Fantasy Baseball Today - Encarnacion-Strand Promoted, Shane Bieber Hurt & Waiver Wire Adds! (7/17 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 17, 2023

Christian Encarnacion-Strand is finally getting called up by the Reds (1:10)! ... Grayson Rodriguez is rejoining the Orioles (10:27). ... Shane Bieber went to the IL with elbow inflammation (15:30). ... Oswald Peraza was recalled by the Yankees (16:35). ... The Pirates are promoting three prospects Monday as well (18:31). ... Kutter Crawford or Alec Marsh (23:40)? ... Cody Bellinger had a huge weekend (30:02)! ... News (37:25): Max Scherzer was scratched Friday but pitched well on Sunday! ... We've got waiver wire pitchers and hitters from the weekend (48:28). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (57:38). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Finally, Christian Encarnacion is headed to the Cincinnati Reds. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Monday, July 17th.

I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White and Chris Tess. Towers. Today on the show, a huge weekend of news, that's right, just mentioned it. Encranasio Strand is getting the call. Grace Rodriguez is headed back to the Baltimore Orioles. Shane Bieber is hurt. We'll talk about all that. The pirates are calling up all of their prospects and much more. Before we get started, please like this video and subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already. And if you're listening on the audio side, download, follow, and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We really do appreciate it. Let's just jump right in because as I mentioned, there's a lot. to get to.

First and foremost, CES. Encarnacion Trend, getting called up to the Reds. The 23 year old tore it up during spring training, and then he did the same thing in the minors this season. He was batting 3.31 with 20 homers, a 1042 OPS. The plate discipline has been solid and improving throughout the season. He's hitting the ball really hard.

56% rostered. Scott will start with you. Is Encornacion Trend a must add in all leagues? First of all, I just want to say I'm so happy right now. This is like my happiest day of the season, I think. I have him stashed away in at least four leagues already. And a couple of them I may have had incarnations strand stashed away from the draft, from the initial draft. Same.

Because he was so impressive in spring training that it looked like he might just win a job then. And then, you know, Votto came back almost, but then got hurt again. but by that point, Incarnazion Strand was hurt, and then he finally came back in late April at AAA, and we still thought he'd beat Ellie de la Cruz and Matt McLean and Andrew Abbott to the majors, and he didn't it, he didn't it, but he's here now. And I am really excited about this player.

He has incredible power, which was on display in spring training. I mean, it was just the impact he made over that short. Like, he was the talk of the first half of spring training before he got sent down. That's the way his home runs looked. Every day, he seemed to do something big. And, you know, it seems silly, I know, to talk about spring training here in July, but then he just kept doing it at AAA.

And, like, he was amazing last year in the minors, too. It's just, you know, bad plate discipline and kind of came out of nowhere. And so people weren't really sure what to make of incarnation strand at this point, at that point. But I think for the most part, everyone's come around. to the idea that he's a pretty special hitter. He's incomparable in some ways because he's such a good bad ball hitter. And so that kind of made it so,

all right, yeah, the plate discipline is bad, but he's so good at impacting the ball when it's outside of the strike zone, kind of like Vladimir Guerrero Sr., you know, he kind of had that quality going for him, that maybe it doesn't really matter that much, and maybe that explains why he's so productive. You know, I've already talked about the power

in Carnacian's strand, has, he hit 322 over his minor league career and more than 800 played appearances in the minors, he hit 32. And that puts him in such rare company for batting average over hitters that have gotten that many plate appearances in the minors. It's like Mike Trout and Julio Rodriguez and Jose Altuve, like those are the only kinds of guys who over that span of time in the minors put up a batting average on about the same level as Christian and Carnassian Strand.

So, like, he's not just a one-trick pony with the power. And I mentioned, okay, yeah, plate discipline is a problem for him. But as you mentioned, Frank, even that's gotten better lately. He had three walks over his first 28 games. He had 30 walks over his last 39 games compared to 38 strikeouts in those last 39 games. So, I don't know. He's impressive. There is a question of playing time, I guess, with Christian and Carnacian Strand,

because he's limited defensively. That's why he doesn't show up as high on traditional prospect lists. He's played some third base in the minors, better at first base. But the Reds don't have a dedicated DH. And I looked at, you know, like where they've been playing Spencer's steer lately, mostly left field. Tyler Stevenson, it seemed like they were reluctant to play him that regularly behind the plate. That's increased lately.

Like it seemed like they were gearing up to make this move with the, idea that DH would be primarily occupied by incarnation Strand going forward. So that's what I think's going to happen. Hopefully he still picks up first base eligibility in short order because I know a lot of people have a need there. But it may not be quite every day that he plays at the start, but the more he delivers on his production, obviously, the more he'll be in the lineup. And the same way they figured it out with Ellie de la Cruz coming up and, oh, how are

they going to make everybody fit there? I think they'll make it fit with incarnacion, Strand too. I think so too, and I think they can find a way to bench one player, you know, every couple of days, whether it's like Avato or, I mean, obviously they're not going to bench the kids the way that they're playing right now. But I think they can find a way Tyler Stevenson, one of those guys, to get Christian Ancarnaccio and Strand in the lineup consistently. Scott, I know you recently put out your top 50 prospects on the website, CBSports.com, and Christian Encaronestrian Strand ranked as your 12th prospect on that top 50 list. So people could go check that out on the site. Chris. I was tempted to put him any higher,

but I was kind of already on a limb by putting him as high as 12th. Like I said, I think it's that defensive, hit him being so far down the defensive spectrum that puts him lower on some lists. And there are other questions beyond that, I think. You know, one thing that, like, I kind of don't want to talk about him

because I feel like we're being so positive and everyone's very excited. But like, we do have to talk about the downside. And I think part of it is that like, it feels like a little bit of a sweaty move from the Reds, if you get what I mean. Like,

all of a sudden, they score three runs in the first series of the, after the All-Star break. And we go from getting a report like 10 days ago that it would be really, really unlikely that Christian Ancarnacian gets called up without an injury to he's here now. So it feels a little like panicky,

which makes me think that there might not be a long leash, that they're going to really try to get him going. But if he doesn't, it could go south quickly in terms of playing time. And then there's also just the contact rates. The strikeout rate's actually not that bad, but the in zone contact rate in particular. You mentioned the chase rate, Scott, but he and he swings at 38% of balls out of the strike zone this season,

which is a really, really high number. But also his contact rate on swings inside of the strike zone, according to Prospects Live has the stack has data, 82.8% on in-zone contact rate, which is like a little bit better than Joe Adele so far in AAA, but like that's been the big issue for Joe Adele, has been just like, when he hits the ball,

he hits the ball really far. It's just he misses pitches that he should hit. And that combined with having, I don't know, the 15th highest out-of-zone swing rate, it looks like 21st out of 3, 159 players. It's a little concerning.

Like that that's a red flag for me. It is. I do think none of this is to say you shouldn't add him. He's such a good bad ball hitter. Sure. Helps to make up for it. It's just the bad balls and the miners are a little easier to hit. You know,

like a lot of guys throwing hard in the miners, but every team in baseball's got seven guys throwing 98 out of the pen now. So I just, it's not to say you shouldn't add him, but, and I think this goes without saying, hopefully, we'll see what the comments say. But I think it goes without saying at this point that there are no guarantees when it comes to the highly touted prospects. Some of them hit the ground running and are amazing and difference makers for fantasy. Some of them are fine. And then some of them completely bust out. We've seen the whole spectrum this year.

And I think it is likelier than not the Christian incarnations. is just fine the rest of the season, that he's like a fringe starting caliber fantasy option. That's the likeliest outcome. But we're not just playing likeliest outcomes. Right. So like, yes, there's a chance he hits 16 homers over the rest of the season and drives in 45 runs.

It is a huge difference maker. So that's what you're chasing. Yeah, I mean, I think that's fair. And I've been pretty consistent with that in my approach to prospect call-ups this year, at least since Jordan Walker but I would say

of the players who have come up in season incarnations strand ranks only second to Edley Dave of Cruz for me in terms of how excited I am about him Chris I appreciate your objectivity but also like

boo this man boo this man I get it that's what the comments are saying right now that's I hate baseball Chris is always hating yeah It's like, okay.

It is a good balance, though, because we do need to talk about, obviously, some of the downsides here with Ancranasian trend. But, of course, I think you should go out and Adam. He's 56% rostered and we've talked about him all season. And I think he possesses a lot of upside, especially with the power in that ballpark playing in Cincinnati. I just wish he was already eligible at first base. Like, how crazy is that?

At first, it seemed like we were happy he retained third base eligibility from last year. And now it's like, no, I really wish he already had first base. Yeah. Grayson Rodriguez is also. returning to the Orioles on Monday, Cole Irvin will move to the bullpen and in seven starts since getting back down, getting sent back down to the miners,

Grayson Rodriguez had a 169 ERA, a 0.99 whip, 54 strikeouts over 37 and a third innings, 13K per 9, but also 3.6 walks per 9. So he's clearly been much better, but the walks still might be an issue when he does get back to the Orioles. He's 66% rostered. Chris, would you,

let's just say you can only add one. Would you put more of an emphasis on adding Grayson Rodriguez over a Christian and Carnacian trend? Would you like me to be annoying? Sure. Depends if you need a pitcher. No, I think Grayson Rodriguez is a better prospect. I don't know if people need pitchers more than hitters right now.

I think I would go with Rodriguez, but it's pretty close. I mean, that's what I was going to say is I feel like everybody could use a pitcher when not everybody can necessarily use a power hitter or a corner infielder or whatever. A couple things I want to say here about Grayson Rodriguez. You pointed out how impressive he was in the minors. Part of the reason that has me so encouraged is that's the first time he really looks like Grayson Rodriguez since he suffered that strain last June.

Because when he came back late that minor league season, didn't look right. And then he didn't look right this spring. And he obviously didn't look right the two months he was in the majors. So I really feel like, and I'm hopeful that Grayson Rodriguez got back to being Grayson Rodriguez during this stint at AAA. I know he was given specific things to work on, such as fastball command and regaining the shape of his breaking balls. This is a guy that was supposed to have a full arsenal of swing and miss pitches. And that's not really what it looked like during his time in the majors. You mentioned the walk rate was kind of high, but he threw 66% of his pitches for strikes down to AAA, which is good.

and I'm hopeful this goes a lot better than it did the first time around and I think it's easier as excited as I am about in Carnassian Strand I think it's easier to say add Grayson Rodriguez across the board just because regardless of what format you're playing in you could use an upside

pitcher. The one issue is like it's kind of frustrating because he's going to be lined up for two starts in his first week back against the Dodgers and rays. So you probably can't can't use them for those two starts. It'd be really,

really gutsy to do that. But man, if he goes out tonight and puts in a good start, you're going to feel real good about it. Right. Exactly. Like, yeah,

if he delivers against those two teams and you didn't pick him up, well, he's here. Yeah, you're going to be feeling bad about that. I think in both CS and Grayson Rodriguez's case, pick him up. Like,

it could go poorly. Grayson Rodriguez, it's hard to overstate how bad he was, but I'll, for some context. He gave up a 53% hard hit rate. Mike Trout's at 52.7% this year. He gave up a 479 expected Wobon contact.

Freddie Freeman's is 471. He was really, really, so it could go really poorly again. But I think there's a lot to like. He was one of my breakout picks for the second half. I know you guys did that on the podcast. I wrote about that for the newsletter last week. You can see that on CBS Sports. but yeah, he's, I think he's, there isn't still a very decent chance that we're talking about him as a top 25 starter for next season.

Let me throw a few names your way. Would you drop Luis Severino to add Grace Rodriguez? Yes. Yeah, I still don't want to drop Severino, but we've seen nothing. Would you drop Michael Kopeck who? Yeah. It's not really his fault, but yeah, he got hit hard. No, it's not his fault.

Well, he's going to get some Braves, right? I feel like I could just, I sure, but. He hasn't been going against the Braves every start lately. And his velocity wasn't back after the IL stint, which I think is the bigger. The results are bad, but yeah. It's less the velocity for me than in his last four starts, 13 innings. Walks, yeah. 20 walks in 13 innings.

Yikes. Yeah, I mean, like, he could turn on a dime again just like he did, you know, a couple months ago. But, like, he's unstarable right now. and I think to get Grayson Rodriguez on your roster, I'd be willing to drop Kopeck. And Kovac only has a fastball, really. Two other names, Lance Lynn and Tage Bradley. Drop both for Grayson Rodriguez?

Bradley, yes. Agreed. Agreed on everything, Scott said there. You're going to drop Lynn? I mean, Lynn's been... I would do it. These look better lately. Like...

Scott? I guess if it's the kind of league where Lynn is somebody you could read realistically consider dropping, then it doesn't hurt to drop him for Grayson Rodriguez. But like, I don't want to drop Lance Len. I'm more willing to drop Severino than Len. All right. The big injury from the weekend was Shane Bieber, who went to the aisle Saturday with right elbow

inflammation and will be shut down from throwing for the next two weeks. And I just thinking out loud, wondering if maybe he's been pitching through this for some time. Because if you look at his last five starts, Shane Bieber had a 522 ERA. and we know the underlying number is not getting many whiffs this year. Velocity has been down the past couple of years, giving up harder contact the season as well. So I just kind of wonder if Beaver's been pitching through this for quite some time. The obvious answer response is, you know,

if you lost him, go out and add Grace Rodriguez. I think that makes some sense. I don't know that there's anything else to add other than I don't know that we'll see Shane Bieber again this season based on this injury. I mean, it's entirely possible. I mean, you figure in a best case scenario, He's back mid-August. And so any type of setback starts to put the rest of the season in question.

Yeah. And it's bad timing, too, just in general, because I know he was a name kind of being floated out there for the trade deadline, too. So that obviously throws a wrench in things for the Cleveland Guardians as well. Other prospecty things from this weekend, Oswald Paraza was recalled from AAA with Josh Johnson landing on the IL. Paraza played 45 games at AAA this season. He was batting 261 with 3,000.

12 home runs, 11 steals, and an 847 OPS. Average exit velocity is very underwhelming, but the max EV looks a little bit better. It's got any interest in adding Oswald Paraza. He's 17% rostered. Do you think he's going to play all that regularly? So I was watching the Yankee game Sunday, and the broadcast mentioned that Aaron Boone said, Parazza is going to get opportunities at third base, shortstop, and second base. So maybe he sits out.

game per week, but I think they'll find ways to get him in the lineup, personally. Yeah, I mean, I am lukewarm on Paraza at this point. I would have put him in my preseason top 50 barely if he qualified for my preseason top 50, and I basically didn't include anyone who has appeared in the majors already. But I showed where they would have ranked if they hadn't appeared in the majors already, and Parraza was like at the very bottom of the top 50. So I'm pretty lukewarm. And, you know, if it's a Roto League and you need middle infield help, okay, take a shot on them.

See how it goes. But beyond that, like, I probably put him in the same category as like a Zach Galloff, who I wasn't crazy about either. Pross's minor league numbers are kind of wild. Like, better than I thought they were 32 homers, 46 steals and 152 games at AAA. It's kind of nuts. He also has third base eligibility on CBS already. So he has corner and he has.

as middle. I think in deeper leagues, I picked them up in my NFBC main event league. That's a 15-team Roto League. I spent $7 out of a $1,000 budget. So just a small spec ad. And we'll see if Oswald Parazza could play consistently for the New York Yankees. I mentioned earlier the pirates are promoting all of their prospects. Three different names are coming up on Monday, joining the team. First up is pitching prospect Quinn Priester, who will make his debut on Monday. He's a former first round pick from 2019, 22 years old. This season in the minors, a 431 ERA, a 136 whip. Nearly a strikeout per inning. The walks have been a problem for him. 3.6 walks for 9. He's known for nasty curveball. And the numbers have been better in previous seasons.

He's kind of fallen flat here in 2023. Chris, any interest in Quinn Priester as a deeper league ad? No, I think this is strictly a watch and see kind of situation. If he, you know, the minorly numbers aren't all that impressive. And, you know, if he, if he shows something in the first start, we'll go out for him. But no, I don't, I don't see much reason. My understanding is priesters more of a floor guy anyway, ground ball specialist. I don't think he throws particularly hard either. And he does, you know, for being, for being a floor guy, ground ball specialist,

who's not going to get a ton of strikeouts, the walks are too high. So, yeah, I would bet against him having an impact, at least in standard-sized leagues for the rest of the season. The two hitting prospects that the pirates are also calling up catcher, Andy Rodriguez, and middle infield prospect, Leover Poguero. And Andy Rodriguez, we know there was a lot of hype coming into the season. He had a monster year last year in the minors. He has not lived up to that so far this year. 268 batting average, six home runs, four steals, and a 771 OPS. Poguero 22 years old has some power in speed

13 homers 21 steals in the minors this year known for his speed more than anything else I notice he's got a 60 run tool according to MLB pipeline has got any interest here in Andy Rodriguez and Leover Paguerro I have basically no interest in Pagero outside of the deepest leagues

Andy Rodriguez I feel like I'm missing information on him that makes him difficult to assess because yes he was ridiculous last year hit let me see if I can find the exact number last year last year he Andy Rodriguez for the pirates hit 323 overall in the miners 399 over his final 46 games with tons of power 399 with 16 home runs I think it was over his final 46 games came in with a lot of hype was rank ahead of Henry Davis on a lot of preseason list, just looked like somebody on the Ascent.

He began this year with a forearm injury, I believe it was. And I just wonder if that lingered and impacted his production. Because his production was bad at AAA and not just like the baseline production, the front-facing production, but 86.6.6 miles per hour is the average exit velocity for Andy Rodriguez at AAA. And I don't have his exit of a lot of city readings for last year, but I have to think they were better than that for him to get as much enthusiasm

from the prospect analyst as he did as for his scouting reports to be as glowing as they were. So I wondered if health was playing a factor in his poor production. And having said that, his last 14 games prior to this call-up, maybe the impetus for the call-up. Indy Rodriguez hit 373 with two home runs and six doubles, more walks than strikeouts in his last 14 games.

So maybe he turned the corner, maybe he's, maybe the pirates see him looking more like he did last year. The fact that he's a catcher and the threshold for fantasy relevance is so low at that position, I think it makes Indy Rodriguez, you know, must add in like a two-catcher league.

I can't say I'm, I can't say like, I feel great about his. chances of delivering big, but like there, there is potential there. And, you know, if it was the forearm that was limiting his production early, then I may be underselling them. All right. Again, the prospects calling up three prospects on Monday. It sounds like Andy Rodriguez is the one that we're most excited about. Quinn Priester, Andy Rodriguez, and Leo Ver Piguero. Chris, God bless you. I saw that. And let's take our first break. And when we return, we'll get into the rest of the weekend's action.

Oh my goodness gracious. All that fun stuff. We'll do it right after the. this. Welcome back and a quick reminder to download and follow our five minute podcast, Fantasy Baseball Today in Five. If you're watching us live on YouTube, you can scan the QR code that will take you right to the podcast feed. We usually touch on the biggest topics, hottest players, waiver wire, all that fun stuff. And it's only five minutes. So make sure to download Fantasy Baseball today in five. And with that, let's jump in. Oh my goodness gracious. Adder girl, Susan. Chris, you are up. Oh, my. my goodness gracious player from the weekend.

I believe I said I was going to go with Cutter Crawford. And that is who I'm going to go with. Boston Red Sox pitcher who, funny enough, does throw a cutter. Love that about him. He had nine strikeouts in six innings today against the Cubs. Also walked four, gave up one hit. And it was interesting because early on,

he wasn't really pitching all that well, got some pretty lucky for good, well-timed double plays, let's say, to get out of some trouble. his velocity was down about a mile and a half in this start. But he got the nine strikeouts. And the really interesting thing about him is he introduced a sweeper in early June. And it's looked like an outstanding pitch for him. I have 43% whiff rate entering today's start.

And then he got six whiffs on just eight of them today. Now, I think there are some issues with his overall movement profile. you know, if you're going to introduce a sweeper and use it more, kind of moves the same way as the cutter. He's got a four seamer. He doesn't have anything that really goes the other way. But that sweeper looks really, really interesting, and it's the kind of pitch that I'd like to see him throw more.

Obviously, just throw your best pitch more is like the dumb guy's smart analysis. But like, maybe it works. You know, it's something that I think he should consider and given the success with the pitch as early as we are in the process of him throwing it. Again, he introduced it in early June. Maybe he can be sweeper Crawford. I think that's smart analysis. That is smart guy analysis. Throw your best pitch more. I resent that. I was going to say, Chris, are you mocking us like this very podcast by saying that? Yeah. I mean, well, that's, yeah, that's kind of like what pitching analysis is. It's just like,

oh, he's got one pitch, throw him more. And it's like, yeah, I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's, Over simplifying. There are reasons why that might not work, though I think in most cases it's probably a good idea. And the pitch is just, it's just really good. Yeah, the fact he's throwing it eight times. Like, that's reason. But, you know, this was actually the subject of the topic of conversation after the game. The Red Sox, particularly pitching coach Dave Bush, was commenting on how Cutter Crawford has like this wide variety.

of pitches and like figuring out the best ones to throw in which scenario is something he's still working on and Crawford himself said said we want to stay away from the jello referring to the pitches that are going to get crushed. Oh sure. I thought was kind of funny. I've always been like Carter, Carter Crawford's always been on the fringes of fantasy relevance for me because like he gets a lot of whiffs and he doesn't walk many guys and usually a great combination. So I'm not saying And this is the start that's going to propel him to fantasy success. But it's worth taking note of because I don't think it's just like a random fluke either. Yeah, he gets whiffs, Cutter Crawford, keeps the walks down.

And he's done a much better job limiting hard contact this season as well. His expected ERA entering Sunday was 368. That's a pretty valuable pitcher if he can get to that level. So I don't know that he's like a must add or anything, but I think in deeper leagues if he's out there or if you just have a bench spot and you want to speculate Cutter Crawford, 16% rostered, going up against the New York Mets this week. Scott, you were up.

Oh, my goodness gracious. I think you and I owe this gentleman an apology. Yeah, we do. We owe Alec Marsh an apology because as recently as our last show, we were talking about how bad the Royals pitching staff was and not able to remember if his name was Alex or Alec Marsh, but it's Alec Marsh. And he sure showed us.

because Alec Marsh, trying to remember what day it was Saturday or Sunday, it was Saturday. Alec Marsh struck out 11 against the raise in six innings allowed just two runs, walked only one, and I think that's the key for him, because part of the reason we were inclined to be so dismissive of Alec Marsh. Between double and AAA this year, he had a 462 ERA and a 152 whip, really bad numbers against much worse than Major League hitters. but a strikeout rates were always really good. And so, like, Alec Marsh has stuff. Of those 15 swinging strikes that were responsible for the 11 strikeouts,

nine of them came on the fastball itself. And when you can get whist with your fastball, that's an indication I've always felt of pretty good upside. My understanding is that he struggles with fastball command. In addition to having that high area and whip in the miners, Alec Marsh issued 4.5 walks per nine. So it's a similar situation to Edward Cabrera, where, okay, yeah, good stuff, good potential for strikeouts,

but if he's not throwing enough strikes with the fastball, it's kind of irrelevant. And for as good as Alec Marcia's stuff may be, it's not even as good as Edward Cabrera, as I feel confident saying. So I was interested in picking him up in some of my deeper leagues, my AL only, you know, threw a couple dollars at him and some of the 15 teamers. Yeah, I dropped like 12 in TGFBI. Did you get them?

It was a 50. Yeah. You got him? Okay. So that's about what he went for in mine. I didn't bid quite that much. Just because everybody's hurting for pitching in those deep formats. And, well, maybe you catch lightning in a bottle here.

I would bet against it because of those longstanding command issues for Alec Marsh. But there is something here if you do want to speculate on upside. Who would you rather take a shot on, Scott, Alec Marsh or Cutter Crawford? I think Marsh, just because we've seen so much mediocrity from Crawford for so long, but like if you're asking me to bet who has better numbers rest of season, I would say Crawford. I'm just not sure those numbers are going to be good enough that he'll be worth your while either. I think I would go with Crawford.

It is close. Much better run support too with the Red Sox. So yeah, I think I'm leaning that way. But yeah, it was a fantastic start by Alec March, and he did it against the Tampa Bay raise too. So let's see where he goes from here, how he builds off that. Oh, my goodness gracious for me is Cody Bell. who had a monster weekend, a double dung on Friday, and their grand slam on Saturday.

Lefty on lefty, hit it off James Paxon. Cody Bellinger has five home runs over his last seven games, and I'm going to float a theory out there, and you guys can react to it. But I wonder if maybe we're putting too much stock in quality of contact. Now hear me out. I think it's obviously a useful tool, and I know there's probably so many people listening to this that are like, yeah, they finally said it. But it's obvious that some players do outperform their quality of contact metrics, right?

We've talked about Hose Altovae for years, and obviously there are certain circumstances where that could happen, where taking advantage of a short porch or a really good ballpark or pulling the ball to an extreme level. Someone tweeted this to me on Saturday and said, they listen to the Cubs radio broadcast a lot, and that Cody Bellinger has a more contact-oriented approach with two strikes this season. And a lot of the times when he gets to two strikes,

he just is focusing on making contact. And even if it's like soft contact, that's what he wants to do. He wants to put the ball in play. So that kind of makes sense to my mind. I'm like, yeah, that would be a reasonable theory for why his average, again, it's an average. So he could have balls that he crushes

and then he could have some of these two strike, you know, just soft contact hits that he puts in play. And obviously that'll drag the average exit velocity down. I just feel like probably, you and I, Chris, we've been a little bit more harsh on Cody Bellinger and we're just like not really buying into it. Well, I want to just keeps hitting. React to that in particular because it would drag the average X velocity down.

It would also just drag the numbers down, right? Like it isn't like unless we like batters have control over where the ball goes. Obviously that's and we all agree with that. We all know that. We all know that Babip is not just a random number generator. Some players can't. But like if he's just. going with two strikes and trying to put the ball in play and like,

okay, that seems like a reasonable approach change that a player would make, but I don't see why that would be an explanation for Bellinger outperforming, like his expected stats to the extent that he is. Like all the things that you said about like a short porch or guys who are super pull heavy, like all of those things are reasons why players outperform their expected stats and sprint speeds another one.

and, you know, but like, most of that isn't really true for Cody Ballinger. And throughout his career, he's been a guy who pretty much plays to his expected stats. His expected Wobah for his career is 343. His actual Wobah for his career is 344. So I just, that's a possible explanation. I find, okay, here, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. is what I would say. And the claim being made is that Cody Bellinger is an outlier,

that these tools and these methods of analyzing players that we apply to almost every player don't apply to Cody Bellinger. And that is possible. Like you said, there are players who outperform their stats consistently. I think we need a good explanation for why Cody Bellinger is one of them now when he hasn't been in the past. and I think the likely your answer

is that sometimes you just overperform or underperform especially in 61 games I just I think the sample size is too small to say with any confidence that there is something about Cody Ballinger that is sustainably going to allow him to continue to outperform and look expected Wobah is not gospel

it's a tool and there are limitations to it. I made this. point on Twitter today. You were talking about expected batting. Yeah, someone, Marcus Demyon had

Marcus Simeon's Markis Simeon's home run would have been a home run in 15 of 30 Major League ballparks and it had a 0.06 expected batting.

Like it would have to have at least a 500 expected. Right. And that's a limitation in XBA because XBA does not take into account the direction a ball is hit.

It takes into account launch angle. And over the course of a large sample size, it tends to even out. And so, I, I, tends to. I acknowledge that there are limitations in all of these stats and then they are not perfect. But again, I think we need good reason to believe a player is an outlier. And I just don't think 60 games from Cody Bellinger is enough to say that.

Well, I haven't been here for a lot of the Cody Bellinger controversy. I think, I think the last you heard for me about Cody Bellinger, I just. said, yeah, I want to wait and see. Because there are reasons to be skeptical, but he started off the year great. And, you know, I was mostly buying into it then. And there was, and the same issues existed then. So I just, you know, I just kind of want to wait and see how it goes. And then he's gone on to have this amazing month of July.

So, you know, my, my perspective on Cody Bellinger is, is basically, like, unless it's an obvious cell high, I'm probably just going to write it out. Sure. And if he fades and, you know, ends up regressing to his expected stats, okay, we had some good times, no big deal. And when I say an obvious sell high, like somebody mentioned on Twitter to me the other day, they traded Cody Bellinger for Austin Riley. Okay, yeah, I do that. Obviously. But like, you know, he's been productive enough for all the time he's been healthy this year.

After, you know, myriad swing changes, he was again making this offseason. and then the strikeout rate is way down. So, like, he's clearly doing things differently than he did his last couple years with the Dodgers. And he steals some bases, which helps. So, yeah, I mean, I'm probably just going to write it out with Cody Bellinger. But, like, I understand the reasons for skepticism. Right.

I think to address the broader issue, because it's something I brought up a couple times last week, Frank. Like, with Sayah Suzuki on the other end, oh, they expect the quality of contact looks great, but I'm still just kind of like, yeah, but we still haven't really seen anything from them. I'm kind of over it. I think I'm at a point where the most important single thing to evaluate with the hitter is how hard he hits the ball.

It's the single most important thing. And so we cite it a lot. But it's clearly not the only thing. So if you make it the only thing, then you're making too much of it. But if you never pay attention to it, then you're making too little of it too. Yeah, no, I think that's perfectly well said. by both of you guys. And I just,

I wanted to, I guess, give him a little bit more credit because I feel like maybe we've been a little bit more harsh on Cody Bellinger recently. And I thought that was a really

interesting note that someone pointed out to me. So it's definitely could be a possibility that, you know, this new change in approach has kind of affected some of the hard contact data

for Cody Bellinger this season. Let's hit some news and notes before we get into the waiver wire because there is a lot more news besides everything else we already mentioned from this weekend. Max Scherzer was scratched from his start Friday

due to next but managed to make a start Sunday, and he was really, really good. We'll talk about that a little bit later on. Shane McClanahan is slated to return from the IL Monday to start against the Rangers, which will make him a two-star pitcher this week and assuming health, of course.

And obviously, Scott, we're throwing Shane McClan out there, right? Yeah, all right. Fernando Tatis is day-to-day after twisting his ankle on Saturday. He said he felt better Sunday, but the Padres chose to play it safe. Chris, are you starting Fernando Tatis this week? Yeah, I think so.

Aaron Judge took on-field batting practice Friday and did some running, though not at full speed. And obviously this is good news, but he still remains without a clear timetable. Clayton Kirshaw underwent an MRI on his injured shoulder and hopes to return in early August. Kevin Gosman was scratched from his start Saturday due to left-side discomfort and will not start the upcoming series against the Padres either. Scott, we don't have much information right now on Kevin Gosman, but would you bench him this week just to play it safe?

Well, we do know he's not expected to need an IAL stent, and he's arguably one of the top three pitchers in fantasy. So I'd probably start him unless I just had a loaded pitching staff. Okay. Shohei Otani left his start Friday with a trainer in the top of the sixth inning, and he's been dealing with a blister the past few weeks, but is expected to make his next start on the mound. And guess what?

He hit two more home runs this weekend because that's what Chohei Otani does. Brandon Woodruff should be ready to rejoin the Brewers' rotation within the next month or so. He's been out since mid-April with a grade two sub-scapular strain. Cedric Mullins left Saturday's game with tightness in his right quad and was out of the line of Sunday. Chris, would you bench Cedric Mullins this upcoming week? I'm more inclined to do that than with Fernando Tatis. Okay. Framber Valdez was removed from Saturday.

with an apparent injury. We haven't really heard what that injury was or maybe it did come out and I didn't see it. Did you guys see anything about Framber Valdez? No, I didn't know. Yeah, he was already up to 103 pitches. So I don't know. It doesn't make that much sense. He had 13 strikeouts. You know, I think he still gave up five runs. But yeah, kind of weird situation there with Valdez. Just a weird. It was a calf cramp. Gotcha. So it doesn't sound like he's been kind of weird this year. I wrote about that in today's in Monday's newsletter. But, just a weird. It was a calf cramp. Gotcha. So it doesn't sound like he's been kind of weird this year. I wrote about that in today's in Monday's newsletter, but he's still a high ground ball rate guy, but no longer by far and away the best, but he's getting a bunch more strikeouts.

And it's like all in all, I think the tradeoff is, you know, level. There's a term I'm thinking of. But it's made him a different pitcher. Yeah, I think he's a different type of very, very good pitcher. I think you can make a case for him as a top five, starting pitcher and fantasy right now, though, with the strikeouts being up. The problem with Framber Valdez is that he actually allows a lot of hard contact this season,

but it's kind of been neutralized by him getting more whiffs, and ultimately it's led to his best season yet. Chris Sale will throw his first bullpen session Tuesday, the first time throwing off a mound since going on the aisle in June. He's eligible to return early in August. Jordan Romano underwent an MRI on his lower back, which came back clean on Saturday. Jimmy Garcia, or rather, I looked at the pronunciation guy. I didn't realize this. It's Jimmy Garcia. So, learn something new. He picked up the save on Saturday and then Eric Swanson picked up the save on Sunday. So if you're playing- Thanks for the clarity, Blue Jays. Really helpful. Yes. Swanson pitched in the eighth inning on Saturday in a one-run game at the time facing the top of the D-backs lineup. So if I was speculating on one, I would go with Swanson personally, but we'll see. A roll of the Chapman picked up his first. first save with the Rangers on Saturday. And after the game, Bruce Bochy said,

Chapman and Will Smith will share closer duties based on matchups moving forward, which is obviously not the best thing for fantasy. And just super helpful for trying to predict when, you know, they're both lefties. So which matchups are they talking about? Yeah, that's fair. Interesting.

I don't know. I usually pick wrong when I say this, but I'm going to guess Will Smith, at least for now, gets the majority of the chances because Chapman worked in a blowout. Friday and normally you don't do that with your highest leverage guy. Hunter Harvey felt soreness in his right forearm and triceps on Saturday but x-rays came back negative sounds like he is likely to land on the IL and I would

guess Kyle Finnegan will jump back into the closers role for as long as he's on the team it makes perfect sense that the net nationals will be sellers at the deadline Salvador Perez left Sunday with a hamstring strain he'll undergo further testing to determine the severity of the issue Scott, would you bench Salvador Perez this week? Yeah, I think based on what we know now, you have to. Yep. Eloy Jimenez, stop me if you've heard this before.

He left Sunday with groin tightness and expects to miss the next four to five days at the least. Chris, I feel like this is a easy bench on Eloy, right? Yeah, given the way things work and the fact that they're already talking about him missing most of the week. Yeah, absolutely. Yep. Tyler O'Neill could return from the aisle sometime this week. Estuary Ruiz, who's on the aisle with. a right shoulder sublixation has resumed hitting off a T and is further long than expected.

Tommy Edmund received an injection in his right wrist during the All-Star break and he is currently shut down from swinging for the next few days. Michael Waka has not resumed playing catch since landing on the aisle July 4th with right shoulder inflammation. Hunter Green threw off a mound at the Red's training complex and it sounds like he could be back in August. Nick La Dolo shed his walking boot and has also been playing catch. He's expected to return sometime in August as well. Edward Cabrera threw a five-inning simulated game Thursday and could rejoin the Marlins soon.

That's kind of a key one. He was showing real signs of figuring it out the last like month or so before suffering the injury. So hopefully he's okay and can keep the walks down because that was there appeared to be a turn being made. So the Marlins don't have a listed pitcher for Tuesday. I saw some speculation he might pitch in that game. So we'll see with Edward Cabrera.

Kyle Wright is close to being cleared to throw off a mound. And he's been sidelined right shoulder. Chris, how would you rank Ladolo, Edward Cabrera, and Kyle Wright just as stash candidates? I think I would go Cabrera, Ladola, right? just because I think, I mean, Cabrera is a lot closer to them. And yeah, the numbers I wanted to mention 30% strikeout rate, 8.9% walk rate over his final seven starts before the injury. So I think if he can keep the walk rate to like 9%, which is a little higher than average,

I think he's going to be really good. Logan T. Allen will return to the Guardian's rotation Tuesday and start against the Pirates. He's 31% rostered. Jose Cantano will make his Mets debut Tuesday against the White Sox. and he had a 4.60 ERA in 15 and 2 thirds innings pitched during his rehab assignment. He is 17% rostered for those in deeper leagues. Scott, who would you rather just take a shot on, I guess, Logan Allen or Jose Cantano? Or neither.

I mean, I'm not sure it's a must in either case. If you did specify for deeper leagues, though, I'm going to say, Logan Allen. I think so too. Keep an eye on Kentana. Like Logan Allen has more upside. Kentana. The reason I hesitate is because

if we are talking deeper leagues than sometimes just you know, a mediocre inning theater is fine and that's mild competence. Right. That's likely what Kentana's going to be. Remember the name.

Mason Miller was recently evaluated and has progressed to throwing on flat ground. He's been out since May 11th, with a mild UCL spring. Do you remember this name? Brendan Rogers. He will start a rehab assignment at High A on Monday.

He had surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder way back in spring training. He's 7% rostered. Chris, do you have any interest in stashing Brendan Rogers in Deeper Leagues? I can't say I have much interest. It's probably greater than zero, but pretty, pretty limited.

Nestor Cortez will throw two live hitters on that sounds like a weird phrasing for that. Like they're all alive, I hope, right? I guess he's going to throw live batting practice on Monday and is expected to start a rehab assignment soon after that. It's like the thriller video, you know. Routy Till has suffered a fractured finger

while shagging a fly ball Saturday and will be sidelined for another three to four weeks at a minimum. That injury sounded horrible. I don't know you guys saw that. He had to get his nail bed stitched. It was 17 stitches. Ugh. 17 stitches and a finger?

Yeah. I didn't realize your finger could have 17 stitches. It sounded really gross. I didn't know a finger could have seven stitches. Gross. Yeah. No, Bueno. Frankie Montas had to be shut down for a couple days recently due to soreness

in his surgically repaired right shoulder. And a few lesser prospect promotions this weekend. The Angels promoted Trey Cabbage on Friday, 26 years old. It was actually crushing it in the minors. 287 batting average with 23 homers. and 24 steals. The other name is Johann Rojas. He was promoted by the Phillies.

He's an outfielder, and he was batting 306 with nine home runs and 30 steals in the miners. Scott, any interest in either of these names, Trey Cabbage and Johann Rojas. I don't think it's of near the interest of the prospects. I don't think either is of near the interest

of the prospects we talked about at the start of the show. You know, the probably Trey Cabbage is, you know, doesn't have a lot of experience. He's green. Hmm. I wondered where you're going with that. Excuse me. I think they're going to make, I think looking at his strikeout rate at AAA, major league pitchers are going to make Coleslaw out of them. All right. Well, yes, so a very high strikeout rate for trade cabbage. Although he did have a good game on Sunday. He went three for three with a

double and two RBI five names went to the aisle this weekend. Jose Miranda, Kyle Freeland, Joe Adele. Anthony Rendon and Brian Anderson. Let's take our final break and then we have 10 minutes to get through, I don't know, half the rundown. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in and we do appreciate everyone hanging out here

laid on a Sunday night, 532 people. Hit that like button and subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already. Some Waverwire pitchers. This first group includes Kyle Braddish who was excellent on Sunday, seven and a third shutout innings with eight strikeouts.

Up against the Marlins, Dean Kramer picked up his 10th, win on Friday, six innings of one-run ball with eight strikeouts for him. Michael Lorenzen has posted back-to-back scoreless starts, and J.P. Sears had a solid outing up against the twins. Six and a third innings, three runs, seven strikeouts with 19 swinging strikes this weekend. Scott, how do you rank that group? J.P. Sears, Michael Lorenzen, Dean Kramer, and Kyle Bradish. Well, the two Orioles pitchers are definitely at the top because they pitch for the Orioles and not like, you know, a bad team,

Ian Kramer, as you pointed out, has 10 wins. Braddish is definitely number one. Braddish is allowed two run runs or fewer in six straight starts as the RA has gone from 425 to 305 during that stretch. And I mean, Kramer's kind of interesting too. He's been getting a lot more withs his last couple starts, kind of changing up his pitch mix, playing the fastball off the cutter better.

I know Lance Brostowski had some interesting things to say about that if you want to check out his Twitter feed or his substack. But yeah, those two number one and two, Braddish Kramer. And then I'll go Sears three because I think he's a good pitcher, but only one win on the season because he pitches for a really bad team. And then Lorenzen four, he's pretty much just a matchup play. He does have a good matchup coming up next, though, against the Royals.

Yes. Michael Lorenzen, 41% rostered at the Royals this week. Waverwire pitchers, part two. Graham Ashcraft has allowed exactly one. earned run in each of his last three starts. Johan Oviedo tied a career high with 10 strikeouts against the Giants. And Clark Schmidt turned in a quality start in Corse field this weekend. Six innings, two runs, eight strikeouts with 14 swinging strikes for him.

Chris, any interest in this group? Clark Schmidt, Johan Oviedo, and Graham Ashcraft. No, like Ashcraft, I get it. There was some hype, but I think even at 28% roster, that's probably about as high as he needs to go. Oviato's weird because he's had the two big strikeout games now. He had one in April, I think, with 10 strikeouts as well. He's one of only 32 pitchers with at least two starts of 10 strikeouts or more. Of those 32 pitchers, he ranks 31st in overall strikeout rate at 20%, which is below average. So it's like the two big strikeout games and

then nothing else. So I don't think there's much there. But you know, we'll see. I don't, I don't really think so. And then Schmidt, I don't think you can trust good starts at course field, just like I don't think bad starts at course field tell you much. It's just too different of an environment. So I'm not, I don't take much from that either. With Clark Schmidt, he does have a strong matchup this week as well. Going up against the Kansas City Royals, he does have RP eligibility on CBS. So if you do play in a points league, you want to kind of chase that matchup, I think it's fine with Clark Schmidt. Waiver Wire. Hitters, three names in the middle infield.

We've got C.J. Abrams, multiple hits on Friday and Saturday. He added a home run and two steals and has been leading off consistently for the Nationals. Zach Geloff, his first weekend with the A's, he had four hits and two steals. He's got seven home games this upcoming week. And Gene Seguro went three for four with a run and RBI on Saturday, and he's batting 333 over his last 15 games. Scott, how would you rank those three middle infielder's? Gelloff and Gene Seguerra.

I'd rank them exactly as you have them listed here, Abrams, Gelloff, and Seguera. I think Abrams is pretty mid. He's mid in the way that Bryson Stott is mid.

He's kind of like the ultimate mid middle infielder in my mind. Bryson Stott and maybe Abrams is in that same category. But we're promised big things on the base pass from Abrams. when he was a prospect.

He has 16 steals on the season now. Seven of them have come in his last seven games. So if that becomes more than just a blip and Abrams can turn into this like 40 steel guy, then he'll be more than mid. So there's something more there potentially. Also, he has multiple hits in five or six games since turning into the leadoff spot.

So that's something. I don't think it's a ton. but it's something. It is something indeed. Three corner infielder is Jake Berger, back-to-back games with a homer, and perhaps he's getting ready to go on one of those runs. We know, you know, power hitters can be pretty shrieky.

He's got 21 home runs this season. CJ Crone, back-to-back games with a home run as well, including a Grand Slam on Sunday. And Tristan Kosses, homered in each game this weekend, and he hits the ball hard. He barrels it up pretty consistently. I don't know that he plays every day

against left-handed pitchers, But Chris, how would you rank those three corner infillers? Burger, Crone, and Casas. I think I put Casas in my second half sleepers last week. So I would love to see him figure it out. Obviously, very, very talented player with some good things going on. I think 39% rostered that sounds about right. But if you want to take a flyer, I think there's upside.

Like, obviously we've seen him struggle at the major league level. but I don't think the the profile between him and Christian and Carnaccio and Strand is that different. It's big pop. And Carnaccione probably does a better job of getting it into games, at least in the minor so far.

But like the upside is probably not that dissimilar for Casas. So I remain intrigued by him. I do want to go back to middle infield. Zachary Netto is pretty widely available, right? I would say so. He homered in his second game back from the IL. He's still hitting lead off for the. I just wanted to mention him as someone who I do think needs to be rostered in in most

Category space leagues. I want to say, too, that C.J. Cron has been pretty awesome since returning from the IL. 313 with three home runs in 14 games since coming back. And obviously, you know, he was, he's been pretty high-ended fantasy since joining the Rockies. So I don't know that anything's changed there, even though people are kind of ignoring them. For the outfield, I've got names in five outfieler leagues and some deeper names, but I think they're all pretty interesting. Kerry Carpenter hit his ninth home run on Friday and then added a double dong on Saturday.

Dane Myers went three for three with a walk and an RBI on Sunday. He was someone that Scott spoke extensively about on Friday's podcast as well. Drew Waters went two for four with his third home run Sunday. And over his last 19 games, he's batting 333 with all three of those home runs. and four steals. He's hitting the ball very hard during that time. And Chas McCormick had a huge weekend. Seven hits, three homers, a double dong on Sunday.

And he's batting 280 overall. 11 homers, nine steals, and an 887 OPS. Scott, how would you rank these deep league outfielders? Kerry Carpenter, Dane Myers, Drew Waters, and Chas McCormick. Exactly as you've listed them here. Carpenter Myers, Waters, McCormick. I think Myers might have the most upside of the group. It's just, you know, he could be sent back to the miners very quickly.

Jass Chishol comes off the IL and they feel like they don't have a spot to play, and they might just send it back to the miners. But he hits the ball really hard. He was real bad in center field on Saturday. Cost them several runs. I don't know if that's actually going to matter, but it was frustrating. To point out what I, the hard contact thing. So he only went, Saturday was like his worst day of the weekend.

He went one for four. But he hit three balls, 104 miles per hour or harder. And he hit two, 107 miles per hour harder. And like, not many hitters are capable of doing that. And the exit velocity readings for Dame Myers and the miners were good as well. So I do... 52% hard hit rate in AAA. I think he's very interesting.

And I hope they can't find a spot for him. But since I'm not sure of it, I will rank Kerry Carpenter ahead of him who... I mean, he just keeps hitting home runs. He's going to be... He's going to be really good. He's just not going to play against lefties. That's the only thing holding Kerry Carpenter back is they're just, they've shown no willingness to play him against lefties.

I think he has 19 play appearances against them all season, but I think he's good. He hits the ball hard too, 91.2 average exit velocity, 13.7% barrel rate for Kerry Carpenter. And according to Scott's Sleeper Hitters article, the Tigers have the third best hitter matchups this week. That's true. There you go.

He's not in there because he hadn't had the three homer weekend yet. But maybe he should be. Let's wrap up. How many lefties are they're facing? That's a good question. I'll look at it up while you keep going. Okay. Some pitching standouts from the weekend.

A few leftovers here. The first group includes U. Darvish, Julio Arias, Corbyn Burns, who had a 13 strikeout performance this weekend, and Charlie Morton, who is making me look foolish

for calling him a second half bus. Chris, anything you'd like to add on Morton, Burns, Arreis, and U. Darvish from this weekend. In Burns' case, obviously I still rank him, I think, as a top five starting pitcher. If not, he's six or something.

So I still expect big thing. So it was good to see that. Was there anything in the pitch profile? He threw more curveballs in the start. Yeah, the curveball has actually been really good in this start especially. And yeah, the numbers in July so far, it's only three starts, but 26 strikeouts in 19 innings. Very impressive. So hopefully he keeps this up.

Pitching, Scott, I see at least two lefties on the schedule for the Tigers. There's a couple TBAs there that I'm not sure about. So that takes a little bit of the wind out of the sales there. Darn. All right, well, we tried. Kerry Carpenter. Yeah, I think Snell might go on that series.

So, yeah, it might be three lefties in a seven-game week. Good, didn't you? Yeah, that's not great. Pitching standouts part two. Eduardo Rodriguez pitched well at the Mariners, five innings, two-run, seven strikeouts. He had 11 swinging strikes. His velocity was up across.

the board. Freddy Peralta had a strong start at the red. Six shutout innings with six strikeouts for him. Kodi Senga, another great start against the Dodgers. Six innings, one run, nine strikeouts there. And Framber Valdez tied a career high with 13 strikeouts. Though it was an uneven start, he allowed five runs over six and a third innings. He's got anything on Valdez, Kodi Senga, Freddie Peralta, and Erod.

Well, I actually considered making Senga my, oh my goodness gracious play. of the weekend because I feel like he's turned a corner here and it has a lot to do with him cutting way down on the walks. So his last five starts, let me put it this way, his first 12 starts, Kodi Sanga 5.6 walks per 9, 5.6. Last five starts, 2.6. A big difference. And suddenly the overall numbers are looking pretty swell. So he might be, he might be verging on must start status at this point. Let's go. Kodi Sangha, you love to see it. Pitching standouts part three, Dylan Seas was inefficient,

but did some interesting things at the Braves. Five innings, one run, six strikeouts with 16, no, 19 swinging strikes, and his velocity was way up across the board. Tanner Bybee has allowed two earn runs or fewer in four straight starts. Garrett Cole had his third double-digit strikeout start of the season at Corse Field. He had 11 strikeouts, and Max Scherzer was great on Sunday against the Dodgers. Seven shutout innings.

Only one hit allowed. Six strikeouts with 11 swinging strikes. Chris, anything on Scherzer, Garrett Cole, Tanner Bybee, and Dylan Sees. I think it was just really good to see Scherzer after being scratched come out and have a good start. His velocity was more or less where it's been all season. So I don't think there's anything concerning there.

It wasn't a big swing and miss game, but it was an impressive start, I think, nonetheless. And I want to point out for, Tanner Bybee. So against the Rangers, he had this great start with 17 swinging strikes. His slider was up 1.8 miles per hour. Two starts ago, he also had his slider up in velocity by similar amount. He had nine strikeouts in that game.

So I don't know what's going on with this slider, but when it's up in velocity, good things seem to happen for Tanner Bybee. Hopefully he can keep that velocity. I don't know what happened in that in-between start when the velocity wasn't up on the slider, but two out of three, it's looking really good. Yeah, and that slider was fantastic in that start. Nine whiffs with a 32% CSW this weekend. Not gonna run through all the hitting leftovers, Chris,

but I know you wanted to mention Masataki Yoshita, who had a huge game on Sunday. He went three for five with his 11th home run. He added six RBI. He had four hard hits in the game and his home run, 110 exit velocity, and he hit it off a lefty, left on left. So. Yeah, he is on a heck of a hit.

heater right now. He had multiple hits in eight straight games before going hitless on Saturday and then followed it up with three hits on Sunday. He's been outrageously good. Uh, even has three steals over the past 10 games while, you know, also hitting three home runs. So it's been, uh, very, very impressive. I think he looks like a must start outfielder moving forward. You know, I, it's not like a huge five by five, uh, ceiling because he's, you know, the power's not going to be huge still and the stolen basis. I don't know if we trust this, but very, very good to see for him. Especially in points leagues, too. He is so dominant

in that format. If I could highlight something from this list, Henry Davis had a big weekend. He's still available in a quarter of CBS leagues. Had six hits, a home run, a steel, and a lot of hard hit balls. I think I saw at least three that were hit about 108 miles per hour. So that's

I feel like Henry Davis is trending a good direction and might be startable even in the outfield. But of course, you'd rather start him a catcher. Masataka Yoshida averaging 3.4 fantasy points per game. That is tied for 10th best at the outfield position this season. A few bullpen updates for the Rockies on Friday, not a safe situation, but Daniel Bard pitched in the eighth inning with a four-run lead. And then Justin Lawrence pitched in the ninth with a five-run lead. And then on Sunday, Daniel Bard did get the

save opportunity, a two-run game, and he promptly gave up two runs. Though, There was some pretty bad defense behind him as well. For the Tigers on Friday, Jason Foley pitched in the eighth inning with a three-run lead. He gave up one run. Alex Lang then gave up a run in the ninth, but picked up his 14th save. There was a rough patch there for Alex Lang, but it seems like they have a good amount of confidence in him. So I thought for a while Jason Foley might get a shot, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. For the Rangers on Saturday, we mentioned earlier, Will Smith pitched in the seventh and eighth innings.

Rolled as Chapman picked up his third save. He pitched in the ninth. And then on Sunday, Chapman was unavailable because he pitched Friday and Saturday. And Will Smith picked up his 16th save of the season. Let's wrap up with to stream or not to stream. And on Monday, are you guys going to do it? Grayson Rodriguez, first game back against the Dodgers.

Probably not, but let's see who else are going to make me choose from here. There's not much. I mean, Michael is against the Marlins, maybe. That's fine. That's an easy. It's kind of a weird situation because Michael has started over the weekend. Only went three innings because it was the rains came. So it was pulled.

So it's a quick turnaround here. But good matchup against the Marlins and he's been pitching well of late. So I'd go with Michael as over Grayson for sure. How about Matt Manning at the Royals? My line has become there are basically no right-handed pitchers I wouldn't start against the Royals. They've just been so bad. and now Salvador Perez may not start tomorrow. So, true.

I don't expect much for Matt Manning in a vacuum, but against this matchup, I think he could be fine. Coming off six and two-thirds, no-hit innings. I mean, come on. Griffin Canning at home against the Yankees. I'll throw that out there too. I mean, that lineup without judge has been pretty bad. So I think that's fine.

On Tuesday, looking up and down the list, oh, this is, doesn't feel very great. I'm putting Logan Allen in my lineup. And TGFBI. He was dropped and I picked him up this week. And I'm throwing him out there against Pittsburgh. I think Brian Wu versus the Twins is fine. Yeah, they strike out more than any team in baseball, I think.

And they're the, okay. Really? I didn't know that. I think they're in the bottom third and run scored. So like the Twins is a good matchup for pitchers. And Wu has obviously been very steady apart from that disastrous debut. All right. So we had Logan Allen, Brian Wu.

one more. Carasco versus the White Sox maybe? I don't know. Yeah, that one's okay. Twin strikeout rate as a team is up to 27%. I'm looking at it against right-handed pitching. That's wild. It's the highest in baseball, 27%. So yeah, it's a good call there. They have the worst OPS. They have the highest ever. The twins have the highest strikeout rate against right-handed pitchers, you said?

Yeah, 27%. They also have the lowest OPS against left-handed pitchers. I know. So they're They're a translation. No matter what the handedness of the pitcher. They're a good match. That's how you have the best pitching staff in baseball, as the twins do right now, and are not in first place in the worst division of baseball.

That would make sense. We're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.