Fantasy Baseball Today - Corbin Burnes vs. Gerrit Cole & Things We Want To See In 2025! (9/27 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 27, 2024

Corbin Burnes has changed his cutter mechanics and looks to be back on track (3:26). ... Gerrit Cole continues to succeed in spite of his slider (12:15). ... News (23:26): Braves-Mets games on Monday will be included on CBS. ... We have questions for 2025, including Andrew Vaughn, Lars Nootbaar, Walker Buehler and more (27:35). ... Let's get into leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers for the weekend (43:09). ... What do we want from American League teams in 2025 (52:00)? ... What about the National League teams (59:00)? Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @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/ 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

Cogamo Friday and welcome into fantasy baseball today on September 27th. I am Frank Stamphill joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Here we are, Bitter Sweet, last podcast of the season. Last Cokomow Friday, let's have some fun. Today on the show, Corbyn Burns versus Garrett Cole, I have some questions for these guys. Plus, one thing we'd like to see from each team in 2025. I had this awesome idea like an hour ago, legitimately an hour ago.

and so that's why we're starting so late. Like that is the entire story. I said, huh, that would be fun to talk about. And so I tried to come up with one thing for every team and that's why we're starting so late. And of course,

like I didn't take advantage of the time to like get ahead of work or anything. I was sitting here playing video games like a dummy. So now we're going to finish the podcast at like 2.30 and I still got to work. Yeah, I thought about texting you guys like, hey,

like what are some things you guys want to see from teams? I was like, look, this is too short notice. I can't throw it on them. Let me just try and figure this out on my own and that's where we are. Maybe it would have jolted me out of, you know, not working. Maybe.

Probably not. All right. Well, let's jump in. Oh, my goodness gracious. Susan, that is, uh, that's the way to do it. Final podcast of the season. Scott, you are up. Player of the night.

All right. I'm going with Corbin Burns, who had a great start at the Yankees, short start, five innings, but only one run, two hits, nine strikeouts. And after that rough August, where we kind of lost faith in him, we weren't really sure we wanted to rank Corbin Burns like an ace next year. Corbyn's last six starts has a 129 ERA, a 0.94 whip, exactly a strikeout per inning. And the swinging strike rate is like over 13%. It looks a lot better than the K per 9 rate. He looks, he's been looking like an ace again.

And read an interesting article in the Baltimore banner about what's changed for Corbyn Burns here in September. And really what's been going on with Corbyn Burns all year. So basically his cutter, his best pitch hadn't been right all year. Too much spin on the cutter, which was caused. causing it to, it was causing it to rise more than cut. He described it as like just a crappy fastball, except he didn't use the word crappy. I was getting too efficient with how I was spinning it,

which was making it a blank four-seem fastball. And it was getting hit, like a blank four-seem fastball, is the exact quote from Garrett, Corbyn Burns. Yes, and he said he didn't really do anything about it because he was succeeding anyway, mostly on the strength of his breaking pitches, but eventually hitter stopped chasing those breaking pitches and we're just sitting on the cutter,

and that's what happened in August, and he got knocked around. So that finally forced him to get to the bottom of the issue. And the cutter, I've noticed during this six-start stretch that its velocity has been down more than a mile per hour, but that's helped it regain its former shape. It's horizontal movement has been around four, inches here in September.

It was more like two for most of the year. And you go back to 2022. That's when it was around four inches. So he's got that cutter movement back to about to where it was in 2022. And yeah, getting a lot more chases. The chase rate is more than doubled here this month on that pitch. And it just looks like Corbyn Burns has figured it out. And so I kind of just want to do over on everything I was saying about him last month.

I think he's absolutely going to be a top five pitcher for me next year, given all that this article revealed. And I don't know, maybe, because I've been saying my top three would be Terrick Scoobles, Zach Wheeler, Paul Skeen's. I think Corbyn Burns might overtake Skeens even for me at three, given his track record. And again, what we learned with his cutter here, what's been happening with it.

I might need to get like a little more confirmation before I buy him as a top five pitcher just because he is, what, 31? He will be a free agent. We don't know where he's going to sign. So that obviously will play a part. He is turning 30 in October. Okay, turning 30. Well, here's, I don't know.

I don't mean to interrupt your point, but like the part of what I was struggling with, than I've talked about it is, okay, so if there's a fairly obvious top three scuba wheeler skeens, who's number four? And I couldn't come up with a better number four than Chris Sale, and yet I don't want to pay that price for Chris Sale next year. So who would be, who would you take over Corbyn Burns if you're not going to put him in the top five? Like who do you think gives you more confidence than that? That's a good, that's a fair question. It kind of feels like he needs to almost rank there by default. Yeah, I think by default just because it does feel like after, like,

I think Sale versus Burns is an interesting one because I think it's an upside versus floor case. Burns obviously has a much higher floor than Chris Sale at this point in their careers. The one thing I will point out is Burns did have nine whiffs with the cutter today. It was one of the best performances by the cutter all season. even in September before this, it was 22% whiff rate, which is better than it had been all season. It was the highest for any month around where it was in 2020, when he was a top five pitcher, but not pre-20203. You know, it's not like it was a return to the 29 to 32% whiff rates he was running at his best with the cutter.

And so is it a guarantee because of this? one month that he's able to sustain that cutter dominance. I think that's unlikely that it's a guarantee at least. It doesn't mean it won't happen. But so I four or five. I don't

think I would put him ahead of schemes. Here's what I find so convincing about it is not just a look he's getting better results. It's that he identified the problem, set out to find the solution,

and achieved it. And so, yeah, maybe he'll lose that feel on the cutter and start overspending it, making it too efficient, as he said. Again, maybe he'll slip into that, but he knows how to get out of it. And I think he'll recognize it sooner next time if it starts to happen and apply this change quicker. I understand everything that you just said.

I don't know that I completely buy it because it feels like there were times last year where Corbyn Burns was not. not nearly the pitcher that we've come to know. And he didn't really have that flip, that switch to just kind of flip and say, oh, I know what's wrong with my cutter.

Let me do this. And he just got back to like, well, you know, prime Corbyn Burns. I think that's what my thing would be is that I think the ceiling for Corbyn Burns now is probably 2020. When he was very good,

but he was like the number, geez, he was like the number 13. starting pitcher in 2013, 2020, excuse me. He kind of provided an explanation for this himself, though, in this article. Complacence. He was having success, so he didn't need to dig into it as much.

Right, right, no, but what I'm saying is that even in September, when he's turned it around and been better, it's not playing like it did pre-2020. It has, it has its old chase rate. It has its old horizontal break. But not the whiff rates as, as, Right. That's a lot of the loss. A little less.

I mean, the velocity's way down from his. Like, I agree that like it's reasonable to think that Burns will be, can be better than he was this year because he was basically a league average strikeout pitcher. And that was a huge drop. But remember, in 2023, he was like a 25% strikeout rate, which is good, but not great. I think he was SP looks like 17 in 2023. Now, that was only with 10 wins. I think, you know, on a better team, you could project something like 15, and he moves up a couple spots. But I still, like, I think if you're drafting Corbyn Burns is a top five starting pitcher, it's less, okay, great.

I've got one of the five best pitchers in baseball. And more, there are way fewer things for this to go wrong than there are for Pablo Lopez or Cole Reagan's or. I feel like it seems like there's a top five for 2024 or 2025 and I think there's a gigantic drop outside of that five. I feel pretty similarly about that. And I think we're kind of arguing semantics here because he still has had a fantastic season, right? Like a 2.92 ERA, a whip around 110.

Like, you know, we want the strikeouts to be better. And, you know, maybe this cutter can help get the strikeout rate back to where it was last year, which I think is the point you're trying. to make here, Chris. So a few more strikeouts. I just don't know that we'll ever get back to, you know, the prime Corbyn Burns we saw elite. Elite strike down. In his Scion. That's fair. I don't, I don't think we'll get all the way back there, but just do you trust him as an ace or not? And I think I'm back to saying yes to that. Yeah, I think that's fair. And again, it's almost like by default. Like, he's just done it for so long that I feel like we probably should just kind of

give him that benefit of the doubt and rank him as a top five pitcher for next season. Chris, over to you, your player than it. I went with Garrick-Role. who had a very good start against Baltimore, six and two-thirds innings with no runs allowed, two hits, five strikeouts, one walk. Only eight swinging strikes on this one, including, I believe, six of them on his four-seem fastball. You can do the math there and understand that he only had two whiffs

on the rest of his arsenal. And so it's one of those things where like, yeah, Garik Cole continues to pitch well in the second half. I think it's a might be a sub three ERA since the all. Star Break after this start. I don't know if anybody's got that handy. I got another interesting step. It's sub three because it was 305 entering this start.

And it just to a certain extent, I think you could say, ah, Garrett Cole's Garrett Cole again. Not really. The slider still hasn't been there consistently. It certainly wasn't there today. One whiff on seven swings. I don't know what to make of Garrett Cole for 2025. Yeah, 2025.

I'm sounds weird doesn't it I'm yeah why are we not like cyborgs yet yeah it's about a strikeout per inning in the second half sub three R a I don't know it it feels like he's good but not an ace the results are there it feels like but the process is not is not garrick cole you know like we're not getting big wiffs on his secondaries but again like the server

level numbers have still looked pretty good. Yeah, I just want to stress how good they've looked because, okay, I'm going to do the thing and it's going to irritate some people, but just hang with me. I have, I wrote just on the, right down. Just hang with me. He's had four bad starts, and that's a large percentage of his total number to remove this year. I get it.

But the four bad starts were two against the Red Sox, two against the Mets, which you look at his career track record, those teams have had his number. he always gets crushed by the Red Sox and Met. So I think it's fair to look at what he's done apart from those teams. And apart from the four starts against those two teams, Garrett Cole has a 153 ERA, a 0.90 whip, and 10 strikeouts per nine innings. I'm not drafting him like the Garrett Cole we've long known. Obviously not.

He'd be in the top five discussion. But I feel pretty confident drafting him top 15 next year. And I think top 15, yeah, that like, my problem with that is presume like I don't know how many times he faced the Red Sox and Mets in 2023. I would assume a handful of times. Like that those are two of the five teams he's going to face the most in any given season because of the the way the schedule works out. It's not as like this year it became it's a more balanced schedule now. It's not, they don't, this is a point I think people keep overlooking. Like they've gone with a much more balanced schedule beginning this year.

Yeah, he faced them three times last year combined. So yeah, it's weird that that, but like he also had a 263 RA last year, 222 stride like 10, 10 K or 9 without having to remove any of the bad starts. So we're not disagree. Yeah, we're not disagree. You know, like where I just, I think you can look at it from certain angles and say, ah, he was mostly Garrett Cole this year. But I, it, it, the slider, the slider is worrisome. Yeah.

And he's, he's been great in spite of it, was my only point. And the, like, he's thrown the cutter more, which I don't, like, it seems to be like a Yankees thing because Carlos Rodon was starting that cutter early on in the season. And he got way better when he ditched the cutter. And I don't know if the same thing would happen for Garrett Cole if he ditched his cutter. But it's just like, I don't know, man. I don't, I don't, I don't love cutters. I know that there are a lot of smart people who love cutter. cutters and maybe there's like they're they're not as good as sliders they kind of have the

worst of both worlds but maybe they make the whole arsenal play up there could be something to that but at least in this case the cutter was not a an effective replacement for the slider I don't think and so he's got to get the slider back I think the problem with projecting air call for 2025 is he has been less dominant the past two seasons even before this year strike out rate was the lowest it has been since his Pittsburgh Pirates days. He relied much more on soft contact in 2023, and look, he won his first Siyang, so it's like, who cares?

But he has not been the elite strikeout or elite whiff rate guy that he was pre-20203. And so the biggest case for him entering 2024 was, okay, some pitchers might be better than him on a per inning basis. Who's a better bet for 200 innings? Now he has had an elbow injury that limited him to basically two thirds of the season this year. Didn't crop up again. But it is, it's one mark against him in addition to him just being less dominant the past two seasons.

So you said top 15, that that feels right without having gone into it too far. But like Aaron Nola test. Aaronola, Derek Cole. The uninspiring Uninspiring SP2s. I think Garrett Cole is more of an uninspiring SP1. And look, it's possible he bounces back with a fully healthy offseason and spring training and gets back to being Garrick Cole again, right?

But like him versus Cole Regens, I think is a really interesting one. Him versus like, is he a better strikeout pitcher than Logan Gilbert at this point? Gilbert was better this year in strikeout. So, you know, given that, much better control. That's a tough one. Like I could see myself leaning towards Garrett Cole because Gilbert might be a regression candidate,

but it's, I think Cole is probably like a fringe SP1 now. Yeah, this elbow thing is just going to be in the back of my mind for Garrett Cole heading into next season. Look, I know any pitcher can get hurt and anything can pop up with any pitcher at any point seemingly. But the fact that it just happened this year, and he has so many innings on that arm,

I understand ranking him that high. And if everyone thinks that, I'm probably not going to be drafting Garrickole. But I think that's just me maybe trying to play it safe with him coming off this elbow injury this past season. Player of the night for me is going to be Joe Musgrove, but we'll save him for a little bit. I think we've got to keep things moving here.

Shout out to show me. We're not going to get three or 30 teams. No, I don't think we're going to do that. Shout out to Shohei Otani who did yet another thing. 400 total bases the first time it's been done since 2001, where Chris you told us before we started four other hitters achieved it that year. Yeah, that was Sammy Sosa, Luis Gonzalez, Barry Bonds, his 73 homer season, and Todd Hilton did it in 2001 as well.

So first time since the very, very peak of the steroid era. Way to go, Shoah. Playoff updates. The Yankees clinched the AL East. They're still competing for the top seed in the American League with the Guardians. The Dodgers have clinched the National League West. The AL Wildcard, Tigers and Royals both won again.

This tiger stuff is crazy. They came back late in that game. The twins lost. The Mariners didn't play. They remain three games behind. I think the twins are now three games behind as well. The Mariners are out. The Mariners have been eliminated.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Really? they have, I mean, three games out with three games left. Yeah, a tiebreaker there. I guess they would need a tiebreaker. Yeah, no, I think we can say the twins are virtually eliminated because.

Yeah. No, I believe the Mariners have been officially eliminated. Yeah. Okay. And in the National League, no Mets, no D-Backs, no Braves in action on Thursday. The Mets and D-Backs remain in. The Braves are one game behind. For those wondering what the content plan for FBT is going to be during the off season. We'll have two podcasts per week from October through December. Those will publish on Tuesday and Thursday mornings

in your audio feed and on YouTube. We will not be live on YouTube regularly until about January again. So we'll record offline and then upload to YouTube as videos on demand. If there's any breaking news at any point from now through December, you know, if for some crazy reason we get a Juan Soto signing or Corbyn Burns or some crazy. trade, then we will go live with an emergency podcast for those. There will be big stuff that happens in December. Yes. Yeah, Shohei Otani happened in December of last year, so never say never.

But anyway, just want to thank everybody so, so much for your support all season. Make sure to stick with us throughout the offseason. The march towards 2025 begins next week. Let's take our first break. When we return, we'll hit some news and notes right after this. Welcome back in News and Notes. Update on the Braves Mets games. and what they will mean for fantasy baseball on CBS.

They will be played on Monday if they are necessary for the standings. And it sounds like those will automatically count as part of the current scoring period in CBS Commissioner Leagues. And if you don't want those to count, you can adjust so, you can adjust the end date for the final scoring period to be September 29th in the advanced schedule editor. Do I have that right, Scott? Sounds right.

Yes. I will point out that they may not show up on your league schedule yet. I don't think they're going to show up until it becomes for sure that they're necessary. So you may, if you don't want them to count, you're going to go into the matchup editor and change your end date to Sunday. You may not be able to do that yet. But, yeah, that's how it's going to work. By default, they're going to count.

And if you don't want them to count, you can change it. Speaking of the Braves, they do not plan to start Chris Sale again until they are facing elimination. So again, that will be determined by the standings. Freddie Freeman left Thursday after twisting his ankle. He was seen on crutches and in a walking boot during the Dodgers celebration. I mean, way to kill it, right? Like, everyone's popping champagne and Freddie Freeman just comes out on crutches in a walking boot, which doesn't sound great, but there already has been an update that says that he will be ready to go for the NLDS.

So hopefully that is the case. Scratch that last part I said. It looks like you can. It looks like 9.30 Monday is showing up in CBS commissioner schedules now. So you don't have to wait to change it. All right. Terrick Scouble is unlikely to pitch Sunday. If the Tigers have already clinched a wild card spot at that point,

which it sounds like they have or are very close to doing so, they are saving him for that first wildcard game instead. Clayton Kershaw will not be a viable option to pitch for a couple of weeks, though he is still trying to return this year, perhaps some point in the postseason. Zach Netto left Thursday with right shoulder irritation. After landing hard on a stolen base attempt, he won't play Friday but could return on Saturday.

The debacks reinstated Ryan Nelson from the IL. Sounds like he'll be used as a multi-inning reliever here. The Twins option, Simian Woods Richardson to AAA. Brendan Rogers has missed three straight with left hamstring tightness. The White Sox swept the Angels, their first sweep since April, and they have avoided the single season loss record for at least one more day.

I think they only need to lose one more game and then boom, the White Sox are in the record books. And what if they win out and they avoid it? I hope that would be pretty remarkable. That would be amazing. What if they went out to avoid the record and somehow cause the Tigers to miss the playoffs? Yeah, because they face the Tigers next.

That would be a wild outcome for the final weekend of the season. It really, really would. Now I'm kind of taking it back because I don't want any Tigers fans to come crush us for saying that. Last but not least, just, you know, weird, sad, bittersweet moment. The A's won their final game in Oakland Coliseum. You know, it's, we've gone over to this before.

It's a sad day for the fan base and for that community. It's really a sad reality for Major League Baseball for, I think for a franchise to be handled like this. They're going to be playing in a minor league ballpark for the foreseeable future. like, I don't know, the next two to three years until whatever happens in Las Vegas. Three to five years. Yeah. And like, it's kind of embarrassing for the sport. So, they don't have a stadium agreement for Vegas.

The stadium that, like, they're doing all of this so that they can play in a minor league stadium for three to five years and then go to a 30,000 seat stadium in Las Vegas. Like, it just, and the, the, the worst part of it all is John Fisher first became, involved in baseball when there were rumors about the giants moving to Tampa in the 90s. And he urged his dad who actually like, you know, made money in his life. And that is the reason John Fisher is rich. He urged his dad to be a part owner of the giants to keep them from moving. And 25 years later, he pulls this.

It's it's embarrassing. Everyone involved should be embarrassed. It's disgusting, frankly. Yeah. Well, let's move on to some better things. 2025 questions, and we'll start off with two hitters who are finishing strong, Andrew Vaughn in September, batting 321 with four homers and an 895 OPS, and Lars Nupar in September, batting 316, 3 homers, two steals, in OPS just over 1,000.

Scott, we will start with you. Is there another level for either of those two hitters? Andrew Vaughn, Lars Newpar. I would... would not rule it out, but Andrew Vaughn has basically been the same player every year of his career. He's younger than Michael Bush, interestingly enough. I know that because I was comparing the two when I wrote about my top 21st baseman. It always comes back to Bush, Scott. 20, 25.

Because they put up similar numbers this past year, and Vaughn is actually the younger of the two. But he's been around for so long and has been just that. same guy. So I think he's, I think he's probably, I think that's probably who he is. Lars Neupar, you know, it's, you can't help but lose faith in him too. It does seem like he could make the adjustment of elevating the ball and get much better results, elevating it more. He puts it on the ground too much. And I know he did some work this offseason with Nolan Aeronado trying to pull it in the air more. It obviously didn't pan out, but it's something he's aware of and working on. And that gives me a little more hope for

Newpar, but it's not like I'm going to be touting him as some big sleeper next year. This is kind of the Charlie Brown for me pulling the football out with Lars Newbar. I still think there's another level. The Stackcast page is just lit up in red. He hits the ball hard. Barrel rate is solid. Yes, he has to get the ground ball rate down. Plate is fantastic. He also needs to stay healthy. He hasn't played more than 117 games in a season yet. So if he can manage to stay healthy and just maximize that launch angle, I think we could still see like a 25 homer 15 steel season with like a really good on base percentage for Lars Neupar. We just haven't seen yet. I will just say this is one I'd be more excited if there was a trade. It just seems to be something rotten with the Cardinals

development of the ground. I mean, outfielders specifically. Not that Newpar is like young. He's going to be 28. next year, but there's just, it seems like nobody, I guess, except Brendan Donovan has like developed well there over the past few years. Let's move on to two potential sleeper pitchers for next season. Reese Olson, solid up against Tampa Bay, four innings, two runs with three strikeouts. We talked a lot about how the recipe is there for a Reese Olson sleeper slash breakout season for next year. And Kumar Rocker, who there was lots of prospect high. when he got cold up. Had his worst start here, and, you know, it wasn't...

I think on the whole pretty underwhelming. Yeah, four and two-thirds innings, three runs, two strikeouts for Kumar Rocker. You allowed ten hard hits in this one. Hasn't look nearly as dominant in the majors. You know, his first three major league starts. Chris, who do you think of me? The first one was amazing. It's just...

Yeah. Well, like, the slider has been awesome so far, but the fastballs have been getting hit hard for Kumar Rocker. Well, the slider was amazing in that first start. Yeah. And since then, hasn't been. Chris,

who do you think you'll be more excited about as a sleeper candidate next season? Reese Olson or Kumar Rocker? Oh,

I think Olson probably will rank higher, but I'm more excited about Rocker. Does that

make sense? I think it's more likely that Reese Olson hits. Just because he'll probably give you more innings.

Frank. Well, I think with Rocker, it's just long track record of injuries, right?

Like going back to his last year in college, then he had the shoulder injury that blew up his signing with the Mets, then he had Tommy John surgery. It's just like there's a lot that's gone wrong there. And he's probably not going to throw more than 150 innings, whereas if Olson is healthy, you could conceivably get a full season out of him. He just has to be effective.

The problem is one, he's got those two pitches that have the really impressive whiff rates. The problem is, I do wonder if he's a little too predictable. in his approach. Like when he's ahead of batters, he goes very slider changeup heavy. The whiff rates on both pitches are actually a little worse

when he has two strikes, which is a little concerning. But when the count is tied or when he's ahead, or when he's behind, excuse me, he goes much more heavily on those four seamer and sinker

and it just aren't very good pitches. and he's very predictable in how he deploys his pitches against lefties versus righties. If it's righties, it's almost all slider sinker. If it's lefties, it's almost all foreseem or change up. And so I think the talent is there. And I think there are skills to be worked with with Roe Olson. I think his approach needs some work in order to live up to it. But like that being said, he had a 316 fit, a 353, RIA, and a 1-18.

team whip this season. It's just can he tap into the obvious strikeout upside a little more consistently. Let's move on to Colt Keith who he was solid. I don't know I don't know if solid is the right word. Like it's a sub 700 OPS in his rookie season. I think he

was okay. He hit 261 season's still going. He could add on. But 261 13 homers, seven steals, 692 OPS here for Colt Keith. Scott, what does the next step look like for Colt Keith? if he's going to become a fantasy viable player? I think the biggest thing he has to do is hit the ball harder.

And it's, you know, he's young. He's 23. He's a rookie season. I was kind of underwhelmed by his exit velocity. He's at AAA even for as big of a prospect as he was. It's just the production was so underwhelming for, if you told me before the season, Colkeith was going to strike out only 20% of the time.

time. I'd be like, oh, great. He was probably a rookie of the year contender then. But it, it was, it was just, it was really underwhelming production. So much that I've left him out of my, having put together my second base rankings, I've left him out of the top 20. And second base is the pits. I mean, if you have a pulse, you're, you're going to wind up in the top 20. And I just don't see much of a pulse there for Colt Keith. It would, it's just a matter of how much faith do you have in the pedigree, I feel like. And we've seen prospects stink it up as a rookie and they're completely different in their sophomore season.

It can happen. But it's, you're just, like I said, it's just a blind faith thing if you're going to, if you're going to invest in Keith next year, because I did not see much of anything to get excited about from them this year. I think the foundation is there, the plate discipline. is really good. He was actually better against lefties than he was against right-handed pitching.

But yeah, the quality of contact just not great. I don't think we're too far off, like a slight tweak, hitting the ball a little bit harder from like a 260, 20-homer, 10 steel season. I think that's possible for someone like Colt Keith.

It's just, will he make that adjustment? Will he get better in that regard, is the question? Let's talk about what. Tough environment, too. Yeah. Yeah, definitely playing in Comerica. It's tough out there. but before we move on, can I interject something real quick?

I just, the Mets Braves double-hatter on Monday, whether it's going to count in your league. I had to go through each of my commissioner leagues just now and manually go into the advanced schedule editor, make sure that last week included September 30th because it didn't. And maybe I just didn't wait for the process to play out and eventually will happen automatically. but if it's important to you to make sure Monday counts, I'm just going to suggest you at least go in and check in the advanced schedule editor, make sure that final scoring period goes through September 30th.

Walker Bueller, okay, up against San Diego, five innings, one hit, one run, one walk, one strikeout, three whiffs on 71 pitches. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in three of five September starts. Chris, what is next for Walker Bueller? He signs a one-year, 14, million dollar deal with like the tigers and hopes to have a jack flaredy bounce back season and then gets traded to the dodgers yeah i there there is nothing positive to take from this season for

walker bueller like i don't even think when he pitched in triple a there was anything positive to take from it if i'm remembering correctly he has a a sub 20% strikeout rate he has the highest walk rate of his career outside of the cup of coffee in 2017 none of his pitch were effective swing and miss pitches. Very few of them got good results on balls and play. Like there is nothing you can look at tangibly with Walker Bueller and say, here is something to be optimistic about, except for the fact that he used to be Walker Bueller.

And so maybe that's enough, right? Like we didn't enter the season with a ton of optimism about Jack Flaherty until we saw spring training results. and he was getting a lot of whiffs and his fastball velocity was up, maybe that's what it'll take for Walker Bueller. But I don't have much reason to think he's anything more than a late round flyer for 2025.

Back in 2022, Walker Bueller had three pitches with a whiff rate over 30%. This season he has none. Zero pitches with a whiff rate over 30%. Last question is on Xavier Edwards, who is picking things back up. He went two for four. with three walks and three runs scored.

He has three straight multi-hit games. And on the season, he's batting 319. He's got 31 steals, 780 OPS. One homer. Scott, how little power can Xavier Edwards have where he still matters for fantasy? Can he really be a sub-five home run hitter and make a big impact in fantasy?

I mean, that's the million-dollar question because we don't see it much in the modern game. We're asking Xavier Edwards to be a unicorn, basically. We used to see it decades past. Michael Bourne. Scotty Potsednik. Yeah. Dean Gordon?

Sure. Juan Pierre, if you want to go back even further. A lot of Marlinsists. Luis Castillo. Right, sure. Because Xavier Edwards was hitting like 350 at AAA the past couple years, and then is coming his first extended. look in the majors and hit well over 300.

I believe this, yeah, third straight multi-hit game. After a little falling off a little bit early in September, he was still running a ton. But yeah, it's nice to see him getting back to racking up multi-hit games here to close out the season. Because he was hitting ridiculously well in AAA, two years in a row, came up in the majors and kept doing it, I'm willing to be open to the possibility, but particularly since he's not going to retain that second base eligibility, where that's the position where we really need him, we don't so much need him a shortstop.

I'd have a hard time believing I'm going to rank them all that high. Probably, you know, probably, I don't know, outside the top 12 at the position. would he be in the top 15 at the position? I think top 15 at shortstop. Tough. Yeah. I mean, I guess I'm calling him a unicorn.

Nico Horner is basically similar power-wise. It's a lot of doubles, I guess. Yeah, but even Nico Horner has seven homers in the season. Yeah, fewer strikeouts, too, I believe. Lower strikeout rate. I mean, look, don't get me wrong. Edwards batting average is much higher. So, like, there's a trade-off there.

Edwards' batting gives you the batting average. and Horner, you know, gives you a few more home runs, but... Yeah, I mean, Horner's done it two full seasons in a row. Edwards has done it for half a season. So it's... I don't think I can sit here and presume Edwards is a better source of batting average. In theory. Yeah.

But I'm for sure going to take Warner ahead of him next year. I mean, Horner is eligible at second base, but leave that out of it. If they were both eligible at shortstop, I would probably... take Horner over Edwards just because he's proven it. But Edwards, in theory, better batting average, more stolen bases. Because he's gotten his 31 in like half a season's time. So it's, you could see how Edwards could be a huge fantasy asset. But it's because it's such an atypical profile in the modern game, one that usually ends in failure.

I think the prudent. approach is to treat him with great skepticism. I want him to work out, but I'm just a little leery. Yeah. Again, that is Xavier Edwards with the Marlins. Let's take our final break. When we return, we'll hit some leftovers and some streamers for the weekend. Will we have any time for this segment?

I don't know. We'll find out right after this. Welcome back in some pitching standouts from Thursday. Joe Musgrove turned in another quality start at the Dodgers, six in a third, two runs with six strikeouts. Nine starts since returning from the aisle. It's a 215 ERA and a 0.87 whip for Musgrove. Aaron Savali pitched very well at the Pirates.

He threw six shutout innings with five strikeouts. And in 14 starts with the Brewers, a 353 ERA and a 122 whip for Aaron Savali. Chris, I know you're working on something for the newsletter, pitchers who are tough to rank for next season. I'll give you another one, Joe Musgrove. Yeah, for sure. I mean, from a performance standpoint, it doesn't seem like there's that much to be concerned about, right?

Like, he came back from the elbow injury and has just been phenomenal. And, you know, a bunch of strikeouts. He's been consistently good. Like, you don't have to take out any starts. He's just been good, 57 strikeouts over 50 innings, averaging close to six innings per start, which is pretty shocking given the injury. It's just how much faith can you have in him staying? healthy and how much does that really matter.

How much faith can you have in any starting pitcher to stay healthy? His injury risk is higher. I'll grant that than most pitchers. But the baseline level of injury risk for every pitcher is so high, especially when Musgrove is probably going to go in like the SP40 range where we dump a lot of guys who we just don't know what to do with there. either 75 pitchers in the top 40. Yeah, like guys that we just don't know

if they're any good or guys that we're hoping are good but haven't proven it or guys who we don't know if they can stay healthy. Like, how do you rank Joe Muskerer versus Seth Lugo for 2025? I don't know. That's a question I will have to have an answer for at some point.

But yeah, I don't, I don't know. I'm inclined to just. Just Seth Lugo, man. I don't. He is on the. That's the real head's gross. He is on the list of, yeah, we won't get into it. But seven starts out of 12 with at least seven innings in the second half for Seth Lugo.

Ridiculous. And he wasn't like that good overall. It's weird. But Joe Musker, I'm kind of inclined to just offer up a minor injury discount, but not really worry too much about it. well it's and I know he had a shoulder thing last year but the injury this year is a bone spur in his elbow

which a bone spur in his elbow that he's pitched through without compromising his effectiveness clearly so I just I don't know that that doesn't seem like a big deal to me and he could just get it cleaned up and that should be a relatively minor procedure in the off season

I hope so yeah I mean we need all of the talented healthy pitchers as we can get heading into 2025. Some hitting standouts, Charlie Blackman homered in a game where his dad threw out the first pitch, which is amazing. One for three with his 12th home run. Solid final season here for Blackman. 255, 12 homers, six deals, 740 OPS. Every player should get to play in course field for their final season. I like that rule. Like give us some better memories.

Yeah. Then we otherwise would. I'm not sure David Ortiz needed it. He probably That would have been fun. Yeah, just keep him in Boston because he's amazing no matter what. Aaron Judge has homered in five straight games. He is now up to a 461 on base percentage for the season. 58 homers, 144 RBI. Huge game for Staten.

He went two for four with his 27th home run and added four RBI. He had gone pretty cold in September, so nice to see him have a big game. And Carlos Correa has hit well since returning three for four with his 14th homer. 10 games since coming back, 351, one home run, four doubles, and a 1019 OPS for Correa, who very clearly could still hit.

How many games are you going to get? Nobody knows the answer. I just, I think he's going to be discounted to the point next year where I just don't care how many games he plays. I mean, that was the case this year, right? He was outside the top. He was like the top, what, 300? Barely. Like, that's the thing is that when you go 250th or later in drafts, it just doesn't matter if you make, you

80 games. Like, unless you, like, I get it in high stakes leagues. That's where a lot of the conversation about injuries comes in. And you don't have IL spots. And that gets legitimately tough to handle. But if you play in a league with IL spots, just draft Carl's career 220th and start him when he's healthy. Yeah.

I wanted to cover another thing you said here. Aaron Judge, five straight games with a home run to bring him to 58. I've kind of ruled out the 60 Homer season. but now it's very much back in play. And he would be only the third player ever with multiple 60 homer seasons if it happens. He also only needs eight total bases to get to 400 as well. I did see a quote after the game that said he plans to celebrate

winning the division pretty hard and so he might need a day off over the weekend. So not sure he'll get to the 60 home runs. Some bullpen updates for the Brewers, Devin Williams gave up a hit, but struck out one for his 14th save for the nationals, Kyle Finnegan got the ninth inning with the game tied. He gave up three runs on three walks and two hits, took his eighth loss and has had a pretty rough second half, 564 ERA, and a 193 whip for Kyle Finnegan.

For the Royals, Lucas Ersig, got the ninth inning with a three-run lead. He picked up his 14th save. For the Tigers, Jason Foley, struck out two for his 27th save. For the Rockies, Seth Halverson, got the ninth inning with a two-run lead. He gave up a hit, but picked up his second save. Victor Vodnik pitched in the seventh, and they've been hesitant to put him back in that closer role,

so not that the Rockies bullpen matters much for fantasy, but I don't know, I kind of feel like Vodnick should get a chance to be the closer heading into 2025. For the Oakland A's, Mason Miller recorded the final four outs to be a strikeout for his 28th save of the season. Do we want him trying to start next year? Mason Miller. Wait, wait, wait.

There was talk before the season that this was a temporary move. Yeah. And they do still view him as a long-term close. Oh, is that one of your question? One of my things for Oakland, what we want for next season. We'll see. Okay. I don't want a season.

I'd be surprised if it happens. I remember that was the talk of Josh for Josh Hader, too, when he first moved to the bullpen. Yeah. Let's just hit to stream or not to stream now, and then we'll wrap up with the one thing we want for each team. On Friday, the names I put. picked out here, Jameson-Tayone versus the Reds, JP Sears at the Mariners, those feel like the two best. There's

also Todd Bradley at Boston. There's no Devers in the lineup, maybe. Frankie Montauss faces the Mets, Martin Perez at the D-backs. Just don't do it, you know, like this whole month. I think we've picked over the pitchers and there's just nothing out there.

Like, ride or die with the guys who brought you to the dance. I think I just mixed my metaphor there, but. You got a dance with who you came to the dance with. There you go. Sure. On Saturday, we have Nick Martinez at the Cubs,

Andre Palante at the Giants, Andrew Heaney at the Angels. To me, those were the three best. There's also McKenzie Gore facing the Phillies. Zebby Matthews facing the Orioles. Erod facing the Padres. Nope. Ben lively against the Astros.

Nope. Joey S is at the Mariners. Nope. Yep. All right. So it's going to be Martinez, Palante, and Andrew Heaney for me. Yeah. Martinez is the only one I think is any good

And then on Sunday Clark Schmidt versus the Pirates I legitimately couldn't find someone else I could sign off sign off on I mean like we've been wrong about Jack or Hanowitz every time before this So why wouldn't we continue to be wrong? Hey not Scott he was one of my few sleeper pictures

From last week For this week that's worked out so far I like I think he stinks But he hasn't so far so who knows Yep All right. It's like, with Lugo

where like, I'm like, don't draft him for 2025. I told you not to draft him this year. Actually, I drafted him in multiple spots, but yeah. Yeah.

I mean, there's also like Rett Louder at the Cubs, Jonathan Cannon at the Tigers, Bertson. It shouldn't be streaming. Versus the car. Yeah,

whatever. It's, let's go outside, be with your family. Watch football on Sunday. I don't know. Mitch Spence at Seattle might give you an okay

five innings. All right. Things we'd like to see from each team in 2025. with 10 minutes left in the podcast. How are we going to do this? My gosh.

All right. It's going to be rapid fire. I'm just going to go. I could present multiple things. Only one person gets to answer per team. And you guys could choose. These are things that I came up with. So if you don't like them, I'm sorry.

For the Orioles, I have re-signed Corbyn Burns and or healthy Felix Bautista. Scott? Yeah, Bautista could be drafted as a stud close or even having missed the past year. For the Red Sox, Tristan Kasa's breakout or Roman Anthony slash Christian Campbell slash Marcella Meyer make an impact next season. Chris? Yeah, I think the

prospects are the big thing to watch in spring training next year especially. You didn't mention Kyle Teal as well, but he has got to AAA with the rest of them. So could be a huge infusion of talent in the first half of the Red Sox next year. For the White Sox, trade garret crochet slash Luis Robert and maybe a strong showing from any of these prospects. Colson Montgomery, Edgar Carrow, Noah Schultz Hagen Smith. They have to trade crochet this offseason. There is no justification for not doing it.

His value will never be higher, and he only has so many more years of control left. Chris, for the Guardians, Kyle Manzardo breaks out, or, and or Chase the Lauder stays healthy, makes an impact. I like both of those. I would also throw in one of the ancillary pitcher takes a step forward, Gavin Williams being the primary one. For the Tigers,

it's got to have Jackson Job on the opening day roster and or steps forward from Torkelson and Colt Keith. I mean, Job is probably the biggest one. I don't really know what to do with Torkelson because he's still struck out at like a 30% rate since returning. So I don't have a ton of confidence for next year. For the Astros, re-sign Alex Bregman, or I think this could be fun.

I don't know if they have the money to do it. Sign Pete Alonzo. I'm going to say re-sign Bregman being a primary one just because that would also be better for Bregman. I know his numbers away from home aren't as bad as we thought, but it just feels like leaving Houston would be a bad thing for Alex Bregman. It's also like, re-sign you say Cacucci. Let's keep that rolling.

Yeah. Yeah, I think that's a good one as well. Scott, for the Royals, I have a healthy season from Vinnie Pee, baby. and continue investing in the team. Let's get even more talent on there. Well, as somebody who just ranks second baseman, I'll tell you a big concern for me is do they upgrade from... Michael Massey?

No, not Massey. Mikel Garcia? Michael Garcia, who's primarily played third base for them, but he's eligible at second in fantasy. And he's just... He's not good. But he stole so many bases that if he plays regularly for the Royals, so matter in fantasy,

I kind of hope we just don't have to deal with them next year because they've upgraded. For the Angels, I think this one's pretty easy. Mike Trout stays healthy for 130 plus games, something he hasn't done since 2019. Or, and or Christian Moore, breakout. Yeah, I mean, Mike Trout staying healthy, maybe playing more DH. He said he's open to it would be nice.

that's the last time of the season. We're going to hear the calf feeder. Yeah, that's a big one. For the twins, Royce Lewis stays healthy for, I don't know, 130, 140 games, or continued development from prospect pitchers, David Festa, Zeb Matthews types. We need to find out if Royce Lewis is really a stud because he didn't look like it for the longest stretch.

I think it was the longest stretch he was healthy in 2024. and the sample for his major league career are still very small. All right, Chris, you are back right in time for the Yankees, which the number one priority. No ifs, or butts about it is to bring back Juan Soto. Yes, and we got an email from listener Gary Scray that he wanted me to sing on today's podcast. So we'll do that.

And just picture Chad Kroger from Nickelback holding up a picture of Juan, Juan Soto's statcast page while you listen to this. Let's see if I can, look at this photograph. Every time I do it makes me laugh. How can there be so much red? Shouldn't have drafted Julio instead?

I hope I didn't wake my wife up. Great. That would be a real funny one. That was fantastic. For the Oakland A's, I have Lawrence Butler breakout, 2525, or Mason Miller back in the rotation. I don't want it. Yeah, Scott, this one's you.

No, I don't think Miller's going to move back to the rotation, and I don't want him to. Lawrence Butler, it could be a top 20 outfielder, or he could fade into obscurity. I'm leaning more toward the former. For the Mariners, Julio Rodriguez gets off to a strong start finally, or they trade a pitcher for an impact bat. Yeah, Julio hits before June would be nice to see.

I was going to put, honestly, just give us a. an 800 OPS in the first half. Yeah, trading a pitcher for an impact bat, they have to. Like, they just had the best rotation in baseball. Like, the amount of, I think everyone made at least 21 starts. Everyone, but Brian Wu made

30 plus starts, except for Castillo. I think he got to like 26. And they missed the playoffs. Like, you got to get. And they tried to make some upgrades last year. They traded Ray for Hanager. That didn't work out. They they need to make a real run before those pitchers start to get expensive and before

Julio starts to get really expensive. For the raise, Scott, there is no shortage of options here. Junior Caminero breakout, healthy Shane McClainahan, consistent Taj Bradley, and of course, trade Jonathan Aranda. Yeah, that might be the most interesting team heading into next year the raise. You know I want to see Aranda get consistent at bats one way or another. I'm going to add another one here, though, Shane Baz. Get his slider back, get back to being a reliable fantasy option.

For the Rangers, Jacob de Grom gives us 150 plus inning, something he has not done since 2019. Or Corey Seeger stays healthy. Or Evan Carter stays healthy. Yeah. Oh, wow, I've completely forgot about Evan Carter. Yeah, he is on the Rangers. That would be nice.

For the Blue Jays, Boba Shett bounced back in a contract year. Or maybe even he gets traded. Yeah, that doesn't seem like a Blue Jays one to me. Yeah. Over to the National League for the D-backs, Corbyn Carroll picks right back up on opening day next season from where he left off this year. Or Jordan Lawler is healthy and ready to contribute. That's a big one, given how much time he's missed over the past couple of seasons, but how young he's still, I think he's still 21. So I would like to see Jordan Lawler stay healthy and really get a chance because Harold O'Prodromo just is so boring.

for real life and fantasy that I'd like to see Lawler get a chance. Braves, Scott, I think this one's pretty easy. Ronald Le Cunia and Spencer Shrider, both full go on opening day. Yeah, but particularly Strider, because I've been kind of surprised by how reluctant people are to get on board with him for 2025. Just a reminder, he did not have ligament damage in the elbow. He had a bone spur. And the internal bracing procedure, yeah, it was.

it was almost done like sort of proactively. And I think he'll be Folko, but nobody seems to believe it, but me. The Cubs were a little bit tough. I have make some trades here, maybe consolidate and get some contributions from some of their top prospects. Matt Shaw, James Triantos, Moises, by Asteroz. Yeah, they have a couple other guys you didn't mention as well on Casey. And who's the other guy, the other outfielder who with big power. So yeah, they've got some guys.

it just someone needs to level up there, I think is the biggest thing. You know, whether it's an outsider coming in and giving them another step forward or it just feels like they got a bunch of like B minus players and they need some stars. For the Reds,

I think they just need health. Matt McLean, Christian Encarnacio and Tran, Hunter Green, Nick Ladolo, if they can, you know, get near full seasons out of those, I think it'll be a big bounce back for the Reds. McLean, Matt McLean is going to enter next year with only shortstop eligibility in CBS Sports leagues. We want to see him play five games at second base as quickly as possible because the position

desperately needs Matt McLean. He might be my number six second baseman if I could rank him there. That's the state of the position. Even coming off a year loss to injury, that's the state of the position right now. Yep. For the Rockies, a few different options here. I have Brenton Doyle repeat, Nolan Jones bounceback, or a Chase Dolander breakout in the majors.

I'm never going to be excited about pitchers at course field. So it's going to come down to, yeah, like a prospect hitting for them would be nice. One of these hyped prospect. I mean, I guess Ezekiel Tovar kind of has, but hasn't quite lived up to the loftiest hope. So just a young guy living up to hope. our expectations.

Yeah, they could get like Adela El Amador or Zach Veen gets called up or the guy they just drafted this year whose name is is escaping me right now. Oh, the kid from Georgia, right? Yeah, I don't remember. Conway. No, that's not it. Not Conway. Wow.

We're a fantasy baseball podcast. I'm calling him Conway and it's wrong. Charlie Condon. Charlie Condon. Who I've listened to a few podcasts. I haven't looked, but apparently I think the numbers have been Grantee bad so far for it. He is from Georgia.

We got a bunch of the details right without getting there. Yes. For the Dodgers. He has a, I don't know why I always want to call him Conway. He has a 518 OPS with 34 strikeouts and 104 plate appearances. Not great. Not great so far.

For the Dodgers. What's up? Rockies. Yeah, for the Dodgers. Starting pitcher health. Tyler Glassdown. How much are we going to get there? Otani's return as.

a starting pitcher maybe trade some excess prospects for a reliable starting pitcher? Yeah, what they do with their pitching staff, because I don't think they're going to stand pat, particularly since Glass Now status seems kind of iffy to me. But yeah, really how they manage Otani and if he's able to follow up on this historic season as a hitter once he's back to splitting his time between hitting and pitching. I did not plan this out, but somehow Scott got the Braves and Chris, you get the Marlins. I think Sandy Alcantra is at the top of the list. He returns to form, but also a healthy Lazardo, maybe a big Yuri Perez second half, or Xavier Edwards turns into a stud.

Yeah, I wrote about bounceback candidates at starting pitcher for yesterday's newsletter. It's on CVSports.com. I'm buying Sandy Alcantra as a bounceback. If you count that as a bounce back, I think I'm out on Lazzardo. I don't think I'm going to rank him as a top four. starting pitcher. I just I have too many questions about the performance and the health and that's, you can have one or the other like Joe Musgrove. When you

have both, it's just not worth the bet for me. For the Brewers, Christian Yellich stays healthy for 130 plus games. Trio goes 30-30. They re-sign Adomas. Brandon Woodruff returns to form. I think there are a lot of options here, Scott.

Yeah, there are. I think I'm I think mostly Yelich, because he'd been playing through that back issue for so long, and I think it's what knocked him out of being an MVP caliber player. All these years later, what kind of effect is it going to have on him now that he's had it repaired surgically, particularly since he was kind of having a resurgence season without it. I don't know if it's going to set him back. He's not a young guy anymore, but yeah, definitely Yelich. And I've been scratching my head over how to rank him.

what he does. For the Mets, I have re-signed Pete Alonzo. Kodi Senga stays healthy for 150 plus innings or a big step forward from Francisco Alvarez. Yeah, the big one for me is stop trying to make Francisco Alvarez as a contact hitter. There have been so many quotes this year about like, oh, well, we know he can hit for power.

We need him to hit for contact first. And it's like, well, he's not doing either this year. So why don't you just let him do the things that made him great? For the Phillies, Trey Turner stays healthy. He goes 25-25 while hitting around 300. And Andrew Painter in the opening day rotation, question mark. Yeah, I want to see a big spring from Painter that suddenly puts him back on the map in fantasy,

but sort of like happened with Jared Jones this past spring. For the Pirates, I have Jared Jones more consistency. Bubba Chandler is up on opening day or a Nick York breakout. I put that one in there because Scott needs help at second base. I do. Yeah, also O'Neill Cruz. takes that step forward. Yep.

That would be a big one for them. For the Padres, Fernando Tatis, stays healthy for 140 plus games. We get another healthy season from one of Joe Musgrove or U.S.Rvish, maybe both. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think I'm going to say Xander Bogart's here, though, because we really need him at second base. There's a theme. I want to see him get that batting average backup. I think he can.

based on the underlying numbers, but he's probably more of a 15 home or 15 steel guy than 2020 in San Diego. For the Giants, I think there are many options here as well, Chris. Resigned Blake Snell. Matt Chapman keeps running. Elliot Ramos is better against right-handed pitching. Hayden Birdsong throw strikes.

Ryan Walker is just the closer from beginning to end. Yeah, this is another one that like the Cubs, they just need some breakouts, you know? Like they just, they have a lot of guys, but they don't have any capital G guys, you know, like. They've tried, man. They tried with Judge. They were kind of in the periphery on Otani, but I don't think they've ever got over there.

They signed both Chapman and Snell. It's just they didn't get a full season of Snell being Snell, which, who knows if that's possible. Yeah. For the Cardinals, I have Mason Wynn runs more, or we finally get the Jordan Walker breakout. Trey Jordan Walker. That would be nice to see. It always seems to work out. A Cardinals outfielder gets traded.

But now the one I want to say here for the Cardinals is Quinn Matthews. A left-hander who baseball America, I think it was their pitcher of the year deservedly. Dominated at every level, he could be the Jared Jones of next spring. That's Quinn Matthews. For the Nationals, I think there are lots of options here as well, Chris. James Wood gets the ground ball rate under 50%. Dylan Cruz breakout goes 20-20. Luis Garcia hits against lefties.

Mackenzie Gore throws strikes or a DJ-Hur's break. or CJ Abrams goes to sleep earlier yeah yeah there's a lot here I this is a team that could take a big step forward in 2025 and it wouldn't be surprising but I think the pitching is the biggest thing that they need they need Gore or hers or ideally both to take that step forward all right that was pretty good we got that done in like 15 minutes good job guys that's pretty fun maybe we'll do it yeah we'll plan to do that on the last podcast of every year. And I don't, we only, we only got Charlie Condon's name wrong.

How about that? Look at us. Before we sign off on the 2024 season, we do just want to send out a sincere, heartfelt thank you to everybody who supports our work here. We legitimately could not do any of this without you, the fans. So thank you to anybody who listens to the podcast. You watch on YouTube, those that hang out with us every night watching live. Like, we don't give you enough credit.

We don't shout you out enough. I mean, I see the same people in there every single night just hanging out all season, talking crazy stuff, but also just having fun. We see you, Jordan. Yeah. We see you Pete. Yeah, there are people there just, they've been here all season. So it's just awesome having those people around.

Just big thanks to everyone who reads awesome articles from Scott and Chris. You subscribe to the newsletter. You check out our rankings. Just anything and everything, just thank you. We really do appreciate it. We are going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into Fantasy Baseball today.

please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify, and we will be back again next week. Bye-bye. Mount Podcasts.