Fantasy Baseball Today - Gerrit Cole Goes Off, Interesting Starting Pitchers & August Leaders! (9/2 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 2, 2021

Yea, Gerrit Cole is going to be just fine (1:45). Should you add Jackson Kowar? ... Where does Kowar stack up against Logan Gilbert and Joe Ryan (7:55)? ... News and notes (12:28). Kenta Maeda had Tommy John surgery, Tim Anderson went to the IL and more. ... We tried to tell you about Brendan Rodgers, Connor Joe and Frank Schwindel (22:00)! Worryometer on a Thursday (32:56)! What's going on with Yu Darvish!? ... Aces gonna ace (31:10). Let's recap the August leaders on both the hitting and pitching side (43:22). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates, and streamers (51:48). 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. I drive. Center Field. What is magnificent? Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality.

Now here's Frank Scott, Chris, and Adam. What's up, everybody? Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Thursday, September 2nd. Frank Stamphill joined by Scott White from a remote location. Hope everybody is staying safe. We've got some real nasty weather here in the Northeast. Scott, how is everything going? Where are you?

This is my in-laws house. This is my in-laws house. I've relocated for the evening because of an internet outage. So I got the portable microphone that plugs in directly with the USB cord. Maybe the sound quality suffers a little, but not that much because, you know, I just sound that good. And yeah, the background looks a little different. So it's going to be kind of a strange event for us here on September 2nd. But I believe we'll be able to power through it.

I believe so as well. And you pointed out something I wanted to say, bear with us in case the audio sounds a little bit differently. But so far, so good. You sound pretty good to me, Scott. As always, kind of weird, not seeing you with a couch in the background, but this will do. I think you look pretty good where you are. Today on the pod, we have some interesting starting pitchers to talk about Worryometer on a Thursday, thurionometer, I don't know, August leaders,

aces that stepped up big time, and more. But let's get things started. Oh, my goodness gracious. Oh, my goodness gracious. All right, Scott. Where would you like to start? I would like to start with Garrett Cole. There are a lot of notable performances from less heralded players, but I want to talk

about Garrett Cole because he was. amazing against the Angels 15 strikeouts a 15 strikeout performance seven shutout innings and really I'm sorry seven one run innings 32 swinging strikes on 116 pitches 18 of those swinging strikes on the fastball and you know all the swings and misses he's used to getting on the fastball was because of that high spin rate that suffered in June with the crackdown on the sticky substances. Right now he has a game where he's getting 18 swinging strikes on the fastball alone. This was obviously the coup de grace, I guess, of what's been a pretty big turnaround here for Mr.

Cole from those days in June when we were all worried about him. His last eight starts now. 234 ERA 0.98 whip 14.4 strikeouts per nine innings. I mean, that sounds like Garak Cole, right? Sure does. And, you know, we were talking about him yesterday in relation to the Cy Young Award. Is Robbie Ray going to beat him out for that? Maybe.

But next year, you know, we've talked about who deserves to go first if it's not going to be Jacob deGrom. And, you know, maybe Jacob deGromch shows up to spring training with a clean bill of health. And it's obviously him at that point. it's going to be really hard to make a case for anyone other than Garrett Cole to go behind Jacob de Grom, right? It's going to be a hard case to make. And I don't think I'm going to be making it because he appears to be just about as dominant as he's ever been. Yeah, I think the sticky situation is behind us for now, at least when it comes to Garrett Cole. We'll talk about you Darvish a little bit later on. I don't know what's going on with him, but he's really slowed down

since they took away the foreign substances. But let's see what happens in the offseason too, right, regarding those substances. And I'm sure that there's going to be more conversations regarding that. And obviously, they've got some things to figure out here between the NLB and the NLB Players Association. I did have an interesting stat just on Garicol, and this came per Katie Sharp on Twitter.

This is the fifth game with 12 or more strikeouts this season for Garicol the most in a single season in Yankees' history. So obviously a lot of that was, front loaded, and then, you know, he's slowed down a little bit. But as you pointed out, it's got the last eight or nine starts. It looks like Garrett Cole is back to being one of, if not the best pitcher in baseball. Oh my goodness gracious for me, I want to talk about Jackson Cowar. And he's part of this group of what I consider interesting starting pitchers.

And all interesting for different reasons and interesting in different league sizes and league types. I'm not saying that they're all standard mixed league relevant. But let's start with Jackson Cowar, who was up against Cleveland, made his return. obviously a very high-regarded prospect in the Royals organization. Six innings, two runs, zero earned, three walks, six strikeouts. He had 13 swinging strikes on 94 pitches, used all three of his pitches, commanded them pretty well in this start, eight swinging strikes on the fastball, five of those on the change-up. He's only 8% rostered, and it looks like he is in line to face the Orioles in Baltimore

next week. Scott, what did you see from Jackson Coar? how excited would you be to potentially add him in one of your leagues? Well, Jackson Cowar is one of three of the September call-ups we've seen so far that I think has a chance to make an impact, a fantasy impact in September, and all three of them had great games here on Wednesday night. We'll get to the other two in a little bit. But Jackson Cowar was one of them at AAA this year, 3.4.4. 46 ERA 1.24 whip, 12.8K per 9.

So, you know, the whip's a little higher than you'd like it to be, the ERA a little higher than you'd like it to be, but 12.8K per 9. Obviously, like that. He's got an elite change-up that, you know, obviously came through for him and this start pairing it with the fastball. You know, between those two, he threw those two pitches that combined 89% of the time. So he was really just playing those two off each other,

but it worked against Cleveland. and obviously a much better outing than the three we saw from earlier this year where he got pounded. So I would have liked to see more consistency from him at AAA. It's not like he was on a good run leading up to this promotion

that, oh my goodness, he's really become just overpowering for minor league hitters and obviously deserves this promotion. I would have liked to see that. And also it looks like the royals are going six-man for now, so I don't know that

I don't know if there's going to be a two-star opportunity for him at all. But I would say in deeper leagues, it wouldn't be a bad idea to take a flyer on Kowar based on this performance. But if Joe Ryan is out there, he's another one of the three who pitched well Wednesday. Who's somebody else that we've talked about recently at starting pitcher? Bailey Ober, Nessar Cortez. Yeah.

Yeah, there's somebody I have in mind and I can't think of it. I'm sure it'll come up later. Ranger Suarez? Oh, definitely Ranger Suarez, but that's not the guy I'm thinking. If somebody even rostered in fewer leagues than that, yeah, I'm not sure Kowar would be the highest priority at starting pitcher for me is what I'm saying. There's upside. He's going to get an opportunity here.

So it's a good return trip to the majors. but I'm not sure he would be one of the highest priorities for me at the position. All right. Well, would he be the highest priority of pitchers that went on Wednesday? So I'm going to throw this group together. Five interesting starting pitchers that I picked out. And one of them is Logan Allen, who made his return, not his return, is actually his second back, second start back in the Cleveland rotation. He was on the other side in the start against the Royals,

six and two-thirds, three runs, three strikeouts. Not many strikeouts here, but that's now back-to-back quality starts. since returning to Cleveland. That's, again, Logan Allen. Logan Gilbert, who was on an awful streak recently. Five shutout against the Astros with 18 swinging strikes. He only wound up with four strikeouts,

but I thought that swinging strike total was notable, considering Houston does not swing and miss very much. Joe Ryan made his debut, as you already referenced. Got five innings, three runs. That one big blow that he gave up, Frank Schwindell, three-run Homer.

I mean, how can you stop Frank Schwindell right now? So you can't really hold that against Joe, Ryan. He also had five strikeouts to just one walk. And then Luke Weaver, not as good as Adam. I get it. At the Padres, making his return. Six innings, one run, three strikeouts. He's only 9% rostered. Joe Ryan is only 13% rostered. These pitchers are widely available. Scott, how would you rank this group of interesting pitchers? Logan Allen, Jackson Cowar, Logan Gilbert, Joe Ryan, and Luke Weaver. I still think Logan Gilbert's the top one to have here. Obviously, it's easy to say after this performance,

a bounce back outing against the Astros of all teams. But yeah, they have, as a team, the 8.7% swinging strike rate is what they have. Microscopic. They don't swing and miss. And here in five innings, Logan Gilbert got 18 swinging strikes against them. That's just a testament to his stuff. His velocity was up in this start,

a mile per hour on his fastball. I think like a mile per hour and a half on the slider. So, you know, that probably had something to do with the success. But I don't know that we needed to write him off completely because of a rough three-start stretch like he had. And this performance is a reminder that he could still be very useful himself down the stretch and is more proven than anyone else on this list. second would probably be Joe Ryan, who I already mentioned, I liked more than Jackson Quar.

And he did everything I wanted to see from him in this Major League debut against the Cubs. So the only runs he gave up were on that three-run Homer to Schwendell. It was one of just three hits he gave up in five innings, four base runners total in five innings, five strikeouts. But a lot of wifts. And a lot of wiffs on the fastball, of course. know, that was, we knew that was going to be the story on Joe Ryan. Great fastball. Does he have enough of anything else?

He threw the fastball 63% of the time. Averageed only 90.8 miles per hour on it, which, you know, is also the thing. It's, it's a deceptive fastball. It's not like an overpowering in terms of velocity fastball, which also makes him kind of, it gives him kind of an atypical prospect profile, right? Of his 14 whiffs, nine were on the fastball, nine on those 63% fastballs. I would have guessed it to be, I would have expected it to be a higher percentage than that.

You know, the fact that he got a combined five whiffs on his changeup and slider, which he didn't even throw that much, either one of them, I think it's a really good sign. So, very encouraging, start from Joe Ryan.

I don't know that I'd rush him into my starting lineup next time out, but I could see things, based on this first impression, I could see him having an, impact. Yeah, and Joe Ryan is scheduled to face the, uh, face Cleveland in Cleveland next week. He's only 13% rostered. So that's a pretty good matchup. Scott, anything you'd like to add on Luke Weaver or Logan Allen? Not really. Logan Allen got a ZRA below seven. So good for him. And I think the, the time he's pitched to AAA this year, too, it was above seven. So yeah, it's, it's going to

take a while for me to change my opinion on Logan Allen. Okay. Um, full. Or quickly back on Joe Ryan, would you rather have him or someone like Bailey Ober who we spoke about yesterday? I'd rather have Ryan. Okay, but you'd still rather have Ranger Suarez over both? Yes. Okay, cool.

Let's hit some news and notes. Kent and Maeda, underwent Tommy John surgery on Wednesday. That included an internal brace that could help him return in nine to 12 months rather than the usual 12 to 16 month timeline. And I saw that this is similar to what Rich Hill had done either last year or the year before

and he was able to come back a little bit sooner. So that's the hope for Kentamai that hopefully he can be back sooner. Hopefully 2022 isn't the year of the setback. Oh gosh, seriously, right? Tim Anderson landed on the aisle with a left hamstring strain retroactive to August 29th

and prospect Romie Gonzalez was called up. In 87 games between AA and AAA, Gonzalez hit 275 with 23 home runs and 22. steals. He's like a top 25-ish prospect in the White Sox organization. I really haven't heard much about the guy of Romy Gonzalez, but those are some pretty eye-popping stats here, Scott, 275, 23 homers,

22 steals. Anything to know with him? Yeah, I was reading about him recently for the prospects report. I don't think I ended up putting him in there. But yeah, 2020 season from a no-name, what is he, 25? believe he's 24 years old. Yeah, well, a guy in his mid-20s, a no name before this year, and he ends up having a 2020 season at AAA. And yet, you know,

you don't hear a lot of enthusiasm for him in the prospect community even with that performance. So I keep an eye on him. I suspect, you know, anytime a player puts up numbers like that in the minors, there's a chance. he's able to carry it over to the majors.

I think generally the non-prospect who puts up big numbers in the minors is generally undervalued. The percentage of the time they hit, like they deliver as major leaguers, is high enough that I would say they're generally undervalued in fantasy. But, you know, it's still deserving of a healthy dose of skepticism until we actually see him do some damage, I would, you know, I would, I would leave Romi, Romi, Rami, Rami, Rami, Romi. I'm going, with Romi, but. Romi Gonzalez is on the waiver wire for now. Bad podcast host, I did not look up how to pronounce his name beforehand. Apologies. But, yeah, and look, playing time's probably going to be hard

for him to come along here. He's going to fill in for Tim Anderson as long as Tim Anderson is out. So I would expect this to not be that long of a situation for Tim Anderson. But Seizor Hernandez has been struggling mightily as well. So if he hits well, then maybe they keep him in the lineup rest of the season. Let's see what happens with Romi Gonzalez. Well, I'll go ahead and interject the third name of the prospect call-ups. Okay. That I thought could have an impact down the stretch and, in fact, had a huge game here on September 1st.

And that's another member of the White Sox, Gavin Shee. So, of course, we've seen before, and he was pretty productive when he was up before. comes back to homers in his very first game. He was in the lineup, Romney Gonzalez. Romney Gonzalez was not. So can he stay in the lineup? He was at DH in this game, and the White Sox don't have a dedicated DH.

We've seen Sheets play first base and left field as well. The White Sox have been playing an awful lot of Brian Goodwin, and it's not like they didn't even in Center Field. Obviously, they have Luis Robert there. they don't need to keep playing Brian Goodwin, I don't think. And Gavin Sheets, you know, good enough in his previous stint in the majors that you would like to see him get an extended look. Let me look up the exact numbers.

You know, 225, obviously the batting average is not great there, but strikeouts weren't an issue and he homered six times in 89 at bats. So definitely showed us something. And in the minors this year, 295 batting average 869 OPS for Gavin Sheets. Again, low strikeout rate, relatively low. So there's a chance, you know, we'll see if he's in the lineup tomorrow after hitting the two homers today. It would be nice if Tony Larousseur rewarded him in that way. But he hasn't always been so great about dispensing playing time to the right people.

Yeah. But there's a chance. There's a chance for Gavin Sheets to maybe come up and make an impact. here in the season's final month, as we've seen, like Frank Schwendell do. And Cheats is a better prospect than Shwindell. He's still, you know, young enough to actually call him a prospect. But I could see him having that kind of impact.

Yeah. And Gavin Cheats is 6% rostered. Someone who, I would say you're watching for now, but if you play in a deeper daily lineup league where you can add him and I play in a 15-team league where we set our lineup every day. In a league like that, if you can add him and just kind of plug him in whenever he plays,

then I would say that's a pretty good place to add Gavin Sheets, if you can. Trevor Rogers has been activated off the restricted list and will start Friday against the Phillies. Scott, would you throw him right back in the lineup if you play in a daily league? Against two? The Phillies. Probably not. Probably not. It's been a while, and it's not like he was dominating before he went on the restricted list. It's usually a rough day for the Colorado Rockies pitchers, but it was a special. rough on Wednesday because one day after playing catch, John Gray goes on the IL with right

forearm tightness and then Kyle Freeland left his start with a hip impingement, which we're finally starting to buy in, we're telling people to add Kyle Freeland, throw him in your lineup, good matchup against Texas, and then he gets hurt. So we'll see what the extent of the injury is for Kyle Freeland. Lucas Gielito will not make his next start on September 7th against the A's as he's dealing with that strained left hamstring. Rinaldo Lopez will make a start for the White Sox on Saturday, presumably filling in for Lance Lynn. And the last time Ronaldo Lopez pitched, it was in relief. He threw five perfect innings.

So I added him in your Scott White Dynasty League. I've been pretty intrigued by Ronaldo Lopez. Scott, I don't think he's going to have a long-term place in this rotation. But let's say if you're thinking about streaming him against the Royals this weekend, would you, is that something you would consider? You know, I'm not a fan of streaming one-star pitchers in general. It's something I'm asked to tell people to do on occasion. And so, you know, by that criteria, sure, against the Royals.

You know, Raynaldo-Lopez has shown he can go five innings and is pitched well out of the bullpen. So he checks the boxes for a one-start streeper. A one-star sleeper. I was like, what is that? A Merrill Streeper. Yeah, I'm skeptical that he can sustain his current level of production as a starting pitcher,

that he has a diverse enough arsenal, that he's going to keep the ball in the yard enough because he's got a high fly ball rate and it just, he hasn't given up many home runs. And maybe that's something he can continue over short appearances, but longer ones.

You know, I have my doubts. But sure, he's going against the Royals this weekend if you need a one-star streamer. You could do worse than Lopez. Shohei Otani will make his return to the mound this Friday and start against the Texas Rangers. George Springer was back in the lineup as the designated hitter, and he left on Tuesday.

So not playing the field, but nice to see that he was in the lineup. Adelberto Mondesie made his return as the DH. And are you kidding me, Scott? A sock and his shoe, the first game back for Adelberto Monashie. A home run in the game. the steel in the same game. I mean, this is what he does. I'm telling you, he is going to have a massive September. We're going to buy in again for next year in Categories leagues. It is. It happens every single year. It's worth noting that they expect Mondesey to play some third base moving forward

when he's not D-Hing because obviously Bobby Witt is the future of their organization and they don't want him to move off of shortstop. So I think that makes sense there. Aaron Savali made another rehab start at AA Wednesday. He allowed two runs with six strikeouts over five innings and built up to 71 pitches. So I'm not sure he'll need another rehab start, but he's getting closer, 71 pitches. First of all, he's. True Smiley has indeed been removed from the Braves rotation. Tuki Tucson will start on Thursday in Corse Field, unfortunately. We're not going to stream him there. We don't like that matchup.

But if you held on to Tuki Tucson, let's see how he does. Let's see what the matchups are moving forward. Gio O'Rshello was out of of the lineup Wednesday with handsworness and will undergo an MRI on Thursday. Enrique Hernandez, also known as Kike Hernandez, could be back from the COVID-I-L this weekend. Johnny Quedo placed on the I-L with a strained right elbow.

And Adbert Aalai will now pitch out of the bullpen for the Cubs. In fact, he threw four shutout innings with five strikeouts on Wednesday for his first career saved. He looked pretty damn good, but I don't know how often that's actually going to happen for Adbert Alzalai. We keep trying to tell you about these hitters.

So let's make some tougher decisions, Scott, because people are just not adding them. I don't know if they're just not buying in, whatever it might be. Your boy, Brendan Rogers, does it again. Two for four with his 11th home run on Wednesday. He now has nine of the 11 on the road this season. And I cannot explain it.

He's 56% rostered. He's got four games coming up in Corus Field starting Thursday. He's got a few more left this season too. So let's see if he can even out those splits a little bit. but this number needs to be higher. Someone asked me on Thursday, can I drop Francisco Lindor? And I kind of hesitated.

I mean, he hasn't been good. I don't really know what to expect rest of season from him. Would you dare drop Lindoror for Brendan Rogers? Oh, man. You know, I like Rogers. I like Rogers a lot. I've been hyping him for months, and his roster rate has barely budged during that time.

so people really aren't listening to me. Fair enough. I don't think I could drop Lindor for them. No, and I don't know that I have faith in Lindor coming around. How could you at this point? I just, I don't want that powerful of a weapon falling into enemy hands, you know, because then, of course, they'll come around. That's kind of the way I view it at this stage of the season.

But just to make the case for Rogers more generally, and I think you mentioned that his road stats are actually better than his home stats. Nine of his 11 home runs have come on the road. I view that as a testament to how naturally talented he is and not so much, oh, he just hits better on the road. Nobody hits better away from course field. That goes against all physics.

So it'll eventually happen that his home numbers are better than his road numbers. But look, he's shown he could be. good at the road, which is a good thing for a Rockies hitter. I got this little bug flying around my face and I'm going to end up inhaling it like I did on that show last year. But continuing the thought, I lost the train of thought. Oh, yeah. So in the long run, and I would say moving forward, it's reasonable to expect Rogers to be better, even better on the road than at home than he is on the road. and it just so happens that the final two weeks of the regular season,

the Rockies are at home for three of their four series, those final two weeks. And the one that they're away, they're going against the diamondbacks. So really, really favorable matchups for the Rockies to close out the season. So that should be incentive enough to pick up Rogers if you didn't already have one. All right, let me throw a few more names your way. Glaber Torres expected to come off the I.L. Friday. have a decision to make, do I keep him on my team or, you know, he's coming off the IL, I might have to clear a roster spot. Would you drop someone like Glaber Torres to keep

Brenda Rogers? I would, yeah. I don't see much reason to hold on to Torres at this point. Would you, hmm, other tough names. These names, like, there's some players that are so rostered so high, like, Ehio Hsuarez, 66%. He's like the Patrick Corbyn of hitters. Get that guy off your team. Uh, who else? David. Fletcher, I mean, he's fine. Yeah, there's no one else here. You want the upside of Rogers instead. Yeah.

How about Jazz Chisholm versus Brennan Rogers? I feel like that's pretty close. It is pretty close. I do have more confidence in Rogers, unless you specifically need stolen bases. You know, Chisholm had two steals yesterday, right? So he's still, he's obviously a much better bet for Rogers than those.

But just in terms of pure bat, I definitely like Rogers more. All right, we tried to tell you part two. Connor Joe, two more hits with a double, a walk, a run scored. I'm very interested to see what the playing time is once they get back in Coresfield in the National League Park. They were just in Texas, so they had the designated hitter that allowed Sam Hilliard to stay in the lineup, Connor Joe to stay in the lineup, and Ryan Maltapia, who recently returned. So I'm very interested to see what happens here.

Connor Joe, 35% rostered. We talk about him a lot. Let's see if I can find an outfielder who is rostered in too many leagues. How about Trey Mancini? His 96% rostered, would you drop him for Connor Joe? I think at this point, yeah. It's going to be hard to take Joe out of the lineup if he is playing full-time. You know, obviously you're getting a deep enough league,

and it's just unthinkable that you drop Mancini in like a five outfielder league. That's hard to imagine. But also Conor Joe's probably not available in that deep of a league. Well, how many, what percentage of our leagues are five outfielder leagues? Half? That's a good question. I don't know. Because he's,

I don't know either. He's only 31% roster. It is probably less than half or five outfielder leagues, but still, you know, the profile is so good for a points league, which are typically the three outfielder leagues on our site. Yeah. So, yeah,

it's just, it's just silly to me that Joe isn't picked up in more leagues. Awesome in the minor leagues the past three years, over a 400 on-base percentage in each. And, uh, been taking advantage of, of course, field.

I'll throw a few more names your way. Would you drop Mike Yistremski for Connor Joe? Easily. Would you drop Lordes Gureel for Connor Joe? Easily. Would you drop... Randall Gritchick is still 76% rostered. I'm assuming you'd make that move.

Yeah, I'd make that move. All right, let's talk about Frank Schwindell. Frank Schwindell has homered in three stray games. He is batting 306 with a 944 OPS. Again, we tried to tell you. He just keeps raking. He's 31% rostered. A few people asked me.

me on Wednesday night, who would I rather have? Connor Joe or Schwindell? I would rather have Joe, I believe you agree, right, Scott? Yeah, I would rather have Joe. I'd rather have the guy who can get on base apart from hitting his way on base. And there's a big discrepancy between those two in that area. So, you know, yeah, I'd rather have Joe. But I really like both of them.

I mean, Schwendell doesn't put the ground on the ball that much. doesn't put the ball on the ground that much. I'm sorry. I'm out of my element here and it's just... It's all good. I'm a little up in my head because of it. So anyway, yeah. Frank Schwendell, who has now homered in...

How many straight? Three straight, I think I saw. Three straight, yep. Yeah, three straight. His ground ball rate is among the lowest in baseball. And the line drive rate fly ball rates, they're both high. Line drive rate is how you get batting average.

Fly ball rate is how you get home runs. You add a strikeout rate of less than 20%. I think he's right around 20%. I mean, that looks like a profile that's going to do damage, you know? No, maybe it could change. Maybe, you know, it's easy to look at the underlying numbers when a player's hot and say,

oh, well, that's why that player's hot. But the underlying numbers can fall off as the player cools off. You know, that certainly happens sometimes. But everything I'm seeing from Schwendell so far, apart from the walk rate, I like. This is a ridiculous question. I couldn't imagine in a million years asking you this.

Would you drop Cody Bellinger for Frank Schwendell? Yeah. I mean, not in a dynasty league. Of course. Obviously not a Dynasty League, but anywhere else, why not? Oh, man. That is crazy. How about Santana, we mentioned yesterday, you would drop him, right?

Yes. How about Eric Hosmer, yes. Any other names here? Mike Mustakis, yes. All right, so those are a few that are probably over-rastered at this point in the season, but there's a lot of people that just stop playing. Why? Why stop?

Let's go. Let's keep going. Let's finish out. We have not talked about this player enough, and I wanted to bring him up. Josh Harrison went three for five with a double, two runs scored on Wednesday. He has let off in four straight games for the Oakland days. He's only 41% rostered. He has second, third outfield eligibility.

I don't see a big upside here, a big ceiling, Scott, but Josh Harrison, he's crushing it this year. He's a high floor player. I think he's safe. He has multi-position eligibility. I just feel like he should be rostered in more than 41% of leagues. Yeah. I don't understand how you can be so enthusiastic about Ahmed Rosario and not echoed the same enthusiasm for Josh Harrison, because they're basically the same, Frank. I just talked about.

Yeah. Not as enthusiastically as you do for Ahmed Rosario. Well, I guess it's because Rosario's still younger and former prospect pedigree, so I don't know. I'm still holding on to some hope that there's a higher upside for Ahmed Rosario. They both will contribute more than zero home runs, more than zero stolen bases. They will contribute some amount in those two categories while hitting for average and qualifying at a couple of scarce positions. So, you know, they're very similar.

All right. So again, the name there, Josh Harrison, only 41% roster. Let's take a quick break. When we return the Worryometer on a Thursday, the Thurriometer. Welcome back to fantasy baseball today. Let's talk about U. Darvish. I don't know what's up, man. Scott, we've got to figure this out.

Do we bench U. Darvish? Do we drop you Darvish? It sounds crazy, but all these starting pitchers emerging, I'm trying to figure it out. At the Diamondbacks, two in two thirds, eight hits, six runs, five of those earned. He still had 12 swinging strikes on 76 pitches, so that is a good ratio.

He had a 538 bab-up against on only four hard hit balls. So, admittedly, I didn't watch. watch the start, but it seems like there were some bad luck involved. His last 15 starts now for U. Darvish dating back to May 29th, right before this whole foreign substance situation, which started early June. 5.88 ERA, last 15 starts for U. Darvish. Next week, he is at home against the Angels. What do we do, Scott? Well, I do kind of take exception to going all the way back to May 29th and pointing out the ERA, because that would see suggest he's been bad since May 29th and in June, four of his five starts were awesome.

They were ace-like. So, you know, I don't know that it's totally fair to date it back that far. He's been bad since the start of July, basically. But if you take it back to the beginning of July, I mean, let's just go back to the basics here in analyzing you Darvish. So, in nine starts between July and August, he has issued nine walks. We've seen walks be a problem for him in the past. That's clearly not the problem now. Nine walks and nine starts.

You'll take that. 13.6% swinging strike rate. That's elite. That's an elite swinging strike rate. It's better than it was when he was at his best. So you got the strikeouts, you got the walks. the home runs, right? That's the trifecta.

The FIPP triangle, as I used to refer to often. The home runs are too high. He's allowed a home run, at least one home run in every single one of those starts. I believe including this one, did he allow a home run? Yes, he allowed one home run. But most of them are just one run, just one home run. There have been three of those nine starts he allowed. two or three home runs.

So you can't blame it entirely on the home runs. If the strikeouts are that good and the walks are that good, you know, I'm not saying there isn't something off for him. Clearly there is, but it's something very small. It's something very small, whatever it is. His delivery's a little off. Maybe he's pitching his titching his titches, tipping his pitches.

ever so slightly. It's nothing major. Now, I'm not saying you have to keep him in your lineup. And I know we're running out of time for him to make an impact, but that goes back to that you don't want such a powerful weapon falling into your enemy's hands. So I don't think you can drop him. I don't think you can even entertain that idea.

I think you bench him. And if you see him bounce back, which is very likely, then that weapon is in your own hands to control over the most important stretch. of the season. All right, so we're looking to bench him next week at home against the Angels, who Garrick Cole just dominated, by the way. So it's just hard. It's hard to trust Darvish at this point.

He came off the IEL. He could still be dealing with his back injury, and he has a long history of injuries. For what it's worth, Jace Tingler said after this game that Darvish came away, completely healthy, no issues. So we'll see if he can bounce back next week. If you had to put a number on, it's got one to ten. The Worryometer on Darvish?

Five. Five. All right. Let's talk about Carlos Rodon. He went up against the pirates. And for the most part, he was good. Five innings, one run, five strikeouts. But the fastball and slider velocity were both down 2.8 miles per hour from his season average.

So, I mean, that's been a big reason for Rodon's success this season. Obviously, you know, helps with the strikeouts and the swinging strikes. And it also helps that he's improved his control greatly. But, I mean, this is notable, Scott. down almost three miles per hour. So where are you at? Wariometer on Carlos Rodon. Yeah, I'm not really sure what that was about.

That's obviously dramatic. It raises concerns. I guess if I called you Darvish a 5, I'd have to call Carlos Rodon like a 4 because of that. It was so low that I almost wondered if it was intentional. Because remember, at the start of the year, his velocity wasn't that high either. and we really saw it turn during the no-hitter he threw

like over the course of the no-hitter the velocity got better and better and it just kind of stayed up after that so I feel like he has some measure of control over this he was going against the pirates fresh off the IL it's clear they're trying to limit him down the stretch here and it does anticipation of a deep playoff run I assume so you know I'd like to see some commentary on it I'd like to see quotes.

Don't have any of those yet. But I'm hopeful it was sort of by design. All right. So you'd be okay starting him next week at the Oakland days. With what I know now, yeah, I'd be okay with it. It's not a high priority. But, I mean, he did have a good result in the start. Worth noting.

Yeah, for sure. Wade Miley, he got crushed against the Cardinals. Four innings, 12 hits, five earned runs. The ERA, even after the start, is at 2.97, but his ex-fip is up over four. So I think we're all kind of waiting for a regression to strike at some point, Scott, on Wade Miley. Do you have any concern worryometer level here

on Miley after this one? I mean, three of his last five starts have been bad. So, you know, it's not like he's giving up a bunch of long balls. He's an extreme grout ball pitcher. It's not like he's lost that skill. But I'm a little worried. Yeah, I mean, it did seem like he was, performing over his head for most of the season and maybe just inevitable regression here.

So I'll call him a four as well on the Wuriometer. He is in line for two starts next week at the Cubs and at the Cardinals. So I assume we're leaving him in there. Yeah. All right. Last one here. James Cropillion at the Tigers. Four innings, four runs, three walks, four strikeouts. His last six starts, he has a 6.78 ERA.

and he's still 80% rostered, Scott. So I was going to ask you if you could drop him, but he is in line for two starts next week as well, home against the White Sox and home against the Rangers. So look, if you're not comfortable starting James Capillian there in a two-star week, one of them against Texas, you probably can drop him. Yeah, probably.

It's not the best timing. You may want to wait so that he doesn't clear waivers in time for somebody else to pick him up. Right. for the same reason I was giving. Yeah, but I mean, he's somebody who, you know, he has a 463X FIP on the year. The walk rate is too high.

The fly ball rate is too high. It seemed like regression was coming for him. And combined five home runs in his last two starts. That's a part of it. All right. So maybe drop him on Sunday when someone else can't get him on their team or if you can afford to hold on to him and maybe you don't want to start him.

and then you drop them after the week starts, whatever it might be. Like, for example, I don't think Joe Ryan or Jackson, Kawara, such a high priority pickup that you need to drop Caprillion to make sure you get them.

Okay. I think Ranger Suarez is, if that's the decision. But I don't think, I don't think, like, Ryan and Kawar are. All right, let's take a look at some aces. Ace is going to ace on Wednesday. Garrett Cole was a part of this segment.

We already spoke about him. Max Scherzer. Up against the Braves, six shutout with nine strikeouts to zero walks. He had 20 swinging strikes over 76 pitches, and then they pulled them from the game. I didn't see anything on Twitter, that he's dealing with anything, but I thought it was pretty curious that they pulled Scherzer after just 76 pitches. He's down to a 2.40 ERA, a 0.86 whip. Just awesome season for Max Scher.

It's been an awesome stretch for Max Fried, who went into L.A., six endings, two runs, nine strikeouts to just one walk, and over his last seven starts, he has a... All right, I've thought my rundown got deleted for a second. Oh, that Dan Schneier, I think you might have done something, but it's back. Last seven starts for Max Fried. 1.76 ERA, 46 strikeouts to just... It's definitely not one walk. I messed up somewhere here, but it's a really low number.

It's like six or seven walks, so like the control has been awesome for Max Fried. and then it wasn't really an A's outcome, but I wanted to mention Chris Sale, six-ennings, two runs, three strikeouts, his fastball velocity up over 94 miles per hour again, so that's back-to-back starts. Scott, anything you'd like to add on Scherzer-fried, Chris Sale? Scherzer has had an awesome season, but he's clearly not providing the volume that we're used to seeing from him. So it is a step back in terms of overall impact and fantasy. and I'll just reiterate what I've said for Max Freed a couple times recently.

You leave out those three starts in April when we quickly learned he was pitching hurt and he went on the IL. Leave those out and his numbers are, these numbers are amazing. His numbers are exactly what you drafted him to be. Yeah. So that number actually is 46 strikeouts to just five walks over his last seven starts. And if you look at it's just his last four starts He only has one walk during that span So that's something that's always hampered Max Fried So it seems like he's really kind of

Elevating his game here And maybe taking that step That next step so it's really nice to see I wanted to take a look at some August leaders Scott now that we have August in the books Everything is there the dust has settled And we'll start off with qualified batting average leader C.J Cron no surprise monster monster August

387 batting average led the entire all the headers, all qualified hitters, Tyler Naquin batted 386. Brian Dela Cruz, who we have not talked about

at all, hit 384 for the Miami Marlins in the month of August. Anything to see there with Brian Dela Cruz? I don't think so. And in fact, I feel like

wouldn't he be the odd man out now that Lewis Brinson is healthy again? I believe he was not in the lineup. Yeah, he hasn't And he hasn't been in the lineup so consistently anyway.

So he didn't play on what would that have been Sunday? He didn't play on Sunday then they got rained out and he started the previous two, four,

seven games before that. So he was playing. I mean, he played enough to qualify for the batting average so I thought it was interesting. Yeah, I'm,

he had a good season at AAA. He hit 324 with 12 homers and 880 OPS in just 66 games. Hadn't really done much in the minors before then. Not that he was terrible. The power increases really what we saw this year. So, you know, we can keep an eye on Brian De La Cruz, but I haven't seen enough to advise picking him up or anything. All right, the home run leaders for August 5,

with double digits. Salvador Perez Monster Month. Hit 12 home runs in August. C.J. Crone had 11. Bryce Harper had 10. Jose Ibrahim really bounced back. He was having a down season heading it to August, but turned it on. I believe he hit something like 3.30.

Also had 10 homers. And then Hunter Renfro, who we've talked about quite a bit, he also had 10 home runs in August. The runs leader, Wander Franco, that's right. 26 runs scored in the month. Wow. And he extends the on-base streak to 30, games on Wednesday with a home run off of Chris Sale.

Scott, I know we mentioned a few weeks ago. Let's see how Wanda Franco kind of ends the season to determine what his draft value is going to be for next year. People are going to go gaga over this guy. He's going to be a top 50 pick. That is my prediction on September 2nd, 2021. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure he'll get the treatment Vladimir Guerrero got this year and last.

year, even though he hadn't really done anything to deserve a pick that high yet, you know, just everybody knowing the upside, knowing the pedigree, and having seen enough to know, okay, hopefully he's on the right track here. I'm sure Wander Franco is going to get that same treatment. I don't see why I won it, especially since, especially as, as well as it's paid off for Guerrero, those who invested in Guerrero this year. Yep. That's going to be the perfect argument for Wander Franco next season. Your RBI leader in August, C.J. Crone had 34.

Stolen Bases. Starling Marte had 19. 19 steals in a month. Are you kidding me? That is insane. Whitmerfield had 11. Nicky Lopez had 10. You know, those royals like to run. We're going to see a lot from Alberto Mondesie,

assuming he stays healthy. Marte, by the way, on Wednesday, went 2 for 5 with his 10th home run. He's also betting 320 with 42 steals overall. 320, 10 homers, 42 steals. Just a ridiculous season for stalling Marte. Contract year, hope the guy gets paid. ERA leaders, go over to the pitching side.

Max Fried, we mentioned them. 1.36 ERA, the lowest among qualified starters in August. Logan Webb, 1.41. Cal Quantrell, 1.42 ERA in the month. Your whip leader, Tristan McKenzie, I was surprised that he qualified, but I guess he made enough starts, went on the IL, really missed. It was probably two starts, and he's getting ready to return. a 0.50 whip.

I got another interesting stat about McKenzie. What do you got? If he qualified, season long, if he qualified, best batting average against among starting pitchers. Interesting. So yeah, I guess earlier in the season, it was really just all walks because I remember his control was awesome.

Yeah, it was like a walk per inning before he got sent down. Yeah, so he, look, he clearly has the stuff, man. Tristan McKenzie could pitch, you know, durability is obviously an issue. The guy is super, super skinny. I believe his nickname is like stick or sticks or something like that. And by the way, batting average against people say, oh, well, you know, Babit dependent, whatever.

5.7 hits per 9 is what he's given up this year. It was 5.7 hits per 9 in his six starts last year too. So, I mean, showing some consistency there in terms of hit prevention. Yeah, there's something there, which is some McKenzie for sure. A few other whip leaders I wanted to mention Adam Wainwright and Marco Gonzalez, the vets. 0.80 whip in August. Four wins. Adam Wainwright and Shane McClanahan each had five. They were your leaders in the month. Strikeouts. No surprise here. Blake Snell had 54. Robbie Ray had 52. Dylan Sees had 50. It's been a nice

little turnaround for Dylan Sees. We haven't talked about him quite a bit recently, but he's been very good. And then your saves leaders. We had three relievers with eight each. And that included Kenley Jansen, Alex Colomay, and Will Smith from your Atlanta Braves. And did he just get another save? No, he didn't. I'm sorry, Scott. I just checked, and it turns out that the Dodgers wound up winning that game. They did, yep.

Sweeping the Braves. The Braves now have the Phillies nipping at their heels again. It was, you know, it was a nice stretch there for both of us, Yankees and the Braves, And then this week, everything kind of went downhill again. So we'll see. I mean, when you're facing the Dodgers, who's run differential is like plus 200, they're so far ahead of every other team.

And they're the best team in baseball. I know they don't have the best record in baseball. Yeah. And they may finally, they may now have the best record in their division. I can't. Did the Giants win? I think they were,

I think they entered the day half a game back of the Giants. But regardless of what the standings say, the Dodgers are the best team of baseball. I don't think that's such a hot take. They are currently tied with the Giants for the lead in the National League West. So we'll see. I mean, the Giants are plus 141 run differential in the year. The Dodgers plus 213 looking, well, the huge...

So the Dodgers are plus 213. Yeah. The Astros and Rays are second and third, and they're plus 172 plus 170. That's how far the Dodgers are heading, everybody else. Oh, my. That is. It's completely ridiculous. I wanted to mention a few bigger-named hitters

that are just hot fire right now. And maybe some names we don't really talk about enough. Someone tweeted at me, hey, talk about Paul Goldschmidt. All right, we'll talk about him. He had a double dong on Tuesday, Wednesday, rather. Get my days mixed up. He is, Paul Goldschmidt's having quietly a very good season. 287 batting average, 24 homers, 10 steals.

The steals just came back out of nowhere for Paul Goldschmidt. So nice bounceback season for Goldie. Castellanos, heating back up. Dealt with the injury, had a down month, really. Double-dong on Wednesday, including a grand slam. His last 15 games, Cassiano's batting 333 with six homers. Ketel Marte, last 15 games. 339 batting average, four homers. Aaron Judge continues, he had a massive August. Hopefully that's carrying over here into September, and he hit his 30th home run of the season. He is now batting 299 with a 934 OPS with a career best strikeout rate as well. And Alex Verdugo, I just wanted to show him some love because I think back in July we

probably poo-poot him. And he's still not hitting for power, but batting average really bounced back in August, 341 batting average for Verdugo. Two homers, 899 OPS. A few leftovers from Wednesday that I wanted to mention. Leotie Tavaris, two for four, with a double and his seventh steal. And I think I mentioned him on yesterday's podcast too, Scott, but five outfielder leagues,

15-team Roto, he's available in both of my 15-team Roto League. So I think he should be rostered there. Yeah. So in the last three games, he has two home runs and what, three or four steals.

So he's, you know, he started out over 19, getting called up. And, you know, that's the question for him. Is he going to hit a? enough.

It's his profile, because he's such a good defender, it's kind of reminding me of Carlos Gomez when he first came up. Okay. To have a big throwback. Definitely had the speed right away. It took the power a while to come around, but eventually got there. And Tavares in the minors has shown good power this year for the first time. It's just a question of, is he going to put the bat on the ball enough to get the most out

of that skill set. And Carlos Gomez eventually did for a stretch. Will Tavares get there? Remains to be seen. Scott, I loved Carlos Gomez. I loved him with a passion. I had him in my home keeper league, and I think I drafted him one year super late. And then he was just, he was my best keeper for like three or four years in a row. And that was an awesome stretch. Yeah, he was a fantasy first rounder for a stretch of two or three years. Yeah. Shout out to Scott bringing up Carlos Gomez. I love it. It never fails. One day after saying you can drop Trent Grisham in shallow leagues. He goes three for four with his 14th home run.

So there you go. Will Myers. I wanted to mention he's heating back up his last 15 games, batting 3-11, four homers, one steel, but much like Tommy Fam and Trent Grisham, he's just not playing enough. Will Myers has sat out four of the last nine games for the Padres. So I think that really kind of puts a wet blanket

on any type of excitement for Will Myers. Yeah, it does. I mean, you know, we were talking about how much Trent Grisham and Tommy Pham have been sitting recently for them. They just have too many mouths to feed, Frank. It's fantasy football time. Too many mouths to feed. That's what they say, those fantasy football analysts. I'm telling.

I'm telling Chris Towers, you said that about him. Jake O'Doresey at the Mariners. Pretty good start. Five innings, one run, seventh strike. He had 14 swinging strikes on 87 pitches. Scott, I know you don't like Odarezzi very much. He's only allowed four earned runs over his last three starts. 62% rostered at home next week against the Mariners again. So is there a chance he sneaks into your sleeper pitchers? I just think he's too combustible. He's capable of these starts on occasion. But, you know,

let's let's be real, Frank. He was pitching against the Mariners. Should have been no hits in five minutes, not two. Well, that just means he's going to throw a no-hitter in his next start against the Mariners. Yeah, I wouldn't be so sure. All right, last name I want to mention here, Justin Steele at the Minnesota Twins. Five shutout, he only gave up one hit, three walks to three strikeouts. Not overly impressive or anything, but it looks like he's in line for two starts next week. At home against the Reds and the Giants.

The Reds are very bad against left-hand. pitching. Any interest in Justin Steele? Not really. Not worth speaking about. All right. Calls in the pen, some bullpen updates for the Cardinals, Giovanni Gallegos. The guy's hot. He picked up his fourth save in game one of their doubleheader. And then in game two, Alex Reyes pitched in the ninth inning in a 12 to 2

loss. So it seemed like they're going to use them in some lower leverage stuff. They want to get Alex Reyes right. He did throw a perfect inning, struck out the side. So we'll see that helps his case, but Giovanni Gagos now has the last two saves for the St. Louis Cardinals. For the Rangers, Joe Barlow entered with a one-run lead in the ninth. He gave up

two walks, a hit. There was an error somewhere in there. He was charged with five runs, takes his first blown save and second loss of the season. For the Blue Jays, Jordan Romano got his 15th save. The Yankees enrolled his Chapman through a clean inning. He had a strikeout. The velocity was back up.

He actually looked really good. He was dominant. His 25th save for the Tigers. Gregory Soto got his 15th, Adam Adavino, clean inning with two strikeouts, his 11th save of the season, and for the White Sox, Liam Hendricks, the final five outs for his 31st save.

Scott, I play in a points league, it's my home league, and we do not allow sparse. You're only allowed to pick up closers and use them in your relief pitcher spots. I need, I lost Alex Reyes. I need a closer. Who would you rather have,

Adam Adavino or Alex Colomééé? That's who I'm deciding between. Ooh. As I said yesterday, I think it's going to be really difficult for Matt Barnes to have time to regain Alex Kora's trust. Now that he's sidelined for probably not just this week, but next week as well, with COVID. You know, presuming he's not out longer than that, I guess that's a possibility as well. but presuming he's back the week after next, you know, how many saves does Adavino get between now and then?

And Barnes has to come back and show Alex Corey's right. So long story short, I would take O'Divino because he's on the better team. Okay. Yeah, that's where I was leaning as of now. Colomé, I think his job is a little bit safer. He has one more game next week. He plays seven games, but I do think Adamadovino is the better pitcher, and he's on the better team.

Let's wrap up here with some to streamers. not to stream, we'll start with Thursday. Paolo Espino versus the Phillies. Matt Manning versus the Oakland A's. Eric Lauer at the Giants. Zach Thompson at the Mets. Kegan Thompson versus the Pirates. Chris Bubidge versus Cleveland. Scott, can we use any of these pitchers? I would not if I were you. I would not. I'm off the Zach Thompson thing. Yeah. But at the Mets, he's probably the best choice. It's been a long time since he's had even a strike breakout per inning, but he has limited damage at least. So if you're forcing me to pick one, Zach Thompson would be it. Yeah, don't stream pitchers on Thursday. How about for Friday? Stephen

Braultz at the Cubs, Alec Mills versus the Pirates, Nestor Cortez versus the Orioles, Carlos Hernandez versus the White Sox, Glenn Otto at the Angels and Tyler Anderson at the Diamondbacks. This is pretty good. You can work with this. That's not that great. Nestor Cortez against the I can go with that. I would use Glenn Otto. The Angels over the last 30 days. Let me see if I have this here. I believe they have the worst weighted on base average.

No, 28th. 28th in Woba over the last 30 days for the Angels. It's pretty good match. That's putting a lot of faith in just one career start from Glenn Otto, who's not exactly Joe pitching prospect there. Scott, 1-800 Glenn Otto. Come on. Pick up the phone.

The call is free. I mean, Carlos Hernandez has been kind of interesting, too, but I want to use them against the white socks. All right. Tyler Anderson at the Diamondbacks, I don't hate either. I think we have a new sound bite. I'm going to clip that. So every time we bring up Glenn Otto,

it's going to be Scott singing that little jingle for us. All right, we're going to wrap there. For Scott, I am Frank. Thank you all for listening. Oh, by the way, I didn't do team name Thursday because there weren't any. We didn't have any team name Thursday submissions. So starting next week, we're three podcasts per week.

We'll go Monday, Wednesday, Friday in your feed. Send over team name Wednesday. We'll go with Wednesday. So send those over and we'll continue to feature those at the end of the podcast. For Scott, I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.