Fantasy Baseball Today - Closers to Add, Week 19 Sleepers & Two-Start Pitchers (8/5 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)
Episode Date: August 5, 2022Jonathan Hernandez and Dany Jimenez are emerging as closers on the waiver wire (1:05). ... Jeffrey Springs looks to be back on track (6:18). Springs or Marcus Stroman (10:30)? ... Alec Bohm stayed hot... on Thursday (17:38). ... What's going on with Joe Musgrove recently (29:05). ... News (32:53): We have updates on Bryce Harper and Mike Trout plus Edward Cabrera will return on Friday. ... What do we need to know about Bubba Thompson and Cole Ragans (41:45)? ... What is the Week 19 schedule and which two-start pitchers should we target (43:50)? ... Which sleeper hitters should you target (50:00). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpens and streamers (56:06). Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Get 20% off Fantasy Baseball Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection 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
Transcript
Discussion (0)
And welcome in to fantasy baseball today on August 5th, Frank Stamphill joined by the Scotty Dubbs, Scott White.
Today on the show, Jeffrey Springs gets back on track, Week 19 sleepers, two-star pitchers, and much more.
But let's jump in.
Oh, my goodness gracious!
All right, Scotty, oh my goodness gracious, stand out or stand out for Thursday's action.
Yes, yes, I do have a combo.
meal for you today.
I'm going to go with a couple of relief pitchers.
The one who is most rostered is only 34% rostered in CBS Sports League.
So two highly available relief pitchers who may be pivotal closers down the stretch.
And we could use some fresh faces in the contributing to the saves category after the trade deadline.
And obviously that kind of disrupted the whole closer landscape and fantasy.
as it always does.
Okay, so one of them is Jonathan Hernandez,
who pitched a perfect ninth for the save on Thursday,
struck out two.
And this was a day after he worked the ninth inning
with a two-run deficit and made it a four-run deficit.
So he didn't look good in a non-save situation the night before.
But it was good to see him working back-to-back days
because he's coming off Tommy John surgery
and sometimes teams are reluctant to do that.
It's hard to be a closer if you're not able to do that.
This is also isn't his first save.
It's his second.
And I believe he has each of the Rangers last two.
I don't think anybody had one in between.
That's correct.
Yeah.
So he might be emerging as the closer now.
And it's not far-fetched because, remember, entering last spring,
there was talk that he was going to be,
I don't think he was officially annoyed at the closer yet,
but there was talk that he was going to be, you know,
the primary source for saves for Rangers.
for the Rangers last year,
and they ended up having Tommy John surgery,
and obviously they were having to figure something else out in the ninth inning all year,
eventually settled on Joe Barlow at the end of the year,
after, I guess they're working with Ian Kennedy before then.
So anyway, Jonathan Hernandez has had the look of a closer and waiting before.
Now he's healthy.
There are no other obvious choices in that bullpen.
Joe Barlow is going to come back at some point.
very soon, but remember they had already removed him even before he went on the aisle with
that blister. So I think it could just be Jonathan Hernandez going forward. And I think he could be
pretty good. I don't think he's going to be like Devin Williams type relief or anything, but he could
be pretty good. The other is Danny Jimenez back for the athletics. Of course, he was their
closer earlier this year. Started out very strong. Then his
it a rough patch and then wound up on the IEL.
So was it health related?
Was it just a rough patch?
Remains to be seen.
But he made his first appearance back from the IEL,
first appearance since June, I believe.
And look great.
Struck out the side in the eighth inning.
Eighth inning, I'll say,
because then Zach Jackson started the ninth inning.
Things went very poorly for him.
as things tend to do for Zach Jackson
because he walks more than six per nine innings
also has a really high fly ball rate.
So I don't really think he is a good fit
for the closer role, Zach Jackson.
He had to be bailed up by AJ Puck
who technically got the save.
I'm hoping the A's were just easing in Danny Jimenez.
Like I said, first appearance off the IL.
He looked great.
I think he's probably still their best choice to close.
And hopefully from this point forward,
that's what he'll do.
So Jonathan Hernandez,
Danny Jimenez,
if you're in the market for saves,
and Felix Batista's already gone,
hopefully Devin Williams is long gone at this point.
If your league is up to snuff,
then those are two you can look at.
Again,
that's Jonathan Hernandez and Danny Jimenez.
And they are widely available,
as you mentioned,
Scott, Hernandez, 12% rostered on CBS
and Danny Jimenez,
34% rostered.
Who would you rather have between the two
if you're just choosing one?
Well, Jimenez, I'm sorry, said the wrong name.
Hernandez plays for the better team, and I think it's clear that he's now the favor for saves when Jimenez.
I'm just hoping it gets back to that.
So I would say Hernandez for both reasons.
And he's the more available of the two.
I believe he's 11% rostered something like that.
12%.
12%.
Yeah.
So you need to pick him up.
Okay.
Would you take him over Rowan Wick and Ryan Saperra?
Yes.
I take either of these two over.
Wick and Tepara.
How about compared to Mark Malanson?
Oh man, Malanson's so bad.
So I guess so.
I guess I'd take them both over Malanson.
How about Hunter Strickland?
Yep.
How about Kyle Finnegan?
Yeah, I mean, after Carl Edwards
got the most recent save for the Nationals
with Finnegan working the eighth,
yeah, I'd say so.
All right, and then we start to get into
Tanner Hauk and Paul Seawald.
Yeah, I think.
There's a cutoff there.
I'd rather have those two than either Hernandez or Jimenez.
Yep, I agree.
So I think that's the right range to rank a few of these,
hopefully, closer is moving forward in Jonathan Hernandez and Danny Jimenez.
Oh my goodness gracious for me, we've got Jeffrey Springs,
who was back on track here.
His first quality start since June 24th.
He was at the Tigers, six innings, two unered runs,
six strikeouts to zero walks.
He had 11 swinging strikes.
And the overall numbers still look very good for Jeffrey Springs.
2.50 ERA.
Over a strikeout per inning, only 16 walks in 14 starts.
He's got a 13.3% swinging strike rate.
The roster rate has dropped quite a bit, Scott.
63% rostered is Jeffrey Springs,
and I know you dropped him in your rankings quite a bit.
Rightfully so.
We'll talk about that.
Next week, he's at the Brewers.
They're 25th in Wobah against left-handed pitching.
So if you just kind of want to pick him up for a start next week,
I think it's fine in that matchup.
The biggest question here, Scott, will be the innings
and the workload down the stretch here for Jeffrey Springs.
Last year, he only threw 44 and two-thirds innings.
He's already at 79 and a third after this start.
And he really hasn't handled a big workload since 2017
when he threw 112 and a third innings that season,
in the minors, albeit.
So what do you think about this bounceback
and maybe what we can expect from Jeffrey Springs
moving forward with the raise?
Well, I think Jeffrey Springs is a good pitcher.
You gave the underlying numbers.
I think that pretty much tells the story.
I mean, even just forget the underlying numbers.
Is ERA, you know?
It all looks good.
But, yeah, how deep is he going to go into games?
That's more the concern as far as the endings go for me,
is less, okay, what's the total he's going to finish with?
How many is he going to give you in each start?
go six innings this time. It was the first time he had gone six innings since June 24th.
I say it all the time. If a pitcher's not able to go six innings with any consistency,
of course, nobody goes six innings all the time. Well, Sandy O'Connor does, I guess.
He goes seven innings all the time. But, yeah, I mean, other than the very top bases,
nobody goes six innings all the time. But you've got to be able to go six innings with
regularity. And I just don't think Jeffrey Springs is in a place where he could do that.
and maybe that's partly by design to limit the innings so that he doesn't end up with too many this year.
But I think it makes him pretty fringy and fantasy for as good as the ratios are.
So I will point out he returned from injury July 24th.
He only through 78 pitches, four and a third innings in that start.
He got up to 92 pitches.
His next start after that, he went five innings.
And then he was at 85 pitches here.
on Thursday.
So, I mean, if he can live in the 85 to 90 pitch range,
he's a pretty good pitcher.
He, you know, he might be able to go six innings
if he's pitching efficiently based on the matchup,
whatever it might be.
So I don't know.
He's kind of a tough one to figure out,
but I think if he was dropped, Scott,
I'm not saying he's a must add.
I still haven't ranked inside
like my top 70 starting pitchers.
Mm-hmm.
I think I would go re-ad Jeffrey Springs
if he was dropped.
I think he's in that same conversation
as like a Nicodolo in terms of my interest level
in a starting pitcher.
He's below Lodola for me.
I would have no issues
rostering him in a perfect world
where I could roster anybody I wanted.
No, I mean, he's made 13 starts
overall so far.
This is his fourth of six innings
and none are more.
Sixth innings is the longest he's gone,
four of 13.
Now he was transitioning from the bullpener
early on. As you point out, he's coming off the aisle now. But I'm just, you know, here we are in
August. I'm just not hopeful he's going to start doing performing a new trick all of a sudden.
You may be right. And I may be surprised. But I think in most 12-team scenarios, he's barely making
the cut for me at this point, if at all. We'd rather have Jeffrey Springs or Marcus Stroman
who turned in another quality start.
That's three straight for him.
He was at the Cardinals.
Six and two-thirds, three runs,
six strikeouts to zero walks.
And I noticed a pitch mix change.
He did not throw his four-seem fastball
in this start,
a pitch that he has used
about 14% of the time this season.
And he threw a bunch of sinkers,
51% in this start.
Marcus Stroman, still 63% roster.
It could be out there in some shallower leagues.
Strong matchup next week,
up against the nationals.
Who do you like better,
Schroman or Springs?
I like Stroman more, actually.
Yeah, his numbers look pretty good too
if you eliminate that one star right before he went on the I-O.
I've got Springs a little bit higher myself,
but I can see, like, I just think Springs is the better pitcher,
but you're like in terms of just innings,
like more likely to get a quality start, it is Stroman.
Like, there's, I can't dispute that.
It's, you know, if we were going into a new season
and how would I rank these two,
I'm looking at Springs.
And obviously,
when you're going into a new season, you can, I don't know if this is necessarily right,
but you feel freer to let your imagination run wild and dream of the best case scenario.
When you're going through it, in the middle of it, and you're kind of experiencing things playing out the way they're playing out,
I don't know.
I don't have as much imagination in that moment as I do at the start of a new season.
And, you know, practically speaking, if the,
Ray's plan to make springs a starter long term, then theoretically they're going to push them
harder next year than they did this year so they can keep building up as ending. So there is a
practical element to that too. But yeah, I would say, I would say I tend to engage with the
theoretical a little more at the start of a new season than in season, just as a general rule.
You don't have to talk to me about theoreticals
because that's how I managed to talk myself into Sean Minaya
being much better than he actually is.
Johnny Quato, I imagine, is behind both of these names.
He has made 14 starts this season.
He has gone six plus in 13 of those starts.
Just a very interesting Johnny Quato-esque line here.
At the Rangers, eight innings pitched, 11 hits,
three runs, zero walks, four strikeouts.
His ERA is 2.91.
His ex-fip is 4.27.
does not get a lot of strikeouts,
gets a decent amount of ground balls.
He's 69% rostered, could be available.
And correct me if I'm wrong, Scott,
because I don't see him in your two-star pitcher rankings,
but he pitched today, well, on Thursday,
and then they've got three games this weekend.
They got seven games next week.
So it sounds like he would line up for Tuesday,
and with seven games, I think he would have two starts.
Well, they have a double-header Tuesday.
So, you get an extra.
roster spot in a double header.
They're going to need an extra pitcher at some point next week.
So I assume it's going to be that extra roster spot for the double header itself,
which would bump Quato to Wednesday unless they decide to reorganize their rotation
and have Quato go ahead of who's pitching the double header actually.
Lance Lynn.
I think they just stick with the same turn order and go with Len because obviously Lynn
has plenty of catching up to do with the
endings. So I don't think Quato's going to be a two-star pitcher.
Nonetheless, I have him as a sleeper pitcher for next week
because even though he allowed 11 hits in this start,
he is still only once allowed more than three earned runs in a start,
and he gets the Royals next week,
regardless of whether it's part of a double-heder or not.
And so I remain skeptical,
but as the months go by,
you've become a little more, a little more open-minded to what you're seeing, I guess,
and particularly against an offense like the Royals, I think.
I think it's okay to roll the dice on Quato continuing this streak of his.
In deeper leagues, Chris Bubbage quietly has turned in four straight quality starts.
He was up against the Red Sox here on Thursday, six innings, two runs, six strikeouts in this one.
His overall ERA is 5.27.
His last four starts, 2.42 ERA, 20 strikeouts over 26 innings pitched.
Obviously, not a great ratio there.
47% ground ball rate, 10.6% swinging strike rate.
Those are solid, and they could potentially play in Kaufman,
which is a bigger ballpark.
He's 9% rostered.
The problem next week, the matchups are the White Sox who are very good against lefties
and the Dodgers.
So I don't think I want to start him there, Scott,
but in deeper leagues, you know, like 15 teamers or deeper,
I might add Boobich just to see where this goes because he's on a bit of a run right now.
Well, good luck to you.
I don't have a lot of confidence in Boobich.
Like, I'm really particular about what starting pitchers I choose in a categories league,
which is what you're generally talking about in a 15 team.
You're talking about a Roto league, obviously head-to-head.
It's hard to have an odd number of teams like that.
And, like, you know, if you're having to go this deep in the,
starting pitcher well.
I think you're better off just starting a reliever of some kind,
even if it's not a closer.
But it kind of depends.
You know,
we're at the point in the season
where you could start really emphasizing the categories you need most.
And if your best chance to make up ground as in wins and or strikeouts,
then, you know,
you might have to risk it a little more with a pitcher like Boobitch.
Not that he's going to help much in strikeouts, let's be honest.
Yeah.
I guess wins is all we're talking about.
And you know how many of those he has this year?
Did he get one today?
I don't know if he actually wound up with the win in the start.
He did not.
He has two wins.
Ah, that's not great.
So I don't even like, if you're chasing wins and strikeouts,
what good is Chris Boobitch even going to do for you?
Probably not a lot.
Yeah.
So no, I'd, no, I'm not there with Boobich.
All right.
Now, if it's a deep points league, that's different.
Because, you know, you just kind of need to find volume wherever you can.
but not for a roto league.
That's a good point that you bring up about
realizing what categories you can actually move up in this time of year
and which ones are the easiest to move up.
Chris and I did a podcast about this during the All-Star Break
where we talked about how it's really hard to make up ground
in the ratio stats this time of year.
But the volume ones, you know, strikeouts, wins, saves,
even steals and home runs.
Like if those are all kind of bunched up,
then, you know, just take note of that
and realize, okay, like, this is the easiest category
to move up and just figure out which ones
you want to chase. So I agree, Scott.
Like, I don't think that Chris Boobich is going to give you
many strikeouts or wins, but
if you are chasing those volume stats, it makes
sense to just kind of stream two-star pitchers
in those deeper leagues at this point.
Waverwire hitters, Alec Boom,
we talk about him a lot.
I don't know how much more we need to talk about him, but
I'll mention he hit another home run here on
Thursday. He went one for two. That was a
shortened game. They finished
it up in five innings there because of the rain.
It was a three-run shot for him.
His last 40 games, he's batting 363, four homers.
I realize four homers over 40 games.
It's like a 16 home run pace over a full season, so not great.
But counting stats are good.
23 runs, 24 RBI.
He's making contact.
He's hitting the ball hard.
And we know third base is not very good.
Scott. Last 28 days, he's the eighth best third baseman in Roto.
And this kind of caught me by surprise.
8th best in Roto, 16th and head to head points.
It seems like Bome would be better as a points league player
because he makes contact and, you know, he hits some doubles.
Well, he never walks.
That's fair.
But yeah, he's a top 16th, third baseman either way
in both formats the last 28 days.
So 28, okay, so you're kind of throwing a bunch of different numbers out there.
So first you were talking 40 games.
Yeah, so I looked at that.
It's an arbitrary endpoint, as Chris likes to say,
but that's really kind of when he got hot.
But if you go to CBS and you sort by, you can really just sort by 7, 14, 21 or 28 days.
Okay, so I want to change your perspective a little bit on this because, okay, the second number you use, the 28 days.
We add, we add this latest game.
Thursday, it becomes 29 games, let's say, 29 games, forget days, 29 games.
Okay, you were saying he has four home runs over his last 40 games and that's a 16-home repaste and not great.
those four home runs have also happened over his last 29 games
which becomes a better pace
he's also batting about 400
I think over 400 now over that 29 game stretch
is boom with those four home runs
and I mean I look at the data for that
the thing is Alec boem hits the ball hard anyway
but his average exit velocity is up about one
mile per hour during that 29 game span.
His launch angle is up about three degrees,
not a dramatic increase, but an increase for both of them.
The exit velocity and the launch angle,
and it's turned him into this 400-hitting guy
with good enough power, seemingly.
I mean, maybe there is a critical threshold there
where some natural skills that we've been able to appreciate
even when the numbers didn't,
even when they weren't reflected in the numbers,
maybe they are able to play up now.
No, we're talking a small sample
and we're talking about slim margins.
So I'm still kind of an Alec Bone pessimist, I would say.
But there does seem to be a path to success here
if he can hold some of these marginal gains, I guess.
I don't mind writing him as the hot hand.
I mean, if it's versus him or, if it's him versus Jose Miranda, I'm definitely taking Miranda.
But I think that I think a separation is developing between how available they are,
between their roster rates.
Yeah.
So I updated the rankings earlier in the week.
Jose Miranda, I moved up to my 11th ranked third baseman.
You're in a similar spot.
You have him 12th.
So we're pretty aggressive there in Miranda.
I moved Alec Bohm up to 17th.
So ahead of names like Josh Donaldson and Max Muncie and K. Brian Hayes, Patrick Wizz.
them.
So.
Yeah, that's fair.
I'd be right.
I'd be right dropping any of those names for Alec Bohm.
You know, the one that's interesting, Scott,
and I have them back to back right now is Alec Bohm versus Miguel Vargas.
The problem for Vargas is he comes out, has a great debut on Wednesday, like two for four,
double, doesn't strike out, steals third base.
Look great.
Doesn't play on Thursday.
And sounds like Chris Taylor could be back this weekend.
So just another name to kind of muddy the waters.
if you need someone to actually play,
I think I prefer Bome,
just because I don't know what the playing time
is going to look like for Miguel Vargas.
Yeah, I'd like to get more excited about Vargas
because I think he's going to have a terrific major league career.
I mean, just the way he looks at the plate
reminds me of Miguel Cabrera
when he first broke into the league
and like the hitting instincts
and just the bat skills or all the scouting reports.
have said they're off the charts for this guy, Miguel Vargas. I know it's always foolish to
make a comp to a player that high end, but I do think Miguel Vargas could be very, very high end
in fantasy. He has a little bit of a speed element there too. Don't expect him to be a big
base dealer, but maybe he could make a Mani Machado like contribution in that category,
which would be enough to help set him apart. So like I want to get excited for this promotion,
but yeah, I agree.
It just doesn't seem like the Dodgers
are that committed to playing him
and they can't,
they're not got to keep him around
to sit on the bench.
And, you know,
I think it's likely this is a short stay for him.
Even though they added him
to the 40-man roster
to get him on the active roster,
I don't know.
I don't know.
I mean, at some point,
you got to figure
Justin Turner,
Max Muncie,
are bringing them down,
and they'll bench them or something,
but they haven't seem motivated to do that yet.
And for what it's worth, I mean, Muncie, his batting average is terrible,
but he is getting on base at like a 320 clip, which isn't terrible.
So I don't know.
We'll see, but, yeah, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not,
I'm not especially optimistic or even hopeful that Vargas is going to be,
making a significant fantasy impact this year.
All right, let's move over to some other waiver wire hitters.
A pair of teammates here.
The Oakland A's, Ramone Luriano, went two for five with his 12th home run.
The batting average has slowed down quite a bit for him,
but the power and the speed has been there.
Ten homers, three steals over his last 30 games.
He's 57% rostered.
And his teammate, Seth Brown, two for two with three walks,
a sock and a shoe here on Thursday.
His 16th home run, his eighth steep.
very low-key, eight steals for Seth Brown.
Did not know he had that in his skill set.
In 11 games, post-all-star break,
Seth Brown is hitting 400 with six homers.
He's 30% rostered.
They've got six games next week.
Only one lefty on the schedule.
So maybe Seth Brown only plays five games.
But Scott, I would say Luriano more for 12-teamers,
Seth Brown more for deep league players.
What do you think about those two?
Yeah, I think that's fine, the assessment of both.
Obviously, you have to factor in lefty-righty versus Brown,
or how many righties are on the schedule,
and you looked at that for next week.
I don't love the A's matchups for next week to begin with.
A six-game slate, they have Shohei Otani
and then three good Astros pitchers in those six games.
So I'm not especially high on Luriano and Brown for next week in particular,
but in a five outfielder league, you know,
Luriano might be somebody who's hard to remove
regardless of the matchups
and then Brown
you know, that's a deeper league play
but not a bad one.
All right, let's move over to some other teammates.
Any interest in the new Mets?
Tyler Naquin had a double dong here on Thursday,
both off of Kyle Wright.
Sorry, Scott.
14% rostered is Tyler Naquin
and then Daniel Vogelbach went two for four
with his 14th homer,
back-to-back games with a home.
run for Vogelbach.
He's 11% rostered.
So both are widely available, probably more so deep
league plays.
And they've got six games next week, two lefties on the
schedule.
So could be looking at only four games
played for each.
What do you think about Naquin and Vogelbach?
Yeah, I don't see them as
being all that useful in fantasy either
because Vogelbach's going to sit for
Darren rough against lefties.
It's a nifty platoon at DH
that the Mets have acquired here.
I think both players are kind of underrated.
They provide nothing defensively, so it makes sense that they're at DH,
but as hitters, they're kind of underrated, Vogelbach and Rough.
But if they're splitting the job like that,
I don't think they're going to be particularly valuable except in deeper leagues.
And Naquin, I'm not even sure he's going to play consistently against righties,
much less lefties, because when he starts, that means,
that means Mark Kana is sitting in all likelihood.
And Yucanah's still pretty good contributor to that offense,
a good on-base guy, better than Kwan, certainly.
And I believe his splits are much better against Ritey's,
even though he's a right-handed hitter.
So I don't think that's even going to be a clear platoon with Nakewin.
I think he's just going to be an occasional starter.
Okay.
How do you rank these three in the deeper league?
Seth Brown, Nakewin, and Vogelbach?
I would go
Brown Vogelbach
Naquin
And you are right about
Mark Kana this season
against righties
295 batting average
792 OPS
against lefties
223 and 646
So I agree
I'm not exactly sure
How the playing time's going to shake out there
for both Nequin and Mark Kana
So as an aim to add
in deeper leagues this weekend
Keep your eye on him
In standard size leagues as well
Someone I know you like quite a bit
Scott Michael Massey
He went one for four with his first stolen base.
The Royals are 11th in steals this season,
and they've routinely been aggressive on the base paths
over really the past decade.
Good, have something to do with the players
that they've had on their teams,
but I do think they're going to let Michael Massey run.
He's 8% rostered.
He's got seven home games next week.
So I've already put claims in, like, my 15 team leagues
where I need speed, need a middle infielder,
and I think that makes perfect sense.
And again...
Oh, I already had him stashed in a couple.
Oh, look at this guy.
Now, you bring up the speed, and yeah, he could contribute some stolen bases.
I think being on the Royals helps with that, as you point out.
But that's not the main thing Michael Massey will bring to the table.
I think he's just, I think he's a great hitter who also happens to seal some bases.
And, you know, just look at the numbers in the minors the last two years.
He hasn't gotten a lot of prospect attention because he's a 24-year-old,
and he was in A ball as a 23-year-old last year.
His professional career was delayed by a back issue,
and so I think he's always kind of been old
for his level of competition because of that,
but he has thoroughly dominated at every stop
and quickly moved up the ladders,
and now he's a starter in the major leagues.
It wouldn't surprise me if Michael Massey makes a big impact
over the final two months.
All right.
Last piece that I wanted to get to
before we hit the break,
Joe Musgrove.
He is going through a bit
of a rough patch right now.
He allowed a season high,
six earned runs
against the road Rockies.
This game was in San Diego.
What's going on?
Four and two thirds,
eight hits, six runs.
He did have six strikeouts
to one walk,
still had 14 swinging strikes
in this start.
Seems like he might have been
a little bit unlucky.
I know he gave up a home run
to Ryan McMahon,
but he had a 500 babbip against
Joe Musgrove.
did, he allowed two hard hit balls, 83.5 mile per hour average exit velocity against 500
Babbitt seems a little bit unlucky for him. His previous start was strong, but his last four
starts in general, 7.29 ERA. And he did slow down a little bit in the second half last year, Scott.
So does this concern you at all, this kind of recent rough patch for Joe Musgrove?
Not really. It's taken his ERA from
Where was it?
Okay, it's taken his ERA from 209 to three, and even three.
All the expected stats say his ERA should be closer to about three.
So this is sometimes how regression manifests.
Like he had a share of luck earlier in the season,
and so yes, I agree.
This looks like he had some bad luck in this start,
but luck tends to even out, and that's part of regression as well.
And I think that's all we're seeing with Musgrove.
And it's kind of a macro phenomenon that, you know,
doesn't mean, oh, he's going to be unlucky in his next start too,
because it's got to even out.
That's not really how it works.
I think you continue to use Musgrove as you always have
and just understand that these starts are going to happen sometimes.
All right.
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Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this.
The news and notes.
Bryce Harper is targeting a September return from his fractured left thumb injury.
could help us down the stretch when we need him most.
Mike Trout started rotational work on Wednesday
with the goal of building him back up
to the point that he's able to swing a bat.
That phrasing Scott just doesn't sound great to me.
I mean, I don't know,
maybe I'm just taking it out of context,
but just started rotational work
so that he can swing a bat.
I don't know.
Hopefully I'm wrong and Mike Trout returns,
but I don't feel very optimistic.
They shut him down last year.
Would not surprise me if they shut him down
once again. Clayton Kirshall exited his start on Thursday after his lower back locked up on him.
He'll undergo medical testing on Friday, has long dealt with back injuries. Hopefully it's
not anything too serious. Julio Rodriguez is on track to return from the IL when first eligible
next Wednesday, but we'll keep you up to date on that. His teammate Mitch Hanigar has a similar
timeline. They said within the next week or so, Mitch Hanigur should be good to go. And if they're
both returning. Not exactly sure what that means for Jared Kellnick, but it doesn't sound good.
Oh, I think I know what it means. Ah, don't say that. I think he gets sent down again.
Come on, he homered off Garrett Cole. That has to mean he's good, right? Scott? Yeah, he's also
struck out a bunch. Ah, you're right. In case he needed more confirmation, there was a report that
Spencer Strider does not have an innings cap this season and that the Braves have no immediate plans
to shift him back to the bullpen, even with the addition of Jake Oterese, something that Scott
intimated earlier in the week as well. Wittmeryfield has been vaccinated and we'll be able to play
in Toronto in their upcoming games. I think they're a week out from returning back to Toronto.
He was batting eighth and playing center field in his Blue Jays debut on Thursday. He went two for
five with a run and an RBI. Also had three strikeouts, which is not very characteristic for him.
So he played center field, which meant George Springer played DH, which meant Alejandro Kirk
had to catch.
And Kirk has not been their primary catcher.
He's been their backup catcher and primary DH.
So obviously they want to keep Kirk's bat in the lineup.
I don't know if they're going to be willing to play him a catcher that regularly.
I bring this up because I still don't know that Whitmerfield's going to play all that regularly.
Santiago Espinal would seem like the easier player to remove from the lineup,
but he was technically an All-Star this year.
And, you know, if you're leaving stolen bases out of it, which is mainly what we care about from
Maryfield and Fantasy, of course, if you're leaving those out of it, the numbers, you know, they kind
of favor Espinall, too.
So, yeah, I'm still pretty worried about Maryfield's prospects in Toronto, even if he is now
legally allowed to play for his home team.
All right.
Ozzy Albi's played catch on Wednesday and should be able to return by late August.
that's the hope. Gene Seguro was reinstated from the IL on Thursday. He was batting seventh in the
Phillies lineup. Dustin May will require at least two more rehab starts, which puts him in line to
return maybe two weeks from now. He built up to 62 pitches in his third rehab outing on Wednesday.
I'll point out if Clayton Kirschar has to go on the IEL, Dustin May may be here sooner than the two
weeks that they're kind of talking about right now. He may. Cardinals may not. May may may not.
Yes. How many times can we say it's got? I don't know.
That was the first time.
May, May. Lots of Mays. Cardinals manager, Oliver Marmold, said that Jack Flaredy will throw a bullpen session this weekend and could be clear to begin a rehab assignment as soon as next week.
Edward Cabrera was activated by the Marlins and likely to start Friday against the Cubs.
He is 48% rostered. Scott, how aggressive are you looking to add Edward Cabrera?
I am not looking to add him that aggressively, but, I mean, compared to some of the other pitchers we've talked about, maybe, like, there's definitely upside there for Cabrera.
He hasn't, he hasn't been very consistent in the sporadic major league looks he's gotten, so I'm not, I'm not especially optimistic it's going to be different this time.
I'd kind of rather see and react and then maybe add him, but I guess it depends how deep the league is.
what you'd be dropping instead.
If the choice is him and Jeffrey Springs,
then I probably stick with Springs.
I agree, but it's close.
It's close.
All right, let's see what else we have here.
Chris Taylor could return at some point this weekend,
which we mentioned earlier.
Lance McCullors will make his fourth rehab start
Sunday at AAA.
He built up to 76 pitches in his most recent outing.
Rangers third base prospect,
Josh Young, will progress to playing third
base for the next six to ten days in the Arizona Complex League before joining a minor league affiliate.
Scott, do you think we will see Josh Young with the Rangers at some point this season?
He's 16% rostered.
I think there's a chance.
Yeah, I mean, he was trending toward being the opening day third baseman before he suffered that fracture in his foot.
So I think there's a chance.
It may just hold off to next year, though.
I don't know.
I don't have a clear idea, but there's a chance.
You know, I just realized this doesn't happen often, but it does happen.
I completely miss a game on the schedule on Thursday.
Oh, man.
Because we were talking about WaverWire pitches, and I was like, didn't Jose Cantana make his debut?
I was like, yeah, he did.
And he pitched really well.
So I'm just going to interrupt everything and just ask you what you thought about Jose Cantana's debut at the Cardinals.
He went six innings, one run, only one half.
hit aloud, two walks, and seven strikeouts
up against the Chicago
Cubs. He is widely available, too, so
like where does he compare,
I don't know, rank these four, Strowman,
Springs, Kintana, Edward
Cabrera.
Strowman Springs,
Cabrera, Kintana.
Though Kintana may
prove to be more useful than Kabrera.
I'll take a little stab at the upside there
because I don't think
Kintana,
I think he's going to be pretty
fringe he still. I like that he went six
innings in his first start for the Cardinals. I was
hoping maybe they'd ride him a little harder than
the Pirates did, but he still
threw only 84 pitches.
Someone may have just been that he was so ridiculously
efficient. He was able
to last six innings when normally he won
this was only
the sixth time all year he's gone six
innings. So that that would
still be an issue
if that would still be an issue with the Cardinals
just like it was with the Pirates.
Okay. He's 40%
rostered, Jose Cantana, is
SPARP eligible for those who play in points league,
so I think that could be massive down the stretch in that
format, and the
only issue that I see is next
week he's at the Rockies, so even if
you add him, I don't think that you want to put him in your
lineup. Again, that is Jose Cantana,
and I will point out that
one day after completely ripping
Tommy Edmund, talking
about how much we've dropped him in the rankings yesterday,
Chris and I did. He goes
three for five with his 22nd
stolen base and two RBI, so.
Boom. Take that, Frank and Chris.
Tommy Edmund is back.
Jordan Montgomery will make his Cardinals debut on Saturday against who?
The Yankees, of course.
Luke Voight was batting third in his Nationals debut.
He went two for three with a run and RBI.
He is 51% rostered.
He's got six games next week.
Scott, you know, I've heard different people talking about Luke Voight.
What do you think?
I mean, obviously, the Nationals lineup is terrible,
but he undoubtedly should play every single day with this team.
Well, he was with the Padres.
too. Yeah, more or less. So I don't think much of Luke Void at this point. It's been pretty
ugly this year. He'll come through with the occasional home run, but he's been striking out too
much and now he's in a worse offense. So not much positive to say about Luke Void at this point.
Already, Deity Gregorius was released by the Phillies with Bryson Stott taking over as their primary
shortstop. Eric Hosmer was batting sixth for the Red Sox in his debut. He went 0 for 3 with
walk. Brian Beyo was placed in the IL with a groin strain. Aaron Savali will begin a rehab assignment
at AAA on Friday. Eduardo Rodriguez will make a rehab start at Single A on Saturday. He has not pitched
in a start since May. Mike Soroka expected to pitch in simulated game soon. Could be back in
September. And Cole Calhoun was placed in the IL with right heel irritation, which brings us to
just a few prospect call-up, Scott, that I wanted to get your opinions on, if you have any, for the
Rangers, I guess that corresponding move with Cole Cahoon going on the IL, they called up
outfielder Bubba Thompson, who in the minors this season was batting 303 with 13 homers,
49 steals.
He's a fringe top 30 Rangers prospect.
He did have some solid power and speed in 2021 as well.
And just a few other names here.
The Marlins are calling up Peyton Burdick.
He is an outfielder, 14 home runs, eight steals in the minors this season.
Lots of strikeouts, only a 229 batting average.
The Rangers also called up a.
pitcher Cole Riggins who made his debut on Thursday and he was solid five
innings one earner run three strikeouts and he's having a really good year in the
minors so anything on those you know I guess borderline prospects got Bubba Thompson
Cole Riggins and Peyton Burdick yeah I mean if if Thompson gets enough
playing time he could factor in those formats where stolen bases are so precious
he could be a specialist for those, I think.
It remains to be seen how much he's going to play.
But that's something to keep an eye on.
If stolen vases are in high demand in your format, Thompson's somebody to know.
I'm also kind of interested in Cole Regens.
He is a former first-round pick,
who I believe had Tommy John surgery twice on his way to the majors,
and finally stayed healthy a long enough
to put it all together in the minors this year
between double and AAA, a 304 ERA 112 whip 10.7K per 9.
Obviously, I'm not rostering him
to the extent I am,
those other pitchers we were talking about,
Springs and Kintana and whoever else, Stroman.
But let's keep an eye on Regens
because he could eventually reach that point
where he is worth rostering.
All righty, let's move into the,
Week 19 preview.
Finally, the schedule.
It's pretty normal for next week.
Four teams with five games, the Dodgers, the twins, the rays, and the Brewers.
We have 20 teams with six games and six teams with seven games.
Some fringe two-star pitchers for next week.
What do we do with these names?
And we will start things off with Zach Allen, Scott, who has the Jekyll and Hyde
matchups.
He's versus the Pirates and at the Rockies for next week.
So before I answer, let me first point out there are only 26, two-star pitchers.
Normally, there's about 40.
They're only 26 this week.
There are a lot of off days.
And so I think you have to, you can't afford to be that picky about your two-start options.
I think Zach Gallen, the only reason you'd hesitate to start them in a two-star week is because one of them is at Colorado, that Pittsburgh start will hopefully more than make up for it.
I think you just roll with them,
especially given the lack of alternatives.
All right,
the one right below him,
kind of similar setup here.
Well, actually,
Miles Michaels doesn't even have a good matchup next week.
He's at the Rockies,
and he's at home against the Brewers.
So what do you think about that?
Yeah, but he's got a sub 3ERA
and a sub 1 whip,
so I think he just continued to roll with him
when he's making two starts.
Lance Lynn got back on track on Wednesday
and does have good matchups next week
at the Royals and versus the Tigers.
Yeah, I was kind of, you know how I tier my two-star pitcher rankings every week.
I have the must-starts all formats, and then I have what I call sleepers and questionables.
And it would seem like Lance Lynn would be questionable.
I mean, he did have a good outing last time, but overall it's been a struggle since he returned from the I.L.
I decided to go ahead and put him in must-start all formats, both because there are so few two-star pitchers to choose from,
and the matchups are so good, the Royals and the Tigers.
And the same goes for Jose Orkidi and Blake Snell.
I would normally be inclined to call them slightly less than must start,
you know, maybe shallow leagues,
maybe leagues where you're looking to preserve ratios.
You don't automatically start them in the two-start week.
But Arquitie's been on this quality start streak,
and he gets the Rangers and athletics this week.
And Blake Snell, you know, four walks combined in his last three starts
with a couple double-digit strikeout efforts in there.
He seems to be on a nice run.
San Francisco is his first matchup, but Washington is his second.
And again, any two-star pitcher you can put in your lineup this week
is going to give you a nice leg up because of the limited number.
Well, let's see if you really mean any two-star pitcher,
because I've got Jameson Tione, who is at the Mariners and at the Red Sox next week.
What do you think about that?
I'd leave that one for points, leagues.
All right, fair enough.
Yeah.
All right, those are like the fringe ones that I found here, Scotty.
The two-star pitchers that you're looking to stream for next week, who do you have there?
Braxton Garrett, of course, of course.
Now, this will be a good test for him because he, you know, after his last two starts,
were against Cincinnati. His previous two were against Pittsburgh.
So four favorable matchups in a row, even if it was
twice the same team in a row.
Phillies and Braves are his matchups this week. So much tougher,
but it is a two-star week, and he has pitched as well as he has
recently, so Jimmy Braxton Garrett. Also, Brady Singer.
He gets the White Sox, he gets the Dodgers, opposite ends of the
spectrum there. But
I don't think you're going to do much better off the waiver wire if you're looking for a two-start option than him.
Okay, so these others, I'd be more inclined to use in points leagues than categories,
and they include Alex Wood, who wasn't so great last time out, but has been a little better in general,
and he still has good underlying numbers.
San Diego and Pittsburgh are his matchups this week.
James Caprillion's been on a role.
Don't entirely trust it,
but he's only 16% rostered,
Angels and Astros.
Ours matchups this week,
so again, one really good,
one not so good.
Graham Ashcraft,
he doesn't quite make the cut on my two-start.
I'm sorry,
he doesn't quite make the cut
on my top 10 sleeper pitchers for this week
because there are a lot of good one-start choices.
But Graham Ashcraft gets the Mets and Cubs,
and it's coming off a great start against the Marlins.
You say Kukuchi gets the Orioles and Guardians,
and he's pitched better of late,
though not very deep into games.
And Kegan Thompson gets the Nationals and Reds.
Those are two pretty good matchups for him.
Not the most reliable pitcher,
but he's delivered his fair share of quality starts this year.
All right.
That brings us to Fortune favors the brave.
Two-star pitcher for next week.
you should not use this pitcher.
And Scott, there is one that is screaming out to me.
That is like the most obvious fortune favors the brave, two-star pitcher of all time.
Would you like to steal him from me?
Or do you have someone else in mind?
I don't know who you're talking about.
So who do you want to choose first?
I'll let you choose.
Nobody.
There's 26.
I've already, I've already stretched things.
further than I normally would to get more to get more recommendations in there.
I am not sure who you're talking about, but I am going to say, I mean, my next ranked guy
beyond the ones I listed is Jordan Lyles against the Blue Jays and Rays.
I don't think that's who you're talking about though.
No.
But that's who I'll pick.
Maybe you did mention him.
Maybe I don't know.
Is it you sick of Kikuchi?
Oh, it's you saying.
Oh, you weren't listening to me.
Oh, man.
I'm sorry, Scott.
I apologize.
He's too good.
to say he's a fortune favors the brave thing.
I don't, like, he's looked good in his first two starts back.
There is nothing scarier than starting U.S.A. Kikuchi, man.
Oh, I'll agree with that.
It is very scary.
You've got to be pretty brave to start U.S.Kakuchi.
So the matchups are solid at the Orioles and against the Guardians, but.
I don't think it's crazy to start U.S.
Cacucci with those matchups.
And usually with the fortune favors the brave pick.
We're getting crazier than that.
All right.
So the other one I'll give you.
Fair enough.
The other one I'll give you is Kyle Braddish,
who has pitched well two starts back from the IL,
but the matchups,
one against the Blue Jays at Tampa Bay.
You might be able to like squint and talk yourself into it,
but you probably shouldn't because it's Kyle Bradish.
Some single-star streamers for next week, Scott,
you mentioned we have some good names here.
Who you got?
Yes.
So a lot of the guys we've been talking about
in this section before,
they just happen to have good matchups again.
That includes Marcus Stroman, who's going against Washington,
who now is running a AAA lineup out there every day without Wants Soto and Josh Bell.
Nick Lodolo should stay hot against the Cubs.
So should Hunter Green.
Josiah Gray hasn't been hot, but he's capable of deliverance of bangers.
There's a lot of bats, as long as he keeps in the ball in the ballpark.
And he gets that Cubs matchup as well.
so I like him
Johnny Quedo
talked about earlier
he's going against the Royals next time
and has been reliable
for reasons I can't understand
and I also like Kyle Gibson
against the Marlins
because I like most anybody
against the Marlins these days
particularly someone
who's capable of taking on the volume
that Gibson is
he did just start against the Marlins
a few turns ago
I don't have the exact numbers in front of me
but it went very well
and I think it will again
Most starts against the Marlins tend to go really well, so that makes sense to me as well here.
Let's slide over to the hitters, the best hitter matchups for next week.
The Diamondbacks, the White Sox, the Rockies, the Orioles, and the Angels, the worst hitter matchups,
Phillies, Twins, Royals, Rangers, and the Rays.
With that being said, Scotty, who are your sleeper hitters for Week 19?
It's not good.
I'll start with that.
It's not good.
It's great.
No, it's not good.
It's getting really hard to find hitters I can recommend who happen to have the right matchups
and who happen to be rostered in less than 80% of CBS Sports Leagues.
And I have to have a cutoff somewhere.
So that's going to remain the cutoff.
But Tray Mancini, his first game at his new home,
Minut made Parkey homered.
It would not have been a homer run at Camden Yards.
and he'd probably have twice as many home runs
as he does this year.
If he hadn't spent all that time in Camden Yards,
that's what the data shows.
So all six of his games next week are in Camden Yards.
Now, even with him, there's the question of how much is he going to play
because it sounds like he's not going to play much outfield.
And so unless you're now,
Verrez is playing the outfield,
that could create a playing time situation between Mancini
and Uliq.
Gurriel. Mancini was out of the lineup Thursday.
So not sure how that's going to go.
But I like that he's going to be at home.
And it does sound like he'd be more likely to play left field when they are home,
since it is such a small left field.
Okay.
I like the Diamondbacks matchups this week.
As you mentioned, Frank, they get the Pirates for four games.
They're at course field for three games.
So I have Josh Rojas here.
I have Alec Thomas here.
And Thomas, I want to.
emphasize is much better against right-handed pitchers than left-handers.
All seven of the pitchers on the schedule right-handers are right-handers for the diamondbacks.
Plus, Thomas has shown some signs of life recently.
As you mentioned, Frank, I have the Orioles as the fourth best matchups for this week.
Jorge Mateo's been hot, so I think he's a good play.
Ramona Rias has cooled off, but I still think with these matchups and his versatility
is not a bad choice for this week.
I'll also recommend Jaron Duran for this week
because all six of the pitchers currently on the schedule
for the Red Sox are right-handers,
so you don't have to worry about Duran's sitting.
He hasn't hit so well of late,
but that's about as good as I can do this week.
I even have, gosh, in the top 10 sleeper hitters for this week,
I even have Luis Renhifo.
Well, I mean, that just feels.
gross to recommend him,
but he's been hitting pretty well late
and can steal some bases.
And Trent Grisham I have on here as well.
The Padreys matchups aren't even that great.
They're pretty middle of the road.
They're not terrible.
But he's been hitting a little better of late.
And yeah, the matchups.
The matchups could be worse.
So that's where we are with sleeper hitters for this week.
Sorry I can't do any better than that.
Yeah, you know, Scott,
I think you're selling this list short, man.
I am really in on Alec Thomas.
I think he's going to have a monster week next week.
Oh, come on.
I think he's going to go off.
Has he ever had a monster week?
Well, you know what?
It's got to start somewhere, right?
So, Alec Thomas, I think he's going to go off.
I really like the Orioles guys, as you mentioned, as well.
Luis Renhifo, don't be smirch the name of the number three hitter in the Angels lineup,
right?
Because...
I will be smirch it till the cows come home.
No, but seriously, I don't think that list is so bad.
So, Alec Thomas, breakout.
You heard it here first.
Well, actually, you heard it from Scott first,
but you heard it from me second.
Some leftovers from Thursday's action.
Justin Verlander makes it seven straight quality starts.
He was at the Guardian.
Six shutout with five strikeouts.
Really didn't even have his best stuff
and still managed a quality start here.
Even better than a quality start, right?
Like six shutout?
Like, it's just a really good start.
Carlos Carrasco turns in another quality start.
He was up against the brave,
six innings, three runs,
six strikeouts.
He had 17 swinging strikes in the start.
His last six starts, 1.50 ERA, 14% swinging strike rate for Carlos Carrasco.
Alec Manoa now tied for second in baseball with 17 quality starts.
Six innings, two runs, five strikeouts, up against the Minnesota Twins.
He lowers his ERA to, actually no, his ERA rises to 2.45 in this start.
Anything you'd like to add on those three, Scott.
Manoa, Carrasco, Justin Verlander.
I don't really have much to add.
It is nice to see Carrasco delivering more consistent results
because the data had him as a pretty big underachiever
for most of the year.
So I guess he's back at a point where we can trust him.
Carlos Carrasco, by the way,
I moved them back inside my top 45 starting pitchers
because he is pitching very well recently.
I think he deserves it.
We've got to mention Jansen Junk, right?
I mean, perfect name.
six earned runs against the Oakland A's of all teams, right?
So I saw a couple of people in the chat before we started talking about how they streamed Jans and Junk.
I'm sorry.
That guy's junk.
Sure is.
Some hitting leftovers here.
Hopefully we can put the trade deadline behind us and get Wilson Contreras back on track.
He went two for five in game one of their double header with his 15th home run of the season.
Paul Gulchman hit his 26th home run of the season.
Mookie Betts hit his 25th.
Trey Turner hit his 18th.
He has three home runs over his last six games.
Ryan McMahon had a big game.
He went two for three with a double.
And his ninth home run, he added five RBI.
He's had a very bad season, Ryan McMahon.
241 batting average, 720 OPS.
He hits the ball very hard though, Scott.
91.3 average exit velocity.
That's a surprise.
He's had a very bad season, but he's still 84% rostered somehow.
I was looking into him with the Rockies having a full week of home games.
I'm like, yeah, maybe I could recommend McMahon.
Yeah.
But for some reason.
season. People have not given up on him.
That surprised me as well.
Brandon Lau went three for five with his eighth home run.
He had four hard hit balls in this game,
three of which were at least 104 mile per hour exit velocity.
In 14 games since returning,
Brandon Lau is hitting 339, three homers, four doubles,
just an 18% strikeout rate.
You'll love to see it.
Randy Rosa Rainer, four for five with two RBI and his 21st steal.
Ronald Acuna, that guy stinks.
Just kidding. He went one for four with his ninth home run, his first homer since July 8th.
So nearly a month. Oh, yeah. Get off the apple and center field. It's been a while. It's been a while.
Pete Alonzo went two for four with his 29th homer. Reese Hoskins hit his 21st. Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. Scott, did you see this home run?
I didn't know. Please go to my Twitter feed and watch it because.
Oh, I don't follow you on Twitter. Oh, that's messed up, dude.
Anyway, Vlad Jr. 2 for 5 hit his 22nd home run.
A laser. Laser.
115.4 mile per hour, exit velocity.
One of the hardest home runs I've ever seen.
Yeah, Staten hits these laser home runs as well, judge the same.
This one was crazy.
It was one of the most impressive home runs I've ever seen from Vlad Jr.
The Angels flexed their muscles and still lose, of course.
They hit seven home runs, all seven of them, solo shots.
Shohei Otani, a double dong.
He's now up to 24.
Taylor Ward hit his 14th.
Jared Walsh had hit his 14th.
Joe Adele hit his fourth.
Kurt Suzuki hit his third.
Mickey Moniac hit his first home run with the Angels.
And it was a big game for the Royals' bats as well.
Salvi Perez, two for four with his 15th homer.
He added four RBI.
He's got four home runs in seven games since returning.
M.J. Melendez hit his 11th.
And Bobby Witt, Witt, Jr., two for four.
for his 21st deal of the season.
The call to the bullpen,
we've only got a few updates here.
The Pirates with Will Crow unavailable,
he pitched the last two days.
Kind of looks like that's who's going to be filling in
for David Bednar, him and Jerry Dale Los Santos.
Matt Bush came in for the save in extra endings.
He gave up two runs on two walks and a hit.
He took his fourth blown save and second loss of the season.
For the Dodgers, Craig Kimball gave up a run,
picked up his 20th save,
back-to-back days with a save for him.
and then for the Mets,
Edwin Diaz
pitched the final two innings
for his 24th save
of the season.
All right, Scott,
time to get you talking here again
because I just did way too much talking.
To stream or not to stream,
your favorite segment.
On Friday,
Justin Steele up against the Marlins,
Mitch Keller at the Orioles,
Dean Kramer versus the Pirates,
Glenn Otto versus the White Sox,
Zach Rankie versus the Red Sox,
and Mad Bum versus the Rockies.
Oh, gosh.
Don't make me see.
start any of these guys, but if you are going to make me start somebody, I will pick Mitch
Keller at Baltimore. Justin Steele, I don't think is very good, but the Marlins are very bad
against left-handed pitching. That's a good point. That's a good point. I think I can get behind
that one. Saturday, we've got Chris Flexen versus the Angels, J.T. Brubaker at the Orioles,
Dane Dunning versus the White Sox, David Peterson, back for the double header. He's back? Oh, for the
doublehead.
Yep, he's going up against the Braves.
Jake O'Dorizzi at the Mets.
Nick Ladolo at the Brewers,
Aaron Aspie versus the Reds,
Domingo Hermann at the Cardinals.
Yes, this is very interesting,
this list.
I will say Nick Ladolo at Milwaukee,
tough matchup,
but I think a good pitcher.
And I will also say,
nobody.
No, I mean, I guess,
you know,
If you're trying to cram as many strikeouts as you can in your lineup,
Ashby against the Reds might be okay.
Peterson against the Braves might be okay.
That worked out, well, last time you faced them.
And Brewbaker at Baltimore might even be okay.
On Sunday, we have Spencer Watkins versus the pirates.
Cutter Crawford at the Royals,
Adrian Samson versus the Marlins,
and Marco Gonzalez versus the Angels.
Cutter Crawford at Kansas City,
I think that'll be fine.
Gonzales against the Angels.
All four.
It's always a little scary because he's either going to give you like two earn runs
in six and a third innings or he's going to give you six earned runs in two and a third
innings.
But I'm betting on the former against the Angels.
I'm saying, Scott, that you could start all four on Sunday.
Put them all in your lineup.
Watkins up against the pirates.
He's pitching well.
Good matchup.
Adrian Samson.
Start anyone against the Marlins right now.
That's honestly how I feel.
But, all right.
Okay.
It's fine.
We're going to wrap there.
For Scott, I am Frank.
Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today.
We'll be back again on Monday.
Bye-bye.
