Fantasy Baseball Today - Is Colton Cowser Must Add!? Week 4 Sleepers & Two-Start Pitchers (4/12 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 12, 2024

Colton Cowser just had a massive series in Boston (3:06)! Is he a must-add? ... Is Hunter Brown a drop (11:00)? ... We have another prospect spotlight, this time Heston Kjerstad (14:30)! ... News (20:32): Rafael Devers was out Thursday with a shoulder injury. ... We saw huge offensive outputs from the Mets and Royals (25:11). ... Garrett Whitlock continues to pitch well early in the season (29:05). ... Which two-start pitchers should you look to use in Week 4 (36:05)? ... Who are the sleeper hitters to target for next week (42:03)? ... Jared Jones continues to pitch well but what's going on with Wyatt Langford (46:08)? ... We wrap up with bullpen updates and weekend streamers (53:06). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tough fantasy baseball today on April 12th. I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White. Today on the show, we'll preview week four. For next week, we've got two-star pitchers and sleeper hitters. We'll recap Thursday's action, and we have another prospect spotlight coming a little bit later on. But there's only one place to start, Scotty. Holy Cowell! That call comes courtesy of the Baltimore Orioles TV, and we've got to start with Coles.

Colton Couser, who might be happening. Scott, a massive game here on Thursday, three for five with a double dung, four RBI, one of which he was turned loose in a three O count and extra innings. He destroyed a three run homer, one 13.6 exit velocity. 438 feet. He has started three straight games, all of those coming in Fenway Park, six hits, two homers, 10 RBI, one steel. People are all up in the mentions. asking crazy questions here about Colton Cousaddy. He is 40% rostered. Is he a must add? Ooh. Well, I would say he needs to be rostered in a lot more than 40% of leagues. The fact he started three games, the fact he's,

you know, was a top prospect, pretty much from the day he was drafted, fifth overall, by the way, in 2021. And now, Yeah, I mean, that looks like he's overtaking Austin Hayes as a regular in one of the best lineups in baseball. So there's a lot to like about Colin Kouser, but when you put must in front of it, you know, I think about 10 team three outfielders leagues in which many people participate.

And I don't know that he's, you know, I don't know that I'm ready to call him a top 30 outfielder. So it probably puts him a little light of must, but I don't want to like. be unenthusiastic about Colton Couser. So you're putting me in a tight spot here, Frank. Well, that's why you get paid the big bucks. You got to answer the tough questions. Yeah, look, 24 years old, first round pick back in 2021, as you mentioned, strong minor league career for Colton Couser.

He got called up last year. He struggled in only 26 games, obviously a really small sample size. He showed up this year, had a huge spring training, earned himself a spot on the Orioles opening day roster. And for a while, he was not playing there, got an opportunity, and he might have just kicked the door down with this massive series that he had in Boston. Here were some of the questions that I was getting on Twitter, Scott. So I'll throw these your way.

Oh, good. We can talk about it out. They'll probably be very difficult, too. They are really tough to answer. Would you drop Ian Hap for Colts and Couser? Hmm. I wouldn't have a problem with anyone doing that. Would I do it personally?

probably not. You know, in five outfielder leagues, obviously it's not a consideration. You want to think about dropping Ian Hap. You'd have someone else to drop instead. In a three outfielder league, I'm thinking how particularly with as much as he walked last year, Ian Hap was very good for points leagues.

He averaged more than three points per game, and there weren't many outfielders that did that. Could Kouser do that? I suppose he could. But just because he started three games in a row over Austin Hays, doesn't mean he has secured every day of bats. That's the first thing. I mean, he's a left-handed hitter.

What happens the first time the Orioles face a lefty? Is he out of the lineup? Can't say for sure, but I would guess so. What happens the first time he takes an offer? Is he on the bench the next day? Can't say for sure, but maybe. It's still a crowded situation. And then on top of it,

you have Kalser, he entered this game with higher, more than a 30% strikeout rate. It's now down to 26.9, which is still pretty high. It was 26.8 at AAA last year. So that is part of Kouser's profile, I think. He is going to inflict some damage by way of strikeouts for points leagues for their shallow formats.

So I guess that kind of a roundabout way of saying probably would not drop Ian Hap for him. I think the shallower the league, the more justifiable it is because you can make the case that, you know, in a shallow league where the waiver wire is fertile and where there's always mid-tier players to fall back on, is it ever a bad idea to sacrifice a mid-tier upside, a mid-tier player in pursuit of upside? You could make that case that it's not. So that might be the scenario where I'm most likely to drop half. And I guess if it's a league where you're thinking about dropping half, it is a shallow league by default, right? Yeah, I think that's where I'm at as well.

I was getting all these questions, and I do have more for you, so don't go anywhere. Oh, yeah. That was so, there was no nuance in that answer. It was very straightforward. And I'm sure everybody completely understands what I said. Would you drop Byron Bucks in for Colton Couser? Yeah, I think that would be easier to justify.

Yeah. Would you rather add Colton Kouser or Jose Kabeiro? Oh, I think Kouser, to some degree, that's needs dependent. Caballero is going to be a better source of stolen bases. I'm not saying Kouser would be a zero for stolen bases, but Kabeiro will probably be among the league leaders in stolen bases if he doesn't lose his job. and obviously he's a middle infielder, he's not an outfielder. So, you know, if you're looking to,

it kind of depends what you need in the Rotter League. If you don't need steals, you need outfield more than obviously Kouser. But if you need steals and middle infield help more, then I could see picking up Khaberro instead. All things being equal, yes, I think I'd rather have Kouser than Kaubeiro. Would you drop Anthony Rizzo for Kouser? Can't see myself doing that. I'm still pretty optimistic about,

optimistic about Rizzo and obviously he has a great lineup spot for the Yankees. Would you drop James Outman for Kouser? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. He has the same platoon concerns I have for Kouser and the downside is kind of ugly. And he has almost no points league's value because of how much he strikes out. Would you rather add Colton Kouser or Michael Bush?

Couser. would you drop Taylor Ward for Colton Couser? Would you? Well, that's not my job to answer questions. You're going to answer questions. No, I think you laid it out correctly. If you are, if you're in a league where you are depending on starting Taylor Ward, week in and week out, I wouldn't drop him for Colton Couser.

If he's a player who's on your bench and he's expendable, then I think I would. But, you know, like a- The shallower of the league. I think there are pretty clear limits to Taylor Ward's upside. And I think Kouser could turn into a top 20 outfielder. I think that's within the realm of possibility. Am I going to bet on that today that that's what he's going to be rest of season? No.

I would come closer to saying like top 40 outfielder, but so is Ward. So, yeah, no, what you were saying. I know I asked you to answer and then I just interrupted your answers. But like if we're just talking about realistic outcomes, what we're expecting from Taylor Ward this season, I think if we got that from Colton Couser, people would probably be pretty excited about that, right? A 260 hitting 20 to 25 Homer,

you know, maybe five to 10 steals. I think people would be pretty excited about that to get that from Colton Couser, and that's probably close to what I'm expecting from Taylor Ward, if he can stay on the field. So again, shallower leagues, I think you could drop players on your bench. If you're depending on these names,

I don't think I want to go crazy, but I would try and find a way to get Colton Couss that are on your teams if you can. Scott, let's also talk about Hunter Brown here up top. He was kind of the complete opposite end of the spectrum. Oh my goodness gracious here from Thursday. Rest in peace to the ratios. Just pour one out. Negative 24 fantasy points on CBS.

Just a truly brutal outing from Hunter Brown at the Royals. He recorded only two outs. He was charged with nine earned runs on one, walk, 11 hits. He had just one swinging strike on 40 pitches. He allowed eight hard hits, 95.7 average exit velocity against. And if you look at Hunter Brown's brief career so far, he doesn't get lots of swings and misses. And he allows a good amount of hard contact. So to this point, I think people are still relying on a level of prospect pedigree that we really haven't seen Translate yet in the major leagues.

Still 90% rostered. Is it okay to drop Hunter Brown? I think so. And I wasn't, I didn't draft him anywhere. I never thought about drafting him anywhere. Where he was going, you could make the upside case for him, but you can make the upside case

for a ton of pitchers who were going much later. And I, it was pretty ugly for Hunter Brown in the second half last year. He had a 6.57 ERA after the All-Star break. I don't, so I don't know if the optimism people felt for him there was a point in the middle of last year

where Hunter Brown was close to must start and then it all fell apart pretty spectacularly and so I don't know if people were just kind of remembering the good times for Hunter Brown and saying yeah he could get back there and look he could get back there it's it's very early in the season it's very early in his career but roster space is limited and he has been a disaster this year after having a disastrous second half. And there's not even anything you could point to like, oh, but he's doing this well.

It's hard contact. It's not enough whiffs. It's velocity down. Certainly in this start it was down. And he just looks all around bad. So I don't know why Hunter Brown would get preferential treatment right now over. I don't know. I'm like anyone, anyone attracting it like,

who's the trendy waiver wire pick up at starting pitcher right now? Like, presuming like Jared Jones, Jack Flaherty is still available in a quarter of CBS leagues. That would be an easy swap to make, Hunter Brown for Jack Flaherty, but I'd go even lower in than that. I feel like we've kind of exhausted some of the exciting starting pitcher ads. Like this week, it's kind of been Martin Perez, and Tyler Anderson, names like that.

Yeah, that's what I was going to say. I think a two-star Martin Perez next week, if you were looking to get that in your lineup, I'm not saying Martin Perez's must start. But I wouldn't let Hunter Brown be the reason I don't do it. Yeah, fair enough. I mean, I agree with everything you said. Rough second half, I didn't draft them anywhere.

I think, again, people were kind of looking at the prospect pedigree, the fact that he pitches for a really good team. And again, he could turn it around. The Astros pitching is just hurting in a, a really, really bad way. They need Verlander back. Hopefully they get them back sometime soon. But yeah, disastrous outing here for Hunter Brown.

Before we get into the rest of Thursday's action, we have ourselves another prospect spotlight. So we've talked about Jackson Holiday and Colton Kouser all week long. Well, what about another hitter in the Oriole system? Heston Kirstad, Scott's number 33 overall prospect in his top 100. Kirstad is 25 years old, former first round pickback in 2020. He plays first base and right field.

Six foot three left-handed bat with big pop. He's played 12 games at AAA this season where he's batting 388 with a 1302 OPS, six homers, and wait for it. 25 RBI. Again, 12 games played. That is just bonkers stuff that we're seeing from Kirstad. 94.5 average exit velocity. just crushing the ball.

Scott, to me, he is clearly ready, as many of those Orioles, young bats are. What needs to happen for Kirstad to get to the Orioles? Well, I think if the Orioles are willing to move on from Austin Hayes as a starter

and an anoint Colton Koulton Kouser over him, which is still not, you know, still not totally determined, but things are trending that way. And I think that that is one, less obstacle for Heston Kyrstad because, you know, with Colton Kouser on the bench, it seemed like there would have to be two injuries to get to open up a spot for Kyrstad or two players,

I don't know, maybe Ryan O'Hern falls off at some point. Two openings would have had to develop, one for Kouser and then one for Kierstad. But now it would appear Kyrstad is next in line. his numbers at AAA Norfolk are great but like that whole lineup they put up so many runs this year that that has something to do with it

Kirstadt has been the leader of the pack for having said that he's been he has the most impressive numbers of all and he had impressive numbers at Norfolk last year between double and triple A 303 batting average 21 homers a 904 OPS a low strikeout rate Less than 20%.

That's something that I think gets overlooked and Hesting Kirstad. There's so much emphasis on his power. But it's a pretty good contact bat too. Just a good hitter all around. But he is in the one organization that probably, I don't know,

I guess he could put the Braves there too, but one of only a couple organizations where he is denied a chance to start just because there's so many, there's so much surplus there. So it'll happen eventually. No team keeps its lineup healthy and everybody performing up to expectations all season long. I think Kirstad, you know, you look at what he's doing compared to like Kobe Mayo,

who isn't far from being Major League ready himself, but he's been striking out a ton to open the year. So I think Kirstad is ahead in the pecking order there. You know, an opening will come at some point. It'll come. I included Kyrstad in my top five prospects to stash in the latest prospects report, given the start he's off to. But there isn't a clear opening yet. I was just about to mention that Kirstad is fifth in your top five prospects to stash right now.

Make sure to check out the latest prospect report, which is live on the site, CBSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. And before we hit the break, I am a man of my word. The Yukon Huskies won the national championship. on Monday back-to-back championships, by the way. And the winner of our FBT bracket was Dan Headman. Congrats to you, job well done. Thank you to everybody who joined our group.

And shout out to second place as well. Somebody named, who's that? Frank Stamphle. Oh, all right. I didn't realize until this past weekend that I chose three of the final four correctly. And I don't know anything about college basketball. So I thought that was pretty impressive, right?

I don't know anything. So it's cool. From what I've observed, it doesn't really help to know anything about college basketball. It is, fair enough. It is March madness after all. It's madness,

Frank. So, yeah, probably the less, you know, like as long as you're not putting like a bunch of 12 seeds in the final four, but, you know,

even that's, not like we've never seen that before, right? All right, let's hit our first break. And when we return, the news and notes here on fantasy baseball today.

Welcome back in the news and notes. Raphael Devers was absent from Thursday's lineup due to left shoulder soreness and is unlikely for Friday, too. This is something that first popped up during the first series of the season and might explain why Devers is off to a slow start here in the 2024 season. Justin Verlander remains scheduled for another minor league rehab start this weekend. Lars Neupar will be activated from the IL to make his season debut on Friday. Scott, who do you think loses time here?

Because I think it would be easy to just say Victor Scott because he struggled. But I'm not sure that the Cardinals just want to throw Lars Neupar or anybody else for that matter in center field. So I'm not exactly sure who loses time. Yeah, I'm not either. I saw some discussion involving Cardinals beat writers about that and they weren't totally sure it was going to be Victor Scott.

I guess defensive reasons would be the main reason why he's looked pretty awful at the plate. But Newbar has experienced at center field, so they could go that route. I think we'd just have to wait and see. That is exactly right. The Blue Jays are promoting Yariol Rodriguez, who signed a five-year, $32 million contract this winter, and he's made two appearances at AAA, six and a third scoreless innings, ten strikeouts, and he is only 5% rostered. Scott, any interest in Yariol Rodriguez, probably for deeper leagues?

You know, I didn't have him among my top 100 prospects this year. Two-pitch Arsenal, a lot of control issues. Throws very hard, but it's not like he good. He most recently pitched in Japan, I think, even though he's from Cuba originally. And it's not like the numbers were that good there. So he's looked pretty good in what we've seen from him this spring and in the minor leagues. And maybe it'll go better than I'm thinking. But it's definitely, he's an example of you got to prove it first before you're all that interesting to be in fantasy.

That's Yario Rodriguez. Obviously, it's like an AL only league, different story. I will point out that like you said, the last time we saw him was in Japan back in 2022. The numbers were outstanding. but that was as a reliever. It was a 115 ERA and a 0.91 whip. So, you know, small sample, only 54 and two-thirds innings, but he looked pretty great in that role.

And I already saw some speculation. They might use him as a follower, as a bulk reliever type of thing. So we'll see where it goes. He's a name to watch. Let's see what happens with Jareel Rodriguez. Nate, Nathaniel Lowe will be in a minor league rehab assignment on Friday at AA, Brandon Lowe has, I really should not put low and Lowe names back to back on the rundown because that is very confusing. Brandon Lowe has been diagnosed with a grade one right oblique strain and he will be placed on the IL on Friday.

Von Grissom will start a rehab assignment at AAA on Friday. Brent Rooker was placed in the IL with a costo-chondral cartilage injury. The ace started Seth Brown, J.J. Bladay, Lawrence Butler and the outfield with Tyler and Evan at first base and Ryan Noda at DH. Perhaps we will see Estuary Ruiz back with the A's sometime soon. Chase Silsett, who was placed in the IL with an elbow injury, said he expects to return in about three weeks. Tage Bradley has thrown a bullpen session recently, but isn't expected to return until May.

He is on the IL with a pectoral injury. Taiwan Walker made a rehab start at Singale Thursday. He allowed two runs over four innings. John Means made a rehab start at AAA Thursday. He allowed two runs over three innings. And I believe you wrote an IL stash article this week, Scott. Do I have that right? I did I did.

I did imagine Taiwan Walker and John Means did not rank very highly in that article. Means, I think, maybe rounded it out. The last spot was between him and Taj Bradley. It was a top 50, by the way. Usually I only have to go top 40 with that. But yeah, Means and Bradley were. at the very end. Taiwan Walker did not quite make the cut. Shohay Otani's former interpreter Ipe Mizohara has been charged with bank fraud

according to federal authorities. Mizuhara allegedly transferred more than $16 million from Otani's account. And as we learn more, you'll let you know. We had two huge offensive outputs here on Thursday. The Mets dropped 16 runs at Atlanta. Scott, what's going on? Well, I guess Alan Wynens, that that's, that's, That'll do.

Yeah. But for the Mets, Brandon Nimmo, starting to get things going. He went two for five with a double, a triple, two runs, and two RBI. Starling Martang, also starting to pick things up, two for five with a walk and his third stolen base. He had two batted balls over 106 exit velocity. And Jeff McNeil, he needed a big game and he got it. Two for three with two walks, two runs and three RBI. Not the most high profile fantasy options, Scott, but any take.

takeaways from Nemo, Starling Marte, and Jeff McNeil. I mean, Nimmo is pretty close to Mustard, I would say, across the board. And he's performed better recently. So I don't think anybody is stressing about him at the moment. Starling Marte, you know, if you need steals, he's still useful. I don't have a lot of confidence in Jeff McNeil anymore, especially since he's playing with a, he has ligament damage in his elbow, right? He's just playing through it.

I believe that's right. He missed almost all of spring training with a biceps injury too, so those things could be related. Yeah. And Alan Weinins, I could defend Alan Weinins here. I watched a fair amount of this game. He has two pretty good secondaries

and had three should have been outs on batted balls that weren't outs. And so the game kind of unraveled on him. He's probably not sticking around anyway. Bryce Elders probably fill. that spot ultimately. So it's not, it's not worth getting into. I just wanted to,

you know, I don't know what I wanted to do. You wanted to defend your Alan Weinins. That's a... Alan Wein, you know, every time I've seen him pitch, he just looks better than the results.

And I'd like to see more of him, but it's not like he has his... But Bryce Elder has more potential, obviously. Yes. And my guess is we probably will see Bryce Elder pretty soon there up with the Braves. The Royals dropped 13 runs on the Astros because Hunter Brown started that game. The Royals, by the way, are now 9 and 4.

They're off to a great start. Bobby Witt had a monster game. Four for five with two socks and a shoe. He added four runs and five RBI. He had five hard hits in this game. Three over 105 exit velocity. He's now up to four home runs and three steals early on in the season. Vinnie Pee!

Baby! He now has had. two big games in a row, three for five with a double and three RBI. And Michael Garcia started to slow down a little bit. Obviously, he's human. He struggled the previous five games before this one. He went two for five with two RBI and two run scored. Anything to add on those names, Bobby Witt, Vinnie Pee and Michael Garcia.

Even more encouraged about this Vinny Pasquantino game, as you pointed out, back-to-back three-hit games. But the first of those two on Wednesday, you may remember me saying the hardest tip ball was only 102 miles per hour and one of the hits had like a very low expected batting average. This game Thursday, he had one hit of 107 miles per hour, one hit of 106 miles per hour. So he was hitting the ball with authority throughout the game.

And, you know, I'm hopeful that first three hit game just kind of got his confidence back. and now he's swinging a little freer and easier, and the numbers are going to start to climb for Vinny Pass Quantino. You know, two, three hit games in a row, obviously is a good sign. We'll see how he performs this weekend. All right, let's talk about some waiver-wire pitchers from Thursday's action. Garrett Whitlock was solid up against the Orioles, five innings, one run, four strikeouts with 10 swinging strikes on 85 pitches.

Ranger Suarez makes it back-to-back quality starts. this one up against the Pirates, six shutout innings, two hits, two walks, eight strikeouts in that one. Jose Cantana was solid at the Braves, five and a third, three runs allowed, four strikeouts, and then John Gray with a solid outing

up against the Oakland A's, five innings, one run, nine strikeouts. I know a few of these names are on your sleeper pitcher list. Scott, I guess you can get into some of them now if you want to, but how are you ranking John Gray, Kentana, Suarez, and Garrett Whitlock? For next week or for rest of season? However you want to answer it.

However I want to answer, wow. That's too much freedom for me, Frank. I need to be directed. But what I will say is how I'm ranking them rest of season, I will go Garrett Whitlock, Ranger Suarez, John Gray, and Jose Cantana. Those first three are about in the same group for me. Kintana's a distant fourth. And Kintana is the only one of the four that isn't among my 10 sleeper pitchers for next week.

I want to like Whitlock more. I guess I did rank up tops of this group, but I don't know. I can't really figure out what he's trying to do. So his slider usage has gone from 18.5% in his first start. It was kind of a new feature for him this year, 18.5% to 12.9% in a second start to 6% in this start. He still has a new sinker. He threw a 24% of the time in this one. So he seems to be holding on to that tweak to his arsenal.

But I don't know. I don't know if he's just kind of reverting to his past self. I don't know. He's had one start that was particularly impressive. This one was pretty good, I guess. But he still seems kind of fringy to me. Does Garrett Whitlock? I don't have much hope for Ranger Suarez

and John Gray climbing out of the fringe you would range. I mean, John Gray, yeah, I got a lot of strike. I got a lot of whiffs. It was against Oakland, and he did not look very good in his first two starts, and I don't see anything that changed in his third start. Ranger Suarez, the walks are way down, the ground ball rate his way up.

I just kind of feel like he's commanding a lot better this year than he did last year. Is that something he can sustain looking at what his walk rate has been from year to year? I have my doubts, but he's looking like the best form of Rangers Suarez right now. And I think, at least in the short term,

we can take advantage of that. All right. Wait, I think I had one more name here in deeper leagues. Yes, I did. It was J.P. Sears. He pitched great at the Texas Rangers of all places. six and a third shutout innings one hit three walks five strikeouts had 12 swinging strikes on 88 pitches completely changed his pitch mix in this start he led with the change up he used it 33% of the time uh this is deep league stuff scotty but any interest in j p seers he faces the cardinals next week he had a very good spring and yeah that increased change up usage coinciding with his one good start of the regular season so far that's interesting that's noteworthy

Yeah, I guess he has some deep league appeal because in a deep enough league, everybody does. And I want to put Sears at the bottom of the list as far as that goes. But for standard mixed leagues, not worth looking into yet. Yeah, and maybe if the matchup was a little bit better next week, it's nice that it's at home, but against the Cardinals lineup, eh, I've been pretty bad so far. Yeah, that is fair enough. All right, let's take our second break. And when we return, we'll get into our week four preview here on Fantasy Baseball.

baseball today. Welcome back in. Let's get into our week for preview. And as always, we will start off with the schedule for next week. 20 teams with six games. There are 10 teams that have seven games next week, including the D-backs, the Red Sox, Cubs, Guardians, Tigers, Angels, Marlins, Giants, rays, and the Rangers. What about the Rockies? I feel like we have said this each of the past three weeks. They haven't had a full season at a full week at home yet. It's been split. It's been three games at home,

three games on the road. Frustrating, but it's the same thing next week. Six games, three at home against the Mariners, and then three on the road against the Phillies. And the pitching matchups are pretty tough for what it's worth. Yeah,

not great. Starters sit these, let's call them fringy, two-star pitchers right now. Carlos Rodon, he's been up and down so far. is coming off his best start of the season. He is at the Blue Jays and home against Tampa Bay.

Some tough matchups. Yeah, I would lean yes on it. Kyle Harrison is at the Marlins and home against the debacks. Also lean yes on that. Frankie Montas, who is a spark on CBS. He's at the Mariners and home against the Angels. Pretty good matchups. And I think that's what makes him a yes for me less,

more down. Downside risk, I would say, than both Rodon and Harrison have. But I'm going to say yes for Montas, too, with those matchups. Zach Lattel, another spark. He is home against the Angels and at the Yankees. That's more of a points league play, I think. Not enough strikeout upside to risk the ERA and whip damage in categories leagues. The apple of your eye, Scott.

Eric Vetti is home against the Royals and at the Phillies. Yeah, I think there's some love loss there, Frank. Eric Fetty. I should never gotten that wandering eye. That infatuation has ended. And I am going to select no for Eric Fetty, even though that well, you know what, Casey's offense has been going

great now, so I don't even know that we can call that a great matchup at this particular moment. Yeah, I'm going to pass on Fetty if I have the option of doing so. What about the wandering eye for Joe Ross coming off great start last time out. He's home against the Padres and at the Cardinals.

Eh, nah, not worth it. I agree. I just, I wanted to get another name in there. Two star pitchers to add and stream for next week, all of these names are under 80% rostered on CBS. Who are they?

All right, we'll start with Garrett Whitlock. He's my favorite of the two star pitchers who is available enough to mention here. Matchups are the Guardians and the Pirates. Better. matchups on paper than they've actually performed like so far. But I think that could change.

It will change eventually. Maybe it'll change with Garrett Whitlock. Seth Lugo at the White Sox, which is about as good of a matchup as it gets right now, given that they're only two good hitters are out of the lineup. And then the Orioles, which is not such a good matchup. But yeah, I'll still take Seth Lugo with that bipolar matchup situation going on. Martin Perez, who we already talked about at the Mets versus the Red Sox, so kind of middling matchups, probably more of a points league play.

There's still downside risk there, and his greatest strength is that he just, he goes deep into games, which is more valuable in points leagues. But as points league plays go, I think Martin Perez is a pretty good one. John Gray, who we just talked about at Detroit, at Atlanta, opposite ends of the spectrum, more of a point. Points League play. Everybody I mentioned from here out is really just for the points league crowd. Reese Olson was supposed to be a two-star pitcher this past week.

In fact, was my number one sleeper pitcher. Turns out he only got one start and it was really bad. So now he lines up for two starts again. Versus Texas at Minnesota, they've been pretty bad offensively so far. Again, this is more of a points league play, but I do expect Reese Olson to bounce back. Reynaldo Lopez, Houston, and Texas, not great matchups, but he has the Braves offense backing him, Cody Bradford, Detroit, and Atlanta.

Opposite ends of the spectrum there. Don't have a lot of faith in him, but he's been good so far. And that's all that I want to recommend, really. If you happen to play in a very deep league where everybody I mentioned is already rostered, then you could look to Ben Brown, who has been good in his last two outings, both of them on the shorter end.

at Arizona versus Miami. He's only 12% rostered, and he has a lot of upside, even though he's still kind of finding his place on the Cubs pitching staff. For the four that you first mentioned, Whitlock, Lugo, Perez, and John Gray, would you drop Hunter Brown for all of those names, some of those names? I would drop Hunter Brown for Whitlock, just because I think that's an upgrade for the rest of the season.

the others, it would have to be like I'm dropping him because I need to get this guy in my lineup this week. I'd be okay doing that for Lugo, for Martine Perez, as I already said. John Gray, a little if you're on that one, but if you have a need, you have a need. The bottom line is if you have a need, Brown shouldn't stop you from filling it. Single star streamers, you have six names here on the list. Who are these? Yeah, so I like the one-start options better. than the two-start options by and large.

As I mentioned, Jack Flaherty is still available in about a quarter of CBS Sports Leagues. The Twins entered play Thursday with the fewest runs scored in baseball. I think they'll get better, but I think Jack Flaherty is really good. And so that's almost a must-start situation for me this week.

Christopher Sanchez gets Colorado in Philadelphia. So does Ranger Suarez. So I like that a lot for both of them. Michael Waka, White Sox is his matchup So that's basically automatic Because they have nobody to bat right now And let's see, Spencer Turnbull Also gets the White Sox this week

And finally Luis Severino Against the Pirates Hoping he could continue What he did in his last start Let's slide over to the hitters The best matchups for next week The Dodgers, Mariners, Phillies, Guardians, Cardinals, the worst hitter matchups, the Nationals, the Yankees, blank.

How did I miss number three on this list? Who's number three? White Sox. The White Sox. How did that just, I literally just copy and paste what you send me? How did I not get number three? They're so white they blended in with the page, you know? Like, you sent me number three in the email.

I just don't know why they didn't show up. Anyway, the Nationals, Yankees, White Sox, Reds, and Mets. Those are the five worst hitter matchups for. next week. Sleeper hitters, 10 names that are rostered in less than 80% of CBS leagues. Who are we looking at for the hitters? So it wasn't mentioned here because we only list the five best hitter matchups, but number six would be the Royals. I feel like the Royals are number six or seven every week. Yeah, so let's get MJ Melendez in the lineup again. Let's also get Nelson Velasquez.

you need a fifth, fourth, fifth outfielder in a Roto League, you could do him. He's been performing well lately and only 24% rostered. I would say Mikel Garcia again, but he has become too rostered to qualify for this list. So honorable mention for Michael Garcia. All right, who else we have here? So the Cardinals, you mentioned, have the fifth best hitter matchups, Nolan's roster rate has actually dropped below the threshold that I can mention in here. He needs to be picked up basically anywhere he was dropped

because he has huge of power potential at second base and I think his matchups this week against the athletics and Brewers pitching staffs should be enough to get him going. Those are some, a lot of bad pitchers in those two pitching staffs.

Jose Caballero, I like a lot this week. His numbers against left-handers in particular are amazing. They were last year too, much better numbers against lefties than righties. And the Rays have four lefties on the schedule in their seven games. Cabio is off to a nice start anyway. Matt Chapman, I like for this week for a similar reason,

he has crushed left-handers dating back to last year. And there are four on the schedule in seven games for the Giants. And overall, the matchups are pretty good for those two teams, too, a raisin giant even before you get to the lefty-righty thing.

On the other hand, the Guardians who you mentioned have the fourth best hitter

matchups, they have only one lefty on the schedule in seven games, and that's

great news for Bo Naylor. Should get close to a full week of Bo Nailer, and he seems to be heating up

at the plate, only 65% rostered on CBS. The Mariners, since they have the second best hitter

matchups, I think tie- Brants and Mitch Hanager both deserve attention. They've both looked pretty good so far. Mitch Garver has not, and so I don't have him among my 10 sleeper hitters, but he didn't, I wanted to get him in there. It's just I already had one catcher with Bo Nailer and putting two catchers in there seemed like kind of waste, because unless you need a catcher, why are you starting a catcher on the sleeper hitters list, right?

That makes sense, doesn't it? Makes sense. Yeah. Okay. Colton Couser. He makes the cut Because only one lefty on the schedule For the Orioles next week

So hopefully he just keeps starting And keeps mashing Jared Kelnick Makes the cut Because only one left-hander On the schedule for the Braves Next week So hopefully he keeps starting

And keeps mashing And I think I've covered everybody I think that was 10 names Sleeper Hitters for week four Sounds good to me Let's get back into the rest of Thursday's action and go into some pitching leftovers. We already spoke about Hunter Brown.

Jeez, yikes. Brady Singer, solid on the other side of that start against the Astros. Five innings, one run, four strikeouts, only five swinging strikes on 87 pitches. Continues to mix in a four-scene fastball more this season. He's mostly been sinker, slider in his career. I don't know if adding another iteration of a fastball that's not very hard is the answer. but the numbers have been really good so far this season. So we'll see if he can keep that up.

Jared Jones has turned in back-to-back quality starts. This one was at the Phillies. Six and a third innings, three runs allowed, eight strikeouts to zero walks. He had 15 swinging strikes on 85 pitches, seven plus strikeouts in all three starts, 15 plus swinging strikes in all three starts, only two walks total through three starts.

Just a great beginning to his career. is Jared Jones and Grayson Rodriguez solid at the Red Sox 5 and 2 thirds innings, 2 runs allowed 5 strikeouts with 13 swinging strikes on 94 pitches. Scott, anything you'd like to add on Grod, Jared Jones

and Brady Singer. I wonder if it was so this was barely a quality start for Jared Jones. He allowed a couple home runs. Was he able, who ended up winning that game?

So he took the loss, actually. I think Ranger Suarez got the win. Right. And Jared Jones took the loss, which course matters in points leaks. Yes. I wonder if, like, I'm so convinced of Jared Jones greatness at this point that, like, is this a buy low opportunity? Like, I understand it was basically a good start. But is there a chance that whoever has Jones is less sold on a,

and then I am and I'm telling you to be listener who could trade for him. And so maybe this kind of so-so start as far as Jared Jones starts go, maybe, you know, you could make a little offer. Make a little offer. See what happens. Because I think he only gets better from here is what I'm saying, I guess. Let's see. Who else should I comment on here?

Singer. The whiffs and strikeouts he was getting his first couple outings, they kind of returned to normal and they started

was still a good start, but I don't think any of us was buying into like some big singer breakout anyway. And, you know, he only had four

strikeouts in his last start. So it was really just a one, it was really just one game where he had a ton of strikeouts. Yeah. So that might be an opportunity to sell on Brady Singer

because I don't think he's going to be able to keep it up. the only thing I will add on Singer is that the control has been great so far. And when he was at his best in 2022, that was when Singer had a career year in terms of the walk rate. So if he keeps the walks down, it just raises the floor for him.

I don't think he has a huge ceiling or anything. But what knows? Like if the Royals are hitting the ball, like he might have some run support. He might be on a good team. He's probably still in that streamer conversation, probably like his teammates, Seth Lugo and Michael Waka. But that could be a useful pitcher for fantasy, I guess.

He could be Waka-like. Yeah, it was basically Waka-like in that 2022 season. But if that's the upside for Brady Singer, you know, I think he can do better. Yeah. Let's talk about some hitting leftovers. Yiner Diaz looks great so far, two-for-five with his third home run. And he's got a 9-31 OPS, hitting lots of ground balls early on, but also hitting the ball really.

hard. That is Jainer Diaz. Bryson Stott is on the board. He heard that Scott moved him down the rankings, and he didn't like that. One from three with his first home run. He's nine for 41 so far. That's a 220 batting average, hitting lots of line drives early on in the season, but it also comes with an 85 mile per hour average exit velocity,

which is not great for Bryson Scott. Let's have a little conversation here, Scotty, about Wyatt Langford, because 04 in this game, He's batting 2.40. Two extra base hits. We know he was a rocket ship up draft boards. He moved inside the top 75 picks in a lot of drafts

in those final two weeks of the draft season. Obviously, he's a rookie. There's going to be some growing pains. When I dove into the numbers, what I noticed is the plate discipline so far is elite across the board. I almost wonder if he's trying too much to just make contact. and not strike out.

And as a result, you know, the quality of contact is not very good. He's just got to let it fly a little bit. I think once that happens and he gets a little bit more comfortable, we'll probably start to see some of those bigger games from White Lankford. Yeah, I mean, if the last couple years have taught us anything, you know, I think back to Gunner Henderson last year was bad for a couple months, and then caught fire and one rookie of the year. And same thing two years ago with Julio Roe.

Rodriguez and Bobby Witt. They didn't both win rookie of the year, obviously. But they ended up having great rookie seasons that catapulted them to early round status and fantasy. And, you know, a lot of, like you say, a lot of the underlying stats for White Lankford look great. Average exit velocity is kind of low, but his hardest hit ball is in the top 90% of the league, or in the top 10% of the league, I should say. So, and the launch angle is pretty optimal in terms of power production. Yeah, I would not, I would not lose faith in him in Wyatt Langford. And anytime you have a high-end rookie who gets off to a slow start, I think it's wise to show patience.

Because, you know, I kind of lost faith in Gunther Henderson for at some point in May last year and said some things I regret. I don't want to make that mistake with Wyatt Langford too. I saw somebody in the chat when we were talking about Colton Couser said, should I drop White Langford for Couser? No. Do not do that. No, don't do that. Yes.

And look, I would tell people to try and buy low on White Lankford, but my guess is anyone who drafted him, you might have had to pay a steep price based on the hype. So I don't know how cheaply you're going to be able to, try and acquire Wyatt Langford right now. If you could pull it off, I would say sure. But yeah, it's probably not that realistic. Some bullpen updates here from Thursday for the Oakland A's.

Mason Miller, he is so good. I don't know how long his arm is going to stay attached to his body, but he is so fun to watch. He got the ninth inning in a one-run game. He struck out two for his second save. He averaged 100. 102.3 miles per hour on his fastball. He maxed out at 103.7.

I thought I was looking at exit velocity, Scott. Not pitches here, not fastball velocities. But that is what Mason Miller did in this start and relief appearance rather. His fastball is up four miles per hour compared to last year. The slider was up three miles per hour. He's going to be awesome. I don't know how many safe chances he's going to get,

but look great here. Yeah. Got two safe. now and appears to, let's see, what's his last few appearances have been? Oh, well, every appearance so far has either been in the ninth inning or in the eighth inning to finish the game. No, that's not even true.

The one where he came in in the eighth inning, he also worked the ninth. So, yeah, Mason Miller's been functioning as the athletics closer all year, his last two appearances of each scored him a save. and I would say the team context isn't great, sure, but top 20 relief pitchers seems perfectly attainable still

because there are a lot of not-so-great believers out there. I was looking it up while you were talking, by the way. Gunner Henderson on June 7th last year, heading into June 7th, Gunner Henderson was batting 201. So just a little perspective there helps to put exact numbers on it And he still wound up with what 28 homers 10 steals and 100 runs scored last season

Gunner Henderson so yeah yeah Pretty bonkers from that point forward he was batting so let me see what the actual So on June 3rd Gunner Henderson was batting 201 and he had only six home runs at that point So things turned around in a major way. He hit 22 home runs in the final three and a half months. Hopefully Wyatt Langford doesn't struggle for that long. But if he does, even then. Keep the faith.

I want to keep the faith, yeah. We move over to the Orioles bullpen. Craig Kimball pitched a clean ninth inning with the game tied. Just wanted to highlight that the velocity was way down. Fastball was down 4.7 miles per hour. He averaged 91.1. Not sure that we could blame it on the, all of that on the cold. It was like 50 degrees there.

Yes, very cold. But I don't know. Any concern? Almost five miles per hour down on the fastball. Yeah, I mean, how many total pitches did he throw? And yes, it was cold and everybody's velocity was down. It's a lot. But Kimbrillows look so good so far that I'm not going to make a big deal of it yet.

All right. Let's wrap up with to stream or not to stream, starting with Friday, where it looks like the top names will be Tyler Wells against the Brewers Michael Waka at the Mets, Luis Severino against the Royals, Andrew Abbott at the White Sox, and Paul Blackburn against the Nationals?

Yeah, I guess. I mean, I like Waka at the Mets and Tyler Wells against the Brewers the most, I would say, but those other names are fine too. Who is your third favorite? I'll say Savarino against the Royals, even though the Royals have been hitting well lately.

On Saturday, we get D.L. Hall in a revenge game. I wouldn't recommend starting him there, but I am very interested to see how it goes at the Orioles. I think it should be a pretty fun game. Spencer Turnbull against the Pirates is probably okay. Mackenzie Gore at the Oakland A's. Dean Kramer at home against the Brewers. Luis Heel at the Guardians.

Oh man, some good ones on Saturday. Obviously, McKinsey Gore at Oakland. That's... Nick Wadolo is at the White Sox, but that's his debut, so I don't know. Yeah. I haven't observed what he was doing in the minors on his rehab assignment. Looks like it was, you know, okay. A lot of strikeouts.

Certainly if you're chasing strikeouts, it's a good play. Because that's the thing I feel most confident. and Nicola Dolo doing, especially against that White Sox lineup. But I would probably start over him. Of course, McKenzie Gore, probably Luis Heala, Cleveland,

Spencer Turnbull against the Pirates, and Dean Cramer. You mentioned all these names. Dean Cramer against the Brewers. They're all good streamers. A lot of good streamers. And then on Sunday, the options are not nearly as vast.

we have Tyler Anderson at the Red Sox, Logan Allen up against the Yankees, Graham Ashcraft at the White Sox, I guess that could work out. Yeah, that's probably the best one. Trevor Williams and Alex Wood are opposing each other. I don't know. I don't, I mean, if you're for, Ashcraft at the White Sox is the only one I realistically want to do on Sunday.

If you're forcing me to pick a two and three, I will say Tyler Anderson and Logan Allen. All right. We're going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we'll be back again next week.

Bye-bye.