Fantasy Baseball Today - Detmers vs. Cabrera, deGrom's Value & the Drop-O-Meter! (8/8 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 8, 2022

What's gotten into Paul DeJong (2:20)? Add Edward Cabrera or Reid Detmers (8:35)? ... How should you handle Jacob deGrom after his masterpiece on Sunday (14:05)? ... Do we have any interest in adding Graham Ashcraft or German Marquez (19:55)? ... MJ Melendez is heating up while deep league corner infielders have emerged (25:45). ... News and notes (33:49): we have updates on Fernando Tatis and Mike Trout. ... Is it time to drop Sean Manaea and Aaron Ashby (46:12)? ... Do we start Pablo Lopez and Jesus Luzardo this week (52:52)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpens and streamers (57:10). Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get 20% off Fantasy Baseball Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Well, hello there. Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Monday, August 8th. Frank Stample joined by Scott White today on the show.

We have a bunch of way-ro-wire options, the dropometer, When I add players, we got to drop players too. Jacob de Grom was otherworldly on Sunday, so we'll talk about that outing. And I guess what we should do with him rest of season, assuming your trade deadline hasn't passed. And of course, we will get into much more. But let's jump in.

Oh, my goodness gracious. Well, hello there, Scott. How are you doing? I'm fine. That's good to hear. I'm pretty good. Kind of a rough weekend for our teams, right? We were talking beforehand.

Yeah. Your bravos, my Yankees. Not looking too great right now, but. No. Yeah, the Mets certainly look like the real deal in the NL East. I was kind of optimistic about the Braves' chances of passing them at some point, just because I've seen this story play out this way so many times before. But when you get DeGrom and Scherzer in the same rotation,

yeah, it kind of looks like game over at this point. They're up six and a half games now after taking four or five. you know, they're still close to two months to be played so things can change, but given the current makeup of the Mets roster, they look pretty formidable,

that's for sure. Not Dodgers formidable, who I believe are 35 and 5 in their past 40 games. Insane. But, yeah, I don't know how anybody's going to beat them, but we've said that before, and they've been beaten. So, yeah,

so there are some dominant teams out there. That's for sure. Yeah. It's shaping up for a fun finish for sure, heading into the postseason, but we've got time before that comes up. All right, oh my goodness, gracious, from the weekend's action. Scott, where would you like to start? I would like to go off the beaten path here with somebody who's only 8% rostered and a hitter.

And that hitter is named Paul DeYoung of the St. Louis Cardinals. Another pretty good team, those Cardinals. And they may be better now that Paul DeYoung is. back in the fold, which may seem surprising to say, given how awful he was at the start of the season, the fact he's only 8% rostered again. But in eight games since returning, he has homered three times, he has doubled three times. He has six walks versus nine strikeouts again in eight games. And he also in the minor leagues in AAA, where he spent so much of this season trying to

rediscover his form. six times in his final nine games before returning. So you combine majors and minors. Paul DeYoung in his last 17 games has nine home runs. Clearly very hot right now. And, yeah, I tried to look into maybe what he changed. Get kind of an explanation. Get some, really some reassurance that what we're seeing now.

now is legitimate improvement and not just some heater that he's on. And I didn't find much concrete information. Paul DeYoung basically just says his confidence has been restored. And now when he's up in a big situation, he's not dreading being up in a big situation. He's confident that he's going to come through. His manager says, you know, he's going with pitches now instead of trying to pull everything. These are typical things you hear about play.

who are no longer struggling. So I don't have anything concrete for you, but Paul DeYoung was obviously a fantasy asset in the not too distant past and is hot enough right now as a middle infielder that I think he's worth looking into again and in leagues deep enough

that they have that extra middle end field thought that it might actually be a struggle to fill for you. Right, yeah. I mean, especially in those deeper 15-team leagues, middle infield spot, if you need power, it seems like that's going to be the obvious skill that Paul DeYoung provides.

It's funny that you bring up his confidence in big situations because this weekend that was so evident, right? On Friday, he's got runner, two runners on base facing Clay Holmes in the eighth inning. He hits a two-run double, a go-ahead double there for the Cardinals at the time. And then a three-run homer. That was the exact situation he was referring to. And then a three-run homer here on Sunday, which actually wound up being the difference in the game because DJ Lemayhew hit a home run in the ninth inning,

that would have tied it if it wasn't for DeYoung hitting that three-run home run the inning before. So it's funny that you bring that up. Yeah, definitely does look confident early on here in his return. He's got six games this week, including three games in Corse Field. So specifically for this week's matchups, you love to get those games in Colorado.

A couple other deep league middle infielder have emerged here, Scott. Luis Renhifo, his last 38 games now, he's batting 327, three homers with four steals. He's 18% rostered. Nick Gordon with the Minnesota Twins. He is hot. His last six games, he's got 10 hits, one homer, two steals.

He's playing more consistently now with the twins. They've had a lot of injuries. And kind of interesting from like a power speed perspective, just looking at his stat cast profile. This is Nick Gordon. 92nd percentile hard hit rate, 72nd percentile on sprint speed, and he's got three different position eligibility.

Jose Barrero hit two home runs this weekend, a double dong on Saturday. So there's a lot of, names emerging here, Scott, do you like Paul DeYoung more than the other ones I mentioned? Yes, I like Paul DeYoung the best of that group. I did put in, in some of those 15-team road leagues I'm in, some low dollar bids on Nick Gordon. The data, as you point out, is pretty interesting. I believe it was pretty interesting last year, too. But he actually does have a considerable number of abats already, 232 of bats entering Sunday. Five home runs, five

steals. So, you know, maybe like a 10, 10 pace, 12, 12 pace if he was a full-time play. Or not not crazy production. Maybe he could be kind of a Gene Seguerite. By the way, Gene Seguer himself is back, had a big game on Sunday. And he's only 64% rostered. So he would trump all of these guys if you're looking for a middle infielder. But I would say Paul DeYoung of the three mentioned here, I would rank them to Young, Nick Gordon, and and then Luis Renhifo third. Okay. And Jose Barrero, I threw him in that mix too, Scott.

He would behind all those names. Oh, yeah. Well, yeah. I mean, he did have the two homer game. One of the home runs was hit less than 100 miles per hour, which isn't particularly impressive. But the main hang up with Jose Barrero for me, in spite of his high prospect standing,

he was terrible in the minors this year. I mean, awful, awful, awful. 209 with a 649 OPS, 37.6% strikeout rate against minor league pitchers, really bad. So I'll need to see more than just an isolated two-homer game from him. He followed it up with a three-strikeout performance Sunday, and that's more, that's closer to what Barrero's been doing all season. I agree with you wholeheartedly with Gene Seguer as well. He is 68% rostered on CBS. That has to be close to must roster, like 100%.

Because I have to imagine somebody out there needs a second baseman or a middle infielder in their league. And he was really, really good earlier in the season. The Phillies offense is really kind of clicking right now. And that's without Bryce Harper. So once they get Bryce Harper back, hopefully for September, the stretch run, this offense will be even better. Gene Cigar are back inside my top 15 ranked second baseman. So again, I do think he is a must add where a vet. Let's move over to some waiver wire pitchers here. Scott, oh my goodness gracious for me,

Edward Cabrera, who made his return on Friday, and he was going up against the Chicago Cubs. He tossed five no-hit innings in his return. He had eight strikeouts to three walks, 17 swinging strikes on 78 pitches. Got him on all different kind of pitches here. Five on the slider, five on the curve, four on the change-up, three on the fastball. We know he throws the ball very hard. he can generate these whiffs 14.8% swinging strike rate through the four starts he's made this season. Obviously, it's a pretty small sample size. Does struggle with control. There's no doubt about that.

5.2 walks per 9. He's 50% rostered, pretty widely available at the Phillies this week. Don't necessarily love the matchup, Scott, but what did you see from Edward Cabrera on Friday? And do you think he is a must add where available? Well, two big things stood out for me with Cabrera. you mentioned one that he got at least three swinging strikes on four different pitches. You don't see that a lot. Usually it's one, maybe two pitches that are responsible for the bulk of the swinging strikes.

Also, he allowed no hits in five innings. Remember his first two starts after he got called up, he allowed three hits in 12 innings. Then he had one start where he gave up. like seven hits. But, you know, there's this start with zero, those are first two with a combined three. Also on his three rehab starts before getting called up,

Edward Cabrera allowed one hit combined in 12 innings. So, you know, if you remove that seven hit start from the equation, he's been pretty close to unhittable everywhere he's pitched, which is pretty interesting. So yeah, I would say at this point, I know I've been kind of lukewarm on him when he's come up before. Of course, he's missed a lot of time with injury this year. So it's been a while since we've really needed to analyze him. But I think I'm back on board with Edward Cabrera being one of the biggest pitcher pickups from this weekend.

If not the biggest, I'm just not sure about the roster rate of some of the other guys who would be in that discussion. I don't know what Reed Dedmers is up to in terms of roster rate. Yeah, he was the next one I was about to mention. Detmers, I have at 70%, but maybe that went up. Pretty low. Yeah, 70%. So still available there. Scott, let's compare.

These are the four that really stood out to me most. Detmer's has now allowed two run runs or fewer in five straight starts. He was at the Mariners, seven innings, one run, seven strikeouts, 17 swinging strikes in this start. He is, as I mentioned, 70% roster. George Kirby. His first quality start since July 2nd. He was up against the Angels. Six innings, one run, eight strikeouts to zero walks. He had 14 swinging strikes. 68% rostered is George Kirby. And then Kyle Gibson, Scott, I believe you have as a sleeper pitcher

this week. He's got a great matchup going up against the Marlins once again. He went eight innings, one run, four strikeouts against those very Marlins. Overall numbers for him are not great, but we obviously do like that matchup. So how do you rank those four? Edward Cabrera, George Kirby, read Detmer's, Kyle Gibson. I go Detmer's number one. I think I'm still going to go Kirby number two, but I saw when I was looking, reconfiguring the two-star pitchers for next week,

which I do every Sunday. It seemed like there were a couple sources that seemed skeptical Kirby was going to make a start at all this week. I haven't seen anything official saying they're going to skip him, but he threw only four innings in his previous start, even though he was pitching well. So there's some inning chicanery going on with Kirby, understandably, and that could complicate his situation.

So, yeah, Detmer's one, Kirby 2. That's a close call with Cabrera 3. And then Gibson 4, who I don't think has the upside of the others. I think he's a fine matchups type because he generally pitches deep into games. I do want to mention the numbers for Deppmers because it's getting to be all the more impressive every timeout. So in five starts, it's returning a 116 ERA, a 0.9. four-whip, 11 strikeouts per nine innings, 14% swing strike rate. He's clearly a different guy with this slider that he figured out how to throw again in

the miners, he's got the velocity up on it. And in fact, he increased the usage of it in this most recent start at Seattle on Saturday. Debtmer's threw his slider 41% of the time. For the year, I think it's a little less than 25% of the time, 41% of the time. 41% in this start. And it's been going up since he returned. He clearly has a lot of confidence

and he should. Yeah, actually was a season high 41% usage on the slider for Detmer's this weekend. He's now ranked inside of the top 60 starting pitchers for each of Scott, Chris, and myself. And rightfully so. Detmer's has been amazing as Scott highlighted.

I think I would take Cabrera over George Kirby. I think just talent-wise, they're probably very similar in terms of upside. I just, I don't really know, like, how the Mariners are going to use Kirby moving forward. It's, it's kind of weird. But, yeah, I think I'll take Cabrera just because of that. But it is close between those two for me.

I do want to mention, we've got to get to him early on here. Jacob de Grom, Scott, about as dominant as you'll see him. Like, the guy has not missed a beat. It's pretty crazy stuff. I didn't want to talk about it, Frank. Yeah, I'm sorry. I mean, should we just skip it then? No.

You took a perfect game into the sixth inning up against your Atlanta Braves. Five and two thirds, one hit, two runs. allowed, one walk, 12 strikeouts, 25 swinging strikes on 76 pitches. That is a 33% swinging strike rate. League average is like 10%. 33% swinging strike rate for Jacob de Crom in this start. It's just bananas. 18 of those whiffs on the sliders, seven on the fastball. His slider velocity was up nearly two miles per hour in the start, which frankly Scott, I don't really want to see Velo being up for Jacob de Grom, but whatever, as long as he makes it through the start healthy, I guess we can't really complain all that much.

Seeing a start like this, Scott, it just kind of reminds you of maybe why you shouldn't try and move Jacob de Grom if your trade deadline hasn't passed, but the other side of that is he's coming off an incredibly dominant start, and you probably could get a top 15-ish pitcher for him. Well, you know, maybe even more. I mean, that's, I mean, it always comes down to what you could actually get. It's easy for us to sit here and theorize and imagine a best case scenario.

And maybe everybody in your league is as leery of DeGrom's chances of staying healthy. It would make sense that they would be. But it's a major concern for DeGrom. It's also the only concern. Like, clearly he's going to be DeGrom. He's going to be the most dominant pitcher in baseball for however long he is healthy. And yeah, I agree. I'd rather not see him throw so hard

because he didn't always throw this hard and he was still the best pitcher in baseball. He doesn't need to do it this hard. And I feel like it just increases the risk of injury, him constantly ramping up the velocity. Seemingly, every year, it gets to where he's throwing harder. But, you know, if he's going, if he does stay healthy, whether he's on your team or somebody else,

Like he's going to be a big, he's going to help that team a lot. So, you know, I could certainly understand just, okay, I've already done well without him. Now I got him just for stashing him all this time. And he could be the single player who puts you over the top if you just stick with him and keep your fingers crossed that he's able to finish out the two months without incident. But, you know, on the other hand, you were doing fine without him. You stashed them all this time. You have them now for free, basically.

You could turn that free asset into another really good asset or maybe two and let somebody else take on the injury risk. And I think either one of those approaches could be the reason you win the league. If it were me, I'd at least explore the safer route. But I'd want to be overwhelmed because in theory I'm giving up what may be. be the best fantasy asset for the rest of the season, you know? So it would, I'm not, I'm not so anxious to move to Grom that I'm going to be willing to be less than thrilled

with my return, I guess is what I'm trying to say. So you have him ranked as your SP21, and I will admit, at least for me, ranking Jacob de Grom is incredibly tough because you have to weigh how amazing he is when he's on the field versus his injury risk, but let's say you can get someone who clearly is not nearly as good on a per inning basis, like a Max Fried or even a Joe Moskro who slowed up recently. Would you do that one for one if you can turn to Grom into one of those guys? Probably not. And I know that seems inconsistent with the rankings. But what I was trying to lay out there is that even knowing the risks with DeGrom,

the benefit being what it is, I might be willing to take a bigger gamble than I would with another injury. But like, let's say this was Clayton Kirshall and he wasn't already on the IA, and he's pitching well. You know, I'm not going to be as protective of that asset as I am of DeGrom right now. So, you know, I'm willing to take a bigger risk with him for the potential huge payoff. And I'd want to be overwhelmed, like I said. It would take like a Max Fried and it would take like a big bat as well. I'm always bad at coming up with an example on the spot. But I don't know.

It would take like, let me look at an outfielder here. It would take like... What if you can get Max Fried in J.D. Martinez, right? like a top 25 outfielder. Well, I have concerns about J.D. Martinez specifically. But let's say Brian Reynolds or Teosker Hernandez along with the pitcher. Let's say someone even a little higher in like Kyle Schwerver. I think that's possible, particularly if you're in the shallower the league is, it's possible.

And I'd be tempted at that point to do it. I think Eloy Jimenez, too, Scott. I mean, I know I've mentioned trying to buy him right now, and he looks really good since returning. So maybe Eloy and another top 15 or top 20 pitcher if your trade deadline hasn't passed. But there's huge name value, obviously, with Jacob de Grom. So I agree.

If you're gonna shop, I'm just try and maximize your return if you are going to do that. Let's stick with the pitchers and get back over to the waiver wire. These were waiver wire pitchers part two. And we have Graham Ashcraft, two strong starts in a row. He was at the Brewers here this weekend. Five and two thirds, one run, three strikeouts. I did notice his velocity was down pretty much across the board in this start,

but it did not affect his production in this one. He's going up against the Cubs this week, so that's a pretty good matchup. Justin Steele tied a career high with 10 strikeouts up against the Marlins, and he's 24% rostered, good matchup against the Nationals this week. Mitch Keller makes it five straight quality starts. He was at the Orioles, six innings, one run, only one strikeout, and he is at the Diamondbacks this week. Last 12 starts for Mitch Keller, three once.

6 ERA. 1-33 whip is pretty high, but getting a ton of ground balls right now, 51%. Dane Dunning, back-to-back quality starts. He was up against the White Sox. Seven shutout innings, just one hit, one walk, six strikeouts. His velocity up across the board for Dane Dunning.

Not that he throws particularly hard, but I thought it was interesting to see. He is 17% rostered up against the Mariners this week. He's got any interest in Dunning, Mitch Keller, Justin Steele, Graham Ashcraft. I think Dunning's velocity goes up at his previous start, too. They're not quite as much. So he has a...

He's been emphasizing his slider more, I want to say recently, and that's his best swing and miss pitch. So I think Dunning might be making some changes that are going to help maximize his arsenal. Somebody to keep an eye on. I'm not saying I'm not interested in picking them up yet. Of these four, my favorite is,

Ashcraft and I'm not saying he's must roster or anything I just think I see the most room for improvement there I think he has the best chance of emerging as a real standout in fantasy while the others I don't think I have much of a chance of that really Keller yeah he's been putting together quality starts lately he's completely abandoned strikeouts to do it though kind of just leaning into this new sink that he's developed and getting ground balls with that. And that's usually not a recipe for fantasy greatness. They all have good matchups this week.

So you could consider any of them as streamers. But I think I think Ashcraft is still my favorite. All right. Weaver Wire Pitchers Part 3. These are going to be relevant in even deeper leagues in the previous group. But Matt Manning tied a career high with seven strikeouts against Tampa Bay. He went seven shutout. Four hits, three walks, had those seven strikeouts.

13 swinging strikes. He's 18% rostered. Brad Keller bounced back with a strong start against the Red Sox. Six innings, one run, four strikeouts there. Dean Kramer posted a quality start against the Pirates, six and a third shutout with only two strikeouts. And Hermann Marquez, I know it's tough to trust Marquez, especially any Rockies pitcher.

He does have a quality start in four of his last five outings, and during that time, he's got a 313 ERA 107 whip, and his fastball velocity was way up in the start, nearly two miles per hour, average 97 with the pitch. So he is 36% rostered, home start against the Cardinals. There's no way I'm using him, but kind of interesting right now. Scott, what do you think? Matt Manning, Brad Keller, Dean Kramer, and Hermann Marquez. Well, I mean, Marquez has the best chance of developing into a fantasy asset. Again, of course, we've seen him be that in the past. But I agree. I'm not,

I'm not ready to give him another shot just yet on my teams. The Matt Manning start was interesting because, of course, he was a big prospect heading into last year and was a big strikeout guy in the minors, and we haven't really seen any indication that he could be that in the majors. This start was the closest he's come. He got the seven strikeouts and seven innings. He got 13 swinging strikes, which was a career high, and a decent number.

I didn't really see anything that would indicate it's... It's, you know, something's changed for him in terms of the arsenal or the way the pitches move or whatever. I think it was kind of a fluky thing. But if Manning starts doing more of this, he could become interesting again. All right. The last group that I have here, these are reserved for the deepest leagues. I mean, they're all less than 10% rostered. Drew Smiley had his best start of the season.

Six and two-thirds shutout with four strikeouts against the Marlins. Garrett Hill, a starting pitcher with the Tigers, had a strong. start against Tampa Bay, five and two thirds, one run, six strikeouts there, 15 swinging strikes. I thought that was impressive, and his minor league numbers this season, Garrett Hill. Pretty good. Three, two, three, ERA, 108 whip, well over a strikeout per inning. 98 strikeouts over 69 and two thirds. And then Glenn Otto had one of his best starts of the season against the White Sox, six innings, two runs, seven strikeouts to just one walk. His slider velocity was up one mile per hour in this start, and he threw that slider. He sees in

44%. He's at the Astros this week, so you don't want to use him. But kind of interesting, Scott, what do you think? Drew Smiley, Garrett Hill, Glenn Otto, the deepest of leagues. I'd have a difficult time using them, maybe in a points league scenario where you need the volume. Otto, if he throws his slider more as he did in this start, he could become maybe a little more reliable than he's been. But I'm not ready to act on it yet.

It would have to be a really deep league. and probably a points league format. Otherwise, you're better off starting reliever. All right. Let's move over to some of the Waverwire hitters who emerged this weekend. M.J. Melendez is getting hot. His last four games.

He's got six hits, including three home runs. He's 70% rostered, could be out there in some one-catchel leagues. He's got seven home games this week. Scott How do you rank M.J. Melendez, Carson Kelly, Jose Trevino. You just did. Ooh.

All righty. Yeah, I mean, I would say, those are probably the three best performing catchers who could be available right now. Carson Kelly has been awesome over the past month and Trevino has been solid as well, but I agree. M.J. Melendez coming around there. The prospect pedigree and hopefully the Royals lineup in general can kind of keep it going here. Salvador Perez getting hot as well. Tommy Fan went two for five with his 12th home run on Sunday and he's now moved up to the leadoff spot for the Red Sox with Jaron dropping down in the lineup. He's 60% roster Tommy Fam is.

six home games this week. Scott, are you a little bit more interested to add Tommy Fam now that he's leading off for the team? Uh, I mean, potentially. That's obviously a positive development for his value. This was his first home run, the one he hits that Sunday. It was his first home run since June. So he had been pretty useless for weeks and weeks. Uh, but, you know, I think in five outfielder leagues, him being already 60% roster, maybe, maybe he's already picked up in all the five outfields. But if he isn't in yours, then yeah, you should look into Tommy fam.

By the way, I was curious how the royal, because I saw MJ Melendez had this big performance this weekend, as you pointed out. And I was curious how the Royals with Salvador Perez back, with Nick Prado, and Finney Pasquantino up, how they were managing to fit everybody in the lineup. And they basically made MJ Melendez a full-time outfielder. full-time outfielder and backup catcher for Salvador Perez, while Pasquantino plays mostly DH and Prado plays mostly first base. So they found a way to get them all in.

I was thinking Prado, if anyone was going to move to the outfield, maybe him, but it looks like Melendez has been there instead. And that's a good thing for his fantasy value too, because that means he'll probably play more regularly than that. the average catcher. And I feel like Melendez has been underappreciated all year. I mean, the batting average.

The batting average has been underwhelming scat. But just in general, you're right. I mean, he has been. It's picked up with this hot streak. Yeah. Yeah. He has been a productive player as a catcher eligible player in fantasy. Not that I'd want to use him in my outfield,

but I don't think anyone's really using him there anyway, right? No. You're most likely using him as a catcher or at least you should be. Luke Voigt. at multiple hits in three of his last four games since coming over to the Nationals. He hit a home run off of Ranger Suarez on Saturday. He's 51% rostered.

I know he spoke about Voight last week, Scott. Did this big weekend change your mind on him? No, I mean, he got hot, and he's still capable of doing that. But I don't think Luke Voight is going to, I mean, certainly not having the year I hoped you would coming into it, and I don't think a switch is going

to flip here and he's going to turn into the must start first baseman. I hope he'd be with the Padres, especially with that lack of supporting cast with the Nationals. Yeah, for sure. A couple deeper corner infielders who could be available, well, are definitely available. Rocky's prospect, Eli Huris Montero had six hits this weekend, including a home run, and he was having a big season in the minors. 310 batting average, 15 home runs, 933 OPS. I did have some claims in here Sunday night's got for Montero in those deeper, you know, 15 team leagues because six home games in Colorado, you know, prospect pedigree. I'm pretty interested there. Derek Hall, three more homers this weekend, including a double dung on Sunday. He's betting 282 with eight home runs

in 29 games. Hits the ball hard, puts it in the air, exactly what you want to see from a power hitter, especially in Citizens Bank Park. They've got six games this week, only one left-hander on the schedule for Derek Hall, so that definitely favors him. And then Charles LeBlanc is a third basement for the Marlins. He had six hits this weekend, including a steal on Sunday. Also had some interesting numbers in the minors this season, Scott.

So what do you think about those three if you need a corner infielder, Montero, Derek Hall, and Charles LeBlanc? Well, I was trying to see how Elehiras Montero got in the lineup. And it looks like he was just starting instead of Ryan McMahon. And I don't think, no, because McMahon

did get a start at second base during that stretch. It just seems like the Rockies are prioritizing Montero over McMahon right now, which is fair. I mean, McMahon's been terrible this year. Pointed out last week that somehow he's still rostered in like 80% of CBS sports leagues. I don't know why. No idea.

Yeah, that's a weird one. So, I mean, look, anytime a Rockies hitter, any Rockies hitter who hasn't already invalidated his case, if he comes into regular bats for that team. Somebody to keep an eye on the fantasy. And in Montero's case, we saw how productive he could be in the minors.

So I'm definitely keeping an eye on him and maybe you should have put in some claims in those 15 team leagues like you did. Hall has shown good power, Derek Hall, with elite exit velocities, putting it in the air a lot, a good combination for hitting home runs, and that's what he's done.

He's played virtually not at all against lefties. I think he has like six of bats or something. They've been really careful about how they've used Derek Hall. And you mentioned it's mostly Ritey's this week, but the Phillies do have the toughest matchups of any team. So I'm not particularly enthusiastic about using Derek Hall, even with all those Ritey's on the schedule. And, yeah, I'm not terribly enthusiastic about Charles.

LeBlanc either. So of those three, I would say Elehiros Montero is the one who interests me the most. Derek Hall, if you're playing the matchups, you could think about using him. Montaro, by the way, looked into this weekend, Scott, to see where he was playing. It was first base on Sunday, DH on Saturday, third base on Friday. So they're kind of mixing it up. They're moving him around a little bit. I know Connor Joe has really lost out on playing time recently, which just absolutely breaks my heart. But yeah, he's being phased out. And it looks like maybe they're moving towards a youth movement with Montero there. If you need speed, we mentioned his name on Friday's podcast,

but Rangers Outfielder, Bubba Thompson went one for four with two steals on Friday. He has started four straight games for them. He's 6% rostered. Again, deeper leagues, five outfielder leagues. You need Speed. The name there, Bubba Thompson. Let's take a quick break, and we'll get to the news and notes here on fantasy baseball today.

The news and notes. Fernando Tatis began a rehab assignment on Saturday with AA. He went 0 for 2 with two walks. Padres manager, Bob Melvin, said they're targeting a mid-August return for Fernando Tautis, so maybe we're like seven to ten days away, something like that. I feel like that could make sense. We're not far from mid-August. Yeah.

I might say two days from now is mid-August. Yeah, yeah, let's get that done. I don't think you'll be activated in two days, but I'm just saying. Like, when does mid-August start? The 10th? Makes sense to me. The 10th through the 19th. That's mid-August.

I heard on the ESPN broadcast too that Tatis is going to play both center field and shortstop. So could have outfield and shortstop eligibility for next season again too, which would be pretty awesome. So definitely we'll take that. Mike Trout took dry swings on Saturday and had no issues. He's dealing with that rare back condition and has been out since before the All-Star break. Obviously, the Angels aren't playing for much, but it sounds like Mike Trout does want to return this season. Alex Kirloff is scheduled to undergo season-ending Olnar shortening surgery on his wrist Tuesday.

That's like a tongue twister. That's a tough one there. Ulnar shortening surgery. That's a bone. Because I've always heard like Ulnar nerve, but this is a bone that's being shortened in the hopes that it, it relieves the pain in the wrist,

which has been ongoing pretty much from the time he first broke into the majors. And we don't have a lot, of case studies on this. It's not something we've seen a lot of. It sounds kind of like freaky. Like I think of Gattaca, that movie Gattaca where they had like the leg lengthening surgery. This is shortening. This is shortening, not lengthening. It's kind of, I don't know. I hope it goes well for him because he has a lot of upside and it would be sad for his career to never get off the ground because of this. But it seems like that they're expecting him.

to be ready for spring training. But we don't know exactly how this is going to go because we haven't seen a lot of instances of it. Scott, I know that you will be very surprised to know that I never heard of the movie Gattaca and obviously I've not seen it as a result. It's not a particularly well-known movie. Ethan Hawke, Jude Law, Uma Thurman, I think is in it.

1997, I want to say. Sounds like a pretty star-studded cast. Yeah. I don't think it was a big box office success or anything. It was pretty good. I got another movie take for later on in the podcast, but I'll save that for later because I don't want to bog us down. Hopefully I'll get to it.

But Alex Kierloff, as we mentioned, this is a second major procedure, and he's only 24 years old, so we'll see what happens. Hoping for the best. Tyler Stevenson isn't expected to return the season after undergoing surgery to stabilize his fractured right collarbone. Tim Anderson started. his two-game suspension on Sunday,

and we'll also miss one of the doubleheader games on Tuesday. Mitch Hanneger, on Friday, they said maybe he's a week away, and then it turns out he was activated on Saturday, and he went one for three with a double and a walk in his return. D-backs apparently are going closer by committee moving forward. So, Scott, how are you handling this? Are you looking at Ian Kennedy or Joe Mantiply in deeper category leagues as a result? Oh, yeah, Ian Kennedy, I was putting in some.

bids for him in those deeper roto leagues. One of them in one. Obviously, he's not near the priority of like Felix Batista, who's still available in more than half as CBS sports leagues. But I suspect Ian Kennedy's going to get the majority of the safe chances going forward. It was interesting that they removed Melanson and then they went right back to him for a save Sunday when Kennedy presumably was unavailable because he'd pitched the previous two days. Right.

But it was another shaky. Lansing came through with the same, but it was shaky. He allowed like three base runners. Yeah. And yeah, I don't see him reclaiming that role really. Could Joe Mantyply his a left-hander factor? He could. But I think it'll be mostly Kennedy moving forward.

You know, I get that Joe Manciply is a lefty, but he's far and away been their best reliever all season. So it would be nice to see him get an opportunity. But again, lefty closers, we don't see it all that often. Personally, Scott, I was prior. prioritizing Jonathan Hernandez, Rowan Wick, and Will Crowe, all ahead of Ian Kennedy in those deeper leagues on Sunday. Will Crow, really? Yeah.

So he picked up a save earlier in the week with David Bednar on Available, and then Bednar went on the IL. And then I think Will Crow pitched the ninth inning again the next day, although it wasn't a save opportunity. I think I'd prioritize Jonathan Hernandez, but I might go Kennedy second of that group. Who else did you mention? Roe and Wick. I'd rather have Kennedy than Wick. Because I just, like, Wick has like a 170 whip.

I understand there's not a lot of competition there, but I just, like, he might be so bad that it doesn't matter. I know he's been better recently. I think he's got like a 10, 10 game scoreless streak or something like that. But still, I mean, 170 whip in August. Not great. Not great.

Tyler Glass now through a bullpen session on Saturday, and was deemed fully healthy, reaching 98 miles per hour with his fastball. However, he will not pitch in a game this season. He's 29% rostered. And look, if you're playing a keeper league and maybe you're out of it or you just have a spot to stash somebody for next year,

Tyler Glass now, he's obviously someone you can add in that format. Trevor Rogers began a rehab assignment at AA on Sunday. Maybe the time off will get him back on track. I mean, can't really be much worse than how Trevor Rogers was pitching earlier in the year. Justin Turner is on track. to return on Tuesday, which I would imagine means bad things for Miguel Vargas. Yeah.

Well, I mean, he started twice, right? Yeah, I think. Both times at DH. Yeah. It's only been two times in, what, five games, I think. Yeah. They don't, they don't seem that invested in playing him. Now, it could change suddenly.

Like, if he goes out there, one of those games and has three hits and one's a home run and he drives in five runs or whatever. Like maybe they start playing them all of a sudden. But I would say that rostering Miguel Vargas is not a very high priority right now. And if I was a betting man, I would bet on him, him being sent back to the minors before he becomes an everyday player in Los Angeles.

Travis Darno left Saturday's game with a leg injury was seen wearing a protective walking boot on Sunday and is not expected to return until Friday. which means if you have him, you should plan for a different catcher this week, maybe even add William Contrars in Travis Darno's absence. Ian Anderson was option to AAA on Sunday, but is expected to return next weekend for their doubleheader. I believe it's against the Marlins, so that could be a good matchup for him, but...

It could be, but he's also expected to be sent down. Like, he's staying with the team now, going to be part of the taxi squad until that doubleheader start comes up. then he's expected to be sit down to AAA legitimately to hopefully get on track and hopefully he can because I think the stuff is good. I noticed he threw the curveball a lot more in that great start against the Diamondbacks and then went back to not throwing it that much against the Mets this weekend. And maybe he just needs more confidence in that third pitch.

It doesn't seem like a bad pitch. I mean, it looks pretty when you see him throw it. But he needs more confidence. in it to get the most out of that change-up that's been so devastating in the past. Yeah, and you know, Scott, I thought his curveball was one of his, I thought it was like the curveball and change-up were his two best pitches coming up through the minors, right? So. Yeah.

Well, I remember when he was drafted, the curveball was the main pitch they were hyping up. I think the change-up came along later. And I don't know if he just, I don't know what happened with the curveball, but I think that's the key to unlocking Ian Anderson's particular. potential. What do I know, right? But the Braves obviously figured out how to get Kyle Wright right. So I think they could, you know, I have, like if we're talking a dynasty scenario, you know, maybe don't be so quick to jettison Anderson because I do think he has a future. But yeah, he needs, he needs to spend some time figuring things out.

Aaron Savali is scheduled to return and start Wednesday against the Tigers. He's 33% roster. Scott, do you have any interest in Savali? Almost none. All right. Friend Mill Reyes was officially designated for assignment by the Guardians on Saturday, which I know he's having a bad season. It just seems very sudden that Fred Gilreyes is being DFAed, so I would have to imagine he's going to latch on with some team, and I hope he does because I think he can still play. Waniapes is starting a rehab

assignment on Tuesday. Rwanzi Contraris recorded nine strikeouts over four innings at AAA on Friday. He's 29 percent rastered. And he's looked very good. I think he's made like four rehab starts, Scott. Are you looking to re-ad Rwanzi Contreras anywhere? It'd have to be a league on the deeper side. I do think there's definite potential there.

A lot of spin on all his pitches. Good swing and miss potential. But he pitches for the pirates and his previous stints have gone poorly. So, you know, I wouldn't say it's a huge priority right now in fantasy to add him. Rangers third base prospect, Josh Young, is also picking up starts at first. base while rehabbing in the Arizona Complex League. And just a name to throw on your scout team for now. Josh Young, that's spelled J-U-N-G,

because it would not surprise me if he does pick up some playing time here in September. Players who went to the I-L this weekend, Clayton Kershaw, with that lower back pain, he received an epidural injection on Friday. And Scott, I thought about adding Ryan Pepio in a few of those deeper leagues. He's 11% rostered.

And then I remember that Dustin May is going to be back soon. So I got rid of him. Well, I mean, there's a chance he gets a spot start. I think there's a pretty good chance of that, especially since Mitch White had kind of been their designated spot start guy, and he's in Toronto now. So maybe Pepio steps into that role. But yeah, sooner than later, it's going to be Dustin May rejoining the rotation.

And I don't think Kirschall is going to be out all that long either. All right. George Breyer went to the aisle with right elbow inflammation, Hunter Green with a right shoulder strain, not expected to require surgery, thankfully, for Hunter Green. Starters sit these banged up players, Scott. Anthony Rizzo has missed three straight with lower back tightness, and it's something he's dealt with the past couple of years,

but when he's played this year, he's still been really good, so what do you think about using him this week? I try to play it safe with him. It depends what your alternative is at first base, how easily you could add another first basement to your roster, but, you know, unless... Let's see, are they playing? Monday, the Yankees, they are. So if we hear before the lineup lock, it'll be a later lineup lock.

The first game's seven-ish Eastern time. If we hear that he's in the lineup, obviously you start it. But otherwise, I think I'd try and play it safe with Rizzo. Kyle Tucker has misforstrate with an illness. What do you think about him? I'd probably start him. Ronald Ocuna was Scratch Sunday with lower body sorenness. He did have some big games here on Friday and Saturday. Are you leaving him in the lineup, Scott? I am that that sounded like they just didn't want him playing on the wet grass. The game had a rain delay at the start.

So I think Ronald de Kune is fine. Julio Rodriguez is looking to return either on Wednesday or Friday, Scott. So that gives him half a week. I think we're probably sitting them for now, right? Maybe not in a deeper rotisserie league, but in most formats, yeah. All right. Let's fire up the dropometer. We talk about a bunch of players to add earlier.

What about these players? Can you drop them? Let's start with Sean Mania, who was at the Dodgers on Friday. He gave up eight runs on 10 hits, one walk, over four innings pitched. He did have seven strikeouts. His fastball velocity was up, so a little bit of good, a lot of bad in this start. Once again, his last nine starts, a 6.60-E-R-A, 1.69 whip for Sean Mania. He's still 93% rostered, Scott.

Where are you at on the drop-o meter, 1 to 10 on him? on Sean Manaya I'm probably about a six or seven on the drop of a meter let's say six certainly like in a league where 250 players are rostered I'd have no objections to dropping him if if you're looking to get redetmers on your roster or maybe even like Jesus Lazzardo who we didn't talk about but he had another good start over the week and I'd be okay dumping Sean Mania for either of them him.

But I do think I do think better days are ahead for Manaya. I don't think he's a standout, but he's better than he's been lately. His ERA climbing. Gosh, what is it up to now? It's got to be close to five now.

Yeah, I think it's somewhere in the high fours overall. Yeah. Definitely if you're not dropping him, you're sitting him until he gets right. But I do think he will get right. Yeah. That overall ERA is up to 4.740. for Sean Binaia.

He's going up against the Giants this week. They're ninth in weighted on base average against the lefties, so definitely would bench Sean Mania. Aaron Ashby, Scott, unfortunately, another clunker here against the Reds. Four and two thirds. Four runs allowed,

five walks to five strikeouts, more of the same, struggling with control, and now seven starts since returning from the forearm injury, a 4.45 ERA, 1.48 whip, four and a half walks per nine.

And oddly enough, the ground ball rate, got way down during the stretch, only 41% earlier in the season. That was over 60%. I mean, that was one of Ashby's standout skills. Yeah, and then last year too. Yeah. So we've been talking about Aaron Aspe, but I'm just wondering, like, maybe we're overvaluing him.

If you have him, what do you think about dropping him? Well, I still think he's really talented and is going to have a good career as a starter. But yeah, he's had two great starts, basically. and we feel both times we've reacted like, okay, this is the start of it, he's breaking out, and then he just doesn't follow it up with anything good. So dropometer for Aaron Ashby is probably like an eight. I don't have confidence at this point

that he's going to figure it out this year. He still could, but I don't think you need to cling to him as if he will. Josiah Gray allowed four more home runs on Friday at the Phillies and over his last six starts, it's real bad. 7.63 ERA 157 whip 13 home runs allowed in his last six starts. That is Josiah Gray. He is 76% rostered.

He's at the Cubs this week. I actually think he was a sleeper pitcher for you, Scott. He is. Yep, he is. I'm going to him to 10th in the sleeper pitcher rankings after this most recent start. But yeah, 13 home runs and six starts is that's bad. It's hard to have any success when you're giving up that many home runs. And that's been the big problem for Josiah Gray.

even dating back to last year. He's been at his best when he's featured his slider more. It doesn't get hit nearly as hard as his fastball. And it seems like during this rough stretch, he hasn't leaned on the slider as much as during his best stretches. So I'd like to see that change for Josiah, right? I think there's still hope for him going forward. But, you know, being the,

the 10th sleeper pitcher going into a week is not saying all that much, especially when you're 76% rostered. So, you know, even acknowledging he's on my sleeper pitcher list for this week, whereas he on the drop of meter, probably up there with Ash, be like an eight. Yeah, I'd be totally fine dropping him for Detmer's, Edward Cabrera, Kirby, and I guess if you need a start, you could drop him for Kyle Gibson too, but they're pretty similar to those two. Are we keeping the faith with Vinnie Pasquantino's guy?

I don't know what's going on here. He's got a 227 batting average. He's got three homers. Plate discipline still looks good. The barrel rate and the expected numbers are starting to drop is something I've noticed for Vinnie Pasquantino. Where is he on the drop home meter? I'm keeping the faith in Vinny Pasquantino.

I still think he is going to be great, be a great hitter. the data is still very impressive and beyond what you'd expect for a guy just breaking into the league whether it's the play discipline or the quality of contact and it's going to end well for him. Is he undropable? No, I mean, I just had to make a decision to drop him

well, I don't know if the claim's going to go through but I have a claim for somebody else And in one of my shallower leagues only about 250 players rostered. I just, I can't afford to have a first basement sitting on my bench in that league, no matter how good I think he is going to be. And I'm just hoping that I'll have another shot at him

if he does start breaking out. So I will say on the dropometer past Guantino, I'll go like five for him. I get to understand dropping him just because, well, you can't have him in your lineup right now and you may need the bench base for somebody else. But in the long run, I still have confidence in him. The last one here is Nolan Jones,

who has now sat four of the last six games for the Guardians. He's only 33% rostered. Scott, are we, is he droppable and, I don't know, even the deepest leagues? Yeah, he's a 10 on the dropometer. He was one of the first players when I cued up my waiver claims in those 15 team roto leagues. He was one of the first.

I was, first that was getting wax for me. Not playing enough with Oscar Gonzalez back. I mean, it seems like he's taking all the playing time that Jones was getting before. And of course, Jones against lefties has been an automatic no-go for the Guardians. Yeah. I mean, now he's even sitting against Ritey,

so it's not going great for Nolan Jones. Starters at these pitchers. They did something notable this weekend. Eric Lauer turned in a seven-enning quality start against the Reds, and he is going up against the Cardinals this week. he's been better recently, Scott. Eric Lauer has. The underlying numbers don't really support it,

but what do you think about the Cardinals? They're really good against Leffes. Yeah, I would say probably lean towards sitting Lauer, even though he's been pretty effective. 262 ERA in his past six starts and more than a strike upper inning. But the swinging strike rate's only 9% during that stretch. So I'd want a better matchup than the Cardinals for him.

Pablo Lopez was hit hard once again. Again, he was at the Cubs, five innings, nine hits, four runs allowed in this one, and he is going up against the Atlanta Braves this week. And, you know, famously, he started against the Braves, I think, during the short and season, Scott, and that was the game where they scored like 28 runs. 29. 29. I don't think that's going to happen again, but my confidence is wavering in Pablo Lopez.

What do you think? So I was looking through the game log, and he's had some okay starts in his last 15. but I would say in his last 15 starts, Pablo Lopez has only had two great starts that you'd really miss having them in your line of four. And 15, which, I mean, it goes to show you just how impressive he was prior to those 15 starts. I think he had an ERA around one.

But that's a long time to be that mediocre. I mean, the overall numbers during that 15 start stretch, 491 ERA, 1-3-5 whip, less than a strikeout per inning. All the usual indicators look good for Lopez, like high swinging strike rate, the ex-fip is pretty good. But I'm at the point now where I think he's kind of with Sean Minaya for me,

where I'd be more likely to drop Manaya than Lopez. I can't see myself dropping Lopez, but I think he got to sit him until he regains your trust. I mean, I don't know how many good starts in a row that's going to take. obviously we're running out of time. But I wouldn't want to start it against the Braves now. Frankie Montas got rocked in his Yankees debut here at the Cardinals. Three innings, six runs allowed, only two strikeouts.

He had three walks in this start. He hadn't pitched since July 26th. He was away for a death in his family. And he was recently dealing with that shoulder injury as well. Montas is going up against the Red Sox this week. What do you think about starting him there? that's probably fine it was a rough star

the previous two coming back from the IEL were pretty good I think I'd stick with them for now Hazes Lozardo has now had two strong outings off of the IL he was at the Cubs this weekend seven shutout only one hit allowed

one walk six strikeouts velocity was down about you know one between one and 1.5 miles per hour on basically all of his pitches so really don't like to see that, but he has been effective, Scott. What do you think about using Luzardo

against the Atlanta Braves this week? Well, and like the four seamer, the fastball was down 1.6, but it was his fourth most used pitch, which is what we want to see from Luzardo. We want to see him use the off-speed stuff more, and he's having success doing that. Against the Braves,

you know, Lazzardo is far from automatic against the Braves. I'd be more likely to start him than Pablo Lopez, but I wouldn't say I'm eager to, to start him. Yeah, same. Lucas Julito is the last one here. He had an okay start at the Rangers,

five innings, one run, five strikeouts, and he is going up against the Tigers this week. So it's a really good matchup, but kind of getting these Jekyll and Hyde starts from Lucas Yolito. Yeah, and even the Jekyll ones are like five innings. So, yeah. You know, I, I, I,

because the matchup is so good, you could think about starting Gialito. Otherwise, I call him an automatic sit. That's more where I'm at with him. I think it's going to be harder to get him in there in 12-teamers, but in deeper leagues, I could see using Lucas Julito this week. A couple other leftovers here.

We'll start with some pitching standouts from the weekend. Dylan Sees, four straight quality starts. He was at the Rangers, six innings, one run, five strikeouts there. Tony Gonsland gets back on track with a solid start against the Padres, five shutout with six strikeouts. Robbie Ray, a strong. strong bounce back up against the Angels.

He really just can't pitch against the Astros, which I don't blame him. They're really good. Seven innings, one run, 10 strikeouts for Robbie Ray. And then Max Scherzer now has seven straight quality starts since returning from the IL. He was up against the Braves, seven shutout, 11 strikeouts, the zero walks. His ERA is down to 1.98 for the season. Scott, anything you'd like to add on Churzer, Ray, Gonselin, cease. Gonselin seems to be fading here a little bit

as the innings pile up for him and I would say at this point he's less than automatic now similarly if you're talking about a shallow league four straight non-quality starts ERA's gone from 162 to 230 for him you know who else is fading

and let me check and see if you have him in the notes Okay, you do. We'll get through him a little bit. All right. It's Shane McClanahan. We'll get to him a little bit. Oh, gosh. Scotty, I mean, between Connor Joe and Shane McClanahan, my heart is breaking right now. But look, he's still been okay.

We'll get to him. Pitching standouts part two. Merrill Kelly now has seven straight quality starts. He was up against the Rockies. Seven innings, two runs, five strikeouts there. Christian Javier was at the Guardian. Six innings, one run, four strikeouts to zero walks. Tristan McKenzie back on track with one of his best starts of the season against the Astros, no less.

Eight shutout with eight strikeouts in that one. And then Aranola just keeps on with a quality start up against the nationals, six innings, one run, five strikeouts there. Scott, anything notable on Kelly, Javier, McKenzie, and Arindola? Yeah, I think we should have a lot of confidence in McKinsey at this point. I know the ex-fip is high because the fly ball rate is high. but he has, he's just really hard to hit. And I think that makes up for it. Even those back-to-back starts where he allowed four earn runs prior to this start.

I think he only gave up one home run between the two. So it wasn't like that was sinking him. You know, on paper, it looks like Tristan McKenzie would have the same problems Josiah Gray does. But he doesn't seem to. So I think he's, I think he's pretty bankable. McKenzie reminds me a lot of Jose Orkitti, Scott. He does get more strikeouts than Erkiti does, but they always routinely have good ERAs, good whips,

but their ex-fip is much higher because they are fly ball pitchers, but frankly, they've both been pretty effective. So that is Tristan McKenzie and Jose Orkiti. Pitching standouts, part three. Kevin Galsman, back-to-back quality starts. He was at the Twins, six shot out with five strikeouts.

Corbyn Burns, back on track with a strong start against the Reds, six innings, One run, nine strikeouts there. Logan Webb was at the A's. Seven innings, two runs, five strikeouts. And then Tyler Anderson does not care about your Padres additions because he mowed them all down on Sunday night baseball. Seven shutout, two hits, one walk, three strikeouts for Tyler Anderson.

His ERA drops to 2.72. Anything here, Scott. Anderson, Webb, Burns, Galsman. Yeah, not really. Anderson seems like he's overachieving because the strikeout rate is not very high but then the swinging strike rate is high so it seems like he's underachieving with the strike

and he's been a difficult one to figure out but you know he's having success and he pitches for the team that's 1.35 of the last 40 games so I'm not going to nitpick too much. All right, let's talk about Shane O'Mack. Here comes the money. No more. No, I'm just kidding. But he was cruising in this start.

through his first six innings and then came back out for the seventh against the Tigers and it all kind of snowballed on him there. But the final line six and a third, six hits, four runs, only three strikeouts to zero walks. That's now two subpar outings in a row, Scott, for

our guy Shane McClainahan. Against the Tigers, Frank. He only managed three strikeouts against the Tigers. Not great. The fastball was down 1.6 miles per hour in his previous start, also not good against the guardians.

It was down only 0.7 in this one, so it wasn't down as much. But he is now at his, he's already set a career high innings now, right? I believe that's the case. And you just wonder if maybe he's losing a little bit of steam because of that. I'm not saying,

I'm not saying you need to dump them. not saying he's no longer a top 10 pitcher for me or anything like that. But just another reason why you might consider shopping him. Sort of the same rules apply is for DeGrom, where you need to get like a really good return to justify the upside you're giving up. But you're pursuing it to protect yourself from the downside. The problem, Scott, which I've run into in leagues where I have Shane McClanahan is, if you play against savvy fantasy owners, they know what you're doing.

They see what's going on with Shane McClanahan and, you know, the endings and all of, you know, everything that you just mentioned. So I shopped them in a few places and couldn't really get a fair return for them. That's why I, you know, I often say we do all these like buy, low, sell high conversations. I almost never, never do buy low, sell high trades. But that's because I play with people who know exactly what I'm doing. I suspect the majority of listeners don't. Could be wrong about that. but I suspect

I suspect I suspect there are a lot of people playing out there who who don't have the same aren't used to the same level of competition we are some hitting leftovers from the weekend Reese Hoskins has homered in four straight which brings him to 24 home runs total

Dates Real Muto getting the power back on track he has four homers in his last 10 games now up to 12 homers and 13 steals total for him Trey Mancini had a double dong on Friday including a Grand Slam and it wasn't even in Houston. It came in Cleveland, so love to see you that.

You don't expect this often, but Rowdy Tellez had a sock and a shoe on Friday, his 22nd home run. First steal of the season, obviously. Nolan Aronado is on fire, once again, post-All-Star break, 12 games. He's batting 356 with four homers

and an OPS approaching 1,200 during that time. Francisco Lindor, same thing for him, post-all-Star break, 16 games. He's batting 400 with three homers and an 11.04 OPS. Dalton Varsho getting back on track as well. He's got, he had two homers this weekend and three in his last six games. I do want to mention for Trey Mancini because remember we were worried about the playing time since it didn't seem like they wanted to use him in the outfield much, if at all. He was playing consistently this weekend. I think he started once for Yuleiguriel at first base. The other two at D.A. with Jordan Alvarez playing left field.

So their Astros like Alvarez and Outfield more than they like Mancini and Outfield. I don't know if that's the best thing for Alvarez's fantasy value, but it does seem like good news for Mancini that they're willing to move Alvarez out there for him. The call to the bullpen. Let's start with the Orioles on Friday.

Felix Bautista struck out two for his fourth save. He is 47% rostered if you need a closer. In Tampa Bay, on Friday. Colom Poche picked up his seventh save. Jason Adam pitched in the eighth inning of that game. For the Twins on Friday, Jorge Lopez entered with a one-run lead. He gave up three singles, and he blew the save in that one.

I know he pitched the ninth inning for another game this weekend, so I don't think there's really anything to worry about there. For the Brewers on Friday, Devin Williams struck out the final two batters for his seventh save, and then on Sunday, he entered with the game tied in extra innings. He gave up two unearned runs and took his second loss of the season. wasn't really his fault. I saw there was a pretty bad error

by Mike Brassoe behind Devin Williams. For the Yankees on Friday, Clay Holmes entered in the eighth inning with a one-run lead to face the heart of the Cardinals' order. He gave up a two-run double to Paul DeYoung, which we mentioned earlier. That is Clay Holmes' second straight-blown save

and loss. And I believe, well, you mentioned he was in the eighth inning. They had Chapman who they were going to bring in for the ninth in that game. So it seems like maybe now Clay Holmes' grip on the job is a tenuous one right now. I'm not saying he's out as the closer.

I'm just saying Chapman might start getting some save chances himself. Yeah, I definitely think that's possible. For the Mariners on Saturday, after working three games in a row, Paul Seawald was likely unavailable. That meant Eric Swanson picked up his third save. He is 3% rostered. He's another name that I had some claims on in deeper leagues on Sunday night. Not ahead of the names we mentioned earlier, like Ian Kennedy and those, but if you're really desperate for saves, Eric Swanson has pitched very, very well for the Mariners this season.

On Sunday, Paul Sewell was back at it for his 14th save. On Saturday for the Cardinals, Ryan Helsley was unavailable. Giovanni Gallegos struck out two for his 11th save. And then for the Reds on Sunday, Hunter Strickland gave up a game-tying solo homer in the 9th, and he has now allowed at least one run in four of his last five outings. He is Hunter Strickland, so that's going to happen. And then Ross Detweiler picked up the save in the 10th inning here on Sunday for the Reds. To stream or not to stream, let's start with Monday.

Jordan Lyles versus the Blue Jays. You say Kikuchi at the Orioles. Kegan Thompson versus the Nationals, Jose Suarez at the A's, and Cole Irvin versus the Angels. I like Cole Irvin the best. He's been money at home. He had a huge July. The Angels' offense is terrible.

I think he's a pretty easy call. My second favorite is probably you say Kukuchi at Baltimore. It's looked better since coming off the IEL, though the longest he's gone is five innings. But, you know, maybe he'll be a little more built up now and go long enough for a win. On Tuesday, we have Brady Singer up against the White Sox, Braxton Garrett at the Phillies

Marcus Schroman versus the Nationals and James Caprillion versus the Angels Well, they're all good choices I think I would rank them Stroman against the Nationals Singer against the White Soxs Braxton Garrett at the Phillies

James Caprilyan at the Angels is a distant fourth but that's a really favorable matchup and he's been on a nice run I don't think he has the upside to sustain it but I think with this matchup, you could roll the dice with them. Scott White Optimism during to stream or not to stream.

This is just, we are breaking new ground here on fantasy baseball today. As for my movie take, I'm going to have to save it for tomorrow because we are up against it here. But, uh, okay. Look, we have a shorter slate of games on Monday, so I think we could fool around a little bit. But we're going to wrap the air for Scott. I am Frank DeGiel for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.