Fantasy Baseball Today - Cubs Promote Pete Crow-Armstrong! Woodruff Shutout & Early 2024 Thoughts (9/12 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 12, 2023

The Cubs are promoting their top prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong (3:28)! ... Logan O'Hoppe has four home runs in the past four games (10:37). ... Brandon Woodruff just tossed the first shutout for his career (15:21). ... Trea Turner and Bryce Harper stay hot in the second half (19:12). ... Ronald Acuña, Matt Olson and Michael Harris keep hitting home runs (22:05). ... Lars Nootbaar has had a solid second half (31:45). ... Reid Detmers has two quality starts in a row (36:00). ... News (42:17): Shohei Ohtani was scratched again. ... How early did CJ Abrams, Royce Lewis, and Cedric Mullins go in that 2024 mock draft (53:15)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (58:40). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Another day in September, another big prospect promotion to talk about. Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Tuesday, September 12th.

I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White. Today on the show, we'll be talking about that prospect, the Cubs making some big moves here. The Braves will not stop hitting home runs. Brandon Woodruff tossed the first shutout of his career and much more. Before we get started, help us out by liking this video and subscribing on YouTube if you haven't already.

And if you're listening on the audio side, download, follow, and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. I know a lot of people have been hitting us up, thanking us for helping them out throughout their season. you know, some people kind of ending their fantasy baseball season a little bit earlier. You know, if we helped you win, help us up.

Give us a five-star rating. We do appreciate that. Scott, you're here and you're wearing a hat. Look at us. We're twins. I know. We even kind of wore the same color shirt. I know.

It's kind of weird. It's not planned. And I don't actually care for that. But that's fine. I got a hat. Like, I don't think the hat really works for my setup here because my light, the light that lights up my face is a little. above me. And so it just casts a shadow over my eyes

instead of being well lit like this. So I probably won't wear a hat much, but I didn't get a chance to shower today, so I didn't want you to see what my hair looked like. Uh-oh. Well, that's entirely the reason why I don't wear a hat. I always wear a hat. We are number one in fantasy advice

and number 100 in hygiene. Oh, well, not the shower part. the part where I don't want to show everyone my hair. I'm just too lazy to kind of style it. I thought I thought I had some solidarity here. Okay, that's fine. Anywho, let's talk. I'm the gross one.

You kind of look like a Sith Lord right now with like the shadow over your eyes. I'm going to call you Sith White throughout today's podcast. Let's talk about the Cubs promoting their top prospect Pete Crow Armstrong on Monday. And by most estimations, a top 10 to 15 prospect in all of baseball, 21 years old, a first round pick back in 2020.

This year in the miners, PCA, it's so much easier to call them PCA, batting 283 with 20 homers, 37 steals in 876 OPS across AA and AAA. Lots of power and speed here. He's hit for good batting average across the miners as well, Scott.

He's 28% rostered. He's also a left-handed batter, so I don't know if he's going to play every day with the Cubs. What are your thoughts on Crow Armstrong as a prospect and whether or not we should add him in fantasy? Well, you did bury the lead with Pete Crow Armstrong. Did I? Which, I mean, if you're on social media and you follow a lot of baseball accounts,

you probably already heard this. But if you don't, you should know that Pete Crow Armstrong is the real life son of the mother from Little Big League. That is probably my favorite relation fact for a player in the majors. I think it tops Jose Miranda being the cousin of Lynn Manuel Miranda, which is also amazing. But I think this is more amazing. Have you seen the movie Little Big League? I just looked it up on Google. I definitely have seen this when I was a kid, but that was a long time ago.

And the love interest in Little Big League is a player with red hair, and he has red hair. So I don't know, it's almost a little too perfect. But anyway, P. Crow Armstrong is a high-energy player, excellent defender in center field. I'm inclined to give almost the same take for him that I gave for Cedon Raphaelho when the Red Sox called him up in that I'm not totally sure the power is going to translate.

You definitely see a path for this guy becoming like an awesome player. But like the exit velocity readings are pretty bad. His average exit velocity at AAA was 85.9, which is really bad, really bad. Is that true? I saw 88.9 on Fangraphs. If the data I'm looking at is right here, P. Crow Armstrong, 85.9. Max exit velocity, 107.3. Yeah, I see that same max exit velocity, but on fan graphs, it does say,

88.9, which still isn't amazing, but it is better than 85. So I don't know. There could be some discrepancy here. Okay. Well, whatever the number is, I'm looking at prospects live, but whatever the number is, it's not like he's, it's not like he has a lot of raw power. He's managed to hit for pretty good power in the minors. Will that translate to the majors?

Unclear at this point. I also, as with Raphaela, I don't think it's clear that we're going to see Crow Armstrong in the lineup with great consistency. he obviously, you know, improves their defense with him in center, not that Cody Bellinger is a bad option there, but Cody Bellinger's already playing a lot of first base. And it seems like the Cubs are hesitant to play Jamer Candelario at third base. They do it sometimes, but they would rather have him at first base, it seems like.

So the only path, I think, for Crow Armstrong to be a true everyday player is to send Cody Bellinger to first base, full-time, send Candelario to third base, full-time, Mike Talkman to DH full-time or at least rotate a few outfielders at DH with Talkman. The worst bat in the Cubs lineup is the guy currently playing third base, Nick Madrigal. So that does make some sense. Like if they want to go maximum upside lineup, they would do that. But given their hesitance to play Candelario, I don't know that they're going to do that on an everyday basis. His first game up, Pete Crow Armstrong, appeared as a pinch runner and stayed into play center field,

you know, since he is such an asset out there defensively. I don't know, maybe it's prospect fatigue with so many being called up in recent weeks. But I, you know, even in some five outfielder leagues, I might have a hard time making room for Pete Crow Armstrong. Yeah, and just to put his fielding in perspective, I know you mentioned he was a very good fielder. On MLB pipeline, they have him created out as an 80-grade fielder. and on fan graphs, they have his upside as a 70 grade.

So we're talking about a truly elite defender here in center field. So, you know, that could help get his bat in the lineup, maybe against right-handed pitching. My guess is they're not going to play him against lefties. They did not start him here on Monday against Kyle Freeland. Pete Crowe Armstrong, 28% rostered. Scott, would you rather take a shot on him or Evan Carter, who went two-for-four with his first career home run here on Monday? I mean, I haven't been totally on board with Carter,

but we've seen Carter playing a lot. He did hit a home run. I didn't see the exit velocity on that home run. Do you happen to have that? I didn't see it either, but I can pull it up while you're talking. Yeah. So, you know, I've had my doubts how many home runs he's going to hit at this stage of his development under 2.4.

Yeah. It did go 406 feet. It didn't. It looked like it landed pretty far when I saw it. Yeah. It was kind of a line drive, home run. I don't know. Like, he didn't hit that many in the miners,

and that is in his scouting report, something that is more predicted for the future than he's providing in the present. And at 21, is he ready to take this step? I have my doubts, but he's a good on-base source, and the Rangers seem to like playing him. So I would give Evan Carter the edge over Pete Crow Armstrong just based on the little bit we've seen of him so far. And I do think both players are only for deeper leagues as of now, 15-team, five outfielder leagues.

Maybe if you're really desperate in a 12-team, five outfielder league, you know, look, Keeper-Dinacy leagues, yes, we're excited about both of these guys. But for the remainder of this season, maybe not as much. So just- The Memorial Magazine League, which is a 12-team rotisserie league, five outfielders, he went for $0 in the fab bidding yesterday, did Evan Carter. I don't think, I mean, I guess we didn't find out until today that Pete Crow Armstrong was coming up, but Evan Carter himself didn't only, he, there wasn't like a bidding war for him in that five outfielder league. So I think that shows kind of where everybody stands with these guys right now.

All right. Once again, the Cubs promoting their top prospect, Pete Crow Armstrong. And hopefully we'll see him in the lineup here on Tuesday. Let's talk about the rest of Monday's action. Oh, my goodness gracious. All right, Scott, you are up. Your Player of the Night. My Player of the Night is Logan O'Hoppy.

He went two for three with a couple ding-dongs. He has four home runs in his past four games now and seems to have recaptured the stroke he showed in April when he emerged as at the time he was looking like the most exciting rookie in fantasy, particularly at a weak position like catcher. So I think, I think with the four home runs in his past four games, Logan O'Hoppy has reentered the discussion.

It's been a pretty crowded group of catchers who've caught our attention here at the end of the season. I'm not slotting him ahead of Mitch Garver. I might put him ahead of Yainer Diaz now, given the way Yiner Diaz playing time, has suffered like we feared it would yiner diaz chas mccormick both of their playing time has suffered under the reign of dusty baker and so i think o'hopi's back ahead and you know he's he's

putting in a good word for his 2024 draft value as well the weird thing about o'hopi is like what stood out for him most in the minor leagues was how much he walked his on-base percentage was just in sane. His walk rate in the majors this year is only 6.2%. It's not very good. Obviously, different caliber of pitching, probably seeing more strikes in general. Maybe it's a good thing that he's not being overly patient.

But I do think there is the potential for him to walk more in the future based on what he did in the minors. 70 walks and 104 games last year for a 416 on base percentage. All right. Again, that is Logan O'Hoppy. Are we looking at him in one catcher league, Scott, or is it just two catcher leagues for now? Because I think for me, I agree with you on Mitch Garver. I'd rather have him than O'Hopi.

I think I would still take Cabr-Ruiz and MJ Melendez over O'Hoppy. I know those guys have had pretty good second halves. What do you think about those? Yeah, I think I would too. He's right on the fringe of being rosterable in one catcher leagues. I'll tell you. I mean, it's just a, it's obviously just a, a byproduct of this time of year where, you know, as I talked about yesterday, you really can't afford to miss. You have to, you have to give every lineup setting everything you've got, which can be dangerous.

It can be dangerous to have that mindset because you'll overvalue, there can be a tendency to overvalue what's happened recently. You can suffer from recency biases. You're setting your lineups this time of year because you're trying to will yourself to, victory in a way. You're not so much during other times of the year. I have J.T. Real Muto in the podcast league,

the head-to-head points league, the podcast league where I'm playing you in the semifinals, Frank. I have J.T. Rio Muto. I obviously used a pretty high pick on him. J.T. Rio Muto has been he's been disappointment all year, but he's been terrible in recent weeks.

Terrible. Let's see. I'm going, back a few weeks here. A couple weeks ago, he actually turned in a decent number, 26 points. But the breakdown week by week, you know, more weeks than not, he has been under 10 points since the All-Star break. So I benched him against you, Frank.

I picked up Mitch Garver. I bench J.T. Rio Muto. I didn't have the guts to drop him. And so I hate rostering two catchers in a league where there's only 21 roster spots. Didn't quite have the guts to do that. But I picked up Mitch Garver and started him against Duke Garver. Garver scored five today without the benefit of a hit. Real Muto scored one.

So far, so good. I don't know that I'd be willing to bench Rio Muto for, that's the most dangerous word for me to say, bench. I don't know that I'd be willing to sit. That could be dangerous too. To sit Rio Muto for Logan O'Hoppy, but the thoughts creep in this time of year, Frank. They do.

Would you take Logan O'Hoppy over? Shea Langalears, who has seven home runs in his past 18 games. He's played much better recently. And Bo Naler, who went two for three with his third steal on Monday here. And he's played pretty well recently also. Do you take Logan over both of those? Yeah. Okay.

Logan O'Hoppy, by the way, 30% rostered. So there might be a few two catcher leagues where he's just still kind of lurking out there. Oh my goodness gracious for me, I'm going to go with Brandon Woodruff, who turned in the first complete game shutout of his career and the first shutout by a Brewer's pitcher since 2021 going up against the Marlins he allowed just six hits one walk seven strikeouts here 11 swinging strikes on 106 pitches and he has turned in four straight quality starts he's looked very good since coming back from the injury overall brandon woodruff has made nine starts this season he's got a 193 era a point 79 whip 10k per nine 13.3

percent swinging strike rate. There's a few things that are concerning. He's given up more fly balls than ever before, and as a result, he's done a good job of limiting hits, but something that might not be sustainable, a 194 Babbat, but that's like really low. And his strand rate is really high. So I think there's been a little bit of luck involved here with Woodruff,

but the dude has been rock solid. I asked you last week, Scott, you said you could see him being drafted as a top 10 starting pitcher in fantasy drafts next year. And speaking of which, that early mock draft we did last week, the first six rounds, he was the SP10 off the board, which is exactly what we said. You know, top 10 pitcher drafted, and I think it makes sense. The only thing is we need him to stay healthy.

That's been the biggest issue for Brennan Woodruff. Yeah, it has. But he's been a top 10 pitcher for the past few years already, and among those who were drafted within the top 10 this year, he's one of the few who's lived up to our expectations for him. Other than missing all the time with injury, I mean, when he's been healthy, he's lived up to it. And, yeah, I'm not going to be too critical of some of those underlying numbers. I mean, when a guy has a 193 ERA and a .79 whip, there's going to be some unsustainability there in the underlying numbers.

But I think Woodruff is exactly who we've always known him to be. And yeah, I'm not going to, I'm not going to ding him for the hell so much next year either because, there are so few, there appear to be so few relivals in the pitching pool right now. I know things can change, obviously, and I'm not going to hold you to this cup, but just I guess an early lean, what do you think for next year? Would you rather have Brandon Woodruff or Tyler Glass now? I would rather have, I think Woodruff, but I reserve the right to change my mind, as you already said.

I just, because I want to be. I want to not be, to not overemphasize workload expectations at the expense of talent level. And I do think Glassnow is of a higher talent level than Woodruff. I mean, you can't get that much higher than Woodruff. But I do think Glass Now is one of the few pitchers who is. He's never, you know, we talk about Woodruff's durability concerns. Glass Now has never thrown even 120 innings. the majors, right?

Yep. Yeah, 11 and 2 thirds was his high in 2018 when he still, that was the season split between the Pirates and the Rays. So, man, this, he just crossed 100 innings

for the second time in his major league career this year. Like, that is a different level of durability concern, I would say, for Glass now. So as of now, I'm inclined to say Woodruff over him. I do think it's really close.

The Welsh asked me that same question last. last week. And at the time I said Woodruff, and then we did the mock draft and I was on the clock and I actually took Glass Now. So I don't know. It's, again, it's really close. But I do think both are going to be like top 10 or top 12 starting pitchers drafted next year. Brandon Woodruff and Tyler Glass Now. Another day, more home runs for Trey Turner and Bryce Harper. It feels like we've said that a lot in the second half of the season across the double header. Chwarber too. Yeah. Yeah, it's true. Not that he had a homer today, but just like he's been on a

crazy home run binge of late. And for the longest time, I mean, we were waiting for the Phillies lineup to all kind of wake up together and start hitting. It's happening right now. Not not so much for JT. Real Muto, unfortunately. But Trey Turner, across the doubleheader, two games here on Monday, four for nine with his 25th home run, Bryce Harper, two for six with his 16th home run. And I noticed that Bryce Harper will officially have first base eligibility for next year's drafts. On CBS, you need 20 games played. Today was actually the 23rd game he played at first base. I think other providers, too,

it's, I don't think it's any more than 20 games. So my guess is Bryce Harper will have first base eligibility everywhere next year, which is good. It's good for him. Yeah. I mean, it's part of the reason why I kind of caught myself last week when we were going over those early mock draft results.

I was saying, oh yeah, first base is week. This is how we were talking mid-season. But since then, we've seen Cody Bellinger become eligible, first base, Bryce Harper, become eligible at first base Tristan Casas takeoff, Spencer Torkelson takeoff, a couple other things have changed. Nolan Jones, is Nolan Jones going to have first base eligibility there next year? Nolan Jones is 162 game pace.

Like it's kind of ridiculous. We keep talking about him as a waiver wire pickup because this 162 game pace is like fifth round numbers. So Nolan Jones, nah, he's only got 10 at first base. I don't think he's going to have eligibility there. No, I don't think so good. Yeah. But he is eligible right now, which has helped to make the position seem not so deep at all.

I mean, not so shallow at all. All right. And I actually have this Guardians and Giants game on right now. Another blown save for Emmanuel Class A who extends his own lead. I think it's 11 blown saves now on the season. That is a lot of blown saves. And I think he has 39 actual saves. I know, look, there's always going to be a few blown saves.

in there, but he technically could be up to 50 saves right now if he converted all of his saves. Seven, eight, blown saves is a lot. Yeah. He's had 11. Yeah. Crazy. Nolan Jones, his 162 game pace coming into Monday, a 280 batting average, 28 homers,

24 steals, 90 RBI, 84 runs. It's a good player. It's a really good player. And even if he strikes out a lot, the fact that Nolan Jones plays in Corse Field is just a huge factor for him. So I think he's going to be a pretty interesting, I think, mid-round sleeper for next year, but we'll see with Nolan Jones. Speaking of the Phillies, they were going up against the Braves here head-to-head, and the Braves offense just will not stop hitting home runs. Ronald Acuna, in game one of their doubleheader, went two for five with a sock and a shoe, his 36th home run,

65th stolen base of the year. And in case you're wondering like I was, what is the record for most games in a single season with a home run and a stolen base in that same game. Ronald de Cunia has now done it 11 times this year. The single season record is 13 held by Ricky Henderson. So it's still possible. We've got what, I don't know, 20 days left in the season, something like that. The way Acuna is playing right now, it's wild. Yeah.

He can smell that 40-70 season. We thought 30-60 was a big deal. Crazy. 40-70. Let's do it. Yeah. Shout out to Chris Towers, by the way. I was just kind of thinking out loud with that stat, and then he actually looked it up and he found all the answers. So thank you, Chris. He's good at finding stuff quickly like that. I wish I was better at it. Yeah. You know what? We should probably just ask him. I'm pretty sure he would show us how to do it, you know?

He's our own, what's that Elias Sports Bureau? He's our own private version of that. Yeah, basically. Matt Olson, by the way, you know, Acuna is not the only one hitting home runs. Olson, two for three with a double dong. The first to 50 home runs this season, he's betting 279. He's also first by far in RBI. He has 127 RBI. The next closest player is Pete Alonzo and Kyle Tucker with 103. So Matt Olson has 24 more than them. It's lineup has been awesome. He's been awesome hitting all these home runs. And you know I'm rooting for him. Because I still got that bet, so let's go. So 50 home runs puts him one away from the franchise record for home runs.

So that seems like a record that's sure to fall. And, you know, that's saying something considering the Braves for a very long time, had the all-time home run leader and Hank Aaron, who doesn't even own the franchise record, the franchise record 51, that's Andrew Jones. But still, an impressive accomplishment for Matt Olson, if and when he gets. gets there. I was a huge fan of Andrew Jones just like growing up. It's whatever. Sidebar, I guess. Should be a Hall of Famer. I hope he makes it in there. Well, they just retired his number, which was interesting because, you know, like when Greg Maddox, Tom Glavin, John Smoltz,

Chipper Jones, when all of them were done with the Braves, their numbers never got reassigned. it was like they were retired before they were officially retired. Andrew Jones 25 got reassigned over and over again. Everybody from Troy Gloss to Christian Pache or 25 for the Braves. So, you know, that was like, are they ever going to retire this guy's number? And they finally did. Nice. So good for them.

Yes, good for them. Good for him. And lastly, I do want to mention Michael Harris. He also had a huge day across both games. Four for eight, four for eight with two homers, four runs. three RBI, and we know he got off to that terrible start, but since the beginning of June, 86 games for Michael Harris. He is batting 335 with 14 home runs, 56 runs, 42 RBI, and 15 steals.

And that way too early mock drafts got, Michael Harris went 31st overall. How does that sound to you? Yeah, he's going to be a tricky one. So you gave the numbers since the start of June, if you want to say 82 games instead of 86, it becomes a 347 batting average. So in a little more than half a season's time, Michael Harris has hit about 350.

And his batting average is basically now, like for the year, his batting average is basically what it was last year. And that was part of the part of what we didn't think he'd be able to sustain as a batting average in the 290s. Well, even though he entered June 8th or whatever it was, about 160. He's managed to get that batting average up into the two 90s again. So I think that's proven to be a pretty durable part of Michael Harris's skill set. The power production

hasn't been as good. I haven't looked if the launch angle's been better because that was part of the reason we expected him to take a step back to. The ground ball rate has been, you know, it's still high. It's 49%. It was 56% last year. So that's gotten better for Michael Harris as well. certainly the exit velocity suggests he has legit power the kind that could lead to a big home run total and you know he steals some bases what's held him back a lot this year is batting ninth in the lineup as often as he does we've seen him hit second a little more recently here but obviously the Braves

it's such a star-studded lineup that is there is there any opportunity for him to rise that much because if he's stuck in the nine hole, it's going to be hard to justify a third round pick in him. Investing a third round pick in him. I see him more, and I haven't actually made rankings yet,

so that may change. But I'm thinking, I'm thinking fourth round at the earliest for Harris, and I will probably, I'll probably be looking to draft an ace before, I draft Michael Harris.

Like there are certain hitters that I'm going to prioritize over any pitcher, but then we're going to get to a point in the hitter rankings where it's like, I got to grab some reliability, some upside at starting pitcher before we get into the glob.

And I think Harris is going to be, is going to come after that for me. Okay. It's interesting that you bring that up because in that mock draft, I had picked 12 of 15. And if Michael Harris was there for me at 312, I was planning to take him.

I made my second round pick and then I filled up my cue. Michael Harris was part of that cue. Some players that had power and speed, obviously I put Michael Harris in that category. But yeah, I think if he was there, I actually would have taken him over Tyler Glass now, but maybe 31 is a touch early. But you're right.

I mean, I think in a 12-team league, you get into the fourth round, you know, around pick 40, something like that. I think that's probably the right range for Michael Harris next year. Well, what hurts also is that he hasn't really up his stolen base prowess in a year where so many players have. So he's just this 20 to 25 steel guy.

And how much of a help is he honestly going to be in that category? Well, some amount. But 20 to 25 steals doesn't mean what it used to. I quickly wanted to pull up his sprint speed. He is 88th percentile. So maybe there's a potential for him to steal more bases. It wouldn't surprise me. I think he's talented enough.

I think he's athletic enough to pull it off. And one other thing on Michael Harris, I wanted to see how he has performed against lefties this year because that was a big reason why I was fading him as well, the ground balls, the plate discipline. This season against lefties, Michael Harris is betting 299 with a 797 OPS. He has just made huge tries this year.

And frankly, I'm a fan. But, yeah, we'd like to see him bat higher in that braz lineup. Let's take our first break when we return. We'll take a look at some waiver wire hitters, some waiver wire pitchers. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back into fantasy baseball today, and let's take a look at those waiver wire hitters.

We already spoke about Logan O'Hoppy up there at the top with what he's done over his last four games, four home runs during that time. I do have some outfielders here. I know we've talked a lot about Sayas Suzuki and Nolan Jones. I agree. Those guys are at the top of the list right now. But a couple other names that I have written down here,

Lars Neupar just kind of surprised me that he's 74% rostered. He's been much better in the second half. Two for five with his 10 stolen base here on Monday night. And in that second half, batting 299, eight homers, five steals, a 956 OPS for Lars Neupar. Tommy Pham went three for five with his 16th home run. In 34 games with the debacks, he's hitting 261, six homers, 25 RBI, seven steals. So power, speed, right in the middle of that lineup, giving you some counting stats. I think he's just been rock solid, Tommy Pham.

and Max Kepler, who I know you added to the sleeper hitters this week, two for three with a walk and his 22nd home run, also having a great second half, batting 294 with nine home runs and an 899 OPS. Scott, it might depend on, you know, matchups for next week, which I haven't looked into yet, obviously, but what do you think about Lars Neupar, Tommy fan, Max Kepler? Oh, like you're thinking in terms of ranking or just in general?

Yeah, ranking them. I mean, in general, I had to drop Logan, Lars Newbar and one of my shadow three outfielder leagues with Jonathan India coming off the aisle. I had to make room for him and I actually dropped Newbar. So I understand why

his roster rate is where it is. He's just kind of he's been kind of a tweener in three outfielder leagues. And, you know, I spent a lot of time on the IL recently. So if you didn't have an IEL spot for him, you may have used that as an excuse to drop him.

He is my favorite. of these three, but he has had an issue elevating the ball this year that's really cut into his power production. And so that has limited his upside, even if he's been kind of steady and useful throughout. Fam and Kepler, they're fine matchups plays, but I think in the average week, certainly in a three outfielder league, I wouldn't. prefer to use them. Okay.

Two other names here, some rookies that got called up recently. Ronnie Maricio continues to run wild, one for three, with a double, two RBI, and his fourth stolen base in nine games. He's betting 313 early on here. Hitting the ball hard, 90.2

average extra velocity, but a ton of ground balls. He's up around 70% ground ball rate. And Nolan Shenwell, with the Angels. He extends his on-base to 18 games. That's right. He has reached base in every single game that he has played. The problem, he has just one extra base hit, and it's a double. A 405 on base percentage so far for Shanwell. He's 25% rostered. Maricio is 44%. Do those numbers sound right, Scott? Maricio, 44%

Shenwell at 25? Yeah, for the most part. Maricio, like, I could see it being higher than 44%, but the stolen bases are mainly what's sustaining him at this point. And we need a little more than that, I think, in most leagues. Shanwell, I mean, that's a guy living up to a scouting report almost completely. He feels very John Jaso like to me, where he's just going to battle lead off, start against Ritees, get on base at a nice clip,

but really not too much else. And that's going to make him a more valuable real-life player than fantasy player, probably, particularly since he's only eligible at third for most of John Jayce's career. He was catcher eligible. So that's where I'm at with Nolan Shenwell. Okay.

Let's slide over to WaverWire pitchers, and we know Jose Cantano was a popular ad this weekend and came through, I would say, in his first start, five innings, two runs, four strikeouts, 12 swinging strikes on 90 pitches. And so far, he has allowed two run runs or fewer in eight of his 10 starts with the Mets, a 305 ERA, and a 127 whip here for Jose Cantana. He's still out there in some leagues. He's 68% rostered.

Jordan Wicks, I know we were nervous about him going into Corus Field. He pitched very well. Six innings, one run, only two strikeouts. The strikeouts have been an issue. He has three or fewer in three of four starts. but a 199 ERA, a 106 whip. He's pitched well so far. And then Reid Detmer's back-to-back quality starts.

He was at the Mariners. Seven innings, three runs, seven strikeouts to zero walks for him. I noticed his velocity was down in the start, and he completely changed his pitch mix, faded his slider, and went kind of change-up heavy here. It's not really a pitch that Reed Detmer's used very often in the past, but it seemed to work here in this start. How would you rank these three, Scott?

Kentana, Wicks, and Reed Detmer's. Well, Kentana's still my favorite. He is lined up for a two-start week this week, which means it's probably his last two-start week. And it was disappointing. He didn't give you the quality start. You know, seven of his previous eight-word quality starts. So it's like, let's get this quality start.

Machine didn't line up. It wasn't bad, but an inning shy of being a quality start, which matters in points, leagues especially. His next start, if he stays on turn, I believe it's against the. Reds? I think you're right. And that would be fine to use him for that turn.

And like he just feels like a safe option down the stretch. If you just, if you need somebody else to plug in, even if it's just for one start that week, his last two in the last, in the final two weeks. So he gets the Reds this weekend if they stay on turn. And then after that,

it looks like Philadelphia and then maybe Miami in the final week. You may not want to start. I'm against Philadelphia, but that Miami matchup should be good for Jose Cantana. So he's my favorite. I like that Red Demers is scheduled to face the Tigers next time out. He's also a two-star pitcher, so it'll be his last two-star week. And then after that, it looks like he'll get Tampa Bay and maybe Oakland, so he might keep him around for that Oakland start in the final week if your lead goes that long.

the pitch mix thing because we've always made such a big deal with the slider for Reed Demers I mean that's what allowed him to take off midway through last season that's where we've been monitoring the velocity on that slider

throughout this season and so for him to almost completely abandon it and end up with his best numbers and this was his best start of the second half right I think so yeah no he had a nine strikeout game fresh off the break. But yeah, it's been a, it was his best start in a long time. It was his best start in a long time

despite just not even really throwing that slider. So I don't know if it was an element of surprise or maybe he just hasn't had a feel for that pitch and that's why he struggled so mightily. But I like that matchup later this week against the Tigers. So if it is Daily League, Dutmers would probably be the higher priority for me ahead of Jordan Wicks, who I remain pretty skeptical of. I mean, six strike out. It's over 17 and two-thirds innings in his last three starts. It is, I don't care how good you are getting ground balls. That is, that is, it's tough to manage that.

All right, let's, I had one name as a drop here. And we've mentioned him before as a drop. Michael Lorenzen continues to struggle since throwing his no-hitter, his last five starts, a 796 ERA and a 185 whip. He is down to 74% rostered. I assume you'd be okay dropping him. for any of these guys? Is that all right?

Lorenzen? Yeah, I have no I have no ambitions for Michael Lorenzen at this point. Okay. Two names in deeper leagues. Ken Waldichuk was great as a bulk reliever at the Astros. Six no-hit innings, one walk,

three strikeouts had ten swinging strikes on 67 pitches. And in Walde-chuk's last seven games, a 263 ERA and a 117 whip. He's pitched very well recently. and Patrick Corbyn, I don't know if there's anything we could do with this. I mean, he still has an ERA over five, but it was a great start at the Pirates,

six and two thirds innings, two runs allowed, eight strikeouts, with 18 swinging strikes on 98 pitches. Any thoughts on Walde Chuck and Patrick Corbyn? Corbyn's slider usage was the highest. It's been all season, 52%. If he continues with that, maybe he can have more. starts like this, but there's no predicting whether he will, and obviously his bad starts have been pretty dreadful. So I'd continue to avoid Patrick Corbyn. Waldechuk's gotten to be kind of interesting

here. He was, when he was a big strikeout artist in the minors, mostly for the Yankees, it was with a fastball and slider primarily. He's, he's taken a step forward with this change-up, which kind of has the opposite movement of the slider, and he seems to have better control with it, so he's been able to reduce the walks, better strike thrower. It's still not quite a high enough strikeout rate during this seven-star stretch.

He's at 31 strikeouts and 37 and two-thirds innings for me to buy into him as a breakout or anything, especially since he pitches for the athletics. But there may be something to see here with Waldichuk. I liked him as a prospect. And obviously it hasn't gone well for him in the majors overall, but I liked him as a prospect, and he's maybe figuring things out.

All right. Again, that is Ken Waldichuk. Let's get into some news and notes here. Shohay Otani was originally in the Angels lineup, and then he was later scratched. So, you know, this time of year, Scott, it's kind of a mess. You know, I saw he was in the lineup. I put him in one of my lineups,

and then later on, So he was scratched again. I had to go and get him out. And I think one of the only drawbacks to having leagues with weekly fab, and then you can't make pickups after that, is that the past couple of weeks, it feels like this has happened a lot, where on Monday out of nowhere,

we get these injury updates, like Albert Alzolai placed in the IL today out of nowhere. I have them in Tout Wars. I didn't have a reliever on my bench to replace him. So now I just, I have to take a zero in my lineup. Same thing, like Gabriel Moray.

He was just placed on the paternity list. I don't have a backup catcher in that league. So I just have to take a zero. And same thing happened a couple of weeks ago with Matt McLean. It's kind of frustrating, man. Like, I don't know. Yeah. And I know some people don't like the weekly waiver run for that reason.

And that's, you know, that's fine. It makes my life easier since I have so many leagues. Like if it was just free ad drops or daily waiver wire, I'd miss out on so many pickups. Like, so I like that, I like that it makes for more competitive bidding when your waivers only run once a week. But of course, most people don't play like that. Most people play with free ad drops, really. So, you know, they don't experience that frustration.

And really, when they play in our leagues for the first time, like, with the podcast leagues. And they're like, there's always this confusion at the beginning. What? I can't pick somebody up at 1155 in the morning, you know, 1155 Monday morning before lineups lock. I can't do that. Nope, you can't. it's a trade-off. You know, you just have to decide what you prefer,

if you prefer the competitive bidding more than sort of the flexibility and convenience of making an ad drop whenever you want, then you'll, you know, you'll decide what works best for your league. I have seen hybrid setups where it will be just one run of waivers during the week,

but they'll be kind of like this grace period. Yeah. Monday morning, which is the best of both worlds, but that takes a dedicated commissioner. Because that's, you know, you can't actually set it up to run automatically that way. They have to change the settings

at the same time every Monday to get it to work that way. So it'd be nice if you could set it up to do that automatically. I actually, I know that you could do it on CBS on the football side because that's how my home league is set up where Fab runs on Sundays and then we have just open waiver wire until, lineup slock at 1 p.m.

So if we could do it on the football side, we might be able to do it on the baseball side. So I don't know. Yeah. We got to look into it. There's definitely an option for a football side. Obviously you would have to, because waivers run in football

traditionally late Tuesday, right? Yeah. So it would have to be a situation where it's midweek like that. Gotcha. Yeah. So when waivers run out. Like,

kind of awkward timing in baseball. Yeah, so in football it runs Tuesday into Wednesday. We don't have open waivers after that run. But then we run them again Saturday night into Sunday morning. And then after that, it's open until 1 p.m. So it feels like something we should be able to do on baseball, but we'll look into it. I think it's probably the right answer. It's the best of both worlds.

Jason Dominguez was officially placed on the IL with that torn UCL in his right elbow. Estevan Florial was recalled by the Yankees. and there was another report that said Dominguez is likely to miss the first half of the 2024 season. So hopefully we can get them back in July or August of next season. Adbert Alzalai was placed in the IL with a right forearm train retroactive to September 10th. Julian Meriwether picked up the save on Sunday and has had a pretty good season, lots of strikeouts, big fastball velocity, 15.8% swinging strike rate. And then here on Monday, Michael Fulmer got the final two out.

for his second save of the season, but Maryweather had pitched the past three days in a row. What do you think happens here in the back end of the Cubs bullpen scum? Yeah, I mean, my first reaction was that it would go to Mark Leiter, who's been the primary eighth inning guy, but he's been pretty shaky lately, and Maryweather's pitched well. Maryweather, remember, for a hot minute, last year, we thought he might be on the verge of overtaking Jordan Romano with the Blue Jays,

and then he got hurt. very soon thereafter. And it became a non-issue, and obviously Romano has become what he's become. I guess I would lean Maryweather. And the way the Cubs have been racking up saves lately, that's a pretty attractive pickup if you need them. But I can't rule out the possibility

that lighter factors in or that it's a committee of some kind. I do think it was a weird situation today with Fulmer getting the save because Drew Smiley had pitched the previous inning and they kept him in for the ninth. And then they removed him mid-inning. I think they just wanted him to get Ryan McMahon out,

so lefty-on-lefty. Yeah, possibly. But that kind of almost lends credence to the committee idea. Yeah. I don't know. We'll see. Like, I do know Tanner Scott is available in more than half of CBS sports leagues.

And so if you play in one of the many leagues where he's available, that's a better choice than anybody from the Cubs bullpen. Yeah, these are very deep league sports. Beck ads, I would say. Meriwether, only 6% rostered on CBS, so widely available. Christian Yelich's back is improving, but he was out of the lineup for a third straight game on Monday.

Orioles GM Mike Elias? Yes, Elias. I wanted to say Elias because of Diaz, but I know it's Elias. He confirmed that Felix Batista is dealing with a partial tear of his UCL, but the team remains hopeful that their closer will pitch again in 2023,

which we have seen from other pitchers in the past. Masahiro Tanaka pulled it off. So it's possible, but he also throws really hard. So I don't know. I'm a little bit skeptical there. Andrew Abbott, this is your answer for whether to start or sit him this week. He will not start for the Reds on Wednesday. He's already up to 153 innings this season, 35 past his previous career high.

For now, we're not sure when he'll make his next start, but I know Connor Phillips will start in his place. Shane Bieber is scheduled to make his first rehab start Tuesday at AA. He's been out since the All-Star break with right elbow inflammation. Jorge Saler has been cleared to begin a hitting progression. He's eligible to return September 16th. That's later this week, but it's unclear if he'll actually be ready to go by then. Sandy Alcansara is rehabbing with the team but has yet to resume throwing.

He was placed on the IL last week with a right forearm flexor strain. Jose Siri was diagnosed with a hairline fracture in his right hand after getting hit by a pitch on Monday night. Chris Sails' next start has been pushed back to Saturday when he'll face the Toronto Blue Jays instead of the New York Yankees. Ryan Pepio's next start will come Wednesday against the Padres. Jamer Candelario was out of the lineup Monday after he left Sunday's game with tightness in his back.

Chris Bryant was activated and batting cleanup for the Rockies on Monday. Hunter Goodman, unfortunately, was out of the lineup. Another guy picked up in Tennessee. out where is this week. Jared Kellnick was activated and in the Mariners lineup batting seventh and playing right field. He's been out since mid-July with a fracture in his left foot. He's 58% rostered. Scott, any interest in Jared Kellnick? Sure, in five outfielder leagues. I would go with him over Peacrow Armstrong or even Evan Carter. I think I would put him behind Tommy Fam and Max Kepler though.

What do you think? Yeah, I might put him ahead of those two, but it's, they're very much in the same range for me. Okay. Alec Manoa, who's been shut down since August 10th, probably won't pitch again this season. Alan Wynens, who was optioned after his great start on Sunday. The White Sox optioned Oscar Coloss to AAA for the second time this season,

and the Brewers selected Josh Donaldson's contract from AAA. He was in the lineup batting fifth. against a lefty in Jesus Lazardo. Let's take our final break when we return. I do have some players that made some noise here on Monday. Where did they go in that mock draft? I thought there were kind of interesting picks, so we'll run through that.

Some leftovers. We'll do it right after this. Welcome back in, and let's talk about some interesting picks in that way too early, 24 mock draft that we did. The first six rounds of a 15-team league, so we got 90 picks into it. CJ Abrams went two. for four with a double dung, and he's now up to 18 home runs since being moved to the leadoff

spot. The last 55 games, Abrams is batting 275 with 11 home runs and 30 steals. He went at pick 68 in that early mock draft, Scott. What do you think about that cost for CJ Abrams? I think it sounds pretty good. Now, to clarify a few points here, you say this mock draft, we did, we meaning you and several Tao Wars participants. I wasn't part of this draft. Also, Tao Wars is normally an OBP league instead of batting average, but you guys were mocking for a traditional 5-by-5 league, not. So batting average rather than OBP.

Correct. Right? Because that makes a difference in Abrams case. Yeah. Because the big concern with him still is he doesn't walk much at all. And so most of his OBP comes from his batting average, And though it was thought to be one of his best tools, we haven't really seen improvement in that area as his production. Well, not great improvement anyway.

But just the fact that he's become a prolific base dealer, like he should have been all along, obviously improves his profile. And I think that him going fifth, what, in round five, 68, 68th overall would be round five in a 15 team league, right? Yep. Round six in a 12 team league, if you want to do that conversion. As a 40 steel guy who also has some power,

I think that goes to show that, like, you don't have to be dead set on drafting a base stealer in round one and that there is a strong case for taking a Corey Seeger in that range. And now, Corey Seeger is also a shortstop, but you know, Freddie Freeman or whatever else. Right. All right. So sounds good on CJ Abrams.

Royce Lewis, went one for four with his 12th home run, added three RBI, and since returning from the IL, Lewis has played 23 games. He's betting 300 with seven homers, four steals, and a 965 OPS. In this early mock draft, he went 89th overall. So the second to last pick of round six. How does that sound for Royce Lewis?

Well, it sounds relative to Abrams. It sounds like not as good of a deal. But I mean, his stock is on the rise, and I want to make it sound like I'm some Royce Lewis downer here. I don't think stolen bases are going to be as big of a part of his profile, though he does have four and 23 games. And, you know, he hasn't walked a lot either, but he does hit the ball incredibly hard, and I think the power is legit. I mean, as a hitter, he's been great in the majors.

It's just he's missed, you know, at that long time off with the torn ACs. But he's He's somebody I'm going to be targeting a lot If it's more like the middle rounds I think that's a little higher than I'd prefer And I wonder if it has something to do with it being a 15 team league And somebody was feeling the squeeze at Shortstop

Or is he just going to be eligible at third base next year? I think he's only going to be third base. Yeah, maybe they were feeling the squeeze at third base then. Maybe. The last player on this list is Cedric Mullins. He went two for three with his 14th home run, added 4 RBI. He has struggled some since returning from the IL. 28 games. He's batting 2.28, six homers, three steals. Notice that he's been sitting against left-handed pitching recently as well. Has, you know, in his career hasn't been as very good against lefties, I guess you could say. I'm all used to bat righty against lefties, but not anymore.

It feels like this groin injury, which Mullins has been on the the IL for twice this season has pretty clearly affected him. He, I think, lasted way too late in this mock draft. He went 90th. You went to the last pick of round six, one pick after Royce Lewis. That sounds like a pretty good deal. And 90th would be like round eight in the 12th team league, right? Yeah, I guess that's, I, he deserves to be discounted from where we drafted the past couple

years. I think we gave him more of a pass last year, because two years ago, remember he, get a 30-30 season. Last year it was a 16-home or 34 season with a lower batting average. And we still drafted him pretty high because stolen bases were more scarce, but they're not as scarce anymore. They're more sources of them. He's proven twice over he's not a huge power threat.

And if there is any risk of him sitting against left-handers, that obviously hurts Mullins' cause too. So I think he was appropriately discounted there. and I don't know if I'd wait quite that long to draft them next year, but I don't see myself drafting them more than a round earlier either. All right, well, I guess we'll put a ball on that mock draft for now. Let's get into some leftovers here, and we'll start off with Kyle Wright's return.

It was pretty bad at the Phillies. Three plus innings, six hits, six runs allowed, only had three swinging strikes on 62 pitches, gave up a bunch of hard contact, the velocity was down a little bit in this one. And I think it's reasonable that he's struggled. He hasn't really pitched much this year. But he's 66% rostered, only 9% started.

I just don't think we're going to have enough time to get to the point where we can trust putting Kyle right in our lineup, Scott. Probably not. I was kind of surprised how rostered he is. I imagine people just stuck them in their IEL spot in two-thirds of CBS sports leagues and left him there for all the months he was out. And that's why he's so rostered. It's going to be harder to roster him now that he's back, though,

and you can't keep him in that IEL spot. And certainly I'd swap him out for somebody like Jose Cantana. We did see Hunter Green come off the aisle and have two horrendous starts in a row, and then the two starts after that he looked great. and so maybe Kyle Wright will get into a similar groove and be fine. His final rehab start, he allowed one hit and three innings with seven strikeouts, so I was kind of hopeful for his return to the Braves rotation. But yeah, you obviously have to see a turnaround before you use them in fantasy,

and we may just, the calendar may run out before that happens, as he said. Some other pitching leftovers, Framber Valdez put up his third double-digit strikeout start of the season. He was facing Oakland, seven innings, three runs, 10 strikeouts for him, 18 swinging strikes on 96 pitches. Got back to using his curveball and change up more in this start, so I think that's good news for Framber Valdez. Stackcast also said that his cutter was up five miles per hour in this start.

I don't know how accurate that was, but that's what they said. Gavin Williams turned in a quality start, but control continues to be a problem for him. six innings, three runs, four walks to two strikeouts. He now has four walks in back-to-back starts and has four or more walks in five of 15 starts. So control kind of an issue here for Gavin Williams. And then one bad pitching left over, Jesus Lazzardo just crushed at the Brewers,

five innings, ten hits, six runs, four walks. So he's crushing you with the whip. He's crushing you with the ERA. Velocity was down in this one, and we've cited before that those ennings are really starting to add up here for for Jesus Lozardo. He's just been really consistent this year. He's gone on stretches where he looks like a borderline ace. Then he goes on these stretches where he seemingly gets rocked.

It's kind of frustrating. Well, that's kind of everybody, right? I mean, the same thing happened with Dean Kramer gave a five earn runs and four and a third to the Cardinals today after his previous eight starts at 235 ERA. And I, you know, Dean Kramer's obviously of a lower, lower talent level than Jose, than Jesus Luzardo. But this is what's made pitching so frustrating this year is that a misstep, a hiccup for a pitcher can't just be, you know, a not-so-great outing. It's this, it's this complete blow-up that ruins your whole week. and even some in the ace class have been vulnerable to that.

We went through the fantasy point per game breakdown compared to last year and just like everybody's suffering from this. And it just feels totally random and very difficult to predict, unpredictable, basically, which works out great for us. But everybody's suffering with it. This was an interesting stat we didn't get to from the weekend. And we're running out of time now, too, but I'm going to go ahead and wrenching it. So Seth Lugo, who we've been touting a lot in recent weeks, his start Saturday was one of these blow-up starts, six earn runs in four and a third innings at the Astros.

It was only his second start in the last 10 in which he allowed more than two earn runs. So eight starts in 10, two earn runs are fewer for Seth Lugo. Sounds like a really great stretch, right? Well, the two bad starts during that 10-start stretch were so bad that his ERA actually went up from 3-72 to 380 during that 10-start stretch where eight times he allowed two-run runs are fewer. I mean, that is, that says it all right there. Like, you could have left him in your lineup and enjoyed all those great starts and still your team's ERA would have gone up. Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah, it's just been pretty interesting year in terms of trying to evaluate.

pitching and you know we're I feel like we're going to have to go back to the drawing board this offseason and figure out what we want to do for next year. Some hitting left over is Gunner Henderson went three for five with his 25th home run. He also has nine steals on the season, batting 257. Overall, pretty successful year, I would say for Gunner Henderson. Willie Adamas went three for four with two doubles, a triple three runs and four RBI in his last 21 games. He's batting 284 with six home runs and 25 RBI. And I noticed he's underperformed his expected numbers by quite a bit this season. So I don't know.

Maybe Willie Adomas is a player to buy low on next season. I can't imagine there will be much enthusiasm for him. Yandy Diaz went 4 for 6 with his 20th home run. Manny Machado, two for five with a double dong. He's up to 28. Mookie Betz went two for four with his 39th home run. Added 4 RBI. He's betting 313 with a 10-20.

OPS and Julio Rodriguez had a game-tying Homer in the 10th inning of that game and he joins the 30-30 club. Him and A-Rod are the only two Mariners to do that in their history. And it's also just the 44th player in MLB history to be part of that 30-30 club. So a massive second half here for Julio Rodriguez will get him back into the top five picks again for next year. The call to the bullpen, a few updates for the Braves in game one of that doubleheader. Ryssel Iglesias got the ninth inning with a two-run lead. He gave up a game-tying home run to Bryce Harper. The Braves would eventually take the lead and win on a save by Kirby Yates.

It was his fourth of the year. And then in game two of their doubleheader, the Philly side, Craig Kimbrel, gave up a hit, but converted his 23rd save of the year. For Tampa Bay, Pete Fairbanks struck out one for his 23rd save, for the D-backs Paul Seawald walked two, but picked up his 30-third save. For the Rockies, they just cannot find somebody to close out games.

Tyler Kinley is the latest to try it. He got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He gave up two runs on a walk and two hits, took his second blown save and second loss of the year. And then for the Cubs, we mentioned this earlier. Drew Smiley started the ninth inning. He got that first out. Michael Fomer then entered.

He walked one, a hit by pitch. Got the final two outs for his second save of the season. Let's wrap up here with to stream or not to stream. And we'll start with Tuesday, which now has 17 games on the slate because we had some rainouts on Monday. So we got some double-headers. It's going to be a pretty crazy show tomorrow night.

It's got it. I think it's going to be a long one. But on Tuesday, let's see. What are we got? John Means has his season debut against the Cardinals. Brandon Williamson is at the 10th. Tigers. We have Brian Wu

against the Angels, Calquantral at the Giants. I don't feel great about any of these. Yeah, I'm kind of stretching here. Yon, Adon, at the Pirates. So many options, none of them good. So means, obviously, you know, you run into the same risk

of what happened with Kyle Wright. Brandon Williamson is coming off illness, right at the Tigers, not that he's a super reliable pitcher anyway. Yon Adon at the Pirates, I mean, I can see how it goes well, but you're really rolling the dice on any of them. And you'd have to be pretty desperate, I'd say. Okay.

Brian Wu against the Angels is in that discussion as well. Yeah, I think he might be my favorite, but I don't really love that group either. On Wednesday, I think we have some better options here. Logan Allen at the Giants. Kyle Harrison is on the other side. He's facing the Guardians. We have Mike Clevenger against the Royals,

Ryan Pepio against the Padres. Some pretty good ones. Yeah, so Ryan Pepio, I guess he got moved up a day now that he's going Wednesday. He's probably my favorite. He was the highest among my sleeper pitchers for the upcoming week,

the highest among those listed here. Logan Allen was also on that list, though, at San Francisco. They're pretty bad against lefties. Kyle Harrison, I mean, that's a boomer bus play. It could work out really well. I mean, against the Guardians, I don't think it has that much downside. But, you know, he may do more harm than good to your ERA and whip.

So in the pursuit of strikeouts, you have to wait if that's worth it to you. All right, we're going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to 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.