Fantasy Baseball Today - Corbin Carroll Replacements & START, BENCH OR DROP?? (6/24 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 24, 2025

Corbin Carroll is going on the IL with a chip fracture in his wrist (2:19). ... Who are some replacements off waivers and the trade market (5:11)? ... Eduardo Rodriguez has three double-digit strikeout starts this season (16:30). ... Is Trevor Rogers good (18:32)? ... The Cardinals bombed Ben Brown (21:00). ... News (26:02): Kenley Jansen left Monday night with cramping. ... It was a rough night for pitching (35:11). ... Maybe we shouldn't be so hard on Matthew Liberatore (42:21). ... Any interest in Pavin Smith, Brady House and Nick Gonzales (44:32)? ... Let's play a little START, BENCH OR DROP (47:12)! ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpens, streamers and Team Name Tuesday (1:00:35). 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, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@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

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. What's up and welcome in some fantasy baseball today on Tuesday, June 24th. I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers.

Today on the show, I've got a new segment for you guys. SBD, start, bench, or drop. It wasn't the best night for pitching, and it wasn't the best night for injuries either. And unfortunately, that is where we have to start, because we have some breaking news on Corbyn Carroll, who will be placed on the IL on Tuesday because he was diagnosed with a chip fracture in his left wrist.

It is currently unclear how long he'll be out or whether they are considering surgery. But Chris, I know you have a little bit. looked into some other players or player that has dealt with this injury. What did you learn about a chip fracture in the wrist? Yeah, the only other hitter I was able to find who had a chip fracture in their wrist was Aaron Judge in 2018. That does not mean there have not been other ones.

I'm certain there have been. What a chip fracture means if my extremely limited understanding of human anatomy is correct, is the part of the bone where like a tendon or ligament attaches breaks off is what a chip fracture is. And so maybe that type of injury is just a lot more rare, or maybe when other guys suffer wrist fractures, they just don't specify what it is because every team's different in terms of how they report injuries. But Aaron Judge in 2018 missed 49 games with the chip fracture in his wrist.

He returned in like mid-September, only had like 15 games left in the season. He was really bad after he came back. Hard to say if that's because of it or if after a couple of weeks, he would. would have been fine. I think generally speaking, we probably would assume there's a little bit of a recovery period, even when a player is cleared to come back from something like a wrist fracture. So that doesn't necessarily mean that Corby and Carol will be terrible when he comes back, or that he'll miss the exact same amount of time. But I would guess just based on how long it takes most wrist fractures to heal, the average is right around 60 days for wrist fractures to

return and the median is around 50. So that was right around what Aaron Judge missed. I think we're talking about August, unfortunately. That's not a guarantee that the team hasn't said anything. There's been no reporting to indicate that. That's just my sense of what we're likely looking at. Yeah. And this is a massive loss for fantasy, massive loss for the debacks who were, you know, trying

to stay afloat here. They already lost Corbyn Burns earlier the season. Now they lose Corbyn Carroll as well. Down to Corbyns. Yeah, 20 homers 10. 20 homers 10 seals. They got the Rangers on the call. Massive counting stats here for Carol this season.

Career highs in OPS, WRC Plus. I mean, really took a big step forward. He was the 12th best hitter in Head to Head Points League. He was the 19th overall player in Roto. So big loss here with Corbyn Carroll going down. Jake McCarthy is set to be recalled by the debacks. And in 49 games at AAA, he was hitting 314 with 12. steals. So deeper league name. If you're looking for speed, you know, he had 25 steals last season, sure.

But how about some names in shallower leagues? Corby and Carroll replacements. Alec Berluson is up to 78%. He hit another home run here on Monday. Cam Smith has been hitting well. Addison Barger we've been talking about for a while. Joe Adele, I believe, leads all baseball in home runs in the month of June. And we know that Jorickson ProFar is expected back July 2nd. So Scott, some pretty good names here. How are you ranking this group of Corby and Carroll replacements. Well, the bad news is you're not going to find a player who's going

to do for you everything Corby and Carroll would do. One that you didn't mention that, you know, if you just, if his best case scenario comes together and it's been a couple years since we've seen his best case scenario, but Josh Lowe of the raise, at least from a five-by-five perspective,

he might be able to deliver in a best-case scenario, 80% of what you got from Corbyn Carroll. So that's another name to consider. He is 71% rostered on CBS, which is why he didn't mention him. But that's less than Cam Smith. So worth bringing up also.

I would say the two that most excite me here are Addison Barger, because I think he's the most under-roastered hitter in general. He's not going to provide any speed, which was probably the biggest thing you were getting from Corbyn Carroll. But the power is legit. and he's playing more regularly for the Blue Jays, and I think we're starting to see him live up to those very red bars on his stat-cast page. So that would be the top one, but then also Jerks and Profar,

who's going to be back in about a week. And he recently had a two-homer game on his rehab assignment at AAA. We obviously don't know how it's going to go for him coming back from this PED suspension. It historically players who have PED suspensions, they come back and they're basically the same player for the majority of them. The problem is we don't really know who Jerks and ProFar is.

Right. There's more reason to be suspicious in Jerks and ProFar's case since he had this out of nowhere breakthrough last year. I'm not denying that, though there have been other reasons cited for it. I think the performance of AAA, if you're looking for reason to be encouraged, it's there. I mean, the Braves obviously still have confidence.

They're talking about batting him second right when he gets back behind Ronald de Cunia. And so that should help bolster ProFar's value. I think it's worth a shot as good as he was last year. If you're trying, look, he was a top 20 outfielder in fantasy last year, pro far, I think even higher than that in points leagues. So if he is that guy, that's kind of a godsend if you lost Corbyn Carroll, probably worth taking a shot on him. Yeah, I think pro far should be 100% rostered by next week

because he'll be eligible to return what on Wednesday? I don't know what July 2nd. The second is the second. So Wednesday, yeah. Unless they get a rain out between now and then, I guess. But he's the only one of these that I think, I feel confident saying should be 100% rostered. I can see it with Barger.

The problem with him and Josh Lowe is they're both not quite everyday players. They're probably like 85% at this point. But I think low since he came back from the injury, it has started five of nine games against lefties and Barger. In the month of June, when he's turned it on, I think it's four out of seven. So more often than not. But like there was a stretch last week where they had two lefties in a row.

And I think three out of four games. And he sat two of those. So there's just a little bit there with Barger and low as far as not playing every day. Cam Smith has a ton of upside. Sedan Rafael is 63% rostered. He's been hot in June. He's got five homers in like a 944 OPS

and then I think people don't have him on Kyle Stowers a little early. His playing time has fallen off a lot though. Has he been playing less? Yeah. I know the production. I know he's had a bad June. I didn't look directly into it but I assumed it was mostly just

lefties on the schedule but he was playing against lefties before and that's come down now. He hasn't been forcing his way in lately. They've faced a lot of lefties lately, and he's sat against about half the lefties. And then I will add one more name who's right around 50% rostered. Actually, I have two more names that I'm sure we're going to mention later on the podcast, but I'll just bring them up now. Austin Hayes is expected to be back this weekend.

He's 48% rostered. He's been awesome whenever he's played this year. He's just missed a lot of time. and then Chandler Simpson is expect to be promoted on Tuesday. He's 47% rostered. I still don't know if he's going to play every day. If they're going to trust him with the defense especially, I will say with Mangum healthy,

he wasn't when Simpson got called up the first time. I think Simpson's going to play a lot more left field than center field, and that's probably a little easier to swallow, especially when the alternative is Christopher Morel, who's also terrible defensively. And Cameron Mizner got sent down. So Mancomb is around, but Misner isn't. Yeah.

So I would look. Like Kevin Cash seemed to relish having that spark plug in the lineup when Chandler was up before. So I think if the front office is leaving it up to the manager, I think Chandler's going to play a lot. Yeah. All right. So we just threw a lot of names out there. I guess, Scott, your top two or top three was like Josh Lowe in category leagues, Barger and ProFar.

Chris, who are just your top two or three, I guess? I'll throw Cam Smith in there just as a more speculative upside play just because I think if everything comes together he has the best chance of potentially replacing a lot of what you lost with Corby and Carroll

but it's also super speculative I think he's two for 16 since his seven hits and two games stretch and then some names in deeper five outfielder leagues again this is pretty deep stuff here but Mickey Moniac Tyler Freeman of the Rockies who's been hitting well lately

Wenzel Perez of the Tigers. And then Luke Rayleigh and Dominic Canzon, both of the Mariners, both homered here on Monday. And the data for both guys under the hood actually looks pretty good. So some deep league names there for you if you lost Corbyn Carroll. And some by-low trade targets I'll throw out. Mike Trout, I know people are done with Brian Reynolds, but the data still looks good.

And Jackson Merrill has just kind of had a weird season where he's been hurt. And, you know, there's not a lot of power in speech. but he's still hitting the ball hard and the batting average is good. So yeah, three names I think you can try and trade for as a replacement there. Somebody I think you could buy low, low, bottom rung of the latter low on his Michael Harris. Yeah, his underlying data is really bad, but I agree. He seems like a pretty clear buy low candidate just because he's 24 years old.

Guys usually don't lose it. like this, even though the underlying data is really bad. I've got a piece coming out tomorrow about him and a couple other by-low candidates or second-half breakouts, I think is the way I'm framing it. Because, you know, we've got to put a different tag on there or whatever. And he's kind of a tepid, like, by-low just because it can't be this bad, right? Yeah. Well, that's what I'm saying. Like, I feel like his, I feel like you would be doing it from the perspective.

of the person who has Michael Harrison, they would feel like you're doing them a favor and taking them off their hands. And you don't have to start him right away necessarily. But, you know, he's clearly going through something right now. It's hard to fake it three years in a row at the start of your career, you know? And he is only 24, as you're saying. So he's still in the infancy of his career.

And whatever he's going through, I think he'll eventually get past it. Can't guarantee it'll be this year. It might be next year, but it could be this year. And then you'll have five category production right there. Can I, I know we want to move on, but can I give two more names? Sure. Parker Meadows is 33% rostered. He has a 350 X Wobah.

His actual numbers are much worse. But I think much better days are coming for Parker Meadows. I think he is under-rostored. And here's one I noticed. Chase DeLouder is healthy. He has played, I think, 21 games. games at AAA. He is as he always does, raking. And the guardians have the second lowest Wobah from their right fielder in the entire league. I feel like they've got to just call him up when,

because he's healthy and hitting. Yeah. And just see what happens. He's one of one of the more talented hitting prospects in baseball. He's just missed. I think he's played like 70 games since being drafted three or four years ago. It's been really bad for injuries. But that's that's a name in deeper leagues to know. It's kind of the way we talk about pitching prospects, right? Like just yeah, get those. You got the bullets now. Yeah, get those bullets up and use them in the majors while you can. It's, you know, if DeLotter's healthy, while those feet are still attached, let's get them up and hopefully he can make some noise there with the Guardian. So yeah, pretty interesting name there as well for deeper leagues. Let's take our first break when we return. We'll finally get into the

players of the night. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Let's get into the players of the night. Oh my goodness gracious. Forgot to change it. So there we go. Two days in a row with Susan. And we'll start with Chris, Player of the Night.

All right. Eduardo Rodriguez. Here's a fun trivia assignment that you're a trivia question. I don't know that you can stump and dazzle all of your friends with. Here's the full list of pitchers with more 10 strikeout games than Eduardo Rodriguez this season. after he struck out 10 white socks on Monday.

Logan Webb, Derek Scoobel, Chris Sale, Cole Regens, and Jesus Lazzardo. Okay, all right, two of them are hurt. Jesus Lazzardo's been iffy. Those are some really good pitchers. And then there is Eduardo Rodriguez with three tied with Garrett Crochet and Spencer Schwalembach.

Eduardo Rodriguez is clearly the worst of those seven names I just mentioned. But I don't think. think he's as bad as he's pitched this year. The, the strikeouts have been inconsistent but solid. He kind of has a little bit of that kitchen sink thing where none of his pitches are dominant, but they're all decent swing and miss pitches. So his overall whiff rate's pretty good. His XERA entering this start was 392.

I think Eduardo Rodriguez can still be a useful pitcher and he's pitching really well right now. 22 strikeouts to six walks in 22 innings in the month of June, 205 ERA. I'm surprised he's 62% rostered, but I actually think that could be a little low. It's a two-star week, so that's probably why he got a little bit this week, I guess. And he was a sleeper pitcher for me.

Actually, one of the few two-start sleepers who came through and didn't do the opposite. Most of them were pretty terrible today. So sorry for that. Eduardo Rodriguez and Matthew Libertor coming through though. Matthew Libertore against the Cubs, what? Cubs have been kind of, Cubs offense has been kind of bad lately.

All right, Scott, let's go over to you for your player of the night. My player of the night is Trevor Rogers. Eight shutout innings against the Rangers. And this was his third major league start this year. Two of them have been great. Back on May 24th, he had six and a third. third shoutout innings against the Orioles.

The one in between, which was June 18th, not so great. He got hit pretty hard. And his ERA was over five during his time in the minors too. So I'm not looking to pick up Trevor Rogers after this start. But some people might be, given that he just threw eight shoutout innings. And that's a name. I recognize that name Trevor Rogers. I would caution against it.

the one thing I will say in his favor is his average fastball velocity this year has been up. It's been up to where it was in 2023 when he was at least serviceable for fantasy. There was a big drop for Trevor Rogers last year and it made him kind of useless for fantasy. It's back to a respectable level. So if he were to find success, I think that would be a big reason why. but I think in the long run the good starts will be overshadowed by the bad ones like Trevor Rogers had last time out

yeah I completely agree there as well as good as the start was only eight whiffs 12 hard hits in this game too so nice result here it also was against the Rangers lineup that did not have Corey Seeger in it it was basically the same thing in his good start against the Red Sox which is a tougher matchup they think they're the third best offense against lefties, but I think it was also eight whiffs and like 92 mile per hour, average X velocity in that one as well. So I think it is a big deal for both Trevor Rogers

and the Baltimore Orioles that he looks like a competent major league pitcher because that has not been true for a long time. And competent major league pitchers have good starts all the time. I don't think he's someone really worth chasing in most leagues. I think it's just a matchup play. and tonight it was, hey, didn't you used to be Trevor Rogers versus, hey, didn't you used to be the Texas Rangers? Gosh, this Rangers lineup thing is just, it's so weird. It's just been going on for so long now, dating back to last season.

But we will talk a little bit about Corey Seeger later on as well. My players of the night, the Cardinals bombs away for the Cardinals here. We got a bunch of home runs in this game, opposing Ben Brown, who was not very good. But Brendan Donovan, one for four with his fifth home run. and has been having a pretty rough June. I know he's been dealing with a sprained toe this month, so perhaps that has contributed there.

Alec Berluson, who I mentioned earlier, one for four with his ninth home run, got off to a slow start, but since the beginning of May, Burleson, 336 batting average, all nine of his homers, and an OPS over 950. So, I do like him.

He's all the way up to 78% rostered. He's performed well against lefties this season. I think he's a name that makes sense. and points leagues. He doesn't strike out very much. So I do like Alec Berliss in quite a bit. Lars Neupar, one for four with his 10th home run, trying to get back on track here,

has two home runs in his past five games, down to 66% rostered. Do you guys agree with that? Should that number continue to fall here for Neupar, who has just had an abysmal June? Yeah, I think it's reasonable. It wouldn't surprise me if he got hot again and we're picking him back up.

But 66%, I think there's enough interchangeability in that range of the outfield rankings. Obviously, that doesn't include five outfielder leagues. That's just the three outfielder leagues where Newt bar has been dropped, and you've swapped them out for a hotter hand like Burleson, or maybe Addison Barger, who actually is rostered less than that still. Yeah, I can't really fault anyone for doing that. Yeah, I mean, that was my next question. Would you swap him out for his teammate Burleson?

But sounds like you would. Yeah. I don't know that I agree. Well, let me see. This is me looking at last year's point per game average. What does this year's look like for Burleson? Because you mentioned the strikeout rate is low. Strikeout rate's always been low for Burleson.

But the walk rate is also so low. And since he's not providing many homers, providing many stolen bases, it still makes for a pretty modest point production. It's 2.4 2 points per game. It's probably been better than that recently. He's been playing more regularly. You mentioned the numbers are great against left-handed pitchers.

But I think it kind of puts Burleson permanently on the fringes and three outfielder points leagues. Roto leagues, I think the potential impact he could have in batting average. I actually like them a little more there. Last 28 days for Burleson 3.2 fantasy points per game. So he's hot. Yeah, he's hot for sure. One more name here.

Nolan, one for four with his fifth home run and is set to get more playing time with Yvonne Herrera-Hurt, who was actually mostly D-Hing for the Cardinals there. Don't need to add Gorman, but a name to watch, still think he has some power potential here if he can, you know, get more of that playing time and take advantage of it. Before we move on, I did just want to highlight.

and give a shout out once again. I mean, Cal Raleigh did it again. Big Dumper, two for five with his 30 second home run. He has homered in four straight games. He has six home runs in his past six and is now up to 32 homers, 68 RBI and nine steals on June 24th. That's like a 68 homer pace too, right? He is.

I'm not exaggerating. It was 66 as of yesterday. Yeah, no, Aaron Judge's son is going to have to start following him around. in August and September in case he breaks that record. It's a little Roger Maris joke. He has, Cal Rally has 54 home runs over the last calendar year. It's pretty good.

That's pretty good. I was trying, I'm trying to write up a Cow Rally, just putting him in historical context piece. And it's, I think if, what he's done over the last calendar year, year is, I think, comparable to some of the very best seasons we've ever seen from a catcher.

I don't, it's probably not the best, although with his defense, it's going to be pretty good. Platinum glove winner, like, Eric Judge may have competition for MVP when I'll send done. I do think Cal Raleigh's Homer pace is going to slow. There's never been a 50 homer catcher before, so I think there's going to be a 60 homer catcher. I would bet on Raleigh being the first 50 homer catcher at this point. but, you know, not by much. All right, before we get to the news and notes, just a reminder that you can listen to FBT and FBT Express on Spotify.

If you're watching on YouTube, scan that QR code that will bring you right to the FBT Spotify feed. And if you are listening on Spotify, leave a comment on this episode. Who is the top Corbyn Carroll replacement right now? Big thanks to those watching live. Make sure to hit the like button and subscribe on YouTube as well. Let's get into the news and notes.

and Kenley Jansen entered in a non-safe situation here on Monday through four pitches and left with injury. His cutter velocity was down three miles per hour, which sounds pretty scary. And then after the game, we learned that he had shoulder cramping and said that he should be fine. But I saw pectoral, but cramping,

I think maybe is the key word there either way. Yeah, I don't know. We'll see. if something were to happen do you guys have a guess as to who would be next up for the angels I think he's got to read thatmers yeah we were talking about this because it just happened before we went live and like man who else is good in their bullpen who's been pitching the eighth inning it has been detmers and while detmer's overall numbers are unimpressive he entered today and his last 17 starts with a 0.50 ERA. And 27 strikeouts in 18 innings,

that's 13.5K per 9. He's been really impressive lately. And I think probably, there's a case he should, with those numbers like that, there's a case he should be just closing over Kenley Jansen. Regardless. I think there's a pretty good chance

that Kenley gets dealt by the deadline. Right. That's what I was going to say. Yeah, no, that I think is going to happen. Yeah. But yeah. They're never going to have Kenley Jansen out there not closing. No, no.

I'm just saying in a world where you don't have to weigh those implications, like just, it would read Demmers make a more effective closer than Jansen. Look, I'm not saying he would, but the way he's performed lately is certainly closer caliber. All right, Brian Snickers said that while the team fully anticipates Chris Sincol. to pitch again this season. They won't have a timetable until they see how sails left rib cage heels.

Shoto Imanaga will rejoin the Cubs this Thursday to face the Cardinals. He got up to 72 pitches in his final rehab outing. The raise are expected to recall Chandler Simpson, which we mentioned earlier from AAA on Tuesday.

In 35 games with the raise earlier this season, he was hitting 285 with 19 steals. In 16 games since getting sent down, he hit 366 with 11 steals. So more of the same. Great batting average and lots of steals. 47% rostered for Simpson.

Do you guys think he's a must add in all formats? Or is it only category leagues? Only categories leagues for now. He's got to play every day. And I'm not sure he's going to right away. I think there's a non-zero chance. He's like a glorified Jared Dyson. I don't think that's the likeliest outcome.

But they already sent him down, you know, and then kept a bunch of guys who aren't. not necessarily more talented than him around. So I think he's got to hit better than he did, even though we loved what he was doing. It was a 285 batting average, but only a 315 OBP and no power. And he was terrible defensively. So I think he's got to probably hit a little better. And I think he can.

His XBA, I think was 305. And he's got to be passable defensively. It wouldn't take much for him to be better than Christopher Morrill. but I think he needs to get there first. I do kind of wonder, I don't think there's been any reporting about this, and maybe I'm just totally off base. But I mentioned Kevin Cash was playing him basically every day

and seemed to like having him in the lineup. And I wonder if there was a disconnect between the front office and the dugout there, the front office just, you know, pure, looking at the pure number crunching aspect of Simpson and dug out looking more at like the aesthetic aspect and just kind of the amount of chaos he creates and having a greater appreciation for what he does,

which is why I think Simpson's going to play basically every day because that is ultimately Kevin Cash's call. And I'll point out, you know, when you steal bases at the clip he was 19 and 35 games, that adds up to a lot of fantasy points. Chandler Simpson averaged 2.89 fantasy points in his previous stint in the majors, which is what Junghulie has averaged this year. It's what Brandon Nemo has averaged this year.

So I'm not saying he needs to be picked up in points leagues. I just don't think there's any rush to do that. But if Simpson comes back and is exactly who he was before, he will eventually be worth picking up in points league. The raise, the raise honestly, they've got some clutter. They got like six guys who should probably either be playing first base or D.H that they're all trying to find playing time for. And I do include Chandler Simpson in that for now, at least, not first base, but maybe D.H. So I think they got they got to make some trades at some point and clear some of this stuff up.

It is kind of crazy to think about how good the race have been and how much they've been scoring. And now they're adding this another dynamic piece who can just, wreak havoc on the base pads. So along with them hitting home runs, now they're gaining a lot more speed here with Chandler Simpson. Tyler Glass now talks two scoreless innings in his rehab start at AAA on Sunday. He got up to 48 pitches, so I have to imagine at least a couple more rehab starts are coming. A. Eugenio Suarez left after getting hit by a pitch in his right hand, and thankfully X-rays came back negative. Josh Naler was removed due to right shoulder discomfort. He'll be reevaluated on Tuesday. The debacks. just going through it right now.

I mean, Carol, Corbyn Burns went down. We got Suarez and Naler hurt here. So it's just, gosh, hope those guys are all right. Kaber Ruiz left Monday night after getting struck by a foul ball in the dugout. Apparently he had to go to the hospital too, so I hope everything's all right with him.

Jordan Westberg has missed two straight with a sprained left index finger but could return as soon as Tuesday. Matthew Boyd has been cleared to make his next start Wednesday. He was removed from his last outing, after being hit by a comebacker in his left shoulder. Austin Hayes will begin a rehab assignment at AA Tuesday and could return this weekend.

He's 48% rostered, has performed great when healthy this season. So another outfield option there in Austin Hayes. Brandon Woodruff completed a 60-pitch-simulated game Monday and we'll go on a rehab assignment later this week. He's still 84% rostered. The hope will not die. I mean, to see Brandon Woodruff is still 84% of roster, It blew my mind, but I think it's the name value.

People are still holding on. I did not realize 84% of CBS sports leagues had unlimited IL spots. Because I don't know. I don't want to write it off. I'm rooting for him. I hope I'm wrong. My expectations for him are not that different than my expectations for Clayton Kirchall when he was coming back.

And I think they're probably going to pitch pretty similar. Even if, even if. And I know you were joking, but even if there were unlimited IAL spots in CBS sports leagues, it still wouldn't explain why Woodruff is 84% rostered. And Austin Hayes, who's been incredible whenever healthy, is the opposite of that 48% roster. Or even Spencer Arrogatti, who has looked like a difference maker much more recently than Brandon Woodruff. Speaking of Spencer Arroghetti, he could throw a bullpen on Tuesday and is working his way back from a threat. fractured right thumb, only 72%

rostered. The Giants option, Tyler Fitzgerald, back to AAA. They'll likely go with Brett Wisely and Christian Kos. In the meantime, once Matt Chapman is back, I have to imagine if Casey Schmidt is still hitting that they'll just put him at second base and see how that works out. The Reds reinstated Jamer Candelario and then designated him for assignment. So I don't think any other team is going to claim him

when there's like, I don't know, 20 or... I think 15 million left. after this year. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I don't know, there's probably like $20 to $25 million left on that contract still, but he could also choose to become a free agent and then I guess, I don't know how that contract stuff would work out. I guess maybe the red.

Sign for the minimum and whatever. The Reds are probably still in the hook for that money anyway. So we'll see. I mean, it's kind of crazy to think that maybe his career is just over, but I guess it's a possibility. And big news as the Mets signed Richard Love Lady, Chris, your guy to a huge, huge signing. One year contract, and he said that he wants to go by his nickname Dickie, not making the story up. So now his name is Dickie Love Lady. So,

perfect. Yep. Yep. That's it. That's the whole story. Monday was not the cleanest night of pitching that we have ever seen. Let's run through some of these clunkers here. And another week, another rough one from Bailey Ober. He was facing the Mariners, seven innings, seven hits, seven runs, seven strikeouts. One of the weirdest lines that I have seen. He also allowed three home runs in this game, some more hard contact. It has been a June from hell here for Bailey Ober.

The ERA is up to 490. It's a 137 whip. I know last week you guys kind of took the more rational controlled approach here. I'm not saying you have to drop Bailey Ober, but if this is happening at a two-star week, we cannot start him right now. Oh, no.

And I didn't recommend him among the two-star pitch. pitchers for this week. I had him in the no thanks section of the two-star pitcher rankings. He's talked and he's been really open about it, how he's messed up mechanically right now. And maybe I was sort of like what I was saying for Michael Harris before. Like maybe he doesn't figure it out this year. He probably will figure it out at some point. And I think he's good enough that you'll be happy you held on to him if he does. You don't have to hold on to him. But I mean, just to look at another example of this sort of situation, Corbin Burns last August.

Mechanics became a big problem. He had a terrible month, the RA over 7, looked unusable, and then he fixes it and is awesome in September. That's how quickly it can turn around. We've got enough of a track record here for Bailey Oberg that I think it's reasonable to hold out hope, but obviously you can't start him now. Let's move on to Shane Smith,

who is also kind of going through it right now. He faced the debacks. He allowed five runs over two innings, only through 59% of his pitches for strikes. Struggle to throw his change up in the zone. Everything got hit hard here. Last six starts for Shane Smith. It's a 581 ERA and a 152 whip. 16 walks over 26 and a third.

So struggling with walks and hard contacts here, 79% rostered. Do we hold on to Shane Smith? Is it maybe only in points leagues where he's a spark? What do you guys think? I think it's mostly just in points league. that I'd hold on to him, which means he should probably remain like 50 plus percent rostered in CBS. It's just, I don't, I don't think there's a ton of roto upside here. I like him long term, but he only threw like 92 innings or something last season.

He has struggled a lot to sustain his velocity deep into starts. He always starts off like 96, 97, and then by the end, it's like 94, 95. And obviously it's a terrible team. So I think he's a talented pitcher, but I certainly don't think he's a must roster. Yeah, it's one thing to like to live with the short outings and the bad supporting cast when he has a 230 ERA, but now ZERA is up around 3.30 and trending up. And yeah, I like a lot about Shane Smith, but I can understand wanting to use that roster spot. other way at this point. And it's weird because if you kind of dig in the individual pitches, they look impressive for Shane Smith. It's just, you know, it hasn't really added up to a

to a complete pitcher recently here with Shane Smith. Let's go over to Ben Brown who got clobbered by the Cardinals. He allowed eight runs over five innings. Four homers allowed in this one, 14 hard hits. Just got hammered here. Has allowed five plus earned runs in six different times a season, eight earned runs twice. I understand the strikeouts, strikeout stuff, the whiffs are there. The underlying numbers look better, but I just think Ben Brown gives up way too much hard contact, way too many barrels to be useful for fantasy.

So he's only 53% rostered, but if you picked him up recently, I think you'd go ahead and drop him again. There's going to be more good outings ahead, but I agree the overall is going to be pretty lackluster. And lastly, we have Chad Patrick, who had a mixed outing, against the Pirates, five innings, four runs loud,

but did it have nine strikeouts and 14 whiffs on 99 pitches here. He's allowed four plus earned runs in three straight after not allowing four earned runs in any of his first 13 starts. So taking a little bit of a step back here, but still did some good here. What do you guys think about Chad Patrick? He's 75% roster. Yeah, I think the peripherals have looked better as the ERA has corrected, if that makes sense.

Like he was clearly overachieving. early on but he's he's now looked like a more effective pitcher as Zizi R has climbed these last three starts but still overall disappointing outcome given the opponent here, the pirates

and these last three that we've talked about Chad Patrick Ben Brown Shane Smith all among my 10 sleeper pitchers for this week so just further confirmation that streaming pitchers sucks Mm-hmm.

All right, well... Let's just keep the focus on Eduardo Rodriguez, you know? I think that was a great call. That was a good one. Although I think he was ranked behind all three of these. Maybe not been brown.

No, no, no, no, no. You know what? Rankings are, that's a whole different thing. It's just, it's an honor to be nominated kind of thing, you know? All right, let's take our final break. When we returned, we'll take a look at some quick waiver wire hitters.

Matthew Libertor pitched well. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back. in fantasy baseball today and want to take a quick look at Matthew Libertor. Maybe we're writing him off a little bit too soon. He was back on track. Strong start against the Cubs. Seven innings, two runs, five strikeouts, had 11 whiffs on 85 pitches here. Velocity was up a little bit for Liberator. That's back-to-back quality starts after a rough three-star stretch here. 396 ERA 115 whip. I know we've been, you know, skeptical lately, but I don't know

what do you guys think? Are we maybe writing him off too? soon. We have been skeptical lately. I think I've been especially skeptical lately. And yet, he was my number two sleeper pitcher for this week. So that's another one that worked out. And it also exemplifies pitchers I'm skeptical and a second on my sleeper pitchers list. Because streaming pitcher sucks.

Okay. Enough with that point. Libertor. What's weird about this is, like, clearly what's allowed him to make the leap this year is superlative control, the kind that seems difficult. to sustain from a pitcher who hasn't. It doesn't have a track record of it. He threw just 61% of his pitches for strikes in this start, which is normally no Bueno, but, you know, sample of one weird things can happen, obviously.

It's not something you'd want to see continue from Libertor. And if, you know, if it adds to the overall, like, chipping away at that seemingly unsustainable skill he's showing. Then even though the outcome was good in this start, it still leaves room for trepidation, I think. Look, he's up to 86 and a third innings. He has just surpassed last year's innings total. So I do think there will either be a slowdown period

here or a shutdown or move to the bullpen or something along those lines. Like he'll probably be allowed to go up to one, I don't know, maybe 1.30, 140, something like that. But I also wonder if he can kind of maintain his effective here. So good starts. I think you can use Libertory in the right spot, right spots for now. But, you know, let's see how he, uh, maintains this as he, you know, surpasses his innings total from last season. A couple of their waiver wire hitters, mostly deep league names

here, uh, Pavin Smith has kind of had a weird season. Two for four with a double dung, four RBI. He had that awesome April, terrible May. And now an uneven June where he has an 840 OPS, but a 190 batting average. So not really sure what to make of that. Brady House is doing some things for the Nationals, two for five with a double RBI and his second stolen base. And Nick Gonzalez has been racking up hits since returning to the Pirates. He went five for five with two doubles and two RBI.

In 18 games since returning, it's a 319 batting average. One home run, three doubles, two triples, an OPS over 800. Deep League names, but do any of these matter? Pavin Smith, Brady House and Nick Gonzalez. Yeah, I mean, depends how deep the league is. I'd be thrilled.

I'd genuinely be thrilled to have all three in a lonely league. Anything shallower than that, I could take them or leave them based on need. Yeah, I think Gonzalez and House are much more interesting than Smith, just because Smith is older, a bit more of a proven commodity, and that proven commodity is he hits decently well against lefty or righties, but he's not so overwhelmingly dominant that it makes up for the fact that he never plays against lefties. And actually his underlying data this year is pretty bad for a platoon guy.

So I think he's probably just a low batting average guy who hits for power. Gonzalez, there is some prospect pedigree in his history. There is some stuff to like in the underlying data. I don't think it all adds up to by no means a must start or must roster player in all leagues. But he's done some interesting things so far this season. I think Brady House is more interesting, but I think both of them are okay. All righty. You do realize Pavin Smith has reached base at a 390 clip this year.

Pretty good. He also has a 31% strikeout rate and doesn't play against. against lefties, though. Well, yeah, the walks matter in points leagues, but he's not going to matter in points leagues, you know? Yeah, he's kind of like a deeper OBP league kind of guy. I just, I think he's good. I don't think he's good for fantasy necessarily.

Yeah, that I could see making sense. I mean, obviously getting on base that much. And his OPS is great, but it's just, you know, he only has eight home runs on the year. It's, yeah, like I said, it's just kind of been a weird season here for, for Pave and Smith. Let's get into some struggling hitters And we'll do a little SBD, start, bench, or drop.

And before I get into it, I realize there are players on this list that you will never drop, but, you know, just kind of play along with me here. So I'll throw three names out there. You guys tell me which one you would start, which one you would bench for now, and which one you would be dropping of this trio.

And we will start with some outfielders. You guys spoke about them earlier, but we have Michael Harris, Brenton Doyle, and Jung Hu Lee, Harris has just had a bad season all around. Brenton Doyle, he actually had a solid March slash April and then has just plummeted since then. Jung-Lee has done the same thing. Since May 1st, he's hitting 206 with a 605 OPS.

So whoever would like to get us started, start, start, bench, or drop these three. Okay. I have, you know, following the parameters of the game where I have to do one of each with these players. I think this one's pretty straightforward. I would start Jung-Hoo-Lee, I would bench Michael Harris, and I would drop Brenton Doyle. Do you disagree? I think it probably,

let me do the cop-out, might depend on format. I think Brent-Doyle just has much more upside in a Rotel league than Junk-Huli. I think Michael Harris probably has higher ceiling than either of them. But it's been a long time since we've seen that ceiling. he gets off to these really bad starts every year and it just has taken him a little longer to pull out of them like in 2023 I was looking at it it was bad April bad May awesome from then on

and like the underlying numbers were like that too last year it was bad April bad May bad June I think he was hurt in that as well and then took off from July and and later and this year no no signs that he's turning it around and the underlying numbers are truly terrible for Michael Harris. And I,

there, you know, I, I was trying to come up with like a, a grand unified theory for like Michael Harris and Yiner Diaz and, God, who was the other guy? There was another guy.

Uh, I can't remember. Whatever. It doesn't matter. Ozzy Albies. Yeah, that was the other guy. I was trying to come up with a grand unified theory of like,

well, you know, these guys are all, uh, super aggressive swingers. And maybe that just doesn't work in, in an environment where the ball is deader. And then I remembered,

oh yeah, Pete Kerr Armstrong is the best player in baseball now. So that doesn't really sense. He swings a 65% of pitches that he sees or whatever. But yeah, Michael Harris. Albies has never hit the ball hard. And we've kind of loaded that theory with him for years now,

that if he was in a dead ball environment for a season where he didn't miss a ton of time with injury, it might not go so well, which I'm not ruling out a return to form for Albe's. there. I'm just saying it's a little more understandable in his case than in Harris's case. The thing with Harris and Yiner Diaz is the quality of contact

has generally been very good in the past. This year, the quality of contact for Michael Harris is the worst it's ever been by far. I want to believe that he'll turn it around, but like we said earlier, that is a belief that he's 24 and talented. Not a belief in anything he's doing.

Brendan Doyle's underlying numbers are better, actually, this year. That's the crazy part. still not that good. And like I'm least confident that Brenton Doyle's actually a good hitter because last year was kind of the only example of that. And even then he was a 260 hitter playing half his games at Corse Field. Yeah.

It is crazy to me that his underlying data is still better this season and he's just been so, so awful. And look, maybe he just played way over his head last year, but you would expect that for someone who plays half their games in Corse Field. And it just hasn't happened for Doyle. I still think in deeper roto leagues, I get, you know, three outfielder leagues. You probably drop them by now. But in deeper roto leagues, I think I would still try and buy super low on Brenton Doyle.

I agree. I don't mind buying on them, but I'm following the rules of your game. I'm the only one you made follow the rules of the game. All right. I understand. Drop it, Chris. This is more of a conversation to talk about buying players too. I would drop Junghooly ahead of Brent and Doyle.

I don't want to drop either of them. I would rather have Junghuli in a points league than Doyle. So depending on your format, whatever. But I do expect all three of these guys to be better moving forward than they have been so far. And I don't necessarily know if I'm going to say that for everyone here. Well, let's talk about first base where we have start, bench, or drop. Paul Goldschmidt, Tyler Soderstrom, and Spencer Torkelson. So Goldschmidt, having a very rough June, he's crushing lefties.

he's subpar against right-handed pitching. Soderstrum has been pretty mediocre since May 1st on, and Torkelson is struggling big time so far in June. So start, bench, or drop? I think the way I, because this is basically just ranking them. Not to, not to, you know. Oh, I don't see it as that. Not to, not to show the man behind the curtain.

Certainly start and bench isn't just a ranking necessarily. But it, yeah, okay, so it's Torkelson, Goldschmidt, Soderstrom for me. so you're starting torkelson you're sitting torque sitting goldschmidt cutting Tyler Soderstrom although again I don't think you should drop Tyler Soderstrom I'm starting Soderstrom sitting Torkelson and dropping Paul Goldschmidt the sitting Torkelson because I literally am sitting him in a 15 team league where I also have Max Muncie to fill that spot and I can't say that about any league where I have Soderstrom he's been really kind of bad for a while now though Sotterstrom but not as bad as Torklson's been here in June

and the one concern Well the biggest concern I have for Sotorstrom He's not likely to be a platoon player Because Oakland doesn't have any reason To make him a platoon player but he's been very bad Against lefties 5.04 OPS 24 strikeouts to three

walks, only three extra base hits among his 15 hits. Against Ritey's, he looks great. It's like a 890, 860 OPS. That looks awesome. But yeah, Soderstrom might just be a part-time player who's getting rightly the opportunity to be a little more than that on a team that is not going, doesn't really have any reason to sit him, you know? Let's move on to second base where I have Ozzy Albies. Tommy Edmund and Bryson Stott as the three here. And Albies has just had a down season.

It's been even worse here in June. Quality of contact has never really been good, but he's found a way to make it work. It's down even more this season. Tommy Edmund got off to that great start in 30 games since returning from the IL. He's hitting 243 with a 648 OPS. And Bryson Stott, he's another one.

Strong start, but pretty awful from May on here. Start, bench, or drop? These three. This is the hardest one. Yeah. I'm definitely not dropping Albies because he's my highest ranked, but I don't know that I'm thrilled to start him now either. Don't know that I feel great about starting any of these three.

Yeah. Yeah, I think I'd go admin, Albies, Stott. So starting admin, Edmonds, drop Stott. I think Chris is rejecting your premise here. No, I'm just answering it in the, no, I'm just answering it in that order. I just don't want to have to say every single time

Start BenjD drive But then we end up having to say it anyway Because like it's hard to process Oh you know Try and keep up Yeah SBD start bench drop Get good

All right Sure I don't want to answer Wow But I'm the one who's not playing by the rules I guess that's technically true If you throw the board you aren't not playing by the rules,

you just aren't playing. You gave an answer. We don't have to, we don't both have to chime in on everyone. This is the first time that Ozzy Albies has been healthy. And I know we've brought up this exact thing before

where I am actually questioning how good he is without the juice ball because every other year that we didn't have a juice ball, there was an injury excuse. And this year we don't have that. And now, I don't know. Well, okay, but from my understanding, understanding the current baseball situation with the baseball in baseball, it's not confusing

at all to talk about it that way, is that last year is more the outlier in terms of the way the ball was playing. And that 2024 is playing more like 2022 and 2023, which was, I think, the timeline around when they purchase Rawlings and like kind of standardized the production process and like, actually talked about changing the baseballs and acknowledged that that's something that they were doing. You're saying last year wasn't as pitcher-friendly as this year? Yeah.

Last year, the ball was flying that among the last four years, last year is the one that's the most different. That last year the ball was flying further. Okay. Then 22 or 23. And 25 is playing more like 23 and 22. And in 23,

Ozzy Albee's had the best year of his career, your career high, 33 homers, hit 280. Now, my understanding could be off, but that was what I had seen in some of the discussions about it. So, yeah, but that's a good, but that would be the point is that if the baseball in 2020, wasn't juiced or not juiced, but just was relatively in the middle, he still had his best season. So I absolutely share these concerns. I think I've been more skeptical on the whole of Ozzy Albi. throughout his career than you guys.

So yeah, it definitely could be that he's just not as good in this context. And last three at the shortstop position, we have Corey Seeger, Geraldo Perdomo, and Mason win. Seeger just having a brutal June so far. Ground ball rate is way up. Portomo has hit a wall.

Actually, all three of these guys, they've just kind of hit a wall here in June. Start, Bencher, Drop. Seeger, Perdomo, Mason, win. I would start Seeger. I would I wouldn't mind dropping either Pertomo or Mason win legitimately, but I think Pardoma is a little more

rostrable than win. So I'll say start Seeger, bench Pardomo, drop win. Start Seeger for sure. He's by far the most talented. He has by far the best underlying stats. I like Mason win more than Herald or Pardomo, so I would bench, win and drop per domo. Yeah.

We're getting a lot of questions about Seeger right now and rightfully so. And he's hitting 234 with a 710 OPS, has been on the IL twice the season with a hamstring. So you do always kind of wonder, all right, is he playing through something right now? Is he completely healthy? But outside of the ground ball rate, just spiking the season, the expected numbers still look really good here for a, for Corey Seeger. And I don't know, maybe we shouldn't put too much stock into that because it has kind of been a weird season for expected numbers. but I mean, he's hitting the ball hard. The barrel rate is there.

Everything that feeds into the expected number. Like, I just said I'm not supremely confident. Ozzie Albies will bounce back. I am supremely confident. Corey Seeger will bounce back. He's, his pulled air rate is a career low 10.4%. That would be the biggest reason to worry about Corey Seeger.

But that also mostly just suggests that he's a little off. That he's just the timing's not right for some. reason. That could be as much a symptom as a cause. Yeah, that feels like he'll, that, that feels like something I bet on him figuring it out. Some pitching left over, Spencer Schwellenbach, a strong start against the Mets, seven innings, two runs with four strikeouts, only five whiffs. I do wonder if that's due to just facing the same lineup two times in a row.

They just saw him, so perhaps that contributed to the lack of wiffs. And Brian Wu turned in yet another quality start, six innings, two runs with a season high, nine strikeouts. He has gone six plus innings in all 15 starts this season. Anything on Wu or Shwellynbot? It's like, it's got to be like 22 out of 23 starts going back to last August too, because that was when it turned around when they he got healthy and they let him go deeper into games. He started throwing 90 plus pitches more often. And it's been a pretty long time where Brian Roo's just been excellent. Um, there's just like that small. a little bit in the back of your head.

That's like, can he stay healthy? But he's really, really good. Mm-hmm. All right. Next up, we have some hitting leftovers. It was a big night for stud bats. Ronald de Cunia, another huge game, two for five with a sock and a shoe.

His first pair of the season. Home run and steal in the same game. He's up to nine homers, three steals, hitting 396 so far. Juan Soto hit his 17th home run and continues his massive June, where he's got eight home runs and an 1188 OPS. Aaron Judge added his 28th home run.

Ellie Daler Cruz finished a double short of the cycle. Hit his 18th homer also is having a massive June there. Christian Yelich, two for three with the walk and his 15th home run. Zach Netto just keeps on. Hit his 12th home run in the season, added three hits. And a revenge game for Nationals hitters against the Padres. CJ Abrams, three for five with his 16th steel, and James Wood three for five with his 22nd home run.

Made that noise at the same time. Jinks, you owe me a Coke. Are we sure? Are we sure? Ronald O'Cunia isn't just the top three player again. I am not sure. Are we sure he isn't? He might be.

Because he didn't steal a base in his first 18 games. Then he still won, but it was weird. I remember it was like a double steal or a three, two counts, something like that. I don't know, a 3-2-K. But then he's got two steals in the last four games, and they've been straight-up steals. And so it's like, okay, he's not a 70-steal guy again.

What if Ronald Ocuna is a 30-Steel guy still? Yeah. And the way he's hitting right now, the way he's hitting right now, okay, it's not exactly like 20-23 because the strikeout rate's much higher. So he's not going to hit 3-37 again, but 290.

Yeah. With like a 40, 30 pace, it's possible. Yeah, like that, that kind of feels, and Shohei Otani hasn't stolen a base in like a month. I don't know if you guys realized that. I think he only has 10 or 11 on the season. Yeah, no, he just stopped stealing about a month ago.

I think it was like 27 games or something. And that's looking up today. Probably when he started ramping up as a pitcher again, right? Which is something that Dave Roberts talked about before the season, that they're probably not going to have him run as much. and so. So are you making the case he's a top two player? I'm saying Aaron Judge is probably in a tier of his own now.

And it might be a two-man tier after him. I don't want to, I know Bobby Witt's home run paces off. I expect that to correct. I think he has more home runs to come. I just do wrong with Kuhnia's better. Yeah, this might not be like a knock against Witt just that Akunia's. I think there's nothing wrong with being the number. four player behind those guys.

You might want to refresh your self on the numbers Bobby would actually put up last year. Oh, they were awesome. 32. 32. 31. But he's also not hitting 332 anymore either. Well, yet. I would say batting average is probably close to a wash between him and Acuna.

I would think Acuna has more power. I think Acuna, I don't think the steals are an edge for Bobby Wood. I think that's probably a push. And so at that point, I would give with more steals. I would give him 50% more steel. Okay, yeah, I guess he is on a 40 steel pace this year. I didn't realize he had picked it up lately. So I think there's a clear top four in fantasy is my stance.

Judge and I'd still put Judge in Otani. I'd call them 1A, 1 in 1A, and then I'd call. Oh, I actually think Judge is just Acuna. Yeah. Then I'd call Acuna and with. in some order 3 and 3A 2 1C

and 2A just to confuse it you know call to the bullpen here two updates for the Braves rizel iglacias got the 8th inning with a one-run lead and he got the first two outs then allowed back-to-back singles he was relieved

by Dylan Lee who struck out Juan Soto with first and third one-run game I mean does not get higher leverage than that Dylan Lee came out for the ninth inning and then he retired all three that he faced there as well for his second save of the season. 10% rostered. We all think Iglesias will get it back at some point, but this was a pretty impressive outing for Dylan Lee. And for the pirates, David Bednar got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He allowed two base runners but picked up his 11th save. I could be

wrong, but I think this is the first save by a Braves pitcher since May 16th. Yep, 31 game That is wild. Faithless streak, a franchise record. Wow. But I was going to point out, Dylan Lee's numbers, he's got a 177 ERA, 0.8-1 whip, 9.3K per 9. That's for the season. That's not like over a 25 appearance stretch or anything. So maybe he's just worthy of being the closer.

I still think Ryssel Iglesias is going to get a shot here. And as long as he's, as long as he's looking okay. in the lower leverage situations, which he has so far, because the second best lefty in that bullpen is Aaron Bummer, and they don't seem to trust him in leverage situations at all. So I think they prefer to keep Lee flexible once they've regained trust in Iglesias. But it's not a sure thing. It's not a sure thing at all.

Yeah. Dylan Lee's numbers are nasty, man. My goodness. Swinging strike rate is very good. He limits hard contact. Velocity is up this season on all of his pitches. Yeah, I don't know if Reiseloglesias is getting that job back. We'll see.

To stream or not to stream for Tuesday. And the three that stood out to me here were Charlie Morton against the Rangers, Ryan Nelson at the White Sox, and Justin Verlander against the Marlins. I think those are the right three. If you're asking me to start one and only one, I would pick Verlander. I have Ryan Nelson significantly below those other two. I don't think he's that great, but it's just at the White Sox. Yeah, I mean, that's the main appeal there.

So that's fine. But I don't want to be on the record as saying I want to start him. All right. A lot of cop-out answers today. I don't know. We're going to have to have a producer meeting before our next podcast. On Wednesday, what do we have here? Brady Singer against the Yankees, Jacob Lopez.

at the Tigers. Max Scherzer is at the Guardians for his Blue Jays debut and Edward Cabrera at the Giants. Ew. I could get excited about Jacob Lopez. I am excited about him in a general sense, but I don't trust him yet, and he's going against one of the league's better offenses at the Tigers here. So he's my choice by default, but I'd still rather not. I really like what Edward Cabrera is doing lately.

I just, the Marlins have had no trust with him. They have pulled him with below 90 pitches like multiple times lately. He did have its first quality start of the season last time out. Yeah, and the numbers since the start of May are actually really good. It's like a 250 a right or something. Scherzer I don't want to trust in this first game back,

but I'm very interested to see what it looks like. And then look, if you've got to start a guy with a 17% fly ball rate or 17% ground ball rate or whatever it is for Jacob Lopez. Comerica Park's not the worst park to do it in. I think he's interesting. I think the ugly starts are going to be really ugly for Jacob Lopez just because of how many balls he gives up in the air.

Yeah, it is scarier to try that in Sacramento where seemingly the balls was flying. But yeah, maybe at Detroit, you can get away with that. Yeah, I would go with the... I actually am okay with Scher. I mean, he threw like 70 pitches last time out and Guardians' offense. is pretty terrible.

So any of Lopez Scherzer and Cabrera, I think are okay on Tuesday. Let's wrap up, that's Wednesday, actually. Let's wrap up with Teen Name Tuesday. We didn't do it last week, so whatever. We're going to run long here, but let's get to him. For this. From Jake and Casey, Cage the Eflinant.

Yeah. All right. And then some cartoon movie-themed ones, Crewelli de Villal-Cruz. Yep. Okay. Camillo DeVall. there's got to be something to do with that name over

Ellie de la Cruz if you're going to do a Crewella DeVille thing so this is this one is very Heathcoming so I appreciate that energy being brought to the to the podcast Scott White and the seven Sparps yeah my dad used to joke that they planned to name my sister snow I've got I've got a friend whose last name is Matos and he always said he was going to name a son

Tom. Oh, got it. It took like a couple of seconds to process. Next one is Choi's story. I used to say I was going to name my son Dwight. Is this a Hesop Choi? Am I forgetting a more recent Choi? G-Man, Choi. Okay. All right. Yeah. Ryan. It'd be more fun if it was Hesop Choy. Ryan King. It can be if you want it to be. Yep, Ryan King. Okay. And Aladdin 2, Return of Jarrar. This might have been sent before he got sent down to AAA or whatever. Do you get sent down to AAA? Maybe he's planning for the return.

Or it's the return to AAA. From Bill, these are Beach Boy themed. Wouldn't it be Bryce? Yep. Don't worry, Bybee. Yep. Barbara Anthony Volpe. Yeah.

Wood vibrations. Yeah. Help me, Aranda. That's good. That's good. Heroes and villains. Yeah. Now, these are all solid.

Rest and peace, Brian Wilson. These are from Matt. amicable devers divorce it's like supposed to be divorce but it's devres with an E on the end there so

I did go with deverence for one of my teams you know like the TV show that ever yeah yeah all right you say the word you say low I say Lao yeah Mizierowski loves company

that's pretty cool and from a different mat Nobody puts Beatty in a corner. Yeah, that's good. Junis National Safety Month. That's excellent. That's really good. McLean.

That's good. That's fine. And this one's fun. Whoa. Framber is the color of your energy. That's, yeah. Boom. All right.

We're going to wrap there. For Scott, Chris, I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in at Tough Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. Mount Podcasts.