Fantasy Baseball Today - Cristopher Sanchez Regression, Most Dropped & Fantasy Feud! (7/7 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 7, 2026

What just happened with Cristopher Sanchez (3:35)? ... Schlittler bounce back in a big way (8:40). ... Heliot Ramos blasted two homers (11:06). ... News (15:45): Carlos Rodon won't be back until mid August. ... Jose Caballero revenge game (26:44)! ... Roupp and Griffin Jax impressed (38:03). ... These were the most dropped players on CBS this weekend (48:36). ... Let's play Fantasy Feud (53:00)! ... Hey, real quick (1:07:05)! ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpens and streamers (1:13:05).Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for the newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters

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 lead. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Hey there, welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Tuesday, July 7th. I am Frank Sample joined by Scott White and Chris Towers.

Today on the show, most drop play. on CBS this weekend. Hey, real quick. Christopher Sanchez was a very bad, worst outing of his career. We'll talk about that. And eight games on the schedule. You know what that means?

It's an opportunity for Scott White to get his revenge in the feud. Oh, no. I should have brushed up on league leaders. I said I'd do that next time. It was a late schedule with the two of us. I was a little nervous that you would look of the league leaders today.

and just be ready to go. I am not going into this with much confidence. You know what I need to do is I just, I need to buzz in quicker than Chris, because I need to put him on the hot seat this time. I kind of just am fine letting him buzz in first because I don't know, I'm being chill about it, I guess.

I need to get in there with the first answer. You know, Frank and I recently did a tandem fantasy feud type thing with another podcast. I don't think it's going to air. There were some technical difficulties. But we did not buzz in quickly at all. No, I was always the last person. I just want to put that out there.

Well, so, I mean, it's a poor craftsman who blames his tools is all I'm going to say. We'll see. We'll see. If I get in there first, we'll see. We'll see how Chris handles the hot seat. He's always avoiding the hot seat. Scott is coming with the revenge. All right, let's start things off with the players of the night.

Go crazy, folks. Go crazy. There's only one place to start. and he was the pitcher on Monday who made everybody go crazy. Scott, what just happened to Christopher Sanchez? Baseball happened to him.

That's my short answer. It was awful. Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad start. Nine run runs on 12 hits and three and a third innings. In the middle of the game, somebody tweeted at me, quick, remove Christopher Sanchez

from your, as your top. starting pitcher before you embarrass yourself or something like that, which I didn't have him as my top starting pitcher. It also shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the way rankings work. But regardless, Christopher Sanchez got a lot of regression all at once here. Its numbers still look awesome because that's how much he had to regress. I don't see anything glaring here. Velocity and whiff rates were good on all three of his pitches. The drop was down on all three. So the change of had three less inches of drop, and he gave up all three of the home runs on the change-up. So there may be a little something to that, but it doesn't seem like a huge, unless it becomes a recurring issue.

It's not something that raises great alarm for me. Sanchez said, afterward, I feel great. That's why I was a little surprised to have such an outing today because I feel really good. So I'm taking his word for it. I think he's healthy. Again, the velocity was fine.

would suggest he's healthy, still got 15 whiffs on 83 pitches. I think it was just one of those days. Now, I will bring this up in case you hear it somewhere else, oh, listener. His road numbers now look pretty awful, surprisingly awful for a pitcher of Christopher Sanchez's stature with numbers that are overall numbers that are as good as his.

So, let me pull those up real quick. So on the road at home now, Christopher Sanchez at home, has a 0.86 ERA. On the road, it's 532. Coming into this start, it was 389, which is a lot better than 532. But still, that's a big discrepancy between home and away. And if you look at the previous two years, pretty big discrepancy between home and away for Christopher Sanchez as well. As well, he seems to like the home cooking. Is there anything to take from that?

Are we going to sit Christopher Sanchez, Sy Young candidate for a second straight year on the road because he now has an ERA over five there? Well, let me just point out some starts you'd miss if you did that. June 8th at Toronto, seven innings, two earn runs, 10 strikeouts. May 27th at San Diego, seven innings, no earn runs, nine strikeouts. And his very best start of the season came on the road, May 16th at the Pirates, complete game shutout with 13 strikeouts.

Like the upside from start to start for Christopher Sanchez is too good for you to get all cute with splits. Even if there is a historical trend of them. Like, this is so few pitchers are capable of those kinds of starts, those three I just listed off ever, that obviously you're not going to play that game with Christopher Sanchez. unless this becomes a recurrence here with this miserable start at Kansas City, you know, you just brush it off. It was just one of those things that happened. Yeah, it kind of does feel like a that's baseball Susan type thing here for Christopher Sanchez.

I will point out, like the first inning, Trey Turner had a double play ball that he threw away, and then things spiraled after that. He gave up six earned runs in that first inning, which obviously accounted for most of the damage in the start. He still did allow two other home runs. in in in innings after that as well but all the runs are earned obviously you can't assume the double play but if he gets out of that inning you know with that double play

then I think this start looks a lot different than then obviously how it turned out velocity was mostly fine sinker was down like half a mile per hour I had a few Phillies fans in the mentions talk about that change up drop and it was just like more up in the zone than it usually is and obviously the royals hitters took advantage of that whereas in most starts that's a pitch that usually sits right at the bottom or below the zone.

So I think that's just like a clear what happened with Christopher Sanchez here. And yeah, just not good command. And obviously the Royals made him pay. So I don't really think there's much that you could do with it. And maybe it was regression. You know, obviously you hate to get it all in one start. But now his ERA is 262.

It completely lines up with his underlying numbers. 267 FIP, 2.59 X FIP on the season for Christopher Sanchez. He's one of the two or three best pitchers in fantasy. see baseball right now. It's just one of those days. Unfortunately, for Cam Schlu... No, for Christopher Sanchez. Fordian Slip, for Chris, your player of the night. Yeah, Cam Schlittler heard the people talking or... All right, so specifically, he must have heard one specific Red Sox podcaster. Yep.

Because Cam Schlitler was very fired up after this game talking about, quote, they want to say there's blank regression because I have one bad outing. So it was personal to go out there and have a dominant start and put this team in the right position. He went out and had eight innings of one run ball against the raise, struck out eight, gave up four hits. He was just blowing fastballs by. It was just all four seamers, really, in this one. He threw 56% four seamers.

Usually it's 45%. average velocity was up to 98.5. He had 16 whiffs on 35 swings with the four seamer. Didn't have a whiff with any of his other pitches, and it didn't matter because the four seamer was that dominant. He was locked in. Camp Schlittler is at worst a top 10, possibly a top, I don't know,

six, eight pitcher in baseball. He's been absolutely dominant this season. He's basically had one best. bad start. And I don't really see any reason to be skeptical about Cam Schindler. He is awesome. Yeah, it's nice to see that velocity back up a little bit too, because there have been starts recently-ish,

whereas the start goes on, his velocity kind of ticks down. I think for most young pitchers who throw as hard as he does, that's probably just something that's going to happen at times with Camp Schlittler. Something else I noticed, he got 10 ground balls in this start, a 55% ground ball rate, and that is a number that has been trending down as the season has gone on. So I thought that was a good sign for Camp Schlittler coming off a start where he allowed four homers and a career high in terms of earned runs and home runs in that start as well.

So getting back to getting ground balls and obviously lots of whiffs on that fastball, I thought that was a really good sign there for Camp Schlitler as well. And, you know, silences the critics. And, you know, he's like Sanchez, you know, one of the probably, I don't know, five, six, eight best starting pitchers in fantasy baseball. right now. Scott, anything on Camp Schlitler or keep it moving? Nothing much to add. He's amazing.

All right, my player of the night is Elliot Ramos from the Giants. Three for five with a double dong, five RBI. I believe one of your sleeper hitters for this week, right, Scotty? Yes, he was. There you go. Off to a nice start. Eight games since returning there for Ramos, 313,

batting average, four homers, eight runs, eight RBI. He has hit first or third in the Giants lineup, four games. in a row and he's 50% rostered so you know widely available I think in outfielder that needs to be rostered in all five outfielder leagues don't think it needs to be in three outfielder leagues I I think we mostly know who Elliott Ramos is you know when he's right he's probably gonna give you around 25 home runs a decent batting average doesn't get on base a ton but right now

he's hot and he's hitting well and he just came back and he's pretty widely available so anything to add on Elliot Ramos kind of just feels like you know If you need an outfielder in a five outfielder league, he could be out there. Yeah, I don't think my expectations for him have changed. I think he's a perfectly serviceable five outfielder league outfielder and a streamable in three outfielder leagues. But the upside isn't high enough to make him more than that in three outfielder leagues. So, you know, this was a good week to stream them with the Giants having one of the top hitter schedules. and hopefully you did based on the way this first game went.

But I think Elliot Ramos is probably going to be in the long run who we expected it to be. Yeah, three of the top seven most added outfielders on CBS leagues right now are Elliot Ramos, Esmerlin Valdez, and Cody Clemens. How would you guys rank those three? It kind of feels like similar expectation for all three, like good power, middling batting average types. but how would you rank Ramos, Valdez, and Cody Clemens?

If I'm ranking in terms of what I think is most likely to happen, probably Ramos goes number one because I think he's going to be very solid. Valdez has more upside, and I think in shallower leagues, you probably chase the upside right now. Yeah, I guess in that scenario, I'd say Valdez. So let me put it this way. Five outfielder leagues, Ramos won, three outfielder leagues, probably Valdez one, chasing the upside.

All right, before we hit our first break, just want to bring up five-star rating on Apple and Spotify. If you listen to the podcast on audio, feel free to hit us up with that five-star rating and review. It really does help us out a lot. Let's take our first break, and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today,

and let's run through the news and notes. Carlos Rodon, who went on the aisle with elbow inflammation, is not expected to rejoin at the Yankees until mid-arrow. August at the earliest. So that's assuming no setbacks. And, you know, that's, you know, we're getting towards crunch time at that point, especially in head-to-head league. So I think we're going to be, it's going to be pretty close whether or not we get,

I guess, meaningful contributions from Carlos Rodon the rest of the season. Average time when guys go on the IL with elbow inflammation is 45 days for pitchers. So, yeah, that would bring us roughly the expectation. Yeah, right to like mid to late August. Just so not to single out Rodon, though, I would imagine any pitcher that suffers an injury at this point. You're probably best case scenario mid-August because we're almost mid-July now. Yeah. I mean, any elbow or shoulder injury is you're probably looking at missing most of the rest of the season.

Blake's now will face hitters in a live BP on Saturday. It sounds like he could start a rehab assignment later this month. Munataka Morikami will start his rehab assignment at AAA on Tuesday and maybe he could be back this weekend, probably more likely right after the All-Star break. Jazz Chisholm was in the lineup after leaving Sunday with right big toe discomfort. O'Neill Cruz is progressing well from his fractured left hand. The hope is that he could return in late July.

George Springer was reinstated from the family emergency medical list but was not in the lineup here on Monday. Kate Cavali had his suspension reduced from seven games, to five, which he started serving on Monday, and it looks like he will get a start this weekend against the Yankees. Jeremy Pena will start his rehab assignment at AAA on Tuesday. He's currently on the aisle with a left calf strain. Vinnie Pai, Vinnie Pasquantino, will start his rehab assignment at AAA on Tuesday.

He's working his way back from the hamate bone surgery. My guess is that he'll probably be back after the All-Star break, assuming no setbacks with him. I did want to quickly... The question is... one. Yeah, okay. How much do I care?

That was what I was going to ask because I was looking at it today. And he's like 75% roster. And so I was like, oh, maybe I'll write about Vinny P for the waiver wire for the newsletter tomorrow. And then I started thinking about it. It's like he was, I don't know, like the eighth first baseman probably coming into the season. But he was really bad before the, before the injury in a way that looked like there was something wrong. His bat speed was down two and a half miles per hour. Average exit velocity was down two and a half miles per hour.

Strike out rate higher than it ever. Ben. And then you start thinking like, well, okay, well, he's eight. Let's just set that as the bench line. Well, even if Vinnie P was hitting like I thought he was going to, I'm taking Ben Rice over him for sure. South Stewart maybe and Jack Caglione maybe. I think I might just prefer those guys outright to Vinny P. Who, why do you bring a Ben Rice? Like, that's the opposite end of the spectrum at this point. Well, no, but that's what I'm saying. Like, that's already, he's already moved down to like 12th based on those three guys jumping ahead of him. Okay. And then you've got like Christian Walker, I think they're pretty similar.

Well, yeah, in a best case scenario. Right, that's what I'm saying. My expectations for Vinnie P. Like Christian Walker, Miguel Vargas, Jonathan Aranda, even Kyle Stowers. I think those guys might all be ahead of him just from where I had Vinny P before his really bad start to the season. So now you're starting to talk like 17, 18 in the rankings without even accounting for Vinny P might not be that good in which case.

Now you're like, well, but I'd rather have Bryce Eldridge. or Vinie P. They're both rostered around 75%. Well, I'd rather roster Bryce Eldridge right now because he's healthy. Yeah. And I know he's one of your sleeper pitchers this week.

Well, and honestly, I just feel better about Bryce Eldridge. Vinny Pass Quantino could come back looking like last year's Vinny Pass Quantino. That's certainly within the realm of possibility. But I can't say that's my expectation at this point. I'm in a league. It's one of the shallower leagues I play in, 12-team,

head-to-head points, 252 players rostered. There are plenty of, people who play in shallower leagues than that. I cannot get Wilson Contreras and Christian Walker on my team. They've been sitting on waivers for a few weeks

now, and I'm like, these guys can't possibly be available, but I can't make room for them on my run. There's no place for me to put them. They'd just be taking up a bench spot for a streamer pitcher. And so how, how,

you know, Wilson Contreras, he's like top 10 in war this year, not that that's a fantasy stat, Like, he's been awesome. I mean, Curtis Mead has been, his OPS is better than Vinnie Pasquantino's career high right now. No. Like, it's,

I kind of think Vinny Pasquantino's roster rate should go down when he comes off the IL. Because that's when you'll have to make the decision. And you probably have no room for him in your lineup right now. Because remember, Vinie Pasquantino is a guy, we've talked a lot about over the past five seasons or so. I think this is his fifth season.

He's Vinipi, baby. He's really only been good for like a half season. Like the last three months of last season, who's incredible. Before that, he had been a pretty fringy fantasy option. Yeah, I think he's just in that corner infield type discussion. I think in, you know, head to head leagues where you don't have an extra corner infield spot, it's only first base and utility where you could use him. Probably not usable in a format like that.

I'm just eyeing the first base rankings now. He's probably somewhere like the once he's back. 25 to 30 range. Yeah. At first, that's what I was thinking. The position is extremely loaded and names have continued to hit well.

Like Luis Garcia Jr. is one of the hottest hitters in baseball right now. Like he's surged up the rankings too. So it's just... Muntuckumir Kyi should be back around the same time as Vinnie P. He's definitely out of Vinny P. 100%. Yeah. I think Morikami's probably like top 12 at the position.

And then, you know, Vinny P is, I don't know, somewhere double that. So, yeah, I think all fair points on him. Tommy Edmund was held out of the lineup again after that hip, by pitch on his right foot slash ankle on Saturday, and that is the same foot that he had surgery on this off-season. So it is concerning. I saw him in the on-deck circle earlier

as a pinch hitter. I don't know if he actually got in or not, but yeah, he seems like he's playing close to getting back and getting back. He did come into the game. It looks like as a defensive replacement. Or maybe he got hit by a pitch. I can't tell.

He has no stat in the box score. All right. Trevor Story has been taking part in full baseball activities. He's working his way back from sports hernia surgery, 36% rostered. He was terrible before he got hurt. Obviously last year he was, you know, one of, honestly, one of the big league winners in fantasy baseball last season. Do you guys have any interest in stashing Trevor Story in like a roto league with the middle infield spot? Yeah, that's the scenario.

I don't have a lot of confidence in it. but you know second base we've talked about how deep it is shortstop has a lot of underachievers but ones that I buy into more than Trevor Story so it would have to be a league

that goes deep into the middle end field pool as traditional road rulings tend to for me to care at all about story but even then I mean Colson Montgomery I think is my number 24 shortstop Arnie Clement's number 25 if Trevor Story was healthy I think I'd rather have those guys Story has more upside for fantasy than Clement.

Yeah. But Clement has been serviceable. Starting second basement in the top vote-getter, right, for the All-Star game. He is an All-Star. Never forget it. Man, the whole country of Canada voted all the Blue Jays into the All-State. Okay, all right. I keep seeing Yankees fans specifically doing this.

Oh, the whole, they got the whole country. There's like 39 million people in the country of Canada. Ernie Clement should not be the All-Star star. I understand, but the combined population of like New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut is not far from the population of Canada. I did my part. I voted. Yeah, I'm just saying. And I didn't vote for Ernie Clement.

I'll tell you that. Maybe you should have. No, I should not have. I mean, I guess. Watch your tone, Frank. Watch your tone. I don't know. I didn't look at, maybe from like a war perspective.

I know he's a good defender, but it's, I don't know. I just think from all of America war one point. is when I'm looking at. Oh, no. He absolutely does not deserve to start the All-Star game. Baseball America War. I meant baseball reference war. All right.

We do have two pitchers that are returning from injury or working their way back. Bailey Ober and Clay Holmes. Do you guys have any interest in stashing either of those two? Not particularly. Clay Holmes. And who was the other one you said? Bailey Ober. Yeah, they're pretty low.

I'm actually putting together a IL stash ranking. now haven't done it in three weeks, so time for an update. And enough players have come off and them being so close to returning. I think they might actually make the list toward the back end of the 50. Holmes was having a good season before he got. So a little more interest in him. I don't think he's that good. But everybody needs more pitching.

So there is a small amount of interest in Holmes especially, but only small. John Carlos Stanton has yet to resume running since suffering a setback with his right calf in early June. I didn't see this one, but Andy Rodriguez left early Sunday with a left hip injury, and so I guess that puts some of his playing time in doubt heading into the week. Martine Perez was placed in the aisle with a left forearm contusion. J.R. Richie was recalled, but will work out of the bullpen here for the Braves. And Mick Abel underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow, last Wednesday. I meant to look this up, but I ran out of time. Did you guys see specifically what

kind of surgery it was for Mick Abel? I have not seen that detail. They just said arthroscopic surgery on his elbow. He's probably not going to be back this year. Well, they haven't determined a timetable yet, which leaves the door open. He's going to be on the list, the IL stash rankings list as well. I think probably below Clayholm. because I'm with you. It seems very unlikely. But they haven't ruled it out, technically speaking. Yeah, if it's, you know, it could be that nanoscope,

in which case it would be potentially mid-August, but anything else, it's probably maybe the end of the season just for a start or two. Again, every pitcher you're stashing right now with the exception of the ones who are on a rehab assignment, you have to presume isn't going to be back. before August. All right, let's get into the waiver options

here from Monday's action. We will start on the hitter side. Jose Caballero revenge game at the raise. Two for three with a double dong for RBI. Pretty much an everyday player for the Yankees at this point. He's eligible at every position in fantasy

except for catcher. He already is up to 10 homers and 20 steals this year. 10 home runs a career high for Jose Caballero already, which pretty interesting for him, the power up this year. But 72% rostered. I feel like that number is probably right. I don't know that he needs to be rostered in head-to-dead points leagues.

I do think he needs to be rostered in all category leagues. He doesn't need to be rostered in head-to-head points leagues. Okay. He's eligible everywhere, except first base and catcher, I think. Oh, yeah, I don't think he has first base either. Good point. It is nice to just have one guy on your bench that you could fill in in any different spot. So if you're in that situation and you want to just stream a bunch of pitchers,

but you don't want to leave your bench with no hitters. A guy like that or a Casey Schmidt or an Ernie Clement who are otherwise kind of fringy can be really useful. Ezekiel Duran, I think, would be another one. Those guys can be worth rostering the head-to-head points leagues just because of that. But they're not starters. They're just guys who have that flexibility,

and that's the reason you have them. A quick aside, but for players like Jose Caballero and Ernie Clement, and Ezekiel Duran. Every week when I update the rankings, having to make sure that they are all in the right order at every single position is so annoying. That's why I, part of my rankings process, I'm doing the trade values chart.

So I'm updating the top 300 or whatever. So I don't have to worry about that. That's the one positive about having to do the trade values chart. That seems like a pretty positive development for you because, yeah, me and Scott just go position by position And it's like, all right, I got to open up another tab now and see where I put Jose Caballero in the outfield. And where did I put him at shortstop? And where did I put him at third base?

I noticed today, Curtis Mead, you have to add him to second base. I think that's a new thing, right? It is the sort of thing. We were kind of talking about our different process for updating rankings. And Frank and I are like kind of get in there with a fine-tuned tooth comb and, you know, go through. every individual player as much as is feasible, you know? And it takes six to eight hours to do all the positions. And then I think Chris uses a broader comb and looks for more glaring things.

But here's the thing. Even taking Frank and I's, Frank in my approach, we're not going to, we're going to miss some of those just because there are so many. There are going to be, there's going to be a situation where Willie Castro, is ahead of Ernie Clement at this one position, but behind him at another, and it's like, well, you know, I could take 10 to 12 hours on it instead and make sure that doesn't happen,

but is it really worth that important? Yeah. I try my best to keep it as consistent as possible, but yeah, it does take a lot of time. Curtis Mead, you just brought up his name, three for five with his 15th home run, three RBI, and his overall numbers, man, like batting average, all right, not great, 2,40,

but he's got 15 home runs on the season. He's got five seals. He's got an 8, 16 OPS. Really good, plate does the plan on the season, expected stats, barrel rate, all looks pretty good. The one thing that's just kind of annoying is that he still doesn't play every day. He has set out seven of the past 16 games against right-handed pitching, but he is an everyday player against lefties.

I don't completely understand it because his splits are really even. He's actually a little bit better against righties this year than lefties. I know the nationals kind of have some names pop up that they like to get in the lineup and rotate things around, but I don't know. I really like what Curtis Meade has done this season. he's 57% rostered. I feel like that number should be higher, but I also kind of get that he,

he's not in every single day player, which is annoying. If he was, he probably should be. Yeah, he probably should be. So should Luis Garcia, and he hasn't been. So that's even more frustrating.

One is like, what the heck were the nationals doing like three or four years ago when they never? Because like right now, it's pretty clear he just can't hit left. He's like he's deep enough into his career. He just hasn't gotten the reps. It's just not going to happen.

what were they doing four years ago when they weren't playing him against lefties? It is frustrating when players early during the development stage of their career, particularly for a non-contentant that's stuck in that platoon role. Like develop him.

I don't think it's ever too late, but it's, you know, I get your point. It's, it's become, the odds become lower, the deeper he gets into his career. But back to Curtis Mead, strikeout rate vastly improved walk rate vastly improved uh pull air rate vastly improved

and it's my understanding just working with you know looking at play looking like looking like a chronic under sorry not looking like let me start over looking at chronic underachievers by expected stats Vladimir guerrero Fernando Tate's uh come to mind just too obvious examples, it's become clear over the past couple years to me that the reason why those expected stats overestimate them so consistently is because they don't pull the ball in the air much. So it's not taking into account enough or maybe not at all. I don't have the exact calculation. But that's kind of a way to look at the discrepancy between those two figures.

One flaw in Curtis Meade's game is that he doesn't hit the ball. ball especially hard. He does have a very high pull air rate, so you understand why he gets away with it. But again, those expected stats aren't supposed to be accounting for that very much. And yet, Curtis Mead with the

low exit velocities, has an expected slug of 458, which is really good. So, like, there's, I think he's good. You know, he's had his down stretches this year's coming out of one. Seems to be heating up again. But I'd like to see him play every day.

Most useful by far in fantasy at third base. Not so much first and second. But, yeah, more people could use them. I also just, I straight up just, I don't want to overstate the case. I mostly don't believe that guys who can only hit lefties, but not righties exist. Like, I'm not going to say they never exist. There are definitely some guys who are just lefty mashers, but for the most part, If you can hit lefties, you can probably hit righties because you're seeing righties a lot more than you are lefties throughout your career.

The reason there are a lot of lefties who can't hit lefties is you just don't face them very often, especially in those key developmental times. But Curtis Mead, there's no evidence to suggest he can't hit righties. So the way the nationals are using him, I think actually just straight up doesn't make sense. I mean, I know they want, you know, like if he's playing first base, they want Luis Garcia. out there, but I think they should just be playing him every day, and I think they mostly will. I think I heard Matt Olson say

this year that he thinks the whole platoon thing is overrated. Easy for him to say, because he's a lefty who hits lefties well, but... Yeah, there are definitely lefties who can't hit lefties. There are a lot more lefties who can't hit lefties than righties who can't hit lefties. But is it...

Is there really a good reason why they can't, or do they just get it in their head? You know? Do their coaches get it in there? The platoon thing is real. You know, the ball, you see the ball differently. I think a lot more lefties throw from weird arm angles, too, than righties. So I think there is, like, righties tend to have more natural, like, overhand arm angles.

So I think there's something there. There's definitely something there. But I wonder sometimes if it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Possibly, yeah. Two other Waver Wire hitters, Nassim Nunez, 3 for 4 with two runs, and his 33rd steal, his MLB leading 33rd steel of the season. Last 26 games, he's actually hitting really well. 354, only one homer.

You're going to get virtually no power from him. He has 15 runs, 11 steals during that stretch, an OPS over 850, so he really has improved as a hitter as the season has gone on. He's 42% rostered, kind of like a slightly lesser version of Kabayero. I guess a different version just because he runs even more. But I think in category leagues, he probably needs to be rostered in all of those. Don't really, he doesn't really matter in points leagues. And then the last name I have here is Yiner Diaz, two for four with his fifth home run.

He is homered in back-to-back games. And in 14 games since coming out to IL, he's hitting 250 with three home runs, a ton of ground balls, which, you know, has always kind of been an issue for Yiner Diaz. 34% rostered. So it's really just a two-catcher league play. Other names have popped up recently. like Andy Rodriguez, although I guess he's dealing with this injury. Yeah, I mean, I guess Diaz needs to be rostering to all two catcher leagues,

but he's kind of like on that fringe. Yeah, I don't think he matters in one catcher leagues. Yep, agreed. Let's take our final break. When we return, I have some waiver wire pitchers, the most drop players on CBS. We'll get into the feud and much more right after this. Instacart knows that some people go bananas about getting the perfect, well, banana. Some want them green.

Some want them ripe. Some want them ready right when they hit their doorstep. But with Instacart's preference picker, available at most retailers, you can choose to get your groceries just the way you like. That means perfectly ripe bananas, deli meat sliced just the way you want, and avocados that aren't still hard as a puck in the third period. So don't cross your fingers and hope for the best. Download the app and get groceries just how you like with Instacart. Welcome back, Fantasy Baseball today. let's run through the Waverwire pitchers.

And two names in shallower leagues. Landon Rup, a great outing here against the Blue Jays. Eight innings of one run ball, five strikeouts. His first time completing eight innings in his career. He is, he's just inconsistent. I think that's always going to be the case when he throws a curveball as much as he does. Two earned runs are fewer in 11 of 18 starts.

He also has four or more earned runs six different times this season. So just kind of frustrating on like a week-to-week basis, but he's 74 per year. percent rostered. And the other name here is Griffin Jacks, who made just one mistake here against the Yankees. He was perfect going into the fifth. Gave up a three-run home run to Jose Caballero, but it was five innings, three runs, 10 strikeouts here, 16 whiffs on 81 pitches. And last six starts, 232 ERA, 0.94 whip, 36 strikeouts, just six walks over 31 innings. He's up to 80% rostered. So a lot of people picked him up for the two-star week.

Oh, hamburgers. I had gotten used to just penciling in Griffin Jacks, sleeper pitchers every week. Now he's crossed the threshold where I can't do that anymore. Who do you like more? The rest of the season, Scott Griffin Jacks or Elena Rup? I like them both. They were both sleeper pitchers for this week. I've kept the faith on Rup.

Glad he rewarded the faith with this start. And I think he's probably more usable because he does have. the freedom to go. I mean, this is the second time he win even seven innings, much less eight. But Griffin Jack seems to have a very hard limit on the number of pitches he throws, and he's only gone six innings once, I believe. He's only thrown more than

80 pitches twice, including today. But I think he's more talented than Rup. I agree. His swinging strike rate is verging on 14%, which is a mark matched by very few starting pitchers. And it's actually gotten

better since he joined the rotation, having the full arsenal at his disposal. Obviously, a home run beat him here, but that's not something, actually his home run rate is pretty high this year, but he generally keeps the ball on the ground. So I think, if anything, he has some room to improve there as well. So, yeah, I think Griffin Jackson's good.

Wow, why is Griffin Jackson expected ERA so high? I don't agree with it. It was really bad when he was relieved. He doesn't give up hard contact at times. I mean, I guess that's like one drawback. for Griffin Jacks, but 88.9 mile per hour average exit velocity coming in,

that's very average. I will say Rup is just I cannot figure him out. There are pitchers that I think are bad or who I know are bad but are getting good results like Edward Rodriguez and there are like pitchers that I

know are good who are getting bad results. Gosh, should be a good example of that. I'm sure there's someone. Rup, I can't figure out. I cannot figure out if this guy's good or not. His underlying numbers are pretty good, but he just so consistently has these stretches where he just completely loses it,

including his most recent start before this, I think, where he walked six, I want to say, in two and two-thirds innings. So it's really tough. I think he's a headache at the very best, but he might be worth the headache. Can I also, Frank, I know what's your podcast,

but I want to make sure we talk about one player who we skipped over in the waiver wire headers. How dare you? It's not my podcast. We didn't skip over it, but we didn't mention him because I think the game was in progress. It just went final. Dodgers won. What a surprise, Dodgers beat the Rockies in 11 innings.

Colerrick had another huge game. He went three for five with two doubles to RBI. He is hitting 309 with a 978 OPS for his career. He is probably not that good, but he's looked really good. I think the Rockies, are going to have to clear out playing time for not just him, but Charlie Condon and Zach Veen at some point.

Those guys are going to have to get some reps in the second half of the season. I think we're going to see some big trades from them. Jake McCarthy, ship him out. Jake McCarthy, among others, I think they should at least be talking about trading Hunter Goodman. Colcare deserves to play every day for this team. I don't know if it's going to work in the long term, but I really like what.

what we've seen from him, he's remained very, very productive. Yep, I love that call as well. We spoke about him yesterday. Just the one annoying thing, he's sitting out like every third or fourth game right now. So that's putting a little bit of a ceiling on what he could provide right now. But as the season goes on and he continues to play well, I think he'll earn more playing time once they trade some of these guys. I think he'll just become an everyday player. And his skill set is awesome.

It's good plate discipline. He's got power. He's got speed. He's 65% rostered. Cole Carrig, clearly among the outfielers we spoke about, he's a good. at the top of the list. Like, Elia Ramos, Esmerlin, Valdez, Cody Clemens,

like Cole Carrick, clearly out of those guys. Carrick played some infield in the minors, right? Yeah, I played shortstop as recently as this year. They haven't tried. Oh, he's played three innings in the majors. Yeah, he's made two appearances

at shortstop. Yeah. That's one I would like to see, like, try him out of second base, you know? It's just crazy, because he's such a good defender. It's like you want to use him at one of the premium positions, right?

Center field or shortstop, but they also locked up Ezekiel Tovar on this big extension, and he's been terrible, so it's, I'm not exactly sure what they're going to do with that. And you know, Zach, Charlie Condon's banging down the door, Zach Veen's banging down the door.

Those are two other guys who could play the outfield, particularly with T.J. Rumfield, seeming like a fixture at first base. I should probably just trade everyone in their outfield except for Colerick, honestly. Yeah, I think McCarthy's definitely gone. I could see Mickey Moniac being on the move. I think they should trade Moniac, yeah.

Willie Castro has been playing more infield. But, you know, the bottom line, as I was going to say, it might make sense of the long run for them to give Cole Carrick more run in the infield. They're probably like his speed in that giant outfield. But, you know, they've got to find a way to get all these outfielers on the roster. Back to Weaver Wire pitchers for a second. Landon Root Griffin Jackson, who we were just talking about, would you take either of those two over any of these names

I'm about to mention Joey Cantillo? Ooh, I think Cantillo are very similar, but I think I'd take Cantillo. What about Sean Burke? I think I would take Sean Burke over all of them, too. Agree. It's really good since that velocity jumped. Trevor Rogers.

Now that gets a little more interesting. I think I'd take Rogers. Rogers has the most upside, particularly for expecting the innings limitation on Jacks to continue. And I do. I probably rank Rup higher, but not by a big enough margin that I'd argue. If somebody said, well, I'd rather have Rogers. I'd be like, okay, I'd get it. Would you take either of those two over a gauge jump?

I'd take jump. I know the last couple starts have been overwhelming. I was listening to you guys last night, but I still have faith in him. You were listening to us when you weren't on the show. What a team player. What a team player. I was sitting there.

My wife was sleeping, and I had the YouTube up to my phone, my ear for about 10 minutes. For 10 minutes. Well, now I take it all back. Just to, I was honestly, that's eye wash Chris. Did they say anything about Chris?

No. Okay. I'm sorry. Well, maybe if you listen to the whole thing, you would have heard what, no, I'm just kidding. Would you take either of those two over Troy Melton? No, Troy Mountain. Agree. I'd rather have Melton.

J.T. Ginn. I'd rather have Ginn. That one's closer for me. I think Ginn doesn't have the same kind of talent. Ian Seymour. I would say, Seymour and Jacks are very similar. But yeah, now that we're, this happens. This always happens.

We go through a period where there's no good pitchers to add, and then there's a bunch. and then half of them will be bad in their next start and then we'll go through the whole process again and then some will be good in three months or three weeks, whatever. All right, moving on with the Waverwire pitchers, two names in kind of the mid-tier of roster rate. Ronaldo Lopez pitched well against the Mets,

five innings of one-run ball, five strikeouts here. And Shane Drohan turned in a quality start at the Cardinals first time completing six innings for him. Three runs, one of those earned. only two strikeouts in this one, also allowed 13 hard hits. Are either of those two more than streamer types right now at this point? It's pretty hard to get excited about either of them

with all the names we just talked about who are, you know, in the what, 70 to 80% range largely? I will say, you know, Rinaldo Lopez, the fastball was up again. He got good results again. It wasn't up as high as the previous start, but, you know, it's pretty close to where he was two years ago

when he had such a good season. But ultimately, it's not nearly as high for priority. He's not nearly as high. Rinaldo Lopez has all those names you just rattled off. Two deeper names. Eric Lowry, quality start against the Rocky, six innings, three runs, three strikeouts, seven games with the Dodgers,

312, ERA 109 whip, 21 strikeouts over 40 and a third innings. How is he doing this? And then Brandon fought, pitched well at the Padreas, five shutout with six strikeouts to zero walks. Very deep league names. Any interest? Eric Lauer, Brendan Fott. Dodge have a good defense.

Maybe he can keep getting away with it, but I don't see any reason to expect that. And no, I'm not doing the Brandon Fott thing again. And I have a drop here for you. I'm not that you probably didn't need me to tell you, but he's 46% rostered. Walker Bueller, two disastrous starts in a row. Last two, nine innings, 16 earned runs, five homers loud. He was pitching very well before that. Nine starts before these last two, 264 ERA 117 whip.

50% ground ball rate, but he's Walker Bueller, so I think you'd go ahead and drop him if you still have him on your team. Speaking of drops, the most dropped players on CBS this weekend on the hitter side of things, Paul Goldschmidt from 74% to 56% rostered. He has sat out for the past eight games. He is also 0 for his last 26 in his past 8. games. Are you guys okay with Goldie being dropped in leagues? Yeah.

Non-corner infield leagues, yeah. J.J. Bladay from 77% to 61%. Last 18 games, he is hitting 123 with zero homers, a 412 OPS, 84.4 average EV and zero barrels. I am more inclined to give Bladay the benefit of the doubt than Goldschmidt, but I don't have a lot of faith in him either.

Willie Castro from 58% to 46%. I think that's him coming off a seven-game week in Corse Field, so people are dropping him there. Lawrence Butler from 51% to 39%. I think it's fine. It wouldn't surprise me if he pops up at some point this season, but the playing time has been inconsistent. He has not been very good.

Noelvi Marte from 49 to 39%. His playing time has actually picked up. He's been kind of mid since getting back. getting 2-17, 5 homers, 3 steals. So another name where I could see him mattering at some point in this season, but he's not really making the most of his opportunity right now. This one I don't really get. Royce Lewis from 60% to 52%.

He's playing every day, and in 26 games since returning, he's hitting 272 with 5 homers, 3 steals, and 8.13 OPS. He's hitting the ball hard. Bower rate looks good. I don't get that one. I would not be dropping Royce Lewis. Yeah, I think he's looked better than he has at any point since at least early last season. So, yeah, I don't really think Royce Lewis should be trending down.

I think he's, especially with first and third base eligibility, you probably have somewhere on your roster, at least in a roto league for him. Third base, especially. Yeah, first base, he's not, I don't think he's in my top 30. Yeah. I mean, based on how we were talking about. about Vinny Pasquantino. Well, that was one that I was like,

I would have Royce Lewis than Vinny Pia. That would be close. That's a close call. It is a close call. The most dropped pitchers. I'll just run through the names. If there's anyone that you don't agree with dropping right now, just stop me.

Tatsuya I mean, that one makes sense. I mean, we're really excited about him a start ago, and then he reverted back with the control. I get dropping him. I haven't dropped him in any of the least. leagues where I picked them up yet personally. I think I want to see if that was just a blip with the control going bad again. I think the problem with it is all the names that we just ran through, right?

I'm more interested in all the ones that, all the names that I went, went through like the process, this guy or that guy, I would rather have all those any by right now. Yeah, I get that. Cantillo, Burke, Seymour. Yep. J.T. Ginn and Land of Roup. I'd rather have all those over. Over EMI.

Yeah. Roki Sasaki, I think we're all right with that one. Yeah. Aaron Nola, I think we're good with that. Gage jump from 88% to 76%. So the lower number there is still higher than the higher number was for a my. So I think I agree with jump being dropped in that amount of leagues, though I would rather not drop jump. Shane Bieber, I think we're good with that one.

Noah Cameron. Mitch Keller, Bubba Chandler, from 78 to 70%. All right, if Chris is saying we could drop him, I think it's all right to drop public Chandler. I think he's going to be good at some point. He's not good right now. Yep. And then Ryan Weathers.

He's still rostered in a lot of leagues, 84%. But it is starting to tick down now. And I guess the nationals next, I believe. I think it makes sense. Like, he has an opportunity still, and I know that he gets strikeouts, but he's been pretty bad over the past month and other names are emerging.

So I think I'd be all right with Ryan Weathers and some shallower league dropping them there. All right, let's do, I have a little, have a hate real quick, but I have Fantasy Feud as well. Let's do the feud. Let's do the feud, and then we'll see how much time we have left afterwards to run through some of these leftovers here. You teased it.

I mean, you cannot do it. We got to do it now. Scott has to get his revenge. We have to give him the opportunity. So let's fire it up. Yeah, the Fantasy feud. For anyone out there who doesn't know, it's like the game show family feud.

I've got three questions. I will, not three questions, but three leaderboards. And I will present those to you guys. And then we'll play it out. Someone buzzes in and we'll go back and forth. And we'll see who could take down the fantasy feud. Are you guys ready? So right.

All right. Here we are. If my mouse on my other computer will start working. Are you ready? Yeah. That would be good if I was. All right. Eight players have at least 15. home runs and 10 steals

this season. They are ranked in home run order. I'm buzzing in. I'm buzzing in and I'm going with Pete Crow Armstrong. Pete Crow Armstrong is the number four answer on the board. How is it ranked? It's ranked by home run order. Okay.

Gosh, okay. 15 homers and 10 steals the season. They're ranked by home runs. Eight players. Well, now seven. Scott, you I already said Pete Crow Armstrong. Yeah, yeah, you got a chance to beat it. It was only the fourth best answer, so you can get one of the top three.

Okay, so it's ranked by home runs. Gosh. Okay. Um, I should have an answer. We're going to need one. And I will come up with one. Right now. Ellie de la Cruz.

Ellie Dela Cruz is incorrect. Scott. Passing. You're on the hot seat, Chris. Oh, God. Gosh. All right. You got three strikes here, Chris.

Eight players with at least 15 home runs and 10 steals. Pete Crow Armstrong is gone. Jazz Chisholm. Jazz Chisholm is incorrect. I don't think he has 15 home runs. So that's one strike. That's one strike. Huh.

This is, this is, I'm going to admit, mildly embarrassing. My performance right now. Jazz has 12 homers and 26 steals. Being on the hot seat, isn't it? I better come up with an answer myself, though. Jose Ramirez. Jose Ramirez is incorrect. Jeez, okay.

He definitely has a steel number. I don't think he has the power. Jose Ramirez on the season has 10 homers, 24 steals. Why can't I think of any baseball players? 15 homers, 10. C.J. Abrams. CJ Abrams is correct. Chris stays alive.

That is the number six answer on the board. Yeah, he's one home run away from his career high, I believe. He homered again here on Monday. He's up to 19 homers and 15 steals. I just keep looking at every team name and I can't. Corbyn Carroll. Corby Carroll is incorrect. Scott, you are up for the steel, 15 homers and 10 steals on the season.

So I was actually having trouble thinking of the combo too. And so this is going to seem like kind of an... Should be easy. Off the board answer. And I'm sure there are more obvious ones that just aren't coming to mind. We're embarrassing ourselves again, I'm sure, by what the names everyone else is shouting. But I'm pretty sure this is right, even though it's off the board. Danesby Swanson.

Jamesby Swanson for the steel is correct I believe it's 16 home runs and 11 steals here for Swanson James Wood James Wood the number one answer Chris okay yeah I wasn't sure he was there with the steals

yeah he has 11 steals yeah bumping up against but still is O'Neill Cruz on there is another one is not on the list so he is James Wood Miguel Vargas Oh of course

Jordan Demon Miguel Vargas Jordan Walker Yep Pete Carr Armstrong Zach Netto, C.J. Abrams, South Stewart, and Danesby-Swanson. There's the eight that I've accomplished this. I at least won one category this time. Yeah, you did.

But I'm going to win the whole thing. What I was going to point out is that nobody on that list had an ADP inside the top 30 entering the season, which goes back to your point yesterday that's got you brought up that the early round players, hitters in particular, have mostly not really come through. Yeah, pitchers suit. All right, let's continue on. Eight pitchers have more than 120 strikeouts this season. Chris.

Ah, dang. You're up. Christopher Sanchez is the number three answers. Christopher Sanchez is the number three answers. Yeah, I didn't think it was number one. 120 strikeouts or more. Jacob is Uralski. Oh, oh, my God.

Is the number one answer. Scott, would you like to pass or play? Pass it. Pass it on. Chris, you're back. up, man. The number one and number three answers are gone. There are six others that have more than 120 strikeouts this season. I'm just like, what? Like, what is wrong with me? Uh, Chris Sale. Chris Sale is incorrect.

What? His innings are actually quite low. Uh, Chris Sale on the season. Let's see what he's got. He's got 112. Dillon Cease. Dillon Cease is the number two. answer. So one, two, and three, the Miz, Cease, and Christopher Sanchez. So we're looking for four through eight? That is correct. Is it updated for tonight? I don't think anybody who was pitching tonight was close. But I'm pretty sure there was at least one guy, but he might have already gotten it, so we'll go with Cam Schlitler. Yep, that is the number four answer. He's already there. So top four are gone. Oh, geez. A lot of good pitchers have gotten hurt. as you guys may have heard.

This is a dumb one. Mackenzie Gore. McKenzie Gore is incorrect. Yeah, that sounds like a likely answer. Um, I don't think this guy's there. I don't think that guy. Mackenzie Gore has 104 strikeouts, by the way.

That's close-ish, I guess. Scott, get ready to steal. You have a perplexed look on your face. I got a couple names rattling around in there. Yeah, like, I'm going to say Chase Burns, but I don't think that's right. Chase Burns is incorrect. Yeah, Jerry's been weirdly low. That is your third strike.

Yeah. Scott, over to you for the steel. Chase Burns 116. He was very close. So I was think, could you, could you rattle off the names real quick that he said already? No. The top four answers are all gone. The Ms. Dylan Cs, Christopher Sanchez, and Cam Schlittler.

Okay. I am going to steal with Logan Gilbert. Logan. That's the other one I was choosing between. Is incorrect. What happens now? Chris, you win that category.

We have to go. Hey! We got to go to. to the rubber match. We'd love to back into a win. Oh, no. Logan Gilbert, 114 strikeouts on the season. The four other answers we were looking for,

Jesus Lazzardo, Gavin Williams, Braxton Ashcraft. Come on, Sky. I did think of that. I just thought Logan Gilbert was more likely. And Joe Ryan. Joe Ryan. Yeah, I thought of him too.

Yep. And the point I wanted to make here, it's been a great year for the breakout pitcher, right? So between the Mids, Cam Schlittler, obviously... Chase Burns almost being there. Chase Burns almost being there. That's who I was going to steal with.

I thought I was confident. I was between Logan Gilbert and Chase Burns, so I would have gotten it wrong either way. Braxton Ashcraft came on late as a breakout as well. Gavin Williams is a breakout for some, but overall it's been a nice year for the breakout starting pitcher. All right, for all the marbles, we've done hitters, we've done starting pitchers.

You know where we're going next. Six relievers with at least 20s. saves this season. I'm almost 100% certain. I'm 100% certain. Kate Smith is the number one answer. Kate Smith is the number one answer. Chris, would you like to pass or play?

I was looking at this the other day, so I've got some like lower, you know what? I'm going to play. Oh, he's going to play. Oh, he's going to play. Fortune Favors the bold. All right. Riley O'Brien.

Riley O'Brien is correct. Four answers left. I don't like the sound of that. Brian Baker. Brian Baker, the number two answer on the board. Okay. That's actually the easy ones, because those are the ones that I noticed when I was looking at this the other day.

I don't think Eraldus Chapman is there, but I'm going to gonna go with a Roldus Chapman. A roll this Chapman is incorrect. Yeah, he's like 17 or something. I know Louis Varland's close. Let's go Louis Varland. Louis Varland is incorrect.

Chapman and Varland have 18 each. How many saves are we looking for? 20. No, no, no, no. No, no, no. No, no. Um Paul Seewald

To stay alive Is correct Wow, what a pull What a pull I have two more You have two more to get You have only one strike for me Yeah, okay so the one

That I'm thinking Is tough because I know he was on the IL at one point But I'm gonna go with Yuan Duran. Yohan Duran to stay alive. It's correct. Okay. Now. Scott is not happy.

Like, I'm just going through every team. I said Louis Varlane already, right? Yep. Okay. You have five of six answers. Oh, there's another one who's on the IL. Is it him? Is it the guy who's been a little shaking?

I'm gonna go with Matilda's father, Andres Munoz. Andres Munoz to sweep the category. Matilda is his cat, by the way. Isn't correct! All right, rattle off the ones he's gotten again. 16 saves here for Andres Munoz. So, Chris got Cade Smith, Brian, Riley O'Brien, Yohan, Duran, Paul Seawald. We are missing the number three answer.

Scott... It's not... I'm going to say the steel and for the win. I'm going to say Mason Miller. Oh my God. The best closer in baseball. Does he have more than 20 saves this season? He does.

I literally could not say anything because I did not want to influence that category at all. But I was like, the best closer in baseball. The hot seat. The hot seat got dressed. Scott has. has taken it down and got his revenge. Self-inflicted hot seat. Would you have gotten it?

Would I've gotten Mason Miller if I was on the hot seat? No, everyone. All of them. Paul Seewald was the one that threw me. I was really unsure about Yon-Duron since he spent time on the I-L. I might have said Ryssel Iglesias, who also spent time on I-L-A-L-A-L-A. That was the other one I was going to say is Ricell Iglesias, and that would have been... Iglesias, yeah.

Once you got, had only one left, I didn't think you had said Mason Miller yet. I'm like, oh man, he's gonna. Like, how do I get everything, but how do I get Paul Seawald? The hot seat, man. And not Mason Miller, what is wrong with me? Riley O'Brien? You got the hard ones right away.

That was- Because I was looking at it the other day and I just like stopped. Yeah. That was the food. That's a tough look for your guy, Chris. I wanted to point out with relievers, three of the top five in 80p, Smith, Miller, and Duran. have all been great this season.

Andres Munoz has been very good. Obviously, Edwin Diaz, out with injury. Just going back to the top five in ADP. Riley O'Brien and Paul Seewald, late round sleepers in drafts. And then Brian Baker mostly came out of nowhere. The only person I really heard talking about him was Jason Collette, because he's about as tapped into Tampa Bay content as you could possibly find.

But yeah, those are your saves leaders in baseball. And your winner, Scott White, gets the revenge. There we go. All right, let's wrap up here. Hey Real, very quick. We'll move through these. Jose Al Tuve hit his ninth home run of the season. Overall, he's been pretty bad.

He's also 36 years old. He's gotten old, kind of quick. He also missed time with an oblique injury. Do you guys expect Altuve to bounce back much in the second half? Not really, if I'm being honest. Agreed. And part of it is, given the state of second base, I just, I don't know that there's much advantage to see in the glass half full with Jose Al Tuve.

You know? Yeah. Sometimes I look at it that way and like, okay, yeah, I could stick my neck out for Jose Altuve now, but what does it gain me to do that? You try to like steal man the case and it's like, I think the highest I can get him at second base is like 14. Yeah. And even that might be too high. Like, I, it would not take a lot of arm twisting to get Luis Arise ahead of him. And I know the two of you were down on him coming in.

And I was keeping the faith thin. But, you know, it's, you made a good case. I just made a different case. And I think your case is holding. And the thing is, he is outperforming his expected stats. It's just as expected stats have collapsed even further. Yeah. And the strikeout rate up to a career high, 22% this season for Jose Al-Tube,

which for most would still be very good. But it's obviously a high. higher for him compared to the rest of his career. Carson Benj, two for four with a walk in his 11th home run. Last 17 games, he's hitting 288, four homers. Only one steal. We'd like to see him get back to running. Only 11 steals on the season was running a lot more early on. Notice that he recently moved down to fifth in the lineup, which is still a good spot to be in. It's right behind Soto and Bichette and Lindor, AJ Uing up to lead off. So it changes the shape of the production, but I think it's still a really good spot for Carson Bench to be in.

little worried about the steals from that lineup spot. Yeah. You know, if he's, well, I mean, there's not going to be a lot behind him. So I guess, you know, I don't know. I worry a little bit about it. I've always felt like just from a strategic standpoint, like you should put your base Steelers toward the bottom of the lineup where if they get thrown out, okay, there's a bad hitter behind him.

If they don't get thrown out, maybe you get a rally out of your bad hitters. but that's not historically the way the game has been played. Ben Rice, the power is slowly ticking back up here, hit his 25th home run, has three home runs in his past six games. But he has struggled since Aaron Judge went down with injury. In his last 31 games, he's hitting 202, 8 homers, an OPS that's just barely over 700. Any concern?

I mean, we have no idea when or if Aaron Judge is going to be back and seems to be affecting both Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger. pretty hard right now. That's not so much my concern. Although this is a good example of something I like to talk about a lot, which is that lineup protection doesn't necessarily always work the way people think it does. People always think, oh, you need the big hitter behind them to

protect him. It's actually, you want hitters on base for protection. That is when you get more pitches to hit when there are guys on base. And so hitters generally hit better with, you're a hitter. guys on base. So there could be something there because Aaron Judge is always on base, but I think it's probably just a slump slash regression for Ben Rice, who I will point out, has already faced as many lefties. Actually, more, he has officially faced more lefties than he did all of last season. He had 120 plate appearances this season, 119 last year. His expected stats are basically identical against righties as they were last year. It's just the lefties are

weighing it down a little. So his expected at Woba is actually down to 369. It was 391 last year. He's the same guy, though. He's just getting a few more chances against pitchers he can't hit as well. And it's causing a little bit of an issue, but the numbers are still awesome.

He's still the top catcher in fantasy and the top, I think I have him third at first base now. Yeah. I think that's all fair with Ben Rice. It's just, I wonder if maybe, you know, pitchers have a job. adjusted to him and now we have to see him adjust back. And so, like, this is the first, like, extended slump we've seen him in, you know,

since he's become this all-star caliber hitter on the second half of last season. So we'll be interesting to see how Ben Rice bounces back from it. And Kevin Gosman, another stinker here at the Giants, five and a third, seven runs for those earned five walks, eight strikeouts. Very weird start. His velocity was down, but he got whiffs. He didn't get hit hard. He threw, the striker he was down, but, Should it have resulted in five walks.

Just kind of a weird start. And now the last seven for Kevin Gosman, 651, ERA, 147 whip. Underlying numbers still kind of like him. I don't know. Maybe Kevin Gosman is like a by-low possibility coming off this terrible stretch. At his age and with the amount he stepped back last year, I don't think it's a slam dunk by low candidate. But, you know, my guess is he's going through something. mechanically, and it's an educated guess because two turns ago, he mentioned he was having

issues with his landing leg. And then since he looked good last time, okay, maybe he figured it out, but apparently not the way, this is now the third awful start in four. So my suspicion with Kevin Gosman is he needs to get his sea legs by finding his land leg. And I think, I think that's going to happen, but at his age, you know, this could just be the beginning at the end. All right, I do have some quick hitting leftovers to mention here. James Wood, one for two, with three walks and a grand slam. That was his 24th home run of the season. On the season, he is the second best hitter in both Roto and had 10 points.

He has been fantastic. C.J. Abrams hit his 19th home run and added three RBI. Like James Wood, they both had down June's, but have bounced back so far in July, so that's a good sign for both. Juan Soto, one for two, three walks, a sock in the shoe, his 19th home run, his seventh steal, and Matt Olson turning it back on, two for five with a double dong, three RBI for him. He has multiple home runs in two of his last four games. The call to the bullpen, this Mets Braves game was just not good for closers at all. For the Braves, Raisal Iglesias got the ninth with a one-run lead.

He gave up a three-run homer to Juan Soto. On the other side, Devin Williams, got the ninth with a two-run lead. He gave up a two-run homer to Matt Olson. Eventually, Luke Weaver got in in the 10th inning with a two-run lead. He allowed the Manfred Man to score. He also allowed three base runners, which was scary. He's walking that line, but he picked up his first save. And I'm pretty sure Luke Weaver is going to get traded at the deadline.

So kind of a, if you're in a deeper roto league and you're stashing for saves, there was a rumor that the pirates are interested in Luke Weaver. So I think he's going to get shipped somewhere and could wind up getting a decent amount of saves the final two months of the season. They believe he can get them through the ninth. I have to get Azer to sing it again and then, you know, if he's a closer, then we start playing the soundbite.

For the Brewer, Shrever McGill, got the ninth with a one-run lead. He allowed a hit, but struck out two for his 14th save. And for the Dodgers, Tanner Scott, got the ninth inning with a three-run lead. He gave up three runs on three hits and two walks. Cole Carrig, a near-based. is clearing double, but yeah, Tanner Scott just did not have it here on Monday night.

To stream or not to stream on. You know, I just, I just remembered. I asked Azer to do that like last year and he did and I never gave it to you. I just found that in my text messages. I will send it to you. There you go. This time. He's got to have the whole part, though.

Well, look, that was all I got. All right. Hey, we'll take whatever we could get. Adam is never shy about singing. He'll sing the whole song for you. There you go. I asked him for that about 15 months ago. We finally got it, baby.

To stream or not to stream on Tuesday, we have Ian Seymour up against the Yankees, Hurston Waldrop at the Pirates, JT Gin at the Tigers, Tatsuya Emai at the Nationals, Andrew Abbott against the Phillies, Seth Lugo at the Mets, Noah Schultz against the Red Sox,

Trevor McDonald against the Blue Jains. Again, Seymour, even against the Yankees. Their best hitter is out, and their second best hitter is struggling. And their best hitter struggling. True. And a distant third would be

Trevor McDonald for me. I think I agree. Yeah, I'm interested in Waldrop, but he didn't have the feel for the splitter in his last start, so kind of need to see that first. And on... And of my, obviously, like, can't touch a mind until he proves the walks are behind him.

On Wednesday, we have Dean Kramer against the Cubs, Troy Melton against the Athletics. Hmm. Connor pre-lip against the Guardians, Jake Bennett at the White Sox, Walbert Arrani at the Rangers. Rokie Sasaki gets the Rockies in L.A., but I don't think there's any way you could use them.

Melton Melton Bennett-Orenia I think is pretty pretty good I'd put Kramer there too I like Kramer I think pre-lip against the Guardians could be okay

I think it could be but Kramer against the Cubs Yeah Yeah Yeah I think that one's too dangerous And there's other good options here Sure

All right Team Nate Tuesday Let's wrap up here These are from Nick Scott T doesn't know as in like Tanner Scott no

I don't know Scott yeah that sounds yeah that could be it like yeah yeah Scottie doesn't know we haven't played in a while that's that's the best yeah

I can't think of a better explanation yeah that's because Chris and I are both on on the light days this year that's true and apparently you do know Scott that's how you

that's how you won fantasy cute so there you it's a different game and make it impossible Scott he doesn't know you have won a few times you have a few times you got a few

That's right. Bold and brash. Yeah, sure. From Micah, Dalton rushing off my team. He had another run in today. I don't know what happened, but him and Cole Carrig were, they had the benches cleared. They were jawing at each other. I don't know what happened.

I was trying, if you're watching the podcast, I was very distracted early on. I was trying to figure out, do some lip reading, but I'm not quite in the John Boy level on the lip reading. So I know they said some mean things to each other. I can't confirm anything. anything else. The top two in the feisty rankings this season very clearly, well, in whatever order, Wilson Catreras and Dalton rushing. Yeah, let's, let's not get them together. Yeah, let's not do that.

And then, ah, Sinoja boy. That's a good one. Wow, that is a deep cut. So he does add an explanation here, which some people might not know of, but circa summer 22, there was a team named Tuesday referencing a soldier boy lyric in which Scott, uh, to which Scott, in his one of one Scott Demeter responded, ah, Soldier Boy. Easily the funnest moment of FBT history in my mind. I know Chris will remember. How about...

Easily. We all remember. You! Ah, soldier boy. It was just so unexpected for, like... Just because the delivery's great, obviously, but just, frankly, Scott remembering Soldier Boy. I think I played that for you.

you Darvish a few times whenever something was going down. But yeah. Ah, Soldier Boy. Soldier Boy was a hit in the office back when I first started at CBS. Yeah. Because, you know, there was NFL Sundays when I first started, and everybody wrote player updates. So we were there all day.

And the sort of things we obsessed over were, you know, it was a period of time. time where like the memes of that time are forever entrenched in me because, you know, it was just that kind of social environment I was in. Soldier Boy was of that time. Did I, did I miss like you and Jamie like doing the cranked at? Just dancing around the office? Can Scott do it? Do you think Scott knows the dance? Because like, that's what I'm trying to think about it. And I've definitely done it within the past like two years. There must have been a

wedding or something where I was usually I was in I think that was like my freshman year of college or sophomore so like I was in a lot of bars with sticky floors doing that dance that's like muscle memory you know but I don't Scott you're just a little bit older and probably weren't going to bars with sticky floors to dance no I was I was working in offices on sundays for yeah 16 hours or whatever it was we might need a viral video clip Scott of you dancing to Soldier Boy if you want to make that happen. Ah, Soldier Boy.

You never know. These are from Marty. All-Star break coming up. Yeah, we need some content. From Marty, Jack's Fifth Avenue. Yeah, okay. Schneem and Marcus. Yep.

Varshals. Yep. Burleson Sproat Factory. That's a good one. Varshal's so dumb. Bro. These are from Tyler. In glorious Bos starts.

Oh, wow. I have to be careful. That's good. Bubba Jump Shrimp Company. We haven't. We haven't exhausted all the uses for jump yet. Freed Green Tomas Nitos. Pinyango.

That's a heath one. Yeah. Pinyango Unchanged. Yeah. Yeah. The steer hunter. Oh, yeah, yeah. Deer Hunter.

The Galaxy is on Joe Ryan's belt. That's very good. That's a really good one. Doesn't Steer Hunter work on kind of two levels? Because... You don't really hunt them. Well, I'm just... They're usually penned in.

Okay. A boring hunt. You're right. You're right. But the Galaxy is on Joe Ryan's belt. That's very good. I was thinking Stagg. You know, I was thinking Stagg, not steer.

You're right. Steer is just livestock. From a different, Tyler, Gage against the McLean. Yeah. I like it. And from Tate, this one came in on X. 8, 6, 7, 5, 3, Cone.

8, 6, 7, 5, 3, Cone. It's very good. I enjoy that. All right, we're going to wrap there. On a day with eight games, we went out an hour and 20 minutes. Only us. We were the only ones we could do. We could have gone longer.

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

Criminal Minds Evolution is back on Paramount Plus. We are going to go where the evidence takes us. This season, evil is contagious. Once it starts, it can't be stopped. Criminal Minds Evolution. New season now streaming on Paramount Plus.