Fantasy Baseball Today - Hunter Greene's Return, Ranking Corner Infielders & Start or Sit! (9/19 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 19, 2022

Vinnie P baby (1:47)! ... Hunter Greene looked amazing in his return (9:05). ... Do Matt Manning or Eduardo Rodriguez matter (15:25)? Do we add Bailey Ober? ... Justin Verlander made his return and Framber Valdez made history (22:15)! ... Elvis Andrus or Luis Rengifo (25:03)? ... News (33:12): Ozzie Albies is back on the IL. ... Start or sit these banged up hitters (43:10)? Start or sit Michael Wacha, Jack Flaherty and other pitchers. ... We wrap up with weekend standouts, bullpen updates and streamers (52:00). Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get 20% off Fantasy Baseball Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your lead. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Pudter Green is just so awesome. I am just so happy he is back.

We'll get to him in just a bit. Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Monday, September 19th. Frank Stamphill joined by Scottie Dubs. Scott White. Today on the show, we had a bunch of pitching returns, history being made, waiver wire moves, starter sit, and much more. Scottie, how you doing? How was the weekend, buddy? I'm doing all right, doing all right, lamenting my fantasy football team for a second straight week beginning to believe I'm just bad at fantasy football, which makes me sad. I don't like being bad at things that I can be good at. I'm not good at that many things, right? I got to be good

at something like fantasy football. And I used to be. I used to be. I used to be a contender. But yeah, went form 10 in my one league last year. Off to an O and two start this year. So not great, Bob. Ah, gosh darned. I did enjoy your New York twang when you said contender. So that makes me happy, Scott. but we'll see what we can do, man. We'll get you on track, fantasy football-wise, but hey, still a lot of fantasy baseball stuff going on. There is. There is. And I'm doing a little better than that, thankfully.

All right, so let's jump in. Oh, my goodness gracious. Oh, my goodness gracious, Scotty. A standout from the weekend. Who you got? Well, it's been a while since I've said this, so I think I need to bring it back. Vinnie Pee, baby.

He's back. he had a great two-game stretch. And so I'm going to hype it up because, look, he's available in a third of CBS Sports Leagues again. So Vinie Pass Guantino past two days, five for nine with two doubles. And the metrics for the season still look. Awesome. Average exit velocity, 91.8 miles per hour.

That is very high end. Strikeout rate is still under 14%. when you're hitting the ball that hard and hitting it that often good things are going to happen it's going to happen sooner than later for Vinnie P

I you know we have two and a half weeks left in this season so I don't know that sooner than later is necessarily going to be during that span of time but it could be and it helps that next week the royals have

you know they have some pretty favorable matchups here first of all they are facing just one left-handed pitcher, and it's Marco Gonzalez. And they're opening the week against Dylan Bundy, Bailey Ober, and Josh Winder. So not a bad time to hop back on board the Vinnie Express.

And see where it takes you. I think it'll be someplace nice. Vinnie Pass Quantino. Six hits for RBI this weekend. Eight games since returning. Adding 286 with two doubles and six RBI. No homers. You know what's so interesting about the Royal Scott

is that they have interesting pieces, but I guess they just haven't been hot at the same time this year because collectively their offense has been terrible this year. But they do have some interesting parts, right? Like Bobby Witt, Salvador Perez, has seemingly been pretty good since returning. You know, M.J. Melendez has been off and on.

Vinie Pasquantino has kind of been off and on. They got some pieces. It just hasn't really come together yet. it hasn't and they're still young guys they haven't they haven't you know peaked in terms of their capabilities they have some more interesting young hitters on the way i bobby witt's kind of a misleading one because of course we love them in fantasy but uh didn't see what he did sunday but he entered sunday's game with only a 290 on base percentage and i mean you know getting on base is the most valuable thing a hitter can do and he hasn't done a great job of that yeah so um you know

just helps to keep things in perspective as far as that goes. Yeah, Bobby Witt is, he's going to fall into this kind of Bo Bichette, Francisco Lindor category of fantasy player where he produces high-end fantasy stats, but he does it with a low OPS, which is just, it's always kind of weird to figure out those players, but entering Sunday he had a 727 OPS, 20 homers, 27 seals. You know, that's pretty awesome. Yeah, it's pretty valuable. And it's, yeah, this is rookie season.

he's only 22. He had turned 22 during the season. So I'm not ready to condemn him to that forevermore. But yeah, that's the way his rookie season is gone. Well, speaking of Vinnie Pass Guantino, Scott, I did have three, I would say higher end corner infielders that could be available in shallower leagues. So you're going to rank them right now. Vinny Pass Guantino, Gunner Henderson, who of course has third base and shortstop eligibility. I know he is one of your top sleeper hitters this week.

He has eight hits over his last five games. and hit his second career home run on Friday. And then Josh Young had a pretty big game here on Sunday. He went two for four, hit his third homer. He's now batting 250 with an 800 OPS early on. He is 46% rostered with six home games this week. How do you rank those three? Gunner Henderson, Vinnie Pasquantino, Josh Young.

I will put Henderson ahead of Pasquantino, but those two are pretty close for me. Just, I mean, Henderson's done everything right. There's nothing you can knock them for. And, you know, some publications considered him the best prospect in baseball at the time he got called up. And since they're not going to let him use up his rookie eligibility, I guess he'll be pretty widely considered the top prospect in baseball heading into next year. So Henderson won, then past Guantino. Josh Young, I'm going to say his third.

He's hit three home runs now, right? Yeah. Three total home runs. And what's weird about his stat line, though, so that's good, obviously. but what's weird is 18 strikeouts in 40 plate appearances which is of course dreadful that's a 45% strikeout rate

also no walks 18 strikeouts to zero walks for Josh Young so he did a lot better at that in the miners like before the power even came he was great at controlling the strike zone so I'm I'm not quite sure he's

I don't know it still seems like he's in for growing pains. Josh Young, that makes me a little reluctant to recommend him in any format right now, even though he does have the three home runs. And that's obviously good. I think he's kind of selling out for power here early on in his major league career because he is putting the ball in the air a lot. 50% fly ball rate, 88.9 mile per hour average exit velocity is, it's fine. It's, you know, it doesn't blow you away or anything. But it just kind of seems like he's selling out for the power based on that batted ball distribution.

Would you take Luke Voight ahead of any of these names? I guess maybe Josh Young. Over his last 15 games, Luke Voight is hitting 345, 3 homers, a 952 OPS. The problem is, I believe you ranked the Nationals as the second toughest hitter schedule

this upcoming week. Yeah, that is the problem because I'd like to recommend Joey Meneses. And I'd like to recommend Luke Voight. Not only is he just, you know, putting up good stats all of a sudden, only a 16.7% strikeout rate in September 2. So he really seems to be better in all respects right now.

But I can't recommend any Nationals hitter. I mean, obviously if they had a stud in their lineup, I'd still start them, but they don't. They traded their studs to the Padres, who then became not studs. But yeah, I can't recommend any Fringy Nationals hitter right now, which is their entire line. I know.

Okay. So if you just were choosing between Young versus Voight, you would take Young for this week. Yeah, for this week. Okay. And I don't know. Yes. And it's important to emphasize this week. I said that.

I wouldn't recommend. I can't recommend them right now because of the matchups they have upcoming. They're going against the Braves. They're going against the Marlins. They're going against a bunch of good pitchers. I just want to look and see who they're facing after that, though. The Braves again. then the Phillies, who have some pretty good starters,

than the Mets. So yeah, it's going to be hard to recommend any national sitter the rest of the way. All right, fair enough. We'll get back to Waver Wire hitters a little bit later on, but we've got to talk about Hunter Green, who just had an amazing return at the Cardinals this weekend. He went six shutout, gave up four hits, zero walks,

which you love to see with Hunter Green. 11 strikeouts, 19 swinging strikes on 81 pitches, and he averaged, wait for it, 101 miles per hour on his fastball. That is up 2.2 miles per hour from his season's average. His slider velocity was up, 1.4 mile per hour in this start,

and he could be available. 63% rostered. Don't necessarily love the matchup this week, Scott, but it just might not matter. Maybe Hunter Green is just really, really good. He's going up against the Brewers. They are fourth in Wobah against right-handed pitching,

which obviously is a concern. But I think you mentioned the final two starts after that looked really, really enticing for Hunter Green. So I have a few other pitchers that we'll get to, but I think he's kind of emerged as like the top waiver wire pitcher from the weekend. Yeah, I would say so just because of his skill level. I got, if nothing else, I would, I would want to pick up Hunter Green

just to keep my competition from getting him. Yeah. I don't know that I'd be willing to start him. Well, I did add him to the sleeper pitchers, actually. I mean, it's not a great week for sleeper pitchers, and there were a lot of schedule changes and injuries that forced me to tweak that list more than usual when it already wasn't a great list to begin with.

So Hunter Green did get added for his start against the Brewers next week. I think I'd be a little reluctant to play him. Obviously, he's had an up-and-down rookie season to start as good as it was, as good as he looked. It got his ERA just a little below five, you know, So while yes, I'd agree he's probably that the top pitcher to add off waivers in most leagues because of the upside because of what he could give you strike outwise. I'd rather see how that next start goes and then have Hunter Green available to me

for the final week of the season when it's Pirates and Cubs who he'd be facing. Yeah. Matchups are just amazing for Hunter Green over that final week, hopefully. And let's see what I've got. I've got a few other pitchers here. I was going to compare him to Marcus Schroeman, who had another great start this weekend. He went seven innings, one run, five strikeouts against the Rockies. And he is at the Pirates this week. So obviously a great matchup there. He's 63% rostered.

And then Jose Cantana actually opposed Hunter Green in that start. And he was really good, too. He went eight shutout, two hits, zero walks, six. strikeouts. He's 64% rostered, has SPARP eligibility. The problem is he's at the Dodgers this week, so I don't think we really want to mess with Jose Cantana, but what do you think, Scott?

Hunter Green versus those two. Yeah, I think I'd rather start Stroman in most leagues. He's got the better matchup going against the Pirates, which I'll need to tweak, because it was the Marlins, and that's how I have it listed in the sleeper pitchers. I'll have to tweak that, but Pirates is even better. I would say

for a right-handed pitcher anyway. And, yeah, you know, you could consider green instead if you're selling out for strikeouts, like in a Categories league situation. I might consider that. But all things being equal, I'll say Stroman. Okay. And I know you've referenced this a few times. And I don't know if you have it like readily available, Scott,

but the changes that you've made to the sleeper pitchers, obviously we go over those on the Friday podcast. Do you have those readily available just to remind you? Yeah. So the biggest one would be Trevor Rogers got hurt. Right. He pitched only one inning over the weekend, left with the lad injury. I doubt we're going to see him again this year.

So he's no longer advisable for what would have been a turn against the nationals. So he's out. Also, Drew Smiley got bumped from those two great matchups. Remember, it was going to be pirates and. Marlins and Pirates. Oh, yeah, Drew Smiley. He's going to be an amazing sleeper. Well, not anymore.

Now it's just the Marlins, which is still, like, he's still on the list here, but he gets moved down a little bit. Obviously, the Marlins are the worst line. If against left-handed pitchers, Smiley's been on a roll, so it still makes sense to use him. Also, Samson, Adrian Samson, right?

The Cubs pitcher was in line to face those same two opponents, Marlins, pirates. It's kind of a stretch to, use him because even though he's had some success recently, he's kept the ERA low, not much of a strikeout guy at all. So it seemed a little risky, but the matchups, okay, maybe you could see starting him. Well, he's gotten moved to just one start as well. So not going to chance it with Adrian Sampson. Instead, Wade Miley is picking up two starts for the Cubs. Same opponents, of course, Marlins and Pirates. And he's looked pretty good in two starts since returning from

the aisle. So I actually trust him more with those matchups than I did Adrian Sampson, so I'd say Wade Miley is in as a sleeper for this week. I also moved Hunter Green in, as I mentioned. I moved Alex Cobb in. You know, it's kind of a shaky start on Sunday against the Dodgers, though. So, you know, give him a pass for that. He's facing the Diamondbacks this week. And prior to this, to that shaky start against the Dodgers,

Alex Cobb had a 255 ERA in a 16th start since coming off the IL. So he was on a nice run. as well. Trying to remember who I removed to get him in. Oh, it was Dean Kramer. Dean Kramer is no longer a two-star pitcher. He started on Sunday. So he became a two-star pitcher this past week instead of next week.

So he's out as a sleeper, and that's why. That's why Cobb is in there. So to recap, Trevor Rogers is out. Adrian Sampson is out. Who else is out? Dean Kramer. Dean Kramer is out. you. In for those three are Hunter Green, Alex Cobb, and Wade Miley is the two-starred option of the three.

All right. Well, I do have some other waiver-wire pitchers. These are more for deeper leagues. This next group rostered in less than 50% of CBS leagues. Matt Manning actually put together one of his best starts of the season. He was up against the White Sox, where he went seven shutout with five strikeouts in that one. He did kind of lean back into the slider. He threw it 30% in this start and in nine starts since returning to the Tigers rotation. Matt Manning has a 344 ERA and a 1.19 whip. So he's, you know, let us down a little bit here and there, but overall he's actually been pretty good for them. He's 44% rostered at the Orioles this week. Hermann Marquez, strong start at the Cubs this weekend. He went seven innings, two runs,

four strikeouts there. He is home against the Giants, so obviously don't really love it in Colorado. Eduardo Rodriguez, a pretty strong start up against the White Sox this weekend. He went six and a third, two runs allowed, seven strikeouts, and he's 43% rostered at the White Sox again this week. Typically a lineup that's very good against lefties. And then Mitch Keller turned into quality start at the Mets. He went six innings, three runs, six strikeouts there. He has a 1.80 ERA over his last four starts.

And seemingly a pretty good matchup against the Cubs this week, only 25% rostered. You know, a little bit of deeper options here, Scott, but is there anyone that actually catches your eye? Manning at the Orioles, Hermann Marquez versus the Giants, Erod at the White Sox, Mitch Keller versus the Cubs. Well, not really. I wouldn't want to start any of these guys.

Obviously, it might be in such a desperate situation that you have to look to them. In which case, it'd be between Eduardo Rodriguez and Mitch Keller for me. just because they have the best matchups. I might say Keller. He's been the most consistent lately. It hasn't been overpowering particularly. And of course, the supporting cast isn't great,

but that's true for Rodriguez as well. So, yeah, if you forced me to choose between these four, I'd say Mitch Keller. All right. And just going to quickly see what Mitch Keller has done against the Cubs this year, because I'm assuming he has faced him. he has only made one short start against them.

Two and two thirds, one run allowed. So can't really take much away from that. A few deeper options. I wanted to mention on Matt Manning, you mentioned he was throwing a slider more. He got two whiffs on it in his start Friday. And that's, you know, since those two great starts back to back where,

oh, look, he's throwing a slider more, it's getting a lot of whiffs. Like he's had some success since then, but that pitch doesn't look, Like the kind of put away pitch, it was going to be, it looked like it was developing into. It's kind of gotten away from that. So I don't have a lot of faith in Manning, even if he did have success in this Star Friday. All right.

I'm not sure that you want to pick up any of these pitchers, but they're names that might be worth monitoring for next year. So I do have just four other kind of interesting pitchers. Bailey Ober made a strong return at the Guardians as well. He went five shutout with five strikeouts in that one. He's made eight starts this season. He's got a 3.49 ERA and nearly a 13% swinging strike rate. So that's pretty interesting. He's at the Royals this week for what it's word.

So it's a really, really good matchup for Bailey Ober. Hayden Wisniewski, he came over to the Cubs in the Scott Fross trade from the Yankees. And he went seven innings, one run, seven strikeouts against the Rockies. And had a pretty useful minor league career. He's only 6% rostered. I'm not sure if he's making another. start, but if he did, I think he would be at the Pirates, so it's actually a good matchup as well. Davis Martin, Scott, I know someone you mentioned earlier in the season that was like kind of

interesting, but then the minor league numbers, I think he got probably got blown up a few times there. But he was good, six endings, one run, five strikeouts at the Tigers, and he's got the tigers again this week. And then Cody Morris, who is a prospect with the Guardians, turned in his first career quality start slowly building that pitch count up. They're letting him go deeper into He starts. He goes six endings, one run, six strikeouts, and he's at the Rangers this week. So I don't know if you want to play any of them, Scott. Maybe there's names to watch for next year.

But Cody Morris, Davis Martin, Hayden Wisniewski, and Bailey Ober. What do you think? Probably the least interesting to me is Davis Martin. Okay. And the most interesting to me, I would say, is Cody Morris. When his first three starts, he didn't go longer than four innings. He missed a good chunk of this season. well, still in the minors.

He missed a good chunk with injury. He was kind of building back up when the Guardians decided to call him up and introduce him to the rotation. And he finally delivered a true starter's workload here over the weekend and six innings. 13 swinging strikes on 81 pitches

and the shorter stints. So seven of those swinging strikes were on the change-up and the shorter stents, the change-ups looked like a really good pitch for him too. And you look at his minor league track record. Very impressive numbers for Cody Morris. And the Guardians have a great track record

of developing pitching. So he might be the next, it might be the next success story for them. He's my favorite. But again, we're talking more about scouting for next year than this year. I'm kind of interested in Bailey Ober again, too. I've gone back and forth with him. The swinging strike rate has always looked good for him, 12.9% now.

There are two reasons I was hesitant. though. One is the fly ball rate very high and two is they don't seem to trust him a third time through the line if he went only five innings and this one that's been kind of the norm for him since the twins introduced him to the majors

but I don't know that I need to hold the fly ball rate against him anymore. You look at his metrics Bailey Ober's very similar to Tristan McKenzie's and in terms of swinging strike rate and fly ball rate that combination is you know it's playing well for McKinsey and that the fly balls are yielding fewer hits.

And he's turned into kind of a quasi-ace this year. And maybe Bailey Ober can do something similar. Obviously, on the whole, fly balls are yielding less damage this year than they have in the past. September's notwithstanding. September's been kind of a home run-heavy month. But on the whole, fly-balls don't seem as dangerous as they used to, in which case, Bailey Ober might turn himself into something respectable. And Hayden Westniewski is interesting too.

He's more of a groundball guy. And I don't think he's going to be a huge bat misser in the long run. But it's kind of interesting. Okay. We had a few Astros pitchers that I wanted to mention. Justin Verlander obviously making his return and then history being made for Framber Valdez. But Verlander did not allow a hit in his return on Friday. Up against Oakland, you had five, no hit innings, one walk, nine strikeouts in that one.

Velocity looked fine. He did lean into his slider. a little bit more than usual. And then Framber Valdez set the single season record with his 25th consecutive quality start on Sunday, also against the Oakland A's, six innings, two runs, seven strikeouts, just a model of consistency this year. True breakout season for Framber Valdez.

He's been good in the past, but he's taking it to a whole other level this year. 257 ERA for him, nearly a strikeout per inning, great ground ball rate, and a career high, 11.4% swinging strike rate. Obviously, we're starting Verlander Scott. I think we're confident getting back in the lineup. And then for Amber Valdez, anything you'd like to add on these, too. Yeah, I mean, just the consistency for Amber Valdez has been impressive to see. 25 straight quality starts the last time he didn't have a quality start was mid-April.

I think his third turn. I think his second and third turns of the season weren't quality starts. But then everything since then has been. And you love to see it. you love to see Verlander back too obviously must start I would say rest of way and we'll see if he ends up being the AL

Syung winner we'll see we'll see if there's another Rick Porcelo spoiler that happens the last time Justin Verlander seemed destined to win the Sai Young if you'll remember Kate Upton

wasn't so happy about that expressed her displeasure on Twitter at Rick Porcelo beating Justin Verlander. What year was that? You were still a babe. Yeah, I was, I want to say. Oh, you know what? The year was 2018.

That was the year. Verlander won the following year. So it wasn't the last time Verlander was. It was the second to last time. I was up for the sign. I think he's probably going to wind up with it. If Shane McClanahan didn't miss time, maybe he would have a leg up,

but they both missed time. And I think overall, the ERA and the whip is better for Verlander. And obviously he pitches for maybe the best team in the American League. And, you know, whatever. He just has the track record and comeback player. I think he's probably going to get it. But I'm a little sad because obviously I want my guy, Shane O. Mack,

to wind up with it. Hopefully. He's got many years to compete. I think Dylan Zee's has a higher war than both. Yeah, I mean, because he hasn't missed any time. So I'm sure that helps. Some voters are attracted to war in that way. Sure.

Sided more for like MVP and rookie of the year. But I don't know why he was. one that's cited for Saoy Young if you're citing it for those others. Makes sense to me. Let's talk about a few waiver wire hitters. Guy, we already mentioned some of those corner infielders. Elvis Andrus just continues to turn back the clocks. Like, what year is it right now? Five hits with three more

steals this weekend. He's 46% rostered. And I know that he was a sleeper hitter for you on Friday, Scott. But does that trump what Luis Renhifo did this weekend? He had a double dung two different times. One on Friday, one on Sunday. And he is now back. We're riding 275 with 15 home runs, six deals. I feel we keep waiting for Renhifo to slow down.

We're just not really buying it. And he just kind of slowly keeps producing. So he's 37% rostered. He's got seven games this week, and he is eligible at every position on CBS outside of catcher. Would you rather start Renhifo or Elvis Andrews this week? Andrews, I mean, in addition to all the hot hitting, he's suddenly started running again.

Yeah. And, you know, that's, in some fantasy formats, it's the most valuable thing of all. So Renhifo, I feel like he did slow down. I feel like he, obviously, two, two-homeer games over the weekend, four home runs in his last three games. That's going to put you back front and center. But, you know what?

He hit 3.30. No, that's July I'm looking at. Yeah, he hit, eh, 254, 6.5. home runs in August. That's pretty good. That is pretty good. Yeah, he keeps, you're right, he keeps producing. That's interesting. So what stands out most for me with Renhifo is that while he's slugging,

was he slugging on the year, he's slugging like $450, 455. His X slug is $390. Like he doesn't hit the ball hard at all. So I'm not really sure how he's doing this. Looking up his pull rate, because sometimes you can see players make up for a lack of hard hits by just pulling the ball a lot. But that's not the case with Renhifa.

His pull rate's pretty modest. So I don't know. He's a tough one to figure out. I guess I'm just, I continue to be skeptical of it, I would say. He has drastic splits this year, too, against left-handed pitching, 336 batting average, 10 of his 15 home runs, 979 OPS, against right-handed pitching 246 batting average, 655 OPS. So I can quickly pull up their schedule just to see how many lefties and righties they're facing this week or project its face.

But obviously more lefties on the schedule is a good thing for our guy Luis Renhifo. And they have seven games this week with just one of them. Two lefties. Two lefties. Two lefties on the schedule. So, but you know what? It's not really pitchers that I'm scared of in general. Dane Dunning.

Joe Ryan has been pretty good. Sunny Gray has been all right. Dylan Bundy. It's kind of a middle of the road matchup week. Yeah. He's pretty good. I mean, I agree with you, Scott. I would take Elvis Andrews.

I haven't seen an update on Tim Anderson. If he returns, that kind of could throw a wrench in playing time for Elvis Andrews. But I'll take him. But if you do need just kind of a utility guy that you could plug in anywhere, I think Renhifo is a fine ad. as well. Three more names in Dibra

leagues. As Waldo Cabrera coming around for the Yankees over his last seven games, he's hitting 3.46 with two homers and one steel. He's 7% rostered, has second base and outfield eligibility.

Carlos Santana's guy, I know someone you mentioned as a sleeper hitter on Friday. Well, he backed you up on Friday by hitting a double dong. He is 13% rostered. And then Jose Siri had a big weekend as well. He went three for three

with a steel on Saturday, and then two for three with a sock and a shoe on Sunday. His sixth homer, his 13th steal. And now in 42 games with the raise, Jose Siri batting 270, three homers, seven seals. He's been pretty interesting in like a five outfielder league kind of context. So seven percent rostered for Siri,

but I know the matchups are kind of tough for Tampa this week, Scott. Anything on those three? Siri, Carl Santana, Aswaldo Cabrera. Yeah, it's kind of shocking he's only 7% rostered Siri given that he's playing every day. he steals bases, he's giving him some power to. I know the batting average has been, it's remained low,

but there are underlying indications that Jose Siri could be an impact player in fantasy, and not saying he needs to be 50% rostered, but 7% is kind of crazy. I agree, though, not the most advisable play this upcoming week, given the matchups for the raise. having said that, I don't know that I love any of these guys this week.

The Yankees do have good matchups. Oh, well, yeah, you mentioned Carlos Santana. I do. I did begrudgingly include him among the sleeper hitters for this week. And I can't take credit for the two homer game Friday because obviously those sleeper recommendations were for the week beginning on Monday. But it does bolster the case, I guess. Looking up the weather in Oakland, see if it still looks the same.

as when we looked it up at the end of last week to see if it's going to be launching because that's one of the two places Carlos Santana's visiting. Yeah. I mean, this is the time of year, right? The forecast hasn't changed so much. What? I say, I mean, this is what we're looking up this time of year, right?

It's the weather in Oakland, California. So he's going to be in Oakland for the first three games of the week and looks like the conditions are... I don't know that they're going to help them. I don't know that it's going to remain a launching pad, but Carlos Santana's been hitting a lot of balls out of the park recently, regardless. Okay, well, before we hit the break, just want to remind everyone our schedule for this upcoming week.

Obviously, we're live here Sunday night. We will also be live on YouTube on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday night. So no Wednesday night this week. You will have an audio podcast in your feed Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then Friday. So there will not be a podcast for you on Thursday. So just a heads up once again on that. And I did want to give a shout out to in one of our listener leagues, the Four the People, 16 team head to head categories league where I had the best record all season, Scott.

Oh, you got somebody upset you. I got an upset. I got knocked out, man. So I got to give a shout out to Doug Rowe. He knocked me out. I think he was a lower seat too. I think like six or seven seed, something like that. And he's going on to the finals where he will face Josh Weddell.

That's one of our listener leagues. I got to do some calculations for the Points League. And then once I figure out the finals there, I'll give a shout out. But I believe I made it against someone. So shout out to me. I'm in the finals, in the podcast league. I just have to figure out who I'm facing. But I will let you know that on tomorrow's podcast.

Let's take a break. And when we return, we'll hit the news and notes here on fantasy baseball today. The news and notes. And Scotty, this is just absolutely awful luck. It does not get much worse than this. poor Ozzy Albies. I truly feel bad for the guy. I mean, returns on Friday, long absence, then suffered a fractured right pinky on Saturday, and he will be out for the rest of the regular season, which again is just so unfortunate for him. It's just really, really bad luck. The only, you know,

I guess saving grace here, not that you kind of, you know, want to see someone succeed because of an injury, but obviously Vaughn Grissom will hop back in as an everyday player, presumably for the Atlanta Braves. So I guess if there's... one good thing out of a bad situation. That is it. Max Scher will be reinstated to start Monday against the Brewers. So likely a two-star pitcher, I assume, right, Scott?

Yep. And I'd start him right away, of course. Get Max Schrozer back in your lineups. What about Zach Wheeler? He will return on Wednesday against the Blue Jays. But it sounds like he will be on a pitch count. Bailey Falter will stay in the Philly's rotation and instead they're moving Noah Cindergarde

to the bullpen where he will work as a piggyback reliever to Zach Wheeler for Wheeler's next two starts. So I don't know how deep he's going in those, but maybe it's like anywhere from three to five endings. What do you think about playing Zach Wheeler, Scott? Yeah, I'd be reluctant to do that considering.

Certainly if it's a weekly lineup situation, you can probably get somebody better in there. If it's a daily lineup situation, I still might be reluctant to do it if the odds are long that Zach Wheeler's going to give you a win just because he won't have a chance to go deep enough it seems like he can do you more harm than good in that situation i am going to start him in towel wars because it's either him or a reliever

but i think in most cases you'd prefer to sit zach wheeler for this first turn back yeah it was interesting right that nick noa cindergarde is uh is the one being bumped to the bullpen instead of bailey falter yeah you know not something we were counting on falter's pitch pretty well for them so He hasn't. He hasn't faltered. I always want to make a pun like that when I read his name. Like, barely hasn't faltered, but you beat me too. It's got. Noah Sinai, I don't feel great about it for what it's worth.

Noah Cindergards since joining the Phillies has a 479 ERA and a 138 whip and under five strikeouts per nine innings pitched. So I would say that he has earned a move to the bullpen. That is Noah Cindergarde. Yeah. Tony Gonsland through a successful bullpen session, but the Dodgers do not expect him to be built up to a full starter's workload before the postseason.

So that kind of sounds like if you need the roster spot, my guess is he's on your IL spot, so whatever, it doesn't really matter. But if you play in a league with no IL spots, you could probably just drop Tony Gonsolin. Yeah. Carlos Rodon looks to be good to go for his next start in Colorado.

He left his last outing with a blister. Would you be okay? starting Rodon this week, Scottie? Yeah, it's a two-star week, so I think you have to. Oh, right? Jazz Chisholm underwent surgery to repair a tournament Niscus on Friday, so he played with that in addition to sustaining a stress fracture

in his lower back. So, I mean, I guess that could explain. Like, Jazz really slowed down before he actually went on the IL. Maybe it was like that month before he really slowed down, so perhaps this was part of the reason. I like that you call him jazz, like you two are on a first-name basis. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's my guy.

Yeah. I don't, hmm, I was about to say something, not controversial, but maybe something I need to think about a little bit more. I think jazz might be my favorite position player at baseball right now. Hmm. He is really fun to watch, Scott. I enjoy watching jazz play baseball. So is your favor of him from like an aesthetic standpoint? Yes.

Just the swing, the swag, the, the, you. You know, doing the little, his little home run celebration when he crosses his home plate, the hair, everything about the guy. He's awesome. I think he is going to be pretty tough to rank in terms of fantasy this offseason. I like William Contreras. Yeah. I love watching. Well, I mean, I love watching Spencer Strider, I think.

He's my favorite pitter to watch regardless of team right now. But, yeah. And the good thing, this is kind of another positive effect of the. Ozzie Albi's situation so Ronald de Kuna has started playing right field again which is open to playing time for William Contreras at DH

and he started four straight games had a big weekend so it looks like you can get him active he homered on Sunday I think he homered twice over the weekend let me see if I can find those numbers so seven for 16 with two home runs over the weekend was over the last

four games I should say and obviously catcher eligible. I think that's bad news for Marcel Ozuna. I think more likely, so you got a Cooney and right, you're going to get Robbie Grossman and Eddie Rosario splitting time and left and then Contreras mostly at D.H. Ozuna might play on days when Travis Darnone needs a day off, but otherwise, not going to see as much of him down the stretch.

Yeah, Ozuna has started just three of the Braves' last eight games. So I think it will probably remain something like that moving forward as well. I think people think that I joke about this, Scott, but I really am a Marlins fan. That is my, that's my national league team. Sandy might be my favorite pitcher to watch, and Jazz is my favorite position player. It's just everybody else on the team kind of stinks. That's the biggest issue with them, but we can save that conversation for another day. David Bednar will make a rehab appearance at AAA on Monday before returning to the team.

team. Let's say you're chasing saves, Scott, and you have Bednar. Would you throw them back out there hoping for a midweek activation? I mean, it depends how desperate for saves I am. It wouldn't be my first choice if I had other routes I could go for getting saves. There are some names emerging. You know, we talk about them often. Pete Fairbanks and Jose LeClerc. They're still widely available if you do need saves. Trevor Rogers left his start early on Saturday due to left-latt discomfort and I assume he's probably done for the season. So if you need the roster spot, you don't have any IL spots available. Trevor Rogers likely can be dropped. Frankie Montas's shoulders acting up again and could require a trip to the IL. He is 91%

rostered and similarly, I think he probably could be dropped as well, Scott, if you need the roster spot that is. Yeah. I mean, there's no reason to drop him if you got a free I eye outspot, obviously, but I would be surprised if Frankie Montas makes... He may return, but will he return and, okay, we're going to activate him right away now with the way he's performed recently. I don't think he's going to have a chance to regain our trust. Yeah. I think he has an ERA over six since joining the Yankees. That is terrible. And speaking of terrible, timing. Brendan Rogers left Sunday due to a left hamstring tightness, which, you know, we're entering a week

where the Rockies have seven games in Corres Field, so we don't know his availability. The last seven games at Corse Field. Right. Yeah, I kind of think, Scott, like if they really are serious about calling up Ezekiel Tovar, one of their top prospects,

doesn't this kind of just make the most sense? If Brendan Rogers can't go, just throw Ezekiel Tovar in there for the final couple weeks and see what he could do? Yeah, if they're serious, it's a big if. Yeah. By the way, also, like, we talked about some sleeper pitcher changes,

made. I added Michael Tollia as a sleeper hitter for this week. It's your last chance to take advantage of him playing a course. Yeah, struck out a lot. His batting average, he didn't do much when they were on the road recently. So his batting averages back under 200, but he's shown some good power and might be worth a shot if you can, especially now that he's outfield eligible in the outfield. If it's like a five outfield or league, you're looking for a little power boost. Michael Tolia might not be a bad play. All right, with Justin Verlander back in the rotation, Hunter Brown was moved to the Astros bullpen,

which we suspected, and that means that he can likely be dropped too, right? Yeah. All right, Harrison Bader is likely to make his Yankees debut Tuesday against the Pirates, and he is 42% rostered. If you need speed, five outfielder leagues, I think maybe we can get three to five steals

the rest of the way, something like that from Harrison Bader. Bader. He was six for 21 with one homer and two steals in six rehab games with the Yankees. Nick Prado was option back to AAA and could be dropped in all redraft leagues, obviously not in Dynasty if you have him there. Aaron Savali will return on Tuesday, which I believe makes him a two-star pitcher, Scott. Do I have that right? Savali at the White Sox and at the Rangers this week. He's 40% rostered. I don't think he's a two-star pitcher this week. Let me double check that though. Okay.

Players who went to the aisle this weekend, J.T. Brewbaker with right arm inflammation. Ramon Luriano with a right hamstring strain. A. E. E. E. Hennio Suarez. This one kind of stinks because he's been red hot. Fractured right index finger. Michael Kopeck with right shoulder inflammation. Tyler O'Neill with a left hamstring strain. Max Kepler with a right wrist brain.

And David Fletcher with a bone bruise in his hand. Scott, do you have an Aaron Savali update? Yeah, I think he will be a two-star pitcher. so I'll need to add him to the rankings there. What do you think about him? 40% rostered widely available. Oh, no, I wouldn't want to use him now. Fair enough.

Starters sit these banged-up players. Randy Rose Arena has missed two straight with an illness. Hopefully not too serious, but what do you think about starting him this week? I'd be fine with it. Trevor's story has missed the entire week with left heel soreness. What about story? Yeah, that sounds a little scarier. I try to avoid it.

And then Julio Rodriguez has now missed two straight with lower back tightness, which kind of scares me as well. Not to the same level of story, but what do you think about J-Rod? They have the best matchups of any team this week. I mean, obviously, you would normally start Julio Rodriguez regardless of the matchups, but man, I hate to miss out on that.

If it's a shallow league, you might have to play it safe. If it's five outfielders, then I think you just run them out there and hope for the best. or if it's, even if it's like a three outfield, but deeper league, like 16 teams or something, I think you probably have to start them. Start or sit these pitchers who are on the fringe. I think most of them are probably less than 60% started on CBS, not rostered, but started.

Hazus Lazardo turned in another quality start. He was at the Nationals this weekend, six innings, two runs, six strikeouts for him, and he is going up against the Cubs this week. What do you think about Lazzardo in that matchup? it's fine I thought about putting him in the sleeper pitchers he's right at 80% so I decided not to

but he could have gone in with that matchup I just wish he's gotten back to throwing his fastball more than anything else and like that's just a bad approach for him he's managed to make it work well enough but I think he's I think he's still limiting his upside with that approach but against the Cubs I'd be willing to use Luzardo Michael Waka has turned in four straight quality starts.

This one was against the Royals. He went seven innings, one run, four strikeouts in that one. And he is at the Yankees this week. Last time he faced him back in August, he threw seven shutout innings. What do you think about starting Waka in that matchup? It's pretty risky. Yeah, they're getting healthy too because Rizzo is back now

and Donaldson's meeting up a little bit. But Waka's been so good that I understand the motivation to do it. It just, it kind of depends what else you have, I would say. If you can't find anyone else that you're like excited to start over Waka, I think you probably just start him. Yeah. If I have Waka and Lazzardo, I'm probably going with Lazzardo.

Yeah, I agree. Ranger Suarez has turned in his first quality start since August 17th. He was at the Braves. He went six innings, two runs, one run rather, four strikeouts. And he is home against the Braves once again this week. I think that's a sit for me. Yeah, I want to do that. Jack Flaherty now has a 4.80-E-R-A-1.67 whip

in three starts since coming off the I-L. That first start, Scott, looked so great. Looked like vintage, Jack Flaherty. The next two, not nearly as much. He's down to 79% rostered, which I can't blame people for, and he's at the Padres this week. Another one I think I would avoid.

Right. Yeah, no, there's... Flaherty's giving you no reason to trust him again, and that matchup is not a... especially good. Dustin May gets back on track at the Giants this weekend. He went five no-hit innings, one walk, four strikeouts in that one.

And in five starts since returning, he's got a 3.46 ERA, 1.00 whip, and that comes with 4.2 walks per nine. So he is giving up next to no hits, but he is walking a lot of batters right now. Dustin May is only 54% started. And I believe he has a two-star week, Scott, Diamondbacks and Cardinals.

I don't think so I think that was so the Dodgers have a double header on Tuesday which I so I think I think the auto fill in

has him starting the second game of that double header but he's not actually going to that would be on short rest so I think he's starting Wednesday and only making one start in which case I would in all but the deepest leagues I'd probably sit dust in May okay so that one start would come against the

Diamondbacks, which is kind of a hit or miss matchup. Their lineup has been pretty good over the past month, but All right. Jose Burrios makes it three straight quality starts. He was up against the Orioles this weekend, six endings, two runs, three strikeouts, but we've kind of been played by this already, Scott, where we think we're buying back in on Burrios, and then he kind of just gets blown up again.

So what do you think about him at the Tampa Bay raise this weekend? I mean, this week. It's a decent matchup. only one start, you know, he's coming off a two-start week where it made sense to play him and you were rewarded if he did, but I'd prefer not to in the one-start week. I think I would start, for instance, Michael Waka over Bereos. Fair enough. Brady Singer turned in another strong start at the Red Sox. He went six shut out with five strikeouts in that one.

Only three swinging strikes. So, hey, he pulled an Adam Wainwright on us in this start. but he has been very good and he is home against the Mariners this week. What do you think about Brady Singer? I think the matchup makes him worth using if you have the lineup space for him. I don't know what to think of him

in a more general sense. The ex-fip has been good. The ERA has been even better. 30XFIP 307 ERA. I mean, you can't complain about those. He had three swinging strikes on 89 pitches in these six shutout innings over the weekend. and that brings his swinging strike rate for the year down to 9.2.

Pretty awful. So I don't know that he really has the skills to sustain these numbers, even if the way that the walks and strikeouts and home run radio, the way they all work together suggests he does. But against the Mariners with the kind of run he's on, I think he can use Singer. Jose Orkidi has given up six earned runs and back-to-back starts and now has a 4.85 ERA over his last seven outings.

Would you start him at the Orioles this week? I'd rather not. It's tough because he's not pitching well, but it's a pretty good matchup and a good venue. Yeah, and it's only two starts if not pitching well. But he says this changeup isn't working right now as breaking balls are flat. I don't know how long it's going to take him to fix that.

I think he will, but it's obviously risky to use him right now. And the upside is only so high. Yeah. That's the other thing. It was a massive week for Joe Ryan. He follows up his seven no-hit innings with seven and two-thirds shutout at the Guardians this weekend.

And now gets the ERA down to 3.61. I assume we're starting him against the Angels this week. Probably. Yeah. All right. Reed Detmers had a quality start this weekend and he went six innings,

one run, three strikeouts against the Mariners. He is at the, the twins this week. How do you feel about Reed Detmer's? Yeah, well, obviously he'd been struggling recently. That was his first quality start in six starts. So I'd probably sit him against the twins, even though he looked decent in this one Sunday. Andrew Heaney, last one on the list here. He was at the Giants, and he went four shutout with eight strikeouts. But I just feel like we get too many of these starts, got like you don't have a chance at a win. You definitely don't have a chance at a quality start. He is seven.

seven of ten since returning from the IL. Heaney hasn't even gone five innings. Yeah. I think only once has he gone six. It's so weird. He's home against the Diamondbacks this week. I think if you play in a categories league and you're chasing strikeouts,

I'm okay with it. He'll probably help you in ratios too, but he's not going to give you a win, most likely. Yeah. So I think it's a case in weekly lineup leagues. It's not worth pursuing him at all. In daily lineup leagues, yeah, it's better to start him than not start him when you're not limited in that way. But if it's a weekly lineup league like most people play in and you actually have to be a little more discriminant than I think you discriminate against teeny, generally speaking, and this week for sure.

All right. Let's get into the leftovers from the weekend. Scott, do you like leftovers? Will you eat dinner the next day? You're fine with that? I'm totally fine with that. As long as I liked it the first time around, if I didn't like it the first time around,

then I guess I resent having to eat it again. But I'm not somebody who turns up his nose to leftovers in general. Hey, I'm right there with you because I am pretty lazy when it comes to making food or anything in that manner. So if I could just heat something up, it totally works for me. So we are in on leftovers. Pitching standouts part one. Max Freed has allowed two earn runs or fewer in eight straight.

He was up against the Phillies. He gave up two runs over six innings with four strikeouts. now down to a 2.52 ERA. Blake Snell was dominant once again at the Diamondback, seven innings, one run, seven strikeouts for him. He's got a 2.70 ERA over his last 11 outings. Shane Bieber threw another gem against the twins. He went eight innings, one run, six strikeouts there.

And then Chris Bassett got back on track against the Pirates. He went six shot out with eight strikeouts. And you were definitely starting him at the Oakland A's this week, a revenge game for Chris Bassett. Anything you like to add, Scott, him, Beaver, Snell, and Max Fried. So I wanted to point out with Bieber, I don't think we've pointed this out before. He has started featuring a cutter more and more as the season has gone on.

And I think if he sticks with that, it's going to prevent him from being as big of a strikeout pitcher as in the past. Obviously, he's had velocity issues all year and that's lower to strikeout ability too. but I don't know that this is necessarily a positive development for him. So really the past three months, he started mixing in this cutter more. And it's to the point now where it's kind of coming at the expense of his breaking balls, which are both great, both the curveball and slider. We want to see him throw on more of those.

So maybe he's more of just a strikeout per inning pitcher. But during that time, Scott, his ratios have been really good. He's been awesome. I was dead wrong on Shane Bieber. So if we're willing to sacrifice some strikeouts for still really good ratios and good volume, I think I'm okay with it. Yeah, we'll see how it plays out. But I don't like seeing it.

I like seeing sliders and curveballs from Shane Bieber. Fair enough. Pitching standouts part two. Brandon Woodruff keeps it rolling against the Yankees. He went eight innings, one run, 10 strikeouts in that one. Joe Musgrove gets back on track at the Diamondbacks. He went six shutout with eight strikeouts. Julio Reyes has allowed two earn runs or fewer in 11 straight starts.

He was at the Giants where he gave up two runs, only one earned over six innings pitch with eight strikeouts. Lowers his ERA to 2.27. And then George Kirby has now turned in back-to-back quality starts. He's been really, really good since rejoining the Mariners rotation. A 203 ERA, 0.98 whip during that span for one George Kirby. Scott, anything you'd like to add on him, Julio Reyes, Musgrove, and Brandon Woodruff. So just to put that 11-start stretch in perspective for Julio Reyes,

he said two-run runs or fewer in 11 straight. Yep. That is a 130 ERA. Ooh. Bringing his ERA for the season down to 227. And he's actually managed to get even better than he was a year ago. I know he was a pitcher who some people were skeptical about investing in again. Now he, so what, did he get the win in this start?

Did he get his 18th win? I will pull that up for you. No, it was extra innings now. Gotcha. So he's at 17 wins. Of course, he led the majors of 20 last year. Yeah. He could get there again.

I think he has, I think he has three turns left. So he could potentially get there again. Probably won't, but it's possible. He's not far off either way. Yeah. So he's had, yeah, he's gotten even better. Aureas has. Kind of a bumpy start to the year,

but he's clearly turned it around. And he doesn't go like seven, eight innings often, really ever, but he's just consistent. Six innings, usually, two runs, one run aloud. And as long as you're doing that with the Dodgers backing you, I mean, you're going to have a chance at a lot of wins, which obviously he has done for the past two years. That is Julio Arias.

I was looking at today's game when I said extra innings. Now, he did get his 17th win. It was a start earlier this weekend. And it didn't go to extra innings. All right. Pitching sandouts, part three. Shohei Otani, another gem against the Mariners. He went seven shutout with eight strikeouts.

Spencer Strider turned in his sixth double-digit strikeout start of the season. He went six innings, just one hit allowed, one run allowed, 10 strikeouts for him. And then Sandy Alcantara put his league leading, put together his league leading fifth complete game of the season where he allowed just one run with seven strikeouts in that

one. Anything you'd like to add on those three, Scotty. Otani, Strider and Sandy Alcanser. Quite the trio. Yes. Spencer Strider surpassed 200 strikeouts in this start. And that makes him only the fifth rookie

since 1995 to get to get 200 strikeouts in a season. Wow. It makes him the fastest pitcher in any season, rookie or otherwise, to get to 200 strikeouts in terms of number of innings thrown.

He passed, I think, Randy Johnson in the year where Johnson did that the fastest. So some historic numbers here for Spencer Strider. And I want to be a one, to point out also for Sandy Alcantra, five complete games. Oh, you know what?

We've been seen a couple complete games that says. So, Sandy Alcantra is at five, Framber Valdez is at three, Aaron Nola is at two. Nobody else has more than one. Last group here, pitching standouts par four. Alec Manoa makes six straight quality starts. He was up against the Orioles.

He went six innings, one run, five strikeouts. Jacob de Grom strikes out a season high, 13 strikeouts, but he did get tagged for a three-run homer by O'Neill Cruz, which he continues to stay hot. DeGrom's final line, five innings, four hits, three runs, 13 strikeouts to zero walks. And then U. Darvish was awesome once again at the Diamondbacks, six shutouts, one hit, one walk, eight strikeouts for him, the ERA down to 3.05 for U. Darvish. Anything on those three, Scotty. Darvish, DeGrom, and Manoa. No, but since you brought up O'Neill Cruz, I wanted to mention this for him.

So yes, he's had a good month. That home runoff to Grom was O'Neill Cruz's 6th of September. Still has a 42% strikeout rate for the month. And I think even the more critical stat than that, only two walks in September. So, you know, we've made the comparison to Aaron Judge a lot with Cruz for a lot of different reasons, exit velocity, strikeout rate, height, all of that. but one thing judge has never been short on is walks like even when he was striking out of more than a 30% rate he walked a lot

I'm not sure if Cruz is too aggressive and he's going to have an excessive strikeout rate I'm not sure that I'm not sure that he's going to be able to replicate that kind of success even with how hard he hits the ball so you know I'm not saying he will but we're not seeing even during this good month, we're not seeing him show much patience. Yeah, we need to see that improvement too. Obviously, he's playing very well this month. He's hitting home runs,

which we like to see. He's hitting absolute bombs, by the way. But he strikes me as someone who's going to be overvalued in drafts six here, Scott, just because of the name value and the way in which he hits home runs, obviously he's growing in popularity. But, yeah, I mean,

his plate discipline is something of, like, Javier Baez, and he strikes out even more than Javier Baez. It's like Joey Gallo strikeout, Ray, with Javier Baez's walk rate, but just hitting the ball as hard as Aaron Judge. So just a really unique skill set early on in his career. That is O'Neill Cruz. A few hitting leftovers outside of O'Neill Cruz. Matt Chapman had a double dong on Friday.

He has slowed down a little bit, but still up to 26 home runs on the season. Yordaun Alvarez is getting red hot once again, which you love to see this time of year. He went four for four with a triple dong on Friday. And over his last seven games, he is hitting 519 with six home runs. So, love to see it. Willie Adomis. Hopefully nobody seriously considered dropping him when he was struggling with the hand. Yeah, I remember we got that either a tweet or an email or something like that where someone wanted to drop your Don Alvarez.

I thought about that too when I was making the run. I was like, oh gosh, I hope that person didn't actually do that. William Domas had a monster weekend. He had five hits, two homers, one steal. He is now batting only 239, but 30 homers and seven steals from a shortstop. That's pretty valuable stuff there. Albert Pooleholz hit his 298th career home run on Friday. Two more, baby.

Let's go. Let's get to 700. Aaron Judge capped off a big weekend as well with a double dong here on Sunday. He is now batting 316 with 59 homers and 127 RBI. and he's officially part of the triple crown watch guy. His 316 batting average is tied for second in the American League. He's trailing only Luis Arise, who is only batting one point higher, 317 at this point. That's interesting.

Yes, indeed. Brandon Jury went two for five with a double dong on Friday. He's now up to 27. Tommy Edmund went six for 10 with two steals across their doubleheader on Saturday. He now has 31 stolen bases on the year. Ronald de Cunia hit two. two homers this weekend and would be nice to get more power from him down the stretch. Elohim Menace went three for four with his 14th home run on Sunday and has been really good over

the past month or so. Jose Altuve went three for four with his 18th steal his most since 2017 and he is still 63rd percentile in sprint speed. I don't I don't know how we're going to project speed for Altuvae next year but it's nice to see that he still has this in his skill set. It is. Yeah. Anthony Rizzo returned on Sunday with a bang. He went three for six with his 31st homer.

He has won away from tying, tying his career high. And Juan Soto, also known as Juan Succo, hit his first home run on Sunday since August 28th. So, I think we've documented his struggles quite a bit here on this podcast. The call to the bullpen, a few updates here. For the Cubs on Friday, they had a, one-run lead, Brandon Hughes

pitched in the eighth inning, facing the top of the Rockies lineup. Manuel Rodriguez pitched in the ninth for his second save for the Nationals. Kyle Finnegan picked up two saves this weekend, his ninth and his tenth. For the Red Sox on Friday, Garrett Whitlock pitched in the eighth.

Matt Schramm pitched in the ninth and got his fourth save. Matt Barnes last pitched on Tuesday at the time, so I think he would have been available, but the Red Sox bullpen has been pretty frustrating to figure out. For the Rangers on Friday, Jose LeClerc allowed two

base runners but picked up his sixth save. For the Yankees on Friday, Clay Holmes entered in the ninth with the game tied, and he gave up two hits, two walks, and a run. He took his fourth loss of the season. Been pretty shaky since returning. Yeah, I mean, you can say he's really been shaky since, I don't know, June or July.

It feels like he's slowed down ever since then. So, I don't know, maybe, you know, This back injury has been a thing, or maybe he was just pitching way over his head early on in the season. For the Angels on Friday, they had a two-run lead. Jimmy Hergett pitched in the eighth inning. Ryan Tepera pitched in the ninth. He gave a run but did pick up his third save. And then on Sunday, Aaron Loop picked up his first save with those other two names unavailable.

Or maybe that was Saturday. For the Oakland A's, AJ Puck pitched in the eighth inning. Domingo Acevedo pitched in the ninth for his second save. It seems like two straight. Too straight for Oakland. I picked up Acevedo and a couple of 15 teamers. Yep, I think that makes sense. For the Padres, Josh Hayter gave up a hit on Saturday,

but did pick up his 33rd save. So kind of just looks like Josh Hayter is back in that role, as long as he doesn't get destroyed once again. For the raise on Sunday, Pete Fairbanks struck out two for his eighth save and now has four of the last five saves for the Tampa Bay Rays. For the twins on Sunday, I suppose Jorge Lopez was unavailable.

He recorded five outs on Saturday, but Johann Duran struck out two for his eighth save of the season. And lastly, for the Reds on Sunday, Alexis Diaz unavailable. Buck Farmer picked up his second save of the season. Streamers, to stream or not to stream for Monday. We've got Jose Suarez versus the Mariners, Wade Miley at the Marlins,

Tyler Wells versus the Tigers, and Jacob Junis at the Rockies. Just kidding, we're not doing that. Do you like any of the first three, Scott? Yeah, Wade Miley at the Marlins. They are terrible against left-handers, and I added him as a two-star sleeper. Obviously, this is a daily league situation here,

but I think he's still fine to use, and I don't mind Jose Suarez against the Mariners either. Let's see. And even Tyler Wells against the Tigers could be okay if you're desperate. Jose Suarez has pitched 15 and two-thirds innings against the Mariners this year, is a 2.30 ERA.

So, all right, nice. Pretty good matchup. Let's go with it. On Tuesday, we have Brian Beow at the Reds, Nicola Dolo versus the Red Sox, Adrian Samson at the Marlins, Austin Voth versus the Tigers, Rwanzi Contreras at the Yankees,

and Patrick Sandoval at the Rangers. So definitely like Nicola Dolo, like him against pretty much whoever he's facing these days. Don't mind Patrick Sandoval, Texas. Not really looking to start Adrian Sampson at the Marlins, I removed him as a two-star pitcher, remember. And I did want to clarify on that. I believe the Cubs are going six-man right now with Hayden West Niski having such a good start over the weekend.

So that's why I don't have Adrian Sampson as a two-star pitcher. I don't know that for sure, obviously, but as good as West Neski's looked, as good as Javier Assad has looked. I don't think they're going to skip either of them. All right. We're going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching. Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again tomorrow.

Bye-bye.