Fantasy Baseball Today - Holiday Weekend Recap! Gerrit Cole Stinks Again & Waiver Wire Adds (7/6 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)
Episode Date: July 6, 2021Joe Ross continued his recent stretch of domination over the weekend (3:34)! Rank Ross, Logan Gilbert, and Zach Thompson. Kenta Maeda also had his best start of the season. ... What is going on with G...errit Cole and Aroldis Chapman (11:28)? Can you start Cole against the Astros? We had more pitcher regression due to spin rates being down. ... News and notes (22:08)! We had a Trevor Bauer update, Sixto Sanchez had season-ending surgery and more. ... Waiver wire hitters (29:45)! We have a few catchers and deeper league options, too. ... We have more waiver wire SP (43:47). ... Alek Manoah, James Kaprielian, and German Marquez really stood out this weekend (49:05). ... We wrap up with bullpens and streamers (57:45). ... Email us at fantasybaseball@cbsi.com. 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. CBS Sports and Westinghouse are teaming up to give away a 55" TV, portable power station and air purifier over the next month. Go to cbssports.com/homerun to enter. Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports.
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Get ready to win your league.
Well, fantasy becomes reality.
Now here's Frank, Scott, Chris, and Adam.
And we're back.
Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Tuesday, July 6th.
Hope everybody had a happy and healthy 4th of July.
weekend. Also hope you enjoyed our cookout draft. We had a lot of fun with that one of very crispy.
Frank Stamphle joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Scott, how is your weekend, man? You're not looking
nearly as sunburnt as I am. So I actually, I feel great for you that that is not the case.
I hope you also did not have to eat any carrot and raisin salad or anything. I did not. No, I, you know,
I was thinking, though, as I was enjoying my 4th of July cookout, not at all prepared,
by me, of course.
So, you know, not like I need to be casting blame or anything, but zero picks, zero of my
picks from the cookout draft were made available to me.
So it was great, though.
Barbecue ribs, probably the best barbecue ribs I've ever had, to be frank.
From where?
From my father-in-law, from my father-in-law's grill.
They were delicious.
Very good.
Never heard of it.
Davey
yeah
which you know
is preferable to hot dogs
just from a pure
culinary
just from a culinary
perspective
but of course
you think 4th of July
cookout you're thinking
in out of the pool
you think probably some kids
running around
you want to keep the food
pretty versatile
it was more of a sit down meal
for our 4th of July
but it was great
can't complain
very nice yeah
that's what Chris pointed out
in our cookout draft
that if you get the ribs done the right
way. They do have very, very high upside. Chris, how you doing, bud? I know you went away for the weekend.
Yeah, long, long weekend, man. I am, I am feeling every bit of my 33 years after three days in a row of
drinking and staying up late and hanging out. Yeah, it's, it was a great weekend, though. Atlanta's a
lovely town. Love got to go to the aquarium, saw some fishies. It's like a zoo for fishies,
so it's great. Love it. They got big fishies there, man.
They got the manta rays
They're like this big
It's great, good time
Whale sharks
They still have a whale shark
They still got the whale shark
They got two
They got two juvenile whale sharks
Wow
I've never been to ATL but
Apparently a whale shark died last year
You need a really big net
To get that out
Is it a male and a female whale shark
Can they make baby whale sharks
I think it's two little boys
It's not going to work
I've never been to ATL myself
But I've heard very good things
Great town. I've got to make my way out there. Obviously, yeah, I just, I didn't get the memo. You know, you go to the sunshine state. You're supposed to wear sunscreen. But yeah, like if I take the shirt off that I'm wearing right now, which is like a salmon e color, it would still look like I'm wearing the same exact shirt. So I am. I was out at the pool all weekend, Frank. You wouldn't know it by looking at me. But see, I know how to prepare for that. I'm in a very, very bad place right now. But let's talk about some baseball. It was a very long weekend.
My goodness gracious.
Of course, we're going to talk about Garrett Cole and I rolled his Chapman and the sticky stuff being down for those guys and a few other pitchers.
I know we talk about that a lot.
So it seems like we say the same thing every time, but frustration is building for a lot of fantasy managers who have Gary Cole and have Aroldus Chapman.
So we'll try and talk it out, figure out what we're going to do.
Maybe you should try and buy low on Garrett Cole if you can get him cheap enough.
We'll talk about that in just a little bit.
But Chris, we'll start with you.
Who's your, oh, my goodness, gracious player from the past four days?
That's a lot of baseball.
Yeah, I'm working on the waiver.
I'm calling for this weekend.
I totally blanked out that this would be the first one since Friday morning.
So I've got a lot to write about.
But one of the guys I'm going to write about is Joe Ross,
who had another very, very good start.
That is what, six really, five really good starts in a row.
I guess technically six.
He gave up four runs, but none of them were earned.
So in terms of his ERA, six really good starts in a row for Joe Ross or five out of six,
I guess, but 231 ERA, 44 strikeouts,
39 innings pitched over those five,
uh, six starts.
That is well over six innings per start.
He's gone over 100 pitches in three of the six over 88 and five of the six.
Um,
I don't quite understand how Joe Ross is doing this.
He is throwing harder, um,
but he's pretty heavily reliant on his fast balls still.
But he was a really interesting young pitcher, you know,
five, six, seven years ago.
And injuries have been.
real problem for him, but he's healthy now.
He's 28 years old and maybe
he's tapping into some of
that potential
that he once showed. It's been a
very impressive stretch for him so far.
Yeah, and this was probably the most
impressive start within that stretch
of starts for Joe Russ. Maybe not
actually. I know he had another eight-inning start in there
but against the Dodgers, six and two-thirds,
three runs, zero walks to
11 strikeouts. The fastball
velocity has been up, but
specifically his last two starts, he's been up around
95 miles per hour. So that's like way up from where he was at earlier on in the season there for
Joe Ross. He's 64% rostered. Scott, I'm going to throw this one your way between Joe Ross,
Logan Gilbert, who over his last six starts has a 2.90 ERA, and Zach Thompson, who has now
been very good through his five starts. He's got a 2.25 ERA, 14.8% swinging strike rate.
Logan Gilbert, Joe Ross, Zach Thompson, all between 58% percent.
and 70% rostered.
How would you rank those three, Scott?
I think I'm going to put
Ross at the bottom of that group
because you happen to
you having to pick out two players
I really like in
Logan Gilbert and Zach Thomas,
Zach Thompson.
That's the order I would rank them,
by the way.
And they're both getting a ton of whiffs.
I mean, what was interesting
about Logan Gilbert on Friday
is he got 15 whiffs.
He'd just,
threw only seven sliders.
So remember, he was hardly featuring the change-up early on.
It was just fastball slider, basically, gradually working in that slider more.
He threw 73 fastballs, 16 changeups and seven sliders, and still got 15 whiffs.
So I really like the way he's going as he mixes in that slider more.
It, you know, not so dependent, as he mixes in that change in more, sorry, not so dependent on the slider.
I think Gilbert is showing us something with that.
And Zach Tom
And worth noting
Gober's velocity was up
Hit 98 a couple times
On a start
And average 95.7
His year average 94.8
So that's not
That's good
10 whiffs with the fours here
Zach Thompson on Sunday
You mentioned 15 whiffs Frank
Three on the fastball
Three on the cutter
Three on the curve ball
Six on the change up
I mean
Guys got a lot of pitches
And all of them
seem capable of getting
swinging strikes.
So, you know, it's the
unlikeliest breakout I've ever seen.
I've said that before,
27-year-old
without much of a minor league track.
Not a very good minor league track record.
But he looks really impressive.
I don't have a problem.
Joe Ross has to be rostered at this point,
but it just doesn't make a lot of sense
how he's succeeding.
And the thing is,
he has two starts with a combined 18 run.
You take those two starts out of Joe Ross's
season and he's got an ERA like right around two as opposed to right around four.
So, you know, and that way it's even more impressive than it looks.
But, but yeah, not a lot of swinging strikes, not a lot of ground balls, not a great walk rate.
Not really sure how it's happening.
But it's good enough, it's good enough to roll with for now.
Logan Gilbert, Joe Ross.
An RP eligible too.
Yeah.
For, yes, for Joe Ross.
Yes, he has SPARP eligibility.
And Zach Thompson is too.
There you go.
We have two sparse there for those of you in points leagues.
Gilbert, Joe Ross, and Zach Thompson.
Again, three names that should not be available on your waiver wire.
Chris, would you be okay dropping Rich Hill and Marco Gonzalez?
They had clunkers over the weekend.
Adbert Alzali.
He was pretty good actually, seven innings three runs,
but he has a 6.14 ERA in three starts since coming off the IL.
Would you be okay dropping Hill, Marco Gonzalez,
Alzalai for any, all of these three?
Yeah, it'd be fine.
dropping any of them for any of those three.
I think at that point,
the pitcher rankings,
you're just trying to cycle through
and catch lightning in a bottle,
and the three guys you'd be adding
currently have some spark.
All right. Scott, you are up.
Oh, my goodness gracious,
from the four days.
Who you got?
I might be overlooking somebody here,
but there's a lot of notes to go through.
I'm going to go with,
I'm going to go with Kenta Maeda,
who for the first time,
all season on Sunday had a start that looked like
basically every Kentom I to start last year.
Six innings, two hits, ten strikeouts.
Seven on the splitter, seven on the slider.
Wifts, that is, 18 whiffs total,
seven on the splitter, seven on the slider.
I think those were two most thrown pitches too.
I didn't really see a lot of reason
why it was so much better
and any kind of change he made.
There was a story on the Twins website,
about how he wore high socks for the first time,
but I doubt that had anything to do with it.
That was it.
He said...
You know, your blood flows better
when you're wearing tight socks.
Maida himself said he did a better job
of attacking hitters in the zone.
So, you know, I don't doubt there was a change in his approach
that contributed to this improved stat line,
but whether or not he can continue it,
what exactly it was.
I can't really speak to that,
but it does.
It does make me hopeful that we'll still get something out of Kintamai to this season when he's mostly looked like a lost cause.
It also helped that he was going up against the Royals.
So take that into account here because the Royals offenses, they've really floundered since the earlier part of the season.
But speaking of hitting attacking hitters inside the zone, 76% first pitch strike percentage for Kentemite in that start against the Royals, which is, which was a season high.
and for the season he's at 59.7%.
So I think it stands to reason that
he should continue to attack hitters
within the zone and try to establish
that strikes earlier on.
Easier said than done, I assume, but yeah.
Yes, of course.
Yeah, so great start there from Kenta Maeda.
I don't think there's anything much more to add.
Hopefully he can build off of this start for him
because he's been dropping down my ranks.
He's like closer to falling out of the top 50 now.
So some confidence there from Kenta Maeda.
Let's talk about it.
The Yankees, they stink.
And specifically,
Garrett Cole and Aroldus Chapman.
You know, people get on me for talking about the Yankees.
Look, the Yankees have a lot of fantasy viable players
that we need to talk about,
especially when they're pitching or playing this poorly.
So for Garrett Cole up against the Mets on Sunday,
it really, everything just kind of came to a head here.
Three and a third, six hits, four runs.
It was the shortest start since 2016.
He only threw five sliders,
which was a season low.
Garer Cole's first eight starts of the season.
He had a 1.37 ERA, 15.8% swinging strike rate.
His next nine starts, a 4.47 ERA.
This is from mid-May on.
So basically, Garikol has been a below-average starting pitcher
for more starts of the season than not at this point.
That's saying a lot for someone who was drafted in the first round
as one of the top three starting pitchers in fantasy baseball.
And then a roll of his Chapman.
He gave up three runs without recording
out. He has a 14.54 ERA and 12 appearances since the start of June. And obviously, a lot of this
coincides with the crackdown on sticky substances, foreign substances. Aaron Boone was noncommittal
on Aroldus Chapman being the Yankees closer after the game on Sunday. So that is very telling
about where they were at. And he was just named an All-Star too right after that. So that was
ironic, I guess, on top of everything. Yeah, those reliever stats can flip pretty quickly. That's
what's happened with him because his ERA was like a month ago, it was below one, right?
It was the best.
You're having like a historically good season.
Yeah.
I talked about it.
It was the best that I ever saw Roll this Chapman pitch.
He incorporated the splitter to go along with his slider and obviously a near 100
mile per hour fastball.
Was that all attributed to using sticky substances?
It kind of looks like it now.
I don't know that we can completely draw that conclusion.
But yeah, it's kind of coincided with all of this happening.
So look, with Gerick,
If you have him on your fantasy team
or you're advising someone who does have him,
what do you do you just hold on to him?
Do you not start him for now?
He's facing the Astros this week.
How can you start Garrett Cole
against the Astros right now?
I would start him.
You do it.
That's scary.
It's scary, man.
No, I get that, but like,
you just, you do it because it's Garrett Cole.
Like, I don't know.
Maybe that's a loser's mentality, but...
But he's just not.
Gary Cole, you know what I'm saying, Chris? He's not. Right, but he's not, I don't know,
we've seen stuff like this from him before. Like, not exactly like this, but do you guys remember
what his ERA was after, uh, he had a 10 start stretch basically at the start of the 2019 season
where he had, he had a 411 ERA after his first 11 starts, but this 10 start stretch was 437.
That's pretty comparable to, uh, what we're seeing from him over his.
last night. Now, obviously the last, what is it five starts, especially have been, is a five or
six starts that have been just especially rough six starts. So back to the, the start of June.
And if you look at his worst six starts, yeah, this is worse six start stretch of the last four
years. He has a five, 24 ERA. He had a six start stretch at the beginning of 2019 with a 471 ERA.
He had a six start stretch last season with a fourth 19 ERA. I'm not saying there's nothing wrong with
Garrett Cole. Clearly, something's not right. His strikeout.
rate is much lower than we're used to, even during those previous poor stretches.
I don't know. I think maybe what we're seeing is just that maybe, okay, maybe he's not the
best pitcher in baseball or one of the two or three best pitchers in baseball. Maybe he's more
like a low three's ERA guy with a ton of strikeouts. And we're seeing the bad stretch of a low three's
ERA version of Garrett Cole rather than the bad stretch of a mid two's ERA, Gary Cole.
You know, it is a good point that you bring up because usually he's a slow starter. And even last
year his first eight starts a 3.91
ERA and that's not what you're used
to getting from Garik hole either. So
I guess maybe he's just going through this
in the middle part of the season. It's just obviously
it's coming at a
weird time with the sticky substances.
Right. The fact that it coincides
with the drop and spin
rates, one of the biggest drop and spin rates of any
pitcher.
You can't say it's not something.
Right. He's having to
adjust. But like
every time a pitch
or hitter struggles,
I don't think it's just random chance.
They're struggling now because
that's how luck would happen.
I mean,
sometimes that's the case,
but usually that's not the case.
If you look at a struggling pitcher
or struggling hitter,
all the underlying numbers say they're bad too.
Well,
I mean,
think about Lewis Castillo earlier.
There was nothing physically wrong
with Luis Castillo.
He just needed to pitch better.
And then he started pitching better.
But there was probably something
that was off a little mechanical,
or maybe you know,
but I mean,
like,
you wasn't hurt.
I mean,
there's,
there's always
something to explain
struggles.
And we usually don't
hear what that
something is.
So we just say,
yeah,
regression to the mean,
whatever.
No,
what I meant was like,
there was no,
there was no physical,
like,
he wasn't hurt.
Sure.
You know.
This time,
it's hard to see like,
like,
yes,
Garrett Cole should be worse
if his fastball
is less effective,
if it's spinning less.
But like,
we're still talking
about a fastball
that averages 98 miles
per hour
and has,
2,400 RPM's spin rate,
which is still really, really hot.
Spends a lot more than his Pirates days.
So this time we know what the source of the struggles are,
but like he's going to adjust for that and still be a good pitcher, I think.
And it could begin with his very next start.
So that's why, you know, during the stretch,
he's had some really good starts.
Some bad ones too.
It's just hard to see how even if the spin rate is lower,
how a guy who throws 98 with the curve ball that he has and a, you know,
a change up that he can still throw 91 with movement.
Like, it's time to see how he's not going to be very, very good moving forward,
even if he's not, you know, a first round calibre ace.
Real quick, just give me a yes or no answer.
If someone in your league is freaking out, would you be looking to buy low on Garicol right now?
Oh, yes.
Absolutely.
All right.
As for A Rollis Chapman, Chad Green pitched in the second game of the double header on Sunday.
He went three perfect innings with six strikeouts.
I believe one of those was an immaculate inning as well.
So if anything happens to Chapman where they move away from him as the closer for a couple of weeks,
whatever it might be.
Chad Green might be the name there.
If you want to bench a roll as Chapman right now, I can't really blame you,
but you might miss out on saves if they do go back to him.
Some other spin rate standouts from the weekend, Lucas Gielito,
he was at the Tigers.
All of a sudden, the Tigers are not this easy matchup that we all thought they were.
earlier in the season, by the way.
Like, since the beginning of June,
they've actually been a pretty formidable offense.
For Gileeto, five innings, 10 hits, six earned runs.
The ERA is up to 4.20.
The fastball and slider were down over 174 RPM.
Terrick Scuba up against the White Sox,
five endings, eight hits, five runs.
Velocity was down a little bit.
His slider spin rate was down 345 RPM.
He'd been really good over his last eight starts before that.
So I don't know if there's anything there.
Dylan Cease at the Minnesota Twins, five and a third, six runs, still had 18 swinging strikes.
His fastball spin rate down 254 RPM, and then Walker Bueller on Monday, five innings, four runs.
Three of those were earned.
Five different pitches, down at least 191 RPM.
Anyone from this group that you were actually concerned with Gileadot, Terrick Scouble, Dylan Seas, Walker Bueller?
I think, yeah, I have to be a little concerned about Cease.
I mean, he's far less proven than Gialito and Bueller, for instance.
Scooble, too, I think.
Yeah, sure.
Because of the track record.
You know, has Scoobles' ERA drop below four at any point this season?
Like, you don't have the same level in Fed Vastman in Scouble as you do in Cease.
So, Cease at the end of May, he had an ERA below three and now it's above four.
I will point out his previous two starts were good.
allowed two hits and six innings last time.
The strikeouts have been good.
Frank, you mentioned the whiffs have been good.
One thing this list does make me think of.
It's something we brought up with Garrick Cole
and a couple other pitchers early on
when we were talking about the spin rate stuff.
But, you know, C, I think Gellito probably accounts for
and I think Scoobel, I mean, it's early,
but certainly in his career he hasn't had great control.
These all strike me as, except for Bueller.
These all strike me as like middling command guys who get by on, you know, stuff more than command.
And, you know, if your stuff's not quite as good, your margin for error is a little slimmer.
And I think that's, you know, when I look at the spin rate stuff, I think that's the kind of pitcher that I think would be impacted the most.
But, you know, for all these guys, I still think they're going to be mostly fine.
Like I think Gialito's just like Cole just in a little bit of a rough patch.
And I think he'll be, he'll figure it out.
I'm less confident about scoble and cease just because we're talking about, you know,
a couple good months for those guys.
But, you know, I still think for the most part these guys will be fine.
And even in the, yeah, and even in the case of cease and scoble, like it may make them a little too unreliable.
To be anything more than matchups play the rest of this season.
That's what I think the worst case scenario is.
But even, you know, but from like a dynasty perspective, a long-term perspective,
I'm not dumping cease and scoble.
I'm not, you know, selling them for 50 cents on the dollar because their spin rates are down.
Before we hit the news and notes, just want to let you know about what's going on at CBS Sports HQ this week.
As always, CBS Sports HQ is the network to start your sports news day at 8 a.m.
Eastern with morning buzz an hour of highlights.
News and all the days need to know and come back or leave us on all day at 6 p.m.
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onto news and notes from the four-day weekend.
We had big news on the Trevor Bauer front,
and again,
just want to express how serious this situation is with him.
Obviously, Trevor Bauer is dealing with charges of sexual assault right now.
He was placed on the seven-day commissioner's exempt list,
and the seven days do end this Friday,
but then he could be transferred to an indefinite leave.
So they've already come out and said that he's not likely to pitch before the All-Star break,
and that's really all the information we have as of now in terms of Trevor Bauer.
Zach Plesack will be activated to start Thursday.
Thursday's game against the Royals, so Cleveland getting someone back in their rotation, much needed.
Trey Turner is expected to be, you know, I wrote this earlier in the day. He was back in the
lineup. He was back in the lineup today. He crushed a home run. Yes, he did. Dusty Baker.
First pitch he saw, I think. Dusty Baker expressed hope that Kyle Tucker would return from his back
injury on Tuesday, so much needed there. Jack Flaherty was transferred to the 60-day IL for the Cardinals,
which means he will not be back until early August. So, pretty big.
loss there for Jack Flare. I think he went down in like May. So he's going to be out close to
three months at that point. Marlins pitcher, Sixthos Sanchez. This one, I guess it's not
all that surprising, but he's going to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery and MRI revealed
a small tear in the posterior capsule of his right shoulder. So it's actually kind of worrisome
long term if you have Sixtho Sanchez in a keeper or Dynasty League. Obviously, don't sell
him short, but not the news that you want to hear.
Yasmani Grandal returned on Monday and then left with that same calf injury that he's been dealing with likely headed to the IL.
Same thing could be said for Eddie Rosario, who was dealing with a persisting right abdominal strain and he exited Monday's action as well.
So could also land on the IL.
Michael Lorenzen could return from the IL on Saturday with the Cincinnati Reds.
He was a candidate to start for them earlier in the season.
Chris, we were talking a little bit about him beforehand.
You think maybe there's a chance he gets worked into the back end of that.
that bullpen. What are you thinking?
Well, yeah, just given how shaky the back end of that bullpen has been and how they haven't
really been able to settle on an answer, he will probably be back before Lucas Sims and T.J. Anton,
right? Yeah, Lucas Sims and T.J. Anton.
Probably a couple more weeks away. Yeah, they're looking at late July.
Yeah, so I'm not, there's no guarantee he'll get it, but Doolittle hasn't been great.
Amir Garrett obviously has had some very high profile meltdowns.
You know, he was in that discussion before the season.
I think there's a chance at least.
The thing is, Brad Brock has actually been really good for the Reds.
They're just using him for the heart of the order,
these, you know, fireman role opportunities that they have
throughout the course of the game.
So Brock's been good.
They're just not using him as the closer.
They've been using Heath Embry.
I think he's gotten the last two saves.
Yeah, but he has an ERA over five,
so I don't know how long that'll last.
Yeah, Hembrie got saves on, I believe it was both,
Saturday and Saturday.
He's 9% rostered.
I don't know why I made the H on his name
silent. That was a weird thing I just did.
I was thinking like herb or something.
I don't know.
But even the name, Herb would say the age,
so it doesn't even...
I have no excuse.
Again, that is Heath Hempry.
Buster Posey was out of the Giants lineup
on Monday with a left thumb contusion.
He's day-to-day.
Jose Ramirez was back in the lineup Monday
despite dealing with an elbow,
injury, he went two for four with two steals, so nice to see Jose Ramirez running again.
Josh Jonathan with his hamstring and Nelson Cruz with his neck remained out of the lineup
on Monday. Anthony Rendon was out on Monday with hamstring tightness. Andrew McCutcheon
was back in the lineup Monday after dealing with an oblique injury. Jonathan India was scratched
with a sore right ankle. The Braves option Kyle Mueller back to AAA over the weekend, but
apparently will be recalled after the All-Star break. They didn't need a fifth starter this week.
the Angels also sent down Griffin Canning after a rough outing on Friday.
They also have an off day this week.
They haven't been as committal saying that Canning would be back after the All-Star break.
So this is something to watch just in case.
I don't think that the Angels are going to do it.
But if they don't bring someone else into their rotation,
then they're going to go with a five-man rotation,
which means we could get to start weeks.
I wonder if maybe the schedule lines up after the All-Star break to give them
the opportunity to go five-man,
but still keep Botani on that extra day.
Yeah, it's definitely a possibility,
but we will monitor that situation.
The Dodgers manager, Dave Roberts,
recently indicated that the team will discuss
having David Price stretch out as a starter.
So keep that in my...
I guess that means either Tony Gonsolin
will be used more so out of the bullpen.
Maybe they plan to limit Julio Reyes at some point,
but interesting, David Price.
Lucas Sims and T.J. Anton, we already mentioned.
This could return to the Reds in late July.
These names were placed on the IL.
Since Friday, Kyle Schwaber went on the aisle with a right hamstring strain.
He said that he heard a pop in his hamstring while rounding first base.
There's no official timetable, but it sounds pretty significant for Schwerber,
which is very unfortunate.
He was playing amazing.
Going back to Price, I think they just have it opening in their rotation.
Yeah.
I think they have for a while.
Right.
Because it's just kind of gone patchwork there.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Got a patchwork there.
Zach Allen.
And the Angels one, they can go at least one turn through the rotation
with Otani pitching on the extra day of rest
without needing an extra pitcher.
So it could be that.
You know, they can get to about late July
before they need a six starter.
All right, that's good to know.
Zach Allen went on the aisle with a right hamstring strain.
Sammy Long was placed on the 10-day aisle
for the Giants due to mild low back strain.
We had some returns over the weekend as well.
Fran Mill Reyes came back on Friday.
he had three hits. He added three more hits on Monday with a home run. So nice to see. Fran Milraeus picking up where he left off.
Gedi Grigorous returned Friday with a home run. Andrew Benintendi returned. Nico Horner.
Blake Snell came back. Pitch four shutout on Sunday. Y'amankato was back on Monday. Danny Jansen returned for the Blue Jays on Saturday.
And we do have some prospect updates in an unfortunate one. Padre's 20-year-old super prospect.
C.J. Abrams will miss the rest of the season after being diagnosed with a fratessen.
fractured left tibia and a sprained MCLs.
Pretty significant injury for someone who relies on speed.
So worth monitoring there for sure.
He was batting 290 with two homers and 13 steals at AA.
Again, the name there, C.J. Abrams.
The Red Sox outfield prospect,
Jaron Duran was not selected for Team USA in the Olympics
because the Red Sox felt they may need to call him up.
Well, come on.
What are we waiting for, Boston?
Let's get the show on the road here with Jaron.
I'm currently stashing him in a few 15-team Roto leagues.
We need him. We need some Jaron Duran.
Brewer's 20-20 first-round pick, outfielder Garrett Mitchell, was promoted to AA.
He was hitting 359 with five homers and 12 steals at high A.
Power speed combination there.
Pirates pitching prospect, Ronesi Contreras, who we've talked about many times is dealing with forearm tightness.
So hopefully nothing too major there.
And Ray's pitching prospect, Luis Patino, was sent back down to AAA,
Friday after allowing seven runs to the Blue Jays.
We're going to take a quick break, but when we return, come back with some waiver
wire hitters from the weekend. We'll do that here on Fantasy Baseball today.
All right, so Akeo Badoo was not in the lineup on Monday, but he had seven hits over his
previous four games with four steals during that span. He is 48% rostered.
We've been talking about Badoo for a while now, but Scott, I mean, are we getting to the point
where he needs to be added in points leagues?
I know he has really good plate discipline.
What do you think about a kid Budu?
I mean, the point production hasn't been there.
There hasn't been enough power.
Inconsistent playing time hurts more in points leagues.
Yeah, yeah.
I was making some waiver wire moves for outfielders
in points leagues this weekend.
And among the available outfielders,
Badu just didn't measure up.
Okay, so we're looking at...
He's just a 12-team rodeo guy.
Yeah, 12 teams are deeper with five outfielder.
fielders basically for Akeel Badu at this point.
It's playing very well, though.
Among these three first base eligible hitters,
two of them are first base and outfield eligible.
Andrew Vaughn now has 10 hits over his previous six games.
That was not including Monday.
Didn't check to see what Andrew Vaughn.
Honestly, there was a lot going on, guys, so I do apologize there.
But he did have two home runs over his last six games.
Andrew Vaughn, 62% rostered.
Dom Smith, maybe July, is finally the month for Dom Smith.
Eight hits, three homers.
Seven runs, seven RBI.
Five games in June.
It helped that he was playing in Yankee Stadium.
Joey Votto, 25 games since coming off the IL.
295 batting average, six homers,
with a 93 mile per hour average exit velocity during that span.
All are rostered between 62 and 66% of league.
So more so shallow league ads here.
Vaughn Smith Votto.
Rank them in terms of who has the most upside, Chris.
Oh gosh.
That wasn't the question I was expecting.
Yeah, that's the most upside.
That's a weird phrasing there.
We need upside.
I think.
I mean, Votto has the least upside, right?
Votto's the one I want.
That's only because Votto's the one who we know who he is.
The other two guys, like, you can kind of see like, oh, Dom Smith had those two great months last season.
And Andrew Vaughn is this big prospect.
But like, Joey Votto's, you know, final 35 games or whatever last.
year were pretty good.
The thing is,
Votto is the lot I want,
and he does have the lowest upside.
Right, exactly.
Like Votto, I'm tired of writing about him
in waiver-wiring and sleeper-hitter.
You guys need to pick up Votto already,
and yet he probably has the least upside
if I'm going to answer your precise question there, Frank.
Thank you.
Of this group.
Yeah, that's the answer.
Do you have anything that you'd like to add on Vonn or Dom Smith?
I'm...
I still think Smith has pretty...
Maybe massive isn't the right word.
I'm overselling him.
I don't know.
I like Dom Smith a lot coming into the year,
so maybe I'm a little bit more biased,
but anything on Smith and Vaugh?
Yeah.
Look, Vaughn's heating up, I think, in a way
that's a little more notable than Smith,
but I don't know.
I don't have a lot of faith in these guys going forward
just because they've had a good week, you know?
Right, yeah.
The thing with Vaughn is, like,
he's been hitting the ball hard all season.
it's just that the play discipline hasn't been good.
And so if you're looking for a reason to be optimistic about him,
it's the fact that that part of his game is already here.
And so if he can get the strikeout rate to 22%, he's at like 26% overall,
you know, he could have a really, really strong close to the season.
I think he will.
So I'm still, you know, if I can hang on to Vaughn still, you know,
especially now that he's heating up, I definitely want to.
Yeah, we talked about Vaughn a little bit, Chris.
I think it was last week where his month,
month splits are kind of all over the place where one month he was hitting too many ground
balls. The other month he's hitting too many fly balls. But, you know, if he just kind of finds that
level of consistency, then maybe we could get a big second half from Andrew Vaughn. Worth
mentioning Max Kepler had a double dong on Monday as well. The power and speed has been there
for him recently. Last 15 games, four homers, two steals, but he's only batting 182 during that
stretch. So keep that in mind. I don't know that you're ever going to get much batting average from
Max Kepler, but like, it's been really bad this year. If you do play in a two to catcher
Lee. He's kind of Kevin Vigio-esque in the swing profile. Yeah, for Max Keppler. Yeah, it's a lot of
fly balls where he probably excelled in that 2019 season because it was the juice ball. I don't
know that we're ever going to get back to that level, but obviously still an okay lineup. You know,
the twins have underwhelmed so far this year. If you do play in a two-catcher league, a few
catchers have emerged or re-emerged.
Elias Diaz's last 15 games, batting 306 with five home runs.
He's basically the everyday catcher for the Rockies, so that means something.
He's 9% rostered.
The other name there, Eric Haas, who is heating back up.
He's got five hits with a double dong over the weekend.
He's 26% rostered.
Scott, if you're playing a two-catcher league, Diaz or Haas?
I will have to say Diaz for now.
Well, it looks like they've started playing Haas more.
So, Haas has started for the last five, but he had sat out three in a row before that.
Yeah.
If the Rockies are at home, Diaz, otherwise, Haas.
Yeah, that's the thing is right now the Rockies are on the road.
So it's probably Haas, but next Rockies Roomsstand, Diaz.
All right, let's take a look at some hitters in deeper leagues.
Actually, I don't know if Jake Freilly deserves to be here.
Maybe he should be rostered in 12-team, at least Roto Leagues with five outfielders.
he had a massive game on Friday, which seems forever ago.
But a home run and two steals in that game,
he now has seven homers and seven steals on the season over,
I believe it was like 34, 35 games, something like that.
A 30-30 pace over 150 games for Jake Fraley,
who had a pretty good June.
He's 25% rostered.
Should he be rostered in 12-team, five outfielder leagues?
Definitely OBPvert leagues.
And yeah, I think five outfield are 12 teams.
Yeah.
I mean, just for the, you get a base dealer who also has some power.
And, you know, Jared Kalnick's heating up at AAA, Tacoma, I believe it is, for the Mariners.
And Jerry Depoto, the GM, was on the radio this Friday saying he was going to be up again soon.
Kelnick was, which, you know, we didn't really need to hear him say that, but nonetheless he said it.
Fraley, I think his job is safe even when Kelnick comes back
because he got Taylor Tramble getting starts out there.
He's still batting under 200.
Shed Long started to take some of trammels of bats,
but those two can just both go away.
Frayley's sticking around, I think.
All right.
I have two other deep league outfielder's Oscar Mercado.
Came back for Cleveland, just kind of under the radar,
just returned back to the team.
But he had a solid June at AAA-265 batting.
average, five homers, six steals.
So some of that power speed for Oscar Mercado.
And Ben Gamble, who's been hot for the Pirates, double
dong on Monday. He's got eight hits with four
homers over his last five games.
Both of these gentlemen are a combined
3% rostered in CBS League.
So Chris, between Mercado and Gamel,
any interest?
Mercado, more than Camel, but not much in either.
I need to see a lot for Mercado at this point.
I did like him coming into the season as a sleeper,
but just not sure how much he's going to plus.
not sure how good he is.
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Some other standouts from the weekend in terms of hitters
and guys that have been bouncing back.
Show Hey, Otani, I mean, what else are we going to say?
All-Star Week is actually, this one I'm looking forward to more than ever before
because we get to see Show Hey Otani in the home run derby in Corse Field.
How many home runs is this guy going to hit?
It's going to be ridiculous.
And he's going to pitch and he's going to hit in the All-Star game, so that's awesome.
He had three more homers over the weekend.
now has 31 home runs, 67 RBI, and 12 steals before the All-Star break.
It's just ridiculous.
Kevin Biggio in 21 games since returning from the IL.
He's hitting 284, three homers and 880 OPS.
Trevor Story has home runs in back-to-back games over his last 15 games,
288 with six homers and four steals.
Mani Machado had a double dong on Sunday.
Looks like he's back.
His last 15 games, 360 batting average.
Five homers, three steals.
Tommy Edmund bouncing back again his last seven games.
393 batting average with three steals.
Jose Ibrahim gets hit on his knee last Sunday,
writhing around in pain.
I thought he was going to be out a couple of days at least.
Nope.
Goes on to have one of his best weeks of the season.
Eight for 23, two homers,
and eight RBI in six games.
Otani, Bigio, Story, Machado,
Edmund, Abraeu.
Anything that you'd like to add on any of these players?
I don't think so.
Did you mention Jose Ramirez and his two steals on Monday?
Because those were his first steals since May 19th.
That is a pretty long time.
I mentioned it during the news and notes, but yeah, it's good to see him running again, for sure.
Yeah, it is.
It is.
No, I mean, none of these were surprising.
I know you were expressed concerned about Edmund a while back, Frank,
and he was pretty useless for a few weeks there.
but um
player slump sometimes wouldn't
and uh still makes a lot of contact steel runs
he's back he's fine he's usable
I think it's worth
uh talking about Cabin Bigio
I guess you know
the 91 mile per hour exit velocity
you did mention him during this right yes
okay yeah uh 91 mile per hour average
exit velocity since coming back from the IL
um he came back from the IL um
he came back from the I
like middle of June. Did he play much in June before that? I can't remember the way
how it worked. He was out all of June until he came back, right? Yes. Okay, so you're looking
at 93 mile per hour average axis velocity in the month of June. I have to imagine that's the
highest of his career, given how middling his average axis of velocities have been.
That's interesting, you know, given the fact that he's been so middling and he'd been fantasy
irrelevant before that. If he can, you know, consistently be someone who does hit the whole ball
at least, you know, at an average exit velocity with an average hard hit rate, which he isn't
doing the latter of, you know, I think there's, there's an interesting player there. If not,
you know, we'll see if this can sustain so far in the very early goings in July it hasn't.
He's struck out five times in 12 plate appearances entering tonight. But, you know, we'll see.
Yeah, he's not running nearly as much.
He's worth noting.
Yeah, for sure.
He's not running as much, but
any exposure to the Blue Jays lineup
right now is something that I would want
on my fantasy team because they are
amazing.
So, especially if he's hitting the ball this hard,
if someone hasn't realized how good he's been,
if you want to buy, he's like a buy medium.
I would look into that for
Kevin Bissue, who has all the
positional flexibility in the world.
Some waiver options in terms of
pitchers that were not nearly as good,
as Logan Gilbert, Joe Ross, and Zach Thompson.
But they were pretty good over the weekend.
Chris Flexen, six innings, one run, five strikeouts.
Basically just pitch him at home.
He's got a sub-2 ERA at home this year
and an ERA around seven on the road.
Drew Smiley, his last four starts.
He's got a 1.21 ERA with a 0.99 whip.
He's 48% rostered.
I'm not sure if you guys have realized this,
but despite Alex Cobb's 4.60 ERA,
his underlying numbers are fantastic.
Specifically you, Chris.
I think you should look into Alex Cobb.
He's been really good.
Tyler Anderson.
Tyler Anderson's last three starts,
he's got a 241 ERA.
Tyler McGill for the Mets.
He was pretty good on Monday.
Five innings, one run, seven strikeouts.
He had 16 swinging strikes.
Kwonghan Kim at the Giant 7 shutout,
two walks, two strikeouts.
Flexen, Smiley, Cobb.
Tyler Anderson,
Tyler McGill and Quanghan Kim.
Give me your two favorite.
Scott.
My two favorite are McGill and Flexen.
I've been pretty excited about McGill.
What?
Ridiculous.
Ridiculous.
Show Alex Cobb some love.
I've been pretty excited about McGill since I first learned he was getting called up
and looking at how impressive his minor league numbers were.
and this was his most impressive start.
It was the third, the third star,
but it was the most impressive,
two hits and five in a seven strikeouts,
16 swinging strikes,
seven on the fastball,
and eight on the change-up.
The change-up is supposedly a work in progress.
It's supposedly his least developed pitch,
and he got his most swinging strikes on that one in this outing.
He had 14 swinging strikes for what it's worth
in his previous outing,
and those were pretty,
pretty well distributed between three pitches,
the fastball, the change-up, and also the slider.
So kind of like I was saying for Zach Thompson,
he shows more effective pitches than you'd expect a pitcher first getting called up.
And both of the guys are in their mid-20s,
so there may be a little more developed than a top prospect getting promoted.
But they're performing.
They're performing in the majors.
and I think this stuff is good enough
that maybe it can continue.
All right.
So the top two for Scott,
Chris Flexen and Tyler McGill.
Chris,
would your top two be the same?
Or is Alex Cobb in there?
McGill and Cobb.
I think Flexen's just a guy.
At least Cobb is getting straight out.
He is just a guy,
but he's a hot guy.
Alex Cobb, by the way,
I'm joking with Chris,
but 4.60 ERA on the season.
The underlying number,
numbers are very good. I know I've told people like don't stream him. I don't fully trust it.
I want to see more even though. These underlying numbers are great, but
58% ground ball rate. He's getting more whiffs this year. Strikeouts have been there for
Alex Cobb. It was a revenge game against the Baltimore. So some added motivation.
How about if you're playing a deeper layer? I got some names here. Eric Lauer. He was at the
Pirates, six and a third, one run, four strikeouts. Kyle Freeland, his last three starts,
Kyle Freeland.
0.53 ERA,
17 strikeouts,
over 17 innings pitched
with a 59%
ground ball rate
for Kyle Freeland.
Jordan Lyles,
his last nine games
has a 3.78 ERA.
And then Wiley Peralta.
That's right.
That Wiley Peralta.
The one that was going to be
the closer one year for the Royals.
I think he pitched
for the Brewers at some point
as a starting pitcher.
He's out a long career.
Somehow he's on the Tigers now.
At Texas on,
I think it was Monday,
seven shutout with six strikeouts.
He has allowed just one run over his last two starts, Wiley Peralta.
Lauer...
Go ahead, Scott.
You may remember Wiley Peralta's
Willie Peralta.
Is it Willie Peralta?
It's Willie Peralta.
Oh, well, man, I just completely...
Because there's only one L there,
so it's kind of misleading.
You may know him from his appearances
in a series of cartoons
where he plays Wiley Coyote.
All right, I deserve that.
Eric Lauer, Kyle Freeland, Jordan Lyles,
Willie Peralta.
Anything to see here for these deeper waiver wire pitchers?
Probably not.
I mean,
Freeland had changed his pitch mix
with more breaking balls
and it was seeing more success,
but I think he reverted back in this most recent start.
He did.
A pitch to contact guy for the Rockies.
I mean, I'm just not going to invest in that.
Peralta's been a good ground ball pitcher
throughout his career.
but obviously it hasn't had much success.
He did have a 275 year A and six minor league starts
before getting the call to the Tigers
and then is put together back-to-back pretty good starts here.
But it's not enough for me to make a move
for a 32-year-old who nobody's heard of in five years.
And he wasn't good then.
Let's hit some pitching standouts, part one from the weekend.
Zach Wheeler up against the Padres
just keeps chugging along.
7 and 2 3rd shutout with 9 strikeouts.
Max Scherzer up against the Dodgers, 6 innings pitched, 8 strikeouts.
Spin rates down a little bit on his slider.
They've been down in general for Max Scherzer, but has not affected his production whatsoever.
Alec Munoa versus the Tampa Bay Rays, his coming out party.
Best start of the season.
Seven shutout with 10 strikeouts against Tampa Bay.
Sunny Gray returned against the Cubs, five innings, one run, eight strikeouts.
Actually, I should have mentioned him earlier.
Spin rates way down.
down for Sunny Gray.
450 RPM on the slider.
Curveball was down 235 RPM.
He did play with Trevor Bauer last year.
Well, it's not even that.
Like the drive-line baseball is,
or one of the drive-blent-line baseball guys
is like the director of pitching development
or something with the Reds.
And I think it's Kyle Boddy.
Yeah, they've done a lot of research
on the effects of spin rate
and sticky substances
while working with various major league pitchers.
So, you know,
Do with that what you will.
Eduardo Rodriguez at the Oakland A's had six shutout with six strikeouts,
and he has back-to-back quality starts.
He's allowed just two runs with 14 strikeouts over his last 12 innings pitched.
He's 80% rostered.
Erod might be out there in some shallower leagues,
shallower point leagues for sure.
Wheeler, Scherzer, Manoa, Sonny Gray, E. Rod.
Chris, you get first dibs.
Well, I guess second dibs because you already talked, but go ahead.
I guess Minow is almost interesting just because we've seen
flashes of really good pitching from him,
but this is the best that we've seen from him.
But overall,
you look at the numbers,
and it feels like he's been disappointing,
and then I look at it,
and he's got a 270 ERA,
and even before this start,
you know,
he was above average strikeout rate,
pretty good ERA.
He looks pretty legit,
and he is actually pretty comfortable with that change-up.
He's thrown it more than 10% of the time
in three of his last four starts,
including 13% of the time.
time in this start. So, you know, I think, uh,
I think Alic Mano is pretty good. All right. Pitching standouts part two from the
weekend. Robbie Ray up against the Tampa Bay Ray's seven innings, two runs, six
strikeouts. He has a quality start in six of his last seven starts. Zach
Renke at Cleveland seven and two thirds, three runs, eight strikeouts,
18 swinging strikes. That's pretty damn good for Zach Rankie. Uh,
and then Hermann Marquez, who we have talked about quite a bit recently,
Scott has never been on any of the podcast where we talk up Hermann Marquez.
So we've got to get your thoughts here, Scott.
Up against the Cardinals, at home, six innings, two runs, 11 strikeouts, 20 swinging strikes
on 95 pitches.
11 starts now since May 9th for Hermann Marquez, 2.38 ERA, 13.9% swinging strike rate,
54% ground ball rate.
Come on, Scott.
You coming around?
Well, and one of those starts during that stretch was an 8-3-3-3-3-3-8.
and run in two thirds of an inning disaster.
So just imagine what his numbers would look like if that didn't happen.
Well, he has a 235 ERA for the season if you just take out the two starts with the
eighter and runs, which option.
Yeah.
Well, I was just noticing that now.
But my impression of Herman Marquez is that he was basically terrible before this,
this, this 11 start stretches you referred to at him.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
That's the first time that's happened.
Sorry about that.
I call my kids the wrong name half the time.
He only had three quality starts in his first seven.
He was pretty bad.
The control.
The control was really bad early in the season.
Lots of walks.
I think it was the first month of the season.
His walks per nine were over five.
That's really, really bad.
Oh, you know what I did?
I looked at the game log backwards because you know how some game logs,
the earliest part of the season is at the top
and in some game logs the early part of the season is at the bottom.
Yeah, okay.
Yeah, he wasn't that good in April.
My recollection was accurate.
But, yeah, I mean, you had a 621 ERA
after that May 4th start.
I don't know.
I mean, good for him.
He's turned it around.
It's still hard to trust him at home.
It'll always be hard to trust him in home.
Hopefully it's not his home for that much longer.
Amazing thing is he's only made four starts at home in that 11-start stretch.
And he's- Sorry.
No, he's- Sorry, he's only made four starts on the road in that-al-old.
You were looking at it backwards this time.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, it's really hard in the five-by-five leagues, especially to trust in him, I feel like,
because at least in the points of leagues, you know, if he pitches well,
he's going to give you the volume and you don't care so much about how many base runners he gives up.
But lately, it's just been good across the board.
So I don't know.
I don't have anything that intellectual to say about it.
Just, you know, he's been good more often than he's been bad in recent years,
and he seems to be doing it again.
Yeah, I mean, he's got like a 360 a right now.
I think that's kind of what he is more often than not.
It might be frustrating and ups and downs on the way there,
but that was why I had him as a top 50 starting pitcher coming into the season.
I've moved him just outside of my top 50 starting pitchers.
I was pretty aggressive with moving him up,
just because, I mean, this is a pretty extended stretch now
where he's pitched very well.
So for Hamas, he's pitching really well at home this year too,
3.06 ERA at Corse Field.
If I'm not mistaken, I believe he's on a super affordable contract right now too.
Yeah, signed through 2024.
If the Rockies want to move him,
now is the time to do it with him pitching this well
and on this contract because they get on it.
theoretically should be able to get a good amount in return for...
Do you imagine the haul they'd get if they paired him in story?
Yeah, the Rockies aren't going to trade those guys.
You know, it'd be kind of like the hall Cleveland got for Lindor and Carrasca, right?
Oh, yeah.
You know, pitching standouts part three.
Nick Povetta at Oakland's seven shutout with 10 strikeouts.
Last time out, I told you you could drop him.
Good job, Frank.
James Caprillion versus the Red Sox, seven innings, one run, 10 strikeouts.
20 swinging strikes against the Red Sox.
Very impressive there for Caprillion.
And Anthony Descalfani, aka Scott,
will not say that he's a must-start starting pitcher at Arizona,
eight and two-thirds, two runs, seven strikeouts.
Just keeps chugging away.
Povetta Caprillion Desclafani.
You know, one of the more notable all-star snubs
is Anthony Desclafani.
Because there's no denying the numbers he's put up so far.
It's just where does he go from here?
That's what I question.
He's got a 391 X-Vip, more than a point higher than his ERA,
and less than a strike up earning.
So he's got some shortcomings, Anthony Descliffeani, as I've been saying all along.
You know, the pitcher I actually like the most of this trio, I think, is James Caprillion.
I think I prefer Descliffeani, but I think it's reasonable.
I mean, there is the not so small issue of him being a rookie
with an extensive injury history
and how are they going to handle them in the second half.
But just in terms of what the underlying numbers look like,
not to mention the on the surface numbers,
very impressive for James Caprillion.
I will point out he's got a 2.84 ERA at this point, Caprillion,
with a 4.22 X-FIP.
He gives up a lot of flyball.
It's 46% flyball rate.
The difference,
between someone like him and Manoa is that he pitches in Oakland.
So it's a little bit easier to get away with giving up that many fly balls in a park like that.
And look, he has a higher exfifth than Descliffeani.
So I don't know.
That was very inconsistent.
Very inconsistent distinction I drew between the two.
I guess I like Descliffeani the most, okay?
Consistency is the hobgoblin of feeble minds.
as someone said Ralph Waldo Emerson or someone?
I don't know.
Chris, where do you come up with this?
Where do you come up with this stuff, man?
Like, I think some of the things you say,
I've just, I've never heard in my life.
Oh, it was Ralph Waldo.
By Emerson. God, I'm so smart.
All right. Let's wrap up.
The call to the pen.
Some bullpen updates we've already mentioned.
Heath Hembrie has had two saves over the weekend for the Cincinnati Reds.
Amir Garrett was, he pitched earlier,
one of the games in the seven.
Brad Brock was pitching in the 7th and the 8th inning.
Neither of those guys were available on Saturday because they've been pitching a lot recently.
So, Hembrie got another save there.
Your guess is as good as mine for Cincinnati's bullpen.
The Kansas City Royals, maybe it's Scott Barlow.
I don't know.
They kind of do this thing where they go to a different reliever for a couple of weeks at a time.
But Scott Barlow picked up two saves with Greg Holland being used in the eighth inning for both of those.
He's 21st.
I was waiting for Barlow to get his chance because he's had the best numbers in the
bullpen for a while now.
And it was one of my
higher priority pickups this weekend.
Scott Barlow was.
All right, Scott.
Would you take Barlow over any of the Reds
and any of the Phillies?
Yes, I would.
Although, I don't see it in your notes here,
but I'm thinking,
is it Ron Herr Souras or Ranger Suarez?
It's spelled like Ranger.
But he's a left-hander.
actually a former starting pitcher prospect
who has a 0.85 VRA in their bullpen this year,
0.7 whip.
The strikeout rate is low,
but I believe he's a good ground ball pitcher.
And obviously his prevented damage,
and he got his first save over the weekend.
Hector Neras had like a six run outing.
So, you know, he continues to disqualify himself.
and obviously Jose Alvarado's been a disaster.
So Joe Girardi said he liked the way Suarez looked in the ninth there
and didn't necessarily say he's the closer now,
but kind of hinted at it.
So yeah, I like Scott Barlow more,
but Suarez is probably my, what was the second,
my second choice among emerging closer candidates
when I did waivers this weekend.
Suarez is 14% rostered on CBS,
for those of you who play in deeper categories leagues.
And for Hector Nairis, he gone, he gone, he gone, and he gone.
He gone.
For the Giants, each of Jake McGee and Tyler Rogers had a save over the weekend.
For the Tigers, Gregory Soto allowed three earned runs on Sunday.
Jose Cisnero recorded the final out for his fourth save.
For the Marlins, on Monday, Yimi Garcia was used in back-to-back days.
So Anthony Bender came in and got his first save,
and maybe the handcuff there,
if something happens to Garcia or they decide to trade him at the deadline. Bender's got really good numbers for the season.
And for the twins on Monday, Taylor Rogers recorded five outs between the seventh and eighth innings.
And then Hansel Robles got his eighth save. Robles has the last three saves for the Minnesota twins.
To stream or not to stream for Tuesday, James and Tyone at the Mariners, Dane Dunning versus the Tigers.
John Gray at the Diamondbacks, Ryan Weathers versus the Nationals.
Johnny Quato versus the Cardinals
and Merrill Kelly versus the Rockies.
I will go
with John Gray at Arizona.
That's pretty easy.
Yep.
Tyone at Seattle is probably my second favorite.
Yep.
And then if I was forced to pick a third,
I guess Merrill Kelly
against the Rockies in Arizona.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know what they say about Merrill Kelly.
He's no, Alex.
Cobb.
Well, they should say that.
If they don't.
I don't know who they are, but.
For Wednesday to stream or not to stream,
Drew Smiley at the Pirates,
Brady Singer versus the Reds,
Andrew Heaney versus the Red Sox,
Alec Mills versus the Phillies,
Antonio Sensettella at the Diamondbacks.
This group is awful,
and I'm going to try to find more
on a different website.
Yeah, I mean,
I could maybe be convinced to start
Drew Smiley at Pittsburgh
if I was under duress.
Drew Smiley's pitching well, Scott.
I know you don't like him, but his last four starts, he's been really good.
He has gotten good results, but I believe he's just a guy.
And maybe even more guy-y than Chris Flexen.
All right.
Yeah, there's no one available.
J. Hab versus the White Sox, no.
Will Crow versus the Braves.
I think if I was going to do any of them, I might just throw a dart at Brady Singer,
just because I think he's the most talented of this group.
Oh, man, I'm just so over with Brady Singer.
Smiley is probably the only one that I'd yeah that's okay Antonio Sintella
all right true smile it is for Scott and Chris I am Frank oh by the way we didn't
get to team name Tuesday today but I will include your team names on Wednesday so
team name Wednesday that's coming up tomorrow for Scott Chris I am Frank
thank you all for listening and watching fantasy baseball today we'll be back again
tomorrow bye
