Fantasy Baseball Today - Framber Valdez flirts with a no-no + Firing up the Drop-O-Meter (8/7 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

Episode Date: August 7, 2024

Framber Valdez came one out shy of a no-hitter Tuesday, while Grayson Rodriguez suffered a potentially serious injury. Chris Towers and Scott White break down what that means, plus talk through the top IL stashes for the stretch run and run some disappointing pitchers through the Drop-O-Meter. 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 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. Framber Valdez almost threw a no-hitter. We'll talk about it.

On Fantasy Baseball today, I'm Chris Towers, here with Scott White. And Scott, we'll jump right in today on today's. show. We're talking about Tuesday standouts. We're going to fire up the drop o meter. Hopefully I've got it working with Frank out of town. Got some top IL stashes to talk about. But first, the

Olive Garden Breadstick of the night, it's got to be Frambervaldez, right? At least if we're going positive. You know, you mentioned one guy who was very bad as a possible olive garden breadstick, but we'll stay positive at first. Frambervaldez, like, one pitch away from the second no-hitter of the season for the

Houston Astros ended up giving up a two run home run to Corey Seeger with two outs in the ninth inning to go eight and two thirds innings one hit two earned runs three walks five strikeouts look the strikeouts not super super impressive but he continues to leave with that curveball generated 16 swinging strikes in this game got a ton of contact soft contact in this one and he's been pretty good all season there was a little bit of bumpiness in like May, I believe, maybe June, but otherwise, he's been really rock solid all year. And before this start, he had 40 strikeouts and 31 innings in the month of July since making the switch to that curveball heavy approach. How are you viewing Frambervald

as the rest of the way? I mean, not that differently. He's already pretty high end. Mm-hmm. That's the thing. I mean, yeah, it was a great start. But does the analysis really change? Not for me. I mean, Framber Valdez is capable of great starts. We've known that for a long time. His updated numbers in the five starts now since he began throwing his curveball

35 to 40% of the time, a 241 ERA, a 0.89 whip, 11K per 9. Better than we've known Framber Valdez to be. Is that who he is now? Probably not. I still think he's going to regress to his

usual self here to close out the year which is still great which is still basically must start in fantasy top 25 starting pitcher rest of the way yeah I did just update

my rankings today do I have them in the top 25 I mean if I don't it's just because there are so many pitchers who could fit in that range of the rankings let me pull it up here

I haven't 31. But I could be convinced to move him up six bucks. Who would you rather have rest of season? We'll just move into my, oh my goodness gracious player of the night, which is kind of a negative one after I said we're going to be positive, which is Seth Lugo. Who would you rather have rest of the way? Seth Lugo or friend of Valdez?

Hmm. That's a tough one. I guess, I guess Valdez, I guess. It's easier to say. based on how Lugo's start went this time, which wasn't very good. Of course, his previous start was one-earned run in eight innings. Eight innings. Only three strikeouts, I believe, three walks in that one.

But, yeah, the eight-ennings of one-earned-run run is impressive. Yeah, no, I mean, and here's the thing. So his last five starts, Seth Lugo has a 454. ERA. But that includes the one earn run in eight innings. That includes the one earn run at nine innings during a five, during that five start stretch as well. So as brilliant as those two starts were,

it says something about the other three starts. And it it's, you know, the overall ERA during that stretch is bad. It's four-fifty-four. So the regression is happening. Doesn't mean there aren't good starts along the way, starts that still make Lugo worth keeping around.

But it does appear that that ERA is coming back down to Earth a little bit, even if it's kind of taking a winding path there. So it's happening right under our noses, the regression. Yeah, a big part of being a good analyst, I think, is knowing your biases or whatever you want to call them and being aware, trying to avoid confirmation bias. And so, like, we are going to do a drop o meter segment later in the show. And I pointedly did not include Seth Lugo in that list, even though I have been very, very skeptical of him basically all season and would not be surprised if he has a couple more

bad starts. And we are talking about dropping him. 385 XERA entering this one. He gave up four and runs and five in a third innings, by the way, four walks, four strikeouts since July 1st. So I think that's six starts. So it's including one more start than the one you were talking about earlier. 431 ERA, 26 strikeouts in 39 and two-thirds innings. And that's the concern here. Early on in the season, he was getting really good results, but not a lot of strikeouts. May and June, actually was like a strikeout per inning. It was awesome. Since July 1st, the strikeouts have not been there. I guess the one thing I would say is like I wrote about both Chris Bassett and Seth Lugo in the newsletter. And Bassett was better today. But overall,

lately they've been very similar and I'm much more optimistic about Chris Bassett because I think his baseline is higher at least it was coming into the season so again trying to avoid confirmation bias there yeah I mean

Bassett hadn't had a good start in a long time oh it had been a while yeah yeah so I I wouldn't say I'm more optimistic about Bassett than Lugo in fact Bassett I know I moved down in my rankings he's 74th now for me maybe I should move them up a little after this start since it was so good.

I had dropped them behind guys like Tyler Anderson and Jameson Tion who have pitched well, but I don't really believe in them. And that's the hassle with starting pitcher rankings, you know? They can just go-yo constantly if you let them. I delayed. I delayed the big move down for Bassett, but it had been so long since he had a good start. All right. let's talk about your,

oh, my goodness, gracious player of the night. Okay. My goodness gracious player of the night is Vinnie Pasquantino, Vinny Pee, baby.

He went three, he went three for four with a double. It's a good game. He's been good for a long time now, like really, really good. Surprisingly good.

Somehow I hadn't noticed how good Vinnie Pasquantino had been. In his last 36 games now including this three for four

performance, last 36, 340 batting average, nine home runs, so a home run every four games, an OPS

near 900. This started in late June. Basically coincides with the ball carrying a little better across the league, home runs

spiking across the league. And maybe that's what's feeding into this for Vinny Pasquantino. It's not like he's hitting the ball harder on average.

It just may be that the reduced threshold for home runs has benefited him as much as any other hitter. I will note, okay, so he's homering every four games, he's hitting 340. How is his OPS right around 900? Shouldn't it be higher? Strangely, Vinie Pasquantino has only walked four times during that 36 game stretch. It was very out of character. and I don't think is going to be a trend. He's obviously a guy who takes his walks.

But I am encouraged by the increased power for a guy whose skill set I've always believed in. And as long as the ball continues to play like it's playing now, I think Vinnie Pasquantino is going to be a pretty good option for you. Yeah, it's interesting because you mentioned, I don't know what exact date you're going back to. Was it the 24th of June? Or was it the...

Whenever the good hitting, stuff. started, yeah. Yeah, because he hit a home run on the 24th of June. He had a couple of two hit games right at the end, two home runs in his final three games. What's interesting, though, is July, he had a 717 OPS despite hitting 309, because like you mentioned, two walks in 100 played appearances in the month of July, only two home runs in July. So it was like he hit three home runs in the final like seven, six games, seven games of June. he has four in the first six games of August.

And that's carrying a lot of the weight here. You know, we did a what's wrong with Vinnie P. Like a week ago discussion. And it was because the power had just been completely non-existent for the previous month. And he just had these outages over the course, really of his whole career so far, where, you know, whether it's the home park, the fact that he pulls the ball well, but maybe doesn't totally optimize exceptionally well. Like hits a lot of balls to right center,

not just down the line. I don't know exactly what it is, but there have been these extended droughts. Sorry, there's a possum on the field in Los Angeles that just caught my eye out of the corner because that's the one game that's still going on. Excuse me.

excuse me to the possum as well mind your business uh he's trying to get out it's amazing all right he's gone uh back to the show i don't remember vinny p goes through these stretches where he doesn't hit for the power that it feels like he should but do you still think he should be a 25 homer guy you know he's on i don't know probably like a 22 homer pace right now i mean there's not a big difference between 22 and 25. So, yeah, I think the way he's performed over this last month and a half, however you want to break it down, I think there's a good chance he gets to 25 this season,

despite what he's on pace for. All right, we're going to take a break. Thanks so much to everybody who's watching on YouTube. Make sure you like and subscribe. Make sure you check us out. YouTube.com slash fantasy baseball today. We're here 1245 to 1 in the morning most nights, Sunday through Thursday.

So come hang out with us, jump in the chat. And we will take a quick break and we'll be right back on fantasy baseball today. All right. We are back on fantasy baseball today. And let's talk some news and notes on Tuesday. Dylan Seas and I guess Bailey Falter. you probably weren't starting him, but they got screwed by the weather today.

The game was in Pittsburgh. It was clear that it was going to rain this evening. And for some reason, they started anyway. And so Dillan Seas ended up pitching just one inning before the rain delay ended his start. Would expect that he's going to get bumped up in the rotation. Maybe, you know,

he, I think he was projected to start on Sunday. Maybe he starts Friday or Saturday now. And they treat this kind of like a bullpen day. but that was frustrating because there was no way they were going to be able to get through this game without a delay. And the fact that they got through an inning and a half before it was annoying. Another annoying thing, uh-oh, Grazer Rodriguez was scratched from his start Tuesday during warmups due to discomfort in his right lap.

As of Tuesday evening, I haven't seen any signs of how significant this injury is, but it is worth noting that he missed time, pretty significant amount of time back in 2022 with a lat injury, which delayed his MLB debut. So there is some, yeah, so there is some, you know, some precedent here, not saying it's going to be that serious, but it's, uh, it's something to keep an eye on, I guess as we, we move forward. And honestly, you know, this is something you talked about.

we're going to talk about some IL stashes later, but something you talk about in that column is like, any injury at this point in the season basically can be a season ender. You know, even if it's not ultimately that serious, there's only eight weeks left, a little under eight weeks. So we'll hopefully find out more about Grayson Rodriguez on Wednesday. Mason Miller will return from the I.L. Wednesday as hoped.

He got through that live batting practice session earlier in the week without issues. He's coming back from the fractured pinky. in his non-throwing hand, so hopefully there won't be any issues for Mason Miller. Moving forward, he just goes right back to being an elite closer. And hopefully they use him more. He had the only, like, he only pitched like seven times in the month of July or something. His usage was really, really low. Maybe that was just they were blowing everyone out in July because they were averaging about 12 runs per game.

But hopefully we see more from him. Starling Marte will start a minor league rehab assignment Wednesday at Low A St. Lucy. He's been working his way back from a bone bruise in his right knee. And the thing I want to keep an eye on, he'll probably be back in the major sometime next week. I want to keep an eye on in the minors how much he runs because he was having a pretty solid season before the injury. But obviously so much of Starling Marte's value is tied into his ability to steal bases. Luis Renhifo's season is done.

He underwent season ending wrist surgery on Tuesday with batting 300 with like career high, 26 stolen bases, decent power before the injury should be healthy in time for the start of spring. training. The Angels did activate Anthony Rendon from the IL on Wednesday, but they didn't play Tuesday. So the one thing we don't know is whether he's Zachary Netto will continue to hit at the top of the lineup for them or not like he had with Luis Renhifo out. Byron Buxton missed his second straight game Tuesday against the White Sox as a result of running into the wall during Sunday's game. It's been diagnosed as a back injury. And I guess it wasn't quite as precautionary as they said.

This is big news. Joe Musgrove will return from the IL at some point during the team's current road trip, though not during the current series in Pittsburgh. There's one series left in the road trip. So he's going to start sometime this weekend in Miami. It's been out since late May due to Bonespurs and his right elbow. Start Joe Musgrove? No.

No. Must roster? I haven't heard much about it recently, but in June, there was talk of, he's got to remake his delivery, like the way he lands and everything because he's pitching through this bone spur and his elbow.

And like I said, there hasn't been much update since then. So maybe that didn't end up having to happen. But that sounds like a big hurdle to clear. And I'm skeptical, he'll clear it, quite frankly. And then he only made one rehab start after all that time away. That's bizarre too. I mean, we were about to have

Eduardo Rodriguez come back from a season long injury after no rehab starts. That start got rained out here tonight, so we'll see it on Wednesday instead. But that's bizarre too. Even more bizarre. Musgrove, though, with only one rehab start still,

it's like... Let him... Maybe he'll go out and dominate, but I... I obviously can't predict the future. there are a lot of red flags here though. I agree. Justin Verlader will likely make a minor league rehab start this weekend at AAA.

If he can make through another bullpen session Wednesday without incident, it's not clear how long he'll be down in the minors, but we've talked a little bit about Justin Verlander recently. And I'm at the point where I'm not really expecting him to be great. I'm hopeful that he can be pretty useful for fantasy, but I don't know if I want to expect anything from him. I don't know if I want to have a lot riding on Justin Erlander being very good the rest of the way. Yoshinova Yamamoto made it through a bullpen session Tuesday and will likely face hitters for the first time since the injury in May.

Sometime later this week still seems like maybe late August, but probably September is when he'll be back from the 60-day IL. Julio Rodriguez, we kind of got a non-update update. He's been clear to do some light running in addition to on-field batting practice, but remains without a timetable to return from his high ankle injury. And as his absence continues to drag on, makes it more likely that he will need a rehab assignment right now if he makes progress quickly in the coming days. Maybe not, but that hasn't been determined yet.

Clark Schmidt coming back from a lat injury pitched in a live batting practice session Tuesday and told reporters afterwards, that he is willing to return in a bullpen role, if that's what the Yankees need from him. I would be a little surprised if they went that way, just because Schmidt's return could give the Yankees either an opportunity to go with a six-man rotation or just a way to skip some Luis Heel starts

as they presumably have to start managing his innings at some point, although that really hasn't happened yet. What do you expect from Clark Schmidt? Did he make the cut on the IL stash ranking? Yeah, he's pretty low on it, but he made the top 45. If it becomes clear he's moving to the bullpen, and I don't have much reason to care about him. But he was having a breakout season prior to the injury,

and I think there's enough time for him to build up, make four or five starts before the season's done, and they may be useful ones. We'll see if the Yankees end up doing what he's suggesting here and moving up to the bullpen. The Diamondbacks placed catcher Gabriel Moreno on the aisle Tuesday with a left adductor strain and selected the contract of Adrian Del Castillo from AAA. Castillo is not a big name prospect.

He's a 24 year old who has hit really, really well at AAA this season. 319 average and OPS over a thousand. It's the Pacific Coast League. Do they play in Albuquerque? No, they play in. Reno. Reno. Another elevated.

Yeah. It's very, very good offensive environment. But is Del Castillo worth a look in two catcher leagues? I would say so. I'm more excited about him than I was Dylan Dingler,

who hasn't done much yet for the Tigers. In fact, I've been a little, I found it a little odd that all the hype Davis and Delos Santos has gotten. Of course, recently traded to the Marlins, but he was in the same system with Adrian Del Castillo,

and they both are having huge years, and Del Castillo wasn't getting mentioned, and Davison Delos Santos was getting a ton of attention, and I didn't really understand that, because it seems to me Davis and De Los Santos flaws are clearer. It is likely that De Los Santos stats have been elevated by the environment. Del Castillo, yeah. Adrian Del Castillo, the catcher. It does seem likely that his numbers have been elevated by the environment, but 90.7 mile per hour average exit velocity, 111 mile per hour max exit velocity.

Those are quality exit velocity readings. And then unlike De Lo Santos, he doesn't have the super high chase rate. Yeah, only 17% strikeout rate. Right, the strikeout rate is good. He walks a lot, too. I think the main reason he doesn't show up high on prospect list, Del Castile, is because he's a bad catcher and probably is not going to last their long term.

But clearly the Diamondbacks are willing to give him a shot now with Gabriel Moreno out. And hey, all we care about is that he plays. We don't care where he plays as long as he has that catcher eligibility. So that's one thing to keep an eye on moving forward. I think in deeper two catcher leagues, Adrian Del Castillo, definitely worth adding.

Michael Harris set to begin a rehab assignment Tuesday at AAA with the hopes that he will be ready to return when first eligible from the 60 day IL on August 14th. This one almost feels like he probably could have come back a few days earlier, but it was like they were far enough away that they needed the 40 man spot and they put them on there. But it does sound like Michael Harris will be back next week. So we should get seven glorious weeks at the end of the season for him to make up some ground.

Six and a half. Six and a half. Six and a half. I don't think he's eligible to return until Wednesday of next week. Yeah, it's the 14th. Yeah. Kyle Freeland left Tuesday start against the Mets with a blister on his left index finger. Carrie Carpenter will begin a minor league rehab assignment Tuesday at AAA.

Riley Green could be right behind him. He was doing batting practice on the field Tuesday as he returns from his hamstring injury. Taylor Ward was placed on the paternity leave list Tuesday and will likely miss a couple games. Reese Olson began a throwing program. he could still have a chance to return from the IL coming back from that shoulder injury. It might be really late. Did he make the IL stash list? Resulson? Yeah, he did.

Okay. The Astros promoted infielder Zach DeZenzo. I believe that's how you pronounce that name from AAA Tuesday. Only played 11 games at AAA before getting called up. He was hitting 391 with four homers and three steals. Has been a big riser since starting the season in high. high A, any interest in adding Zach Descensos? Well, I was trying to get a read on how much he's going to play.

I do think he's been kind of a forgotten prospect this year because of time missed to injury. Baseball prospectus loved him last year and I actually had him in their preseason top 100. But even they left him out of the midseason list just because he was unavailable. But yeah, a lot of the supporting numbers. of course you mentioned the surface level numbers were good. And admittedly, a very small sample at AAA, but 109.9.9.9 max exit velocity, 89.4, average exit velocity, 19% K rate.

All of those are fine. All of those are solid. And I think Zach DeZenzo, now we're seeing him earlier than I expected. And it's going to make for a really good audition with Alex Bregman. entering free agency this off season to see if Zach DeZenzo could just take over there for the Astros next year. I think the way he performs down the stretch is going to say a lot.

And I think he should play a lot, given that it doesn't look like they have anybody better to occupy the DH spot. All right. The Yankees and Angels were rained out on Tuesday, pushing Louise Heel back a day, giving Will Warren a chance to start game two. of a doubleheader on Wednesday. The Diamondbacks were also pushed back in their game with Guardians. So I think that was supposed to be the Eduardo Rodriguez Carlos Carrasco

matchup. That will be happening on Wednesday as well. So we've got 17 games on Wednesday. Big, big slate. James McCann underwent a nasal reduction realignment procedure as a result of the broken nose that he suffered

and played through last week after getting hit by a pitch. He is somehow not on the IL, which is wild. Having surgery and not going on the aisle, that that's something. Matt Brash has been cleared to start a throwing program. His season is over as he tries to work his way back from Tommy John's surgery, but he has closer upside if he can get ready. You know, by the start of next season, obviously he would be behind Andres

Munoz in the pecking order, but someone to keep an eye on for next year. Christian Scott still has not been cleared to resume throwing since being shut down in July with his right UCL sprain. There is hope that that clearance could come in the coming days. And he did say he's not ruling out pitching this season, but I'm not expecting any kind of impact from him, especially given that he was pretty mediocre before the injury. So I'm sure he didn't make the IL stash rankings.

He did not. Kristen Scott did not. And, you know, we'll see how this goes. But like you, I'm skeptical. He's going to be able to avoid the surgery. He's trying to avoid. All right. And then Elliot Ramos returned from his thumb injury to go two for five with a steel and a homer. Just his second home run in 15 games since the All Star break.

But good to see him back in the lineup that Thumb's been bothering him for a little while. So that might explain the downturn in production. And before we take our second break, let's go through the dropometer real quick. I think some of these guys are fairly easy calls in one way or the other. And we'll start with Clayton Kershaw, who pitched well. on Tuesday, four and two-thirds innings. You have a one-earned run against a very good Phillies lineup. Five strikeouts.

Generated nine of his 10 swinging strikes with the curve-on slider. Velocity pretty good, but he's not worth starting. And how dropable is a guy that you can't really start yet? Well, I think you are going to start him next week because he lines up for two starts against the Brewers and Cardinals. And so I think you're going to start him and you're just going to hope that they finally let him go the minimum of five innings, maybe even six innings. If it doesn't happen this week, then I think maybe we could talk about it.

Next week, I mean, if it doesn't happen next week, him going the minimum required for a win, then I think maybe we could talk about it at that point. That is my biggest concern. I think he's been effective. He certainly was effective in the start. And I think he's basically looked like Clayton Kershaw. but last year when he came back from an IL stint

because the shoulder was bothering him and of course he hadn't had it operated on yet he made eight starts and none of them exceeded 83 pitches and that's kind of the mark he's been reaching in this three-star stint since returning from the IL 81 was what he threw and this start against the Phillies

so if that's just how they're going to handle Clayton Gershaw going forward. Obviously, that's going to be a problem. But again, I will stress that in those eight starts last year, when he came back from the IL, he hadn't had the shoulder operated on yet. So I think he was more forced to limit his workload than he is now, and now it's just part of a buildup,

and he hasn't taken the next step in the buildup yet. That's what I'm hoping. next week should be pretty revealing. All right. What about one, two on the dropometer? Oh, Kershaw? I'll say, I want to say zero, but I'll say one just for the super shallow leagues. All right.

Jeffrey Springs struggled again in his second start back from Tommy John surgery. Five innings pitched, four run runs, three walks, three strikeouts. Velocity was up a little bit from his first outing, but still down from 2023. just getting hit hard, not getting whiffs, his fastball, 94.7 mile per hour average gas velocity on seven balls in play, zero swings and misses on 34 fastballs. And then that seems to be the long and short of it right now, is the fastball's not there.

And this is against the Marlins and Cardinals that he's struggled in this first two starts. Where are you at on Jeffrey Springs on the dropometer? Still pretty low, I think, a two, because, you know, at least there's impact potential here. And after his first start, Ray's manager, Kevin Cash, said he thought the velocity would spike

in the next couple outings. And we did see it go up nearly a mile per hour in this one. Still not quite back where it needs to be, but it was improvement for Jeffrey Springs. And I want to hold out a little longer. It's been a long wait for him. I'm not saying you need to start him. Let me see if he lines up for two starts next week.

So it looks like he does not. so you can afford to wait another week and see if springs improves from that. So that's a two. All right. I think the worst song I've ever heard in my life is Hey Soul Sister. And that's the song that the bird was singing on Tuesday.

You see what I did there. Hayden Bird's song gave up seven earned runs in two innings against the nationals. Three walks, one's short. strikeout. That was after, of course, 20 strikeouts in 11 innings in his previous two outings, including just absolutely massive, massive swing and miss numbers. I will point out, three of the runs that he gave up were on a pitch that C.J. Abrams homered on that he had no business homering on. Did you see this? Yeah. It was like up at his eyes. Chin high. out over like on the corner of the strike zone

like on the far end of the strike zone like around his head and he hit it out. It was one of the most bonkers home runs I've seen but where are we out in Hayden Burns song on the dropometer after this one? Well it was definitely discouraging after we this was the first start where he had assurance Birdsong has a job and he's going to stay in the rotation

and he was lined up for two starts and a ton of people probably start. started him. I think he was the top sleeper pitcher for this week. So there's one that didn't work out. It was discouraging and I'm going to go a little higher on the dropometer just because he's given you an excuse to drop him now. I don't think many people are going to be clamoring for him, especially in the shadow leagues where it's even in question whether you drop him. So I'm going to, I'm going to put it at like a four or a five. I still think there's a lot of talent there. But command is a problem.

It was a problem throughout the minors. It's the reason why Hayden Bird's song wasn't some highly... I mean, he was a prospect, but he wasn't like a super high-end prospect. And he threw only 58% of his pitches for strikes in this one. Now, the previous two, the really good two starts, even that was just 62% strike.

Still not a great rate. He still walked five in those 11 innings. I'm talking about the two good starts for... Yeah, and that was... was with like 50 total swinging strikes across the two starts. Right, right. So this has been a continual issue. Yeah.

And even though he has a lot of swing and miss potential, I think it's going to make him erratic, erratic going forward. All right. And then I think this is the easy drop on the dropometer. Max Meyer got the Reds today, six earned runs on eight hits, three walks, only two strikes. They say man cannot live on bread alone and Max Meyer cannot live on sliders alone. That's basically all he's got.

Five of his six swinging strikes. We're on the slider. His fastball's down a bit from 2022. I'm going to say a 10 on the drop-o meter. Yeah, I'm going to agree. I don't see any reason to hold on to Max Meyer at this point. I mean, the odds are already so long. see where I moved him in the rankings.

I moved him to a hundred. Then even that still feels. Yeah, it feels a little high. Yeah. All right. We are going to move on. We'll take a quick break and we'll be right back on fantasy baseball today. And we are back and there are just under eight weeks left in the season.

Let's talk about the top IL stashes and it becomes increasingly difficult to justify stashing anyone but the highest end players. So that's what we're going to focus on here. Scott, how deep did. you end up going on the top aisle stashes in your column on CBS sports? I went 45 deep, which is less than what it's usually been this season. This season, I've been having to go 50 deep every time I published it to get all the worthwhile names in there. I will note that in years past, I've usually only had to go like 40 deep.

So this year has been worse for injuries and to fantasy relevant players. some some of the long-term stashes have been eliminated because they're out for the season now. Mike Trout, Evan Carter, and then some others who aren't officially ruled out. Jesus was already like we talked about yesterday.

Right, guys who are confirmed not to have enough time to build up. There was no reason to include them either. I didn't feel like. So yeah, it was just 45. And yeah, it's still 45. Still 45, yeah. Make sure you go check out

the full article on CBSports.com. Scott also wrote the latest bullpen report ranking the the latest moves and shakeups on the bullpen front. So make sure you check that out on CBSSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. We'll just very quickly run through the top.

These are the guys that you said are must must stashes. Pretty much in all formats. Too much upside to drop. Yeah. And so I kind of explain this in the article, but I want to do it in a shorter form here on the podcast, because obviously there's room for disagreement and how I make out these rankings. But I've decided that even with the calendar shrinking on us and those kind of unclear timetables presenting more of an issue because the calendar is shrinking on us, I still think the most stashable injured players are the most impactful ones, the most high-end players. the ones who could actually be difference makers

because it's a question of, okay, what do you do with this guy when he comes off to IL? And if it's a fringy guy who... You might drop anyway, yeah. You might just drop him anyway. And then what was the point of using your IL spot on him? So that's why you're going to see names like Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Max Scherz are still pretty high.

I don't know that we're going to cover Max Scherzer today. Yeah, he's in the second. He's in the next category. But if you're going to see, were to look at the article, he might be higher on the list than some pitchers with nearer timetables like a Lance Lynn, for instance. All right. So we'll start off with Mookie Betts, who should be back next week.

He's going to play shortstop. He's going to hit second. I did note that they are going to leave Shohayotani at the top of the order. And that's an interesting one because he's been running a lot more, obviously, since Mookie Betts's injury. And I wonder if that's now likely to continue or if he's going to slow down a bit when It's Mookie Betts batting behind him instead of Teosker Hernandez, who's a good hitter, but a little more all or nothing than Mookie bets to the point where it kind of makes sense to try to get that extra base. Yeah.

The next two super high-end players, and really the next three, but very little timetable on any of them. Kyle Tucker coming back from that Bruce Sinn, Fernando Tatis, the stress reaction, his femur. and Julio Rodriguez with the high ankle sprain, I think I expect Julio Rodriguez back sooner, just because his injury was less significant, but I really, there's a chance of none of these guys are back until September, right? There's a chance of that, yeah.

I think, I think Rodriguez and Tatis might have the murkier timelines than Tucker at this point, and I realize it's funny to this point, It's funny to say because Tucker's timeline's been pushed back constantly. But the last report was they think he'll be back before September. Well, there was the quote from Joe Espada yesterday, though, where he said, I don't think I can say he'll be back before September, which is not saying he won't be.

Okay. They've just... Their GM said differently, but fair enough. With Rodriguez, it's a high ankle sprain, which we don't see much in baseball. But like changing directions. is the issue with that. And he's begun linear running. He's begun swinging a bat.

But I think the changing directions is going to take a lot longer and could potentially take most of the seasons still or not, or not. And so the reason you stash him is in the hope it doesn't. It's not a clear timetable, though, which is why I- Superstars.

Right, these are superstars. And so you're just holding out that hope for Tucker Tatis. and J. Rod. The next three have pretty clear timetables. Riley Green, Christian Walker, and Michael Harris should all be back within the next two weeks. I would say Michael Harris having the clearest timetable, Walker probably the furthest. And Riley Green, I could see if he progresses quickly the next couple of days,

him starting a rehab, Simon, and being back next week. But that's very speculative on my part. Christian Yelich, that's another one that we just don't know. I mean, he's a darn near a superstar this season when he was playing. But this back injury, which has been an issue for three or four years now, might need off-season surgery. A lot of unknowns there. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jared Jones, big time starting pitchers coming back from a shoulder and lat injury. But it sounds like Jones is probably ahead.

Should be back before the end of the month. It sounds like so. Yomoto is probably the better player, but Jones coming back soon. Mason Miller, you're only going to have to stash for about six more hours by the time you listen to this. So that's the good news. Ranger Suarez threw a bullpen session Monday.

I think he's going to throw another one on Thursday. Could return next week. If he on how impactful he'll be, given that he was starting to regress before the injury and has been struggling since the initial back injury in June, but has been so good this season on the whole. Right. Right.

You so want to just dismiss him at this point. I don't want to. You want to. You want to. I don't think anybody who has Ranger Suarez could be compelled to drop him at this point, given how big of a part of the team he's been. And it does seem like this is a fairly minor injury. It's just you're anticipating some regression.

And I am too. Enough that I wouldn't want on my roster. And I wouldn't know. I agree with that. And then Tristan Kossas and Carlos Karea. Tristan Kossis has begun his rehab assignment from that cartilage tear in his rib. Carlos Karea coming back from plantrophyschitis in a different foot than the one that wrecked his 2023 season. He's been able to jog, but he hasn't been able to sprint.

So that that'll be the, uh, the, uh, the, last big hurdle before Carlos Correa can come back. So hopefully we'll see both of those guys within the next two weeks, I think is a reasonable expectation. And let's move on to some more of Tuesday's standouts. Let's talk about some waiver wire pitchers and a heck of a performance from Albert Suarez on Tuesday night. Did not know he was going to be starting until Grayson Rodriguez got hurt in warmups. And he went out against the Blue Jays in Toronto, five innings, two or two hits. no runs, two walks, six strikeouts. Is he someone you want to be adding if Grayson Rodriguez is going to miss time?

He's got a good offense behind him. I'm just not sure he's very good. And his previous four appearances, Albert Suarez, he had a 1080 ERA, and I was basically done with him even before the Orioles were. So he comes back, has a decent effort here. I don't know that I want to get back on the bandwagon. All right. We've got Tyler Malley.

who made his return from Tommy John's surgery and was fine. One earned run, five hits over five innings, two strikeouts, one walk. The velocity wasn't far off from where it was last season when he pitched. But that's not really the baseline we're looking for for Mallee, because the one time he's really been a must start pitcher was in 2021. We had 375 ERA, 210 strikeouts. And he averaged 94 miles per hour with his four seam rate. It was down to 92.2 on Tuesday.

Was his first start back? Is Tyler Malley someone, you know, is he below Jeffrey Springs and Clayton Kershaw on your priority list? Yeah, he is. But I was more encouraged by the start than not. I would have liked for there to be more strikeouts and more swinging strikes. And I think there will need to be for Tyler Malley to be worthwhile. You mentioned the fastball velocity.

The splitter velocity, which is. his main swing and miss pitch, it actually was back to the velocity from 2021 when he had 210 strikeouts and 13 wins and a 375 ERA, clearly his best season, what we're all hoping he can get back to. So I found that encouraging. I don't know if the slide, I mean, probably he,

probably you want, you want him to see him get that velocity back up on his fastball too, but just given the way the splitter, I think there's room for optimism here for Tyler Malley that he's going to be more useful than frankly, I thought he'd be making this late season return. All right. Let's talk about Colin Ray, 75% rostered in CBAS sports leagues. Nine strikeouts over seven shutout innings. Shouts to Scott. You said you could see him having a good start against the Braves. Is 71% rostered right on? line. That's kind of how I feel where I don't really buy it, but he's been useful enough for a while that I'm okay with it. But like the 92 strikeouts, or nine strikeouts, excuse me, didn't come with a significant increase in velocity or a pitch mix change or even a lot of whiffs, only 10 on 92 pitches. He has a 592 XERA. I know he's been very useful for fantasy. I'm not looking to go out and add Colin Ray even after this very

get to start. No, I'm not. I would guess that it jumped to 71% this week because he was in line for two starts. And I had him on my sleeper pitchers list. He was pretty low on it. And I've sometimes joke that 10 is too many to come up with. So there are going to be some bad pitchers on there, some ones I don't actually believe in. And so Ray would probably have fit into that category to whatever degree you want to give me credit for the pick. But I did watch him in this start. I may have been the first time I've ever watched Colin Ray, and that guy can dot the corners.

And I wonder if that's a skill that's unaccounted for. And I think it's probably difficult to sustain that level of command for any pitcher. I mean, maybe he could do it for a while. That was kind of the discussion with Ranger Suarez early this season. But I do wonder if maybe that's not something all the ERA estimators, because we've pointed those out for Colin Ray, how they're in the high fours and how he has to regress because of that and blah, blah, blah. I still don't have a ton of belief in him.

It just, you know, I kind of feel the same way about Rinaldo Lopez. Like, man, this guy is able to locate his pitch. pitches in such a way that he's able to avoid maximum damage. I just wonder if there's something to that. That's all. I think what you're aiming at is there is a difference between something being a fluke, which it's not, right? Like, if you are, like, I think Ranger's Svarez is the canonical example of this that I'm

going to use until the end of time, where what he was doing at the first half of this season was not a fluke. he was pitching incredibly well but there is a difference between something not being a fluke and something being unsustainable and that is I think the difference where what Suarez was doing was earned

right like he was earning the results he was getting it just probably wasn't sustainable for him to keep pitching that way because like like Zach Granky is like the one guy over the past like 20 years who has consistently been an ace pitching that way just dotting

the corners over and over and over and having, you know, 80 grade command, right? Like the difference between even really good, like 60 grade command and 80 grade command like Zach Ranky had is the difference between being a Hall of Famer and being a guy like Ranger Swarres who flits in and out of being a must-star fantasy option. And I think that's probably Colin Ray is a lower scale version of that even. So I think 71% is probably about the ceiling. of where he needs to be roster. And to a degree, even if a pitcher has this amazing command,

you would think the ERA estimators would account for that because XERA measures quality of contact, right? And obviously all of them measure walk rate. I'm not so much talking about walk rate as where exactly you're locating your strikes. But you would think quality of contact would be compromised if you are putting them, if you are dotting the corners

and living on the edge and able to succeed that way. But I don't know. It might be an area that deserves increased study from people who are more inclined to do that than I am. All right, we got two more waiver wire pitchers to talk about.

One, I think, is fairly easy to dismiss. That's Jonathan Cannon, who has had decent results at times this season. just don't really see any reason to be excited about him, given that he's on the worst team of baseball. Did get a win today. The first White Sox pitcher to get a win in 21 games. So way to go there.

But don't see any reason to go out and at him. But I do think Cater Montero for the Tigers is fairly interesting. He's been pretty bad in his first taste of the majors, but was really good tonight. One earned run over six innings against the Mariners. it's the Mariners, the most strikeout-prone history in major league baseball team in major league baseball history. And he struck out eight while walking one. But I will point out that he both this slider and change-up have been pretty good swing and miss pitches for him this season.

They both have whiff rates over 30 percent. And he got 12 swinging strikes on 85 pitches today. Is there anything here with Cater-Montaro of the Tigers? It's sort of the same thing I've been pointing out for Tobol. Myers all year. Of course, Myers has had success and Montero hadn't until this start. I think it's too little to make anything of it yet, but there will, there will, if Montero were to go on a run, there would be more to buy into there than like what we're seeing with Jonathan Cannon, who allowed just one hit in his previous start and followed it up with a great

start here. I just don't see anything he excels at. He was a good ground ball, pitcher in the minors, but that hasn't really carried over to the majors. So I don't know how Jonathan Cannon is succeeding. All right. Let's move on to a segment. I'm going to continue to call aces of varying degrees of quality and effectiveness. Luis Castillo, six innings, quality start, three earned runs. You'd like better against Detroit.

But nine strikeouts. That was nice to see. And he had the fastball working for him, got six swinging strikes on 14 swings. added five more with the slider. And the fastball has been the thing this season, where if you're wondering why Luis Castillo hasn't been as effective this year, some of its worst results on balls and play. A lot of it's just that the fastball has gone from the best swing and miss fat,

four seamer in baseball to just a good one. And today was a little better. Actually, I think it was like a 40% whiff rate. That's very good. So that's something to keep an eye on. Pablo Lopez, five innings, four and runs, one walk, two, strikeouts. I know that some of you are probably still pretty jumpy about Pablo Lopez's poor start to the season. He had been really good for like six or seven starts before this one.

The one thing I will point out, even when he was struggling earlier in the season, he was still getting a lot of swinging strikes and still getting a lot of strikeouts. He had, I think, two, no, six swinging strikes on 88 pitches, none with the sweeper or the curveball today. So I think this is truly more than any time we've seen this season A night where Pablo Lopez just didn't have it. And that is actually less concerning for me because I think you just write it off as he'll have it next time, right? Is that, am I just being too optimistic?

No, I think it's as simple as he was just allowing too many home runs earlier. We got it under control. And previous six starts, 284 ERA, 0.92 whip, 11.4K per 9. when you're on that kind of run I'll accept a hiccup like this which wasn't even

like a total disaster start Shoneimanaga seven innings two hits two earned runs one walk 10 strikeouts

in this one he kind of like him and Justin Steel have a lot of similarities and that it's like fast balls up

for steel it's the slider for Imanaga it's the splitter just bearing the splitter below the zone nothing complicated about it, but what both of them do is they'll change up the shape and approach of their

pitches in various counts. Imanaga, if you look at the pitch mix, he throws a splitter. But if you actually watch him pitch, I saw a great breakdown of this on Twitter. I can't remember who it was. I'm sorry, but they showed he's got his traditional splitter. He's got like a Vulcan changeup like this. And then he's got just like a traditional change up that he'll throw. And they all kind of just get jumbled in for the most part as the splitter, but they give pit hitters a different look. And it's mostly just the classic splitter. But that's one thing that he does share with Justin Steele where it's fastball slider for Justin Steele, but they're all different. Like the slider sometimes is more cut, sometimes more sweep. And so I don't know, I was worried that the fly ball

heavy approach and how much he pounds the strike zone with the fastball, especially up, was going to lead to some issues for Imanaga, but outside of like one bad stretch, he's just been incredible this season. And that splitter is a legitimately special pitch. Well, I have a slightly different take here on Unaga, because what I take from this start

is it was encouraging to see that Shoda Imanaga can still do something like this. Because we haven't seen a lot of it lately. And I actually think this season has played out for Imanaga exactly like we thought it would. So the ball was carrying so little at the start of the year

that he ended up suppressing home runs more than we thought. And so in his first let me see, I lost the stat. I had a rate here. Okay, yeah, and his first nine starts, Imanaga allowed just three home runs, which led to a .84ERA,

because that's his big vulnerability, home runs. Three and nine starts. starts for a 0.84 ERA. The next 11 starts, so the 11 prior to this one, 13 home runs and a 503 ERA. So the ball started carrying better, as it was always going to in the summer months,

but to a higher degree than maybe we even planned for. And it's made Imanaga much more susceptible to bad starts, and yet he still has that great splitter. If he's able to avoid the long ball, he's still capable of doing something like this. I just think it's going to be more volatile moving forward. Well, I will point out that the damage was largely in June. In July, he, July and the first start in August before this one.

He had a 315 ERA with 34 strikeouts, three walks, and 31 in a third innings. And that was with six home runs. So, right. Well, you are right that the home runs have been an issue. It's just he's good enough. everything else that he's been able to... I got the larger sample, though. Yeah.

I know. But I'm just saying like in terms of the ERA, it's only been really the one bad month. So he had two really good starts in July and one barely quality start and one not so good start. And that added up to a 315 year. It wasn't the consistency we were seeing from Miminaga earlier in the year. Yeah. I'm not saying I never bought the sub two ERA or whatever it was through the end of

May, but like a low three ZRA, I think that's like I've comped him to job my mind just went completely blank. Joe Ryan. Joe Ryan. Yeah, no, I think that's still the comp. I think that's still the comp mid I low three ZRA that from this point forward is possible, but I think it'll be closer to mid threes. Yeah, that that's fair. Let's move on to sunny gray who was very good. Nice bounce back start. And the interesting thing was even when he was struggling in July, it wasn't really that he was getting killed with homers. It wasn't,

he had one really bad starting. He had four home runs and one start. But as in that, you have a one star in his other, or one homer in his other starts, generating a bunch of strikeouts still, not really walking anyone. And then so far in the month of August,

seven innings in both starts, two run runs allowed in both starts, 15 strikeouts, two walks. I know Sunny Gray has, been defined by inconsistency in his career, and that will probably always be an issue. But this was one season where when things started going sideways, I never really worried about it. And the fact that he's bounced back right in line with what I expected. Yeah. Yeah, I haven't that's top 20 rest of the way. I've moved Zach Allen behind Sunny Gray. Interesting. Yeah.

All right. Let's talk about some hitters before we move on to the end of the show. We'll get to the bullpens as well. Isaac Paredes hit his first home run since joining the Cubs. It was only eight games. And this was a 364 foot home run that would have been out in 28 of 30 home ballparks. But, you know, five for 30, one home run since joining the Cubs. It has not gone great.

Small sample size. How worried are you? My opinion hasn't changed. I think he's not going to be as good as with the raise. and I think there's the potential for that venue change given his extreme profile, the way he has to pull his home runs right down the line and that Wrigley field is deeper there.

I think it has the potential to outright ruin. Esoc Perretta's eight game sample. As bad as it's been, isn't enough to say one way or the other. James Wood had a very, very good game today. Two for three with a couple of walks, four runs, a triple, and a big 423 foot home run.

He's on a little six-game hitting streak, 340 X Wobo over the past 50 plate appearances, just some signs that James Wood is starting to figure it out. And honestly, like, he is far from being a finished product, and he's keeping his head above water. That's what you want to see with a talented young player like that, because, man, when it all comes together,

it's going to be really impressive. Look what we're seeing from Jackson Holiday now, third home runs. Exactly. Yeah. Coming back. after being looking inept, frankly, as a hitter. Oh, yeah.

His first stint in April. Yeah, 50% strikeout rate in April. Willie Adamas for the Brewers, four for five, two home runs, four RBI, two runs, has an OPS north of 900 since July after a miserable month of June. So it's good to see him bouncing back. Dan's response went three for four with a run and a triple. Do you have any hope the rest of the way? Oh, it's fading.

I've held out hope for a long time and it's fading. I finally made a move in my rankings with Dan Svyswanson that I'm sure all the listeners will say is long overdue because they don't have the patience of an analyst. But I dropped Dan Svonson behind Xavier Edwards Cedon Raphaela.

I still have them ahead of like Jeremy Pena but you know nobody Yeah, nobody's That's nobody's that excited about Jeremy Pena All right Michael Conforto Two for four with a home run and three RBI Two home runs is four last four games And actually having a

Solid bounce back season It's just You'd probably notice it more If he played in a better home park For a left-handed hitter Oracle Park is one of the toughest places in baseball for left-handed hitters to hit, especially for power. And this is a team that I believe this is still true, has not had a 30 home run season since Barry Bonds. That is one of my favorite fun facts in Major League Baseball right now.

Yeah, I believe you're right. I noticed someone in the chat. And that won three World Series during that time. It's worth noting. Yeah, it's phenomenal. I know someone in the chat very early on, maybe before we even started, said we need to show Masataki Yoshita more respect. So let's put a little respect on Masataki Yoshita's name.

Two for five with a home run. Three RBI. You know, it's weird because when we think of streaky hitters, we think of like Teoscar Hernandez, like free swinging types, who just get really hot and can carry you and then get really cool. Jorge Saler might be a better example of that. But Masatig Yoshita has been like either a 900 OPS bat or a 500 Ops bat in his career. And it's just he goes through these like month long stretches where he just alternates them.

But hitting well over 300 since July 1st, six hits over his past two games, showing a little love to Masataki Yoshita, who is batting cleanup and playing DH every day for the Red Sox. And then Tyler Stevenson is 56% roster. that's too low, right? He went two for five with a home run today. His third in the past four games, eight over the past 22 games. He's got a playing time edge on most of the catching position.

Tyler Stevenson has been pretty good. You know, it's like a mid to low 700s OPS bat, but for a catcher who plays more regularly than most, I just think he should be more than 56% rostered. That's all I'm saying. Well, I have him 13th among catchers. There you go. That's way better than 56% rostered.

I would think. I'm pulling up the catcher roster rates because I actually suspect there aren't many two catcher leagues on CBS. Mm-hmm. And so that is going to keep that number down for Tyler Stevenson. How many catchers are rostered in more than 56% of leagues is what I'm looking for? three, six, nine, 12, 13, 14, 15. So, yeah, the 16th most rostered catcher. Would you'd rather have, you'd rather have him than David Fry or Ben Rice, right?

Yeah, I would say so at this point, but rather have him than Jonah Heim. Come to decide that. And actually, those three Fry, Rice, and Stevenson have the exact same roster rate. Yeah. More than Joe. Yes. Ryan Jeffers? No, I have Jeffers ahead.

Okay. But not a strong. I'd rather have Langleyers. What about Sean Murphy? I have Stevenson ahead of Murphy just because of the playing time issue there. Well, those guys are all more rostered than him. So go drop them and add Tyler Stevenson. Why don't you?

All right, bullpen updates. Chad Green got the save for Toronto. Ryan Helsley got his 35th save. Allowed two hits and a run. He's allowed four earned runs over his past three outings. Still leads the majors and saves. No concerns with Ryan. Halsey, right? No concerns. Josh Hader came out for the final out for his 23rd save.

Kenley Janssen struck out three for his 21st. Victor Vodnick got his six save with one hit allowed. Bo Briskey came out for the save in the ninth inning for the Tigers after Jason Foley worked the eighth, but he had to be bailed out by Tyler Holton, who actually has, I think it's four or six saves this season for the Tigers. But, But Tyler Holden, usually a multi-inning guy. He's a lefty. I think it's very unlikely that he's going to be the closer here. Is anyone?

No, I don't think anybody deserves to be the closer, frankly, in the tiger's bullpen. And it seems like, it seems like A.J. Hinch is just done with Jason Foley in that role. Yeah. So I imagine it's going to be a big mess going forward. The Philadelphia Phillies did not get a save. on Tuesday night, but that was because they scored two runs in the ninth inning. They were leading four two before that. And they went, Matt Strom in a big situation in the seventh inning.

Totally makes sense. Jeff Hoffman in the eighth. And Carlos Estevez did pitch the ninth, did not get the save, but clearly that was the plan, right? They were going to give Carlos Estabez the save there. We think he's the closer for the Phillies, right? I mean, they've made it pretty clear. So when they acquired Estevez, Dave Dombrowski said it wouldn't surprised me if he gets a lot of ninth innings, which isn't conclusive, but it's, it's,

it's in that direction. And then more recently, Rob Thompson, the manager, who technically is the one making that decision. I don't have the exact quote, but he said he'd only consider using Estevez in the eighth, meaning not the ninth. He'd only consider using Estevez in the eighth if there were a bunch of lefties due up in the night. So he didn't, he actually said he didn't want to call him the closer, just because he didn't want to put that on somebody. But he basically said Estevez is the closer. And Estevez has only worked the ninth inning since coming over, except for one time when the ninth inning continued into the tenth. And he worked part of the tenth, too. And I'm realizing someone in the chat pointed out, I did not say Chad Green's

name when I said the Blue Jays closer, but Chad Green is the Blue Jays closer at this point. There's no, no questions about that. So apologies for, I. guess only saying green earlier. To stream or not to stream for Wednesday. Not a bunch of great options here. I don't really think I want

to stream anyone on Wednesday. If we're not counting like... I think Brandon Fott and Ben Lively are probably both rostered too much, but I like both of them if they're available. Relatively speaking, yeah. You're forcing me to pick one. Joey Estes.

Right. That's what I was going to say, just because he's going against the White Sox, which, by the way, that didn't work out so well for Ross Stripling, who ended their losing streak. But I think Joey Estes is a little better than Ross Stripling. And if I'm forced to stream somebody from our usual rostership range that day, I think it would be Estes. Thursday has some better options. Kyle Harrison has a good matchup against Washington. They've been bad against lefties all season. DJ Hers, decent matchup against San Francisco.

had some upside. Very boom or bust. Yeah, I don't think I would want to go with Frankie Montas, although the Braves are not a great offense right now. I believe that'll be a second start with the Brewers, and there's a chance they could rekindle something in Montas. I don't think he's so far gone when you look under the hood that he can't be redeemed, but I wouldn't be willing to bet on it after what he showed in his first start with the Brewers.

So it's not looking like a great day Thursday either. I think Kyle Gibson. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. It might be my favorite. Yeah. And my second might be Dean Kramer at the Blue Jays, though it's not with a lot of confidence. Yeah, I think I'd prefer that one if he was at home. I think I would go Kyle Harrison and DJ Hers over Dean Kramer if I had to stream someone on Thursday.

But I'd rather not. And that's going to do it for fantasy baseball today. We're going to wrap there. For Scott, I am Chris. Thanks for always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.