Fantasy Baseball Today - Gerrit Cole Bounce Back, CJ Abrams Demoted & Start or Sit Decisions (9/23 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 23, 2024

Joe Musgrove has been money since returning (5:16). ... Gerrit Cole bounced back with a huge start (9:30). ... Jonathan Aranda has homered in three straight (11:44). ... Shohei Ohtani will not stop hitting and Reid Detmers had an awful week (16:35). ... News (21:08): the Nationals demoted CJ Abrams on Saturday. ... How might we rank Tyler Glasnow in 2025 (26:20)? ... Any interest in MacKenzie Gore and Nick Martinez in the final week (38:16)? ... How do we rank these waiver wire outfielders (49:16)? ... Start or sit pitchers like Mitch Keller, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and others (51:50)? ... Anthony Volpe is a confusing one for 2025 (1:00:38). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (1:04:21). 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. Here we are our final week of the season. Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Monday, September 23rd. I am Frank Stample, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers today on the show.

We have WaverWire streamers for the final week. Big bounce back from Garrett Cole, start or sip decisions. I have two confusing players for 2025. I'm sure there are many more than two, but we'll focus on those names and much more before we get started. Scott, I saw you went out to the ballpark this weekend. Indeed. Pretty good one.

Your Braves against Chris's Marlins. How was that? Yeah, that was Saturday's game where the Braves won six to two. Took two out of three from the Marlins. nice that they took three out of three. A lot of, that would have taken a little bit of the pressure off. So they head into the final week, two games

behind both the Mets and the Diamondbacks for that final wild card spot, throughout three teams competing for two spots and a three game series coming up against the Mets. So, probably need to sweep,

realistically. I think they can, they could maybe lose one. and still have a chance. I'm talking about for the entire week, one of the six games they're playing and have a chance. But no, they've definitely made a mess for themselves, and this will be an important series against the Mets,

so we'll see how it goes. But yeah, fun day at the ball yard, probably the most successful baseball game trip my family has taken. The boys are really into it now. And you can probably get like $4 seats right behind home plate. I mean, yeah, we were pretty close to the action for sure. Not right behind home plate.

Like you couldn't see us from, you couldn't, like we weren't in the background on the TV. But I did go back and look at the broadcast, actually. I wanted to listen to see if you could hear us chanting Ozzy for Ozzy Albies in the eighth inning when he was up. And you could. You could hear us on the broadcast. It was pretty amazing. Nice.

My kids love that. That is awesome. Yeah. The final week, we've got some pretty. tight races in both wild card spots you mentioned the National League the A hell wild card basically coming down to three AL central teams and the Seattle Mariners so we've got four teams battling for two spots Orioles are are pretty much in there well I guess it's not automatic yet but yeah I'm pretty sure they will be

some tight races should be a fun final week of the season but let's jump in oh my good goodness gracious oh my Chris your player of the weekend my player of the week I went to rock a Beach on Saturday, by the way. Nobody cares. How is that? That was what I did. It's kind of cold to go to the beach, no?

Yeah, my friend was in a parade. So we went to the beach and sat on the sand. It was nice. I had a lobster roll. Who doesn't love a lobster roll? Frank's never had a lobster roll. I've never had a lobster roll. Yeah, I know.

You have a shellfish allergy? No, I like shellfish. I like lobster. I think it's fine. Give it a try. I don't know why. I just, I don't know. I feel like I haven't been in the right position to get one,

but yeah, I could change that. The right position for a lobster roll is anytime a lobster roll. Anyway, my, oh my goodness gracious player of the weekend is Joe Musgrove, who I think is, I don't want to say one of the most interesting or difficult players

to rank 42025 because I think the stakes are pretty low. Nobody's going to rank him all that high. And even if you do want him, I would be shocked at Joe Musgrove's not going to be a, top 50 SP in ADP next year, right? I can see him. He will. He's been awesome since returning.

I agree. He's been great. I just, I feel like. With his track record, I think he'll be 32 year old. 32 year old coming off an elbow injury who, uh, who's looked great has looked great for sure.

I just didn't throw a lot of innings in 2023. I, I just feel like maybe I'm wrong. I, I, I imagine myself, ranking him in my top 50. I think I'm too. Yeah.

Because that is now four straight games with at least seven strikeouts. That is six quality starts in his last five quality starts in his last six since coming back from that injury. Remember, we were talking about like,

we didn't know if Joe Musker like, sure, add him, but we didn't really have any expectations coming off of bone spurs and his elbow. And I was talk about remakes. making his delivery. Yeah. I don't know if that actually happened.

But he's been... Clearly, he silenced the doubters, in which included us. 32 strikeouts, three walks in 22 in the third innings in the month of September, 242 ERA, 094 whip.

Very similar numbers overall since coming back from the IL. He's just been outstanding. He's made some changes to his approach this season. He's basically ditched his slider, replaced it with more of a sweeper. Seems to have been a decent pitch,

but not necessarily like a game breaker. It's just kind of same old Joe Musgrove for the most part since coming back. And I think he's someone that I'm pretty excited to draft for next season. If I'm right and his price ends up being pretty cheap, I would think, I don't know, maybe top 50, probably not top 40.

You might be able to get him as like your SP3 or 4. That's what I was saying. That's before 5. And I'd be pretty excited about that. Knowing that there is obviously some significant injury risk involved. He was only the number 39 pitcher last year. I would assume there were about 10 closers, so probably around 30. So in my rest of season rankings, which I understand we're going to get some injured pitchers back and everything.

I have Musgrove 39th, and the couple guys I have ahead of him, Brian Wu, Mitch Keller, I'm not sure deserved to be ahead of him. Let's see, Kevin Gosman's ahead of him to Ranger Suarez. I kind of think I'd rather have Musgrove than all those guys next year.

Gosman versus Musgrove's a really interesting one for next year because like, Gosman stayed healthy after the early season scare. What was a back issue for him, Nick? Yeah, whatever, however different their injury risk is and I'm not sure it's that different, but however different it is, however much of an advantage Gosman has there, I'd rather, I'd rather invest in the guy who I feel like his skills haven't diminished, which is Musgrove. Yeah, I think Gosman was dealing with a shoulder in spring

training, which kind of set him back, which is also pretty worrisome, right? A shoulder for Gosman and the elbow for Joe Musgrove. How about for this upcoming week, Chris? Musgrove is currently 62% started on CBS. He's at the Dodgers, which... I mean, I think he's pretty fringe. Like, I'm not going to say you can't start him. But it's worry. It's not, it's a bad matchup, obviously. So I don't think he's a must start, but I think he's not.

I think I would be okay using him against the Dodgers. Like, I know it's a terrible matchup, but yeah, when Musgrove's at his best, kind of like he is right now, he's almost a must start pitcher. So I think I'd be okay with it. It's not, it probably depends on who else you have on your team. But yeah, I don't think it's a must sit by any means. there for Joe Musgrove. Let's talk about Gary Cole who bounced back with a huge start. What do you know? He doesn't face Boston and he has an amazing outing up against the Oakland A's,

which is still a pretty good matchup. Nine innings was not a complete game because the game went into extra endings, but two hits, one earned run, seven strikeouts in that one. He threw more sliders than usual in this start, which is something we've been waiting to see more of from Garrett Cole. It had four whiffs. It had a 44% whiff rate. Overall, it was a very useful pitch in this. start. So, you know, really, if you eliminate the starts against the Red Sox and the Mets this season, Garry Cole's still been really, really good. I think he has a sub 2ERA taking out. His four worst starts have been against the Red Sox and the Mets. Yeah. Do you guys, can you attribute the lack of slider usage or inconsistent slider usage to anything other than, like,

it could be related to the injury that set him back? Like, yeah, maybe he was just scared to throw it, you know? Sliders are tough on the elbow. And I don't think it's uncommon. I mean, look at Shane Boz. He hasn't been throwing a slider much either. Gavin Williams. Yeah, same thing. Yeah, yeah, all coming back from elbow injuries.

I will say that this was maybe the most encouraging star for Garrett Cole slider because it wasn't just that he threw it more. It had its horizontal movement was down three inches. Its vertical movement was down one. And where it ended up was very similar to last year, the movement profile on the slider. So I think we may see Garrick Cole back to full form or something close to it in the playoffs, which Yankees fans could get excited about. We'll see how much he uses the slider and what it looks like in this final regular season start. But you're using them for that start. I've had them as a must start for a while now.

Obviously, it didn't go great against the Red Sox, but for the most part, it has. And this final turn against the Orioles, I want it shy away. Yeah, that was the final question. He's 83% started on CBS. So I think most people, if you have Garicola on your team, you're using him against the Orioles this upcoming week. Scott, your player of the weekend for the brand, baby. For the brand. Jonathan Aranda, it's happening.

homered in three straight games. Yes, you heard that correctly. Our guy, Jonathan Aranda. And in fact, he's now hit safely in 12 of his last 14 games, batting 313 with five home runs during that stretch and just a 14.8% strikeout rate. And that's with he actually struck out three times Sunday. It had been he'd been doing a good job avoiding that. And that's more how things should be for Jonathan Arronda. He's had a difficult time with strikeouts between the majors and minors this year.

But that's out of character for him. You look at his track record. Normally, he's a guy who makes a lot of contact and very hard contact. I looked up just since he returned to the majors at the end of August. He has 14 balls hit 102.7 miles per hour or harder. His average exit velocity coming into Sunday was 92.4. X batting average 273 X-slug. 557.

It's all coming up, Jonathan Aranda, all of a sudden, and I hope he's putting a good foot forward here for next year. It's always going to be a tough fit with the raise as long as Yandi Diaz is there. I don't know. Maybe they could use them for trade bait. Maybe they could do what the Dodgers did with Michael Bush last off season

and trade him to the Astros or somebody who could really use the first. basement. That's what I was thinking while you were making the case for him is like, but as long as he's on the race, he's probably never going to face a lefty. And like that's not literally true. He has faced, he has 34 played appearances against lefties over the parts of three seasons. He has started 70 games against righties. He has started two against lefties in his career. It's just, I don't want to say. ever, it seems really unlikely that they're ever going to let him play every day. And so unless that happens, you're always talking about a fairly limited ceiling.

Unfortunately, because I do think he might be a really good hitter. I mean, the underlying numbers this season are actually even better. He has like a 337 Wobah and like a 370X Woba. He's had really good underlying numbers. It's just, you know, as far as, you know, as. Even as a late round pick, it's like how much could you actually invest on a guy who's not going to play every day? Yeah. I think he's earning a big share of playing time, even if he doesn't get traded.

Yeah, I mean, the Ray's love to platoon. And so that'll probably be a problem if he stays with the raise. But I think he's at least working himself into the late round conversation for next year. And if he gets traded, he might get pushed up beyond that. Because I'm guessing Brandon Low is going to make more than $18. So he might get traded this offseason. He might. And Aranda can play second base.

I don't know that he's really up to the race standards at second base, but he has made appearances at second base. So they could do the Spencer Horowitz thing with him, potentially. We'll see. A very interesting hitter. I'm encouraged that he's actually showing some signs of that in the majors now and not just a AAA. and I don't, it looks like there's only one lefty on the schedule for the raise next week and not the worst matchups.

I don't think I'd actually use a Ronda outside of a desperation situation, but the way he's rolling right now and with only the one lefty on the schedule, it's something you could think about. Yeah. Brandon Lau set to make $10.5 million this offseason. He's making $8 million right now, but still seems like a pretty classic race. trade candidate this off season. Yeah, Jonathan Aronda, 7% rostered on CBS. So if you do play in a deeper dynasty league, might want to pick up Arana and just see how the offseason goes for him.

I guess a couple other complications for Tampa Bay is that they do have some first base prospects that are also on the way coming, maybe not at the start of next season, but at some point next season with Xavier Isaac and Trey Morgan. So that could just complicate things as well. Pretty far back. Yeah, also $10 million.

dollars. He's going. Yeah. There could be multiple spots for they could they could have two everyday spots for Jonathan or on the next year. They could. They could. They may they may decide he's the one they want to keep. Yep. Some oh my goodness gracious shoutouts from the weekend. Show Hey Otani is not done yet. My gosh. Three for four with a sock in the shoe on Friday, four for five with a sock and two shoes on Sunday. A game tying home run in the ninth inning followed up by Mookie Betts who went back to back, they walk it off against the Colorado Rockies. Just crazy stuff.

Last four games for Otani, 14 hits, four homers, nine runs, 13 RBI, six steals. Four games. He did all that in four games. So now up to 53 homers, 55 steals on the season. 60 60. It's not like more than a 5% possibility, but it's a live. It's live. Seven homers and five.

Steals and six games. That's what he'd have to do. Three games at course field. Oh my. Oh my. You know. I mean, he could get halfway there in one game. It's all right. I'm not saying I expect it to happen. It would basically just be a repeat of this week, right? Yeah, which look man, I won't put anything past this guy the way that he is locked in right now.

That's Sohei Otani. And one that we might owe you, no, not might. We owe you an apology for Red Demers. Maybe Reid Detmer should come on this podcast and apologize to the entire fantasy industry for what he did in two starts. Seven and a third innings, 14 earned runs, four homers allowed, a 17.18 ERA, a three whip, and negative 19.5 fantasy points. I'm sure there have been sleeper pitchers over the years who've had, you know, somebody who's shown up on the sleeper pitcher list who's had a week that bad, if not worse. because there are a lot of bad pitchers on the sleeper list every week. But the top sleeper pitcher for the upcoming week.

Gosh. That's, and what's championship week in a lot of head-to-head leagues? Yeah. That's bad. That's bad. We should all be mad at Redembers because, you know, it's not like the case for him wasn't strong. It was very strong.

He had just dominated two good lineups and was set to face the White Sox for the first of two. starts. I don't know. We went through this whole thing after he struggled against the White Sox. But hopefully in Daily Leagues, you got him out of your lineup after that and didn't have to suffer through the even worse start. Yeah, no reason to rehash it. But yeah, our bad, Reddemeurs is bad. Hopefully you're so live if you're playing. Can't wait to hype him up next May. In your fantasy baseball league. Thanks so much to everyone for sticking with us all season. If you're watching live, make sure to hit that like button. Subscribe. We will be here throughout the off season as well. This is the final week that we'll be doing five podcasts per week. But

starting next week, the offseason will be down to two podcasts per week until probably January. So October through December, two pods per week, January up to three. And then we will obviously up the frequency throughout the rest of the off season. Let's take our first break. When we return, we'll hit the news and notes right after this. Welcome back in News and Notes. Bizarre story from the weekend. The biggest news came from the Nationals as they optioned CJ Abrams to the minors on Saturday.

and my thought, and I think with many, why? Why is this happening? Like, yeah, he's having a bad second half, but this makes no sense for the Washington Nationals to do. And then it turns out that he was out at a casino until 8 a.m. on Friday morning when the Nationals had a 1 p.m. start time against the Chicago Cubs. So, yeah, I would say that warrants a demotion into the pretty boneheaded thing for C.J. Abrams to do. And I will say, I've seen a lot of like, oh, they, you know, oh, but the MOB has gambling partnerships. Oh, it's like. That doesn't mean you have to stay out until 8 a.m. If he had been out at 8 a.m. at, what's the, what's the sausage place in D.C. Ben's Chili Bowl? If he had been out at Ben's chili bowl until 8 in the morning, he probably also would have gotten suspended. Like, it's the being out until four hours before your game. That was the problem here.

And I would assume this wasn't the only reason that they were annoyed with him. And yeah, it makes sense. It's a learning opportunity for CJ Abrams. Hopefully he takes it. There's no like service time or any considerations here. I know people always go to that as the theory. It just seems like they, it's a, we need him to figure out. how to be the kind of big leader we want him to be.

Whether you agree with that or not, it's a reasonable reaction, I think. So Davey Martinez, their manager, made it clear that it was not performance-related. They haven't explicitly connected the dots, but, I mean, by now, enough reporting has come out that it's obvious what the reason was. They could have said it was performance-related

because C.J. Abrams was batting 203 with a 586 OPS in the second half, and that makes me wonder if his performance was in any way habit related. It's just a one-night thing, or did he have a, did he make a habit of not taking care of between games? Is this the kind of thing that like you do it once and they, they overreacted? If it was just this one time, I would be like, well, that like, yeah, he should have been not out until 8 in the morning, but.

but maybe it wasn't always 8 in the morning maybe it was 6 in the morning. Yeah, yeah, no, that, you know, I, um, yeah, I think the, it would make sense if this was not the only time it happened. Yeah. Some possible replacements for C.J. Abrams, the final week.

Tommy Edmund was on the sleeper hitters list. Mason Wynn has good matchups. They have three games in Cores Field. Further down the list, we have Trevor Story, who's been hitting well since he returned. And if you were relying on C. J. Abrams for speed. Jose Caballero is around 50% rostered,

so those are some possible replacements for the final week. Juan Soto was scratched on the lineup Friday due to knee soreness, but was back in the lineup on Saturday and Sunday. Yorda on Alvarez left Sunday with a right knee contusion and will undergo imaging.

That's all we have as of now. Do you guys have a lean? Would you plan on finding a replacement for Alvarez? I don't feel great about it. The Astros. have all but clinched the division. And you would think they'd want to make sure you're now Varez's full capacity

by the time the postseason starts. So I'd hate to miss out on anything he could provide for you this week, but I think in weekly lineups, I'd lean toward playing it safe. Especially given his history of knee injuries. Yeah. Francisco Lindor went through a full series

of baseball activities on Saturday, but is not expected to play until Tuesday against the break. If it happens then, which as we pointed out is a huge series between the Mets and the Braves who are battling for a wild card spot. How do you guys feel about Francis Scowlandor this week? I tentatively have tentatively have him in the lineup of the one league where I'm Still setting a lineup with Francisco and door in it. Yeah, I hate that they're not playing Monday only Yeah, yeah, four games on Monday. We're gonna have some fun tomorrow. We're gonna have some fun tomorrow.

So you know what? Here's what you should do, at least on CBS leagues. Remove him from your IL spot because you can't do that after the first game of the week. Rosters are locked, but lineups aren't locked. Lineups lock with each individual player's games.

So move him out of the lineup spot to your bench so you don't have any conflicts there. Make sure the person you put in your shortstop spot is also his first game isn't until Tuesday. Yeah. And then see if Lindor's actually in the lineup. And if he is, great.

You have Lindor for the week. Rafael Deverez's season is over after he was placed in the aisle with left shoulder inflammation. He will not require offseason surgery. Tyler Glassnow does not expect to need surgery on his sprained right elbow, but has been shut down from throwing for the foreseeable future. Where do we rank him? Like he was ranked as a top 10 starting pitcher this year. and I kind of think it was pretty much a successful season if you drafted him.

Like you got 170 strikeouts, elite whip, good ERA. Like it's about as good as you can hope for from Tyler Glass. He set a career high innings. So yeah, like it's literally. The problem is, is this the best you can possibly hope for? Because like there is a difference between drafting Tyler Glass now as the eighth overall. all starting pitcher and getting a return on that, which I think you did this year, versus drafting Tyler Glass now getting 134 innings of 349 ERA, whatever it is, there's also opportunity

cost. It's not just what you got from Tyler Glass now. It's also like in those leagues where you don't have IL spots, you probably didn't drop them until the most recent injury, like the setback a couple days ago. Yeah. So you didn't really get a replacement player for him. and I don't know who the the opportunity like well you passed on Terek Scouble for him probably and that certainly was a mistake yeah similar not if you were following my rankings

yeah well yeah I'm just going by by ADP I would assume that Tyler Glass now was ahead of Tarek Scouble um yeah he was ahead of Tarek Scouble he was ahead of Tarek Scouble he was ahead of of Nola, I don't know if you really, I think Scoobel's the only one that you could have reasonably drafted instead of him that you would have rather have had. So, yeah. Well, here's the other thing. Because, yeah, because we were all ranking Glass now about as high as you're saying, whether it was ahead of school, behind Scoob, whatever.

We ranked him in more or less top 10. And we're saying, okay, it more or less worked out. So why wouldn't we do it again? here's why we want to do it again because then it was just this vague idea that he always seems to get hurt

so he's probably going to get hurt at some point hopefully it's late enough in the year where you got what you wanted out of him but now he has ligament damage in his elbow

yeah now they're saying it won't require surgery but they can't actually know that until he starts throwing again in February. And even then, like, it could pop up a few weeks into throwing.

And the other thing to think about is just because this time he got hurt in technically July, but then he came back and pitched pretty well. But just because this year's significant season ending elbow injury happened in September, or I don't know when he made his last start, but right at the end of the season, it very easily could have happened in May and wrecked the whole season and nothing else would have been different except the order in which the events happened, right? Like that's the thing with injuries.

And this is something I brought up with like Luis Robert last year where he had the least amount of injury discount coming into this season because the season ending knee injury he suffered last year was on like September 10 rather than if that injury happens in May, he probably misses 60 games. and so that's the other thing you have to keep in mind. So I don't think there's any way you can draft Tyler Glassnow as a top 12 starting pitcher, even though it worked out this year. I'm going to be fading him.

It's only going to be a situation where I draft him if everybody seems scared to draft him. Top 20 or take a Grom. I think I'd take Glassnow over to Grom, but. I think that they could probably be in similar. spots. I'm thinking like the 20 to 30 range that's starting pitcher and maybe that's too high but basically you have to ask yourself

the risk versus reward I think for both of those guys, Glassnow Indegram, Glass now probably even more so at this point is that the reward is you could probably get 130, 140nings like you did this year of really good production. You can also get zero. You can get nothing. So what is the good

in between point where it's worth that risk? And maybe as like your SP3 that makes sense. Yeah, like the difference is DeGrom has not pitched a healthy season besides the COVID year since 2019. Tyler Glassnow also stayed healthy in 2020. He's never done it in a full season.

Yeah. DeGrom, at least in theory, has. I think it's extremely unlikely that he throws 170 innings last year or next year. I do think it's probably more likely he does it than Tyler Glass. And last point on Glassdown here, Chris, I know you mentioned that he's returned value. According to the Razball player Raider, 12 team Rotel leagues,

he's returned $15.6 worth of auction value. I think in most 12 team auction leagues, he probably went for more than that. He probably went for like $20 to $25. I would say you do have to factor in some replacement level. Yeah, you do get something in his place. You know, if you picked up like Spencer Arredegeti when he went on the aisle,

that probably worked out really well for you. Right. You picked out Redembers. Not so much. Sunny Gray was placing the aisle with right forearm flexor tendonitis. He ends his season with a 384 ERA 109 whip, 203 strikeouts over 166 and a third. And this is another one.

We'll have to monitor this forearm injury in the offseason to make sure it's not a thing heading into 2025. Kenley Jansen is likely to be placed in the aisle Monday due to a right shoulder injury. It sounds like Chris Martin and or Justin Slayton will handle closing duties over the final week for the Red Sox. Ian Hap was scratched from the lineup Sunday due to lower back tightness. Max Muncie was scratched with sidesoreness. Kevin Gosman said

Friday that he's feeling better and that he expects to make his next start this week against the Texas Rangers. Are you guys all right with using Kevin Gosman this week? I'm okay with it. I don't think it's a must. Okay. Yeah, I think that's probably right.

The Orioles activated Jordan Westberg on Sunday. he was in the lineup batting second against lefty Tyler Holton. Max Scher was scratched Saturday with a left hamstring strain and is done for this season. He finishes with just nine starts at 395 ERA 115 whip. And he did say Sunday that he wants to pitch again next season. He's now 40 years old. Already couldn't stay healthy. Not really sure there's much left in the tank for Max Schrozer.

Yes. Free agent. Yeah. Bench piece only, I think, for 2025. Yeah. Yeah. If that, I mean, I'm not going to draft him as high as I did this year, and I drafted him this year knowing he'd miss at least two months.

Yeah. Yeah. Brenton Doyle has missed three straight with left knee sorenness, and this is a tough one because the Rockies have a full week in Cores Field. Starter sit Brenton Doyle. I haven't seen the latest just to get a feel for how optimistic they are. Yeah, this one, I never feel comfortable giving advice on something where I don't know any better than you do. Right.

So wait as long as you can to make the decision, but if he's not in the lineup for the first game, I think you have to sit him. At this point, the Rockies have not hinted that Doyle has been shut down for the season, so he can be viewed as day-to-day heading into the final week. I think it's a similar thing as Lindor, you know, make sure you have an outfielder ready to go. You know, if they're in course field, it's probably a late start, so you might need like a West Coast outfielder. But, you know, if he's in there, you want to get him because, you know, he's productive in six games in Cores. We'll see. Gabriel Moreno left Sunday with renewed left adductor tightness. He'll have an MRI on Monday.

Manager Tori Lavullo downplayed the injury and was hopeful that Moreno would be available off the bench on Monday. Josh Young was shut down for a couple days with discomfort in his right wrist close to where he had his surgery. which doesn't sound too great. Kodi Senga will not return during the regular season after he felt tightness in his triceps on Saturday. Kobe Mayo was optioned back to AAA. 17 career games, he has hit 098 with a 48% strikeout rate. The Orioles did not give him any opportunities,

but he didn't really earn those opportunities in the majors because, you know, he was batting under 100. Tyler Kinley was placed in the aisle with right elbow inflammation, and they had two save opportunities this weekend. They both went to Seth. Halverson, he did pick up the save on Saturday, and then he blew it on Sunday. So, I don't know. I kind of feel like the next one would go to Victor Vodnik, but who knows?

Yeah, I'd pick up Tonoco of the Marlins before I picked up anybody on the Rockies, I think. I'd pick up A.J. Puck. Yeah, he picked up a save this weekend as well. I think, yeah, didn't he have two saves? He, or... I know Justin Martinez blew a game and took the loss. Yeah, that was on Sunday. I only had Puck with one save this weekend, but it could be wrong.

Okay. I think maybe the other outing was similar. It was just Friday. Yeah. So it was, he closed out two games this weekend. Once with a three run lead, once with a five run lead. And then Martinez was bad on Sunday and has been bad in general. So I don't know.

Maybe Puck. Last week they make the little switch. This might be trending good for your bold prediction already for next year, Scott. That and the Aranda one. Both looking good. So far. so good. The Reds fired their manager David Bell after six seasons with the team,

so obviously they will be in the market for one this offseason. Joey Vano. Hey, that'd be pretty cool. Let's take our final break. When we return, we'll talk about some waiver wire pitchers. You might want to stream for the final week. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in, waiver wire pitchers for the final

week of the season, and the first group includes Shane Baz, who pitched well against Toronto, six innings, one run, six strikeouts. Completely faded his slider. He is finding a way to succeed in spite of it. I'm not exactly sure how. He is at the Red Sox this week with no Raphael Devers in the lineup.

Jameson, a strong start up against the Nationals, six shutout innings with four strikeouts. He is home against the Reds. Mackenzie Gore was awesome at the Cubs, seven innings, one run with nine strikeouts. He gets the Phillies this week, and Gavin Williams, a solid start at the Cardinals. Five and two-thirds, one run, three strikeouts. He is home against the Astros. So not really great matchups here. Chris, do any of these stand out? Gavin Williams

facing the Astros, Gore facing the Phillies, Tyone facing the Reds, and Shane Boz at the Red Sox. Is Tyone home or a road? He is home. I'd probably go Bos and then Tyone if I was ranking them. Gore, fastball velocity was back down. He did still get nine whiffs on the four seamer. Through it very heavily. Basically didn't throw the slider

and change up at all on this one. It was a great start. He took a no-hitter into the seventh. It was very good. It just, I guess the way to put it is it's not that he can't be good while averaging 95 miles per hour. I don't trust him. I think he needs to be 96 plus to be worth trusting. That's what we've seen so far this season.

I think a lot comes down to control, though, for Gore, because 65% strikes in this start, which is good. 68% in his brief. previous start. His last six starts now, Gore is a 182 ERA.95 whip 9.3K per 9. 9. And that's with there was a disastrous start against the Braves in there.

So even with that, I mean, he's been, he's been rolling here lately. I think the velocity has been down the last three. The really bad one, the velocity was down. And yeah, it's the Phillies.

I just, again, I'm not saying he can't be good, but I think I would lean against starting him against the Phillies either way. And if the velocity's down, I think it just, that's the version of McKenzie Gore that's probably more like a four, five, ERA guy. And I think the mid-threes guy that we got excited about earlier is probably the one who lives in the upper 90s rather than the mid-90s.

So I would go, Boz, Tyone. Boss is just, I think it's good to see this season that he can establish a relatively high floor by relying on weak contact. He's done a really good job of that, the command. has been iffy, the whiff rate has been pretty mediocre. In order to identify, in order for him to unlock upside, I think you probably need that slider to get back. Or, you know, the curveball or changeup takes a big step forward. But based on what we've seen in his career, the slider is probably the key. I guess we're going to get multiple stories this offseason about Shane Boz working at tread or driveline or whoever, whichever one the raise, want him to go to.

and working specifically on getting the slider back. I will say for this group here, again, it was Shane Boss, Jameson, McKinsey Gore, Gavin Williams. But none are all my sleeper pitchers for next week. And it's not a very good week for sleeper pitchers. So that's, it's kind of unfortunate this time of year. One week left.

We can either talk about do you start them next week or if not, what is their outlook for next year? And I think for all four of these, all there really is to say is what's the outlook for next year? Because I don't think any of them have the matchups to justify using, to justify a recommendation anyway. Of course, you could use Tyone. You could use Gore, but it's risky. Yeah. And I think with the exception of Tyone, and maybe this isn't fair to him, but I still think each of Boz, Gore and Gavin Williams have a level of upside that,

We haven't seen consistently over a full season yet. So, and I think they're all decently intriguing. My biggest takeaway from this group, and I was kind of hinting at it with Gore, it's just like the way he's finishing this season is going a long way toward restoring my enthusiasm for him next year. Because it was pretty low a couple months ago. The only thing I would say with Gore is it's still very young in his career, but we have a, pretty we have a sample now where he he's just been really inconsistent right like we know that he has strike out stuff like there's no doubt about that but inconsistencies with control and

mechanics at times and and we've just seen that play out consistently over his career so far so uh yeah it would be nice just for him to uh develop that part of his game i don't know if the nationals or the organization that i want to bet on in this regard although they're they've had a decent year pitching relative to expectations um Gores is a skill set and a talent level I still want to bet on, even if it would probably have to be a relatively cheap bet for next year. Waiverwire pitchers part two. Ret Louder was solid up against the Pirates,

five shutout innings with four strikeouts, and through five starts, he has a 140 ERA, a 129 whip. The underlying numbers, not really buying it at all for Ret Lauder, who's at the Cubs this week. Nick Martinez continues to pitch well. He was up against Pittsburgh, six shutout innings with nine strikeouts,

17 whiffs on 78 pitches. Last four starts, a 0.73 ERA and a 0.69 whip. He is at the Cubs this week, and he is a spark on CBS. And Andre Palante, a great start up against the Guardians. Seven innings, one hit, one run, four strikeouts. And he's turned in back-to-back seven inning quality starts, and he is at the Giants this week. So, honestly,

these, of all the names we've mentioned, Scott, Nick Martinez and Palante might be the most streamable of just all seven names that we've mentioned. Yeah, they might be. I feel like with Palante, we've gotten comfortable

with him in the past and he's, he's, I don't, I don't think the talent level's that high. He's a good ground ball pitcher, and that makes him efficient enough to give you some innings at times he can have some starts in the game log that look pretty nice because of that. And maybe he'll give you one against the Giants.

I just think it's kind of a coin flip if he does. And the other side of that coin might not be so pretty. Nick Martinez, though, man, this guy, his control has been top of the league, basically, this year. And he's had a great change up. And now with the. these six shutout innings over the weekend, nine strikeouts, nine strikeouts for Nick Martinez, what is he doing that for? So on 4 September starts, he has a .73ER, 0.69 whip, 9.9K per 9.

And, I mean, his season numbers look great. 322ERA 105 whip. Again, the control has been so good. And even though the strikeout rate hasn't been that good, 11.1% swinging strike rate is very solid. So I'm I think maybe he's the most startable of the ones we've mentioned here

for next week with that matchup against the Cubs But I don't like I'm I'm gonna be rooting for him to sign somewhere Who wants to use him as a true starter And none of this no more of the swing man stuff That he's had to settle for between Cincinnati and San Diego There is some Seth Lugo here I think so yeah that's a good comparison

And you know I can't remember if we talked about this on the show or off the air last week, but Martinez, I think he has a $14 million player option this coming off season. And I feel like he's almost certain to turn that down, which is wild. Because $14 million is a lot of money for a guy who has actually made like $45 million in his career if you include Japan. He's putting together a heck of a career for himself. but it's he's 34 and just had a career year. This is the time to cash in.

And I too would like to see him land in a good situation where he gets an opportunity to just go out there and be a full-time starter because I think, you know, we're looking at three years in a row with an ERA below 350 and three years in a row with an XERA below four. He might just be legitimately pretty solid. And I think by far the best spark for 2025, at least as of now. We don't know what other names might come up, but he stands out from the crowd.

Palante, I just want to point out. Well, wait, wait, wait, wait, about and Francis. Oh, that's, yeah, I guess you'd have to have Francis ahead. So, okay, by far the second best. Yeah. Palante, I just want to point out since the start of last season, him and Brian Wu are the only starting pitchers

with an ex-Wobon contact below 320. I think they're the only ones below like 335, actually. Palante is at like 315. I don't buy it. I think that's a profile you should fade when it doesn't come with strikeouts or good control, but that is how Andre Palante is getting away with it. Okay.

Two names in deeper Dynasty League. Scott, you let me know if either of these matter. They've pitched well so far. They've, you know, they pitched well this weekend. Richard Fitz with the Red Sox and Landon Raup with the Giants. Either of those names matter in Dynasty Leagues. Realistically, no. I see a little more to like there for Landon Raup than for,

than for Richard Fitz. It is kind of it is kind of a Nick Martinez profile for Landen Rowl. So I suppose it's worth pointing that out but he's 26 years old. It's not like he was much of a prospect and I don't even know that that's true. He's more of a ground ball pitcher than a

fly ball pitcher. But yeah, I don't know. Not much here to see. Okay. Let's quickly run through some Waverwire hitters and ranked these three outfielders for this upcoming week. Kerry Carpenter, who had a double dog on Sunday. Jorge Soler, who had, who has four home runs in his past 10 games, and Jordan Walker, who's been

solid since returning from the miners. He's got six games this week, three in Corse Field. How are you guys ranking Carpenter Soler Jordan Walker for this week? In that order. Okay. Yep, and I do have both Carpenter and Soler among my sleeper hitters for this week.

Walker actually, I don't, even though the Cardinals have the best matchups. So, you can make the case for him. It's just been a lot more misses than hits since his return. One name in deeper leagues, Luis Anheel Acuna had another big game on Saturday, two for three

with his third home run in his past five games. He's great since being called up, which is interesting because obviously he was not having the best season in the minors, and there's these stories coming out about how Ronald Acuna is coaching him up, and obviously, Acuna is still he's out with the knee injury, so he's

He's got a little bit more time on his hands. He's also coaching up a player that is competing against his team for a postseason spot. So I thought that was like a pretty interesting dynamic as well. I don't know if he's going to play every day if Francisco Lindor returns. But man, the early returns on Luis Honhella Coonia have been pretty good. Well, the problem is Jose Iglesias has what, like a 14 game hitting streak as well? That's the thing, yeah. So like, I don't think you'd sit Jose Iglesias for Acuna at second base.

So, yeah, I have a hard time seeing him playing every day the rest of the way. But it's been an interesting start. Max X Velo 110 miles per hour, which is about what he was at AAA, maybe even a little higher. I think his highest was like 109.2. Yeah, I think so. And we talked before, Luis Angeluconio slugged 355 at AAA. So you saw hints of. power in the scouting report like

projectable power it's just that the power seemed to get worse as he climbed the ladder so I was like well and since he got to the Mets specifically he was having a very good season before the trade last year then kind of stumbled towards the second half so

I think skepticism is the order of the day with Luis San Helacuna but it's been a really fun stretch and you know maybe he's doing a little bit of something to change the story on himself. All right, starter sit these pitchers for the final week of the season.

Mitch Keller got D. Troyed at the Reds on Friday. Three and a third innings, eight runs allowed, two homers allowed, and over his last eight starts, 752 ERA 162 whip for Mitch Keller, who is home against the Brewers this week. I mean, his career, he's been a random number generator. Like, oh, the most.

most recent stretch for Mitch Kelly, like, it never matters. Yeah. It's always like, oh, he had seven great starts and the nine run runs and two innings. Like, that's just the Mitch Keller experience. But velocity way down the last couple of starts, bad matchup against Milwaukee. I think he is a fringe starter at best. Go ahead and sit him. I would not start him against Milwaukee either, but I would not be surprised if he threw

like seven three hit innings and struck out eight at all. You know, it's interesting to his. he overall he's now at a 421 ERA 129 whip last year 421 ERA 125 whips so I got to think the first second half ERA for both years was pretty similar too because it was the same kind of story right great in the first half and then just got throttled in the second half yeah jacob de graham was solid in his second start up against the Mariners three innings one run a five strikeouts but obviously only three innings only 58 pitches his pitch count actually actually actually went slightly down from 61 in his first start to 58 here.

And it kind of feels like that's the plan. Like that's by design. So he's 33% started. Even in a good match about the Angels, I don't know that it makes sense to use Jacob de Grom. No, I would say not. The innings haven't, or the pitch count hasn't trended up. And so you can't count on him to go the minimum five innings for a win.

Yeah. Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a rough start on Sunday up against the Rockies in L.A. So pretty surprising. That's a bummer there. Three innings, four runs, three walks, four strikeouts, only through 59% of his pitches. The pitch count has gone up for Yamamoto. That's the good thing.

From 59 to 72 to 79, the problem he is in Corse field this week. Yeah, I'd rather not use them. I think control, he just had some uncharacteristic control issues in this start, and maybe he would have gone a decent number. number of innings if he didn't, but because that game is at Cores Field and because we haven't actually seen him give us the sort of workload we're looking for.

I think you probably have to sit Yamamoto. Like Mitch Keller, though, if he was great over six innings, I would not be surprised. You know, Brady Singer and Mitch Keller feel like pretty similar pitchers as well. Last nine starts for Brady Singer, it's a 592 ERA and a 158 whip. He is at the Atlanta Braves this week.

So this is always the problem with the guy who's putting together a several-month stretch where they completely outstripped their peripherals. And it's always like, yeah, but he's continuing to do it. And the problem is always if you get left holding the bag, you can give back all that you gained in a couple of starts. And Brady Singer's not quite there. Like his overall ERA is 373 for the season, although there were probably a handful of starts early on.

Nobody started him and you didn't get credit for it. So I never bought in. Atlanta's not a terrible matchup, but I think he's always been a fringe starter. And that's why the Mitch Kellers of the world, I know we're talking about Brady Singer now, but that kind of pitcher where you look at the game log and there are some huge hits and some huge misses, that profile is always more attractive to me in a head-to-head league than a Roto League. so that you don't have that big correction from the good starts. And only lasts one week.

You, Darvish, turned in a quality start up against the White Sox, six in the third innings, two runs, nine strikeouts, and in four starts since returning, it's a 315 ERA and a 105 whip. He's at the D-BACs this week. So I like what we've seen from Darvish, but in that matchup, I try and get away. Agreed.

What about Hunter Green who returned from the I.L. on Sunday against the Pirates, three innings, one run, four strikeouts, 11 whiffs on 45 pitches. That is a 24% swinging strike rate. Fastball velocity down one mile per hour. Not egregious for someone who's returning from an arm injury. He's at the Cubs this week, but only 45 pitches. So it's similar to DeGrom. I'm happy he made it through the start and he's healthy, but I don't think you should use Hunter Green.

Agree. All right. Next up is Spencer Arrogati, who turned in a quality start up against the Angels. six innings, two runs with six strikeouts. Apparently left his start due to some calf cramping. He'll undergo further testing, but if everything checks out, he will start later this week at the Guardians, which is an okay matchup.

Like, their offense hasn't been as good here in the second half. If he's healthy, I think I would be okay using Arrogati there. Yeah, but what if they decide to rest him because they pretty much clenched the division? Okay, let's let your calf get better. It's possible, yeah. Araggeti is more startable than some of the guys we've talked about, DeGrom and Green and Brady Singer, Mitch Keller.

I'd start him over all those guys, but I'd try not to start him, I think. If it wasn't for the calf, yeah. Cleveland is a bottom five offense in the majors in the second half of the season. Yeah. Remember when they were arguably the best offense in baseball for the first couple of months? Yeah, it's been a rough go. So if we get like official clearance that Spentariiaget, he's just going to pitch and pitch normally, I think he's a fine start. By the way, one thing, one hitter performance we didn't mention from the weekend.

I'm not sure I have the most updated stats here. Jose Ramirez, he has a good chance of having a 40-40 season. And he needs three homers, right? Yeah. Not sure he's going to get three homers in a week. It's a little bit tough. but yeah, quietest near 40-40 season of all time. Yeah, it could happen.

It's definitely feasible, and it would be, how many 40-40 seasons have there been? Not many. Six, seven? Yeah, and nobody would be talking about Jose Ramirez's. Poor guy. I mean, he's probably going to finish third in MVP voting for, I think, the third time in his career.

He's never won. he's going to end up being probably the best player of this generation that doesn't win an MVP and we're going to have 2020 was his chance I think we're Jose Obrayu I think we're at the point where Jose Ramirez is

actively in Hall of Fame consideration oh yeah I don't think anybody really thought that a few years ago he's trending toward it pretty easily it would he would have to collapse in the next couple years I think not to not to be a Hall of Famer Last starter sit question. Renel Blanco continues to pitch well.

He faced the Angels this weekend, six innings, two runs, nine strikeouts, 17 whiffs on 104 pitches, and he is also at the Guardians later this week. I would start him. Given everything that he had working against him, complete lack of track record, age, lack of like innings projection, he felt like one of the most obvious

sell high candidates of the last few years. and it never really fell apart for him. So kudos to Ronell Blanco for keeping it mostly steady this season. I know there was some struggles in the summer, but really turned it on down the stretch, and I think needs to be in pretty much all lineups. Seth Lugo. He had a little bit patch.

Yeah, I mean, not as much working against him as Blanco, but it's a similar situation where those, yeah, we could point to Ranger Suarez, he regressed and Brady Singer. But no, Lugo and Blanco kept it going right up to the end. 408 second half ERA for Seth Lugo, but actually 332 Phipp. Skills got better. Yeah, well, I mean, look, just his seven-inning gem over the weekend. So it was four of his last five seven-inning gyms. Two confusing players for next season.

Both of them, pretty young players as well. Jared Jones got hit hard this weekend. His first 10 starts, a 305 ERA.98 whip. Only 1.5 walks per 9 during that stretch in a near 18% swinging strike rate. Last 11 starts, 525 ERA, 139 whip, 4.2 walks per 9 and an 11% swinging strike rate. So those whiffs came way down.

The walks went way up for Jared Jones. Anthony Volpe, who had a big game on Saturday, one for four with a sock and a shoe, his 12th home run, his 27th steal, got off to that strong start, but since the beginning of June, 228 batting average, six homers, 16 steals,

the speed is fine, but a sub-600 OPS. By all standards that we judge hitters, like OPS, WRC Plus, Woba, Volpe is not a good hitter, but he kind of grades out okay for fantasy because he makes enough things happen. but yeah, I think both are kind of confusing for next year. Jared Jones and Anthony Volpe.

If Anthony Volpe wasn't a top prospect three years ago now, he'd be pretty easy to make sense of. He's just not very good. Like he's basically, his season numbers, I would guess, maybe runs are probably in Volpe's favor. But I would guess everything else is pretty Andres Jimenez like. That's the concept. I would guess there's not very much difference in what they've done this season. And like, yes, theoretically he has prospect pedigree and he's young. And so we can, but like none of the underlying numbers suggest that there's some big step to be taken for Anthony Volpe.

So I, I just think he, like, I didn't really give him much consideration as a top 12 shortstop when I did the rankings for that. And yeah, with Anders Jimenez, I'm not sure, nine homers. Yeah, nine homers, 30 steals for him and as 12. 26 for Volpe. The county stats much better for

Volpe I'll probably I'll rank him ahead of Jimenez but I think that's probably the right comp to think of

and you throw a Nico Horner and Bryson Stott as kind of you know four pretty uninteresting

spiders men there at the middle infield range. Horner I don't know how he does it because

it's kind of the second year in a row, but he always seems to, he always produces better for fantasy than his numbers, like his top line numbers. Yeah, he got the batting average a little higher late. I don't, I think he needs to rank ahead of Volpe. I guess he won't be shortstop eligible next year. I doubt, I doubt he is. Yeah, I didn't realize Horner hit $2.90 in the second half. So it's not really an apples to apples comparison, but like I, Volpe is 23.

That's still a babe. So I don't want to like just say this is forever who he'll be. But I think we're to a point with Volpe where he gets no benefit of the doubt anymore. And so he's not going to be drafted in leagues that don't have middle infield spot

and leagues that do, it'll be pretty late. Yeah, I think it had to have points. He's just an undrafted player. Yeah. And we could save Jared Jones for the off season, but I'm still tantalized by just his swing and miss and he throws hard. He's got that nasty slider. But yeah, I think, I don't know, as a young player, like kind of just derailed by some inconsistency

and injury throughout the season, but still feels like there's a lot of upside for him heading into next season as well. Some pitching standouts from the weekend, Part 1. Zach Wheeler continues his quality start streak. He was at the Mets seven innings, two runs, eight strikeouts, and he now has a quality start in 10 straight. That is Zach Wheeler. And

Burns was awesome up against the Tigers, seven shutout innings with eight strikeouts. Paul Skeens looked a little bit more limited here on Sunday at the Reds. He was still great. Five shotout innings, nine strikeouts, but they limited him to just 73 pitches in that start. And Blake Snell, fantastic, once again,

at the Royals, six shotout innings with nine strikeouts. And last 14 starts for Blake Snell. 123 ERA, 0.78 whip. 114 strikeouts over 80 and the third innings. Scott, anything on Snell, Skeen's, Burns, and Zach Wheeler? So Burns has definitely turned things around in September

after that really rough August. And he's done that in spite of, like, taking a mile per hour off everything. They're only softer, but he's getting swinging strikes at a higher rate. And I don't know if he's just kind of like sacrificing some power for better command. and maybe that'll work out for him. He's going to be kind of tricky to rank next year too. I imagine he'll be top 10 for everybody, but not with a lot of enthusiasm for me.

Yeah, I think, like, what if he goes out there and has Blake Snell's free agent market and doesn't sign until February? Given what we saw for the guy... Who's his agent? Scott Boris. Oh, no. And given what we saw from...

uh, Snell and Montgomery. You know, I think you, you do have to be concerned if he doesn't sign until late. And obviously the skills have taken a big decline. I, I think he's a top 12 pitcher.

I don't think he's an ace, I guess, is the difference I would draw there. I don't know if this is fair to say, but it just, it doesn't feel like he has like the SP1 upside anymore. Yeah. You know, like the strikeouts have just come down too far.

So. he's still consistent though like he's he's got a great floor i would say yeah i think you look at the r a estimators for corbin burns versus the actual era you get you get kind of a bad feeling and uh but he's he gives you the volume and i imagine he'll be with a good team next year whoever it is so i don't know it's i've i've i've had a kind of a sinking feeling about burns for a couple years now and each year gets a little worse and yet the production doesn't drop off. So I don't know.

We'll see what happens when we line them up. I do want to say real quick for Skeens. Still wouldn't surprise me if they just didn't give them a start this week. Like they're not saying that. So I think you... Are they at home this week? I could not share.

I would think they would, yeah, they get... Well, he's not scheduled to start until Saturday, though, at New York. At the Yankees here. I mean, I'd hate to tell you sit skeins and then he goes out and has a normal skein start, but

you know, at least weigh your alternatives. If you got somebody else there that you like a lot, maybe play it safe and start that guy instead. Pitching standouts part two, Jose Brrios took a tough luck loss at the raise, six innings, one run, six strikeouts. Last eight starts for

Burios 151 ERA and a point 88 whip. Max Friede with Skyde, with Sky got in attendance. Pitched very well. Six innings, two runs. One of those earned with six strikeouts. Last seven starts for him, 286 ERA and a 105 whip. Carlos Hordan, pitched well in Oakland, six shutout innings with four strikeouts. And 11 starts in the second half. 287 ERA 110 whip. Quietly, really good second half here for Carlos Hordon. And Shota Imanaga, another strong start up against the National. Seven shutout innings with four

strikeouts. He has turned in six straight quality starts and has gone seven innings in four of those. Any quick thoughts on Imanaga, Rodan, Fried, or Burrios? I mean, I think, is a sneaky tough player to rank for next year. ERA estimators not nearly as good as the actual ERA. They're still pretty good, but they're more in the high mid-to-high-threes range. Doesn't he just feel like a pitcher that can kind of outpitch those just based on like he might be deception and being a lefty like you brought this up coming into the season there's not many lefties that throw a splinter and a really good one and even iga does that so i just and being unique is i i think a a real edge for pitchers but do you reach a point

of diminishing returns when the league gets a second look at you that i i like he's definitely going to be ranked to the top 20 starting pitcher next year right yeah he just feels like a rock solid SP2. I have a little bit of concern about that, I guess. He's probably going to be top 15 for me. All right, so we're definitely putting him behind Burns. We're, but I'minaaga or Nola? I think I'd take Imanaga.

I think so too. Yeah, probably. I've talked about Bailey Ober up that high. Kind of similar, very similar profiles, yeah. Yeah, I put over, I put Ober over Imanaga. It was hard to say. But probably just by one spot.

They might be back to back. Yeah. Don't be in that same range. All right. Big weekend for some stud hitters. Frankie. Mookiee Betts, I don't know why. Like I wanted to say Frankie Motas.

I don't know why that happened. But bad start for Frankie Montas on Sunday, by the way. Mookie bets, two for five with a sock in his shoe on Saturday, I believe. And then two for four with a walk off home run on Sunday. He has basically been himself since returning. from the IL. Aaron Judge added two more home runs this weekend. He's up to 55 on the season. We mentioned Jose Ramirez had a big weekend. He is up to 37 home runs and 40 steals. Ridiculous counting stats this season. Julio Rodriguez trying his darnest to carry the Mariners to the playoffs.

A huge weekend, three for five with a double dong, five RBI on Friday, four for six, with a sock and his shoe on Saturday. Last 23 games for J. Rod, 363, eight home runs, five steals, and an OPS over a thousand. Trying his darned us to make us draft him in the first round again next year. Probably should. I was feeling weird about ranking him ahead of Corbyn Carroll for next year with as good as Carol's second half has been. But I'm not feeling so weird anymore.

J. Rod's doing the same thing. Kyle Tucker starting to get going back-to-back four-hit games this weekend. And Cotel Marte, just another huge weekend. Three-for-four with his 33rd home run on Friday, a sock and a shoe on Saturday and then hit his 35th home run on Sunday. Did he really only place?

No. Why does it say? Yeah, I don't know where I just read that wrong. You wrote 74 games. I was like, wait, he didn't miss that much time,

right? Let's try and. No, he's going to end up playing about 136 games. Let's try and deduce where this stat line is supposed to go

because it's not for, it must, yeah, because he doesn't have a thousand LPS either. Is that Kyle Tucker? Yeah, it's Kyle Tucker. Okay.

That's exactly what. what it is. Very confused. I was like, I know he missed a little bit of time. Yeah, which is still crazy. The fact that Catele-Marty had an I-L stint and he has 35-home runs is crazy.

Yeah. Well, crazy. Getting back to my projected first two rounds for next year, I really wanted to get Cotell-Marte in there as far and away the best second baseman. I think this, these,

these revelations over Devers' shoulders, it's not going to cause me to move Devers way down the rankings, but I think it'll drop him out of my first two rounds and put Catele Marte up there instead. I think Devers will probably be fine. He doesn't need surgery, but he says his shoulders didn't feel right all year. And the final two months, it cost him a lot of bat speed. We have to, didn't he, did he injure them in spring training? Or was it a little later? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Which is crazy to think about. He still hit 28 home runs on the season. Yeah, he's still a great year. Yeah, you still mostly himself. The last two months were pretty bad. And it affected his

the velocity on a swing, it affected the velocity on his throw. And, yeah, I imagine he'll show up next year 100%. That's what he thinks too. But that little sliver of doubt, I think, is enough for me to opt for Cotel Marte instead, as things stand now. Some other hitting leftovers, Tyler Stevenson, had a big game on Friday and is having a big second half, 284 with nine home runs and an 844 OPS.

Zach Netto, a huge game on Sunday, 3 for 5 with a double dong, 6 RBI, and he had been scuffling over the past month, so it was nice for him to have a strong one here. Wyatt Langford won for 4 with his 13th home run, 3 RBI on Sunday. Last 34 games, 296, 7 home runs, 5 steals, and OPS right around 900 for Wyatt Langford. And Tristan Kosses had a monster game,

3 for 4 with a triple dong, 7 RBI, but has not been as good since returning, and he's another one that could be a little bit confusing to figure out heading into 2025. That is Trisencasis. Some bullpen updates for the Cubs on Friday. Porter Hodge struck out two for his seventh save of the season. I believe he picked a save up on Saturday as well.

That is Porter Hodge. For Tampa Bay on Friday, Edwin Ussetta got the eighth inning with a one-run lead facing two, three, and four in the Blue Jays lineup. He walked one, he got two outs. He was relieved by lefty relieves. Colin Poshay, who struck out Spencer Horwitz, and then it was Hunter Biggie, who came over in the East Sock Parades trade.

He got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He picked up his first career save. On Saturday, it looks like Usata and Biggie were unavailable. Drew Rasmussen pitched two perfect innings for his first save of the season. And then on Sunday, it was back to Edwin Useta, who picked up his fourth save. Like, if there's a couple save opportunities this week, my guess is Useta gets the first shot, right, for Tampa Bay.

I guess, but they're not making it crystal clear. Yeah. For the Twins on Friday, Yuan Duran got the eighth inning with the game tied, facing the heart of the Red Sox lineup. He gave up two hits, but struck out two. Griffin Jacks eventually picked up the save in the 12th inning of that one. For the Marlins on Friday, Jesus Tinocho pitched a clean ninth inning for his second save. He's only 3% rostered if you need saves in deeper leagues.

For the debacks on Friday, Justin Martinez entered in the seventh inning with a three-run lead, facing two, three, and four in the Brewers lineup. He gave up two hits, but struck out two. And A.J. Puck later got the ninth inning and picked up his third save of the season. And then on Sunday, Justin Martinez came in in the eighth inning. Runners on first and second, first and third,

excuse me. He allowed three runs on three hits, took his second blown save and sixth loss. We spoke about A.J. Puck early on. He could be in the mix for saves here with the debacks. I wanted to go back just a second to Tristan Koss. because I didn't want to gloss over that three-homer game on Sunday. Obviously, a big deal for a player.

A lot of people liked coming into the season, and injuries kind of derailed it. It's had a huge strikeout rate since coming back. And he's only 57% started in CBS leagues. I think this three-homer game would convince me to get him in the lineup if I'd been sitting Tristan Kossis. All righties on the schedule for the Red Sox. Kind of tough matchups, but all righties.

and clearly Kossis showed he might have his stroke down again. Just like Buster Booth, all righties. For the Padres on Friday, Robert Svarez got the ninth inning with a two-run lead. He gave up a two-run homeer to Lennon Sosa, and he took his sixth blown save on Saturday. Tanner Scott picked up the save, and then on Sunday they went back to Swares, who picked up his 34th save. Swares has struggled a little bit here in September, and obviously Tanner Scott is awesome. I still think it's war as his job, but his fastball's lost a little bit of that induced vertical break.

I saw someone breaking this down on Twitter over the weekend, and he throws it like 85% of the time. So that's a pitch that he needs to, he needs that to be a singular standout pitch to be effective. And it's, it's lost a little something as the season has gone on. For the Yankees on Friday, Luke Weaver got the 10th inning with a three-run lead. he picked up his third save, and then on Sunday he got the final five outs for his fourth save, 30% rostered if you do need saves here in the final week. And for the Dodgers on Friday, Michael Kopeck picked up his 14th save. For the Tigers on Saturday, Jason Foley, took the blown save, and then they went back to him on Sunday.

He picked up his 26th save, and then for the Pirates on Sunday, I rolled as Chapman, shark out two for his 11th save of the season. To stream or not to stream on Monday, it is a four-game slate. you have two options to choose from Hayden Birdsong at the DeBacks or Edward Rodriguez versus the Giants. If I have to pick from those two, it's Erod. Okay. And then on Tuesday, we have Jacob Junis at the Guardians, Tobias Myers at the Pirates, Dean Kramer at the Yankees,

Clark Schmidt facing the Orioles. Jack Kohanowitz is at the White Sox. Jonathan Cannon is on the other side facing the Angels. I think I'd go Tobias Myers over Jack Kohanowitz, but it's amazing that we're even mentioning the name Jack Kohanowitz. It's been a quality star machine with a great ground ball rate. He might get you two strikeouts. Yeah, I don't buy it at all.

That feels like one of the ones I was talking about earlier where there's no way you were starting Jack O'Honowitz for the stretch that has gone well. And it feels really likely even against the two. team like the white socks that things could go off the rails and get his numbers to where they probably should be, which is like an ERA close to five. I will throw Jacob. I agree that I don't want to do it. But if I have to pick somebody, Kahanowitz would be my second choice. I will throw Jacob Junis out there as my second choice. We mentioned the Guardians lineup has not been as good in the

second half. He's coming off his longest start of the season, a quality start. He's pitched well for the reds, I think it's totally fine to use Jacob Junis there. We are going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into 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.

Paramount Podcasts.