,

we all have pitching staffs to fill out and at least the guy goes deep into games, ride it for however long it lasts. But it's surprising to see the rays of all teams. buy into it and to give up the caliber of prospect that they gave up for him. That adds to the intrigue of this deal because Kyle Manzart is a big deal. As you said, we'll get into him in a minute. But it just feels to me like the sort of deal that a team like the raise, you know, 20 years ago, 15, 20 years ago, a team like the raise would have duped a not as smart organization into making, right, giving up a legitimate prospect for the pitcher with the 234 ERA,

who obviously isn't that good. Yeah, I mean, I hear what you're saying. It's, I think it's probably somewhere in the middle, right? I mean, you mentioned the Sierra and the ex-fip for Aaron Savali. Is he going to pitch to, you know, an ERA over four the rest of the way? It's probably like a, you know, mid to high threes, I think, if everything works out for him. Or, you know, maybe the rays kind of tinker with the pitch mix and they find a way to get more strikeouts out of Aaron Savali.

you know, for years, I've kind of been hot and cold with him. Like one year I'm on when he's a sleeper. The next year he's kind of hurt the whole year. So we'll see. It is a very interesting trade for the race because, again, the prospect that they're giving up here in Kyle Manzardo, you know, initially I was kind of taken aback by it. But when you think about the fact that Savali still has two years of service time,

I think the raise are a team that obviously, you know, values having that team control for a starting pitcher. So I think obviously that fact, factored in here. Let's talk about Kyle Manzardo, who is having a down year this season in the minors, batting 238 with 11 home runs and a 784 OPS at AAA. Last year, a monster season in the minors, 327, 22 home runs and OPS up over 1,000. That was across two different levels. He's currently on the minor league IL with a strain in his non-throwing shoulder. But as you mentioned, Scott, this is kind of an interesting deal. I saw you tweeting about it. You think this kind of

clears the runway a little bit more for playing time in the future for Kyle Manzardo. Yeah. So it'll take a bit for me to, it'll take a bit of warming up for me to get to that point. But I do want to say for Kyle Mazzardo, I think he's a very talented hitter. And despite what the AAA numbers have been,

you pointed out last year, how good his minor league numbers were between IA and double A. It has been kind of disappointing at AAA, just by the surface level numbers. But if you go beneath the, surface. Average exit velocity 90.6 miles per hour.

Max exit velocity 111.9. Swinging strike rate only 8.3%. In-zone contact rate 87.5. You know, if you get up around 90 with that, that's pretty amazing. So the guy has incredible plate discipline. He makes high-quality contact. I don't know exactly why his batting average has been low at AAA this year, but given that he has had so much success in his past,

I think, you know, we can look at his dad and say, okay, Kyle Monsardo still is the real deal. And if you like a Vinny Pasquantino, for instance, then you should also like Kyle Mazzardo. I actually traded him away in the Scott White Dynasty League. I had him as somebody who likes him in 2014 Scott White Dynasty League and traded him away as part of that big package for Mitch Keller. And there were some complicating factors having to do with contract status and all of that.

But part of the reason was because he played for the race, and I didn't trust the raise to give him the runway you're talking about, Frank. And so had I known he'd be traded to another organization, maybe I would have been more reluctant to move Kyle Mazzardo. He is first base only, which I think is also maybe part of the race, thinking obviously they value versatility. and if they have a guy who can only play first base, that inhibits it.

Guardians have a breakout first baseman this year in Josh Naylor. So it is still, it will take some careful planning to get Monsardo an everyday job with the Guardians, but I think they're committed to doing it. Obviously, they traded for him. D.H. Spot makes it possible. And yeah, I think there's a good chance, probably not this year,

given the way Monsardo's AAA season is gone, but at some point next year, Josh Bell is under contract still, but maybe they trade him in the off-season or maybe they trade him at some point next season and clear the way for Menzardo that way. I think he makes an impact for the Guardians, like I said, at some point next year,

and it goes on to be a great success, hopefully. The one thing I will point out that doesn't help Manzardo's case for being a full-time player eventually is that he has struggled against lefties at basically every level in the minors from what I've seen, especially this year too. So obviously he needs to improve. Which is why I think it's another good reason he's in the Guardians organization.

It is very typical for a left-handed hitting minor leaguer to struggle against left-handed pitchers. That's something that takes a long time to learn. You know, last year we were talking about that with Gunner Henderson. And, you know, obviously it hasn't been something that's inhibited his playing time so much at the major league level. but with the rays, because they are so short-term focused and because they are so, you know,

they have to squeeze every bit of efficiency out of everything to compete. I think they would have been willing to inhibit Monzardo's development in a way that maybe the Guardians won't. Okay, other ripple effects here. I did think it was kind of surprising the Guardians traded away a pitcher considering they lost Shane Bieber,

they lost Trista McKenzie. They recently acquired Noah Cindergarde because they are desperate for arms in their rotation. yet they still made this trade. And apparently Guardian's GM mentioned that Peyton Batonfield, Hunter Gaddis, and Joey Cantillo as options to fill in in the rotation moving forward. Cantillo's just a name that should be on your radar, I guess, in deeper leagues, AO only, maybe deeper Dynasty Leagues too,

hasn't pitched well in the minors this year, but has pitched well in the minors in previous year. So again, the name there, Joey Cantillo is just one to pay attention to. And as a result of acquiring Aaron Savali, the raise optioned Taj Bradley back to AAA. Scott, would you say that he is a drop in redraft leagues? Yeah, I would say so. It depends to some extent on the depth.

If you're on a 15 team league and you had to pay a third of your fab budget to pick it up, maybe you played a little more cautiously. But for the average fantasy user, 12 team leagues or less, I think you could do better with that spot than Bradley at this point. All right. Enough on Aaron Savoy. Let's slide over to the Debacks, who finally have their closer.

they acquired Paul Seawald in exchange for Josh Rojas and two prospects, Dominic Canzon and Ryan Bliss. Seawald, 33 years old, having another fine season, 293 ERA 102 WIP, 12.6K per 9. 21 saves a season that's tied for 11th in baseball. He has 52 total saves over the past three years. Also has one more year of team control. So barring something crazy happening in this offseason,

I'm guessing Paul Seawald will be the closer for the debacks this year and next year, assuming he stays productive, obviously, as well. He also becomes available in NL only league scout. We were talking about that beforehand. So that's a big boost if you have any fab left and you need saves. I think you're going to throw a lot of money at him. I don't really think this changes much to his value, right?

What do you think about Seawald? No, I wouldn't think so. I mean, the Diamondbacks obviously acquired him to be their closer. That's a role that they've struggled to fill all year bouncing from, I mean, gosh, you all's been in it. Andrew Chaffin, Miguel Castro, Scott McGuff, Kevin Ginkill recently.

They've gone to Scott McGuff more than once, trying him in that role. I think he just got another saving extra innings, too. Yeah, right. So, I mean, Seawald adds the stability they've been struggling to find all season and really rounds out their bullpen, obviously.

If Scott's service was willing to commit to him is a full-time closer, then you would have to think the diamondbacks are going to do that too. Yeah. I think the bigger question here, Scott, is what happens with the Mariners bullpen, right? The ripple effect there. My initial guess was that Andres Munoz, who does have a save over the past week, would step into the role. And so far this season has a 296 ERA, a 1.15 whip, 12.2K per 9, walks a bit of an issue. He throws extremely hard.

He gets ground balls. He gets tons of whiffs as well. Has two saves this year, had four saves last year. And it always just kind of felt like the Mariners were kind of grooming him to be the next closer of their team. Some people on Twitter pointed out to me maybe Justin Topa or Matt Brash. Those are relievers that have pitched well recently for them. Maybe they go with a committee. They have done that in the past.

Your take on the Mariners bullpen. I'm going to call it right now. the biggest winner of the trade deadline from an individual player perspective is going to be Andres Munoz. And if available in your league, I checked earlier today, he was out there in 60% of CBS sports leagues.

You need to pick him up now because he has a chance to be a stud closer, a better closer than Seawald even. In fact, coming into the year, you may remember a lot of people were predicting he was going to overtake Seawald for that role as good as Seawald was down the stretch last year.

A lot of people were predicting Munoz was going to overtake him. I believe he got a save on opening day, too, which only added fuel to the fire. But then Munoz ended up missing time with a shoulder issue, I believe it was, and C-Wald really solidified things in his absence. I understand the concerns of a committee because I was just, you know, I was just making reference to it myself. Paul Seawold, not Paul Seawald, Scott Service, the Mariners manager, has been really since they traded away Kendall Graveman a couple of years. years ago. He had been very reluctant to commit to anyone reliever in that ninth inning role before finally settling on Seawald in the second half of last year. But A, he did finally settle

on somebody. And B, okay, you mentioned some choices, Justin Topa, Matt Brash. You look at their numbers. And like, back in, back in the day, there were several Mariners relievers who you could make a case looking at the numbers would be a good. choice to close. They could get away with using some of these guys in the ninth inning, but they're nowhere near the talent level of Munoz, you know? I just think, and I know the very first day, Seawald's out of the mix, Munoz comes in and gets one out in the eighth inning, and then the save opportunity disappears in the ninth,

so they go with somebody else in the ninth inning. Would they have stuck with Munoz for a four-out save if that save chance didn't disappear? Well, we'll never know. I think even if it takes a little... a week or two for service to really wrap his head around the idea that Munoz is his closer. That eventually is what he's going to do. And over the final two months of the season, he might be Munoz might be a top 10 closer in fantasy.

It might be top five if the Mariners get a lot of safe chances. The point is he gets a ton of strikeouts. There's 103 miles per hour or peaks at that anyway. And yeah, his introduction to the closer rolls. a long time coming. He was he was touted as that even when he was back in the Padres organization as like a 21 year old. Andres Munoz, as you mentioned, 45% rostered. So again, I mean, this is a must-add reliever if you need saves, if you're just playing a points league and you've been struggling to find a quality reliever all year. This is the guy, Andres Munoz. Scott, I moved them up

to RP 25 for now. I'm kind of hedging my bet because I don't know for sure that he's going to be the closer yet, but I moved them ahead of names like Will Smith, both Rangers supposed closers. Will Smith, Arolda Shatman, Clay Holmes, Kyle Finnegan, Jordan Hicks, Scott Barlow, the names he's just behind, Evan Phillips, Adbert Alzely, Carlos Estevez. What do you think about that initial ranking there on Munoz? You have Carlos Estevez lower than I do. So that might confuse things a little bit. But I would, I would. would say, so I was getting a lot of questions about Will Smith, and I was saying, yeah, go ahead and drop Will Smith for Munoz if you have to, uncertain situation there with

Eraldus Chapman in the mix, and I question Will Smith's talent level anyway. That's fine. I would move him ahead of, who else did you mention there? I would move him ahead of Evan Phillips, because Evan Phillips is, you know, even if it doesn't go the way we want it to go with Munoz, he's going to be right in the same situation Phillips has been in all year, where he gets the majority of the team saves, but maybe not the vast majority of them. I would move him ahead of, yeah. So I guess he'd check in about 19 in my rankings.

I think Clay Holmes, that's where I'm initially going to slot, Andreas Munoz, which would put him behind Yohan Duran, who would put him behind Peter Fairbanks, Kenley Janssen, in my own rankings, he's put him behind Paul Seawald. I think that's, I think the highest, I think I want Andres Munoz to be the highest ranked reliever who isn't 100% sure his team's clear cut closer. Because A, I think he's going to become that in very short order. And B, I think he's the most talented of anyone we could name in that group.

All right. Fair enough. That is Andres Munoz, who we are assuming we'll step in as the Mariners closer. As for the return, quick mention on some of these players the Mariners got Josh Rojas. We've seen him have value in the past last year. He hit 269 with nine home runs and 23 steals. Kenzone has been up the past few weeks for the D-backs, and he was crushing it in the minors this year. Ryan Bliss is a 23-year-old shortstop prospect second round pick back in 2021. He's also having a great season in the minors,

batting 332 with 13 homers, 35 steals, and a 947 OPS. And I saw some D-backs fans upset about how much they had to give up in this deal. Most notably, our buddy, the Welsh. I was texting with him. He was not a fan of how much the D-Backs gave up here. Scott, can you see any of these players making an impact with the Mariners down the stretch? I mean, the Welsh knows a lot about prospects,

so I don't want to undercut him by saying this, because I'm sure he pays especially close attention to Diamondbacks prospects. Both of these guys kind of came out of nowhere this year. And as we've talked about a lot over the past couple years, the upper levels of the diamond back system are especially hitter friendly. So you've got a couple guys coming out of nowhere right when they reach the upper

levels of the diamond back system. I don't know. I mean, the raw data for Canzone, we have a lot more for him than for Bliss because he spent a lot more time at AAA this year. It looks pretty good, but he's a 25-year-old again who came out of nowhere. And he was having a minimal impact as kind of a platoon bat on the major league roster. and now they're going to a pretty tough hitting environment in Seattle. Ryan Bliss, for what it's worth, he's five foot six.

So I don't have a lot of data on him, but I question how much power is actually there. I think given their ages and their prospect standing, I think it's unlikely either of those guys, Canzone or Bliss becomes an everyday player in the major leagues. That doesn't mean they can't be a contributor in the majors, zone, as I said, was already getting platoon at bats for the diamondbacks. But I don't think either one of these becomes a high priority option in a dynasty league.

And obviously sometimes surprise pop-up prospects happen in the upper minors and then they go on to have great careers. That can't happen. But if you're asking me today, am I going to bet on that happening for either of these guys? I would say no. I noticed the same thing, Ryan Bliss. I went to his minor league page five-fold.

at six, that's amazing. I hope he works out. This could be like another Jose Altuve type player, but we shall see Scott a bit of a heightist, by the way. You know, people don't know this. Scott's over six feet tall and he's looking down on the small minor league players. Yeah, I don't know why people are surprised by my height. I do get that a lot when they either meet me in person

or they just ask how tall I am and I tell them. I tell them six foot two. It's actually six one and a half. but who's not going to round up in that situation? I don't think that's like freakishly tall or anything, but I don't know. People are surprised you here I am that tall. I might question it too, Scott,

because on my driver's license, it says 5 foot 9. You and I were pretty close in height, if I do remember correct? 5 foot 9. That's what it says. Well, have you actually measured yourself? There are ways you can figure this out. You don't just have to trust whatever's on your driver's license. I trust them.

whatever. They don't measure you there. They just ask you how tall you are. Yeah, it's, I don't know. It's 59, 510, something like that. Pretty average, if we're being honest. Let's talk about the Cubs. They acquired Jamer Candelario from the Nationals for two prospects, DJ Hers and Kevin

Maid and Candelario having a strong season, 258 batting average, 16 home runs, six steals and an 823 OPS, which ranks sixth among third baseman, qualified third baseman in the season. Kind of feels like he's been over a chance. If you look at the stack cast numbers, the quality of contact, the expected numbers for Candelario. It is, I think, a quality move for the Cubs if they're trying to make a run at the wildcard. It's a big lineup upgrade going from the Nationals to obviously the Cubs lineup here. Scott, are you going to be intrigued to move Jamer Candolario up in the third base rankings?

I don't see any reason to do that. I mean, to this point, it's surprising, it was surprising to me to find this out. He has been the ninth best third basement in points leagues, the 15th best in categories. I think the disparity there is he hits a ton of doubles. He has 30 already. Wow. And a pretty good play to the split, too. So he is better suited for points leagues.

And it shows that given he's been a top 10 player at that position that's been surprisingly deep this year, a lot of that's because he stayed healthy. I think if you look at per game production as opposed to overall production, it might be different. But even so, he's been a quality player in fantasy this. year, arguably having a career year, if you toss out the short 2020 season. Data doesn't really back it up. I think sort of like with Savale, we're kind of waiting for the regression to the mean here to set in.

And so the fact that hasn't really happened yet, well, now he's going to the Cubs. If we still expect it to happen, it's going to look like going to the Cubs is what brought him down. But I don't think that's really going to be it. I don't think, like, I expect Candelario to get worse from here, but it has nothing to do with him going to the Cubs. Meanwhile, Patrick Wisdom, anyone else who is playing third base for them is obviously out of the running in fantasy.

Yeah. You mentioned Candelario was eighth in points leagues? Ninth. Ninth in Points League. So he's averaging 3.1 fantasy points per game that's tied for 11th with Nolan Aronado and Manny Machado. That's even better than I thought. Yeah.

Yeah. Tied with Aaronado. Wow. It's great season. Great season so far for Candelario. Kind of feels like a better real-life move for the Cubs than it does feel for fantasy, I guess, with Jamer Candelario. A couple other smaller trades, the Brewers acquired Marcana from the Mets

in exchange for Justin Jarvis. And it seems like Canada could move around, maybe DH, outfield, some first base, maybe against left-handed pitching as well. But what I'm more interested in here, Scott, is the possibility of Ronnie Maricio, now getting a chance to play for the New York Mets. And who knows, maybe by Tuesday afternoon, they trade away Tommy Fam as well.

If that happens, then I think sometime in the near future, we're likely to see Maricio up with the Mets. I mean, I've been calling for it to happen for months now. He's been in and out of the five on the verge in my prospects report. So, yeah, if the Mets are doing a tear down here, I imagine that's going to open the door for Maricio. Now, do they, considering it's August,

now? Do they do the thing that we saw the Diamondbacks do with Corbyn Carroll and the Orioles do with Gunner Henderson last year, where they waited until very late in August so that they didn't burn rookie eligibility so that they'd have a chance and maybe scoring a draft pick if that player won rookie of the year next year? There hasn't been as much talk about that. There hasn't been as much hesitance to promote prospects as I imagine there'd be because of that rule this year. Teams have been very aggressively promoting prospects as aggressively. any year I can remember, frankly. But now that we're in August,

you could see them wanting to delay that just a few weeks if they've already decided they're out of it. Some other lesser moves. The debacks acquired Jace Peterson in exchange for Chad Patrick. Peterson likely a bench utility bat for the Diamondbacks. The Giants acquired AJ Pollock and Mark Matthias from the Mariners. Pollock currently hurt.

He's on the I.L. and frankly having a really bad season as well. So don't think that matters much for fantasy. Some lesser reliever moves. The Reds acquired left-handed reliever Sam Moll from the A's in exchange for Joe Boyle and the Cubs acquired right-handed reliever Jose Quas from the Royals

in exchange for Nelson Velasquez. Scott, anything there that I mentioned? Does any of that matter? Jace Peterson Pollock, some reliever moves? I would be struggling to come up with a reason why it mattered. All right. So again, the big trades of the day, Savale over to the raise in exchange for Kyle Manzardo and Paul Seewald heading to the Diamondbacks where he will be there closer. Let's take our first break and when we return, oh my goodness gracious, we'll

recap the rest of Monday's action here on Fantasy Baseball today. Welcome back and a quick reminder to follow all of us on Twitter. You can follow Scott at CBS Scott White. You can follow me at roto underscore frank and you can follow the fbt account at fbt pod although i guess i have to call it x now instead of twitter because this whole new rebrand every time i look for twitter on the top of my on my desktop scott on the little tabs i look for the little bird somewhere and i can't find it and it's confusing me and then i got to look for the x now i mean it's it's it's as much the change in color scheme now that it's a a white x on a black background as opposed to that light blue color that it used to be. But I'm not actually hearing anybody call it X. So I'm, I'm, my own personal rule for this is

if it catches on, it catches on. And I'll start calling it X. But until it catches on, like, I'm just going to call it what everybody else calls it, which is Twitter. Yeah. I think there's probably a more higher likelihood that it becomes Twitter X or something like that. But whatever. The point is to follow us. Again, at FBTPod, we tweet out all the links to the live streams, the audio podcast, and some short videos we've been producing lately as well. Reminder that we have a trade deadline live special Tuesday when you're listening to this at 6.30 p.m. Eastern time on YouTube. The audio will also be dropped in your podcast feed.

The trade deadline is at six. Our live special is at 6.30 p.m. Eastern time. Let's get into the players of the night. Oh, my goodness gracious. Wow, those Yankees, by the way. Woof. Scott, player of the night. Who you got?

My player of the night is Nick Povetta. Yeah. Who you mentioned at the top of the show, finally got an actual genuine start, not a bulk relief appearance where he goes to the distance of a starter. He was in facing the top of the Mariners lineup, made it seven innings,

allowed just two runs, four total base runners, struck out 10. That's really good. That's really good. and now in his last seven appearances, again, most of them bulk relief appearances. Nick Povetta has a 201 ERA, a 0.70 whip, and 14.4K per 9. So obviously the seven-inning outing was the longest during that stretch.

The second longest during that stretch was a six-inning outing in which he allowed no hits and struck out 13. We were inclined to dismiss that then, in part because it came against the athletics. And okay, the Mariners lineup isn't so great either. But now, during a stretch where he's thoroughly dominated Nick Povetta, he's now had two outings that were clear starter-length outings, six and seven innings. And he was utterly dominant in those two.

So you can't just dismiss this as, oh, well, he's doing it over a short stint. So, you know, he's able to air it out a little more, whatever you want to say. Like between those two, 25 strikeouts and 13 innings and four total hits allowed in those 14. I mean, I wish I understood what was going on with them a little better. I will say that during this time, his fastball velocity has been up some. It's been up like close to a mile per hour. So maybe that's just bringing it all together for him.

And there's still a chance that, you know, if he's asked to go six plus innings with consistency, that that would come back down and maybe he wouldn't be able to sustain this. But it's to a point now where it's, I think we got to pick him up. I think we got to pick him up. It doesn't mean we have to stick him in our lineup right away. But if we don't pick them up,

somebody else is going to pick him up. And what if it turns out to be legitimate and you just thumbed your nose at it for so long that you missed out on, you know, one of the breakout pitchers of the final two months of the season? I remain highly skeptical, but the numbers are getting hard to ignore at this point. And people are already picking him up, Scott, because I just went to go check.

Who was the most added starting pitcher this weekend? I was going to compare that player to Nick Povetta. Well, guess who it is? It's Nick Povetta. He is the most added pitcher on CBS this past weekend. He's up to 57% rostered. So still out there in a lot of leagues. He does have RP eligibility as well.

So if you play in a points league, that's an added element there, added incentive to pick him up. The name, I think, is a good comparison, is Seth Lugo, who just turned in another quality start, a seven-inning quality start. He allowed two-er-run runs nine strikeouts in Cores field, 16 swinging strikes on 104 pitches. Seth Lugo has just been solid, rock-solid all season, 354 ERA, 1.19-whip, right around a strikeout per inning, lots of ground. Brown balls, 73% rostered. Last week, I think I was on with just Chris that day. But I think Seth Lugo is the most under-rastered pitcher on CBS. He's just been so consistent.

And so the question is, who would you rather have, Scott? Lugo or Povetta. I think there might be more upside with Povetta, but maybe more downside. I prefer Lugo. What do you think? No, I think that's perfectly stated. Povetta is the swing for the fences pick up. but the very likely to end up with nothing, pick up.

Well, Lugo, probably going to be a reliable streamer for you, you know, not pick up all the waivers and startup streamer, but, you know, somebody you move on and off your bench rest of season based on matchups to start status, et cetera, because I do think it's a hardy skill set where he's going to limit damage with ground balls, he's going to throw a ton of strikes, work deep into games, and just avoid the big innings well.

And, you know, decent swing and miss potential with that curveball, especially for Seth Lugo. So, yeah, I think it kind of depends on what you're looking for. I agree, 57% is, wait, no, what's Lugo? I'm still on Povetta's place. He's 73. Okay. Yeah, I mean, he was my number three sleeper pitcher for this week,

was Lugo, and that was even though there was a start at Colorado. which he obviously came through in. Next start in the two-star week is the Dodgers. So two really tough matchups for Lugo, but I still had him third among my sleeper pitchers. I was kind of sweating that. So far, so good, though. Oh my goodness gracious for me is Marcus Stroman,

who is struggling right now? He allowed six runs over just three innings pitched, and he was removed from a start on June 25th with a blister. And over his last seven starts, including that start where he got removed. He is an ERA of nine. Nine on the nose. 1.93 whipped during that time.

Still right around a strikeout printing, but a ton of walks, a ton of hard contact, swinging strike rate just around 8%. So it's not like he's getting whiffs. They're putting the balls in play, and they're hitting him pretty hard. It could just be natural regression.

Maybe I'm making an excuse for Stroman, but he was just so good early on in the season. It kind of feels like maybe he's battling something right now. Still 97% rostered, Scott. I had this for later on, but let's just do it now. Dropometer. Marcus Stroman. 1 to 10.

Where are you at? What are we considering picking up for him? Lugo? Would I draw Marcus Strowman for Seth Lugo? Or Nick Povetta? I might do it for Lugo. You know, it depends how deep the league is, but if you get into deep enough league,

Lugo is probably not even an option for you to pick up. So, yeah, it's probably just the shallower leagues we're speaking to. and what the glob comes for us all, unless you're just a, you know, top shelf pitching talent, which Stroman isn't. We have a long track record suggesting otherwise. The whiff rates are pedestrian.

He does well for stretches because he puts the ball on the ground a lot. But, you know, he's not anywhere close to that top tier of pitcher that's going to distinguish himself from the glob. So the fact that he was so reliable for, long. I think it was really the exception to the rule this year, the rule of the glob. And so it's a lot of regression hitting it once. It may not be entirely mathematical. There may be something having to do with mechanics or grip or whatever. But the point is, every pitcher has issues that pop up from time to time like that during the year. And the

Uber talented ones can continue to pitch very well in spite of it. People in Stroman's class can't. So I think Strowman and Lugo are both part of the glob. And so if you want to swap one out for the other, I think that's fine. I certainly don't trust Stroman in my lineup right now with that 90RA over his last, seven starts. Yep. And I think only one of those starts was anything in the neighborhood of good.

So, yeah, it's just unusable right now. I have a poll question up on YouTube right now. Would you drop Marcus Stroman for Nick Povetta? And there's 195 votes. 54% say no. But it is close. So that means, you know, people got to, they got to think about it a little bit.

What's the ERA up to now for Stroman? I think I saw 385 overall. So, I mean, Lugo's got the better ERA at this point, 354. and what do you have the better strikeout rate I would guess too entered the entered today 8.7 per 9 I'm sure Stroman's not that high no I think he's at 7.8 yeah and then you know pretty big difference in whip too so I don't there's I'm not sure what's driving that

other than loyalty to what he did for you earlier this year and the fact he made the All-Star team I guess All right, let's stick on with the drop-bometer here, Scott. I have a few other players. Anthony Rizzo, still 93% rostered. It's starting to seem like a mistake. He, again, I might be making an excuse. He hurt his neck on a collision with Fernando Tatis on May 28th.

I'm just trying to find reasons why these players have been so bad for so long, especially someone like Rizzo, who has an extensive track record. But 45 games since that moment, he is betting 170 with one home run. He still has a 90 mile per hour average exit velocity during that time, but only two barrels. A lot of it has been without Anthony Rizzo. I get that. Without Aaron Judge.

Without Aaron Judge. Yeah. Rizzo is still 93% roster. Scott, where is he on the dropometer? 1 to 10. I never gave an actual number for Stroman, did I? Yeah. So, Stroman's like a five.

Rizzo, seven? I mean, obviously you have, there has, There has to be a first basement worth dropping them for, which is, and that's been a difficult position to fill, especially in the deeper leagues where it'd be more of a question, whether you can drop Rizzo. But yeah, 93% rostered at this point seems a bit much.

Tristan Kossis is currently the most added first baseman. He's 78% rostered. Would you make that swap? So it is frustrating that Kossis still sits against left-handers. But he's been so. good for so long that at this point and Rizzo been so bad for so long. Yeah, I think I'd make that swap. I think so, too. Two other names that perform well on Monday. Would you drop Rizzo for either of these? Joey Minesis went three for four with his eighth home run and so far in July batting

283 with six home runs, 19 RBI and an 863 OPS. Ryan Moutcastle went two for three with two doubles and three RBI and in 15 games since coming off the IL, Mountcastle batting 350 with two home runs in OPS just over a thousand. Scott, would you drop Rizzo for either Menesis or Ryan Mountcastle? So it's interesting about that with Mountcastle is he hasn't played every day

since coming off the I.L. Ryan O'Hern was so good in his absence that the Orioles are still slotting him into the lineup. And he's still delivering. He's O'Hern somebody to consider for this category too, frankly. It seems like Mountcastle is

starting to play more though. He started six of their last seven games. Yeah. I mean, Sunday was the day he sat. I sat two Sundays in a row and started every game in between, looks like. So hopefully, hopefully, yeah, they're working him in more. I think that would be enough justification to drop Rizzo for him. And I think you could consider dropping him for O'Hern, too.

I want to drop him for Minesis. But Minesis is interesting right now. So Big Day here. on Monday, three for four with a home run. His eighth home run of the season, six have come in July, which obviously means the first three months of the season. He hit a grand total of two home runs. That's obviously not going to cut it at first base.

Why is he hitting six now in July? Obviously, that's closer to what we hoped he'd do coming into the year. Remember, he was one of the big stories over the final third of last season, emerging as a must-star player. Is he going to get back to that? Highly skeptical, his average. Exxifelosity during this stretch with the six home runs of July, 87 miles per hour. It's actually lower than his season average exit velocity.

He has pulled the ball a lot more in July, and that's a good way to get home runs out of low exit velocity readings. Is it sustainable? I'm skeptical. That's somebody that I don't think I could drop reserve for, Joey Manessus. All right, fair enough. One more player here on the drop-all meter. Edward Cabrera, who allowed two runs over three innings pitched, including six walks in this start.

He has a combined five innings pitched over his last two starts, and Edward Cabrera still 68% rostered drop o meter on him, Scotty. Eight. He's not even gloppy. I mean, he has the upside to skip over the entire glob, I think. But, like, what is? Is it 11 walks and 10 innings since returning from the IL? He's just, that's just a difficult hurdle to clear.

Yeah, I got it right exactly. 11 walks and 10 in since returning. Yeah, I dropped Edward Cabrera in Tout Wars on Sunday. That's a 12-team Hed Holt-Po-style lineup. So we start seven starting pitchers and two relief pitchers. It's a little bit deeper than a normal league. I still dropped him. I chose to keep guys like Lance Lynn, Alec Manoa, Gavin Williams,

over Edward Cabrera. It's just those walks are untenable right now from a fantasy perspective. I think it's okay to drop Edward Cabrera. Let's hit some news and notes here, Scott. Mike Trout took dry swings prior to Monday's game in Atlanta and it's unclear when he'll be able to return, but facing live pitching will be the next big hurdle.

Pleasant surprise as Jazz Chisholm was activated from the IL on Monday. He was batting clean-up, finished one for three, with a double and his 15th stolen base of the season. season. Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos confirmed that Max Freed has completed his rehab assignment and will be reinstated later this week. They haven't specified which day Freed will start, but it's likely to be Friday or Saturday. Bo Bichette exited Monday with right knee discomfort and obviously potentially big injury there for a big name star in Bo Bouchet. So we'll see where it goes from here. Tyro Estrada will begin a rehab assignment with AAA on Tuesday. He should

be able to rejoin the Giants at some point this week. Yuri Perez made a short start at AA last week, tossing just two and a third innings, striking out five. And according to Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald, GM Kim Eng said the Marlins are, quote, creating a path for him to come back, him being Yuri Perez to the Marlins, but no specific timeline has been provided.

Still 81% rostered. So people are holding on, Scott, they're holding on. holding on. They've got faith in Yuri Perez. I get it. Rightfully. Yeah, we just don't know when. I'm going to predict just one more start in the minors. Yeah. Maybe he goes four innings. Maybe he goes less. But I, you know, they're trying to make the playoffs and they're quickly

losing ground there. So they'd rather use those bullets in the majors, I'm sure. Yep. Mid-August. Let's let's refer that here on Yuri Perez. Despite jamming his shoulder on Sunday, Hassan Kim was back in the lineup and leading off Monday in Corse Field. Aaron Boone said that, quote, all options are on the table when asked if the Yankees are committed to giving Luis Severino his next start in the rotation. Yikes, big yikes. Jared Kelnick, who's out with a fractured left foot, is unlikely to return until early September. Michael Waka was scheduled to throw a simulated game on Monday.

He's been out since early July with a shoulder injury. Griffin Canning was scratched from Monday start with General Sornis, aka he didn't want to face the Atlanta Braves. I don't know if that's true, but I wouldn't want to face the Atlanta Braves. Chase Silseth started in his place. What a confounding situation, and we spoke about this earlier before the show started. Domingo Hermann scratched due to discomfort in his right armpit. Johnny Brito called up, started in his place, and then Herman pitched five shutout innings and relief.

I have no idea. This is very confusing. Maybe it was gamesmanship, or maybe the Yankees had a trade. in place that fell through, or they just have no idea what they're doing. So you don't actually buy the story that he had pain in his armpit and was sent to see a doctor. So why would he throw five innings on the same day, though? It makes no sense. Maybe the doctor said you're fine. Stop worrying. I don't think it works that way. No? I don't think so, but I don't know. I'm also...

You never had a doctor tell you that? I probably have, I guess, but I'm also not a professional athlete's yet. So. Okay. You're a conspiracy theorist. Very much so. You're saying here. Especially when it comes to the Yankees, all the conspiracies.

Brendan Rogers was reinstated Monday, betting fifth as the DH for the Rockies. He is 11% rostered. Any interest in Brendan Rogers? Maybe in deeper leagues. Maybe in deeper leagues. I'm off the Brendan Rogers bandwagon after years of leading it. Fool me once.

He had his chance last year, pretty much full health from start to finish. And, yeah, the power was not what I wanted it to be. So I don't have especially high hopes for him. And there's plenty of other options in second base. Plenty of fish in the sea. Charlie Blackman will begin a rehab assignment at AAA on Tuesday. He's been out since June 11th with a fractured right hand. Drew Smiley is scheduled to start Wednesday against the Reds at Wrigley Field.

Mike Yistremski was placed on the IL with a left hamstring strain. Brandon Belak, option to AAA, which makes it seem like Jose Orkitti, will be activated soon for the Astros. He is 56% rostered. It's got any interest in Jose Orkidi. It could be Savale-like. I'm not saying like 234 ERA Savale-like. I'm trying to avoid using the word glob again. But yes, Erkidi could be a part.

part of the block. He has, especially since he pitches for such a good team, he's capable of going six and seven innings with consistently, and on a good team,

that might earn him enough wins that he's worth having a round, but I don't think he'll be on, he'll be any better than that. All right, let's take our final break, and when we return,

got some other waiver wire question, some leftovers, we'll do all of that right after this. Welcome back, and we've got 10 minutes left, rapid fire, waiver wire pitchers. We already spoke about

Seth Lugo. Kyle Gibson turns in his third straight quality start, he was at the Blue Jays, six innings, one run, five strikeouts with 12 swinging strikes there. Noah Cindergarde, solid in his guardian's debut at the Astros, five and a third innings, one run allowed, zero strikeouts, no surprise there. Velocity was up across the board. I thought it was mildly interesting. Ryan Nelson turned in a quality start at the Giants, six and two-thirds innings, two runs, three walks to one strikeout, blah. It's got anything here on Nelson, Cindergarde,

Kyle Gibson. So not much interest in Cinderguard or Nelson. I think the most notable staff from Cindergards's debut with The Guardians is the zero strikeouts and five in a third innings. Regardless of the velocity being higher, he still wasn't missing bats like CinderGard would need to to be a success, I think. The last two years have shown. Gibson just continues to deliver these. quality starts what's a

different word than quality because quality start means something specific like they've been better than quality recently and yet it's the same story with him

as with so many pitchers where if you look at the game log you see a lot of starts like this more than not yet he has a 453 ERA because when it goes bad

it goes really bad and skews the stat line. And that's what the glob is all about, Frank. People, people think it's all just a big joke. No, there is a point to it

and it's that the vast majority of the pitcher pool is exactly like this where the final numbers aren't going to get you that excited but can

they do, can they do useful things for you on a start to start basis? And I think Gibson has answered that question in the affirmative. Brace yourself. The complaints are coming, Scott. The tweets are coming. It's really just that one guy. You know, I tweeted something about the glob today. I got a million likes. It was my most liked tweet ever, basically. A million. I love it. Let's get into the Waverwire hitters and comparing some players in this you know, range of roster percentage ownership. And Brandon Lau,

we keep talking about him because all he does is keep hitting home runs. One for four with his 14th homer. He has four home runs in his past six games. He's up to 73% rostered. Scott, who would you rather have? Brandon Lau or Trevor Story, who could be back on Friday.

Got to say Lau because he's doing it now. Didn't mean for that to rhyme. But Story, I mean, look, he has a lot of upside. What I'm interested in finding out with Story is, and we won't know this until the season's over, probably, were his disappointing batting averages of the past two years,

remember it started in Colorado, his last year in Colorado, went from being a first-round caliber bat to, you know, still a good power speed guy, but the batting average dropped to the 250 range, even in Colorado. And then his first year, with the Red Sox, it was even lower, Fenway Park, another really good bad bit park. you know, it seemed like story was on the decline. And then he has UCL damage.

And didn't have full-blown Tommy John had an internal bracing procedure, which is why he's coming back now. But can he recapture that pre-2020 form where he was basically a first run pick in fantasy every year? I'm not saying he can, but he's pretty young still. He's, what, 30? So if it was a decline for him, it was a premature decline.

It's conceivable to me that it may have been health-related, given the nature of the specific injury he was having corrected. So something to monitor. But yeah, for now I would take Lowe over story while acknowledging story has a lot of upside. I think you might be on to something here, Scott, because I am seeing that on May 29th of 2021, which was the start of the decline for Trevor's story, went on the IL with right elbow inflammation.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Might be something that was affecting story for quite some time here. So we shall see. You know, maybe it's not even this year. Maybe he's a player to buy for next season. He's, you know, full off season, completely healthy

and just something to remember moving forward with Trevor Story. The next name up here, Christian Encarnacio and Strain went two for four with a double, a run, and an RBI. He had three hard hits in this game. Two of those over 106 exit velocity. And this is our first check-in. We haven't talked about him much recently. He hasn't done much recently.

Batting 244 with one home run, 636 OPS in 13 games. Obviously a very small sample size. Scott, your initial takeaways from CES and whether or not he should still be 73% rostered. Yeah, I think that's fine. He hasn't earned more than that. but he's still earned... He...

He... He's playing enough after what he did in the miners to earn a longer look than this. And both of his hits today were hit over 106 miles per hour, so it was high-quality contact.

The strikeout rate has been fine, but it's... Mostly, it's just such a small sample. There are no conclusions to draw from it. and so I'm going to, I'm going to give in Carnaccio Strand more time, as long as I've waited for him. Two potential utility options for your fantasy team.

They have tons of eligibility. Who would you rather have, Scott? Luis Renhifo went two for four with his 10th home run. He's let off nine trade games for the Angels and having a very big July. Or Wilmer Flores, who homered once again, his 14th of the season, his sixth home run of July. Again, they're both hot right now. Who would you rather have on your team just to kind of

move around. Renhifo, Wilmore Flores. Flores has had one of the biggest julys of any player in baseball, and there's a long enough track record there that we know it's not going to last, but he's getting every day at bats for the Giants right now, can play anywhere. Yeah, Renhifo's hot too, but he's playing mostly second base. I imagine Brandon Drury's going to take over that position

most days once he comes off the IL. So I think Flores' playing time is more likely to last. And I think he's just better anyway. I was looking at this yesterday, wondering if there's a way for Renhifo to stick around. I was trying to pick him up in a few leagues. It actually didn't work. But Rosser Resource has Mike Mustakis at third base right now.

So I guess they, in theory, could play Jury a third or Renhifo at third and keep both of those guys in the lineup. It'll probably just be whoever's hottest at the time, right? So I think if Renhifo is hitting, he'll probably stick around. I mean, Mustakas has been better than I thought he'd be for the Angels. And it's not like Anthony Rendon is out for the season. So there's a chance he could return and disrupt things further. Also true.

Let's get into some leftovers here. Some hitters, Wander Franco went one for four with his 13th home run. And he is just another day. We'll just try to evaluate Wander Franco because his season is just so interesting. He got off to that awesome start. But he's batting 202 in the month of July. I don't really know what to make of Wander Franco. So we'll talk about it another day, but interesting player.

Esoc Paredes went two for three with his 21st home run. And I called him a sell high during the All-Star break. Maybe I'm wrong because he has eight home runs in the month of July. His plate discipline is really strong. His quality of contact is so, so bad. It just, it does not profile as a power hitter at all. But he seems to kind of succeed in spite of that, Scott. So I don't know.

Yeah. I mean, he does the thing I was talking about with Menesis. Manessus has been doing it at least in July, where, you know, dead pole hitter. And if you look at his spray chart, Isok Parado's spray chart, is this cluster of home runs to straightaway left field and basically nowhere else. And you can carve out a career that way as a productive hitter in the majors, even if you're not somebody who's delivering,

the premier exit velocities. So I don't think you're wrong necessarily to call Perretti's a cell high. He's more suspicious than most players with numbers like his. But there's also a chance he just continues like this. I think there's definitely a path to that outcome too. C.J. Abrams will not stop stealing bases. He picked up his 25th steal of the season, and it was his 16th here in the month of July. It's just a huge month for C.J. Abrams.

Gunner Henderson went one for three with a sock and a shoe, his 17th home run, and sixth steal of the season. Matt Olson went two for two with two walks and his 36th homer of the year. Somebody in the YouTube comments yelled at me yesterday for not talking about Austin Riley, so yes, I will mention he is having an amazing month. He's betting 287 with nine home runs and a 961 OPS crushing the ball. 93.7 average exit velocity, 21% barrel rate for the month. month, both elite marks, but the analysis kind of ends there, Scott. We were waiting for Austin Riley to turn it on, and that's exactly what he's done. And I pointed out last July was, he did like half of his damage last season in July as well, hitting 423 with 11 home runs that month. So July is his time.

When it gets hot, so does Austin Riley. Yeah, I mean, this July is kind of a disappointment by compares. So remember, on June 30th of next year, trade for Austin Riley in your fantasy leagues. Jose Altuve and Yoran Alvarez both seem healthy because Altuve went one for two with three walks and two steals. He's got seven home runs and seven steals in 37 games. That is a 28 home run, 28 steel pace over 150. So I hope he could stay healthy. I think he'll be an elite player rest of season. But it just makes me sad, Scott, because we were very excited to draft Altu. this year, I think he would have had a monster year if he didn't get hurt in the WBC and then he got hurt again once he came back. It's kind of frustrating. But you sound like one of those

fantasy baseball casuals, Frank. Talking about this season in the past tense, we have one third of the season to go, okay? There is so much baseball ahead of us still. True. We, Jose L. Tuve can still have an amazing season. It's not over. I hear you. Not even close. But I also did a few few early drafts where I took Altuva in like the third round. So it kind of hurt me that, you know, I missed out on that early season production. Alvarez, by the way, went one for three with his 19th home run of the season and his second in five games since returning from the IL. A few pitching performances worth mentioning. Tyler Glass now is on quite a run. He was at the Yankees. He went seven innings. He allowed just one run with eight strikeouts and 17 swinging strikes.

Corbyn Burns has turned in his sixth straight quality start He was at the national six innings two runs Five strikeouts there Charlie Morton looked like might be a rough outing for him And then he turned it around Turned in a quality start up against the Angels Six innings three runs Eight strikeouts and 23 swinging strikes

Which tied a career high for Charlie Morton Scott anything on those three Glassdowne Burns Morton Uh did you give the numbers for Glass now recently because they're worth given. Not anything particular. Last seven starts.

2.80RA.90 WIP 13.1K per 9. Stud. And this was his third straight start going seven innings. So he's giving you volume 2

in a way we've always wanted him to. And just looks like he's going to be an ace for you down the stretch. If he can stay healthy, but you know, two months to go, I, I'd bet on him doing that. I hope so. There's not much time left, Frank.

I don't know. Hopefully nobody's told you otherwise. There really isn't much time left. I just stress that myself. Tyler Glass now, I moved him inside of my top 12 starting pitchers, and I would advise you to do the same thing, Scott, because he is awesome. All righty, let's get into the call to the bullpen, and what do we have here? Craig Kimberle picked up his 18th save.

The Nationals, Kyle Finningan struck out one for his 15th save, 43% rostered. If you're out there looking for saves, though, we clearly prefer Andres Munoz over Kyle Finningan. For the Orioles, Felix Bautista recorded the final five outs for his 29th save. For the Angels with Carlos Estevez unavailable, Rinaldo Lopez got the final five outs for his fifth save. And I assume this was just because Estevez.

Estevez pitched two innings on Sunday, right? That's the only reason? Yeah, I mean, I would have to think so. Not going to normally come back from two-inning stint. Carlos Estevez, you know, I was pointing out, I thought you had him too low. He has a 180-80-R-A this year. It's been very reliable. The whip is high because the walks are high, but, you know,

it gets a lot of strikeouts, too. I don't see why the angels would make a change there, especially to somebody like Lopez. I might have him too low, Scott. You might be right about that one. For the Reds, Alexis D. Pitches pitched a clean ninth for his 32nd save. Now leads all of baseball,

surpassing Camillo Duval. For the Astros, Ryan Presley struck out one for his 25th save. For the Rockies, Justin Lawrence entered in the eighth inning, and he was attempting to go for a five-inning save. He did allow a-five-out save. What did I say? Five-inning. Yeah, that would be weird.

Five-out save for Justin Lawrence. He allowed a run in the bottom of the ninth, top of the ninth, rather, and took a blown save there. and then for the Diamondbacks, Scott McGuff eventually picked up his ninth save in extra innings. But I assume we could drop both him and Kevin Ginkles, Scott, with Paul Seawald coming over. That seems like a safe assumption, yeah. All right.

To stream or not to stream, let's start with Tuesday. And the names that I like here are Ranger Suarez at the Marlins, Josiah Gray versus the Brewers. and Johan Oviedo versus the Tigers I prefer Jose Cantana at the Royals

and Oviedo against the Tigers to Josiah Gray against the Brewers Gray would be my fourth choice Okay So Suara

For me it's Suarez Cantana Oviedo Gray On Wednesday We've got You know I'm intrigued by Grayson Rodriguez

At the Blue Jays It's okay. I don't love the matchup. I think it's fine. Okay. Cutter Crawford at the Mariners, maybe? Risky, but we saw what Nick Povetta did to that lineup today. Not many options on Wednesday.

McKenzie Gore, that could go really well against the Brewers. He could get a lot of strikeouts, or he could get a lot of walks, and it's an ugly stat line. So you kind of have to, you kind of have to decide what you need and how to, desperate you are, but McKenzie Gore against the Brewers could go well. For my Pokemon fans out there, McKenzie Gore is kind of like the pre-pre-evolution of Blake Snell, right? Like if Blake Snell is a Charzard, McKenzie Gore is a charmander. He's got, you know, he's got some of the traits, but he's just, he's not there yet. He's got to evolve, you know? If I'm, I watched a little bit of the cartoon back of the day. I don't know how

familiar with you. Of course you're familiar with the cartoon. It was more for your age. Very familiar. Um, so Charzard, if I remember, he evolves from, from Charmander to Charazard kind of too quickly and never listens to Ash. Right? Ash has, he like doesn't obey Ash's commands and ends up like, he's like, it's like a DeNaris Targaryen situation. He's just like burning everything up. Yeah, that's what happens in the show. Yeah.

Yeah. So that, that kind of feels more like Gore. Like, he's not going to follow any instruction. He's just going to do something. And maybe he burns up something good. Maybe he burns up something you really don't want it to burn up. Yeah, like your ERA. Hopefully that's not the case here on Wednesday.

We're going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we'll be back again tomorrow at 630 Eastern Time with a trade deadline, live special and then again later on Tuesday night. We'll see you then. Bye-bye.