Fantasy Baseball Today - Garrett vs. Detmers, Waiver Wire Adds & Prospect Promotions (7/25 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 25, 2022

Who's a better add between Braxton Garrett and Reid Detmers (3:45)? ... Is Hunter Renfroe a must-add in shallower leagues (13:04)? ... Is Brady Singer worth an add (15:55)? ... Drop Donaldson and Max Muncy for Jose Miranda (24:11)? ... News and notes (37:07): we have updates on Trout, Tatis and deGrom. ... Start or sit Julio Rodriguez and certain Cardinals hitters this week (46:00)? ... Are Nick Pratto and/or JJ Bleday worth adding (47:50)? ... How do we rank these starting pitchers (51:41)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (1:03:17). 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

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 lead. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. And we're back. Welcome into fantasy baseball today on Monday, July 25th.

The entire gang is back together. Frank Stamphill joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. today on the show. We will not be doing a redraft of the first two rounds, but we will be doing a weekend recap, all of the WaverWire ads, more prospect call-ups, rankings starting pitchers, and much more.

But gents, welcome back. Scott, I am genuinely interested to know how your vacation went, and I'm sure the entire audience is as well. I don't think they are. I think they'll find it incredibly boring. But no, I mean, we went to the beach. you might say, you might say you live in Florida, Scott.

You can go to the beach every weekend. That's true, but we don't. So we go to the beach on vacation like anybody else. We just go to a different part of Florida. And I think it was the first time my wife and I took a trip with our kids that didn't include other adults that we could kind of, you know, get some time away from the kids because there's other adults around, you know. So I wasn't sure how that was going to go. my kids are seven and four

so winning record yeah seven and four yeah winning record yeah yeah no it went well

they had a good time and we all had a good time and nobody got sunburned amazingly and it was great it was great what about you Frank well nobody in your family got sunburned yes Frank because it looks like Frank did

Yeah, I mean, if anyone's watching on YouTube right now, I'm wearing a red shirt, and it kind of just looks like I'm not wearing a red shirt. Like, it just kind of blends in with my skin. I kind of just look like a lobster right now. To be honest, it doesn't, it doesn't hurt. Like, I'm all right for now. Aruba was fantastic. If you're ever thinking about going to the Caribbean, I highly recommend it. Fantastic weather. Beaches, bars, everything is clean there. It's, it was awesome. I had a fantastic time. Chris, you're the only one. We haven't asked yet. How is Cooperstown? You were bragging about. bunch. It was awesome, man. Cooperstown, like, yeah, I don't know. I tend to be like, like I watch Ken Burns baseball and I love it. I love baseball. It's one of my favorite things in the world. But, you know, I hear like George Will and Bob Costas talking like,

waxing poetic about the game. And I'm just like, oh, come on. I think, I think that's kind of a, a response to growing up during the steroid era and all that. You know, you kind of lose a little bit of that romanticism of the game, but it's, it's real cool. It's like, it's, it's pretty cool. Like the video they show at the top of the video of the, at the front of the thing and just all the old stuff. And yeah, it was great. It was a good time. It's a lovely, lovely little town. Nice. I got there. I got out right before, I think, the entire baseball world descended on it. So that was nice. It wasn't too crowded. Yeah, I was going to say, you know, it was pretty good timing, I guess, leading up to obviously the Hall of Fame here on Sunday when we're

recording this. But yeah, I would like to make it out to Cooperstown eventually. All right. Enough about us. Let's actually talk about what people want to hear. Oh my goodness gracious. Oh my goodness gracious. Three minutes. That's pretty good. That's pretty efficient, right? Yeah. Yeah. Well, this is where it all goes downhill. All the efficiency goes downhill when we actually start talking about the players. All right. Oh my goodness gracious stand out from the weekend. Scott, you will start us off. I'm going to start us off with Braxton Garrett. And we missed the most, oh my goodness, graciousy start while we were all gone.

It came against the Pirates. It was just before the All-Star break. And he had, what do you have? I think it was double-digit strikeouts. It was 23 swinging strikes. It was, wow, Braxton Garrett, where did that come from? Kind of start exactly what they were. this segment is all about, right?

Well, he made another start over the weekend, also against the Pirates. And while it wasn't as impressive as that start is, you know, pretty impressive. Six innings, two hits allowed, seven strikeouts, 10 swinging strikes, but on only 79 pitches. So that's a good rate. In fact, a swinging strike rate for the season is now 12.5%. That's a very good rate. Of course, the 23 swinging strike effort that happened right before. before the All-Star break, probably inflated that number quite a bit.

So I'm not taking it at face value. The ground ball rate is pretty good. The ERA estimators are all pretty good. 342 ERA and all the ERA estimators are right about there as well. You know, the most positive way to spin it is, oh, look, two starts against the pirates. What are the rest of his starts look like? Not that great.

But the positive spin is, the velocity on all his pitches is up like a mile per hour and a half this year a little more than a mile per hour, I would say, on everything. And the ratios all look strong, regardless of how they've been distributed. I'm skeptical, but

you look on the waiver wire for starting pitching and there's not a lot to get excited about. And this, like I at least see a little, like I can squint and see a way this could come out okay for Garrett. Pretty good ground ball tendencies, a good swing and miss slider, velocity being up, former top prospect, good home park. I don't know. There may be something here with Braxton Garrett. I wouldn't call him a must add myself, Scott,

but I think, you know, it depends on need at this point, right? 12 team league, roto, heads head points, whatever it might be. If you need pitching, is a pretty good guy to go on and get, right? Yeah, among the better ones. I'm not putting in a big bid for him. I noticed he was already rostered in my 15 teamers, which I thought was interesting. But, yeah, I mean, if, like, for example, we were talking about David Peterson before he went on.

He was the last pitcher who kind of generated some enthusiasm. And I think there's more to see with David Peterson than there is with Braxton Garrett. But I'm not confident David Peterson's going to have a rotation spot for much longer. I'm not confident he's going to make another start. Jacob de Grom's rehab is nearing an end. and so, you know, so who's the best out there? I would say Braxton Garrett is among the two or three pitchers who are highly available,

who you could see becoming useful. Well, I've got a name for you, and I'll throw this one your way, Chris. Reed Detmer's, three strong starts in a row now since returning to the Angels rotation, and he went five shutout this weekend with six strikeouts, and he continued to throw that hard slider, which we've talked about a lot recently. He returned and changed up his pitch mix, and he threw it 31% in this most recent start.

The velocity up again, 2.3 miles per hour compared to earlier in the season. He has allowed just two runs over these three starts since returning. Over a strikeout per inning, he's 41% rostered. Chris, who would you rather have, Reed Detmer's or Braxton Garrett? I think I would rather have Reed Detmer's.

I think there's more upside there or at least a better path to getting to the upside. he throws a little harder, you know, has multiple swing and miss pitches, whereas Garrett, it's kind of just the slider. You know, it is worth noting, like, as bad as the Pirates offense is, and it's bad. You know, it is one of those things where like, yes, you want to discount, you know, two good starts against the Pirates, because it's just the Pirates. There have been 25 starts against them this season where the starting pitcher has gone

six innings with one earned run or less allowed, which is a massive number. If you think about how good that that line is, six innings are one-earned run. But still, it's not like it happens every time the Pirates play. So, you know, I don't want to discount it too much, but I do think Reid Detmer's has a little bit more upside. You know, I think the start against the Braves a little more impressive than doing it against the Pirates. So I'm more willing to go with him.

But I think both of them are worth adding in 12-team Roto leagues at the very least. you know, Detmer's, he's done it now, Houston and Atlanta. That's quite impressive, you know, even if the overall numbers aren't necessarily as good. I agree that has the higher upside of the two. And, you know, since coming back and having more velocity on his breaking ball, like he looks like a completely different guy. And, you know, his numbers in the minor leagues have been ridiculous the past two seasons. The one, I guess, knock against Reed Detmer's, is that he plays for a team that likes to go six-man as much as possible.

And so how many opportunities, like, these are the sort of fringe guys you normally only start when they're making two starts, right? And so how many opportunities are you going to have to do that with Detmer's? I'm not saying you don't pick them up based on that, but like if that's, you know, the only circumstances where you can see yourself using them. You just got to keep that in mind. Yeah, I think that's a fair point that you can make a case for Braxton Garrett, you know, having more weakly upside in a points league especially, where you're thinking more week-to-week than in a rota league. Last one on these two pitchers, Detmer's and Braxton Garrett.

Would you guys drop either of Ian Anderson, who gave up seven earned runs over three innings pitched on Sunday. His ERA is now 5.31, or Eric Lauer, who over his last eight starts has a 5.73 ERA. We'll mention that his previous three starts before Sunday actually looked pretty good. But what do you guys think about dropping Anderson or Lauer for either of the pitchers we mentioned?

I wouldn't drop Lauer for either. I would drop Anderson for both. I don't know why Anderson's still 85% rostered. I'm not sure he's going to be on the big league club much longer. I picked him up in one league and actually started him this week, stupidly. I'm sorry. Yeah, so no, I would actually be fine dropping either Anderson or Lauer.

but Anderson would be more of a priority to drop. All right. We will get back to WaverWire pitchers in just a bit. But Chris, oh my goodness gracious from the weekend. Well, when we went with one of, we went with my hometown team. So we'll go with Frank's hometown team and Aaron judge who, you know, we talked about a little bit before the break how he had been kind of going through his first slump of the season. I think he had started to pull out of it a little bit before the All-Star break, but he was ridiculous in the five games that the Yankees have played since the All-Star break ended. Four home runs, six runs, 11 RBI, threw in a steal for good measure in five games, went 11 for 20 with a couple of walks. He's good. There's not really much you can say other than that, but Aaron Judge officially good. He is hashtag good. Now it's a 37 home runs and

nine steals on the season. I think the batting average is around 290, approaching 300 when I saw on Sunday. So yeah, around 2.95 now. If he stays healthy, I mean, you know, this is the type of upside that we're going to get. And I think as of now,

I saw, I think he's on pace for like 61 or 62 home runs over the course of the regular season. Like, just total. So we'll see if... That would be pretty good. That'd be like the seventh most all time in Major League history. Well, somewhat argue. Because I'm not doing this like,

he's not the real home run king. No. He would have like the seventh or eighth most home runs in Major League history in a single season. I agree with you completely. It would be very impressive to do that. Yeah, would be like when, I don't even know.

When is the last time we saw 60 home runs? Like I legitimately don't know. Sosa, right? No. Bonds or Sosa? I don't know who did it more recently. Stanton got closest. Stan got 59.

Yeah. Bonds. Bonds did. in 2001. That's the only year where he even reached 50, I believe, when he set the single season record. So, so is... Associated in 2001 as well, so that was the last time. All right. Fair enough. Let's see if Judge can actually pull it off and remain healthy. Oh my goodness gracious for me is Hunter Renfro, who had a big weekend himself. He had a home run in each game.

So in three straight, he's now up to 16 home runs in 62 games, which is... is a 38 home run pace over 150 games. His line looks a lot like last season. And I feel like we're not talking about Hunter Renfro. Kind of like how, you know, we didn't really talk about him much last season either, but he's just kind of flying under the radar. And he's been great.

He's got a 12.6% barrel rate, which is in the 87th percentile. And he still might even be out there in some shallower leagues. He's 66% rostered. So I could see in points leagues, three outfieler leagues. He's got six games this upcoming week. no, he's not a perfect points league player

because he still strikes out a decent amount around 25% of the time. But, you know, I think good ball... I mean, it's a third outfielder. Yeah, good ballpark. Outfield gets pretty grummy. Yeah. Good ballpark, good lineup.

I think the power is going to be legit. And Chris, I think one of the podcasts we pre-recorded for last week during the All-Star Week, we brought up some players to kind of target and buy low on for the second half. And I said, if you need power, it just kind of makes sense.

Hunter Renfro, again, in this park and this lineup, it just makes sense. So even in a deeper league, I know he's not going to be available there, but if you want to try and buy high or I guess just buy in general, Hunter Renfro, I think he's going to hit a bunch of home runs here in the second half.

So let me throw a few names your way and see if you'd be willing to drop any of these for Renfro. Jock Peterson still 78% rostered. Are we okay with that swap, Jock, for Renfro? I think that's fine. I think they're very similar players. Yeah.

I was going to say basically a lateral move. Renfros the hotter hand. He has more playing time assurances. So I guess I'd do it. What about, you know, a week from now, if Jack Peterson's hot, I might change my Yeah, there's a handful. I got like Jorge Saler is probably in the same discussion. Adam Duvall is maybe a little lower end, but I said Adam Duval's out for the years.

Oh, that's right. That's right. Yeah. So yeah. But yeah, there's a handful of guys like this. How about Anthony Santanderi is still 81% rostered? Yeah, I'd rather have Renfro. Yeah, I'd be fine with that.

Patrick Wisdom, I feel like, is a similar type player. But you'll get a better batting average from Renfro. Well, I think you've got to hold on to wisdom just because you never know what's going to happen to your third baseman. True. It's like assuming you're not starting him at third base, you know, like that that eligibility just adds so much to his value. So when we brought up before the break, Austin Hayes, Chris, I think we talked about him as like a drop. because he's kind of slowed down over the past month. What do you think about dropping Alston Hayes for Hunter Renfro?

I'm fine with that. Scott? I'm fine with that, too. All right, cool. We will get back to Waverwire hitters in just a bit, but let's get back to those pitchers. We brought up Brax and Garrett and Reed Detmer's Waiverwire pitchers, Waiper Wire Pitchers, Part 2.

And these are basically the same pitchers we always talk about because they are available, but their underlying numbers say, maybe they're not as good as they're actually pitching. But let's see. Cole Irvin puts together another great start. I mean, this one against the Texas Rangers, seven innings, two runs, eight strikeouts this weekend.

His ERA is 3.08. His ex-vip is 4.30. He's 54% rostered, and he's going up against the Astros this week, which might scare you, but he's made three starts against them this season and has allowed four earned runs total. I don't know how, but he's doing it. Madison Bumgarner turned in his best start of the season up against the nationals, eight innings, two runs, nine strikeouts to zero wall,

and even was able to call Victor Robles a clown after the game, which was pretty funny. If you haven't seen it, check it out. Gave up a home run to Victor Robles. Pretty embarrassed. I mean, who's the real clown there, right? Mad Bum's ERA is 3.71. His ex-fib is 4.68, and he's got a sub-8% swinging strike rate.

Brady Singer, maybe a little bit more interesting. Posted a career high, 12 strikeouts against Tampa Bay. Six innings, two runs, 12 strikeouts, and he had 17 swinging strikeouts. His ERA is 3.82. His underlying numbers are actually a little bit better than that. He's 34% rostered. Chris, we'll start with you.

Anyone you like from this group. Cole Irvin, Mad Bum, Singer. I think Singer is probably the most interesting. Although I will say, like, Cole Irvin has been amazing at home this season, 163 ERA. I don't think he's going to continue to be that good. But he had a 390 ERA last year at home, so he can be serviceable pitching in O.

Oakland. I don't think there's much appeal outside of that. So like good matchup at home he's worth using as a streamer, but not someone you're going to regret not picking up. I think is the way to look at it. I was about to say like Frank was saying, I don't know how he keeps doing it. And I think, I think that's how he pitches roughly half of his games at home. He's given up because, okay, so listen to this. Cole Irvin, you read the X-FIP 430, the X-C-R-A-450. The FIP is is 379. And when you see that discrepancy between FIPP and X-FIP,

it's like, oh, he must be a flyball pitcher who doesn't allow many home runs. He's allowed 11 home runs this season, all of them on the road. He hasn't allowed a single home run at home, which he's eventually going to allow a home run at home, but it may just be such a big park. Yeah.

Like it's such a park so big, like the perfect size park for a pitcher like him where he can give up those flyball, and they translate to outs. And I think like, you know, Chris Flexen has had stretches like this over the past couple of seasons playing in Seattle as well. So I think it's- He's on one right now. You know, that kind of player. It's not someone you're particularly excited about.

But again, in the right matchups at home, he can be useful. But I do think Brady Singer is a lot more interesting. You know what he's doing so far this season. I'm not exactly sure what the change is. It's just kind of he's gotten a little bit better. at a couple of different things. Like his strikeout rate is a little bit better. His walk rate is quite a bit better.

That's the biggest difference. But, you know, he's got a 382 ERA and his peripherals mostly back that up. So, you know, I think there's potentially something here with Brady Singer, who remember there was a little bit of hype around him when he got the call. So, you know, someone to, I would rather add him than any of the other guys here.

I agree with that too. The walk stand out as the biggest improvement. for Singer, but also just his slider has improved. It was, you know, regarded as his best pitch. He's mainly sinker slider. But this season, a career high 19% swinging tricrate rate on that slider. I thought that was pretty interesting. Scott, what do you think about Singer? Does he rank anywhere close to like the Deutmer's Brexon-Garrett group that we spoke about earlier? I'm not as interested in him as those guys, though I agree. Like, he's clearly of the ones we're comparing him to here, Cole Irvin and who's the other one?

Madison Baumgartner. Madison Baumgartner. Yeah, I mean, Brady Singer is the one who's ascending of that group. I just dropped Dean Anderson for him. I would be willing to do that. Yeah, I'd drop Anderson for just about anybody at this point. I'd probably drop him for Cole Irvin. Jeez.

What do you have against Cole Irvin's guy? Just the way you said it, I even drop him for Cole or Irvin. I think it is a good point that you guys bring up about his home road splits because there's a decent trance anybody on the A's get traded. So, you know, let's see what happens. Yeah, that's true if he doesn't. Now, I assume whoever's trading form is going to know this about him. The front offices are pretty smart these days.

So, you know, I don't know that he's going to get traded. But yeah, if that happens, then that could completely. tank Irvin's value. But anytime you see a pitcher who's like outperforming his peripherals by that much two years in a row, there's probably something to it. It may not be something we can identify, but in Irvin's case, I mean, look at those homeboy splits. That probably has a lot to do with it. All right, waiver wire pitchers part three. These are likely going to be for deeper leagues. Jose Katana bounced back with a quality start against the Marlins. Seven shutout with four strikeouts to zero walks. He's got a 3.70 ERA, 24%

rostered. He's up against the Phillies this week. James Capillian has actually been solid over his last four starts. He went five shutout against the Rangers with four strikeouts. He had 14 swinging strikes. And four July starts, he's got a 2.05 ERA. I will not even tell you what his exfip is because it's over five. It's very scary. And you probably won't believe me. Chris, you might want to step out for a little bit while we talk about this next player. But Mitch Keller has actually been serviceable over the past two months. 10 starts since rejoining the Pirates rotation. He's got a 3.53 ERA

and nearly a strikeout per inning. 52 strikeouts over 56 and a third. He's got a 54% ground ball rate. We know he's gone more into using the sinker, which obviously has helped him. He's not generating a bunch of swinging strikes, but he's kind of getting it done right now. So just thought I'd bring up Mitch Keller.

He's 20% rostered. He's widely available. Scott will sort with you. Anyone here in deeper leagues? Kintana. Caprillion, Keller. I mean, they're all going to show up in my sleeper pitchers column at some point, I'm sure. Keller already has a million times.

Katana has a few times as well. But I think that's right where their roster ship should be, just in that, you know, 60%, 40% to 60% range where people are constantly adding and dropping them based on matchups. because I don't think they have the upside to contribute beyond that. Chris, would you like to say that you are back in on Mitch Keller just so that he gives up like 10 runs in his next start? I don't know what back in on Mitch Keller would mean at this point because I don't like I don't think there's any real upside here. But I think he can continue to be useful.

But like the swinging strike rate and the strike rate are so mediocre that it's just it's hard to imagine there's much to get excited about. out, but I'd rather have him than Kentana or Caprilyan. Probably more than Irvin and Bumgarner, too. Yeah, I think he's probably pretty close with Irvin, but yeah, over Bumgarner, Caprillion for sure. I think he's pretty close with Jose Cantana as well. Cantana is another one.

I think he's a pretty likely trade candidate for the Pirates. Oh, man, I overestimated those roster rates. None of them are even 30% rostered. Yeah, yeah. These are more like, I wouldn't, they're probably not a available in 15 team leagues, but you know, somewhere in between there, deeper 12s, maybe some 14 teamers. I think those names might be out there. Let's get back to waiver wire hitters. We spoke about Hunter Renfro and Jose Miranda, someone we spoke about, I think it was the podcast

before the break, Chris and I did. He went three for four on Sunday, two runs, two RBI, 45 games since May 20th. Jose Miranda's hitting 324 with seven homers, 31 RBI, and he is still just 42% rostered. Only five road games this week. Scott, it'll give you the opportunity. to talk about Miranda because you really haven't had that opportunity recently. Do you, I don't know if he's a must add, but it's just the way the third base has been, it's like, why not add Jose Miranda and see where it goes? Yeah.

So I had, you wrote the numbers down for this 45 game stretch. I had looked at a 38 game stretch, and he struck out 20.2% of the time during that stretch is OPS, you know, nearing 900. Like the numbers, the numbers look good. and he's eligible at a very weak position, as you point out. Now, Miguel Sano is nearing a return, and that's going to disrupt things. I presume there's some talk, like, you know, they might not even be able to find a spot for him, but I suspect they probably will, and that could, you know, impact Miranda's playing time.

it could impact the playing time, a few different players there. So that's something to keep an eye on. I don't know that, like, in a points league, Miranda is a big priority. He's not walking much. But like I said, the strikeout rate is starting to look pretty good. And if you need a third baseman, I mean, certainly he's a viable option at this point.

Scott, if you had Max Muncie and Josh Donaldson, let's say, as your corner infielder, would you be okay dropping either, both for Jose Miranda? Yes, yes, I would. All right. I didn't say that with a lot of conviction. Yeah, I didn't know if you had another thought there. Well, I mean, the thing is, like, I think both Donaldson and Muncie are likely to get better than they've been so far.

It's hard not to. Of course, Muncie has that elbow thing hanging over him, but, like, he's actually been kind of usable in points. leagues because he's still walking so much. So I've been reluctant to bury Muncie completely, I guess is what I'm trying to say. I had him as a preseason bust, and that certainly looks like it's playing out. But I've seen him dropped in a couple of leagues, and I think I've scooped him up in both those leagues, just because, you know, if he can get anything going in that lineup and, you know, the fact he's on base so much, like, at third base, which we didn't even know he'd be eligible

at that position, then he'd, he'd be eligible. could still end up being useful. All right, let's say you need an outfielder, Chris. Would you rather have Lioti Tavares, who is 55% rostered, or Andrew McCutcheon, who is 50% rostered? They both had relatively big games here on Sunday. Tavares went three for five with his sixth stolen base. He's betting 340 with a 920 OPS.

He's really, really come on in the past couple of weeks. And McCutcheon, we spoke about him recently since the start of June. He's been very good for the Brewers. He went two for five with two doubles, two RBI, two runs scored on Sunday. who would you rather have Tavares McCutcheon? I think you just give the easy cop-out answer and say Tavares in a Roto League McCutcheon and a points league.

I think that's fair. How about these three? Tavis, like, the speed is real, so I think he's going to be a contributor there. I'm not sure he's going to keep, I mean, he's definitely not going to keep hitting 340, but if he hits 250, he's probably going to be pretty useful.

And look, the Rangers' willingness to run since Chris Woodward has become their manager, I mean, they are so aggressive on the base pass between Tavares. Semyon's already at his career high. It's been there for a couple of weeks already. Yeah, Semyon and Dolies Garcia, they let him run pretty frequently as well. And look, Tavares is fast enough. So I think, you know, as long as he gets on, they're going to let him continue to run.

I think your answer makes a ton of sense, Chris. Tavarison in Categories and McCutcheon in a points league. Scott, how about these three names? Where would you be looking to add them if anywhere? I guess give me like a league depth size or maybe format. Stephen Kwan had nine hits this weekend, including a steal on Friday and a home run on Sunday. And he's now batting 292. He's got a 369 OBP, hitting nearly 300 against lefties.

So I think he's going to play every day. He's 40% rostered, seven road games this week. Nico Horner went one for four with a sock and a shoe on Saturday. He now has up to six home runs and 10 steals on the season. He's batting 300. And then Ramona Reyes, five hits this weekend, including a home run on Saturday. and low key has been really, really good in the month of July. I'll pull up those stats, but he's 92nd percentile and hard hit rate,

nearly 91 mile per hour average exit velocity, and a bunch of eligibility, second, third shortstop. That is Ramon Arias. Scott, what do you think about these three names? Kwan, Horner, Arias. Well, we're in deep league territory because, I mean, Horner and certainly Kwan aren't going to hit enough home runs.

to impact like standard 12 team leagues. Arias' home run pace is, like he said, pretty good. He's got 10 home runs and 224 at bats. But no stolen bases, bad walk rate. You know, just he doesn't really elevate himself in any format. So he's like in that perma fringy territory, I think. You know, the fact that Horner steals bases, I think he, and is going to hit for a pretty high batting average.

I think that makes him useful in deeper rotissary leagues, maybe those 15 teamers that we talk about sometimes. Kwan in a deep points league. He's kind of starting to remind me of David Fletcher when David Fletcher was at his best. Maybe Kwan could be an outfield version of that. Yikes. I mean,

David Fletcher had some usefulness in fantasy. Like he had 18 steals last year. I'm not talking about 18 steel, I'm talking about 300 hitting 10 Homer Fletcher. Yeah. I think Nico Horner deserves more credit. I will say that. I wish he was hitting higher in the lineup.

He's been batting fifth pretty consistently over the last month or so. Um, but like his batting average looks like it's going to be really, really good. And he's more of a, he's a non-power hitter, but he's less of a nothing than Stephen Kwan is. So like, I think he's. he can hit 290 with 15 homers and 20 steals. You know, I think that's realistic. And that's a useful player, even in a 12-team. In his prime or you think this year you could get to that?

I think this year, I mean, his pace is 12-20 with a 300 average right now. The counting stats are pretty bad. But, you know, if he moves further up the lineup, or even if he just keeps hitting fifth, I think he's going to be a pretty useful guy to have a round. You know, you read off what he's on pace for, Chris, and it kind of reminded me of like a Gene Cigura type player. Exactly.

Which is very useful. Impact player, but someone who like, if you have him in your lineup all season long, that's going to be a useful guy at a middle infield spot. All right. Let's kind of speed through the rest of these waiver wire ads. Which catcher would you rather have in a two-catcher league? So Danny Jansen had a double dong on Friday.

He's got a 21% barrel rate this season. How? don't know. Carson Kelly had four hits in two games this weekend, including another home run. He's having a massive July, and then Jose Trevino with the Yankees went four for four with a double RBI run scored on Sunday. Scott, how do you rank those three if you need a second catcher in a two-catcher league? I rank, gosh, I could see going any order with them. The order I'm going to go with is Trevino, Kelly, Jansen. I think Kelly has the most upside, and I've been encouraged by what he's done recently. But his numbers, his overall numbers still look terrible because he was bad for so long.

Yeah. In July, he's hitting 375, four homers, an OPS over 1100. He's been batting lead off a lot for the diamond backs, which I don't know what that says about the state of their offense. But it's good for Kelly. Yeah, sure is. In deeper leagues, Chris, do any of these names interest you? Rymel Tapia had six hits in two games this weekend, including an inside. the park Grand Slam, which,

look, if you haven't seen it, just go watch it. Jaron Durant, look, I understand I play outfield and softball. Sometimes you can lose the ball. I get it. But not even hustling after the ball. So I'm pretty sure what happened. That was... I think he sees the ball

land back on the field, and I think he thought that it went out and someone threw it back in. That's the only thing that makes sense to me. Yeah, because, look, if it just landed and he's just watching it, that was... That was bad. But like, you can't assume that, you know?

I think, I think he felt embarrassed primarily. Oh, yeah. And maybe that influenced his decision to interpret what he saw with the ball bouncing. It was a bad look. In the warning track behind him. But, yeah, it was not great. Fortunately, he didn't get demoted or anything. He actually had a good day at the plate on.

Sunday. So that's good for Duran. Not so good for Nathan of all DZRA though. No, no, not great at all. Well, anyway, the name at hand here is Ryan Mell Tapia who has been playing well at least this weekend. Nelson Velasquez had a double dong on Friday for the Chicago Cubs. He hit

another home run on Sunday and he was the MVP of the Arizona Fall League this past season, 2021. Donovan Solano had four more hits in two games this weekend. He has seven home games in Great American Ballpark this week. And Ezekiel Duran is back with the Rangers.

He had four total hits in four straight starts. And I like what he did earlier this season. Chris, do you have any interest in these names in deeper leagues? Duran, Solano, Nelson Velasquez, Rymel Tapia. Not particularly. I think Duran, you know, the potential for a little bit of speed is probably the most interesting of this group. I'm not sure he's going to play every day.

So that would be the concern there, but he's probably the most interesting for me. Nelson Velazquez, I just, I want to see if he can earn. and everyday playing time. I'm sure the Cubs are going to be sellers, and maybe they trade knee and hat. I think there's some pop there. He can run a little bit.

Definitely. He hits him all hard. He just doesn't hit it enough. He's kind of like Patrick Wisdom, right? He's kind of like his teammate Patrick Wisdom, and maybe he could chip in some speed. So that is Nelson Velasquez. He needs to play more regularly, though, as you point out.

Like a couple of those home runs. I think the two-home are game, actually. He didn't start. I think you're right. That's weird. So that's got to change for him before he's really a viable option even in those 15 teamers.

All right, before we hit the break, I want to remind everyone that we are a nominee for the best sports podcast category in the People's Choice Podcast Awards. We appreciate all of your support and hope that you'll nominate us to advance to the final round to nominate fantasy baseball today.

Go to podcastawards.com slash app slash sign up and then toggle down the sports category. The whole process takes less than 60 seconds. and if you're watching us on YouTube, we have a QR code in the top right corner right next to Scott's Head. You can pull out your phone and you can scan that

and that will take you right to the link where you can obviously help nominate us and we would really appreciate it. We've included the link in the podcast and YouTube descriptions as well. Let's take a break and we'll return right after this. The news and notes from the weekend. There's a lot.

Oh my. There's so much stuff to get to me. It's like how do we get so bogged down? Anyway, news and notes. Mike Trout on the IL with left rib inflammation received a cortisone shot recently, but will not be ready to return on Monday. We're not entirely sure when he'll be back. Would either of you take the chance on starting Mike Trout, knowing what we know right now? I would prefer not. I probably would in a

five outfield of Roto League. And I specify Roto because, you know, the penalty for taking a zero over the course of a week is less in a format where the stats are, you know, only the full accumulation of season-long accumulation counts as opposed to week by week. Fernando Tatis has been hitting in the cage at 95 to 100%. He said he's feeling pretty good and hasn't suffered any setbacks. Sounds like maybe he can be back early to mid-August. That's what they were saying on the ESPN broadcast. So hopefully that is the case.

Jacob de Grom will require at least one more rehab start prior to rejuv. joining the Mets rotation. He tossed 60 pitches in a simulated game last Thursday after dealing with some mild shoulder soreness, which he dealt with before that. Chris, we were talking beforehand that like, you know, the Mets just kind of snuck it in there on, you know, right before the All-Star game, they're like, hey, DeGrom has shoulder soreness. Okay, bye. Yeah, it was a very Wilpon-esque move from the Mets to just drop it in like as they're announcing the lineups for the All-Star game on the broadcast. Very weird. Jazz Chisholm had a CT scan reveal a stress fracture in his back and was moved to the 60-day IL, which means the earliest he can return is late August, maybe September.

Would you guys be dropping Jazz in leagues without an IL spot? Leagues without an IL spot? I mean... There's not such an... Are there any so obvious pickups that you would have to? That would be the main thing for me is like, I think I'm fine dropping him. in a league with no aisle spot, but if you don't have to right now, you know, I would prefer not to. Right. I have him in a 15-team NFBC league

with no IL-L spots, obviously, and I put in a claim to drop him for Gene Seguer because Seguer is nearing a rehab assignment. Obviously, he'll be back sooner. So I would be okay doing it for someone like that. I did not wind up with Gene Seguer, so I guess I'm just going to

hold on to Jazz for now. At least until next week, if we have more information. Jordan Alvarez sat on Sunday due to lingering soreness in his hand. And guys, this seems pretty worrisome for Yerdon Alvarez at this point. Yeah, somebody was asking if they should shop him because this issue keeps coming up. I mean, he continues to hit great in between the reports of this injury. So that's encouraging. But if it's going to keep removing him from the lineup, that's going to get old.

I don't feel like I'd be willing to trade him for 75. cents on the dollar and I feel like that's what you'd have to do at this point. I mean, unless you just play in a league where people don't pay attention to what's going on with the players they're trading for, they don't look into it. So you're probably better riding it out with him. Unless it's like a really super complicated trade where it's,

you know, you can kind of work them in there and still get, you know, still get studs back. But, you know, just your, Gordon Alvarez, straight up, what's he going to get for you? Well, it would still have to be a first round level for return for me to go through with it.

Gene Cigar, I just mentioned. He has been out since May with a fracture in his right index finger. He's 57% rostered. So if you need a middle infielder, I think now is a time to go out and stash him. Justin Turner could require a trip to the aisle due to abdominal tightness. And we've said this before, but maybe this is the move that ignites a Miguel Vargas promotion. we're watching closely. If anything happens, we'll let you know.

We had some rehab starts this weekend. Lance McCullors made his first start on Friday. He went two winnings, got his pitch count up to 40 pitches. Dustin May made his first rehab outing on Friday as well. He gave up one run with three strikeouts over two winnings. Jesus Lozardo and Edward Cabrera also made rehab starts, I believe also on Friday. Chris, how would you rank those four IL stashes?

McCullors, May, Lazzardo, Edward, Cabrera. I think I would probably go Lizardo McCullors Cabrera May, but it's mostly just the order that I expect to see them in, in which case, you know, the next outing and whoever pitches throws more pitches could tell a better story. But I think Lazzardo, he pitched four innings in that one. And I think the velocity reports were pretty good from what I saw. He was up around, you know, the high 90s, like 97.

So I think he's probably the The best one to stash here What a McCullors velocity looked like? Was it Okay? Because like that that injury that he's coming back from is I think the most worrisome of them So like if I was ranking them I'd go Luzardo May McCullors Cabrera and like Cabrera I could take him or leave him because I'm not Like he hasn't done enough to convince me he's even going to be useful you know when he's back

May look great in his to, I mean, he struggled with control, but he was hitting 99, and, like, he's obviously an amazing talent, obviously joining an amazing club. And so, like, he's a pretty high priority for me off the waiver wire right now. Like, I would pick him up over the guys we were talking about at the top of the show, Reed Deppmers, and who was the other one, Braxton Garrett. Yeah, I remember Dustin May, he made like four appearances, I think, before the injury in 2020, but he looked like he was making a, significantly. He's one of those guys who's got just like unhittable stuff, but he was finally getting swings and misses with it. And yeah, I think he's a very exciting pitcher. Freddie Peralta also began his rehab assignment on Sunday. Obviously not available to go out and stash, but he has been on the IL since May 22nd with a shoulder injury. Aaron Ashby signed a five-year contract with the brewers that includes club options for 2028 and 2029. Andrew Heaney is expected to return on Wednesday against the nationals. He's been on the IL with a shoulder strain and is 73% rostered.

Could be out there in some shallower leagues. The Mets made a few lower level trades with the pirates this weekend acquiring D.H. Daniel Vogelbach, which look, we're all about the big beefy baseball boys here. And if you haven't seen the video of him rounding the bases yet, go out and watch it because it's amazing. And they also acquired catcher Michael Perez. The trade deadline is August 2nd. And some big rumors going around. Juan Soto, Luis Castillo, all the relievers. It should be a pretty fun and wacky one, so we'll see what happens. Adam Duval will miss the rest of the season with a torn tendon in his left wrist.

CJ Abrams was scratched Saturday and did not play Sunday either with bicepsorness. Luis Patino was optioned back to AAA after a subpar outing on Saturday. Mike Soroko is unlikely to return until September as he rehabs from multiple Achilles tendon tears. Jonathan V.R. was designated for assignment by the Ames. Angels. A bunch of players went to the aisle this weekend. Unfortunately, Luis Robert with lightheadedness. This one really sucks. Max Meyer, who was recently called up by the Marlins. He went to the aisle with a sprained right elbow. And he dealt with an arm injury earlier this season. So. There is no such thing as too much pitching. Seems pretty scary right now for Meyer. And a sprain elbow, I mean, that could be UCL damage.

That could be kind of a euphemism for that. Especially because he had an elbow injury earlier in the season. Yeah, it was something a little different, but when you talk about an elbow sprain, that sprain means a tear to some, you know, maybe a smallish tear, but yeah. Does anybody have worse luck than Tyler Stevenson? Because he sustained a broken right clavicle on Friday,

does not have a timetable for his return, and it's kind of dealt with just some freak injuries this season, and he's having a good year, so feel bad for him. Stephen Mets with a torn MCL, Evelongoria with a hamstring strain, Edward Olivares with a left quad train, Michael King suffered a fractured right elbow. It's a pretty rough loss there.

Jorge Soler with lower back spasms, Jace Peterson with a left elbow sprain, Brian Anderson with a sprain left shoulder, and Michael Paneda with a right tricep strain. Starters sit these banged up, banged up, and or unvaccinated players, I guess. Julio Rodriguez has missed three straight with a sore left wrist.

Do you start them this week? Yes. Okay. I'll go with that, sure. It's risky. Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Aronado both will not travel to Toronto for their two-game series this week. So I think that leaves them with just four games. Would you guys start those guys?

I think so. I mean, imagine Paul Goldschmidt is like, he's hard to imagine you've got a good third baseman. Right. And then third base being so weak for Aronado. Yeah, I think it just stick. with them. It's unfortunate. They'll only get four games, but they could do a lot of damage in those four games. Yeah. Bobby Witt Jr. was removed Sunday with hamstring tightness for waiting to learn more about that. And he had a steal in each game this weekend. I think he's up to 20

steals now this season. So it's been really good. What do you guys think about this week? Hamstrings bother me. I think I'd be, I think I'd lean towards sitting Witt. You know, it depends what else you can get, obviously. All right. And three last names here. Brian Reynolds expected to return from the IL on Monday. Jesse Winker left Sunday with a right ankle sprain. Javier Baez left Sunday after getting hit by a pitch on his elbow. What do you think about those three? I mean, Winker and Baez are easy enough to sit

because they haven't been that good anyway. Reynolds, yeah, I'm anxious to get him back in the lineup. Yep, I would start him. I missed this earlier. Obviously, some other huge IL news, but for the Red Sox, Devers with right hamstring inflammation and Chris Sale, broken left pinky, another one. it's like super unfortunate and he's been ruled out at least a month, you know,

shortly after returning. So just sucks. Sale cannot cannot get it going again. Unfortunately. Sad. A few prospect call-ups this weekend. Any interest in these names, Nick Prado was recalled by the Royals. He was up recently when they had their series in Toronto with Edward Olavarez going on the IL. They, they've been playing Prado at first base and using Pasquantino at DH. He started all three games this weekend.

Prado did. He had three hits. He's 15% rostered. In the minors this season, he was hitting 240, 17 homers, eight steals and 858 OPS. It does have seven games this week, including four, rather, in Yankee Stadium. It had gotten a lot better for Prado, though. He got off to a dreadful start, and the strikeout rate has been way up,

and that's concerning because, you know, a big reason he improved his prospects. stock last year was cutting down on the strikeouts. But in his final 22 games at AAA, Prado hit 301 with six homers, three steals, a 1038 OPS. He had 20 walks in those 22 games. It was reaching base at like a 440 clip. And so, you know, the timing may be right for him to, for him to find success. I mean, the strikeout rate hasn't, I think he struck out once a game.

not exactly once a game, but the same number of strikeouts as games played. And yeah, I mean, first base isn't a position of great need for many people, but in Roto leagues, I would say,

give him a shot. And for a first baseman, he might even contribute a few steals if he does hit well. I haven't seen a recent timeline on Salvador Perez, but that would make things interesting in terms of playing time

because they have MJ Lendes. I don't think he's supposed to be back until September. right? Is that sure? I mean, you're right. It wouldn't make things interesting. Prado has gotten exposure in the outfield in the miners. I believe Melendez has as well in the outfield. Yeah. Yeah, Melendez in the majors. This played some outfield. Yeah. Last update on Salvador Perez July 10th, spotted taking part in some on-field work. Yeah, not supposed to be back until late August. All right. Good call there, Scotty. Chris, talk to me about outfielder.

J.J. Bladee, not MJ. He is a Marlins prospect. He got called up on Saturday. He was batting fifth on Sunday. He went two for four with a steel and a run scored, although I don't really think speed is a big part of his game. In the minors this year, he was hitting 228. 365 OBP.

Look, if you play OBP leagues, like, this guy is going to walk a lot. He had 20 homers in 85 games. Got off to a very slow start, but basically he was hitting around 257 since the start of June. What do you think about JJ Bladay? Yeah, it's been a pretty tough go of things. for him overall in the minors, and I'm not particularly excited about him. Like, I'm looking at one of my leagues right now where in my outfield, I've got Ronald

Coon, Byron, Buxton, Nick Castiano, and Andrew Vaughn. I wouldn't drop any of those five for him, obviously. Then on the bench, I've got guys like Josh Naylor, Alex Kirillov, Nelson Cruz, Alec Thomas. I might drop Nelson Cruz for him, but I'm also worried that that's going to be the point where Nelson Cruz, you know, starts to turn things around because his quality of contact metrics are still pretty good. But like, that's the kind of player you're talking about dropping JJ Blade A4. And even then, I think that's pretty iffy. So yeah, I'm not a not super excited about the prospects of J.J. Bladay figuring it out at the major league level. All right. Yeah, I mean, in deeper leagues, I picked them up in a few 15 teamers, just, you know,

minimal bids. Yeah, that's the, that's the range. I dropped like Yaddi. El Hernandez for him. So, you know, again, in deeper leagues, let's see what J.J. Bladay can provide to the Marlins, because we all know that they could use some offense. Some pitching from this weekend. Let's get into some pitchers' duels. Max Scherzer against Darvish this weekend. Darvish went seven innings, one run, nine strikeouts. Scher has eight plus strikeouts in each of his four starts since returning from the IEL. He's been awesome. You Darvish, very under the radar, his last eight starts over a strikeout per inning, a 12% swinging strike rate. Scott, anything on Darvish and Scherzer in this one.

Yeah, I agree. It's been encouraging the way Darvish is trending because I had some concerns about him at the start of the year. He wasn't getting a lot of whiffs. He wasn't getting a lot of strikeouts. Well, that's changed. Nine strikeouts are more in four of his last five starts. That's pretty good.

And averaging almost seven innings per start. Yeah, on that stretch too. He's been very efficient. The walks are down. Good news for you, Darby. He's just, he's so frustrating. And like, I wonder if, like, maybe having eight different pitches that you throw

makes it hard to figure out what's working at any given point. Because he just, he goes through these stretches where he just kind of looks lost and you don't really have a good explanation for. And then he goes through these stretches where he looks like the best pitcher on the planet. And it's just, it's really, really weird. Justin Verlander and Logan Gilbert had a nice little duel this weekend. Verlander at the Mariners, seven innings, one run, nine strikeouts. He had 14 swinging strikes in this start.

And Logan Gilbert up against the Astros on the other side, six innings, two runs, eight strikeouts. He had 18 swinging strikes in this one and kind of changed up his pitch mix, more than double his curveball usage in this start. Something I want to watch to see if he does it more moving forward. Maybe it helps with the strikeouts. Gilbert's ERA is down to 2.77 for the season. Chris, anything you'd like to add on Verlander, Logan Gilbert?

They're both really good. Yeah, Gilbert, I'm paying attention to him because the strike rate has kind of outpaced the swinging strike rate for much of the season, but he's one of those guys who does get a lot of foul strikes. So, you know, if he could turn some of those into swinging strikes, it could make it a little more predictable and a little more sustainable, so that'll be something to keep an eye on.

Zach Wheeler versus Marcus Stroman this weekend. Wheeler went seven, one run, six strikeouts in that start. On the other side, Marcus Stroman goes six, one run, five strikeouts there. And his ERA is up over four, but underlying numbers look considerably better than that. He's 60% rostered. Scott, what do you think about these two? Are you looking to add Marcus Strowman anywhere if he's available? Yeah, how available is he?

He's 60% rostered, and he's at the Giants this week. Yeah, I might need to add him to the waiver wire column I'm writing. Because, so he has a 326 ex-fip this year, does Stroman. It's the best ex-fip he's had since his rookie season. If you take out the start right before he went on the I.O. with the shoulder injury, I believe his velocity was down a little bit in that start. You know, normally we, it's not unusual for us to give pitchers a pass for starts that, they come out and they're injured after it's over.

If you do that for Stroman, he's ERA on the year's 326, right in line with that 328 X-Fib. So, I mean, he's been, he's been deceptively good this year, I guess. All right. Let's, oh, I got a lot of starting pitcher standouts from this weekend, and I tried to group them into similar groups of value. Let's just rank some of them. Brandon Woodruff now has eight plus strikeouts in four of five starts.

returning from the IL. Julio Reyes has been great for a long time now this season. Got off to a slow start. He went six shutout with five strikeouts against the Giants. Alec Manoa tied the league lead with 16 quality starts this season. He went six, one run, seven strikeouts at the Red Sox. Very entertaining in the All-Star game as well. And Dylan Sees has now allowed one earned run or fewer in 11 straight starts.

Chris, these are all kind of like top 20-ish starting pitchers. how would you rank them? Woodruff, Arias, Manoa, cease. I have them, Ureis, Sees, Woodruff, Manoa. But they're all within six spots of each other in the overall starting pitcher ranking. So very, very close, not really much difference between any of them. I mean, I guess you can, I think I would rather have Woodruff over all of them. Actually, in Roto, I do have Woodruff over all of them.

So yeah. Wow, Chris. Way to flip flop. I changed your opinion that easily. But really any order. I mean, really, it's 12 to 18 in both Roto and head to head points. Yep. All right.

Let's move on to this next group. Charlie Morton bounced back with a strong start up against the Angels. He went six shutout with seven strikeouts, 20 swinging strikes on 105 pitches. And this is why I get so frustrated because we know this is what he is capable of. Obviously, the Angels lineup is not great right now.

Lucas Gilito was showing signs of coming around, and then he got destroyed. Again, three innings, six runs. The ERA climbs up over five once again. That was against the Guardians. And Kyle Wright turns in another quality start against those angels. Six innings, two runs, eight strikeouts.

Scott Howe drank this group rest of season. Charlie Morton, Lucas Gialito, Kyle Wright. Definitely Morton number one. Yes. I think he's been... Yeah, I know his start prior to this one was bad. He gave him three home runs, but that's been the exception.

Yep. That's like the one bad start in his last 70 is a 222 ERA during that stretch. So he's fixed. Charlie Morton's great. Doesn't mean he'll never have a bad start again, but he's, yeah, you want to keep using him. The other two, like, I just, I don't, I think Wright is, you just don't have that much to worry about with him. And Gio Lido, his ERA's backup over five. Like, I think Gio Lido is a more talented pitcher, but, like, he just can't get it going for more than two or three starts at a time.

and it's been pretty ugly. It's been pretty hard to use him. So I'll go right over Gioledo. I think that's probably the right answer at this point. No pun intended. After a few rough starts, Nester Cortez has put together a strong start in three of his last four outings.

He was at the Orioles. Six shot out with seven strikeouts in that one. Lanslind turns in his second quality start in eight tries. He went six shutout with six strikeouts up against Cleveland and Chris Bassett matched. a career high with 11 strikeouts against the Padres. Chris, how do you rank this group?

Nestor, Lance Lynn, and Chris Bassett. Yeah, I would go Nestor, Chris Bassett, and Lance Lynn. I think there's a bigger gap between Lynn than the other two. All right, let's, how many more groups I have? I think I have two more. Zach Gallen put together one of his strongest starts of the season seven shutout with seven strikeouts

against the nationals and Tyler Anderson makes it four straight quality He starts in July. He was up against the Giants. He went six innings, one unearned run with six strikeouts. Scott, who would you rather have, Zach Allen or Tyler Anderson, rest of season? I think I'd rather have Anderson, though I do wonder what's going to happen to him with Dustin, whenever Dustin May comes back. At some point, they're still hoping Walker Bueller will be back to.

So I don't know. Like, that's the one reason I hesitate to say Anderson. over Gallin, Gallin continues to perplex me, but the numbers are good. Would you, I feel like both are so high candidates right now. Is that fair to say? Yeah, but I feel more confident, like this is what's tough about Zach Allen, is the concerns are more injury related. I feel pretty confident in his performance being better than Tyler Anderson's. And so, I don't know, like there, yeah, Gallen seems to have a lot of injury risk, but Tyler Anderson is also a pitcher

And you know There's some role concern I guess at some point So I would rather have Gallen than Anderson Yeah it's close it's like you kind of have to weigh your concerns I guess Injuries the swinging strike rate had been down recently for Zach Gellon I'm thinking in terms of when I plug them in my lineup Who am I more confident what I'm gonna get and right now it's Anderson But yeah I mean we're thinking rest of season

Seems like more could go wrong for Anderson. Yeah, and also one pitches for the Dodgers and one pitches for the time impacts. Last group here, Sunny Gray had a strong start at the Tigers. He went six, one run, seven strikeouts. Martine Perez, another strong start at the Oakland A's. Seven innings, one run with six strikeouts. And Jose Orkitti has now put together seven straight quality starts.

He was at the Mariners. Six innings, one run, only three strikeouts. Orquite is kind of one of these interesting ones where he can pitch to good ERAs and whips even though his underlying numbers are not nearly as good. Chris, how do you rank this group? Sunny Gray, Martine Perez, Jose Orquite. I think I go Gray, Perez, Urquite,

but it's really close and I don't have a strong preference for any one of them over any of the other ones. So, yeah. All right. Sandy didn't really fit into a category because he's obviously in a category of his own. Sorry, Sandy. Six innings, two runs, 10 strikeouts on Sunday against the Pirates. It was his fourth double-digit strikeout start of the season.

The ERA remains below two for our guy, Sandy Ocantra on the season. It's got any concern over these two who got rocked on Sunday. Shane Bieber at the White Sox, he gave up six runs over six innings pitch to give up three homers. I didn't see exactly how many hard hit balls, but I saw. a lot of those little fireballs on baseball savant, so that's a bad thing. And then Robbie Ray was up against the Astros. He gave up six runs over three innings pitched. And yes, I had a team with both of these pitchers in my lineup on Sunday,

and it was just a terrible feeling. Scott, any concern over these two? Well, it was a little weird that, so it's two starts in a row now that Robbie Ray has gone back more with the four-seamer than the sinker that he was having so much success with. the first of those starts, it went great for him. I think he got 13 strikeouts or something like that. So there does seem to be a trade-off there with Robbie Ray,

where he can either be an amazing strikeout pitcher or a very good strikeout pitcher. If he goes for more strikeouts, he's more at risk for starts like this, where he gets hit hard. And so I'd rather see him go with the sinker. I mean, he'd been very reliable recently. No major concerns, though.

I mean, Beaver, yeah, the three home runs. He'd given up seven all year. You know, I suppose with as much hard contact as he gives up, the home run pace could get worse, but most of the ERA estimators look better than his ERA now. He still had 15 swinging strikes on 76 pitches in this one. So, you know. I think this is just who these two guys are.

There's just going to be starts like this. And I don't think either of them is necessarily indicative of much moving forward. All right. some hitting leftovers from the weekend. Tyler O'Neill had a sock and a shoe on Saturday. Hopefully he could get him going and stay healthy. He now has five homers and seven steals on the season. Paul Gulchman hit four more homers,

including a double tongue on Sunday. He's now up to 24 home runs, hitting well over 300, just having a ridiculous season. Matt Chapman had five hits this weekend, including a home run and a stolen base. And hopefully you listen to Scott. About a month ago when he told you, you know, you need a third baseman,

buy low on Matt Chapman. because since the start of June, Matt Chapman is hitting 275, 10 homers, 32 runs, 29 RBI, 26% strikeout rate, nearly a 93 mile per hour average exit velocity, and a near 17% barrel rate. Matt Chapman is hashtag good.

And here's the thing about that is like, yes, if this is what his numbers looked like all along, you'd be very happy with your Matt Chapman bid. But because his turnaround hasn't been this, like, ridiculous hot stretch that redeems his season numbers, you could still probably buy low on them.

For the year, he's batting 237 with a sub-800 OPS. So, like, there's still an opportunity to buy Matt Chapman. Lordus Griot, and part of that crazy game on Friday, it's like 28 to 5, the Blue Jays won. He went six for seven in that game

with three runs and five RBI. He's now betting 3, 14 over all this season, but it comes with just five home runs and three steals. And as somebody is who is heavily in, in Lordis Griel. It doesn't feel like he's been good, so I don't really know what to say about.

Yeah, it's been kind of an empty batting average. It's been a ridiculous batting average. Yeah, it's not great. Shohei Otani hit his 20th home run on Saturday, becomes the first 20-homer 10-Seal player this season. O'Neo Cruz went one for four, with a 411 foot home run off of Sandy Alcantara on Sunday, which was impressive, but the strikeout rate is 37%

for O'Neo Cruz. just has to improve that if we want to get any type of batting average out of him. Adolese Garcia. O'Neill Cruz is kind of overmatched against lefties right now. He's got a 56% strikeout right against them in 44 played appearances.

That's rough. Only 21% against righties. Yeah. All right. Well, he's, I'm pretty sure he's going to be given every opportunity to learn on the fly. So, Adolese Garcia, I just wanted to point out, like, the guy is having a great season. He had a monster game on Sunday. He went four for four, hit his 17th home

run, his 14th steel. He added three runs, three RBI. He's only batting 248, but it doesn't really matter because the power and speed has been tremendous. The counting stats have been awesome. He is still a top 12 outfielder in Roto this season. And I would argue in terms of just value where he was drafted, he has been one of the most valuable hitters in Roto Category Leagues this season. That is Adoli-S Garcia. A few bullpen updates for the Oakland A's on Friday, Lutrovino. I mean, find somebody who loves you the way that Lutrovino gets two outs and then just cannot finish off a game

because it is uncanny. He entered with a three-run lead, gets the first two outs, and then allows two runs on three hits and a walk. He was relieved by A.J. Puck, who gets the final out and picks up his first save of the season. I have basically, I don't know if I spite dropped him, but I dropped him.

I dropped Lutrovino in all my deeper category leagues on Sunday night because I just, I can't do it anymore. Saturday, one day after Trevino and Puck tag teamed the save, Zach Jackson picked up his second save of the season. Whatever, it's Oakland. For Houston on Friday, Ryan Presley was on the paternity list. Hector Neres picked up his first save. Then on Saturday, it was Brian Abraeu who picked up his first save.

Ryan Presley returned on Sunday, and I think he picked up his, like, 20th or 21st save. For the Cardinals on Saturday, with a three-run lead, Giovanni Gallegos recorded four outs across the seventh and eighth innings. and then Ryan Helsley recorded the final four outs for his ninth save of the season. For the Marlins on Sunday. So Tanner Scott was likely unavailable.

He threw 31 pitches, two innings on Saturday. Max Meyer got hurt. They basically had to use their entire bullpen. Anthony Bass got the save opportunity, but he gave up two runs, one of them earned, struck out the side. He did take the blown save. Chris, do you think this is solely because Tanner Scott

was unavailable or likely unavailable? Or do you think maybe they're going to start to work in Anthony Bass a little bit? I think it's probably because Tanner Scott was unavailable, but Bass has been by far their best reliever. And even in this one, I think one of the earned runs, one of the runs was unearned. Yeah.

Could argue both of them should have been. So, yeah, I think he remains the Marlins best reliever. So, you know, I think he'll get a chance again soon. All right. For the Reds on Sunday, Hunter-Shrush. Strickland picked up his fifth save. He is only 5% rostered. I don't think he or the Reds are very good,

but he looks like they're closer right now. For the Royals, after Scott Barlow through two innings on Saturday, Taylor Clark picked up his second save on Sunday. And then for the Nationals on Sunday, Kyle Finnegan recorded the final five outs for his second save of the season. Scott, let's just say deeper category league.

Who would you rather have Kyle Finnegan or Hunter Strickland? Finn again. I mean, yeah, I mean, the Reds have somebody who could step in for Hunter Strickland very easily when things inevitably go wrong. I think the Nationals have fewer options. Fair enough. All right. To stream or not to stream for Monday, we have Trevor Rogers at the Reds.

Nick Lodolo on the other side versus the Marlins. Austin Voth versus the Rays. J.T. Brubaker at the Cubs. Adrian Samson versus the Pirates. Zach Rankie versus the Angels. Jacobo de Rizzi at the A's for the, I don't know, six time in a row. Third time in a row, yeah. Jacob Junis at the Diamondbacks, I believe that's his return to the mound.

And Chris Flexen versus the Rangers. Return to the rotation for Junus. He has appeared as a reliever. Got you. Lodolo. There's a few big ones in here. I feel more confident in Nick Lodolo than maybe any other streamer all season. Chris, what was that stat you gave us earlier?

Six innings, one run against a pirate. Give me Adrian Samson baby sure sure I like I think there there are there are some interesting guys here I think Jacob Junis is pretty interesting with what he was showing earlier on the season but Jacobo de Rizzi Lodolo is I think like not just a must stream like he's a must start in this one I think Marlins are terrible against lefties highest strikeout rate feet lowest OPS Lodolo's been bad but bad in a way where you still see the talent I also like JT Brewbaker against the Cubs, kind of warming up to him again. Chris Flexen against the Rangers is okay.

I know we just threw a bunch of names at you with... It's not a bad day for streamers. Yeah, not a bad day. Start everybody on Monday except for Trevor Rogers. That's basically what we're telling you. And honestly, that was the most optimistic I ever heard Scott during this segment. So, look, I can die a happy man. On Tuesday, Keegan Thompson is up against the pirates.

Spencer Watkins versus the Rays Jose Suarez at the Royals Dane Dunning at the Mariners Mitch White versus the Nationals Scott this day is not nearly as good Yeah don't stream on Tuesday Stream on Monday instead I mean Mitch White against the Nationals

He's been He's been pretty effective I don't totally buy it but the Nationals are a good matchup so you could do Mitch White Keegan Thompson Look I will basically stream anybody against the Pirates at this point So yes, I am okay using him.

I would apologize for going so long, but look, it's been a long weekend. We haven't seen each other in a while. You know, we had to get you up. Good times. For Scott and Chris, I am Frank, thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today.

We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.