Fantasy Baseball Today - Eury Perez Needs Tommy John Surgery! Week 3 Sleepers & Two-Start Pitchers! (4/5 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 5, 2024

It turns out Eury Perez will have Tommy John surgery (3:08). ... MJ Melendez is hitting the ball hard early on (8:41). ... Jake Burger is on the board with a double dong (11:53)! ... News (14:47): Royce Lewis had a PRP injection in his quad. ... Any excitement for Seth Lugo, Michael Soroka or Martin Perez (18:40)? ... Colt Keith, Josh Bell and Nelson Velazquez had solid games on Thursday (28:25). ... Let's get into the Week 3 schedule and two-start pitchers (38:20). ... Who are the top sleeper hitters for next week (45:29)? ... When might we see Kyle Manzardo and/or Paul Skenes (49:37)? ... We wrap up with weekend streamers (1:01:27). 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, @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/ 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 in to Fancy Baseball today on April 5th. Frank Stamphill here, joined by Scott White. Today on the show, we will recap Thursday's action. Light schedule, only six games here, so not too much to talk about, but we'll find some things. Then we will preview week three with sleepers and two-star pitchers. Scott wrote his first prospect report. We'll take a look at some of the names there.

But let's start with some very sad, very frustrating news. Scott, hate to start with the bad news. it is very big news. Yuri Perez will undergo Tommy John's surgery. He was diagnosed with right elbow inflammation late in spring training, but there appeared to be some optimism at the time. Apparently, he suffered more elbow tightness

following a bullpen session earlier this week and has now opted for surgery. Not only does this suck for fantasy and for baseball fans this year, but because this is happening in April, Scott, he's probably going to miss half of next season as well. So just brutal for everybody involved, the Yuri Perez, the Marlins fans,

anybody who drafted him. Obviously, you're holding in Dynasty, but I've already had people ask me about Keeper League, Scott. What do you think? Can you afford to hold Yuri Perez in an IL spot this year and then maybe half of next year as well? Your thoughts. Oh, gosh, I mean, it depends on so many things.

How many players are you keeping? Is there like a keeper cost? Like, is he a cheap keeper? Or is everybody being kept on the same level? I don't even really know how to answer it. Who's the most high-end, I guess his teammate, Sandy Alcantara is the most high-end pitcher out for this year with injuries? Is he worth keeping in your keeper league?

Shane O'Mack? Shane McClanahan, too? Oh, yeah, Shane McClan, even more so. I would guess Shane McClanhan's a close, more analogous to Yuri Perez even than Sandy Alcantrez. but I don't know. I guess they're all basically in the same ballpark there.

But yeah, I feel I feel like, I feel misled Frank. I feel a little bit hurt by this. I feel lied to, honestly. The way it was handled by the media was just a little weird. They ruled out structural damage.

Did they not? They said, it's just elbow inflammation. No structural damage. You don't have Tommy John surgery if you just have inflammation, if you just have tightness in the elbow, you have Tommy John surgery

because they're structural damage specifically to the ulnar collateral ligament. But they said there wasn't. Now, I mean, I understand that when there's inflammation, sometimes you can't see all the way through the inflammation to the structure, but you could say that. You could say structural damage hasn't been ruled out.

You know, I'm really frustrated by this because I feel like we gave people bad advice because we weren't fully informed. And that's, I don't, I don't like that. I don't like that one bit. Yeah, I hear you, Scott. Obviously, we're in the same boat, but I mean, we can only relay the news that we're given.

But it does sound like maybe there was, I don't want to say false information, but just not given as many facts as we should have. Or it wasn't displayed or, you know, the information just wasn't given correctly, I feel like throughout this whole situation with Yuri Perez. So it sucks.

Yeah, it's hard to answer the keeper question. I think it comes down to, again, how many IL spots you have this year. I think once you're up against it this season where you need those IL spots because things are going to add up and players are going to get hurt this year, then you will really just have to make a decision.

And the fact that he's probably going to miss the first two to three months of next year as well, I think it's probably going to be pretty hard to hold on to Yuri Perez in shallower keeper. leagues. Once you get into like 8, 10, 12 keep or something like that, I think you can find a way to hold on to Yuri Perez on your team. What does it mean for the Marlins this year? Well, they do have other arms that are currently on the men. Braxton Garrett will begin a rehab assignment at

AAA on Sunday. Edward Cabrero will make his second rehab start on Friday at AAA and he's aiming to work four innings in that one. That means likely two of AJ Puck, Ryan Weathers, or Max Meyer, will be booted from the rotation when those guys are good to go, or they could go with the six-man rotation. Scott, how do you see this playing out for the Marlins? I think everybody's auditioning for their job right now. And I've seen, you know, some of the pitchers they could remove, have experience and relief.

AJ Puck certainly does. Ryan Weathers does. Max Meyer, they're going to have to limit his workload at some points and since he's fresh off Tommy John surgery. So he means. might just, like, if there's any doubt, I think Max Meyer would be the one getting to boot. I am the least interested in him from a fantasy perspective, just because I think his grip on the job is so tenuous. Could he pitch so well between now and then that he locks it up and

there's no thought of removing him? That is a possibility. He has that kind of upside, but that's not how I see it going. I think everything else being equal, he would be the one who gets the boot. But the battle continues for now. Yep, and Ryan Weathers did make a start here on Thursday, so we'll talk about that a little bit later on. Again, the big news, Yuri Perez will undergo Tommy John surgery. He's a Holden Dynasty, he's a drop in redraft, and he's a try your best to hold on in Keeper Leagues,

and let's see what happens. But outside of that, let's get into Thursday's action. I don't believe! All right, Scott, we were talking beforehand. Not the busiest day of baseball, not a ton going on, but some big performances still to talk about. Who do you have? I am so, yeah, nobody actually made me say,

oh, my goodness gracious today, but I'm going to go with MJ Melendez here, who went two for four with his first home run of the season. And it, you know, you're just looking at the data so far for MJ Melendez. That kind of makes me say, oh, my goodness gracious. So he entered this game, average exit velocity, 93 miles per hour, max exit velocity 113 miles per hour

these are all very high readings truth is that's kind of his average ex of velocity and max exit velocity from last year too he was a stack cast darling in a way that wasn't reflected

in the actual production the walk rate is high the strikeout rate that's the biggest improvement so far this year he struck out only three times I believe obviously could change or dealing with tiny samples but I think the quality of contact for MJ Melendez

is certainly something you can buy into. And I don't know why I wasn't more excited about him during draft prep season. Usually there's something, when I see data like that, when I see that MJ Melendez, for instance, in the second half, he slashed 273, 352, 485, you had a good second half. season long numbers were obviously not great,

but picked it up in the second half. I don't know what my hesitation was. I don't know if I thought there was going to be an at-bat issue for him or just playing in Kansas City. His numbers were always going to be suppressed, and so I wasn't going to give him the time of day. But when you're hitting the ball that hard and you're hitting it hard that consistently,

and you're getting on base a lot in between, it's not an impossible task to hit in Kansas City. Others have hit well there before. I really like what I'm seeing from M.J. Melendez so far, he has good matchups again in week three, upcoming week three, and he is still available in like 60% of CBS Sports Leagues. If this continues with the plate discipline, MJ Melendez will be somebody who matters even though shallower points leagues.

Certainly five outfields leagues, he needs to be rostered, and I picked them up in one before the seasons. started. But if we get the best case scenario for M.J. Melendez, or even not, it doesn't even have to be the best case scenario. If we get his like 75th percentile outcome, I think he's going to matter across the board. Yeah, 75 percentile. What does that look like? 260 with 25 home runs and probably are really good on base percentage as well, because he has an 11 percent walk rate for his career. So it's a good eye at the plate. Hopefully Melendez can keep those strikeouts down, but he's always hit the ball hard. Hopefully the Royals just kind of all comes

together here. If they could keep their guys on the field and Vinnie Pasquantino starts to hit, I know people are worried about him. Don't like, he's coming. He's the player. I'm getting asked to Bell most. He's coming off a shoulder injury. Like, it might take a little bit of time, but Salvador Perez is hitting well. Bobby Witt Jr. is one of the best players in the game. So there are ways that this lineup could just come together and I think outperform expectations. So some excitement there on MJ Melendez and lots of excitement for the Burger Boy. Jake Berger, who is my player of the night, he won the battle. of the big, beefy baseball boys.

Because if you saw the matchup, Burger versus Lance Lynn, those were some two big boys going up against each other here on Thursday, and Jake Burger went two for two with a double dong, both of those homers off Lance Lynn. He added... He added two walks in this game,

which is nice to see. Jake Berger doesn't typically walk all that much, but his first two home runs of the season, both over 107 exit velocity. And I believe the broadcast said this was a homecoming for him. So he had a bunch of family in the stand. So shout out to Jake Berger.

A big game in front of the fam out there in St. Louis. Not much to add. Obviously, we like Jake Berger coming into the year. Did want to give an honorable mention to C.J. Abrams, who went two for five with his second home run. This one off of a lefty. And I think that's notable because he's been really bad against lefties in his career. A 466 OPS against them.

So nice to see him hit that home run. He's 8 for 24. far. That's a 333 batting average. Two homers, three steals. Very nice start here for C.J. Abrams. Let's quickly promote a few things. Subscribe to the FBT newsletter. If you haven't already, it's free.

So why wouldn't you? CBSports.com slash newsletters. And you can listen to and follow fantasy baseball today and FBT and 5 on Spotify. Let's take our first break. When we return, we've got some news and notes. We'll hit that right after this. Welcome back in.

saw some news and notes, and Royce Lewis said he received a PRP injection in his right quad. And the reason I saw was that he's trying to get back on the field as soon as possible, but that sounds a little scary, Scott. I don't normally remember hearing of a PRP injection in a quad. So, oh no, I don't know about that one. I can't say for sure that I remember hearing it, but I don't know. I've never really taken that as a bad sign. They're trying to hasten the recovery when they give the injection there.

So if they didn't think he could return very quickly, I don't think they'd be to the point of giving. I don't really know for sure. I'm just kind of going up previous instances I've seen PRP injection. But I don't, I've never taken it as like, oh, this is a bad sign. So I'm not taking it that way for Lewis either. He's a ways of waste. Still, for sure.

Sunny Gray threw 54 pitches over his three-inning simulated game on Wednesday, and he came out of it feeling good, says he's ready to rejoin the big league rotation. My guess is the Cardinals will still have Sunny Gray make at least one rehab start from here on out. Wilson Gutreras was out of the lineup Thursday due to swelling in his left hand. He was hit by a pitch earlier in the week. X-rays came back negative, and the hope is that he will be back in the lineup on Saturday. Tommy Edmund said that while he got generally good news from his MRI on Wednesday, he remains shut down from most baseball activities.

He'll have another exam on his right wrist Monday and could be clear to begin ramping back up next week if he receives a positive report. Lots of ifs ands or buts going on there with Tommy Edmund. But hopefully we get some good news and we can see him back on the field some point soon. Jamer Candelario is day-to-day with right elbow soreness. he doesn't believe it's anything serious. J.D. Martinez could join the Mets as soon as next week for their series in Atlanta, which starts on Monday. Elo Jimenez has missed four straight with that adductor injury.

Michael Massey will begin a rehab assignment at AA on Friday. He's been sidelined since mid-March due to a lower back strain. Victor Scott led off for the Cardinals on Thursday with Brendan Donovan out of the lineup. I saw Brendan Donovan said he hopes to be back on Saturday as well. quickly just pulling up the box score to see if Victor Scott did anything. He did not. 0 for 5. He did not. 0 for 5 with a strikeout and a run scored.

Batting a cool 100 so far for Victor Scott. Victor Robles was placed on the IL with a left hamstring strain. Jacob Young started in center field Thursday with a lefty on the mound. And it appears that this will be the A's final season in Oakland. Apparently they're going to

play at least three years in a minor league ball park in Sacramento starting in 2025 while they wait for their new Las Vegas venue to be built. I just feel for the fans, Scott. I mean, A's ownership, they feel like such a blemish on the game of baseball right now. It's just the way they've handled this entire situation. I don't know all the details, but from everything I've read and what's been reported, it sounds like it's been pretty messy. So feel for the A's in their fans.

Yeah, I mean, it's not a story I've followed. that closely since there aren't great fantasy implications to it, but there does seem like it does seem like there have been, there's been more bitterness associated with this move than most. I mean, moves happen across all sports. We've seen a lot in our lifetime. I do understand the disappointment of having your team leave the place where they've always been.

And it's a shame for those fans, for sure. All right, let's recap Thursday's action, Scott. some waiver wire pitchers. Seth Lugo is now two for two in quality starts. This one up against the White Sox, six and two thirds innings, one run, three strikeouts in that one. Michael Soroka on the other side,

he bounced back, six innings, two runs, two strikeouts to zero walks. Did give up some hard contact, ten hard hits allowed, and he changed the pitch mix a little bit. He leaned into the slider. Mike Soroka did. He threw it 37% of the time in this start.

And Martin Perez pitched well, the Nationals, six and two-thirds innings, two runs allowed, six strikeouts for him, also gave up some hard contact. And he's throwing his curveball a little bit more, the first two starts of the season, just a change compared to what we've seen from Martin Perez the past couple of years, Scott, any interest or enthusiasm for these three gentlemen. Martin Perez, Mike Syroka, Seth Lugo. You know, Martin Perez was really good for fantasy two years ago. Remember, I had the Mount Rush more going into last year and he was a part of it. The Golden Girls.

Well, that's not what they became known as. Of them, Merrill Kelly was the only one who sustained the production into 2023. Martin Perez obviously did not. But when he was at his best, he was leaning on that change up a lot. He was getting a ton of ground balls. he had a very successful spring and you know

it's off to a pretty good start this season I don't imagine he's going to be more than a streamer type this year but it has happened before and so I'm not totally ruling it out not like he's a high priority pickup especially given all the other interesting pitching pickups we've seen so far but I'm not totally ruling it out

and I guess I'm not totally ruling it out for Sorokie either though there's not a lot to grab on to with these first two starts. Yeah, I do like how the slider performed in the start for Soroka. He had seven whiffs on that pitch, a 44% whiff rate, but he's at Cleveland next week. Cleveland's actually hitting the crap out of the ball so far early on this season. So definitely don't want to use Soroka in that one.

Seth Lugo, I think he's fine. You know what you're going to get. He's more of a high floor pitcher. Don't want to use them against the Astros next week. But of these three, if you're in a deeper league and you need a streamer, Martine Perez against the Tigers at home, good venue to pitch in. I think that could work out pretty well. So, yeah, I don't mind that one, Martin Perez against the Tigers.

Scott, what did you make of Casey Meise's first start in nearly two years? So the last time we saw him in the regular season, April 14th, 2020, wasn't great overall at the Mets here, four in a third innings, three runs allowed, four strikeouts, did have 10 swinging, strikes on 87 pitches. Velocity was up a little bit on the fastball through his slider and splitter quite a bit in this one. What did you see from Casey Mize? Well, I wish it went better. The velocity was up like it wasn't spring training 1.4 on the fastball. The results were obviously nothing to write home about. And what was most disappointing for me is we heard talk this spring of

Casey Mize, his slider was becoming a swing and miss pitch because the kind of the problem for him is he has different versions of a fastball basically and doesn't have doesn't really have that change of pace offering that could help the velocity play up. Well, the slider, he threw it 33% of the time. It got only one swing and miss. So that doesn't sound like a great swing and miss pitch to me. It is a sample of one. But I think if you were looking for an excuse to clear up a roster spot, I think Casey Mize provided he was filling a roster spot for you. He just gave you that excuse.

Yeah, Casey Mize is a 63% rostered. So there definitely was some enthusiasm. He's at the Pirates next week. It's not a terrible matchup, but I don't know if for some crazy reason, Garrett Crochet is still available or any of those, you know, high-end names that we've talked about.

I obviously would be all right dropping Casey Mize for any of those. Would you drop Casey Miescott for like Tanner Hauk or Ronell Blanco? Yeah, I'd be fine doing that. All right. Any interest in these deeper league names? Matt Manning did not allow a hit in his spot start at the Mets, five and two thirds, no hit innings, four walks to three strikeouts. The problem, he already got sent back down to the miners, so that's not great, obviously.

Ryan Weathers was solid at the Cardinals, five innings, three runs allowed, only one of those was earned. Some more bad defense from the Marlins. Orleans behind him. He did have six strikeouts, 11 swinging strikes on 85 pitches, completely leaned into that sweeper, and it was pretty damn good for him. Adrian Hauser, solid Mets debut against the Tigers, five innings, one run, three strikeouts there. And Jose Buto pitched well in his spot start against the Tigers, six innings, one run, six strikeouts. I kind of would have liked to see the Mets just give this kid a chance, and instead of signing Julio Taran, but I guess they've

already done that, so whatever. An interest in Deeper League, Scott, Buto, Hauser, Ryan Weathers, Matt Manning. Well, I think the most interesting, too, just from an upside perspective, are Matt Manning and Ryan Weathers, but neither of them gave you a reason to hold on to them here.

Obviously, Manning got sent down. Apparently, he said he told his manager, A.J. Hinch, that he has a lot to button up before he faces the Indianapolis Indians. So he knew he was getting sent down. He knew there's no, there was no chance. They just, you know, they have too many interesting young high upside arms. And, you know, no hits is great, but he walked a few batters.

It's not like he got a ton of swings and misses. He didn't look like a different Matt Manning than we've seen in the past in the majors. And Matt Manning wasn't very interesting for fantasy. And as for Ryan Weathers, well, the two reasons he kind of piqued our interest this spring, where he was throwing harder and he was throwing a lot more strikes. In this start, his velocity dropped down back close to where it was last year. It was a cold day. But still, it dropped back close to where it was last year. and he threw only 55% of his pitches for strikes,

which is pretty bad. One start sample, okay, but when you have that kind of history of not throwing strikes like Ryan Weathers does, it's not a good sign. And he's not widely rostered. I would have been fine dropping him after his first start if you'd picked him up before that.

But even more so now. With each start like this for Ryan Weathers, I lose a little more interest. The only thing I would add on, Matt Manning is that he did change the pitch mix in this first starting through hit a new sweeper 40% of the time. It's not a pitch that he's used before and then just shows up and throws it a ton. But it didn't really do much.

It was the same. It was the same velocity and spin rate as the slider he was throwing last year. So I don't, I don't know if they just, it just got reclassified as a sweeper. Or if it was actually a new pitch. All right. Yeah, it could be like a classification issue, but yeah, poor Matt Manning, no hits in this one, but he's back down to the minors. Some other pitching leftovers, Scott.

Tanner Bybee bounced back nicely at the twins, five and a third innings, one run, nine strikeouts to zero walks, 17 swinging strikes on 91 pitches. Did allow some hard contact in this one. Notice that he faded the fastball a little bit. He used the slider and the changeup more. Both of those pitches were awesome. Tanner Bybee might have a bad fastball, Scott, but. His secondary pitches are so good.

It might just make up for it. And then on the other side, Pablo Lopez, much more human in this outing against the Guardians, five and two thirds innings, four runs, three of those earned, only two strikeouts, still had 12 swinging strikes on 95 pitches. Anything to add on Lopez and Bybee?

Nothing to worry about with Lopez. Obviously, his first start was amazing, and they're not all going to be that good. Not like there are major red flags with this one. Tanner Bybee, very incredible. encouraging outing. Yeah, his fastball is not such a weapon on its own.

It's really just there to set up the actual weapons. A lot of pitchers have had a lot of success like that. I do think a good fastball is the best weapon a pitcher can have. But it's not necessary. And it does seem like Bybee has a full enough arsenal,

enough swing in the secondaries. And most of all, I was encouraged to see walk no, in this start because that was one of the biggest points in Bybee's favor when he was a prospect as he walks basically no one

and that didn't happen as a rookie. He did have a pretty high walk rate. I would like to see that go down here in his sophomore season and certainly in start two he took a step in that direction. All right, let's slide over to the hitter, Scott, and the waiver wire options from

Thursday, Colt Keith, showing a little life here. You know, it's been a slow start for him, but across the doubleheader, he went three for eight with his first career steal. Not that we're expecting much speed, but I guess it's slightly encouraging that he stole a base this early in the season.

Had two runs added an RBI. He's 57% roster. It has six games next week, one lefty on the schedule. Josh Bell went one for five with his first home run, had four hard hits. The home run, 104.8 exit velocity, 410 feet. He is 43% rostered and we already spoke about M.J. Melendez up top. Yeah, you know, I think we've already talked a lot about Colt Keith Scott. He's a third base replacement for those

injuries that we mentioned. You know, Josh Belly's 43% rostered. That probably sounds about right. Anything to add on these two? I think Colt Keith just gained second base eligibility with this game. That's probably right. Yeah. You need help at that position instead of third base. Nope, nope, I think he's one game away But by the time you're setting your lineup for week three He should have second base eligibility The Tigers have only one lefty on the schedule next week And their matchups aren't bad

So Colt Keith was in consideration for my sleeper hitters But ultimately he got left out He just hasn't shown me enough yet as a rookie To surpass some of the other options I had All right, in some deeper leagues Nelson Velazke his two for three with a walk and his second home run. He is a 17% rostered. And I think you mentioned the Royals matchups are pretty solid next week, right?

Yes. Not one of the top five, but one of the top few. One of the top seven or eight probably. All right. Connor Joe, it's Kokomo Friday. You know the deal? He got the start at DH, even against the righty. And he had a great game, one for three.

With his first home run, he added two walks. and he's hit well early on. He's 9 for 26. He's got 9 run scored, 7 RBI. Don't think he's going to be an everyday player. The Pirates have 6 games next week, only two lefties on the schedule. Speaking of the pirates,

Michael Taylor, I feel like we go through these stretches, Scott, where Michael Taylor, he looks all right, and then, you know, he just kind of turns back into Michael Taylor. But he went 3 for 4 with a run scored. He's started 6 of 7 games so far. He's 12 for 25. He has a stolen base.

He's 8% rostered. You know, in deeper leagues, any interest in Velasquez or these two pirates here? Velasquez is the most interesting. By far, he hits the ball. Very hard. Strikes out too much. It's a common profile, but he had a lot of success for the Royals in the second half last year. And I believe he started, see, I made a note of it.

I believe he started five of seven games for them so far, which I'd like it to be seven of seven. but I wasn't sure it even be that many with Vinnie Pasquantino healthy again and Salvador Perez likely to take some time at DH. If Velasquez hits well, like you did here on Thursday, then I imagine he'll get even more consistent playing time than that and could be a nice, cheap source of power for you,

more likely in those five outfielder leagues. But yeah, let me see if I can find, the second half numbers for you. In the second half last year, really not even the second half, just after he came over to the Royals from the Cubs. He homered 14 times in 40 games. Yeah, he was awesome. And I think I wrote him up in Breakouts 1.0, I don't know, way back in January, just because the stat cast numbers were eye-popping. So it's not a question of can he hit the ball hard. That is there. It's just, can he play enough? Can he put the ball in play enough? And if he does that, then we might have a 25-30-plus home-run hitter in Nelson Velasquez.

Some other hitting leftovers, Stephen Kwan, three-for-five with a double and a run scored. He's off to a great start. He's 15 for 39. One homer, one steel, 10 runs scored for Stephen Kwan. Carlos Correa went three-for-four with a double, and one of his hits had a 109 exit velocity. He's got six walks early on in the season. I thought that was interesting, a 5-20 on-base percentage. for Carlos Correa.

Riley Green, strong doubleheader, two for six with his second home run. He added two walks. Both of his hits were over 105 mile per hour exit velocity. Pete Alonzo also had a strong double header, three for nine with his second home run. It was a game tying home run in the ninth inning of game two. They actually went on to win the game after that.

Shout out to Alex Fayetteo, who was in their closing the game because they used all their great relievers in game one. And then Bobby Witt, Jr., two for three with a walk, caught stealing. All right, nothing too notable. Three batted balls. All of them were over 110 miles per hour. Oof, just crazy stuff, Scott.

I don't think we've seen the best of Bobby Wood Jr. just yet and could just be in for a truly massive season. So we'll see if that power translates. Anything to add on those names, Scott? Those two balls Riley Green hit in game one of the double header were his hardest two hit balls of the season. he hadn't actually been making much hard contact. These numbers were pretty bad.

But hopefully he's heating up. There are a lot of Riley Green believers out there, and I don't necessarily disagree. Stephen Kwan, off to a hot start, as you said. One story that came out in spring training related to him is that he was encouraged by the Guardian's organization to swing, for more damage,

even if it meant more strikeouts. Maybe it's working. Like I said, off to a good start. The exit velocities aren't up. The strikeout rate is up. Small sample. But it's something it's something that I didn't envision having,

like, you know, it just sounded like a bunch of hot air to me swinging for more damage, whatever. But it is, it is, depending on how this first month, month and a half goes for Stephen Kwan, that may turn out to be an explanation in retrospect. The one thing that I would add in the favor of Stephen Kwan potentially hitting the ball harder,

his one home run this year, 424 feet. And I'm pretty sure I saw or read that that is by far the farthest home run he's ever hit. Not that he's hit many home runs, but that could be potentially, potentially a sign here that he's, you know, getting into that power a little bit more. It's not all exit velocity, of course, but the exit velocity was kind of low on that, considering how far it went.

Certainly, he hasn't met his max exit velocity from the previous two years yet. Again, that is Stephen Kwan. Let's quickly wrap up Thursday's action, and then we'll get into our week three preview. Bullpen updates, nothing too important going on here for the pirates. David Bednar finally got a save of their five saves on the season. He finally has one of them. He struck out too.

He looked good in that outing. And it was weird circumstances. If you hadn't tuned to him previously, it's not like his role is in doubt. It's just the other pitchers kept getting saves because he was unavailable or it was like a three inning save or an extra inning save or. Benar's the closer, obviously.

And he looked good in this one. Just stay healthy. because there was a lat injury in spring. It seems to be behind David Bednar, at least for now. The Guardians, Emmanuel Class A, pitched a clean ninth for his third save already. The Cardinals, Ryan Helsley, pitched a clean ninth for his second save. For the Tigers, I mentioned this a little bit earlier,

but Jason Foley got the ninth with the game tied in game one. He walked two, he struck out one, did not allow when he runs. Shelby Miller then pitched a 10th and the 11th. He did not allow a hit. He walked two. He struck out full. and he picked up the win. Shelby Miller has looked awesome.

Jason Foley has looked even better. But I will just mention that if anything were to happen or if Jason Foley were to falter, it might be Shelby Miller, who's the next man up in the Tigers bullpen. And then in game two, yes, it was Alex Fayetto. Everyone else had been used already.

He was on for the save in a one-run game. He gave up two runs, took the blown save, and the loss. Let's take our final break. When we return, our week three preview, Scott wrote his first prospects report, so we'll talk about those things right after this. Welcome back in. Let's preview week three.

And we'll start things off with the schedule for next week. There are 22 teams with six games. There are eight teams who have seven games next week. So if you're looking to maximize volume, the Rangers, Phillies, Mets, Twins, Brewers, Astros, Reds, and the Braves, zero teams with five games, thankfully. And what about the Rockies? They have six games next week.

Three of those are in Corse Field against the Arizona Diamondbacks. I'm sure we'll be talking about them in just a little bit. Starters sit these two-star pitchers, Scott, who might be a little fringy. There might be some questions involved. And Blake Snell, making his first two starts with the Giants, you drafted him as a top, I don't know, 75 pick.

My guess is you're using him. He's going up against an ass. and at the Tampa Bay Race. You know, it's unfortunate that he's making his return in a way that lines him up for two starts because just given the volatility of Blake Snell and the fact he didn't have a normal ramp up by any means, I'd kind of prefer to play it safe.

But when you got the raining Cy Young winner, the Rainier NL. Sa Young winner lined up for two starts to begin what's his season anyway. Like, obviously, you have to start. I mean, just have to. I agree. Mitch Keller is going up against the Tigers and at the Phillies.

We spoke about him a little bit yesterday. Your thoughts? Yeah, so one good matchup there against the Tigers, one not so good at the Phillies for a pitcher who's been kind of shaky, his first two outings, some good signs within that.

I want to call him a must start, but I think in most situations you probably are going to start Mitch Keller. Points Leagues for sure. That's a better format anyway. But I think the fact that one of those two matchups is favorable, you just kind of put aside the downside worries and go ahead and start Mitch Keller.

Nestor Cortez is at home against the Marlins and at the Guardians next week. Good matchups. A pitcher who I don't have a lot of confidence in right now. He's giving up a lot of hits, but I still lean yes on Nestor Cortez. James Paxton at the twins and home against the Padres. Yeah, those matchups are kind of mid-tier,

and I think he walked five in his first start, right, to Paxton. It wasn't the greatest start, but he's got the Dodgers backing him up. So if you're going to maximize starts, if you're going to do the two-start thing, I think you probably have to put Paxton in the yes column too. Brian Beow is home for two against the Orioles and the Angels. So if you're really concerned with ERA and WIP right now, I could understand sitting him in a categories league,

but I think points leagues are definitely starting him. And if you're just chasing totals right now, which is probably what you're doing in a ROTO league, I mean, ERA and WIP is all over the place this early in the season, so you don't really know what you're going to need in the long run. I think most people are probably going to start Brian Bayo. Two-star pitchers to add and stream for next week. All of these names are under 60% rostered.

Who are they? Reese Olson is my favorite of them. I don't really understand why he's only 54% rostered. But I guess you could make the argument it wasn't a sure thing that he was going to win a rotation spot for the Tigers. But once he did, I mean, he was great down the stretch last year. He was great in his first start.

His matchups are Pittsburgh and Mugherst. Minnesota. I think Reese Olson is your best bet off the waiver wire for this week. I also like Reinaldo Lopez good matchups against the Tigers, against the Mets and at the Marlins. And he had a good season debut, a good return to the rotation against the White Sox. Don't have a lot of confidence in him long term,

but two favorable matchups that he has the Braves offense backing him up. Graham Ashcraft has good matchups versus the Brewing. at the White Sox. Probably more of a points league play is he. I think there's too much downside risk with the ERA and whip for Roto. But not a bad points league play with those matchups. Spencer Turnbull, I'd also put him in the points league only category, but really good matchups at St. Louis versus the Pirates.

And then Chris Paddock, not such a great season debut. And he gets the Dodgers, the first of his two matches. But the second is at Detroit. So hopefully those ones. out and in points leagues, hopefully that yields 15 to 20 points. Ends up being the balance of that. Would you drop Casey Mize for any of those two-star pitchers? I would drop Casey Mize for Reese Olson.

The others, I mean, the presumption is you have to be playing them this week. You have to feel like they're meeting a need for you this week. If we're just talking rest of season upside, I like Mize is more than any of those other guys. Rinaldo Lopez was the second highest in priority. So pretty close with him. But most of Lopez's upside comes from his supporting cast. I think talent-wise, Mize, hasn't beat. All right.

What about single-star streamers? You've got five names on this list who are 75% rostered or less on CBS. Yeah. And for the one-star guys, I think most of them are going to be starting this weekend before you have to set your lineup. So there's a chance they'll rent. They'll render themselves, they'll render their streamer case moot with how their performance goes this weekend.

It might go poorly and I might end up removing them when I do my update on Sunday afternoon. But I do like Jordan Hicks a lot, how he looked this spring, how a splitter looks in terms of getting swings and misses, and he gets the Nationals. It's a great matchup. I feel like the Angels are a good matchup without Otani being in their lineup anymore with the Dodgers, obviously. Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Halk both look great in their first turn. for the Red Sox they line up against the Angels

for next week so I think they make for fine sleepers Sean Maniah dominated in his first outing for the Mets

and has changed his pitch mix in a way that might improve his standing. He gets the Royals this week

and then McKenzie Gore at the athletics you know he threw more changeup it's changeups I think

right wasn't it the change up that he threw more in his first start I think so yeah and had pretty

good results at Oakland he could have great results, obviously. So you're hoping for the good version of the Charzard in McKenzie Gorman. Yeah, it is number nine on the list of 10 sleeper pitchers. So it's, we're scraping the bottom of the barrel there. It's hardly a must.

Don't have a lot of confidence in Gore, but I have a lot of confidence in the A's being a bad matchup. Let's slide over to the hitter side of things. The best hitter matchups for next week, the D-Backs who get those three games in Cores Field, followed by the A's, the Phillies, the Astros, and the Reds, the worst hitter matchups, Cardinals, Cubs, Angels, twins, and the Mets. With that being said, Scott,

who are your favorite sleeper hitters for week three? Well, you didn't mention the Royals having one of the five best matchups, but I did say earlier they have one of the best seven or eight for hitters. So, Mikel Garcia, let's get him in your lineup already. Oh, yeah. Doing everything well here early on. and the matchups remain strong. So he's number one on this list.

MJ Melendez is up there too. We talked about him earlier in the show. Tyler O'Neill off to a good start for the Red Sox, a couple home runs already. And I think he has a stolen base as well. The strikeout rate is down. He's walked more than he struck out, actually. I'm surprised he's as available as he is,

still available in a third of CBS Sports Leagues. And this upcoming week, I believe he'll be playing for the first time at Fenway Park. All six of the Red Sox games are there, where his power should play well. So like Tyler O'Neill a lot, Eugenio Suarez, with the Diamondbacks having the best matchup that series at Coors Field.

He's the best of the Diamondbacks hitters who is available enough to recommend, and he's off to a pretty good start. Michael Conforto is on this list, mostly just because of the kind of start he's off to. He's going to have to slow down eventually, but the Giants matchups are pretty decent. They open the week against the nationals,

which is always good. I have Jonathan India on this list, who's off to a slow start, but he's batting lead off and obviously has a track record and seven games on the schedule for the Reds. Brewers rotation, the Brewers and White Sox rotations

are what they're facing in those seven games. So I could see him heating up. His teammate Will Benson with, they have, let's see, the Reds have two lefties on the schedule in those seven games,

but Benson has been in the lineup, some against lefties already. Seems like he's getting preference over Jake Freyley in those instances. And his power translates better to the road

where the Reds are going to spend half the week. So I think Benson's a pretty good play. Jeremy Payne off to a good start. The Astros, as you mentioned, have the fourth best hitter matchups. And then a couple of A's here to round.

round out the list. J.D. Davis and J.J. Bladay. A couple guys with initials for names. And the A's have the second best matchups. They are facing the back end of the Rangers rotation, and then they also get the Nationals rotation for three games. J.D. Davis has been hitting the ball very hard so far. J.J. Bladay, former top prospect, has also looked very good.

He's actually the one who beat out Estuary Roe. Louise for that center field job in Oakland. Only 11% rostered. Not saying he's a must add, but he's looking kind of interesting. If he has a big week, you know, we might end up talking about him as a potential waiver wire pickup. And if you're playing a deep league, he might be worth picking up now for the favorable matchups.

Yeah. And JJ Bladay had a pretty big spring for the Oakland A's as well. He hit 348, two homers, and one steel, an OPS over a thousand. obviously a really small sample size but as you mentioned there is some prospect pedigree there. I did want to once again bring up the name Blaze Alexander Scott for the debacks because I just looked into

their schedule for next week. Two of the three games in Coresfield are against lefties. So if you play in a very deep league if I'm getting two starts in Cores Field from Blaze Alexander who's looked really good so far and on top of that Geraldo Pardomo is dealing with a knee injury

we haven't, you know they said he's day to day for now but you know if he has to miss some time. Again, I just for deeper leagues, 15 team roto, I wanted to bring up that name, Blaz Alexander, with those matchups for the debacks next week. Let's talk about some prospects, Scotty, and your first prospect report is up on the site. Everyone could check it out. CVSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. I believe the plan is for that to come out every Thursday, right, Scott, throughout the season? Yeah, that'll pretty much be true every Thursday, unless I change it, which I did in the middle of last season. But yeah, let's say every Thursday.

Day for now. And the plan with that article usually is five prospects who are on the verge of being called up. These are obviously top names that we talk a lot about. And then five names that are on the periphery. These are prospects, young players who are doing something of note that you should know what's going on. And, you know, it's exactly what it sounds like, five names on the periphery. So the five on the verge, no surprise here. Lots of names we've talked about already. But Jackson Holiday with the Orioles, Junior Camerro with Tampa Bay, who. who is on the minor league IL with a quad train. He's likely out for a couple of weeks.

Ricky Teeteman with the Blue Jays, Bowden Francis got rocked in his first start. So I think we're officially on Ricky Teeteman watch for now. Paul Skeens looked amazing in his first start. I think it was three perfect innings with five or six strikeouts. And pirates are off to a great start. I kind of see Skeens and Holidays, Scott.

I'm really starting to buy in where if the pirates just have a great April, he could be up on May 1st. first. That's kind of just what I'm thinking with Paul Skeens. And Kyle Manzardo of the Guardians who, DH has kind of been a revolving door so far for them. The offense has been good early on here for Cleveland. What are you thinking on the ETA for Kyle Manzardo?

When do you think we could realistically see them in Cleveland? When the guardians decide they need more offense. And you're right, DH has been a revolving door mostly. The guys mostly revolving through that door have been, are David Frye, Will, Renan and Estevan Floriel. So three guys we never talk about

and probably aren't good enough for a team with playoff aspirations, especially DAs. I mean, you could stick anybody there. It's, it's, when they acquired Monsardo from the raise in the Aaron Savali deal last season, we were thinking, oh, this is going to be their DH next season.

Because they have first base locked up with Josh Naler already. Realistically, the two would probably rotate between first base and DH. But Monsardo has good batted ball characteristics and had a good spring. I was kind of torn between which Guardians hitter to put in the fifth spot here in my five on the verge was between Kyle Monsardo and Chase DeLotter

who had an even better spring and kind of hung around until the end of spring training. But the Guardians sent him to double A to begin the year rather than AAA. It doesn't mean he couldn't jump straight to the majors. We see that happen. But I kind of think they'd be less likely to have Chase DeLotter meet the DH need. You know, I kind of think they want to give Tyler Freeman some run there in center field while DH is just wide open.

And so I'm guessing right now, Monsardo could, what will be the one to come up first, but I, I think they're basically on even equal footing with regard to how stashable they are. I do want to throw in an honorable mention here too for Estuary Ruiz, who of course isn't a prospect anymore. He's an established major leaguer who for some reason is in the minors right now.

It felt weird to have him featured prominently in a prospects report. So I didn't feature him prominently. but if we were going to rank him among stashable minor leaguers, he'd be number two on that list for me behind just Jackson Holiday, who would kind of start he's off to.

I mean, I think he's got to be up and within a couple weeks. Ruiz would be second on that list. Obviously, if you... Well, I should add the caveat that second on that list for roto leagues. Obviously not points leagues

where steals are not essential. And I don't even know that he's all that stashable in like a head-to-head categories league with just three outfield spots because you have so few hitter spots to balance out the stats. And Estuary Ruiz really does that one thing for you, just all the bases.

But if you drafted him in a roto league, it's probably a big part of your steals plan and you're just not going to find anyone else who can make that kind of impact in that category for you. So I think you have to stash him. And I don't think he'll be down long. the A's GM, David Forst, he kind of said the same thing. He expects him to be back soon.

So I'd hold on to him in those roto formats. You know, Junior Cominero is right in that discussion too, but he's on the minor league I.L. With the quad injury. So we don't know exactly. We know he's not going to be up in the majors within the next couple weeks. We know he have at least that long of weight for him.

And it might be even longer than that, course, skeins, if I could touch on him a little bit. So you mentioned he went three innings in his 2024 debut at AAA. He didn't pitch much in spring training either. And I think this is by design, where obviously there's an upper limit

to what the pirates want him to throw in his first full profession. season. They're going to have to restrict those innings. And so are they backloading them? Is he kind of going through spring training now, throwing three innings at a time? And once he's fully built up, is that when they're going to bring him up? You know, early May, mid-May, something like that. That's kind of what I'm imagining. We've made the case before that given the new incentives for prospect promotions and if a player is, if a top prospect is up for his whole rookie,

season and places high in awards voting for the first few years of his career, then the team gets draft picks for that. And so they're incentivized to have them up for their full rookie season. Well, if Skeens comes up in May, that's not going to be, he's not going to be up for his full rookie season. But given that, it was the number one pick in the draft last year, there's a lot of eyes on him. I just don't know that the pirates are going to be able to, uh, to, uh, to, to really to hold up to the pressure,

not to promote him. Even if they're not performing that well, I'm beginning to believe schemes going to be up sooner than not and the thought that they're going to wait until 2025 to really unleash him in full force. Yeah, I'm not sure I'm buying that anymore. And here was an interesting stat I got from MLB, M-I-L-B, minor league baseball.com for this first start.

So again, he went only three innings. He reached triple digits with his fastball 12 times. The only two major league pitchers, major league starting pitchers, to reach triple digits with their fastball at least 12 times during the entire stack cast era, Hunter Green and Jacob de Grom. And again, Skeens did it in only three innings. More than half of the fastballs he threw reached triple digits. So he, I'm sure you heard out there that he throws hard that he reaches triple digits,

but he does it with more consistency than maybe any starting pitcher we've seen before. And that's part of what makes him special. 100% agreement. I think we see him up in early May. Again, that is Paul Skeen's. Five prospects on the periphery. And we spoke about the Orioles, just offense going nuts last night. Their AAA offense between Kyle Stowers and Heston Kirstad and Jackson Holiday.

Two of those names here, Stowers and Kirstad are your five prospects on the periphery. They've gotten off to great starts. They're hitting for tons of power. But like all of the Orioles prospects, where are they going to play? Remains the question. The other three names on this list, Luis Matos and Outfielder with the Giants, Quinn Priester, a pitcher with the Pirates. And Carson Wisenhunt, also a pitcher with the Giants.

I did want to ask you just about these Giants prospects got because Luis Matos, I find pretty interesting because he's mostly been a contact-oriented batting average type prospect in the minors. He already has two homers, one steel

in very limited playing time in the minors this year, and then he had a big spring where he hit four home runs, and they're talking about how he's added muscle and he's hitting for more power. So I think he's interesting.

And then Carson Wisenhunt, who is a big lefty, 23 years old, six foot three. He's a former second. round pick. He has a nasty change up. Missed time last year with an elbow sprain, but he was assigned at AAA, which tells me, I mean, look, he's one injury or something away from, he could have an opportunity in the Giants

rotation. So talk to me about those two guys, Matos and Wizzin Hunt. Yeah, I mean, you gave a lot of the details I have on Matos already. He had great numbers in the minors last year, which is why he got called up in June, and the power numbers were even fine. But the exit velocities were pretty bad and there just was no power during his time in the majors. I actually got enough at bats that he technically doesn't qualify as a prospect anymore. I realized that as I was writing about him. But that's fine. I don't think anybody thinks of Luis Matos is an established major leaguer yet. So he's in the prospects report. Yeah. So as for the power we've seen from him already this year, he had four home runs in spring training. Yeah, four home runs at 58 plate appearances this. spring.

Didn't have exit velocity readings for that because Stackass wasn't available in the Cactus League for the most part. Both of the home runs he hit at AAA Sacramento on Wednesday clocked in at 103 miles per hour and exceeded 400 feet. So that's pretty good. And he really throttled them if you watch the video of them hitting those home runs.

They were impressive looking home runs. And so I'm hopeful that there are legitimate power gains happening here with Matos. I'd like to see more data. We don't have a lot. But the production has been there. And he has good contact skills. So if he can combine those two, then Luis Matos might still have a pretty high-end outcome. As for Wisenhunt, so he had 12 swinging strikes on 44 pitches in that three-inning start where he struck out six. Great swinging strike rate. I had a great swinging strike rate last year, 18% across three levels. That's Spencer Strider-like. Though obviously you see it a lot.

more in the minors than you do in the majors. Only two pitches, fastball and change-up. He's working on a slider, but it's just not getting any whiffs. I don't think it's a very good pitch for Wiss and Hunt. So there are probably some concerns he's going to be a reliever in the long run. But his change-up I've read, he varies the profile. Like, it's basically like three pitches in one because of how much he's able to manipulate that pitch.

So he may have enough there just with those two, especially since he's missing back. at the rate he does. I'm pretty excited about Carson Wizz and Hunt. He was the top 100 prospect for me. All right. Let's wrap up, Scott, with your favorite going into the weekend. The people need streamers to stream or not to stream. And we will start with Friday, where the options are not great.

They never are. They were great. People would be rostering them already. They want to be looking to stream them. That's right. I think Brady Singer and Eric Fetty going up against each other are probably the most interesting. I prefer Jordan Hicks against the Padres.

I'm really liking Jordan Hicks. Hicks is good too. What I've seen from him so far. Yep. But yeah, I'd put Fetty at Kansas City second and singer against the White Sox third. On Saturday, scanning up and down the list here, Tyler Wells at the Pirates.

That seems all right. Garrett Whitlock against the Angels. That one's pretty good. Sure. And I don't know. There's a few other kind of interesting ones. Paul Blackburn at the Tigers, Trevor Rogers at the Cardinals,

Stephen Matt's versus the Marlins, Michael Walker versus the White Sox pretty good. I was just noticing that if Whitlock, who's going Saturday and Tanner Howick, who's going Sunday, if they're starting against the Angels this weekend, then they're going to be phasing the Angels two turns in a row. Sure.

And I have them as sleeper pitchers for next week. And usually that's advantage to the hitters. Yes. Yeah. So something to think about. I'm not going to remove them from my sleeper pitchers or anything, but something to think about. Okay, on Saturday specifically,

my preferred choices would be Tyler Wells at Pittsburgh one, Michael Walker against the White Sox 2, and Garrett Whitlock against the Angels 3. And then on Sunday. Not Ranger Suarez at Washington is fine too. Yeah, Saturday is actually, I think, a pretty good day for streamers. On Sunday, we have, ooh, Renel Blanco is coming off the no-hitter. Pitchers, the very next start off a no-hitter, and he's at Texas.

I don't love it, Scott. I don't. I think you should add him. I don't know that I want to stream him in that specific match. A lot of times, pitchers coming off no-hitters, they had to throw an unusually high number of pitches to get that no-hitter. But that wasn't the case with Blanco. who threw... I think it was 105.

Yeah, he was very efficient in that game. So I wouldn't let that be the reason that you shy away from using him. He is facing the Rangers, so maybe that's reason enough. But let's see if there are any pitchers I would start over him, any streamable pitchers that I'd start over him that day.

And I am... Tanner Hauk? At the Angels? It's fine. I don't see anybody like definitively better. There are some decent choices here, though. Howick at the Angels, as you said, uh,

Louise Heel against the Blue Jays, particularly if you're looking for strikeouts. Dean Kramer at Pittsburgh could go well. Could go very poorly. He's a gloppy pitcher. But it could go well with that matchup. And Max Meyer at the Cardinals? Yeah, that's okay.

Cardinals have been hitting pretty poorly. Alec Marsh against the White Sox, you know, he had a really good turn the first time out. I think it's a bigger gamble than the others we've talked about here. But it's not bad. I don't know. For Sunday, Blanco, if he's not at the very top of that list, he's near the top for me.

I think I would go Halk. Halk, Heel, and then Blanco, I think, in that order. Yeah, I can get on board with that. I might lean Blanco over heel, but Halke will say is number one for Sunday. All right, we're going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to fantasy baseball today.

Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify, and we will be back again next week. Bye-bye.