Fantasy Baseball Today - Frankie Montas Dominates, Week 13 Sleepers & Two-Start Pitchers (6/24 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)
Episode Date: June 24, 2022Is Yordan Alvarez a top-five pick (2:00)? Frankie Montas continues his fine season. ... Is now the time to sell-high on Clayton Kershaw (8:35)? ... Do we have any interest in Ranger Suarez or Zach P...lesac (13:07)? ... Joe Musgrove, Alex Wood and others had rough outings on Thursday (15:00). ... Jon Berti and Joc Pederson need more respect (22:05)! ... News and notes (33:56): Bryce Harper will be re-evaluated next week. ... Which two-start pitchers are we looking to use in Week 13 (40:05)? ... Which hitters have the best matchups (47:42)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (51:40). Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Get 20% off Fantasy Baseball Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Welcome into fantasy baseball today on June 24th.
Frank Sample joined by Scott White.
Today on the show, more Frankie Montas domination.
Danesby Swanson.
That guy's trying to get paid.
He's having a massive season.
Week 13 sleepers, two-star pitchers, but before all of that,
Scotty, I might have to talk to the artist who made Kokomo Friday
because I have dropped Connor Joe outside of my top 60 outfielders.
So I am a fraud.
Poor Doc Kroitzer.
Yeah.
Can't stay ahead of the trends.
You are a fraud.
I don't know.
The song's a fraud.
You fell out of love.
You were in love with Connor Joe.
You've moved on.
You're about to get married, actually.
That's true.
A little too personal.
Nah, that's cool.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, you know, you've moved on.
It's a little programming update, I guess.
For next week, I'll be out a few days towards the end of the
week and the following week around July 4th because yes I'm getting married but
alas yes honestly Doc Croats here you did a great job with the song has nothing to do
with you it just just has to do with Connor Joe it's not you it's it's it's actually it is
it's not me it's you that's what I meant to say anyway kind of Joe got our base three times
today well that's good let's jump right in oh my goodness gracious all right oh my goodness
gracious standouts from Thursday where would you like to start Scotty uh
I would like to start with the player who might be the best hitter in baseball,
because this player is number one in average exit velocity.
Number one, oh, I'm sorry, not number one in max exit velocity,
only 99th percentile.
But anyway, number one in average exit velocity, number one in hard hit rate,
number one in X-Wilba, number one in X-Batting average,
number one in X-slug.
And he now has four home runs in three games.
this after missing some time with a hand injury
that I think there were some fears at one point
might be a broken handmate bone.
Fortunately, it's not,
and that player is Jordan Alvarez.
Jordan Alvarez.
My gosh, I'm not exaggerating
when I say he might be the best hitter in baseball.
He is batting 317 now for the year,
317 with a 665 slugging percentage.
those are the actual stats 317 and 665 his expected stats are 364 and 767 like he's underperforming
his expected batting average by nearly 50 points and he's still producing a league leader
type batting average like he is just um like obliterating the ball and yeah I mean if we were redraft
today, I think he would probably be in the top five.
I mean, I had him when we did this a quarter ago.
I had him in quarter of the season ago.
I had him in my first round.
But I think maybe top five now.
Maybe.
Yeah, I think that all makes sense.
Scott, you read out the numbers.
He leads baseball and slugging percentage as well.
Leads baseball in OPS right now.
Yurton Alvarez does.
He's the eighth best player over.
overall in Roto Leagues this season.
Mind you, that's someone who has zero stolen bases on the season.
So just an elite four category contributor.
And even in points leagues, fantastic plate discipline,
he was the seventh best hitter overall entering Thursday's action
behind only Jose Ramirez, Aaron Judge, Paul Gulchmidt, Rafi Devers,
Pete Alonzo, and Bryce Harper.
So some elite company there for your Don Alvarez.
I agree.
You know, we were talking beforehand.
I think, you know, maybe in that six to eight range,
I'm not sure that he cracks the top five,
but he's right on that verge.
And I actually moved him ahead of Juan Soto in the rankings,
which maybe that's like a mild, spicy take, but...
Did you have Juan Soto in the top five when last we did that exercise?
Yeah, I actually think I was the one who drafted him.
We did the two-round draft right around Memorial Day,
and I think I took Soto either fifth or sixth overall,
and I think Alvarez was like a late first or early second round pick for us in that draft.
So, hey, a couple more months of data.
This is where we find ourselves.
And look, I think last year was kind of him just getting his legs back underneath him.
You're Don Alvarez.
And now we're just seeing full throttle.
The guy is absolutely amazing.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, yeah, go back to what he did as a rookie.
He was basically the best hitter in baseball for that half season.
And, yeah, I mean, the data is, I just pointed out all the data.
It's judge-like.
Like, you wouldn't think Judge has company in terms of how well he and
of the ball, but I think he does now in Alvarez.
So it's...
Well, technically, Alvarez is better, right?
I mean, you read everything off.
Now, yes.
I, you know, he's been ridiculously hot in June.
I imagine it.
It's kind of like they're on their own, though, is the point.
All right.
Well, shout out to those Houston Astros for giving my Yankees the win on Thursday.
What a dramatic win for those Yankees.
Aaron Hicks, game-tying home run.
No one wants to hear about it, but if it happens against the Astros,
I've got to gloat about it.
From one of the best hitters in the game
to honestly this season
one of the best pitchers in the game,
Frankie Montas,
who took a no-hitter into the eighth inning
against the Seattle Mariners
and somehow did not wind up with the win
because that is just the way
the Oakland A's are programmed nowadays.
He finishes eight shutout innings,
two hits, two walks,
eight strikeouts overall,
12 swinging strikes on 102 pitches.
Velocity was up around one mile per hour
across the board here for Frankie Montas.
Scott, there's not really much else to add
outside of, I kind of wish he would get traded
so that he has more chances that wins,
but the ERA is now 3.21
over a strikeout per inning,
great ground ball rate,
great swinging strike rate.
Montas is just a bona fide top 15 starting pitcher.
Well, what's encouraging about this
is he did it,
he threw a splitter less than 20% at the time,
and that's kind of his make or break pitch.
It's what he broke out with in 2019.
And then when he struggled thereafter, it's because it didn't seem like he was emphasizing the splitter enough.
And then he brought it back more than ever in the second half last year and took this enormous leap forward.
So, you know, he threw it less than 20% of the time in this start and still got great results.
He'd actually been struggling in June because he was throwing the splitter less.
And I don't know that it was just, you know, throw the splitter more guy.
Like the splitter had been less effective too.
It hasn't been getting as many whiffs in the month of June.
And that's something we've talked about with Frankie Montas before where, you know,
maybe the reason his splitter usage goes up and down and the effectiveness tends to go up and down with it
is because it's a pitch that, you know, you can lose the feel for and it becomes less effective for stretches.
And maybe that's what's been going on with the.
but it was nice to see him deliver a dominant start in spite of that.
Yeah, I mean, I think with that, we could even kind of compare it to what's going on with
Kevin Gosman, right? Someone who relies so heavily on his splitter, even though that pitch has
still been amazing for him. He's kind of been going through it recently. So we've seen that
before from pitchers who rely so heavily on that pitch. But regardless, Frankie Montas has been
amazing and hoping over the next couple of weeks or so, he gets dealt somewhere and has a
chance that more wins moving forward. Let's take a look at some other.
starting pitcher standouts outside of Frankie Montas. On the other side of that game, Robbie Ray has now allowed
one earned run or fewer in three straight starts. He goes six innings, one run, six strikeouts.
Still used that sinker quite a bit, not as much as he had been using it. Actually leaned into a
harder curveball, which haven't really seen him use that much this season. So I think Robbie Ray is just
kind of mixing and matching and figuring it out, but he's been very good over his last three starts.
Clayton Kirshaw tossed his first quality start since returning from the IL.
He was at the Reds, six endings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts,
and Framber Valdez has now turned in 11 straight quality starts.
This one at the Yankees, six innings, three runs, seven strikeouts,
and people might not realize just how good he is in points leagues.
I have him as a top 25 starting pitcher in that format,
just because he goes so deep, Scott, and he gives you the innings and volume
and quality starts and all these ground balls and Frambervald has a lot of wins on the
Astros too I mean yeah yep so anything you'd like to add on those three
Kershaw Robbie Ray Framber Valdez let's see Valdez didn't get a win today
we don't often check in on win-loss record because it's not viewed as
predictive it's not predictive but obviously there are reasons why a pitcher
might have more than another pitcher who's just as good yeah seven and three is
Framber Valdez's win-loss record.
So that's helping his points league value as well.
It's helping his value in any league that rewards wins.
It is the most valuable pitching statistic, the win,
for as little as we talk about it.
And I've already explained why we don't talk about it much,
but it is the most valuable.
So that is making him more valuable.
Because he relies so much on ground balls,
I think the whip is going to suppress his roto value,
his categories value a bit.
But I have no complaints if I drafted for Amber Valdez.
That's for sure.
Let's see.
If you had to guess for Ember Valdez whip on the season, Scott,
what would you think it is?
Well, I got the page open.
I know what it is.
But you can reveal it to the listeners at home.
Yeah, so 1.13 this season for Valdez.
He still walks a good amount, but he's giving up less hits this season.
And overall for his career, that had been an issue.
But it's nice to see a little bit lower whip this season for Valdez.
Uh, let's see. Who else here?
Uh, nothing that notable, I would say.
You know, Kershaw continues to stay healthy, get it done.
Kershaw actually is, the Dodgers have a series at Kores Field next week.
So he is a two-star pitcher, but one of them is a course field.
So, you know, I still think he's an automatic start, but that makes you a little bit nervous.
Sure.
Um, would you look to sell high on?
Clayton Kirshall while he's still healthy, Scott.
Obviously, he has dealt with like elbow and forearm stuff, which is scary.
And he's older.
Yeah, I mean, I don't think it's a bad idea.
I just, I don't know who's going to buy high on him.
Right.
Because I think everybody knows the deal with Clayton Kirshaw.
Especially in a Dynasty League.
Oh, well, yeah.
You know, if anyone in the Scott White Dynasty League listening once Clayton
Kirshaw send offers, he's available.
I have him if you haven't realized.
Yeah, most likely you're just going to enjoy him.
Yeah.
Maybe not in a dynasty league, because you're willing to trade him to a contender for something that a contender can give up.
But in a regular fantasy situation, I think your best bet is probably just to enjoy him because I'm not sure the return's going to be good enough.
All right.
Otherwise.
Chris and I spoke a ton about Lucas Gilito yesterday and obviously struggling mightily the past couple, I mean, more than the past couple starts.
but if you could turn Kirshah into Gialito right now, Scott, would you do that?
I don't think I would.
No.
Ooh.
All right.
So does that mean you're more worried about Gialito than the average person?
I'm not that worried about Gialito.
I just think, I guess maybe I'm less worried about Kershaw than the average person.
Fair enough.
I would make that swap if I could do it.
I have Gileadro ranked a few spots ahead of Kershaw.
I still think that he'll.
he'll get back on track here.
And I do worry about the injury concerns
quite a bit for Clayton Kirshah.
Any interest in these pitchers who performed well
on Thursday, Ranger Suarez,
a strong start at the Padres,
seven and a third innings of two-run ball,
only three strikeouts.
He's down to 70% rostered,
and he faces the Braves next week.
They absolutely crush left-handed pitching.
And don't look now,
but Zach Plesack has five straight quality starts.
He was at the twins,
six endings of one-run ball,
six strikeouts.
here, the velocity up between 1 and 1.5 miles per hour on three different pitches and over his last
five starts, a 2.40 ERA, 22 strikeouts over 30 innings pitched. He's not getting whiffs. He's not
getting ground balls, but he's only allowed four walks during that five-start stretch. So that seems
to really be helping Plessack right now. Scott, what do you think of maybe adding those two in
shallower leagues. Ranger Suarez, Zach Pleseck.
Not much interest,
especially in Plesaq. If
all of these quality starts had been
as good as this one in Minnesota on Thursday,
you know, where he gets a strikeout per inning,
maybe it'd be different, but his previous two
starts, he had a combined
combined three strikeouts.
And so no.
No, I don't see,
I don't see much to get excited about there for Pleesack.
Ranger Suarez,
now I'm kind of past him too.
He does have good ground ball skills.
which is more than I can say for police act,
but they're not that,
he doesn't have that outlier ground ball rate he had last year,
and meanwhile he's walking a lot more guys,
and when you're not a big strikeout pitcher,
you have to do those other things, I think, really, really well
to be a true fantasy asset.
Outside of a spark in points leagues,
I just, I don't see Ranger Suarez-Swaras having much value anymore,
despite how well he pitched on Thursday.
All right, fair enough.
From the good outings,
to some of the bad ones.
Let's quickly run through each of these,
see if you have any concern over them.
Joe Muskrove got crushed coming off the COVID-I-L
up against the Phillies.
He gave up six runs over six innings pitched.
His first time allowing more than two earned runs this season.
Scott,
are we giving Musgrove a pass here?
You know, coming off the COVID-I-L, I guess.
Yeah.
He hadn't allowed more than two earn runs in his start yet.
Every single one of quality starts.
So even if he wasn't coming back,
from a pot but he actually tested positive for COVID and yeah and he was back pretty
quickly too yeah which I don't know that's why he struggled in sure because he
missed you know more time in between starts maybe it was just Russ maybe he was
just baseball but yeah there's there's no reason to freak out about about
Musgrove as reliable as he's been for you yeah he was due right so he's he was
so money all season long so kind of natural regression there for Joe Musgrove
Alex Wood recorded just three outs at the Braves.
I mentioned they crushed lefties,
and that's exactly what they did here.
He records one inning of work,
six runs aloud.
The ERA climbs to 5.05,
yet the underlying numbers still look pretty good
for Alex Wood.
He's 78% rostered.
I think some people might look to just spite drop
Alex Wood here. Scott, what do you think?
Well, spite drop, he's not the sort of player
who I think you need to ride through
thick and thin. I think he's better than his numbers. And I do have him as a sleeper pitcher for
this upcoming week. It's not the greatest week for sleeper pitchers granted, but I have him on the
list. And it's not like he got crushed in this start. This stateline was awful, but I mean,
it's not like he got hit hard. He had the second inning was really where things fell apart. He
walked two guys. He hit a guy. He allowed two infield singles. It was just kind of a case of
everything going wrong all at once.
Death by a thousand paper cuts sort of deal for Alex Wood.
So drop them if you don't need him for next week.
But if you do need an extra starter, I like his matchup.
If I can refresh my memory on who it is, Detroit, of course, the best matchup of all.
Yes, indeed.
Against left-handed pitching this season, the Tigers are 22nd in weighted-on-base average.
So a strong matchup there for Alex Wood next week.
Kyle Wright, not great on the other side up against the Giants.
Five and a third, 10 hits, four earned runs allowed over his last nine starts.
So, you know, obviously there's a lot of good in here.
There is some bad.
But his last nine starts, he's got a 4.0 ERA on the dot.
He still has over a strikeout per inning, still getting a good amount of ground balls,
swinging strikes have been solid.
But Scott, any concern that Kyle Wright has slowed up a little bit over the past two months?
Yeah, I'm not really.
sure what's going on with him.
The swinging strikes have generally been there,
so I don't think he's lost his stuff
that obviously fueled his breakthrough,
breakout at the start of the year.
He just was in every way a more effective pitcher,
but most noticeably in terms of him missing more bats.
And that's mostly continued.
21 hits over a two-start span is an all lot of hits.
but, you know, it's not the thing
that's most within his control either
and him being such a extreme ground ball pitcher
that puts it even less in his control.
So I want to be freaking out about Wright,
but I'm a little concerned.
If we were doing a Worryometer segment,
I might go like 3.5 for Wright.
All right, fair enough.
I thought I just saw
in one of our Roto
leagues together
that Chris,
who's been in first place
all season long in this league,
I thought he dropped
the second,
but not yet.
You're closing in.
He did briefly.
Oh, he did.
All right.
Yeah.
I see you're,
you're closing in here
a little bit on Chris
in that league.
I'm trying.
I'm trying, Jennifer.
Me?
Not so good.
Geez,
what am I?
12, 11, 10, 9.
Eighth place.
All right.
Well,
let's not talk about that anymore.
Let's take a look
at Hunter Green.
a rough start up against the Dodgers.
You know, it's the Dodgers.
Six innings over five innings of work.
He, six runs allowed.
I believe I said six innings. Six runs over five
innings of work. He allowed three home runs.
It's just really a nightmare matchup against a patient
slugging offense in Cincinnati.
I don't really take much away from this, Scott.
Hunter Green is at the Cubs next week, so I think that's an okay
matchup.
Yeah, I mean, he's gotten crushed the last two starts,
five combined home runs, and his fastball
gets crushed in general.
Apart from that one start, a couple turns ago,
where it played better for some reason.
I don't like that he went away from emphasizing the slider in this start.
You know, his best stretch he was throwing at about 50% of the time,
and he was down to about a third of the time,
a little more than a third of the time in this start.
So that's probably not helping him.
Like the fastball needs to be his second pitch,
if it's going to get hit as hard as it does.
And I know it's weird to say that
because he's one of the hardest throwing starting pitchers in history
is Hunter Green, but the results are what they are.
And so hopefully he gets back to throw on that slider more.
All right. Jameson Tyone, I think I know what you're going to say about this.
Scott, he was hit hard against the Houston Astros.
He gave up six runs on 10 hits over 5 and 2 thirds.
Endings pitched 13 hard hits allowed against one of the best offenses in the game.
and over his last four starts,
Tyone has a 5.82 ERA.
Overall numbers are still very good
because the control has been fantastic.
Nine walks in 14 starts this season,
but I know you haven't been the biggest believer
of Tyone regardless.
Regression, it's coming.
Yes, it is happening right now
before our very eyes.
You know, he has a 363 X-PIP on the year,
which is not a great ex-fip.
It's not that bad.
Frankly, I expected worse.
I think that that walk rate is so outrageously good that it's helping to bring it down.
And I don't necessarily take that as a good sign because how long can you sustain a walk rate as low as the one Tyones had this year?
Right.
Just seems a little far-fetched.
So I love his matchups next week, two-star pitcher, going against Oakland and Cleveland.
So you're going to activate them, even coming off this bad start.
But yeah, I think his best is probably behind him.
And maybe, hopefully, he'll turn in two more good starts this upcoming week,
and you'll be able to have one last shot.
Maybe not yet last shot.
But you'll have more time to sell high on Tyone.
Okay, fair enough.
Let's talk about some hitters, shall we?
Not enough respect, potentially, for some of these guys.
John Birdie, I mean, it feels like we talk about him every day,
but he just steals the base or maybe.
every single day.
Two for four.
Two more steals.
He now leads Major League
Baseball with 21 steals on the season.
He's 55% rostered.
I don't know that that needs to be higher, Scott,
because John Birdie doesn't need to be rostered in points leagues.
But I'm just wondering, you know,
we got an email like,
should he be ranked higher than he is?
I think you can make the argument
the way that he's just running rampant right now, basically.
But we have a long track record of him
just kind of, you know, being who he is.
Yeah, he's a 32-year-old
light-hitting utility infielder.
Who's fast.
He's stolen bases in bunches before,
but, I mean, he's stolen 19 bases in a month's time.
And obviously, that's ridiculous.
That's not this sort of,
you don't see a guy do that in the modern game.
That's 120 steel pace over a full season.
sustain what he's done over the last month,
which means he won't.
So I think it's a mistake to rank him
for those numbers he's already put up.
I mean, if you got him in your lineup
at the start of that stretch,
especially if you're in like a roto league,
he's given you this advantage in the steals category
that you may not lose.
but you know we rank we evaluate players for today forward
and I'm not saying John Bertie won't steal another 20 bases this season he may
there's pretty good chance he does but he won't steal 60 bases the rest of the season
you know he right he won't be an everyday player the rest of the season I feel pretty
confident saying that once once the Marlins get a little healthier
once maybe he, you know, he's done a good job getting on base lately, but I don't trust him to sustain that.
So I think if he's still out there in your league and you need stolen bases, of course, pick him up, see how, see where it goes.
But in terms of how I want to rank him rest of season, whether I should advise, I would advise trading for him or anything like that, I would say proceed cautiously.
And with that, I would also say that if you've built up a good lead in steals in your Roto or Categories League,
maybe look to flip him to someone who's desperately in need of that category for something else that you need on your team.
I will push back a little bit, Scott, on the getting on base part of things, because he's always walked a lot.
And, you know, career 348 OBP, that's pretty solid for a lead off type hitter.
What is it right now for this season, like 380?
3.000.
Yeah, 383.
Yeah, if he can sustain a 383 on base percentage,
you might just stay in the lineup, but I don't think he will.
I think it'll drop more to that 340 range,
and his lack of pop, especially when they're healthier,
as I said, will put him back in his more customary role.
My guess of how it plays out, of course, I could be wrong,
but that's how I think it'll go for Bertie.
Because as somebody who's bought into Bertie in the past,
that's how it's always played out.
Fair enough. I will point out one last thing on him on Yahoo, 67% rostered. And I feel like the
standard format on Yahoo is head-to-head categories. So that makes sense that he is 67% rostered there.
It's a little bit lower on CBS where we do have more points leagues, obviously.
Jack Peterson, we don't talk about Jack Peterson much. He's just quietly having a very,
very good season. He went two for four, hit his 16th home run on Thursday. And that is a 40-homer
pace over 150 games now.
He's not going to play 150 games because he doesn't play against lefties,
but that's still an amazing pace.
And, you know, at this point, Scott, wouldn't surprise me if
Jack Peterson winds up with 30 homers this year.
He's hitting 271.
He's got a 919 OPS.
He's 78% rostered.
I don't know that there's anything actionable outside of maybe us giving a little bit more
respect to Jack Peterson this season.
Yeah, it's weird this deep into his career that he's kind of achieved a level of
consistency.
He's never shown before.
And look, it could always change.
I think he's, you know, obviously if you're in a daily league,
you can play the matchups with him a little easier,
and that makes him even more attractive.
But if you're in a weekly league, you know,
I don't know that I could justify rostering him in a points league
with all the time he's going to miss.
In like a five outfielder league, yeah, I mean, obviously he needs to be rostered,
and then you just look at the matchups ahead of time,
see how many righties are going versus how many lefties are going
and maybe make a decision.
based on that.
So, yeah, I would say
how rostered is he, Peterson?
78% roster, that's probably about right.
Yeah.
You mentioned the odd consistency he's had this year,
at least an 821 OPS in each month.
So, yeah, we're not used to that from Jack Peterson.
And, you know, the Giants have a weird way
of working their magic on these hitters.
I mean, this is the ninth year of his career.
He's betting, well, he came into Thursday's game,
batting 266, that's his career high batting average by almost 20 points this deep into his
career, 266, you know.
So I think you would have to bet on him on that regressing.
It doesn't have to happen.
You know, maybe he's just gotten better this season, but, you know, when we have that
much of a sample.
I've got a hard time with him because I expected more of a, and he did have one rough stretch
earlier this year, I think like early May, but obviously it didn't last as long.
and wasn't as bad as some of what we've seen from Peterson in the past.
All right.
The last hitter I wanted to mention who gets no respect.
I'm such a fraud.
I don't even know that I've watched anything with Roddy Dangerfield in my life.
So just forget I said that.
You seen Caddyshack?
I don't think so.
It shouldn't surprise.
It shouldn't surprise.
It doesn't really do it for me.
I don't know.
Fair enough.
Let's talk about Danesby Swanson, who went three for four,
two more home runs, a double dong
on Thursday. He's now batting 302
I mean legit, five category
contributor, 3.02 batting average,
12 homers, 11 steals,
47 runs, 41
RBI. He was a top four
shortstop in both head to head points and Roto
before this game, and he's
in a contract year. So the guy is
looking to get paid. Scott, I moved him
up to my 13th ranked shortstop,
which just
seems disrespectful, how great
he's playing, but
can we realistically move him ahead of
Corey Seeger and Marcus Semyon and Wander Franco?
I didn't. I wasn't willing to move him ahead of those guys. I moved him ahead of
Willie Adama's and. Same. And Correa too for me.
I mean, Correa has been really hot. He has.
He has. Since coming back from injury. So that's a, that's a,
that's a closer call. I would say
I would say given Danes B. Swanson's track record, right to be skeptical of this.
Though I will point out, like, it's not just, it's not just, okay, he's gotten hot in June.
Going back to April 26th, Danesby Swanson's batting 338 with 12 homers 10 steals.
Now, his plate discipline numbers are pretty much the same, how hard he hits the ball, pretty much the same.
So I got to think, let me double check here.
I mean, it's a high line drive rate.
It's not a line, like he's had line drave rates like this before.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Like the expected stats say he's, it's pretty much legit.
And yet, I'm not sure where the improved, like, if you go through a piecemeal,
where the improvement actually came from for Danesby Swans.
unless you're seeing it.
No, I'm looking at it right now.
I mean, a few things have increased marginally,
hard hit rate up, you know,
four percentage points from last year,
launch angle up a bit,
barrel rate,
up a bit.
He's just kind of improved a little bit
across,
you know,
across the board,
but it's,
yeah,
there's nothing that really stands out
that,
that says he's doing something differently
to sustain being,
I don't know,
a borderline,
like, superstar player for fantasy,
so.
He's running a,
lot which is good and he's he's moved up in the batting order he's he's batted
about it first today but he's typically been batting second and of course that
comes with all kinds of advantages but we're not used to see him batting 300 you
know we're used to see him that 250 260 and I don't know I would I would still
suspect that's what the kind of hitter he's going to be moving forward but
hopefully with more with the better steals pace and hopefully still the
you're at the top of the lineup.
In theory, he is a sell-high candidate
because we don't think that he is going to keep this pace up,
but if I had Dansby-Swanson on my team,
I'm telling you,
it would be pretty hard for me to give him up right now,
as well as he is playing.
Yeah, I agree.
I'll just leave it there.
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So maybe we'll work a little bit more magic this upcoming weekend.
Let's take a break and we'll return right after this.
The news and notes.
Bryce Harper will have his elbow re-evaluated next week.
He's been limited to designated hitter all season due to a partially torn
in UCL.
And frankly, it has not affected his production.
So hopefully it stays that way and doesn't get any worse.
Jeremy Payne, participated in all pregame activities prior to Thursday's matchup with the Yankees.
He is currently on the aisle with left.
thumb discomfort. Ty France left early after his arm got caught by a player who was running by
first base. So he reached out to make a play and that person ran into his arm and it looked kind of scary.
Yeah. That's what happened to Max Muncie, I think. Yeah. And the x-rays came back negative. So I think
he's going to go for an MRI on Friday and hopefully all good there on Ty France. Liam Hendricks
began throwing this week and is recovering well from his forearm injury. I think I saw recently that
early July is when he's looking to return.
Byron Bucson has missed two straight due to a sore right knee.
You know, Scott, evaluating Byron Bucson this season,
well, I guess insert every season,
is pretty tough because he goes through these stretches
where he's kind of, it looks like he's playing hurt
and he's not doing well, and then, you know,
I lower him in the rankings, and then for the next week,
he just mash his home runs, and then he just kind of falls off again.
So I don't know, where are you at on Byron Bucson?
Yeah, a frustrating player.
They seem to be giving him more maintenance days this year, which is kind of what this is, the last two games.
It sounds like he's going to be back for the weekend.
And so that adds to the frustration.
But I think when he's in the lineup, he tends to be so productive.
I think you just start him and maybe not think about it so much, unless it sounds like an aisle stint forthcoming, obviously.
What a weird stat line this year, man.
228 batting average,
19 home runs, fantastic,
one stolen base.
You know, he's dealing with this knee injury.
I don't think they're going to let him run much.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that's what you probably drafted Bucksin for.
So it's, you know, it's still productive,
but it's not the way that you would expect it to be.
Yeah, it's a part of what you drafted him for.
I mean, it's, he obviously proved his worth as a hitter last year,
even without the steals.
Fair enough.
Aaron Ashby is feeling great and is scheduled for a bullpen session on Saturday.
He was recently placed on the IL with left forearm inflammation.
Kid Brian Hayes was cleared of any major injuries after a collision at home plate on Thursday.
Sayas Suzuki has resumed hitting in the batting cage since reporting to the Cubs spring training complex for his rehab program.
He's been on the IL since May 30th with a sprained left index finger.
Manny Margot was transferred to the 60-day IL with that.
that right knee sprain.
Giants outfielder,
Luis Gonzalez,
was placed on the IL
with a lower back strain,
retroactive to June 22nd.
Lorenzo Kane has been released
by the Brewers.
I would assume he latches on somewhere
as maybe a fourth outfielder
or something like that.
White Sox Utility Man,
Danny Mendick,
was diagnosed with a torn right ACL,
and as a result,
you know, they're dealing with a few players
banged up right now,
Moncada on the aisle.
They called up Lenin Sosa,
who,
If you listen to our prospect report on FBT and 5, you know Scott mentioned him a couple of weeks ago, maybe a month ago.
He is tearing it up at AA.
331 batting average, 14 homers, just a 14% strikeout rate.
He's very interesting, Scott.
I just don't know if he's going to stick around.
I don't know either.
He probably should be the one playing second base, but Tony Larissa might prefer to go with Josh Harrison, with Lurie Garland.
even though they're both bad.
It seems like kind of a waste to put Lenin Sosa
up from AA on the Major League roster not to play him,
but that's the manager's prerogative,
and he was out of the line of for his first game.
I am interested in Sosa.
I'm not saying he's a priority pickup right now.
I don't think he's like a big enough name prospect,
and as you point out,
we don't know how much he's actually going to play.
But worth keeping an eye on,
I had preemptively picked him up in several Dynasty leagues,
And it kind of reminds me of Jose Miranda's breakthrough last year
where you look at the minor league tracker.
And it's like, where did this come from?
And he's just learned to be more selective at the plate
to key in and on his pitch and not miss it when he gets it.
And it's led to some studly numbers.
I've been keeping an eye on that batting average all season for Lenin Sosa.
I think this 331 marks about the lowest it's been.
All right.
Interesting.
So pay attention there.
He's 3% rostered.
you know, in the deepest leagues, and let's see what happens.
Red Sox prospect, Jeter Downs, was optioned back to AAA after going 0 for 4 with three strikeouts
in his debut on Wednesday.
Never really understood that one.
And we had a massive trade.
Sarcasm.
Stephen Dugger was traded to the Rangers in exchange for Willie Calhoun, what's dead may never die.
The dream lives on.
Willie Calhoun, if you are listening, I will always love you.
And I will never quit.
And I hope eventually you turn into it.
a great player for the San Francisco Giants. I don't know, Scott. I just, I think everyone has just
these random players that they latch onto. Willie Calhoun has always been one of those for me.
Yeah, I hear you. And who is that? There was a player who came up the other day and I can't remember
now. Somebody that I want to give up on. Oh, Daniel Vogelbach. It wasn't the other day. It was a few
weeks ago. Daniel Vogelbach, I still think there might be something there. I still do.
Oh, man. And you know what? If there is any organization that will figure out a hitter, it's the Giants. So I'm rooting for you, Willie Calhoun. Players who missed Thursday's action with injury, Luis Robert, dealing with a leg injury, which forced him to leave Wednesday's action. And Luke Voight was out due to a hamstring injury himself. Week 13, let's preview next week. The schedule is quite spread out. We have four teams with five games, the Diamondbacks, the Tigers, the Mets, and the Giants. And I'm
I would say the must-start players there,
Cotel Marte, Pete Alonzo,
Francisco Lindor, Starling Marte.
The maybes, I have,
Jock Peterson, Alec Thomas,
Javier Baez, Riley Green,
Jeff McNeil.
What do you think about that group, Scott?
Should you be starting any of those, all of them?
The way Javier Baez has been heating up,
probably him.
Yeah.
I don't think the others are musts, though.
you know, I can certainly see myself starting like Alec Thomas in some leagues or, yeah, I mean,
really any of them, depending on what your need is.
I would say Javier Baez is the most appealing of them with the way he's performed recently.
All right.
17 teams have six games next week.
Six teams have seven games.
And three lucky teams have eight games, the Cleveland Guardians, the Minnesota Twins,
and the Toronto Blue Jays.
start or sit these fringy two-start options.
Eric Lauer, the regression continues.
He is at Tampa Bay and at the Pirates next week.
So with that Pirates matchup with it being a two-start week,
I'm leaning yes on Eric Lauer.
And in his most recent starting, the result wasn't good,
but the velocity was up a little on the fastball.
He got more swinging strikes, double-digit swinging strikes again.
I hadn't done that in a while.
You know, I'm still down on him overall,
but I think you write him out this week.
All right.
Well, this is probably the biggest one in question next week.
Lucas Gielito at the Angels at the Giants.
If you're looking to preserve ratios,
so if it's a Categories League,
ERA, whip, you want to protect those.
I think you steer clear of Golito.
I think you wait to see him get back on track.
I don't think you get lured in by that two-star week.
But if you're not looking to protect ratios,
because let's say it's a points league for instance
and you could live with him giving up
four and runs in five innings or whatever
or worse
yeah I say so I have them in the points league only section
of my two-star pitcher rankings which puts them
22nd among the group all right
Paul Blackburn is at the Yankees and at the Mariners
not a big Blackburn guy and obviously
coming off a bad start but I still
think it points leagues.
You could run them out there.
Zach Plesack, we mentioned earlier.
He's up against the twins and up against the Yankees.
It's a no for me.
And the last one is Jose Cantana that I have on this list.
He tossed his first quality start since May 15th on Thursday.
He looked pretty good against his former team, the Cubs,
six innings to run, six strikeouts.
He is going up against the nationals and the Brewers next week.
Yeah, he did have a good start in this one.
on Thursday, but
we haven't seen a lot of those
lately from him.
His first quality start in seven
was this one that he had on Thursday, so no.
No Jose Cantana for me.
There are a couple other interesting ones here, though, Frank.
All right, who you got?
I mentioned Clayton Kirshaw
has to start at Colorado,
but I think he's an easy yes.
Let's see.
George Kirby gets the Orioles
and the athletics.
I just want to point it out mainly.
I mean, he's not a very much.
available on the waiver wire, but those
matchups are really good. So George Kirby
I think is worth using. I mentioned Tyone
against Oakland and Cleveland. Jordan
Montgomery, his teammate, same thing.
Makes him advisable. Terrick
Scoobel's been rocky lately,
but one of his two matchups is against
the Royals, so I think you stick
with him.
Two other pitchers,
Tyler Anderson and Zach Gallen are
making a start at Coors Field.
I don't think either of them is automatic
the way Kirschaw is, but I would still lean
yes on both of them.
And let's see.
Sunny Gray is going against the Guardians and the Orioles.
So normally I'm not one to recommend Gray,
but I think those matches are good enough
where I proceed with him as well.
All right.
George Kirby, by the way,
I moved him up the rankings quite a bit.
SP 51 for me now.
It's just kind of moving a lot of other pitchers down,
so he's worked his way up,
but he's been pretty good
and those matchups are amazing next week.
So you love that quite a bit.
All right, some two-star pitcher sleepers
that you are looking to add.
Who you have?
Not a lot.
It's not a great week for sleeper pitchers
unless somebody like George Kirby
happens to be available in your legs
on a gray maybe.
I don't know.
Not on CBS.
That's for sure.
So the best I can suggest this week
is Michael Waka,
who himself is Ross.
in 75% of leagues, hard to believe.
At Toronto, not so great, at the Cubs, better.
I don't think I'd touch them outside of points of leagues, though.
I know the ERA is good, but a lot of short starts in there,
and just the underlying number's not so great.
But if you need an extra start,
you wanted to look on the waiver wire,
he's probably the best you could do.
Keegan Thompson is coming off two good starts.
The last time he had a two-star week,
it was two of the worst starts you'll ever see.
So I'm wary of giving Keegan Thompson another shot.
But he gets the Reds and the Red Sox this week.
Obviously, like that Reds matchup more than the Red Sox.
But he's making two starts is the bottom line.
Ross Stripling, who's been pretty good.
Again, in a way, I don't entirely trust.
He is 44% rostered.
He gets the Red Sox and Rays.
So, you know, these matchups aren't the greatest.
But hey, he's making two starts.
And then I'll go ahead and mention him.
He's in the, Eric Fetty, he's in the do not start section of the two-start pitcher rankings.
But I guess maybe this is my fortune favor is the brave pick because he gets the Pirates and the Marlins.
He's only 8% rostered.
His last start was pretty good.
He hasn't, you know, most of his starts aren't, haven't been terrible, but they haven't been that great either.
So maybe with those two matchups, Eric Fetty, highly available. He's somebody you could look at.
Yeah, I was going to say, Scott, don't waste your fortune favors. You know, don't put him in the
sleeper section. You need him for fortune favors. Well, he's in my 10, like in the column, 10 sleeper
pitchers. Eric Fetty's going to be in it. That's how bad of a week it is for sleeper pitchers.
Yeah, maybe put a little asterisk next to his name or something like that. Are you brave enough
to buy crypto right now? If you are, then you should probably use Eric Fetty and who I'm about
to tell you to use.
Zach Plesack.
I'm back, baby.
This most recent stretch,
again, don't actually use Zach Plesack,
but if you're desperate,
he's going up against the Minnesota Twins
and the Yankees next week.
I don't really like those matchups,
and he will be facing the twins
two starts in a row,
so don't love that either.
But he has pitched better recently
and the control has been very good
for Zach Plesaq.
I think Gialito's probably in that conversation too,
you know, if you're feeling brave,
especially in a Categories League.
But yeah, those are your
Fortune favors the brave two-star pitchers for next week.
How about some streamers, some single-starters?
A little better because there's no way it could be worse than that two-star selection.
John Gray at the Royals, three of his last four starts have been terrific.
That's obviously a great match-up.
Josiah Gray, he's exactly 80% rostered, so I'm going to go ahead and include him here.
He gets the Marlins, Taiwan Walker against the Rangers.
His strikeouts have been way up his last two starts.
I believe he's starting again over the weekend,
so hopefully it doesn't all fall apart.
I'm not really sure why his strikeouts are up.
He's been using a slider more,
but not enough that I would think it'd make that big a difference.
But yeah, the Rangers pretty good matchup there.
Marco Gonzalez has been hot.
I would expect it to continue against the athletics,
though he's also making a start over the weekend,
so we'll see if it doesn't fall apart before then.
and then I mentioned earlier,
Alex Wood gets the Tigers next week.
It's not like he got knocked around
against the Braves, really.
He had some bad luck,
maybe struggled with control a bit,
but against the Tigers lineup,
I think Alex Wood should be able to deliver better results.
All right, let's move over to the hitters,
the best matchups for next week,
the Twins, the Guardians,
the Mariners, the Blue Jays,
and the Nationals,
So the three of the, there's three, right?
Three teams with, yeah.
Three teams with eight.
Yeah, twins, guardians, blue jays.
Yep.
All of those are in the best hitter matchups.
And then the worst hitter matchups, we have the Giants, the Padres, the Phillies, the Cardinals, and the Mets.
With that being said, which hitters are you looking to add?
All right.
We're going to try our hand with Alex Kierloff this week, I believe, because yes, the twins have the best matchups.
They have eight games.
They, as things stand now, they're not scheduled to face any lefties.
Kierloff, of course, is a left-handed batter.
They do have a couple TBAs in there.
So maybe the twins end up facing a left-hander or two, but not a good one.
And so Kiroloff, he had hit safely in every game prior to Thursday since being called up hasn't really gone off yet.
But I think this is going to be the week.
I think this is going to be Alex Kiroloff's coming out party.
and I'm here for it.
Also from the twins,
Max Kepler,
not as excited about him,
but he also bats lefty.
I think a splits are not necessarily
what you'd expect from a left-handed hitter,
but still,
good matchups for Max Kepler.
Oscar Gonzalez, I like a lot.
This week,
you mentioned the Guardians have the second best matchup,
also eight games.
He has been hitting the ball very hard.
He homered.
He homered again on Thursday, right?
Back-to-back games with the homer.
Yes.
Okay, yeah.
So they're starting to clear the fence now too.
He's only 27% rostered like Oscar Gonzalez a lot.
His teammate Fram Il Reyes deserves a mention here.
He's only 68% rostered.
The Nationals, they have the fifth best matchups.
Luis Garcia.
I would run him out there.
Of course, he's been pretty hot anyway.
And I do have three Rockies on the list here
because they are at home for a full week.
playing only six games in one of the two series is against the Dodgers,
who have pretty good pitching staff, of course.
But course field is still course field.
So Brendan Rogers, who snapped out of a little funk with a four-hit game on Thursday,
he's on this list, as are Randall Gritchick.
Your guy, Frank, Connor Joe, rounds out the 10 sleeper hitters for this week.
Let's do it.
Honestly, I'm rooting for Connor, Joe.
I hope he proves me wrong.
He bounces back, and he's amazing, and he shoves it in my face.
and then I can go back to loving him again.
That would be amazing.
Let's wrap up with some leftovers
from Thursday's action.
Anything here with these pitchers?
Dean Kramer has quietly been solid
over his four starts with the Orioles
where he has a 1.71 ERA.
He tossed 5 and 2 3rd shutout
with 14 swinging strikes on Thursday.
Anything here, Scott?
I'm gonna say no.
I was good.
You know, the 14 swinging strikes
kind of surprised me,
but yeah, we need to see a lot more from that for me to,
than that for me to get on the Dean Kramer bandwagon if there is such a thing.
The next name up, Devin Smilzer.
He was solid against the Guardian, six shutout with three strikeouts.
He does not get many strikeouts at all.
He pitches to contact.
He does have a 305 ERA and he's 23% rostered.
Anything there, Devin Smelzer.
Yeah, it's surprising how good the ERA and WIP are
because he had been pretty bad lately.
prior to this start and I just I don't think there's enough talent there he does
have two starts next week at Cleveland and and versus Baltimore but it's still
now does fortune favor the brave there Frank maybe maybe so on Devin
Smelzer Kyle Freeland turns in a seven inning quality start at the Marlins he
did have five strikeouts 13 swinging strikes anything here you can be
streamable at times but not any kind of priority off the
waiver wire. On the other side, Braxton Garrett was not great, but he did have seven strikeouts
and 16 swinging strikes. He's throwing his slider a lot more this season. Anything to see on
Brexon Garrett? I mean, I think you can keep an eye on Braxton Garrett. He was a pretty good prospect
once upon a time. Former first round pick had some arm troubles in the miners. His fastball
velocity is up a mile per hour this year. He is using the slider more.
hasn't actually gotten good results yet, so probably nothing here.
But yeah, don't totally forget the name Braxton Garrett in case he does have a couple good starts in the future.
All right.
Some hitters that are heating up.
Freddie Freeman went two for five with his eighth home run.
He now has three homers over his last four games, so that power stroke coming back around for Freeman.
Carlos Correa, we mentioned earlier, he is on fire.
He went three for four.
and since returning, 13 games,
364 batting average, four homers,
an OPS over 1,000, crushing the ball.
93.5 miles per hour, average exit velocity.
The barrel rate looks great for Correa.
Alex Bregman went 2 for 4, hit his ninth home run.
He has three straight multi-hit games,
and over his last 7, he's batting 375 with three homers.
And Adley Rutchman, very quietly,
two-for-four, hit his second home run,
and in the month of June, he's hitting 250,
which is not great, but two homers, eight doubles, a 780 OPS.
All right, slow and steady.
Yeah, I mean, even better than that recently.
Yep.
If you don't do the whole month of June.
Yeah, it's nice to see.
Nice to see Freddie Freeman starting to get some balls over the fence.
He makes his return to Atlanta this weekend.
That's going to be an emotional fare for everyone, I would imagine.
Yes, indeed.
But maybe he hits a couple more home runs.
We'll see.
All right. Speaking of those Dodgers, Max Muncie went three for four hit his fifth home run. He is batting
170. He's still 95% rostered and I get it because we've seen the upside. We know how good he could be.
He was a top 50 overall player in Roto last season. When he's going good, he's fantastic in points
leagues as well. Scott, what do we do with Max Muncie?
Well, he has a game, when he has a game like this, it makes you rethink everything.
Right.
Because maybe this is the start of it.
since coming back from that stint on the aisle with inflammation and the elbow that we know is messed up,
he hadn't really, he had a good first game back.
Remember, he homered.
He had, I think, three, four hits.
But he had done basically nothing since then.
And his average exit velocity was only 87 miles per hour.
So it's not like he was hitting the ball harder, still having issues with that.
And I still think the likeliest explanation for what's going on with him this season is,
is that his elbow is messed up,
but,
you know,
a game like this makes you rethink it.
And he's still great at getting on base.
I think it's even harder
in some ways to drop him in points leagues
because of that.
You know.
He has 42 walks to 46 strikeouts.
Right.
And that's even with him not looking like much of a threat.
Yeah.
At the plate.
So I almost wonder if he's being too selective,
you know?
His swing percentage is down this year.
just not swinging as much.
Yeah, maybe.
I don't think he's available in any of my leagues.
No, he's not.
I mean, 95% rostered.
I just, you know, at one point, do we think about dropping him?
But I understand why it's tough.
I think we're already at the point where we think about dropping him.
Yeah.
And if it's a shallow league, if that's who I need to drop to get that,
that coveted player on my roster,
I think I would, but I'd rather wait longer if I could give it, I don't know, until the All-Star break.
And then at that point, I think maybe we could say more definitively.
Of course, the deeper we get into the season, the more definitively we can say anything.
But ideally, you would continue to hold on to Max Muncie.
I understand if you have to drop them.
I'm not saying that's off the table at all.
All right.
Some hitting leftovers.
Cody Bellinger.
Lots of Dodgers talk.
He maybe had his best game of the season.
He went three for four with a sock and a shoe,
his ninth home run, his ninth stolen base.
So from that perspective, he hasn't been awful,
but he's batting 2.13.
There's no way around that.
So the batting average is terrible,
but some counting stats,
some power and speed for Bellinger.
It's been a weird go.
He's another one.
Tough to figure out.
Brian Reynolds went one for four,
hit his 12th home run.
He is having a massive June,
364 batting average,
five homers,
an OPS over a thousand.
Tommy Pham went two for five,
hit his 10th home run.
He is exactly the 33rd
ranked outfielder in Roto
and head-to-head points
before this game.
And I think I might have him
ranked exactly at 33.
Now that I'm thinking about it,
I'm going to quickly pull up those rankings
because I have them right in that range
and I did not plan that,
but that would really be something.
I have him, wow, Scott, look at that.
Genius.
I have Tommy Fam 33rd in my outfield rankings.
That is uncanny.
He's having a good year.
Shout out to Tommy.
Well, suddenly, I mean, every time we talked about it previously,
it's like, will he live up to what the data says he should be?
And he's still not quite there, but, you know, being a top 35 outfielder,
that makes him must roster, basically.
I would say.
Must start in all formats, yeah.
Well, must start.
It's going a little far, but yeah, 12 team leagues,
you know, 36 outfielders,
if it's a three outfielder league,
even 36 outfielders at least are started.
So he's definitely on the right side of that number.
Fam is having a huge June,
296 batting average, five homers,
two steals, a 935 OPS.
Nice, awesome for Tommy Pham.
Willie Adomis hit his 15th home run.
John Carlos Stanton hit his 15th home run.
Kyle Schober went two for four with his 20th home run,
another one having a truly massive month of June.
The call to the bullpen, some updates here.
For the Marlins, Tanner Scott gave up a hit,
but strikes out the side for his seventh save.
Still just 39% rostered if you need saves
or if you lost a spark or something in a points league.
Tanner Scott is out there for you.
Atlanta Braves, we saw Kenner,
Jansen allowed a solo homer but picked up his
19th save. For the Cubs,
David Robertson gave up a solo
homer and took his third
blown save of the season.
For the twins, Yohan Duran
recorded four outs across
the 8th and 9th, and then Caleb
Theobar got the final
two outs for his first save.
He's a 35-year-old lefty
and I believe
Emilio Paghan had worked each of the past
two days and Griffin Jacks
pitched yesterday as well.
Well, yeah, he had worked.
Emilio Pagan had worked each of the last two days,
and it had allowed a combined five earn runs.
Ew.
So he's ERA's over four now.
And, yeah, it's, I don't know.
I don't know how the twins are going to handle their bullpen.
Obviously, they weren't treating Duran like a closer in this one.
And I would guess Emilio Paghan would continue to get chances.
But it was weird seeing Caleb Thielbar come in and get a save here.
For the Brewers, Josh Hayter picked up his 21st save.
Oh, those Oakland A's.
We were wondering who would pick up the slack with Danny Jimenez out.
Does it really matter?
Zach Jackson started the ninth inning with a one-run lead.
He walked two, and then he got two outs.
AJ Puck entered.
All he has to do is get one out.
He walks the bases loaded.
Wild pitch, tie game.
He then walks another batter, and on the walk, another wild pitch,
which allows the, the marriage.
to take the lead in the game, two to one,
in a game where Frankie Montas had a no-hitter into the eighth inning.
Oakland is just a dumpster fire right now.
And then for the Mariners, Paul Seawald
picked up his fifth save of the season,
and if you look at their last four saves,
two have gone to Seawald and two have gone to Diego Castillo.
So I don't think that there's an answer there,
but those guys will get saves,
and maybe even Ken Giles will work his way in.
For the Orioles, Jorge Lopez recorded the final two outs for his 12th save and for the Astros.
I'll say this one with a smile on my face.
Ryan Presley started the ninth inning with a three-run lead.
He gave up two walks and then a game-tying home run to Aaron Hicks.
Presley gave up two more hits.
Was replaced by Ryan Stannick, who gave up a walk-off single to Aaron Judge.
To stream or not to stream, we will go into Friday.
Taiwan Walker at the Marlins, Mitch Keller, at the.
the race, Dane Dunning versus the Nationals, Dylan Bundy versus the Rockies in Minnesota,
Cole Irvin at Kansas City, Zach Ranky in his return versus the A's, and Michael Lorenzen
versus the Mariners. I would, Taiwan Walker at Miami after the way his last two starts
have gone. Obviously, that's a good matchup, good venue. Not that excited about the others.
Lorenzen against the Mariners, Irvin at Kansas City.
Those could go okay.
But I don't think it'd be me doing it.
On Saturday, J.T. Brubaker at the Rays, Trevor Rogers versus the Mets.
Brad Keller versus the A's.
Chris Archer versus the Rockies.
Alex Fayetteau at the Diamondbacks and Zach Eflin at the Padres.
Oh, these are worse.
Eflin, I'd probably recommend, except he has that knee issue,
and it's not even for sure he's making this start.
Right.
So, no, it's a pass.
All right.
And then Sunday, we have Rich Hill at Cleveland,
Aaron Savali versus the Red Sox,
Rwanzi Contreras at the Rays,
Brady Singer versus the A's,
James Capillian at the Royals,
Glenn Otto making his return against the Nationals,
Anthony Descalfani in a revenge game against the Reds,
and Marco Gonzalez at the Angels.
Mm-mm.
Mm.
Don't like it.
Don't like it at all.
I don't know.
You see anything there?
Marco Gonzalez against the Angels.
Brady Singer against the A's.
I mean, the matchup's good.
I mean, I don't say it with much confidence.
I think Contreras against Tampa Bay is okay.
They actually haven't been great against Ritees.
28th and weighted on base average.
Okay.
Not much confidence there.
So I think Friday is probably your best day for streaming this weekend.
We're going to wrap there.
For Scott, I am Frank.
Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today.
We'll be back again on Monday.
Bye-bye.
