Fantasy Baseball Today - Emmanuel Clase Investigation & Did You Realize These Surprising Stats? (7/29 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 29, 2025

Emmanuel Clase was placed on non-disciplinary paid leave as part of MLB's sports-betting investigation (2:35). Is Cade Smith a must add? ... Coby Mayo is starting to make some noise (9:27). ... Troy Melton looked much better in his second start (13:17). ... News (18:34): Eugenio Suarez left after getting hit by a pitch on his hand. ... Welcome back, Sal Frelick (28:40). ... Slade Cecconi turned in another quality start (38:45). ... Did you realize (43:46)? Let's take a closer look at surprising stats. ... Another week, another Dylan Cease stinker (56:15). ... What happened to Austin Riley (59:03)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (1:01:14). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow FBT on TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CBSScottWhite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Roto_Frank⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Hey there, welcome into fantasy baseball today on Tuesday, July 29th. I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White. I am pretty confident this is our latest start of the year.

ever put 15 games on a Monday? Just, why? Why would you do that? It's just such a busy day on top of that. We've got some big news to talk about as well. But today on the show, did you realize some surprising stats? Another week, another Dylan C's start that was terrible. And we have some interesting deep league waiver wire names to talk about.

But, as mentioned, for the second straight day, we have to start the podcast with some pretty massive news here, Scott. as a manual class A was placed on non-disciplinary paid leave as part of MLB's sports betting investigation. And it sounds like he will be on that leave through August 31st at least. And this is the second Guardians pitcher to be investigated for gambling.

Remember the same thing happened with Luis Ortiz about a month ago. And it's an unfortunate reality. We kind of see things like this happening across all sports. it's not just baseball, it's happened in basketball. I'm not sure that, I don't know, there have been some gambling things going on in football. I know this definitely has happened in basketball as well. But before we get to the replacement, I guess,

do we just drop a manual class A? What do you think? I mean, I'm not just going to say yes. It obviously depends on your league context, your individual circumstances, how much bench base you have, because you can't put them in an I-L spot. I know Yahoo leagues offer,

what do they call it? like a it's like an n a spot an n a spot that can just like an all purpose spot for any player who's out with anything it seems like so i guess you have a leg up there but you know in theory he could return for september no guarantee that he will uh yeah this is just an unfortunate an unfortunate reality now you know sports gambling it was illegal for a reason and uh now that it's not, you know, we're getting some of those unfortunate repercussions coming back into play here. And, you know, whether that's a worthy tradeoff or not, it's not for me to say. But it's just life in professional sports now.

And unfortunately, there's no, you can't like single out a guy like, yes, I think he's a candidate to maybe be lost to a sports gambling. I can't think of the word, investigation. You're going to think of the word investigation. Yes, maybe he's a candidate to be like, how are you going to pick them out? You know, it's just another random bomb that can be dropped on you. And, you know, as if there aren't enough of those already. So just something else we have to deal with. The biggest fallout here is trying to figure out what happens with the Guardians.

And what do you know? We had a safe opportunity right away. Hunter Gaddis pitched in the eighth inning, Cade Smith, the ninth inning with a one run lead. He gave up four runs. Only one of those was earned. I believe there was an error made by Kate Smith that actually kind of messed up his entire ninth inning here.

But Kate Smith, 49% rostered. We had a great season last year. Still pretty good this year, not nearly as good as he was last season, Scott. But it seems pretty obvious that Kate Smith will be the replacement for the Guardians for the foreseeable future. And it should be good at it. I mean, he's still a great reliever.

He's, I think, 13K per 9 or thereabouts for the season. It's unfortunate that his first chance, closing out a game with a manual Class A sidelined, went so poorly here on Monday and got a blown save out of it. I believe it was a blown save. Yeah, looks like a blown save. But hopefully there will be better days ahead.

I don't think that's going to cause the guardians to mess around with it. in the immediate term, obviously, if Smith, Kate Smith, strings together a few bad outings, then anything could happen. But, yeah, I think he's the clear replacement, despite how things went for him Monday.

And, man, for leagues that still have Fab available, it'll be a very interesting weekend to see how much Kate Smith goes for. But there probably will be, you know, other situations that change and, you know, bullpins that change and things with the trade deadline approaching on Thursday. So look, if you have a daily fab, you know, and you need saves, you need a replacement for a Class A, whatever it might be, I think someone like Kate Smith is

going to go for a lot of money. We'll see what happens the rest of the week with some of those other moves and trade deadline things and all that. But yeah, I have a feeling Kate Smith will go for a lot of money in Fab this weekend and rifely. So some other manual class A replacements in shallower leagues, maybe some head-to-head points formats, some names that are still out there and they're rostered in less than 75% of CBS leagues. Camilo Doval, Kenley Jansen, Adrian Howser, if you're looking for a SPARP, some of our save options that could be available on the wire, Robert Garcia, Matt Strom, Blake Trinon, Alex Vesius, Sir Anthony Dominguez, and again, things will change in the next couple days with the trade deadline approaching. Do any of those other names stand out, Scott? Robert

Garcia, the Phillies guys, the Dodgers guys. We learned that Felix Batista is going to be out longer than expected. So I guess it's Dominguez for now, but again, he could be traded in the next couple days. Robert Garcia, if I was banking on one of these guys, if I was gambling on one of these guys to get the most saves rest of season, I'd say Robert Garcia. But, He's not very good, and it might not be that many saves. It's just there are the fewest questions with him. I feel like Blake Trinan might have the most upside, if that's more what you're into.

But, you know, hopefully, like, I prefer Cade Smith to all of these guys. So if that's who's out there, then that's the one to pick up. And we did get a little taste of the Dodgers bullpen here on Monday night as well. They had a four-run lead. Alex Fessia pitched in the eighth inning. Blake Trinan did get the ninth inning where he allowed to run. He only recorded two outs, and that it was lefty Jack Dreyer who came on to get the final out of the game there. So Trinan's first appearance back, struggled.

I guess that's not crazy to happen, you know, first outing back here for Trinan, but looks like he could potentially be the guy moving forward as long as Tanner Scott is out. So again, big news here with Emmanuel Claisse. It sounds like he will be out again through August 31st on non-disciplinary paid leave as part of MLB's sports betting investigation. So obviously, you're going to need to act on that. And if you have them on your team, it's going to be a rough go.

And just weird timing, right? With the trade deadline this week and all that, it's just crazy stuff there with Emmanuel Claude. Let's get into the Players of the Night from here on Monday. All right, Scott, we've got some pretty obscure players to talk about here up top players of the night. And you will kick us off with Kobe Mayo.

That's right. Kobe Mayo. looking like Kobe beef now strong and virile three for four with a home run is what he did here on Monday and that gives him now in his last four games he's six for 11 with two home runs so showing some signs of life for a player who was regarded as a top prospect not so very long ago huge AAA production for Kobe Mayo and in addition to the two home runs over those last four games, two doubles. He's playing a lot too for the Orioles,

started five of seven games. And actually in his last 22 games, you can take this further back than just the last four. Last 22 games for Kobe Mayo, 300 batting average, three home runs, six doubles, at a 14.9% strikeout rate. He was,

This was, remember, when he got called up last year, late last year for the Orioles, a lot of excitement. Kobe Mayo finally getting his chance. He struck out at like a 50% clip. Last 22 games, just 14.9%. So I did notice that during that 22 game stretch again, where he hit 300, three home runs, six doubles. The average exit velocity below 90, which seems not what you want, especially not what you'd expect for somebody like Kobe Mayo. but he did here in this three for four performance on Monday hit a couple balls very hard. The home run was hit 108.1 and he had a 104.5 mile per hour single.

So like he's got the juice still. Kobe Mayo's got the juice. And I've made the point often in the last couple years that I think it takes about two months for not for every hitting prospect, but like that's the timeline you should expect for him to find his footing in the majors given the difficulty curve. I believe this was Kobe Mayo's 50th career game.

Let me see if I have that right. 51st career game, which is about what you'd play in two months. Like it seems like he's right on that timeline. And what do you know? He's showing signs of maybe living up to his potential. So I don't think he's like a high priority pick up right now. I wouldn't pick him up over, gosh, there have been a lot of interesting third baseman emerging match Shaw, Josh Young.

Yeah. Colson Montgomery has third base eligibility too. Yeah. And he just homered again here on Monday off a lefty too. Yeah. So I would prioritize. Christopher Sanchez. Yeah.

I would prioritize those three, Shaw, Young, Montgomery over. Kobe Mayo. But you need to pay attention to Kobe Mayo again because he may be coming around. Yeah, it kind of feels like a stash right now just to see what happens with Kobe Mayo or a name that you put on the watch list and see what happens from here. But obviously the Orioles going to sell off some pieces here at the deadline. They're not playing for much down the stretch. What they should be doing and what I think they'll do is prioritize development and see what they have in some of these kids because for years, they held on to these prospects. They didn't trade them away. Now you need to see

what you have going into next season. And hopefully they just give Kobe Mayo every opportunity to play down the stretch. And look, if this game is any indication, we know that there's still a lot of upside and a lot of power potential in that bat. So Kobe Mayo 24% rostered. More of a name to watch. Maybe a deep league ad

for now, but very interested to see what he does moving forward. Another deep league name here and another prospect, Tiger's pitching prospect, Troy Melton, much better in his second start. This one against the debacks, where he threw seven shutout innings, five hits, zero walks, five strikeouts, had 11 whiffs on 87 pitches. Now, he did allow a lot of hard contact in this one, but the final line was great.

Obviously, didn't walk anybody here. Has six different pitches that he uses. He leaned on the fastball, the slider, and the cutter here in his second start, his fastball and slider were his best pitches here in this one. And if you look at the numbers in the minors, tons of swing and miss here for Troy Melton. This season, 299, ERA 123 whip, but a 12.1K per 9, 15% swinging strike rate. He's 24 years old. Again, he is a prospect of some note here.

We also learned on Monday that Reese Olson is out for the season with a shoulder injury. That's why they went out and traded for Chris Paddock. We'll talk about that in just a little bit. but it seems like there is some upside here, Scott, and a great start from Troy Milton. What are you thinking with him? Yeah, I was impressed by the minor league numbers. The first start went so poorly that I think there was a tendency to just say,

whatever. I don't want to bother with this guy. And I saw that actually this past week. There was in both of my score sheet leagues, these are 24-team leagues, very deep. and pitchers are always in high demand. There's a series, every month there's a two-round draft. That's how you fill your roster.

There's not a waiver wire. You fill it with this draft once a month. And nobody picked in either one of them, either one of those 24 team leagues, nobody picked up Troy Melton. And I didn't either, and I regret it. Now seeing him turn into a much better outing here, second turn.

Yeah, I mean, It wasn't just, okay, between AA and AAA, Troy Melton had a 299 area, 12.1 K for 9. That's great. Also 67% strike rate. It's kind of surprising how high the whip was given that, but sometimes hit rates like batting average against in the minors

can be inflated just because defenses are so much worse. And I wonder if that was happening to Melton. You know, he sticks around with the tigers and barring, depending what they do at the trade deadline, that seems highly possible with the Resolson injury. So, yeah, I think Melton is not an immediate pickup in most cases, but player of interest. Yeah, the only thing I'll point out with Troy Melton's high whip in the miners

is that at least at AAA, he had a 93.6 average exit velocity against, which contributed to a 359 Babbib. So seems like a pitcher who has been hurt by hard contact. And again, he allowed a lot of hard contact in this start as well. 12 hard hits allowed. But again, there's a lot of swing and miss. It's a smart organization. Tigers do great work with their pitching.

And so Troy Mountain is interesting, if nothing else. You know, deep leagues take a shot, see what's there. You know, 12 team leagues for now. I don't think he's really an ad or anything. But let's just see where he goes from here, obviously pitching for a great team in the Tigers. Before we hit our first break, just a reminder that you can download and follow our 10-minute podcast, FBT Express, wherever you listen to this podcast. And big thanks to those watching live. Make sure to hit the like button and subscribe on YouTube as well.

Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today. Let's run through the news and notes. And we had a scary moment here on Monday. Actually a few of them. But I guess the biggest one with the trade deadline looming was E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. H. H.N.o. Suarez, after getting hit by a pitch on his right hand. Thankfully, X-rays came back negative for any fractures.

He'll undergo further evaluation and additional imaging. But for now, it seems like disaster has been averted for Suarez and all the potential suitors that are trying to trade for him leading up to the deadline. Yordaun Alvarez took approximately 50 swings off a T and faced soft toss pitching in the batting cage during his most recent workout on Friday. We still don't really have a timetable, but it sounds like good news for Yordon Alvarez. Jeremy Pena returned to Houston to work out with the Astros on Monday and could be activated

from the aisle in the near future. Felix Batista is going to be out a while after an MRI showed significant swelling in the pitcher's right shoulder. As mentioned earlier, Sir Anthony Dominguez is the next man up. He picked up a save over the weekend. Don't know if he'll be on the team come Thursday evening because obviously the Orioles probably going to sell off a few other bullpen pieces here, but Dominguez is the name for now.

George Springer will undergo further evaluation after being hit in the head by a pitch on Monday. That was the other kind of scary injury here. It's always a rough thing when we see this happen. And Springer is having a huge resurgence season, so hopefully all as well and as we learn more, we'll let you know about George Springer. Rees Holson will miss the rest of the season

due to a right shoulder strain and mention that, but sucks for a player that we've been excited about the past couple of years. The Tigers responded by acquiring Chris Paddock and Randy Dobnack from the Twins for a prospect named Enrique Jimenez.

Scott, I'm assuming we don't have any interest in Chris Paddock in Detroit. I mean, is it possible? Chris Fetter's unlock something there. He's had pretty good success with other reclamation projects. So it's possible. I think I put an S on the end of his name, didn't I? It's just Chris Fetter.

There's only one fetter, not multiple fetters. Yeah, but that's the Tigers pitching coach. She's had success, most notably, with Jack Flaherty. And there are some things to like about Chris Paddock. the very high induced vertical brake on his fastball stands out the most turning that pitch into potentially a pretty good bat misser.

It hasn't played that way, but it seems like there's something to work with there. So we'll see, but I'm not rushing out to add Chris Paddock in light of this news. All right, next up, Tommy Edmund could land on the aisle after aggravating a lingering right ankle issue. And earlier in the day, we learned that the Dodgers are promoting infield prospect Alex Freeland, 23 years old, third round pick in 2022, 94 games at AAA this year,

253 batting average, 12 homers, 17 steals, a 799 OPS. He walks a bunch. Strikeout rate is okay, 22%. Lots of hard contact. My question was going to be, you know, will he play enough to matter, Scott? but if Tommy Edmund is hurt and goes on the IL, then that could be the ticket for some Alex Freeland playing time. Yeah, it could be.

And he's a pretty good prospect. He was widely considered a top 100 guy coming into the year. I haven't seen a lot of these prospect publications raving about him as this year has played out. His numbers are fine at AAA, but they don't really like jump out at you. I think the main thing Alex Freeland has going for him. Well, the main thing he has going for him is he's Alex Freeland and not Kyle Freeland. Let's be honest. But I will probably call him Kyle Freeland most of the time we talk about him.

But he's not Kyle Freeland and that's a good thing. Other than that, the main thing Alex Freeland has going for him is very low chase rate. He knows the difference between a ball and a strike. I don't think the high walk rate is just kind of a fluky thing that happens. against bad minor league pitchers. I think it's for real. High average exit velocity. Underwhelming max.

So like the raw power isn't that high for Freeland, but like he knows what to swing at both in terms of is it in the strike zone and can I impact it for maximum damage. So he seems like a really smart hitter with some speed there too. And I wouldn't surprise me if Alex Freeland amounted to something in fantasy. It is going to be. interesting to see how the playing time shakes out. If it is it truly an everyday role,

then they're going to play Miguel Rojas a bunch. But I would say NL only, ad for now, maybe Dynasty ad if he isn't rostered already, probably can see in the shallower mixed leagues how much Alex Freeland plays and how he performs. All right, next up, Chris Bubich is officially out for the remainder of the season with that left

rotator cuff train so he could be dropped in all redraft leagues. Some good Royals news. Cole Reagan's has been playing catch out to 105 feet and is expected to extend his throwing distance during the upcoming week. Byron Buxton has missed two straight with that rib injury but remains day to day. Pablo Lopez has resumed throwing off flat ground up to 100 feet and is expected to increase to 120 feet during the upcoming week. Luis Robert returned on Monday after leaving Sunday following a hit by pitch on his forearm. and what do you know? He homered once again.

So Luis Robert having a big July here ahead of the deadline. Try to, I don't know, improve his stock a little bit, trying to entice a team to actually go out there and make a deal for Luis Robert. Dodgers, Max Muncie, will begin a rehab assignment at AAA on Tuesday. Alex Cora said he plans to keep Roman Anthony in the leadoff spot moving forward. Yvonne Herrera made his first start in the outfield on Monday. He was out there in left field. I did not really see anything about his defense,

which is probably a good thing. And the Cardinals didn't have any errors in the game. So, all right. Anyone, any Cardinals out there, any Cardinals fans out there listening or watching on YouTube? Let us know. How did Yvonne Herrera look in the outfit? I mean, I thought this was going to be done on an emergency basis.

They started Alec Berluson, who's been great, by the way, offensively. He's been killing it for months now. Yeah. But they started him at DH, even though he has ample outfield experience. So I found that a little strange. We, you know, if Yvonne Herrera can't be catcher eligible, certainly wouldn't mind him picking up outfield.

But, yeah, I don't know. I was surprised that he did make a start this time. I thought it would be just an emergency. Lars Neupar will begin a rehab assignment at AA on Wednesday. Parker Meadows was placed in the aisle with a right quad train. Nationals pitching prospect, Travis Sikora, will undergo UCL reconstruction on his right elbow in two weeks, and he is a big-name prospect,

so pretty bad news there for Sikora, who will delay his progress and when we're expecting to see him in the future. We did have a few smaller trades here on Monday. The Brewers acquired Danny Jansen and cash considerations from the raise for infielder, uh, Jadere Aranamo. That's, yeah, that's definitely not how you say his name. Uh, and then the race turned around and acquired Nick Fortez from the Marlins.

So it seems like, I don't know, Nick Fortez and Matt Tice will be the, uh, catchers there in Tampa Bay. The Danny Jansen thing is interesting, Scott, is he just, the Brewers just purely wanted a better backup catcher behind Contreras, I guess, or I don't know, do they plan to use Contreras more at DH? play Jansen? I don't know. Well, I did find a quote from Brewer's manager Pat Murphy. He was asked apparently

he said William Contreras's workload when it changed. And the exact quote was for the finger? The finger he's had for two years? What are we going to do about it? Are we going to have him have surgery? When he hits, it hurts. If he plays less, what are you saying? I'm not going to go away by rest. It's not going to go away by resting. So I thought that was kind of funny.

Apparently, apparently he's had the finger for two years, which I assume he means the finger injury and not the finger itself. I imagine he's had the finger for life. But I think it's nonetheless no worthy that he's had the finger injury for two years. Because it's only something we've heard about this year. Obviously, it didn't seem to affect him last year. Was not an issue last season for contraris when he was the number. number one catcher in fantasy.

This year his OPS has dropped by 150 points, and he's only got six home runs here on July 29th. So not great for William Contreras. Probably not great news for Danny Janssen either. And the Braves also acquired Carlos Carrasco from the Yankees for cash considerations. Lastly, we did get some sad news in the baseball world as Hallfamer Ryan Sandberg

passed away at the age of 65, 10-time All-Star, 9-time Gold Glove winner, MVP back in 1984. So lost another great player in MLB's history here. Thoughts and prayers go out to the Ryan Sandberg family. Let's take a look

at some Waverwire hitters here from Monday and a welcome back to Sal Freelik who went two for four with a walk in his eighth home run. He returned on Saturday. Just been a very solid season for Sal Freelik. 295, 8 homers, 17 steals.

75 rostered, Scott, that I think sounds right. I don't know, is he just a must-rosster player even in head-to-head points leagues? I want to say he's better in head-to-head points leagues. Let me double-check the points per game. Because he's not like a category. He's not somebody who's going to really stand out in any category, I guess. I guess batting average, well, batting average, he's decent, stolen bases.

He's decent. He is kind of doing a Stephen Kwan impression this season. But yeah, a little bit. Head to head points per game is 2.80. Which. Which seems just okay. Compares to Brendan Donovan. It's better than like Tyler Soderstrom.

Yeah, it's not, it's certainly not must start, but it puts them in the roster ball range for points league. Sure. Okay. Josh Young, who we mentioned earlier, is hitting better since returning to the Rangers. one for four with his 10th home run, 109.2, eggs of velocity

412 feet, and seven games since returning. Josh Young hitting 409 with two homers and 1162 OPS. And let's mention Colson Montgomery once again because he hit his fourth home run. This one came off Christopher Sanchez. He had two more hard hits in this game, both

over 100 miles per hour, has four home runs in his past six games. Scott, if you are just taking a shot here on a corner infielder type player, who would you rather take shot on Josh Young or Colson Montgomery? I think Young, I have a better idea what to expect from him, but I am so interested in what Colson Montgomery is doing. Fascinated maybe is the better word by what he's doing, partly because

I have him in the Scott White Dynasty League, so you get very invested in any prospects you have in that league. But it didn't seem like he mastered AAA. He had made. He had made a lot. He had made, issues there two years in a row and you know got sent to the the extended spring training this year to reworker swing came back looked a little better was still striking out 28% of the time and very soon after that got promoted and I just I thought it was going to go so poorly given how you know how many high-end hitting prospects who are just dominating down there come up and struggle right away and Montgomery hasn't it's it's very strange

to me, but I think it's put him in rosterable territory, at least in leagues that require an extra middle infielder or corner infielder where you got to go that deep at those positions. If I throw Matt Shaw in that mix, where would he rank among those three? Shaw, Josh Young, and Montgomery. Yeah, I'd put him at the top. We were talking yesterday about how his average exit velocity during whatever period he's heated up was only like 85 miles per hour,

Apparently it jumped a lot just with the addition of Sunday's bad at balls. It jumped to 88, 88 miles per hour, which is still not very good average exit velocity, but it's not like embarrassingly bad. You could see it working a little better for Matt Shaw if he can sustain something like that. It is over a very small and hot stretch. So it's not like the exit velocity concern is gone for Matt Shaw, but he is legitimately impacting the ball better during this hot streak. and I think is so hot that he gets the preferential treatment there.

Though, you know, he may have run out of runway very quickly if the Cubs are the team that acquire Hohenny Suarez. So keep an eye on that. I hope you are not tired of hearing us talk about Ramon Luriano because here it goes again, two for four with his 15th home run and last 28 games for Luriano. He's hitting 317, 6 homers, 24 RBI, two steals, and Opie. us over 900 during that time and hitting the ball extremely hard.

So still just 35% rostered, man. I think any five outfielder leagues, 12-team Roto, 15-team Roto, he's probably not out there in 15-teamers anymore, but 12-team Roto, if he's only 35%, I think Luriano's probably still out there in some of those. So I think that should be changed. I've said it before, but in case you weren't listening that day or in case you, my droning caused you to tune out for what I was actually saying.

I'll point it out again. Ramone Lauriano, you give the numbers for the last 28 days, and that's great. Last 365 days, 289 with 23 homers, eight steals, and 8601 OPS. And that's just in 130 games. So not even like a full season's worth. He's got the 23 homers, 289 bad. He's been good for a long time now. not the best points league player because he doesn't walk much

when did he actually become an everyday player I'm wondering if his points per game is suppressed he really began playing truly every day started to play pretty regularly in late April and then by late by early June he was in the lineup basically every day. So I imagine

him having 2.6, 2 points per game is, that's a bit skewed by his by him being a part timer early in the year and that he probably deserves attention in this point. Ramon Luriano does in points leagues as well. All right. And then two

names in deeper leagues. Andrew Vaughn continues to mash with the Brewers, one for three with a walk and his ninth home run. 14 games in Milwaukee, 341 batting average for homers, 1128 OPS, 93.4 average exit velocity for Andrew Vaughn, who was only 20% rostered,

and two days, two homers, warming Bernabelle of the Rockies, two for five with his second home run, had three hard hits in this game, none of those over 100 miles per hour. We'll see what happens here, Scott. The way that you're kind of intrigued by Colson Montgomery, I am intrigued by warming Burnabelle,

because I have him in the dynasty league. So I kind of want to see what he could do, right? He ran these very low strikeout rates in the minors. He also did not hit the ball hard at all. But I don't know, he's got like two. And chased a lot for having low strikeout rates. Two homers in his first three games. I mean, it could just turn out to be like an aberration,

very small sample size here. But, you know, he's got course field to mess around with here. Very, very deep league stuff. Totally get that, you know, 15 team roto, corner infielder, and only leagues, things like that. He's only 4% rostered. We'll see where it goes.

Andrew Vaughn's got, I feel like we've just kind of glossed over it, but he is destroying the baseball in Milwaukee so far. Yeah, I noticed that too. Interesting that we both noticed at the same day. So since joining the Brewers,

which basically spans July, he is slashing Andrew Vaughn 341, 423-705, four home runs in those 14 games average exit velocity in those 14 games 93.4 miles per hour. This is I believe he was drafted third overall the year he was drafted. He was in and hurried to the majors really quickly. This was a high high end prospect once upon a time and it's not like the white socks and recent years have a great track record of player development. And you just wonder if

if the brewers were able to tap into that potential in a way the white socks weren't, I'm definitely, I'm definitely willing to hear that theory for Vaughn, even if I wouldn't consider him a priority pickup yet. Let's take our final break. When we return, we'll run through some waiver wire pitchers.

I have some, did you realize surprising stats? We'll do all that right after this. Welcome back in, fantasy baseball today, quickly run through the Waver Wire pitchers from Monday's action. Slade Cicconi turned in a quality start against the Rockies.

Seven innings, three runs with just three strikeouts here, 12 hard hits allowed for Cicone, who is 66% rostered. Andre Pallante had a great outing against the Marlins, seven shutout with four strikeouts for him, and a very deep league name

here, Brad Lord, solid outing at the Astros, five in a third innings, one hit, one run only two strikeouts, but he was moved to the bullpen a couple months ago, pitched very well out of the bullpen, and so far in two starts, he's looked solid for the national. Yeah, I mean, two strikeouts in this one, and I think it was one strikeout last time. Yeah, the two starts so far, it's nine in the third innings, two runs, only three strikeouts to one walk.

So, I don't, I can't really get excited about Brad Lord yet. I picked him up in my NL only league. Okay. And leagues that deep. Anybody with a pulse you can pick up in an NL only league. Yeah. I am pleased that I added a two-star Andre Palante to my sleeper pitchers list on Sunday after losing several of them over the weekend and having to find replacements there. So that's good.

So that's good. Maybe I had some good picks. They don't usually work out. but they, you know, some of them seem to be working out this week. Yeah, I think Saccone is fine in the right spots as, you know, a streamer type. The underlying numbers for him are much scarier here. It's a 459 FIP for Sikoni and his XERA entering Monday was 486. So lots of hard contact for him.

Yes, but also, you know, kind of depends what numbers you're looking at. He is better than a 35% whiff rate on both his second and third best pitch, the slider. and curveball, which makes me surprised his swinging strike rate isn't higher. Those are different things, whiffs and swinging strikes, but it's, they usually correlate, you know? And I don't know what's going on there with Sacconi. I think he's, I think he's pretty solid. I like him more than Palante.

I think Palante is, I don't know, kind of Dean Kramer-like in terms of his utility and fantasy. They're different types of pitchers. but just you're you're kind of hoping the random number generator turns up a seven-inning start and and it did in this case for Palante. But Sakoni, I think is maybe a little more Michael Waka-like. I don't know if that's a comparison that's going to resonate with people since Waka's been pretty shaky lately.

But just somebody you don't think of being hugely impactful in fans. but you never feel that bad using him either. He's just kind of consistently fine. I also noticed that the breaking pitches here are really good for Slate Cicone, but man, his fastballs just get clobbered. His foreseam has a 94.2 average eggs of velocity against. So, I mean, that is untenable. And he, and that is still his most used pitch.

So the fact that he throws that fastball. Yeah. Throw that fastball less laid. It gets it really hard. So just based on his roster rate, 66%. There are other names around there that we've talked about lately that I just like more. You know, guys like Eric Lauer, who's come up, Joe Boyle,

there was someone else I saw, Zebby Matthews, Trevor Rogers. I would take all those names over Slate's Coney right now. Boyle, Matthews, Rogers, what was the fourth name you said? Rogers, Matthews, Boyle, and Eric. Lauer. Lauer and Sacconi are probably close, but I think I trust Lauer a little bit. I might prefer Sikoni to Lauer, but definitely those other three over him. All right. And Carson Wisden Hunt made his Major League debut here for the Giants. Not great. Five innings, five hits, four runs allowed. Only three strikeouts, five whiffs on 20 on 85 pitches, excuse me,

only through 58% of his pitches for strikes. It was a four pitch mix. He sat 92, 93 miles per hour. Scott, would you see here from Carson Wisenhunt, any interest for fantasy? Really not. No, I mean, he is a prospect of some note, but the last two years in the minor's numbers pretty underwhelming. And I'm not sure he has much to work with other than a change-up, to be honest. And the change-up was what he threw the most in his major league debut. You rarely see that from a young pitcher for many pitcher, really, but especially one so young.

and I don't know I need to see I need to see actual success from Carson Wizz and Hunt before I can get excited about him in fantasy All right Let's talk about a little

surprising stats here Did you realize And I Whenever I do this segment It's usually things that I haven't realized So maybe Scott hasn't realized And we could talk about it Vlad Jr.

Has low key been raking Last 40 games for him It's a 329 batting average seven home runs, 31 runs, 27 RBI, 24 walks to 24 strikeouts during that stretch, and OPS over 950. So still would like to see more power, Scott, but 330, 950 OPS,

maybe we're about to see one of those crazy runs that Vlad Jr. usually goes on every year. Not every year, but, you know, like every other year. Sure, that may be. I think there's plenty of talent there. I'm not necessarily counting on it. I've talked about how I think there's a good chance Nick Kurtz is going to be the top first baseman drafted next year

just because Vladimir Guerrero, while he's good, I don't think he quite has the upside we're looking for at that point in the draft. I mean, upside maybe isn't the right word to use. It's just not his most projectable outcome. And other than that 40, home or season. We haven't.

Last year was pretty good, but, you know, it was just 30 home runs for our first baseman. Obviously, high end, but so high end that you want to do

the first one drafted, I don't know. Even with this hot stretch for Guerrero, I think he's, in my mind, behind Kurtz for next year. So he's behind Kurtz for this year?

No, I don't have them behind Kurtz for this year. And trying to, trying to explain that distinction would be tough. Maybe he, maybe by the end of this year, he won't be behind Kurtz anymore, or ahead of Kurtz anymore. And I know that you are working on an article just focusing on Nick Kurtz, right? Is that going to be out on the site on Tuesday? It is. Yeah. I think it's overdue.

And I have the time to do it now. So I'm going to do it before the trade deadline craziness to come. All right. Let's talk about Spencer Strider, who was me at the Royals, five-innings. seven hits, two runs, two walks, three strikeouts, just five whiffs on 96 pitches. The velocity down a little bit here. Fastball down to 94.9 miles per hour. That was his second lowest fastball velocity of the season.

And did you realize, Scott, that Spencer Strider's Stuff Plus metric is currently 97 on Fangraphs. For his career, the Stuff Plus is 114 for Spencer Strider. We've talked a lot this year about how he's not the Spencer Shrider of old. I did not realize that his Stuff Plus is that far behind where his career mark usually is. Yeah, I don't look at Stuff Plus very much because I don't find it to be a reliable metric. And I don't really understand how it's calculated. I'm kind of skeptical of anything that I don't understand how it's calculated.

To be honest, I want to know what's under the hood. but a lot of these stats are proprietary and they're purposely not letting you look under the hood. So there's that. And just when I see leaderboards for it, it doesn't correlate that closely to results as much as at least from what I've seen as much as like swinging strike rate does.

So I didn't know specifically that striders stuff plus numbers were down that much. but it doesn't surprise me because his stuff without the plus is down. So it's not throwing as hard, not getting as many whiffs, especially in his most recent couple turns here. And I'm back to being a little concerned about his long-term outlook, to be honest. And it's still a 15.3% swinging strike rate on the season, which is good. It's very good.

But I don't know. It just doesn't seem, just doesn't seem as dominant. Yeah. And I think, you know, one of the biggest things outside of obviously the stuff, just not being where it was, you know, pre-surgery here, is that his location just hasn't been great either. The walks are up the season 3.7 walks per nine. The last time we saw him in 2023, that was 2.8.

The year before that, it was 3.1 walks per nine. And he's also getting hit really hard. I think that can, you know, kind of lend itself to missing spots and, you know, bad location as well here. So all around, Strider is obviously not the pitcher that he was before, but I don't know, maybe even a little bit less than the pitcher that we've been selling him to be rest of season. Maybe he's more like a SP3, SP4 type rather than like an SP2 rest of season. Cedric Mullins has hit better in July 2 for 3 with his 15th home run. I didn't realize, but yeah, in July 258, batting average, three homers, six steals in 801 OPS. He also robbed a homer in this game, so my goodness, to hit a home run and rob a home run in the same game.

That is just that's awesome stuff. My guess is he won't be on the Orioles Thursday night here. Again, this is Cedric Mullins, but just a weird season, Scott. April, awesome, gets off to this great start, gangbusters for Cedric Mullins, and then May and June combined, it's a sub-600 OPS, and so far here in July has been much better, and he's bounced back. He had a really strong finish last year, which is something to keep in mind. So shrieky, man. Yeah. So, you know, last two years, he hit about 230, 235.

He had an OPS 710, 720. They're really, really similar slash lines two years in a row. And while he's trailing behind those numbers a little bit this year, you know, that might just be exactly what he is. Boy, I'm looking at how his defensive metrics. Let me look at a better version of those. Looks like they've just cratered this year for Sederate Mullen. According to the stat cast, he's still 77th percentile and outs above average.

But his arm value is terrible. Yeah, stack cast it doesn't look as bad, and that's what most people rely on these days. I was looking at defensive war on his baseball reference page. It's minus 1.5 when for most of his career it's been a positive. So I don't know. It's bad. I don't know how that's being calculated if the range rating is still good there for Mullins. But it makes it, like if he isn't a plus defender in center, then I think he probably becomes a role.

player in the near future. All right. Next up we have Alec Berlison, who we mentioned earlier, has been hitting well for a long time, one for two with his 14th home run, and it was a rough start for Burleson, but last 60 games, 303 batting average, 12 home runs, an OPS near 900. He's hitting the ball very hard. It's just a 12% strikeout rate. Still bad against lefties. So I can't ask you, Scott, did you realize? Because obviously you have realized, but just an opportunity to talk about Alec Berlinson, who seems like a pretty good hitter. Yeah, and he's sitting against lefties much less than I thought.

He's basically an everyday player. I like Burleson a lot as a prospect. And I think one of my bold predictions going into last year was that he would be the top Cardinals outfielder in fantasy, which seemed crazy. I felt crazy riding it, and then it turned out to be true. So I do have a little bit of a track record here with Berluson. But I know at times more recently, I've talked like,

is he really that impactful in fantasy because in points leagues? You know, he doesn't walk much. And in Roto leagues, he's not going to give you a huge number of home runs, just maybe flirting with 20. But, you know, you look at his expected stats. And he's living up to them again all of a sudden, just expect a batting average 286. That's 88th percentile.

Hard contact, lots of contact. And in theory, he should be a batting average standout. Now, Luke Burleson for the past 60 games, you say, yeah, the past couple months. 303 has lived up to it. And I think he could continue to do that. Yeah, I made this comp coming into the season. He kind of feels very Josh Naler-E.

Now he doesn't run as much as Josh. Taylor. But you couldn't have said that coming into the year. In terms of just making contact and you know, being a solid 20-ish home run hitter, I see some similarities there between Alec Berlinson and Josh Naylor. Let's talk about Josh Naylor who all of a sudden is a speed demon in Seattle, two for four with a sock in a shoe, his 12th homer, his 15th steel. He has four steals in four games with the Mariners. And mind you, look, I am no Adonis. But, Josh Nailer doesn't really have the physique that would scream out to you that he is, you know, out here stealing bases left and right. But he's doing it with the Mariners.

And Scott, how about this? Did you realize Josh Nailer's 15 steals are more than both Corbin, Carol, and Shohei Otani this season? Wowza. That's amazing. That's really, especially Carol. I don't know what Carol's doing. It's not just that Nailer doesn't have the physique. It's third percentile sprint speed.

I know it for him. And four-home runs in his mini-game for the Mariners. You know it was funny when we were talking about Josh Naylor getting traded to the Mariners. I did my normal wishy-washy thing like, yeah, there are some bad signs, but it'll probably be fine. The most confidently, the thing I said most confidently was that Josh Naylor has 11 steals now. I don't know why, but I don't imagine that's going to continue. continue. And of course, he goes and steals four bases right away with the Mariners. So what do I know? Not much.

And last name here is Ronald Acuna, who destroyed a baseball two for four with two walks and his 14th home run. That homer, 110 miles per hour off the bat, 468 feet. I mean, just picking on poor Rich Hill, man. Like, come on. Ronald Acuna, why'd you have to go out there and do this against our old friend Rich Hill. But the did you realize, Scott, is that in 11 games, since moving to the number three spot in the lineup, Acuna is batting just 220.

Three homers, that's nice. 27% strikeout rate. So it's a very small sample size, but it stood out to me that, you know, I feel like we've tried this before. It's Acuna's much better as a leadoff hitter. So it's just kind of weird that they moved them to the middle of the lineup.

There was a point. Earlier in Acuna's career, earlier in Brian Snitker's managerial career where he said, I'm never moving him out of the lead off spot again because nobody was happy with the way that experiment went the first time. But, you know, obviously got to shake things up somehow. Nick Allen and Michael Harris weren't getting on base enough for Acuna

batting 8th the 9th, so dropped them to 3rd. I think in the long run, like if you're, giving this infinite time to play out Ronald de Cunia's numbers look no different no matter where he's batting but I don't know maybe he's unhappy not hitting leadoff it's possible certainly looked happy with that 468 footer yeah my goodness that was a bomb there for Ronald Lecunia who now has 14 home runs in just 54 games so the power the run scored the batting average obviously the steel paces down somewhat to be expected, but mostly everything else looks really good here for Ronald Acuna. Let's quickly run through some of the rest of the leftovers here. And, you know,

Scott, it's just banging your head against the wall. It feels like every start Dylan Cease goes out there and, you know, we're expecting something different and we just wind up getting more of the same here. So tough outing here against the Mets, four and two thirds innings, five hits, five runs, five walks, nine strikeouts through just a, 60% of his pitches for strikes. He did take a ground ball comebacker, which hit him in the back of the head earlier in the game, but

he stayed in and, you know, he made some good pitches after that. It's just, I think the last pitch of the game, he gave up a grand slam to Mark Viantos of all people, so just really kind of messed up his line here. I don't know. Just feels like it's one of those years for Dillon C's.

Everything that we normally look at tells us that, you know, he should be much better. Mm-hmm. how can we just throw him out there, scotry, just keep throwing him out there and he's just destroying our ratios. Well, you don't have to.

You can do whatever you want. If you don't like the advice I'm giving you, if you don't find it convincing, then don't follow it. It's not going to hurt my feelings. It's fine. And I don't have Dillon C's anywhere, so I can't speak from experience.

But I just feel like the moment I said, him, he's going to throw seven one hit innings with 12 strikeouts, you know? And then it's like, okay, well, if he does that, I'll get him back in my lineup. And then he'll give a four runs in five innings with nine base runners allowed. You know, it's, you can't drop him. You're not going to like what you get back in a trade for him. As much as you've invested in him, I imagine, I don't know, like if you're, if you're killing it, even though you drafted Dylan's.

cease and obviously you came into some great pitching some other way maybe you picked up a lot of Andrew Abbott types off the waiver wire I could see that and then it's easier to say okay then bench Dylan cease who cares I still want to drop him because I wouldn't

want that to fall into the wrong hands if he did suddenly turn it on and I do think there will come a day when he suddenly turns it on I just can't tell you for sure it's going to be in the next two months I have no idea 97% 7% rostered still, 91% started. And obviously a two-star week this week, so everyone either just kept him in the lineup

or put him back in here for the two starts. But just a disaster season all around for Dylan Seas, who has six quality starts. That's less than Kyle Hendrix, Michael Lorenzen, Bailey Falzer, Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker, Nick Martinez. So just to give you some perspective there on Dylan Seas. Scott, what has happened to Austin Riley the past two years? Maybe you have a little bit more insight here being a Braves fan, but he just hasn't been the same. Two for six with his 15th home run here on Monday,

four RBI. No, he's missed some time here with some injury, but it's a 756 OPS, sub-800 OPS two years in a row now. Strikeout rate is up the season. And it was an OPS up over 860 each year from 2021 to 2020. So for whatever reason, he has just taken a pretty big step back the past two years. What is your hypothesis on Austin Riley?

Well, my hypothesis about what happened to him last year was the same as Julio Rodriguez. Austin Riley has always been a guy who has relied on making up for a slow start with, by getting really hot in July and August. And he was hurt for a large portion of that time last year. year. Same with Julio Rodriguez. So they didn't get,

they weren't able to make up their numbers as completely as they normally do during their favorite time of the year. And, you know, we're still kind of in that

for Riley now. You did mention the strikeout rate is up this year. And so, you know, it's possible he's pressing some as maybe, maybe everyone in the Braves

lineup is. But, it still hits the ball as hard as ever. Expected stats are still really strong. I think only 28 years old, I think he's fine. I don't plan to approach Austin Riley any differently next year. I could see him slipping behind some of the other emergent options at that position, like Junior Cominero, for instance,

and I have moved him behind Cominero in my rest of season rankings. But he's still going to be pretty hot commodity, fourth or fifth rounder, I would venture to say, in drafts next year. All right. Again, that was Austin Riley. We do have some other leftovers here. Aces being aces, Framber Valdez was nasty up against the Nationals. Six innings, one run, 12 strikeouts, had 22 whiffs on 97 pitches. That curveball was outstanding. And Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a great start at the Reds. innings, one run, nine strikeouts,

21 whiffs on 101 pitches. Had everything working much more of a complete pitcher here. Scott, anything else that stood out on Yamamoto or Framber Valdez? So Valdez threw his curveball, 44% at the time, and it was responsible for 17 of his 22 whiffs. Normally that curveball is more like 33% of the time. He threw a 44. I've noticed, looking back through his game log,

So he's had four double-digit strikeout games this season. And what all four of them, including this 12 strikeout effort, clearly, have in common, a lot more curveball usage. So when he leans on that curveball, he is a strikeout machine. Maybe he should do that more. I don't know. He's great either way. But it's sort of like Ryan Nelson with him throwing his fastball 60% of the time or more. When Valdez throws his curveball, he's great.

ball around 40% of the time, a little more. And like in this start, but when it gets around 40%, it gets a ton of strikeouts. And I think that's what happened here against the nationals. All right. On the other side, uncharacteristic bad starts for pitchers here. Jacob de Grom, a rough one at the Angels, five in a third innings, five runs, still had eight strikeouts. The five earned runs were a season high for Jacob de Grom.

Christopher Sanchez, he ran into the buzzer. saw known as the White Sox, six and two-thirds, innings, four runs, two homers allowed, and believe it or not, the White Sox are fourth in a run scored in July. So maybe we think twice about streaming against

the White Sox, I don't know. And Matthew Boyd, turns out he's human, after all, at the Brewers five innings, five runs, five walks allowed in this one through just 58% of his pitches for strikes. It was his first start with even four walks this season.

So just uncharacteristically bad here for Boyd, Sanchez, and DeGrom. Anything that worries you, Scott, on these three? I've been worrying about regression for Boyd, but I don't think that's what happened here. I think he was just uncharacteristically wild. I don't even know, like, I didn't watch the game or anything. Maybe he was not getting the strike zone he normally does, and maybe it was more that than him just being wild. But for whatever reason, he didn't throw as many strikes.

He's normally like 69% strikes, one of the best in the league. And so I give him a pass for that. It was just a weird day for Matthew Boyd. And I don't see anything that Christopher Sanchez did wrong either. Like he threw a ton of strikes. Just like he said, seems like you ran into that buzzsaw. Some other pitching leftovers, Luis Castillo. Great start at the Athletic.

Seven innings, one run. Four strikeouts for him. Edward Cabrera, a quality start at the Cardinals. six innings, one run, four strikeouts and three walks for Cabrera. Jacob Mizorowski, solid, just inefficient up against the Cubs. Four innings, three runs, two of those earned with seven strikeouts. Drew Rasmussen, a rough first inning, but then settled down nicely at the Yankees, five innings, two runs, five strikeouts, and Chase Burns, better up against the Dodgers.

Five and two-thirds innings, three runs, ten strikeouts to one walk. 21 whiffs on 91 pitches and just the line seems unfortunate just based on how well Chase Burns actually pitched here so it feels like maybe he deserved a better overall line there for Chase Burns but it's got anything to add on him

Rasmussen the Miz Edward Cabrera and Louise Castillo so it's been a while since Rasmussen he'd even gone five innings this was his first in five starts doing that and partly that was by design they were limiting his workload there around the all-star break but five is the max he can

get to and it makes him really difficult to use outside of two-star weeks he does have two starts this week and fortunately he came up big in the first one so uh hopefully you get another one like that out of them chase burns three straight double-digit strikeout efforts that's a really good sign even though the er a has been kind of high i think i i'm pretty pleased with what i've seen from Burns, and I think he's going to be impactful down the stretch here. I'm less confident in Mizorowski because of the efficiency issue, and three of his, three of Mizorowski's last four starts have been less than five innings. And that's just not, you can't use that in any format, really, if they're going to be that

short his outings. I'm not saying you should drop them or anything. I just don't know that I'm willing to call Jacob Mizorowski a must start at this point when he still has yet to prove he can give us a consistent, a workload that's passable for a starting pitcher. A couple of their hitting leftovers here. Bo Bichette continues to just rack up the hits. Four for five on Monday, nine hits over his last two games,

and hitting 388 in the month of July. Welcome back to Adley Rutchman, who went three for five with two doubles, two runs, two RBI. Luis Robert has turned things back up in July, 11 home run, hit his 11th home run of the season, but so far in the month hitting 318, three homers, four steals, 957 OPS for Luis Robert, and Christian Yelich continued his strong season, two for four with his 20th home run, added 3 RBI for Christian Yelich. Call to the bullpen, some updates here. mention this early, but for the Dodgers, Alex Vescia got the eighth inning with a four-run lead.

He walked one, but pitched a clean inning. Blake Trinan got the ninth. He allowed a run on two hits and two walks. He was relieved by lefty Jack Dreyer, who got the final out for his first save. For the raise, Pete Fairbanks recorded the final four outs for his 18th save. For the Brewers, Craig Yoho started the ninth with a four-run lead. He got two outs, but also walked two. He was relieved by Trevor McGill, who struck out Sayas Suzuki for his 24th save of the season. For the Nationals, Kyle Finninggan got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. Always a very scary experience if you have Kyle Finnegan in fantasy.

He struck out one in a perfect inning for his 20th save, and that was just his second save since June 7th. It is July 29th. So very front-loaded production here we got from Kyle Finningin. For the Braves, Rysel Iglesias pitched a clean, 9th for his 12th save. For the Rockies, Seth Halverson. Got the ninth inning with a three-run lead.

He allowed a run on two walks, but picked up his 11th save. For the Padres, Robert Suarez got the ninth with a one-run lead. Give up a solo homer to Ronnie Maricio, but the Padres wound up walking it off in the bottom of the ninth inning. That came against Gregory Soto. For the Pirates, David Bednar got the ninth inning with a two-run lead. He allowed one run on three hits, but picked up his 17th save. for the Mariners, Andres Munoz.

I know picked up a save as well. It was his 24th of the season. And the Red Sox, weird game here. Very long rain delay in the ninth inning. So when they came back from the rain delay, it was Jordan Hicks who came on with a one-run lead. He gave up a single, hit by pitch, hit by pitch, ground out, and then a two-run single to lose the game for the Red Sox.

and we know that Chapman is dealing with a sore back right now, so they go with Jordan Hicks in this one, and obviously did not work out very well. So Chapman, never thought I'd say this, but we need you back. We hope you're healthy because the Red Sox need you to close out some games. To stream or not to stream on Tuesday, we have Eric Lauer at the Orioles,

Charlie Morton up against the Blue Jays, Brandon Fott is at the Tigers, Logan Allen against the Rockies, Joe Boyle at the Yankees, Soroka at the Astros, Corbin at the Angels, Bailey Falter at the Giants, Justin Verlander versus the Pirates.

No shortage of options on Tuesday. No, it's pretty good. I think Eric Lauer, Baltimore gets the nod here. Joe Boyle at the Yankees. That seems like a worthy gamble for the strikeout upside. Logan Allen against the Rockies,

probably my third choice, but I don't hate Mike Soroka at Houston or even Justin Verlander against the Pirates. Yeah. And worth mentioning with Joe Boyle and I guess any pitchers facing the Yankees for the foreseeable future, without Judge, they're just not the same lineup. Now, can they run into a few home runs and still have some big games? Sure, that's possible, but they're not the same offense without Aaron Judge. So using Joe Boyle or some other pitchers moving forward, I don't know that I'm, all that scared of the Yankees lineup right now. And then on Wednesday we have Dean Kramer who faces the Blue Jays. Adrian Houser is up against the Phillies.

Mike Burroughs is at the Giants. Oh my goodness. Jeffrey Springs is facing the Mariners. It's Wednesday's not so good. Yeah, it's not. We got a Kyle Freeland here. Rather start Alex Freeland, to be honest. Jeffrey Springs against the Mariners.

This is my top Joyce. And I don't want to recommend anyone else. Maybe Dean Kramer. Blue Jays have been so hot. I don't want to recommend Dean Kramer. Yeah, springs against the Mariners I could potentially do. Certainly not a must. Get your streamers in on Tuesday, basically,

because Wednesday not so hot. We are 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 5-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. Paramount Podcasts.