Fantasy Baseball Today - George Kirby Destroyed, Upcoming Aces & the Worry-O-Meter! (8/14 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 14, 2024

George Kirby got rocked by the Tigers (2:30)! ... James Wood is really heating up (7:39). ... Juan Soto hit three homers in a game for the first time in his career (12:18). ... News (15:48): Jazz Chisholm has a UCL injury and will likely need to go on the IL. ... Are Hunter Greene and Michael King aces (20:37)? ... Lets' first up the WORRY-O-METER for six slumping hitters (27:36). ... Jake Irvin and Shane Baz both bounced back (39:45). ... Do you need to hold pitchers like Erick Fedde and Gavin Stone (47:07)? ... Add Jake Burger or Junior Caminero (52:09)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (58:55). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Hello and welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Wednesday, August 14th. I am Frank Stamford, joined by Chris Towers. Today on the show, George Kirby caught destroyed.

Zebby Matthews. Looks pretty good in his debut. Two pitchers who might be aces and will fire up the wariometer for six hitters who have been struggling here in the second half so far. But let's jump in. Jake Berger did it again. We'll talk about him a little bit later on.

Chris, over to you. Player of the night. Yeah, we got to start off with George Kirby. And look, would it make you feel better to know that rather than giving up six earned runs in three and two-thirds innings as he did. It was initially 11 and then a scoring change cut that down. He he dropped a third of a run in his season ERA just from that scoring change. So, hey, that that should make you feel better, right?

I think so. Yeah, it was pretty bad. And I don't really think there's too much to take away from it. And in fact, if you want something that actually should make you feel better, I found a fun stat. Let me just make sure I have it correct. Yes. All right. Kirby gave up three home runs today and a whopping nine batted balls that were at least 100 miles per hour. Not a hard hit ball is 95 miles per hour. This is 100 miles per hour. He gave up nine of them. There have only been nine other starts all season by other pitchers or by pitchers with more 100 plus mile per hour batted balls. One of them actually came against George Kirby on May 19th. He had a 264 ERA over his next 10 starts, which is to say George Kirby is quite good. And I don't think this start really signifies anything. I think it was just an especially bad start.

And look, maybe George Kirby because he doesn't, have like gigantic swing and miss stuff and because he pounced the strike zone, maybe he will be more prone to these kind of outcomes than most that pitchers of his caliber. I think he's had at least two, maybe three, let's see, four other starts of at least five earned runs, including one where he gave up eight earned runs in three and two thirds innings on April 3rd. And yet nobody has really questioned whether George Kirby is an ace. this season. And I don't think we need to start doing that now. Selfishly, it makes my preseason skepticism of George Kirby look a little better. You know, now that that ERA is up to, what, 340.

But he's very good. And I don't think there's any real reason to worry about this start. Yeah. Look, it just happens. I know, obviously, some people are starting up their fantasy playoffs, and this is a pretty hard one. Oh, it's bad. Yeah, it's really bad. Like there's no way around it. I actually, I had somebody on Twitter tell me that he gave up six infield hits, so I guess they were trying to say he was maybe unlucky, but he also gave up three home runs and all of that hard contact that you talked about.

So there's no way around it. George Kirby got crushed in the start. His ERA jumped from 313 to 3.42. In this start alone, he had allowed three earned runs or fewer in 13 straight starts entering this one. So he was really good for a long time, obviously gets destroyed. I think he's going to wind up with minus 11.5 fantasy points on CBS in this start. The Tigers are the team that he faced, and they put up 15 runs total on 21 hits. Just wanted to give some shoutouts to some of the players who did that damage.

Kerry Carpenter, welcome back. First game back from the IL, 3 for 5 with a double dong, 3 RBI. He missed nearly three months with a lumbar spine stress fracture. And in 51 games a season, he's actually been pretty productive. He's been awesome. Yeah, 293 batting average, 10 homers, 962 OPS. That's like a 30 home run pace, really good batting average. And I think for the last seven games before the injury, he had three home runs.

So he was starting to heat up. Really nice to see him get back and show no signs of rust. He was, if I'm remembering correctly, very good on his rehab assignment coming back from the injury as well. The problem with Carpenter, he's like 54% rostered, I think. Up to 56% now. 56%. The problem is he's played almost, I think he has 13 played appearances

or 18 played appearances against lefties this season. So they were not letting him play every day. And I would guess coming back to the injury probably not going to play every single day the rest of the way. But he might just be good. He has a 380 expected Wobah for the season before the two homers today.

So very, very impressive stuff. I think he needs to be roster. in all categories leagues. Yes. Of outfielder league. 16 at bats against left-handed pitching for Kerry Carpenter on the season. So looking head-ted points, three outfielder leagues, probably don't need Carrie Carpenter in those formats.

But I would say five outfielder leagues, even three outfielder daily lineup leagues, if you really pay attention and you're on top of it, just getting him in whenever he plays, I think it's totally fine to roster Kerry Carpenter in that league as well. Let's go over to my player of the night and we are going to talk about James Wood who did I delete his Oh here you go

I copied his stats and I forgot to paste them back in So I was freaking out I'm like where did I put his numbers But he is heating up In a big way he had a big game here on Tuesday 4 for 5 with a double three runs in an RBI He had four hard hits two of those over 105 exit velocity Last 16 games now for James Wood

397 batting average, two homers, four doubles, three triples, 16 runs, four steals, and OPS over 1100, and the ground ball rate during the span, 51%. It's still higher than we'd like, but that is much better than when he first got called up. His first 21 games, a 65% ground ball rate, and the next 16, it's been 51%. So, and it's improving in that way for James Wood. Trending even better since the start of August, which I don't know how many games that is exactly, might be like 12. But since the start of August, his ground ball rate is down to 45.8%. Wow.

So that's what you want to see. It's still not perfect, right? He has two batted balls in the air to the pull side all season. So that is where most of the damage comes for power hitters is to the pull side in the air. And then he's not getting that there. It's still pretty scary that he's got like an 818 OPS while not being optimized at all for hitting for power. Like this is all he's still striking out a ton, 31% for the season, still hitting the ball in less than optimal ways. And yet only two players have a higher average eggs of velocity.

Only two, three players have a higher average eggs of velocity to have a higher hard hit rate. James would. So I don't know, man. Is he going to be a top 36 pick next year? I was just thinking about this. I think it's eerily reminiscent to Ellie De La Cruz. Yeah, I think he's just going to be a super, super controversial player in drafts this season. If he gets pushed up into the second round range, I'm probably out. But it's really easy to see the case for it. Like you said, just look at Ellie Le Cruz, who was probably the most controversial player in draft season last year. And he's blowing away even a late first round valuation, if you had that on him.

So, yeah, James Wood is that kind of talent, not the same kind of athlete. Yeah. But 82nd percentile sprint speed, six stolen bases in 37 games. He's run 11 times in 37 games, too. so they're giving him the green light. Yeah, the ceiling here is sky, sky high. He does have to become more efficient on the base pads. It's very early in his career.

Six for 11. That's obviously not going to cut it. But, and let me be clear, when I say it's eerily reminiscent of Ellie De LaCruz, I don't think James Wood has the same skill set moving forward, like projecting long term. But in terms of what we're going to have entering next year is a pretty small sample size of a top-notch, prospect and I think people are going to be really, really excited.

And as a result, he's probably going to be drafted inside the first three rounds. You know, for all our talk about what a bad year it's been for rookies and how tough it's been. They're coming around now. Jackson, Merrill, Jackson Holiday, Jackson, Churio. We spent a lot of time talking about them last week because they put up huge numbers. Then James Wood, like, we might have four second year hitters inside the top 50 and ADP next year. It's entirely possible.

Yeah. And I heard you and Scott talk about this last week. I think the way that we should approach prospects moving forward, at least for the foreseeable future, because this is kind of the way it's gone in the past couple of years, is they get called up at first. They struggle. It takes them some time to adjust.

And then they, you know, they start to figure things out. And slowly but surely, you know, we start to see big numbers from these obviously highly touted and very talented players. So I'm not exactly sure off the top of my head who the top prospects who haven't debuted will be entering next season, but that should probably be our approach,

I think, for those players entering 2025. Did want to give a shout out to Juan Soto, who had the first three-homer game of his career, three-for-four, with a triple-dong, four RBI, and the overall numbers at this point, 306 batting average, 33 homers, 100-run scored, a 10-42 OPS. Juan Soto set his career high last year with 35 homers,

he's at 33 on August 14th. So I feel pretty good in saying we will have a new career high for Juan Soto again. He's fifth, I think, in average X velocity this season. It's just been a bonker season for Juan Soto as well. And to go back to the James Wood comment for just one, you said, who are the top prospects who haven't debuted yet, we're not going to have a Wyatt Lankford next year.

Unless like Travis Bazana or Charlie Condon. Yeah. Or maybe one of those Red Sox guys goes nuts in spring training. I'm looking at Scott's top prospects who hadn't debuted by midseason. Dylan Cruz, he's at AAA, but it's been a rocky start. I still have faith in him. Walker Jenkins probably not even going to get to AA this season. So probably not going to have any non-debued rookies getting pushed up draft boards

unless someone has a huge spread. What's going to be the weirdest part about it is I think the top prospect not to debut entering next year will be a pitcher. Jackson Joe. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And he might crash the rotation in spring training. Yep. All right. A quick reminder to sign up for the

FB2 newsletter if you haven't already. I know we're getting later into the season. It might be harder for people to catch the entire podcast. Obviously, we want you guys to stick around as long as you possibly can, but it might be easier for you to just consume the FB2 newsletter at this point in the season. So if you're watching on YouTube, scan the QR code

that will take you right to the website where you click on the FBT logo, you punch in your email address, and it's easy as that. You'll get a newsletter delivered right to your inbox every weekday for free. Let's take our first break. When we return,

some bad news on Jazz Chisholm, right after this. Welcome back in the news and notes, and Chris, my heart is broken because Jazz Chisholm has suffered a UCL injury in his left elbow and will most likely need a stay on the IL.

The Yankees are still waiting to determine the severity of the injury, which I guess it could span a mild sprain and he's back in a couple of weeks or he needs some kind of elbow surgery and might miss the start of next season as well. So it's a very wide range of outcomes moving forward here for Jess. Yeah, I mean, the good news if you had to look for some good news is that it's his left elbow, which is a non-throwing elbow. So if it was a significant injury, you would hope. hope that it's not going to be like, you know, I'm trying to think of a position player who had

Tommy John surgery recently in their throwing arm. Bryce Harper, who I guess actually came back very, very quickly. So maybe that's not the best example. But yeah, we just don't know. And it's a bummer because he's been really good since joining Yankees. I think he's been surprisingly solid at third base. So, yeah. So, yeah. Yeah, I, you know, Scott and I were just talking about it last week. I think Scott had moved Jazz Chisholm up to like his number seven or eight third baseman. I'm still recovering from hosting last week. So I only updated my Roto rankings today.

But he was number seven before this news. So definitely going to have to move him down. Hopefully not too far, though. Yeah, I was updating my infield rankings here on Tuesday. and I moved Jazz up to 8th at third base in Roto, and I believe 11th at third base and Head Dead points behind Bregman and Machado. I think those guys are a little bit better in that format. But, you know, if he has to go on the IL,

it's probably going to knock them down a few spots there as well. I guess if you want to look at a glass half full, someone like Riley Green had elbow surgery late in the season last year, and he was ready for opening day. And he's had a great year. So if you're thinking long term, if you have Jazz and a keeper or Dynasty League, that's glass half full,

but we still don't even know if he's going to need surgery or not. One name to watch in deeper leagues, assuming Jazz does go on the aisle, is Oswald Paraza, last 20 games at AAA, batting 320 with seven homers, 17 runs, 19 RBI, seven steals, and a 1094 OPS, still only 24 years old, and a former top prospect.

So just thought I would throw the name out there, the deepest of leagues. AL only, if you're playing a Dynasty League, maybe you take a shot there. on Oswald Paraza. Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw about 40 pitches during a bullpen on Tuesday and is scheduled to face hitters on Friday.

Ketel Marte was out of the lineup Tuesday with that bruised ankle and after the game, Tori Lvulo said Marte has a low-grade ankle sprain and his day-to-day. Sounds like he is not going on the IL. Christian Walker is no longer feeling the effects of his oblique strain and has begun

hitting off a T. I'm interested to see what the debacks will do once he returns just because Josh Bell has been red hot. Jock Peterson is hitting. I don't think they want to use Jack Peterson in the outfield, but it's a good problem to have.

Obviously Walker is going to play, but one of Josh Bell or Jack Peterson is going to have to lose playing time. Yeah, I mean, I guess Peterson could play a little left field. And, you know, Lord's Garell has been pretty bad since a really hot start to the season.

So maybe that's an option if Jock Peterson can play the outfield. But, yeah, it's going to be interesting to see because Josh Bell has seen his roster rate rise a ton over the last month. And that's, I don't think Christian Walker would stop being an everyday player when healthy. So yeah, it's going to be an interesting one to see. Ranger Suarez is tentatively lined up to rejoin the Phillies rotation during their August 23rd to 25th series in Kansas City. Suarez currently on the aisle with lower back soreness.

Justin Verlander will make his second rehab start at AA on. Thursday. He built up to 52 pitches in his first rehab outing. Riley Green will begin a rehab assignment at AAA on Thursday. He's on the IL with a right hamstring strain. Imaging on Byron Buxton's hip came back negative. Right hip discomfort forced him out of the lineup on Monday. He did not play on Tuesday. Mark Viantos has missed two straight due to left ankle soreness. I do think he appeared as a pinch hitter on Tuesday when I was

checking out that box score. J.D. Martinez left Tuesday's game with left with a left elbow contusion after getting hit by a 100 mile per hour fastball. Yeah, X-rays were negative on that one. And the Dodgers announced that River Ryan will require Tommy John surgery. And given the timing, that means he will likely miss all of 2025 as well. Are these two pitchers aces? Let's talk about it. Hunter Green keeps on rolling this time up against the Cardinals.

Seven innings, one run, eight strikeouts, had 16 whiffs on 106 pitches. The fastball was awesome in this. start 11 of his 16 whiffs, a 31% whiff rate, 33% CSW. Seven starts since the beginning of July for Hunter Green, a 0.98 ERA and a 0.70 whip. Michael King is the other name here. He was awesome up against the pirates, six shutout innings with 10 strikeouts to zero walks, 17 whiffs on 93 pitches. And he basically had a really bad March in April.

Remember, he made a few appearances in that series in Korea out of relief. and he was not good. He got off to a really, really slow start. 17 starts since the beginning of May. Michael King has a 254 ERA, a 107 whip, 121 strikeouts over 99 and a third innings. Chris, both of these guys might just be aces. What do you think?

Yeah, I think the only question that you have about King at this point is just how he holds up, right? You remember, he was moved into the rotation late last season. he has not thrown. I don't think he's thrown more than 100 innings in a season, Michael King since like 2019, if I'm remembering correctly. Let me make sure. He threw 104 and two thirds last year.

104 and two thirds. So he's already thrown more than any season since 2018 was the number. He threw 161 that year. Last year was the most he'd thrown since then. So don't know, you know, he's in uncharted territory here. don't know how he's going to respond. But I mean, you look at all the ERA estimators. He's got the strikeout right now up over 28% walk rate down below 9%.

Really good quality of contact metrics. One of the lowest average eggs of velocities in baseball. I believe he has the second lowest hard hit rate in baseball as well. That change up is just dynamite. It's one of the best pitches in baseball, arguably. So yeah, I think it's reasonable to be a lot. little skeptical and a little concerned about how, you know, maybe September is going to go for King.

But at a, in terms of pure quality of pitching, I don't really have any concerns about him at this point. I've, I've taken the hell on him twice. I was out on him in the preseason. I was double out on him after April. And, uh, he's made that look pretty stupid.

So way to go. Hell of season. And, uh, as for Hunter Green, here's the comp I can't get out of my head. And this is more 2025 focused. But I want to make this comp. And I've made it a few times. But in 2021, Dylan Seas had a 383 expected Wobon contact.

He was an elite strikeout pitcher, walked a bunch of guys. And it came out to a 391 ERA. 2022, remember he was one of the best pitchers in baseball. 220 ERA, 30% strikeout rate. His walk rate actually got worse in 2022 than it was in 2021. but his breakout was fueled by 313 expected Wobon contact, 70 points lower than 2021. 2023 walk rate right where it was the year before. Shrek rate went down a little bit, but the biggest problem was he went from

bad on quality of contact to elite on quality of contact right back to bad in 2023. And even this season, Dylan Cease has been phenomenal. I think it's in terms of talent, the best we've ever seen of him. His quality of contact is still pretty mediocre. And he's just gotten back to being an elite strikeout pitcher and has the best control of his career. So he's had to kind of remake himself to get back to an elite level. Hunter Green, 2023, pretty bad quality of contact metrics, 384.

2024, he's down to 307. That is one of the three lowest marks in Expected Wobo of Conflictive. on contact for any starting pitcher in the last five seasons. I don't know. Can he keep it up? He gets a lot of infield fly balls. He got five pop-ups today. That's one way to guarantee outs besides striking people out.

That's one way to guarantee your quality of contact is going to look really good. I wish I had a better feel for how he has gotten so much better in terms of the quality of contact he's allowed because it's mostly just the fact. Fastball has gone from a real problem to a real, real plus. And I, maybe it's the threat of the splitter is making the fastball play up, although he's had really good starts where he's barely thrown the splitter. So I don't know about that. You're obviously, you're just riding this hot streak out to the rest of the season.

And Hunter Green might ride this hot streak to an NL. Saia. He's absolutely in that conversation. whether he can keep it up that's a that's a tougher question I feel like I'm going to be out on Hunter Green in 2024 2025 after I was

in on him in 2024 are you comfortable saying Hunter Green will perform like an ace the rest of this season while still being cautious for 2025 yeah so I updated my roto rankings today and I moved Hunter Green

I thought I moved him into the top 15. So yeah, I feel like Hunter Green, absolutely I must start difference making type pitcher. Whether, yeah, I think it's fair to question whether he'll be able to keep that up next year. But the way he's going right now, yeah, I think it's worth betting on him the rest of the way. Yeah, and I'm just eyeballing it right now. I'm going to update the pitcher rankings on Wednesday. Blake's know I have way too low. He's going to jump inside the top 10.

But Hunter Green, I think he'll be inside the top 15. I think he deserves to be ahead of guys like Imanaga and Sunny Gray who have been, you know, up and down recently. Michael King probably should be a top 20 pitcher as well. Yeah. The one I struggled with was Hunter Green versus Framber Valdez. Who is having his own. Looks like he's back. Yeah.

Yeah, really arguably better than we've ever seen him with the curveball use. leading to a bunch of strikeout. So that's a, that's one, but I think you're splitting hairs one way or the other. Yeah. I haven't moved King into my top 30. I probably need to. Yeah. I had them at SP 27, even before I went on vacation.

So yeah, I think Michael King climbing inside the top 20 starting pitchers, rest of season. Let's fire up the Worryometer here on a Wednesday, 1 to 10. One, we are not worried at all 10. We are very worried about this player. And I've got six hitters here who have been struggling for some time. And first up is Will Smith. We actually had a good game here on Tuesday, three for four with his 16th home run. This was his first home run since July 6th.

In 22 games between homers, he hit 145 with a 30% strikeout rate and a 429 OPS. This could just be the ebbs and flows of a season. There could be more to it. Chris, what do you think? Will Smith on the Worryometer. Let me, so, yeah, his playing time hasn't really, I guess he's played a little more than last season. He's up to 96 games. He only played 126 last season.

So, you know, that would be my first thought when you're talking about a 29-year-old catcher who in the past has played almost every game and then, you know, has been a really high volume player. But maybe he just can't hold up to that kind of usage anymore. he's on pace for I don't know probably 130 games and that's a really high number for a catcher so that would be my first thought

as far as the wariometer I mean I feel like I can't go any higher than like a one because I can't tell like I don't know maybe if you picked up oh man I'm blanking

on the catch Austin Wells like if you picked up Austin Wells could you sit Will Smith while he's cold. Maybe. But I don't really think you want to, right?

Like that would be really hard to do. Especially with bets back in the Dodgers lineup. Yeah. So I think you probably just roll with him. And, you know, it hasn't been great. It's been tough. But there are so few catchers who aren't bad that I don't really worry too much about it. And the bar is just so low for a catcher, right?

I mean, if he hits 250 with 20 to 25 home runs and a near 800 OPS, that's still probably a borderline top five catchers. So, yeah, I think we got a little bit spoiled early on with Will Smith earlier in the season. Let's talk about another catcher. Francisco Alvarez 0 for 4 with a strikeout here on Tuesday. He has just one home run in his past 31 games. And during that stretch, a 208 batting average, 30% strikeout rate, 50% ground ball rate, a sub 600 OPS.

he did deal with some shoulder soreness in late July so perhaps that has been lingering a little bit here. His career is still a small sample overall, Chris, but what we've seen is he gets really hot and he gets really cold. Francisco Alvarez. Where is he on the worryometer? This is one that I think not only is it reasonable to be worried about him, it's reasonable to just move on. In one catcher leagues. In one catcher leagues. In two catcher leagues, probably. will we not, but I think I have, I think I have a one, a two catcher league where I did bench him this week.

It's not crazy. Yeah. Yeah, I started Adrian Del Castillo and Travis Darno over him because Darno's been really hot. Del Castillo's looked really good in his early playing time. That's not to say I think either of those guys should be ranked ahead of Francisco Alvarez, because I don't, but like the gap between him. him and Tyler Stevenson and Austin Wells, I think, has probably just disappeared. And if you wanted to rank those guys ahead of him and even drop him for either of those guys,

I think it'd be reasonable. And he's not the only catcher in that range who's struggled. Logan O'Hoppy has cooled down a lot as well. So I think those two have come back to the pack. And there's like a top eight probably because Wilson Contreras has been awesome. Yes. coming back from his injury. I think that's all fair.

And when updating the rankings, actually moved Tyler Stevenson and Shea Langalears ahead of Francisco Alvarez. Langalears went four for four with two doubles and his 22nd home run here on Tuesday. 22 homers tied for... I did not realize it was... Tied for second most among catchers.

So Langalear's 64% rostered in one catcher leagues. Totally fine making that swap Alvarez for Langaleers. Let's talk about Bryce Terang. for four with a strikeout last 31 games he is betting 144 with two extra base hits five steals a 54% ground ball rate he's still 95%

rostered I get holding him in the categories league because you know if he gets hot again he just runs so often in a points league I mean what is Bryce Sarang giving you right now where is he on the worryometer I think it's fully context dependent I think in a roto league it's probably still

reasonable to view him as like a top 150 play overall and that's where I have him in my overall rankings but in a points league yeah I think uh Bryce trying is pretty easy to drop actually so yeah I'm I'm cool with that the problem is second base is just a wasteland it's not great you get past bets and altouvae and semyon and can tell martay when he's healthy and semians I still have a lot of confidence him in him but he's not a top 25 player anymore, you know, based on what he's done this season. I still think he'll be very good. But yeah, there's a big drop off between those guys to the point where Jackson Holiday might

be the number six, number five second baseman now. It's not crazy. I moved Holiday up to 12, but I have Bogart's at five. I have Mike Hill Garcia at six. I mean, yeah, he's been. It doesn't feel good. I guess he's turning it around, but he's also batting out and, at the bottom of the lineup.

If you wanted to use someone, like, we have had some players emerge recently. Jackson Holiday, Brandon Lowe has been great. Xavier Edwards, Tyler Fitzgerald. If you wanted to use one of those players over a Bryce Terang, even drop Bryce Terrang for one of them and a Shilternly,

I think it's totally fine. What about the same for Jake Cronoward, who is struggling so far in the second half? 208 batting average with one homer and a 590 OPS. What do you think here on Cronerworth? He was one of those guys. early on in the season, remember he got off to a great start.

I kind of moved him up into like the 120 range in my overall rankings. And then, and that meant he was like a top 12 second baseman and like 15th at first base. And I think he's, is he eligible in another position? Either way. Yeah, first base. And then I just didn't really think about it. And then today when I was updating my rankings, I was like, I haven't really thought about Jake Croninworth in a while.

And then I went and looked and it's been pretty rough. So I'm going to say a six in terms of worryometer. I did move him down to like, he's my 18th second baseman. But a lot of the guys above him are pretty bad too. So I don't really have a lot of like confidence in Christopher Morel or Glaber Torres. Anyway. So if that's too low, that's fine. but Jay Kernanworth, not someone I'm viewing as a must-start player at this point.

Let's go into the outfield here and two higher-end names to have struggled recently. Brandon Nimmo, O for four with two strikeouts. He's really cold off in the second half, 145 batting average with zero homers, a 461 OPS, nearly a 30% strikeout rate. Chris, where is Brandon Nimmo on the Worryometer? I would say pretty low, like a two or a three. I didn't really buy into him as, you know, like the elite hitter that he looked like for a stretch there in around July. But he's rock solid.

And I think he'll turn it around. You know, he's not a 227 hitter like his season. I think, you know, something like 260, 265 is probably more reasonable. So not too worried. What about Luis Robert? One for four with an RBI and two strikeouts struggling big time in the second half. 129 batting average, one home run. He does have six steals.

but a 371 OPS, 42 strikeouts in 88 plate appearances in the second half. That is a 48% strikeout rate. He might just be disinterested, right? It's like, you're on the White Sox, one of the worst teams in history. This is like, what are you doing, right? So I don't know. Where is Luis Robert on the Worryometer? I've been hesitant to move him down as much as I'm sure the people listening want me to.

I still have him ranked, I believe, is a top 25 outfielder. That's a lot of faith, though. That's not like a, oh, I feel super confident in this guy. It's just, I know he's talented. I know he's been an elite. I mean, he played like a first rounder last year. So I don't want to give up on that guy, but it's been really bad for a really long time.

And yeah, it might just be that he's on a horror, horrible, horrible team. And not that he's dogging it, but just like that stuff can get to you. You know, Elo Jimenez has talked about that after getting traded. And like, it's,

that's hard to get out of your head sometimes. And so it wouldn't be a surprise if he continued to play very poorly, not this poorly, not a 50% strikeout rate like he's had since the all-star break. But, you know, gets traded this off season.

Let's cross our fingers. Let's pray. whatever you do, light some candles. And if he has a huge season in 2025, I would not be surprised by that at all. But yeah, it's pretty bad right now. I think you got to be like a seven or eight. Do you think he's drovable in three outfielder leagues?

Three outfielder leagues, sure, yeah, because that's his worst format anyway. And even if he gets hot, counting stats are going to be hard to come by in that lineup. So I think that's reasonable. I think I would have trouble doing it. but I get it. Again, that is Luis Robert.

Let's take our final break. And when we return, we'll move into some waiver wire options right after this. Welcome back in. Let's talk about some waiver wire pitchers. Two names that could be out there in shallower leagues. Jake Irvin bounced back with a quality start at the Orioles. Six innings, two runs with three strikeouts.

He still gave up 10 hard hits in this one. And the previous six starts entering this, they were a mess for Jake Irvin. 682 ERA 152 whip And the other name is Shane Boz who turned in a quality start up against the Astros Seven innings, three runs, six strikeouts Give up two homers in this one

Had 12 whiffs, seven of those came on the fastball He's still searching for the breaking pitches He's just not getting whiffs on those Like he has in years past Again, that's Shane Boz It's hard for me to muster much enthusiasm For either one of these guys right now Chris, what do you think about Shane Boz

and Jake Irvin? It's a lot easier for me to muster enthusiasm about boss than Irvin. If you are the madman, mad person who started Jake Irvin against the Orioles today after giving up a 682 ERA in his previous six starts, congratulations. Evil Knievel, but you should probably not do it again because he was really lucky, I think, to get away from this one with the results that he did. only three strikeouts and six innings, 10 hard hit balls, like you said. I just, I don't want to say it's over, but the skill set always felt pretty fringy,

even when the results were good. And so I think this is a, Tyler Anderson's not the best example because he's actually gotten better as the season's gone on in a lot of ways. But a lot of what we said about him where, yeah, it's fine to use him when things are going well,

but it should be pretty easy to let go when things aren't. That's how I feel about Jake Irvin. Let's talk about Zebby Matthews, who made his debut for the Twins, and he was facing the Royals, five innings, two runs, had five strikeouts to zero walks, only six whiffs on 77 pitches, gave up a good amount of hard contact in this one. Through five pitches, but mostly a three pitch makes 49% fastball usage, 21% slider, 19% cutter. He threw 64% of his pitches for strikes, was having a breakout season in the minors.

We've talked a lot about Matt. Matthews recently, 24% rostered. Would you be looking to add him after seeing the debut here? I think it's like he's only 24% rostered. So in some deeper leagues, I think where he's available, it's fine to add him. This is one of the ones where I wish Scott was on because I know he likes Zebby Matthews more and might be able to give the more optimistic take. But I just elite control if he stuff is not a profile that I tend to bet on. And maybe that's not giving Zeb Matthews enough credit.

Shrek out rates were very good in the miners and the command is legitimately excellent. I mean, the one thing I think is interesting is he only, he didn't have any walks allowed in this one. Despite, I think he only threw like 43% of his pitches in the strike zone, which tells me that he is really good at painting. you know like finding the corners of strike zones living in the shadow zone finding ways to get strikes without living in the strike zone and that's what you have to do when you get hit hard and so maybe he can do that but one of the reasons why i'm having trouble getting too optimistic is also just the twins they've been very careful with a lot of their young pitchers simeon wood richardson louis varland when he's been in there a couple other guys they just don't go more

than five innings very often. This is a team that's really not letting their young guys see the third time through the order. So I just don't know how much upside there is for Sebi Matthews, even though I think he'll be, you know, he could be pretty good. I think Spencer Aragutti is the clear most added and top priority on the waiver wire right now. And then you get into a group that has Jose Soriano and maybe someone like Tyler Malley who's done some interesting things so far. where would you put Matthews in that group of three, Chris? Soriano, Malley, Matthews. I think I'd go third.

Although Malley, I do wonder if, you know, we've seen a lot of guys coming back from elbow injuries, not finding their sliders right away, and that's what we've seen from Malley, and it might just be, you know, he doesn't have, I think he has one swinging miss on his slider and two starts. So it might be tough for him to figure it out on the fly like this. I will say,

I might prefer Matthew Boyd to Zemmy Matthews. I don't know. I don't hold me to that. But I'm kind of interested in Matthew Bull, which is like the most famous last words utterance of a fantasy analyst of all time. Yep. And that's exactly where we're going next. Two names in deeper leagues.

Welcome back to Matthew Boyd, who's now pitching for the Guardians. And he had a solid start up against the Cubs, five in a third innings, one run, six strikeouts, had 12 whiffs on 80 pitches here, and he made five starts in the minors. He looked great in those five starts, a 0.83 ERA and a 0.65 whip.

The other name here is Valenti Belozo of the Marlins. He pitched a gem at the Phillies through seven shutout innings with four strikeouts, and three strong starts in a row, a 102 ERA, a 0.91 whip. Minor league numbers look pretty pedestrian to me. But Chris, give me your thoughts here on Matthew Boyd and Beloso. Feel free to throw this in my face if he keeps going like this, but I have no interest in Valente

Belzo. Great start. Really nice run for a team that badly needs something to be optimistic about on the pitching side this year. But I really don't see any reason to think he's even a league average pitcher moving forward. So I would leave him for all but and I'll only leagues. Boyd is interesting. Like you mentioned, the minor league rehab starts were excellent. The Guardians are a team with a well-deserved organizational reputation for maximizing pitching. And I thought he looked pretty good. You know, three plus whiffs on the fastball slider and change up in this one.

You're going to get strikeouts at least. It might come with a five ERA. but I just, I think there's a little more upside there with Boyd than with certainly Belozo, but even Zebi Matthews. And I do want to rectify the pronunciation there. I figured it might have been Bayozo, which is. Okay, yeah, that makes sense. Which is how you pronounce the name there for the pitcher on the Marlins. Yeah, we'll see where it goes from here with Matthew Boyd. He's always had strikeout appeal, but home run problems have always caught up to Matthew Boyd. widely available.

You gave up like 43 homers one year. Am I right? Yeah. That sounds right. Yeah. So I wouldn't doubt it. But yeah, deeper leagues, let's give them a look and we'll see.

9 in 2019. Do we need to hold on to any of these pitchers? Eric Fetty has struggled in his last four starts. Three of those came with the Cardinals so far. He was at the red, six innings, four runs, only two strikeouts. And last four starts, it's a 585 ERA, a 140 with. But the overall numbers still look fine.

He's, I think, over 80% rostered. Chris is Eric Fetty, someone you need to hold on to. No, like we mentioned, I can't remember who it was. Jake Gervin. Yeah. This is exactly the type of pitcher who, when things are going well, it's perfectly fine to roster them. But the underlying skill set is not so strong that I think you're going to really regret dropping him.

Now, don't just drop him for anyone. If there's someone like, none of the guys, like, is Spencer Arrigetti's out there, I would drop Eric Fetty for him. Yeah, I agree with that. I don't really know about Matthew Boyd or Zebby Matthews or any of the other guys we talked about. Like, I, that might just depend on whose next matchup is best. Yep. What about Cutter Crawford who earned the win, but he's been bad for about a month now.

Up against the Rangers, five and a third innings, four runs allowed, four strikeouts, only through 67 pitches in this start. He has not completed six innings since July 13. And last five starts for Crawford, a 975 ERA, a 146 whip, and he's still 87% rostered. Chris, do you need to hold on to Cutter Crawford? No, no. I think this is another one that it's perfectly fine. I've got a decision to make in one of my leagues, and I'm hoping we get some more information the rest of the week before Sunday's waiver wire run, because I'm going to have to drop one of Ben Rice.

Jordan Walker or Cutter Crawford or maybe David Bednar in this league. And I don't really want to drop any of them. I think there's, it's a keeper league as well. So I don't want to like lose keeper value on some of them. But like Crawford's definitely in that conversation and for good reason. Yeah. Our apologies. If you started Paul Blackburn, I started him in a few spots. This was a, uh, no, not a good start. Don't put like, it's your team. You hit submit. Don't put that on us. Well, we did recommend him. But he did not get his revenge up against the Oakland A's four innings, seven runs, six of those earned. One of the most added pitchers this week because of the matchups, up to 73% rostered. Is it fine to drop Paul Blackburn? Yeah, I mean, a big part of why we were adding him this week was one, he had two solid starts since joining the Mets, which is a very small sample size.

And two, he had two starts this week. So there's a decent chance you were dropping him. them even if they were good starts. So yeah, I think that's fine. And the last name on this list is Gavin Stone, who picked up his first win since that complete game shutout against the White Sox way back on June 26th. And you know what grinds my gears kiss?

I don't want to go on too much of a rant here. But for all the people who tune into the podcast early in the season, they follow their fantasy baseball team for like two or three months. Then football starts up. They tune out. they never get to see when things catch up right and everyone's trying to pressure us into you got to move gavinstone up your rankings you got to move ranger swarez up your rankings and then eventually things even out and those people are not around when things start to even out so like set lego is another example things are kind of falling apart for him and we do this every year there's always a handful of pitchers who are way outperforming their career but also their underlying stats.

And we always try to come up with explanations for why and say, ah, but this, usually it doesn't work out, but this time it might. And generally speaking, if a player is outperforming their peripherals, you should bet on them regressing. And we're seeing a lot of that lately. That's all I will say. Previous six starts for Gavin Stone before picking up this win, a 691 ERA, a 190 whip, 6.3K per 9, 6.36 FIP.

He hasn't, like, the overall numbers are still fine, 363 ERA and a 128 whip, but, you know, for the past month and a half, he really hasn't been that usable at all. So just thought I throw that out there. He's 84% rostered. Do you need to hold on to Gavinstone? I think I would hold on to him ahead of Cutter Crawford or Eric Fetty or Paul Blackburn.

but that doesn't like you probably don't have all four of those pitchers on your staff. So he might be your most dropable. And I think given the mediocre strikeout rate, pretty bad way. I mean, 128 whip is not great. Yeah, I think Gavin Stone's a fairly easy drop if you need a spot. Let's talk some waiver wire hitters. And who would you rather have? I asked Scott this question yesterday, Jake Burger or Junior Camerero?

Berger did it again. One for four with a walk and his 23rd home run. He had two hard hits in this game, both over 107 exit velocity. Updated numbers since the start of July for Berger. It's 311 batting average with 16 home runs. He is 79% rostered. And Junior Camerro did make his return to the raise. Believe he was batting sixth in the lineup.

One for four with three strikeouts. His only ball in play, 116.3 miles per hour off the bat, which is just insane. Chris, who would you prefer Jake Berger or Junior Camerro? So part of me is like, well, Junior Camerre could be anything. He could even be Jake Burger. Junior Camerre is much more talented than Jake Berger, right? Like the raw power is comparable. And the fully realized version of Junior Camerra, there's no question. He should be a much more consistent contact hitter than Jake Berger. So Burger's 79% roster Junior Caminaro 72%. So I guess there are some leagues where you could, in theory, drop Burger to add Camineiro.

What I will say is this. You have a worse hitter than Jake Berger right now. You have someone who is helping you less than Jake Berger if you want to pick up junior Camerero. So I would rather have Burger. Yeah. Yeah, the same. I hope my rankings reflect that. I move Burger up to my 13th ranked, my 19th ranked third baseman, excuse me,

and Caminero up to 21st at third base. Similar to me, yeah, I'm a little lower on both, but probably don't need to be. The one name in between is Nolan Aronado, which I don't really know what to do with anymore. He's kind of turning it around lately. He homered today. His OPS is up to 700, I think 717 now. Ugh. But yeah.

No, he, to be fair. He, yeah, he has an 855 OPS in August. The problem is it's only one home run. So, yeah, I'd rather have both than Aeronado, I think, even though my rankings don't reflect that. Maybe I need to change my rankings. All right. Some names that could be options in 12-team Roto League.

So going a little bit deeper into the player pool, Jake McCarthy is on fire. Three for five with two RBI. He was batting second against a lefty. here on Tuesday, and in the second half, he's batting 3991 with three homers, 17 RBI, four steals, and a 1084 OPS. Max Kepler picking things up in the second half as well. He went three for five with his eighth home run, added 4 RBI.

Gavin Lux has quietly been pretty good for some time now. Last 22 games for Lux, 362, four homers, 17 RBI, one steel, in OPS over a thousand. Chris, how would you rank those names in terms of just, priority. I know they don't play the same position, but McCarthy, Kepler, and Gavin Lux. I think in a roto league, I would go with McCarthy at the top. Then probably Kepler ahead of Lux, just because I think he's a better hitter. But Lux is one of these guys that we've talked about a little bit who have seen their bat speed increase in the second half. And that has coincided with him hitting a lot better. Who would have known? Trying to hit the ball hard works for some players, I guess.

But I just think like between platoon questions and not really believing in the overall skill set, I'd go Kepler and McCarthy ahead of Lux. Would you take McCarthy over Kerry Carpenter, who we spoke about earlier? No. I would rather have Carpenter. Yeah. All right. Three names in deeper leagues. Andres Chaparro made his nationals debut, three for four with three doubles, two runs, and an RBI. He started at first base. He hit sixth in the lineup. 25 years old was having

a great season in the minors. He's only three percent rostered. Jonah Bride has been hitting for the Marlins, one for two with three walks and an RBI. He has started 16 games in a row mostly batting cleanup. And since being recalled on July 25th, 281 batting

average, four homers, 11 RBI, and OPS over 900 for Jonah Bride. and Will Wagner son of Billy Wagner 2 for 4 with 2 RBI He had two hard hits in this game One of them 109.1 exit velocity

Which I thought was kind of interesting Chris deep league stuff here 15 team Roto I was gonna Yeah a LNO only Any interest Chaparro bride and Will Wagner So one I want to shout out

At D Keeling D-D Keeling 3 on Twitter who sent me a team name Tuesday that I want. I was hoping both you and Scott would be on because I can't imagine either one of you get this reference, but we'll see. Chapar Rhone, no?

No. H-O-T-O-G. No, you don't know that one? One of the breakout stars of music summer, Chapel Rhone. I thought that was a fun team name. Yeah, I guess a fantasy baseball podcast is not the target audience for Chapparone, but she's great. He is by far the most interesting of these three. And that's not to say that I don't have any interest in the other two because I think they're mildly interesting.

Jonah Bride actually has decent minor league numbers. He's just very old. So we overlook it. But Chapparo had a really good season in the minors. It was his second turn through AAA. He's a 25-year-old. So I get why. people are writing it off, but it's just worth pointing out that the nationals have had a lot of success

with this type of player in the past few seasons. And this is one of the, one of the benefits of being a bad team. Is if you're creative and smart, you cycle through a bunch of interesting quad A players and hope that you get Elaine Thomas or a Jacob Young or a Wanya Pez or a couple years ago, Joey Menassus. Like, these are unlikely to be long-term contributors, but they've shown the ability to hit at the highest level like Shapiro has. And I think he's a, I think he's a pretty interesting deep league target. All right. Let's get into the leftovers and take a look at some pitchers. First up, Terrick Scuba was great once again, up against the Mariners.

Six innings, one run, nine strikeouts there. Kevin Gosman has pitched better recently this time at the Angel seven shutout innings with five strikeouts. Last seven starts for Gosman, a 317 ERA, and a 112 whip. Yusei Kikuchi has pitched well since joining the Astros. He was at Tampa Bay, five and two-thirds innings with one run, five strikeouts, and three starts with Houston. It's a 270 ERA, 0.96 whip, 24 strikeouts over 16 and two-thirds innings.

Chris, anything to add on Kukuchi, Gossman, and Scoobo. Scoobo is the best pitcher in baseball? Yep. And he's going to win the American League Sall Young. Am I forgetting anyone? That shouldn't be a hot take, right? Kevin Gosman is just a guy.

I'm not dropping him just on the off chance that he picks up a mile and a half per hour on his fastball and rediscovers his previous form. But he's just, he hasn't looked right all season. The splitter is not the difference making pitch. It's been in the past. And I just think he's a decent pitcher to have a round,

but not a much. must start pitcher and Kukuchi sort of the same. The change that he's made since getting to the Astros has been to fade the curveball, prioritize both the slider and change up at different points. Today it was the slider through 32% of the time. I think he's solid. I think he's got big upside. There will be some ugly stretches because that's you say Kikuchi, but I think on the whole you'll be happy to have him around. Two pitchers who bounce back, Nester Cortez was awesome up against the White Sox. He threw seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts.

And he did change the pitch mix a little bit in this one. He threw more sweepers and changeups. His change up has actually low-key been really good this year. So I wonder if that can maybe help Nestor Cortez get back on track. And Charlie Morton bounced back up against the Giants, six innings, two runs with eight strikeouts, had 14 whiffs on 98 pitches. When his curveball is working,

I think he's still capable of these starts. they're just fewer and farther between now at his advanced age and there's a lot more inconsistency at this point. Was this enough from either pitcher to consider not dropping them? Charlie Morton is he still like 85% rostered because he has struck me as probably the most over-roastered pit 87% roster. He might be a two-star pitcher this week, but he, yeah, there's just been no reason for him to be that highly rostered at any point this season. And like the argument for him coming into the season was you're going to get a lot of strikeouts and a lot of wins. Well, you're not going to get a lot of wins because the Braves are just a decent team and not a great one. And strikeouts have been inconsistent. So I, I don't really think Charlie Morton needs. I think if he was 50% rostered, that might be too much. So I'm fine dropping him even with a good start. Nestor Cortez, I kind of lean towards, to paraphrase our friend Nick Pollack, blame it on the white socks.

It's just, they're a disaster. And outside of Monday, pretty much any pitcher can do well against them. Yeah, I think that's fair. Last name on this list is Seth Lugo, who got rocked at the twins, four innings, eight runs, seven earned, and he's starting to show some cracks. last six starts here for Lugo. It's a 573 ERA, a 125 whip. Strikeout rate is way down during that stretch as well.

It kind of feels like this is just the regression coming here, Chris. Even with all these bad starts, it's a 304 ERA on the season for Seth Lugo. Yeah, I think that ERA is going to end up over 3.5 before the end. I think he's fine, but I thought he was fine all season. And yeah, I think a 3-5 to 4 ERA, not a lot of strikeouts. I think he's a decent pitcher, but not a difference maker for fantasy. Some hitting leftovers, Nico Horner has been running wild lately. Two-for-four with two steals.

In his last 15 games, he's batting 302 with eight steals. Alex Breggman has homered in four straight. Vlad Jr. hit another homer, his 24th home run. He is now the number one first baseman in head-to-head points and Roto. kind of wonder if we should be ranking him that way at this point. He's been really good for a long time now. Well, did you do it? That is where I rank him.

I think the more interesting question is where does Vladimir Guerrero Jr. rank at third base where he is eligible in fantasy. There have been some weird eligibility things. That happened. Christopher Morales, second base eligible now. Yeah, Jazz Chisholm, third base eligible. I, in Roto, I, in Roto, I, still have Vlad 4th at third base because Jose Ramirez, Gunner, Henderson,

Nelly, De La Cruz. Those guys are pretty good. Yeah. But I think we're going to have, if Vladimir Guerrero keeps this up, we're going to have a conversation about whether he should be a first rounder next season. And I may be leaning towards ranking it that way right now. I still have him fifth, but Vlad versus Devers is really close. That's an interesting one. They're both awesome and, you know, Devers, the batting average isn't as high, but he gives you more power. So it's, you know, a given take of what kind of skill set you want between Vlad and Raphael Devers. Last name on this list, Zach Netto, three for four with his 20 second steel. Chris, you tell me if I'm crazy.

I moved Netto up to my 12th rank shortstop in Rodo, 13th and head toad points. Let me see how high I moved Zach Netto. Not quite that high. He is 16th, but it was. wouldn't take much to get him to 12. So you have him ahead of Jackson Holiday. I have him, yes, ahead of. I think that's reasonable.

I didn't do that, but maybe I should. Yeah, I can definitely see that. I can see the case for it for sure. We've talked about Zach Netto a ton over the last week, but he is now a top 40 overall player in Roto leagues. He's top six in points since May 1st. 10 overall. He's been at shortstop. He's been just phenomenal. And yeah, it might not be too much. Some bullpen updates for the Reds. Alexis Diaz walked one but picked up his 24th save for the

Guardians, a manual class A, picked up his 37th save. I read somewhere he has four saves. Four saves and four days. Four days. That is the first time since someone in some year. but that's all I have to offer. Yeah, Class A now tied for the league lead with Ryan Helds a 37 saves on the season. For the Astros, Josh Hader struck out one for his 26th save. For the Red Sox, Kenley Jansen

recorded the final four outs for his 22nd. For the Yankees, Clay Holmes was unavailable. Tommy Canley entered with two outs in the eighth inning runners on first and third, a three-run lead. He got Andrew Benintending to ground out. Tommy Canley came back out for the ninth inning. He gave up a walk and a double.

He was relieved by Jake. Cousins who got the final three outs for his first save. And I think Cousins is just a name to watch because he does have good numbers, really big strikeout rate. His career numbers, a 285 ERA, 12.4K per 9. The walks are bad. It looks like their best reliever lately. Yeah, so just a name to watch there, Jake Cousins with the Yankees.

By the way, Emmanuel Class A, if he overtakes Helsley, he will. Lead the league and saves three straight seasons. Wow. That's pretty bonkers. I don't know the answer to this trivia question, but who is the last reliever to do that? You know, I'm sure I could find it if I really wanted to. Maybe Krod, Gagne, I don't know.

I don't know. That's a good picks. For the Rockies, Victor Vodnick got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He gave up two runs on two walks and two hits. Took his third blown save and third loss. For the Padres, Robert Suarez got the ninth inning with a three-run lead. He gave up a hit. but picked up his 27th save.

And for the Braves, Reisel Iglesias pitched a clean 10th inning for his 25th save of the season. To stream or not to stream on Wednesday, and Chris, shield your eyes because this list is pretty gross. It's not many great options, but Jordan Montgomery gets the Rockies in Arizona.

Martine Perez, revenge game against the pirates. Dean Kramer against the Nationals, James and Tyone at the Guardians. Tyler Phillips gets the Marlins. David Peterson gets the A's, Grant Holmes at the Giants. Anybody stand out? Sorry,

I was trying to figure out who the last pitcher to lead the league in three years in a row was. Craig Kimbril led the NL four years in a row, but did not lead the majors. So I'm back to like the 60s and I haven't found one. So, yeah, that's pretty fun.

Gosh, okay. I could see good performances from anyone against the White Sox. So we'll throw Will Warren on that list. He is anyone. Alex Cobb against the Cubs. I don't feel super confident in it. DJ Hertz at Baltimore. I don't feel super confident in it.

Martine Perez revenge game. I don't hate Jordan Montgomery versus Colorado. I don't hate this group. I don't necessarily love it. But I could see some good starts tomorrow. Yeah. If I had to choose. some actual names.

It's risky. You shouldn't do it, but I think I would go with Montgomery or Martine Perez on Wednesday. Then on Thursday, we have a smaller slate, but Jose Canton against the Oakland A's. Tobias Myers has pitched well, but he gets the Dodgers. Mitchell Parker at the Phillies. The Phillies lineup has just stopped hitting.

Yeah, it's been a problem. Yep. And then your boy, Cody Bradford, gets the twins. I think I like Wednesday more than Thursday. Which I guess isn't surprising. given there are only seven games on Thursday, but we didn't love Wednesday, so that tells you something. Yeah, if I had to choose two names on Thursday, I'll go with Kentana and Cody Bradford.

We are going to wrap there for Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify, and we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. I don't think anyone's ever had the Major League League League three years in a row. You know,