Fantasy Baseball Today - Is Gerrit Cole Back? Waiver Wire Adds & Injury Updates! (7/22 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 22, 2024

After two quality starts in a row, is Gerrit Cole back (2:58)? ... Jackson Chourio has really hit well since the start of June (7:40). ... Hayden Birdsong was unreal at the Rockies (13:00). ... News (21:12): Ozzie Albies suffered a left wrist fracture and Max Fried has left forearm neuritis. ... Let's talk waiver wire pitchers, starting with some names in shallower leagues (42:08). ... Rank Jorge Soler, Lars Nootbaar and Lawrence Butler (51:35). ... Zac Gallen is struggling right now (1:00:33). ... These hitters have all picked things up (1:06:53). ... We wrap up with leftovers from the weekend, bullpen updates and streamers (1:08:40). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question, email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Baseball is back. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Monday, July 22nd, and welcome to the second half. I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers today on the show. Injuries, injuries, and more injuries.

That has been a theme of the season. It was a theme of this weekend as well. We have all the WaverWire ads, some impressive pitching performances from three youngsters, and much more. But first time recapping games in a while, there's only one soundbite we could use to start today's show. Oh my goodness gracious.

Oh my goodness gracious, Chris. You are up. Player the weekend. Of course you come to me first, because you know that I was going to talk about a Yankee. And you had to get that homer pick in there without appearing yourself to be a homer. And that's okay. I'll fall on the sword.

I love my New York Yankees. And Garrett Cole has looked like Garrett Cole over his past two starts. He struck out eight over six one run innings in this one on Friday against the raise. He went, what, six innings, one earned run, seven strikeouts in the previous start. that one against the Baltimore Orioles. So he's back, right? Right? Yeah.

I don't know. It's weird because the version of Garrett Cole that we have seen be one of the best pitchers in baseball has done so primarily by throwing a four seam fastball about 50% of the time, throwing a slider about 20 to 25% of the time, and then mixing in a curve. ball and a change up the last couple of years introducing a cutter right now garret cole is barely throwing his slider at all he threw six of them in this start got a couple whiffs that's nice but it was the cutter that led the way for whiffs for garrett cole in this one he threw 29 cutters in this start i haven't looked it up i'm gonna guess that's the most garret cole has ever thrown in a start I don't really feel like we need to look that up because that's a lot of cutters for a guy

who just started throwing a cutter. It is the most cutters. Garrett Cole has ever thrown in a start. It looked it up anyway. It was really good. Yeah, I was talking while looking it up. So I figured I might as well. He generated 12 called strikes plus whiffs in this start,

41% CSW rate by far the best rate among all his pitches. And the cutter was a good. pitch for him last season. With rate, I think, was right around 30%. Good results on balls and play. It looks like a good pitch. It's just not the pitch that has made Garrett Cole, Garrett Cole.

And so that's the thing that I'm tripping up on. The results have looked like Garrett Cole, the last couple of starts. Can we assume that the results are going to continue looking like Garrett Cole moving forward? it's sort of what we saw with Carlos Rodan early in the season where he was getting good results but it was in a different way than we'd gotten used to seeing

and that turned out to be unsustainable. Garrick Cole's a better pitcher than Carlos Rodon. Garrett Cole's cutter is probably a better pitch than Carlos Rodon's cutter. So as you can tell. Fastball is better, right? Fastball has been better this season and last. Yeah.

As you can tell, I'm a little, I'm a little tripped up on the Garra Cole thing right now and I'd love to hear the thoughts of Scott White Ranked Stample. Well, I mean, I noticed the same thing with the slider and the cutter kind of replacing it and I wonder if that is him just being extra cautious with his elbow or maybe having some discomfort because slider is a pitch that famously puts a lot of pressure on the elbow and maybe he's just being extra cautious.

careful with the elbow for whatever reason. And so I don't know that it's a permanent arrangement necessarily. I think we can't say for sure, obviously, where Garrett Cole goes from here. But he's been a pitching god in an era that hasn't been so favorable to pitching. And so I feel like that caliber of player, you know, I just trust him. I just trust him, particularly once we start seeing him have some success. Okay, he's found out a way to make this work.

And I'm planning on just having him in my lineup the rest of the way. And that was the next question. Garikol gets the Mets later this week. He's 84% started. I assume most people are going to start him. But if there's any pause, he faced the Mets earlier in the season. It was his second start back from the IL, and he gave up six runs, four homers, four walks to zero strikeouts.

Does that give you any pause at all with starting Garrett Cole this week? No, I'd still start him. Scott? Yep. Same for me. All right, fair enough. And with that, Scott, let's go over to you, player of the weekend. Okay, we're both passing up the breadstick.

So that's fine. We'll get to that soon enough. We'll save the best for last. We're actually being courteous here to you, Frank. Jackson Chorio. I want to talk about Jackson Chorio, who had a big weekend. He had five total hits this weekend, a double and a home run on Sunday, two stolen bases on Saturday. And if you add the big weekend to what Jackson Chorio's been doing since the start of June, so a month and a half now, a little more than a month and a half, I guess. I mean, I don't even have the numbers updated. with today's stats, but he's batting 303. His OPS is mid-800s. He looks like the player we were hoping to draft.

His strikeout rate during that stretch is like 18%. So that's not an issue. That really hasn't been an issue all season, surprisingly. Thought if anything, was going to bring Chorio down to be the strikeouts. But no, it's been the impact, his ability to impact the baseball. But it seems to be coming around. He's put up those great numbers since the start of June. that includes five home runs, that includes five stolen bases,

again, at about a quarter of a season. So project that out. It's been like a 20-20 pace with a batting average over 300 for Jackson Chorio. His average exit velocity during that stretch, 90 miles per hour. Certainly no complaints about that. His max exit velocity for the season is still just over 50th percentile. So middling, but middling is okay. You don't want them to be.

bad in terms of how Hardy can impact the ball, what his peak exit velocities are, but it's in the middle of the pack. Like I said, last quarter of the season, hitting the ball hard on average. I think this is a case

of a really talented player finally coming into his own during a time, obviously, when young players, young prospects of any caliber have had a hard time breaking into the big leagues. Hitters I'm talking about especially. It's taken Chorio a while, but he seems to be coming around.

We're seeing that talent come through, and I'm hopeful I've probably been the most disappointed in him, expressed the most disappointment in him with anybody in this podcast, in part because I was the most optimistic coming into the season. But I'm hopeful this is Jackson Chorio, finally proving he belongs, and hopefully it's a sign of a big second half to come. And one thing I want to point out, you know, you mentioned the disappointing Max Exavilo, only being around average 109.2 miles per hour. One thing to keep in mind is we default to max exa velo as this marker of raw power.

That's typically how we use it. The one thing to keep in mind though is max exofilo is a one-time thing. And so like to pick one example, I don't know if you guys realize this, Ozia Albiz recently hit a 113.7 mile per hour home run. It's the hardest. hit ball of his career by more than two miles per hour. And he's really never come close to that. Jackson Churio's hardest hit ball this season is 109.2.

That's pretty middling, as we said. Just on Saturday, I believe, Saturday, no, Sunday was the day he had the home run in the double. Yeah, yeah. He had a 108.6 mile per hour bat at ball and a 107.7. That's very close to his max. So I don't necessarily know if, you know, the, the max exit velo being middling, if that's even something that I would hold too much against

Churio, since he's generating exit velocities near there more recently. Yeah, I was going to say the same thing about the battered balls on Sunday that home run traveled 443 feet. So he, he walloped that one Jackson Trio did. And a quick reminder that he's 20 years old, right? And we had the extensive conversation on Friday about top prospects, kind of being letdowns. And developments over the past couple of years with prospects. So he's still extremely young. And I believe he was one of the prospects that like when he would first get called up to a level, he kind of struggled for a little bit.

And then he would just dominate that level. That's what we saw last year especially. Yeah. The strikeout rate was way higher in the first half of the scene than the same. But yeah, Jackson Trio will be able to have his first legal drink in the United States during next year's spring training. Right. Like he's not just 20. He turned 20 just before the season.

He is really, really young. You generally want to bet on guys who are, if you can keep your head above water as a 20-year-old, you're probably going to be pretty good. And I think it was reasonable to lose faith in Jackson Turyo being a difference maker this season. Right. That's always what the conversation was because it's fantasy.

We mostly only care about this season. But now he's starting to show us that, Oh, he might be able to make an impact. Well, he's already making an impact. I'm hopeful. And, you know, that's kind of how it went for Gunner Henderson last year. It's kind of the way it went for Bobby Witt two years ago. You know, there's a steeper learning curve.

But that doesn't mean it takes a full season, necessarily. All right, let's get into my player of the weekend and the Olive Garden Breadstick. Massive performance here from Hayden Birdsong at the Rockies. in-course field. Yeah, I was trying to think of a soundbite to get for Birdsong. So if anyone has any good ideas, we can work something in. But an awesome start, six innings, two runs, 12 strikeouts. He had 27 whiffs on 98 pitches, 12 of those on the curve,

10 on the slider, four on the fastball, one on the change-up. Completely changed his pitch mix in this start. Maybe it was a course field thing. Maybe not. It's kind of weird because he leaned into all these breaking pitches, his curveball, his slider. Normally, that's not something I would expect from a pitcher in Corris Field.

But yeah, he tripled his curveball usage. He upped the slider usage in this one. And both of those pitches were fantastic. They combined for 22 of his 27 whiffs. First quality start of his career, first time going more than five innings in a start. Chris, how much are you buying this huge performance from Hayden Birdsong? Who is widely available? He's only 13% rostered.

So he's a player who I was kind of interested. in when he got the call, the fastball characteristics for something that a lot of people liked, full arsenal slider curveball change up in addition to that. And he hasn't shown us a ton at the major league level, but I've remained pretty interested in Birdsong. Obviously, this performance makes us much more interested. The problem is we usually think about and talk about course field as, well, if a guy struggles there, you can just write it off course field.

but I think it works both ways because it's not just that the ball travels farther when players make contact with it at course field. The ball moves differently out of pitchers' hands. This is a part of why it's been so hard for the Rockies to develop pitchers is figuring out guys who can pitch effectively at course field and away from course field is really, really difficult. And so, you know, we saw a similar thing with Frankie Montas earlier in the season. Remember, his best start of the year, arguably came at course field. And it was a similar thing where he completely changed his pitch mix, started throwing his slider a bunch and got a bunch of whiffs with it. And that proved to be a total fluke. So I think it's worth being skeptical of Birdsong.

However, this tied him with, I believe, Dylan Cese for the most whiffs by a starter in a start this season. and it is like the 20th most of anyone over the past five seasons, 27 whiffs. This is not like, you look at the list of guys. There really aren't any flukes on this list. There are some like Lucas G. Alito starts and he's not like a great, Patrick Sandoval, I guess, is the closest.

He had a 32 whiff game back in 2021. I don't know if you guys remember that. Don't know why you would. I do. I do. That's probably the closest to just an outright fluke on this list of guys who have had at least that many whiffs. So, yeah, I don't want to dismiss it. I added Hayden Birdsong in one league so far where waivers ran.

It was a $41 bid out of $1,000. The backup bid was nine. So I overspent by $32, $30. But yeah, I'm interested. I think there's a bigger, like before we even get into the conversation of a vote. How good is Hayden Bird song, really? A little bird told me, or you might even say sang to me. This is Hayden Bird Song's last start.

Could be wrong. But Robbie Ray's Donner with his rehab assignment. Alex Cobb, I think maybe has one. So if you want to say, oh, well, they're going to kick out a, what's the lefties name? Kyle Harrison? Kyle Harrison. Yeah, even if you're going to say they're going to kick out Kyle Harrison before they'd kick out Byrd song.

You got Alex Cobb following Robbie Ray off the IL. So I don't know who else would be out. Maybe they go six-man for a while. Jordan Hicks could go. Wouldn't they consider it as a way to manage Jordan Hicks's innings? Yeah, maybe. I guess that's possible. By the way, Robbie Ray, his last two rehab starts, he struck out 16 and allowed just two hits

in 10 in the third innings. Yep. Yeah. But getting back to Birdsong, yeah, that would be my biggest hesitation in picking him beyond just, I got a spot to play with, let's see how this goes. To further a point about Coors Field, his horizontal break was down on both his curveball and slider, so as effective as they were, it was, they were, they played like different pitches and maybe they mixed with his other pitches better with less break like

that, and that allowed him to rack up so many whiffs. His change-up, which had been his best swing in this pitch this year, he threw it only 4% of the time, usually 18%. So he just ditched that. It was very different for Hayden Bird's song. So even if you want to be optimistic and say, okay, he's going to find a way to stay in the rotation, look at his minor league strikeout rates, they're very good.

I still think we can't really get excited until we see how the next start goes, which like I said, I can't even be sure when that's going to happen. And I mean, just based on the way things line up right now, it looks like his next start would come against the Rockies again, this time in San Francisco. So if that remains, if things line up that way, yeah, if you need a pitcher for this week, I mean, that sounds pretty awesome. So only 13% rostered is Hayden Birdsong, and we will compare him to other waiver wire pitchers in just a little bit.

But wanted to remind everyone to sign up for the FBT newsletter. If you haven't already, you could scan the QR code that will take you right to the website where you click on the FBT logo, you punch in your e-eslistar. email address and it's easy as that you'll get a FBT newsletter delivered right to your inbox every single weekday for free. Let's take our first break and when we return, lots of news, lots of injuries, we'll talk about it right after this. Welcome back in, Scott, I am sorry, a rough weekend of injuries for your Atlanta Braves. First up, Ozzy Albi suffered a left wrist fracture and will miss approximately eight weeks, which takes us up to late September. So I

assume in any leagues with no IL spots, NFBC leagues, Ozzy Albies is a drop, right? I mean, it might even be a drop in leagues with IL spots, depending who you already have occupying those IL spots, because the given timetable is eight weeks. It's not six to eight weeks, it's eight weeks. So I assume that's the most optimistic scenario. And even if he does come back for the start of the second to last week of the season,

Are you going to want to have him active then? And then is your league even playing out the last week of the season? So I'm, unless it's just a free I-all spot, I think I'm basically out on Albies for this year. And if you do need a second base replacement, Albi's replacement, Scott's Week 18, sleepers are live on the site for this upcoming week. That's going to start again on Monday.

Some second baseman on the list, Zach Gelloff, Joey Ortiz, and Tyro Escher. Strata. Who is replacing Albies for the Braves? They are expected to promote prospect Nacho Alvarez. And his name is actually Ignacio Alvarez, if you're looking for him on CBS. He's 21 years old, a fifth round pick from back in 2022. This season in the minors hit 291 with seven homers, 21 seals in 818 OPS between AA and AAA. He actually got a lot better once he was promoted up to AAA. Only 3% rostered. Scott, what do we need to know about Alvarez? Were you looking to add him in any deeper leagues?

Yeah, 15 teams are deeper. Those are the sort of leagues where you can't afford to wait and see. You just have to go for it. I would say the typical fantasy player can wait and see on Ignacio or Nacho Alvarez. When I look into him, I'm reminded a lot of Von Grissom, actually, because the minor league numbers are very good, especially the batting average, but there's power, there's speed there, And you're like, wow, why is this guy not being hyped to the hills? And you dig into the, you know, he doesn't hit the ball very hard at all.

Max and exit velocity, both low. His speed ratings are not very good for all the stolen bases he has. And that is all very much in line with Vaughn Grissom, who I think it's fair to say at this point has been a pretty big disappointment in fantasy. I think a good scenario for Nacho Alvarez. would be to stick with Braves' comps here, would be Martine Prado, a high batting average guy

who hits double-digit home runs more years than not can get to double-digit steals. And that would be a worthy player in fantasy, but that's probably the best scenario for Alvarez and whether or not he can do that as a rookie down the stretch here. I'm not as confident that you mentioned he got a lot better at AAA. All seven of his home runs came at AAA in only one third of his season.

But International League is regarded as hitter-friendly right now, and that may have contributed that to the readings aren't good. The power, the usual indicators of power are not that good for Alvarez. Max Xafelos around 107 miles per hour. Average is 87, which isn't terrible, like for context. Jacob Wilson, I think it was like 84, 85. So he's a little better than that at AAA. and is doing a little better job hitting the ball to the pull side.

He's been very all fields heavy throughout his career, and that's led to very good batting averages for the most part. But I think the general idea is right, that it's probably not a difference-making profile, but really good on-base guy, whatever pop is there, I think is probably below average, but, you know, over a course of a season, 10 to 15, you know, might not be an unreasonable expectation.

He does have 21 steals in 85 games or 75 games this season. That's notable. He had 16 and 116 last year. I do think it depends on getting to like 20 steel pace to really matter. But, I don't know. I could see like a maybe Joey Ortiz type of impact as a rookie where it's like a use. A useful player, not a difference maker, not a superstar, but someone who can be useful for fantasy, especially in, you know, an OBP league, I think especially. Like an OBP Categories League is definitely not Trauberas's best format.

Yeah. And I actually picked them up in Tout Wars, which is 5x5 Roto with OBP. Scott, I know you picked them up as well. I picked them up for around 5% of my budget. You picked them up for 7%. 7%. And it was like, in both of our leagues, and these are 15 team Roto leagues, right? deeper into the spectrum, only one other person even bid,

and they bid a single digit number. We bid $50, $50. I mean, that's just the way things are. Like, that might just be that people didn't even have double-digit bids left, you know? I'm out of fab in one league. Hey, you can't take the money with you, Chris. So I get it. Lots of pitching injuries coming out of the All-Star break as well.

Sticking with the Braves, Max Fried went on the aisle with left forearm neuritis. and manager Brian Snitker said Sunday that an MRI cleared Freed of any soft tissue damage. Even with that, this is pretty scary because he missed almost three months last year with a strain left forearm. And obviously bad timing for anybody involved, the Braves fantasy players. But Max Fried isn't a contract year too. So it's just all around a pretty bad injury for him. Scott, any thought as to like who's taking a spot? Is it just Bryce Elder for now until?

Well, Bryce Elder, maybe until Ian Anderson shows he's ready. He's up at AAA now, just came off the IEL and the minors. It's been up and down the rehab stint. The change up apparently looks good. But having the usual control issues you see from pitchers coming back from Tommy John surgery. So I don't think Ian Anderson would be an immediate choice. Probably they'd go elder first. But it's a name to keep in the back of your mind if Free does end up missing an extended

period of time. And he may not. There was no structural damage found. He pitched an inning in the All-Star game, so it's not like he was feeling bad going into that. It may not be a long-term absence for Freed here, but they're not really offering a time table either. So among 11 players who have missed time with neuritis of some sort, I guess 10 who have missed time with elbow or ulnar neuritis. One was carpal tunnels, so I don't think that plays into this. So there have been 10.

Four of the 10 over the past seven seasons, this is per baseball perspective's recovery dashboard tool. Four of them have missed 13 days or fewer. This is pitchers. Then you have like Jeffrey Springs last year who had ulnar neuritis, but that was caused. by the torn ligament that ultimately required Tommy John's surgery.

So I don't think that is comparable here. You have, it looks like the average or maybe the median amount of time missed is about a month. But you do have a couple of guys who missed 140, 150 days. And you have a couple of guys who missed 10, including Jordan Romano, right around the beginning of the 2021 season. So I don't know how, you know, I think ultimately. the thing with nerve issues is it just depends on what caused it. Like it's it's not the nerve issue itself that's a big of a concern as the underlying issue.

And if the MRI came back clean, then you would assume that he's okay and it's nothing to be too concerned about. But because of that forearm injury last year, it's hard not to be concerned. Other pitchers who went on the aisle this weekend, Ryan Pepeo with a right knee infection, Reese Olson with a right shoulder strain, Chris Paddock with a right forearm strain, and Hayden Wesniewski also with a right forearm strain. I do want to point out, just I don't know if the tigers are ready,

but if you're the type of person who stashes minor leaguers, Jackson Job is by all accounts the best pitching prospect in baseball. It might not even be close at this point, really. Scott, I know you had him top five in your midseason update, right? Oh, I had him number one.

Number one. If we were excluding guys who've appeared in the majors already, because I had like James Wood and Jackson Holiday, junior common arrow ahead of him. He is, I don't know, where Paul Skeens was before the season. Is that overstating it? Well, I mean, the description sounds a little like Paul Skeez. Or, I mean, Spencer Striders, an overused comparison.

But, like, he gets a ton of whiffs on a fastball up in the zone that pushes triple digits. He's got a slider with 3,000 RPM, which is crazy. And the change-up is apparently a really good pitch too. And he controls it all. So he's hardly pitched this year, and he's at AA, but I feel like it's,

I'm not the only one who feels this way, but pitchers, especially pitchers with just Uber talent like that, have a much easier time breaking into the league right now. now. I mean, obviously we've seen it with Paul Skeens. You only got so many bullets. Yeah, and the Tigers are really close to contention and maybe want to see if Job can be a part of that next year. So I saw that on your, he was the cover photo of your waiver wire article. And yeah, I put in a bid on Job and a couple of my 15 teamers just because I got a

bench spot for it. Why not? I presume Matt Manning would fill an opening there, but they have a couple. Unless they're planning to move Kent and Maida back into the rotation, they have a couple openings. So maybe Job is someone they could consider it. I don't think it's foolhardy to take a stab at that, just in case, because you know, the competition for him is going to be much stiffer if it is announced. And Jackson Job is 30% rostered on CBS. I would inform people, even if you play in a Keeper League, like my home league is you keep four players year over year. I have Jackson Job Stash just in case I want to keep him for next year. So obviously, Dynasty Leagues, he's already rostered.

But if you play in a Keeper League where you keep anywhere more than like three, four players, I would just pick them up and maybe you have a keeper for next season as well. Julio Rodriguez exited Sunday after crashing into the outfield wall. And it looked pretty bad. So hopefully it doesn't sound, you know, too bad as of now. He underwent x-rays on his right ankle, which came back negative. Manager Scott Service said, J-Rod is day-to-day with a little bit of an ankle spring. So we'll have to check back in, learn more heading into Monday.

Yeah, I don't want to like armchair diagnose or anything. It looked a lot worse than just a day-to-day thing when it happened. He did walk off the field under his own power, but ankle injuries can take a few hours to really know the extent of them. So I probably wouldn't start Hilleur Rodriguez unless we got a really good update on Monday. Zach Beeler is scheduled to start Tuesday against the twins. He missed his final start before the all-star break due to back spasms. His teammate Ranger Suarez will start Monday against the twins. He also missed his final start before the break with back tightness.

Tyler Glassnell will return from the IL to start Wednesday against the Giants. He was also on the aisle with a back injury. Are you guys good getting all three of these back in your lineups? Wheeler, Swares, Glass Now. Yeah. Yeah, especially. I mean, Suarez would be most questionable about, but he makes two starts. So got to do it.

Kyle Tucker participated in quote intense defensive drills Saturday and is working his way back from that chin injury. By the way, I did finally see a quote that it was like some kind of stress fracture for Kyle Tucker. I know we've talked about this a lot, but it does appear. There was a quote from their manager that said that it was some kind of fracture. That makes more sense, I guess. Certainly does. Mookie Betts played catch Friday his first time doing so since fracturing his left hand. Mike Trout has been facing live pitching at the Angel Spring Training Complex

and is expected to start a rehab assignment at AAA on Monday. He could return later on in the week. He's been out since April 30th with a torn meniscus in his left knee. Yoshinobu Yamamoto said on Sunday that he's been playing catch out to 200 feet, but he has yet to receive clearance for mound work and admitted he's without a clear timeline to return. He also said his goal is to return the season and that he isn't feeling any discomfort in his shoulder.

Bobauchette was placed in the I.L. with a right cash train for the second time the season and MRI revealed the strain is moderate and he'll likely miss multiple weeks. And it's already felt this way, but even more so now, it just really feels like a lost season here for Bobbishop. I thought he was a candidate to be moved at the deadline,

but I doubt that's going to happen now because they'll still be on the I.O. when the trade deadline comes. Can I just bone bruise, not fracture, for Kyle Tucker, I got confused. Okay. Carlos Correa was placed in the aisle with Wright Plantar fasciitis, which is worrisome because this is something Correa has a history of. Edward Julian was recalled and started both Saturday and Sunday.

In the minors, Julian was betting 233 with five homers, four steals, 780 OPS. So I don't think there's much interest there outside of, you know, deeper category leagues. J.T. Real Muto was activated. from the IEL Saturday. He's been out since June 11th after undergoing a right meniscus surgery. Clayton Kirschall will make his season debut

Thursday against the Giants. He builds up to 67 pitches in his final rehab start on Friday. He allowed three runs over four innings. He's up to 80% rostered. But first start back, my guess is we want to play it safe with Clayton Kirshall, right?

Yes. I wouldn't start. Yeah. Yeah. Well, him and the next guy here who's also coming back this week. And that would be Kodi Isanga, who had a rough rehab outing at AAA this weekend. He allowed five runs on eight hits over three innings.

After the start, he did say his body feels good. And it sounds like he will return this Friday against the Braves. Yeah, I mean, you just see how the returns for Garrett Cole and Max Scherzer have gone. Kevin Williams, yeah. Kevin Williams, yeah. Shane Boss even hasn't been great. Right. But ones as high end as Cole and Scher, if that didn't go seamless.

as high-end and as, you know, as stable as they've always been, then I think you've got to play. It's safe for Kirshan, Zanga, coming back from long-term injuries, too. And speaking of Max Scher, he left his start after two innings on Saturday with arm fatigue. He allowed four runs with just one strikeout. His fastball was down 1.3 miles per hour. He did share optimism after the start said his removal was just precautionary. but at 39 years old,

I think it's fair to wonder if Scherzer's body can just hold up anymore. He missed the first three months with back, thumb, forearm injuries. Now he's got this arm fatigue. Similar with arm fatigue in one of his earlier starts too. Yeah, I think that was like a,

they mentioned a forearm thing that was going on. So, yeah, I assume we don't want to start Scherzer this week either, right, based on this. I think at this point, anything you get from Max Scherzer the rest of the way is a bonus. Yeah. Kenley Jansen will not travel with the Red Sox to Colorado as a result of his pre-existing heart condition.

Brennan Benardino and Zach Kelly could see save opportunities in his absence. Robbie Ray, who we mentioned, made another rehab start on Friday. This time at AAA, he looked fantastic. Five and a third shotout innings with seven strikeouts. He's 62% rostered. Is he climbing up the list, Scott? I know these IEL stashes and Springs and Kirshaws and now Robbie Ray. It sounds like that was supposed to be his last rehab start.

So he'll be making – they haven't said what day he'll start, I don't think. But he's supposed to start this week. And you'd rather pick him up before that start than have it be a good start and have to compete for him. So, yeah, I would say so. He's had his ups and downs over his career, obviously. But the good years have been Cy Young caliber with a ton of strikeouts. So, yeah, I think you've got to make a play for Robbie Ray, right now. Jacob de Grom threw a bullpen on Friday and mixed in some sliders. This was his third

bullpen session as he works his way back from Tommy John surgery. Yandy Diaz was placed on the restricted list while he tends to a personal matter. Curtis Mead was recalled by the raise. Poor Jacob Wilson, man. He got called up on Friday immediately heard his hamstring. He was placed in the IL Sunday with a left hamstring strain. Joe Musgrove threw 30 pitches in a bullpen session Saturday. His second bullpen since going on the IL. Justin Verlander threw 40 pitches during a bullpen on Saturday. He's been out since June 18th

with a neck injury. Evan Carter will take batting practice on the field at Globe Life Field on Tuesday. He's been out since May 28th with a lower back stress reaction. Evan Carter, 68% rostered. Any interest in stashing Carter? Absolutely, yeah.

I still have hope that he can be an impact player, yeah. Yeah, it's become less and less of priority for me as other players have gotten hurt. But, yeah, I mean, obviously I liked him a lot of coming in. Part of it is like he stopped starting against left-handers,

so I just wonder if you're going to be able to when you move him out of that IL spot onto your bench, how long you're going to be able to keep him there. But if you got the roster spot to play with, Evan Carter could, Could come around in the second half, sure. The Yankees will likely decide on a return date for John Carlos Stanton. By the end of this upcoming week, he ran the bases on Friday,

his first time doing so since suffering a left hamstring strain. Thai France was placed on waivers by the Mariners, and Josiah Gray will undergo season-ending surgery Wednesday to repair a partial tear of the UCL in his right elbow. Okay, lots of news, lots of injuries that is done. Let's take our final break, and when we return, the rest of this weekend's action right after this. Welcome back in. Let's Talk Waverwire pitchers.

And first up, some names in shallower leagues. Brandon Fott was great at the Cubs. Seven shutout innings, one hit, one walk with seven strikeouts. Matt Waldron turned in another quality start. This time he was at the Guardians. Six innings, one run, five strikeouts there. Michael Waka, dominant against the White Sox. He threw seven shutout innings with seven strikeouts.

Kyle Gibson, a quality start at the Braves. Six and two-thirds, one run with six strikeouts. And Andrew Heaney continues to pitch well. This time up against the Orioles, he threw five shutout with four strikeouts. Over his last six starts, Heaney has a 243 ERA and a 108 whip. Scott, who are your three favorites from this group of shallow league pitchers? Heaney, Gibson, Waka, Waldron, and Brendan Fott. I think I still got to go Waldron number one here.

Fought, I'll put him number two. He's been great lately combined two earn runs in his last. four starts and the strikeouts have been decent. Two. And then I'm going to go Waka number three, who has also been very steady, two earn runs or less in, I think, nine of his last 10,

and the other one was, he gave up three earn runs. So it's not exciting, Michael Waka, but he's just very steady and has been that way for a few years now. I like the direction Hini's trending, getting more whiffs on the slider,

throwing the slider harder. Although it wasn't quite as hard in this start. Even though the results were good, it wasn't as hard as, you know, it had been up like a mile per hour and a half and it was more like 0.8 in this start. So hopefully that doesn't mean that he's reverting. But Andrew Heaney, you know,

it's not a two-star pitcher anymore. Remember I was hyping him as a two-star pitcher in week 18. White Sox, Blue Jays. Turns out he started this weekend, so now it's just Blue Jays next week. But I still like the direction Hini's trending,

even though he wasn't one of the top three in this group for me. And where would you put Robbie Ray on this list? Oh, that's a good question. If it's a shallow league, probably number one, because I want as much impact as possible. If you're thinking deeper where any of these guys,

you couldn't justify dropping them, really, I'll put Waldron ahead, I'll put Fott ahead, I'll put walk ahead, I'll put him forth, I'll put him behind those three. Yeah, I think the way I'd put it with this whole group, maybe with the exception of Waldron, who through his knuckleball 60% of the time, I don't know why he doesn't do that every time. He had been kind of trending back down with the knuckleball usage before this. With the exception of Waldron, though, I kind of think my answer to who I like best out of this group is just who has the best matchups in their next game or two because I don't necessarily know if any of Fott Waka, Gibson, or Haney

are like must roster guys you're going to start against anyone moving forward. So it might just be matchup plays across the board. And speaking of matchups, Matt Waldron gets the nationals this week. So that's a pretty good matchup for him. Brandon Fott gets to Pirates, so another good matchup there. Waka gets to D-Backs. It's a little bit tougher, so I probably would favor the other two if you're just looking at matchups for this week.

Impressive outings from three young pitchers. We already spoke about one of them with Hayden Birdsong. Drew Thorpe has turned in five quality starts in a row. He was at the Royals where he threw six shutout innings with five strikeouts. He had 18 whiffs on 97 pitches. The first time we really saw his slider look dominant. It was pretty good in this start.

We already spoke about Birdsong. then Luis Ortiz of the Pirates. He continues to pitch well. He was up against the Phillies. He threw seven shutout innings with just two strikeouts. He had eight whiffs on 89 pitches. But last five games for Ortiz, which includes four starts, a 101 ERA, a 0.79 whip, keeping the walks down, getting ground balls. I'm mildly interested in Luis Ortiz.

Chris, how would you rank this group of impressive youngsters, Ortiz, Burtzong, and Drew Thorpe? a bird song and then kind of meh on Thorpe and Ortiz I don't I don't really see much to be impressed by with either Ortiz or Thorpe I will say okay

Thorpe the slider was really good in this one and he got seven whiffs with it that is a total outlier the story on Thorpe coming up as a prospect and through his first five starts change up is awesome

and everything else is pretty mediocre He had a 17% whiff rate with his slider. I didn't look up if that was the worst among anyone who has thrown any number of sliders this season, but it's probably pretty close. So unless that's real and I don't really have much reason to think it is, I tend to think that Drew Thorpe is going to be pretty mediocre moving forward. Would you put birds on, where did you rank him amongst the previous group? a fourth, fifth, if we're counting Ray, I think I would take him over Gibson and Heaney, but probably behind Waldron,

Fott, and Waka. And that's mostly like, I think the likeliest outcome is Gibson and Heaney are more useful moving forward. I just think they're only going to be useful. They're not going to be much more than that. And so I'd rather take a chance. The Hayden Bird song figured something out

and can carry that forward. rather than we know what Kyle Gibson is. Andrew Heaney, we pretty much know what he is. The slider is one variable for him. But for the most part, yeah, I'd rather take the chance on him unlocking some upside. Luis Ortiz, I will just point out, has RP eligibility. So if you play in a head-to-head points league, he is a spark and obviously could have some value in those formats.

Would you be willing to drop either of these pitchers, Mackenzie Gore. He's had a rough go recently. He allowed three runs over two innings. He had four walks to two strikeouts against the Reds. He's still 82% rostered. And Christian Scott at the Marlins obviously was a good matchup and did not come through four innings, three runs allowed. He's up to a 456 ERA, a 120 whip. Scott, where are you at? Are you all right dropping either Gore or Christian Scott? Yeah, I think so. Scott is an easier call because it's not like, He's even getting strikeouts.

He did get seven whiffs on his fastball on this one, which was encouraging because he seems like the kind of pitcher who has to get wiffs on his fastball. But the overall result against the Marlins still wasn't good. So it's hard to care about it that much. And Gore, it's like I really like the upside of Gore. So disappointed. He's just unusable right now. He's just walking way too many guys. This is 12 walks in his last three starts.

His ERA on the year is 420 now. His whip is 146. It really doesn't matter how many strikeouts you're getting. I mean, these outings have been so short. Dave Martinez, the Nationals manager, says his delivery has gotten too rotational. So they may be able to get in the lab and straighten him out. But, you know, if it's keeping me from picking up somebody, really want to pick up, I'd probably be willing to let Gore go.

Yeah, the key there, I think the wind up or delivery, he's got a really complex delivery. It's very Clayton Kirshaw-esque. And that's kind of the only comp, right? Like there's not a lot of guys that pitch that way. And Gore's prospect days were completely derailed when he lost his delivery for a year or two. So I'm hopeful that he can figure it out. the upside is clear, but his velocity has trended down all season. I'm guessing the mechanics are off right now. And if you can't use a guy right now, there's not that much point in hanging

on to them unless you've got deep benches. Any interest in these two names in deeper leagues? Ryan Nelson, a strong start at the Cubs. He went five and two-thirds. He allowed one run with nine strikeouts. And Kyle Freeland turned in another quality start. And in five starts since returning from the IL, a 195 ERA, and a 105 whip. Any interest in deeper leagues? Ryan Nelson, Kyle Freeland. I thought about picking up Freeland with the matchup on the road

this week in one league, but I'm not like super excited about it. Remember that start Kyle Freeland had on opening day? Oh, I remember. When he was lined up for two favorable starts, I think it was. I started him in L only.

Yeah, I'm not even willing to try it. I'm not willing to try it. He's been going well, but I've been too sanguine about Kyle Freeland in the past, and it's been disastrous for me. Let's talk Waverwire hitters, and we will begin with outfielders. Jorge Soler launched the longest home run in Pace Paul this season on Sunday. He went two for four with his 11th homer, 478 feet, and he is Scott's top sleeper hitter for this upcoming week.

58% rostered with eight games is Jorge Saler. Lars Neupar starting off the second half with some solid games this weekend. Three for seven with a steal across the double header on Saturday. He added his seventh home run on Sunday and Lawrence Butler continues to hit. He went two for four with two RBI on Friday, three for four with three RBI on Saturday. And so far in July, Lawrence Butler batting 385 with seven homers, 22 RBI already and a 1324 OPS. Scott, how would you rank these three? Maybe just for this upcoming week,

and I guess if we're just thinking long term for the rest of the season, Solair, Newpar, and Butler. For the upcoming week, I have Solair and Butler among my 10 sleeper hitters. I don't have Newpar among them, so I guess he'd be third. Rest of season? Gosh, I'm not sure.

They're in a range of outfield rankings where I don't actually care that much. Newpar feels the safest, particularly in points leagues. But I mean, Butler might just be breaking out. He might not be. He's the most volatile of these three,

the least proven of these three. But the seven homers and 12 games heading into the All-Star break and then I think it was three multi-hit games this weekend. He's sitting against left-handers is Lawrence Butler. So that's something

that may hold him back unless he just gets so hot that they start playing him against left-handers. There's only one on the schedule this week, and the athletics have the second best-totter match-ups. So I think if you don't make a play for Butler now, you might not get another chance. And we don't think that with Abraham Toro coming back from the IL, that they're going to go away from Lawrence Butler as the lead-off hitter, right?

With how good he's been, I think he's going to stick there. So that would keep, I think in Roto it's clearly Butler, just for the upside. He's so tooled up that I want to take a chance on that upside, even if there's a decent chance things go really wrong at some point. Let's talk some other waiver wire hitter decisions. Tyler Stevenson has hit for some power here in July. He went one for two with his 11th home run on Saturday. He has five home runs at a 931 OPS in the month. Tyler Stevenson, 54% rostered in a one-catcher league. Would you guys be all right dropping Sean Murphy for Tyler Stevenson.

Sure. Yeah. I think Murphy might be catcher two now for the Braves. What about Ryan Jeffers for Stevenson? Yeah. I think any of these guys,

when you're talking about a low-end catcher one, just play a hot hand until you find someone to stick with. Yeah. Right. So I assume you'd do it for David Frye as well. That would be tougher in a categories league. But I do think

Stevenson is just going to be the better hitter. yeah. Zach Netto continues his fine season, three for four with his 13th home run on Friday. He went one for three with two more steals on Saturday. And overall, he's betting 260. He's got 13 homers, 16 steals. He's 57% rostered.

Definitely makes sense as a Carlos Correa replacement if you lost him, or if you need a middle infielder and you lost Ozzy Albies. Zach Netto makes some sense. If you play in a shallower league, would you drop someone like Danesby Swanson for Zach Netto? I mean, I guess we're at the point where you could think it. Like, it wanted it all surprised me

if Dansby Swanson just had an awesome final two months because of his track record. But at this point, you've got to take what you can get. Here's the problem with that question, though. What shallow league is it where, one, Danesb Swanson is someone you're starting and two, where Zagnato's worth starting? starting in that league as well.

Because the shallowest leagues are going to be points leagues, and Zach Nato's not going to be a great option there. Right. Well, to be fair, Netto's 58% rostered, Swanson is 76% rostered or 78% rostered. So it's, you know,

there's a 20% of leagues out there, more or less. Yeah. You can make that exchange if you wanted to. And on Yahoo, which I think are mostly head to head category leagues, and typically a shallower format as well. There's no middle, there's no corner.

You start three outfielders. Swanson is 65% rostered and Zach Netto's 39%. So that's, but that's what I was thinking is just like, is what if you're in a 15 team league, maybe you're starting them a shortstop, but you'd have to be, I guess you'd have to have had some pretty bad injuries and not picked anyone up.

Like maybe you stuck with Boba Shad or something and just don't have anyone else. That's kind of the, But yeah, it's a weird fit for Netto is what I'm trying to say. Jake Berger might be heating up three home runs in his past five games. Last 18, he's betting 296 with six home runs and 13 RBI. He's 49% rostered. I assume Jake Berger would still be behind guys like Michael Bush and Mark Vientos, Colt Keith,

names like that, right? Who are also pretty hot right now. Yeah, but it could flip pretty quickly. I think Viantos, I'm going to give the list. longest leash two of that group. But if Bush cools off, which we've certainly seen before, who are some of the other ones you mentioned there? Vientos, Bush, Colt Keith.

Noelvi Marte is actually off to a slow start. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, obviously, if it's a shallow league, you probably don't even roster Marte right now. But if it's a deeper league, I might want to hold on to him for the upside, which I think is considerable. I think Bush and Keith and Berger, whoever's the hottest hand of that group

is probably the one I'm going to prefer. But they're all hot right now. I will just note, like, slow start is being really generous for Noelvi-Martet. He's hitting 171. He's been bad, yeah. He hit 151 in the minors as well. Was it Sunday?

He hit a home run one day this weekend. I think it was Sunday, yeah. Yeah, he's been, 40 strikeouts to two walks in 31 games between the majors and minors so far. It's been real rough. It's been rough for sure. Yep. Again, that was Noel V. Marte.

If you need speed in a Categories League, Jacob Young picked up four steals this weekend. He's up to 24 on the season. Outside of that, it's pretty empty stats. He does chip in some runs scored, but Jacob Young is 34% rostered. Some names in deeper leagues, who had some big weekends.

Andrew McCutcheon, Juan Yippez, Max Schumann, Alec Thomas, Eddie Rosario, and another name, if you need speed in a much deeper league, Mike Siani of the Cardinals. Do any of these names stand out, Chris? Siani, Eddie Rosario, Alec Thomas, Max Schumann, Juan Yippez, and Andrew McCutcheon. I have added Juan Ypres in a few leagues.

They're 15 teamers, so it would have to be that deep. But, like, this is a guy who has had some interesting, minor league numbers, puts the bat on the ball. He's hitting 13 straight games, had four multi-hit games in a row between or sandwiched around the All-Star game, I believe. So he's pretty interesting in a 15-team context. And there is one name that is not listed here. And I don't know why you don't like Victor Robles, but he might actually,

there are no reasons. He might actually play a decent amount for. the Mariners if Huli Rodriguez has to miss some time. And he's showing signs of life. He's got six steals in 45 plate appearances. So I added him in 115 team league, just for speed for the most part. But I think I'd rather take a chance on that than Jacob Young. I don't know.

Maybe that's off base. Really? Yeah, I think so. I was just bemoaning that I dropped Jacob. Young in a 12 team Roto League because he had been in kind of a stolen base drought and I was like, well, what's he good for if he's not going to steal bases?

And then he straight out of the break has back-to-back two steel games. And I should undrop that guy. Could carry you in the category. You know he's going to play for the nationals. Yeah. Well, yeah, I don't know. Maybe.

All right. What do we do with these pitchers? Some that are just inconsistent performers, recently. Zach Gallin, five shutout innings this weekend, but he had six walks, which tied a career high to only four strikeouts. And he has struggled in four July starts, a 650 ERA, a 189 whip for Zach Allen. He's home against the pirates this week, so I assume we're starting him. But any actual concern with what's going on with Zach Allen? I mean, he doesn't seem right. Yeah. He was out with a hamstring injury. So you wouldn't

think it's a problem with his arm. But remember, the velocity was way up when he first came back. And now he's been doing strange things with his pitch selection through his change up 31% of the time. And this one, it usually only uses it 12% of the time.

And, you know, it was a second best start since coming back, but he walks six through only 53% of his pitches for strikes, which is clearly not good. And so, like, it's, it just kind of seems all over the place. Like, he doesn't know what he wants to do. Does Zach Allen? So, yeah, you probably start him against the pirates.

But if that doesn't go well, then it might be panic time in terms of just stick them on your bench for a while. Yep. All right. Sunny Gray had a weird start at the Braves. Seven innings, five runs allowed. But he had 10 strikeouts of zero walks. He also allowed four home runs in that start. He had 15 whiffs on 87 pitches.

And Sunny Gray in his first five starts this season had a 0.89 ERA, a 0.86 whip. In 13 starts after that, he has a 460 ERA, a 114-WIP. It also comes with a 342 FIP and a 283X FIP. So I think there's maybe been some bad luck here with Sunny Gray. He's home against the nationals this week. I think you're starting him,

but Chris, we're going on, you know, two, three months now where Sunny Gray has an ERA in the mid-fours. Yeah, I mean, that, it was like two really bad starts in the middle of May. Then he was pretty good for about a month and a half. And then the past four have been really bad. And, you know, when you dig into the numbers, there's nothing specific that, like, there's not one simple trick to getting Sunny Gray back on track. Like, if you look at the, the,

the pitch by pitch data in the month of July. He has an expected Wobo of 350 or higher on five of his six pitches. I think the change-up is the only one where he doesn't have an X Wobah above 350. Before July, he hadn't had a pitch with an X Wobah above 350 except for his fourth seamer. So I think it's just a slump and he'll probably be fine. like this was the first start where homers were really an issue. Obviously, they were a big issue. But he's still getting a ton of strikeouts.

I'm not too worried. Entered with eight home runs surrendered all season. And they gave up four in this one. And he's more of a ground ball pitcher is Sunny Gray. So there were several pitchers who just got, gave up so many home runs this weekend. And some of them you could see it a little more than for Sunny Gray. Like I said, more of a ground ball pitcher. but that's, I think we're just going to see more of these starts in general

with the ball suddenly playing like it is, where there's not much a pitcher can do. He just gets burned by home runs because home runs are happening again. Yeah. Shout out to Cutter Crawford and Nestor Cortez, who gave up a bunch of home runs this weekend as well. Yeah, I mean, Carter Crawford I'm especially worried about because he is one of the most fly ball prone pitchers in baseball.

It's great when the ball's not carrying well, but, well, we saw how it went for him in this one. Let's go over to another Red Sox pitcher. Nick Povetta, who was dominant at the Dodgers this weekend. He threw six shutout innings with eight strikeouts, had 14 whiffs on 90 pitches. He has eight plus strikeouts in all three July starts. But he is at Cores Field this week.

He's 52% started. What are you guys doing with Nick Povetta? I mean, one, it's Nick Povetta. Like, oh, Nick Povetta is doing poorly. Oh, Nick Povetta's doing well. Yeah, that's Nick Povetta, man. That's just what he does, baby. As far as starting him against the Rockies,

I would probably try to avoid that. But the one thing I will point out is he has thrown the sweeper 32.2% of the time so far in July. It was below 20% in June. Remember, that was the pitch that he started throwing. He only threw it like 15, 12% of the time in the second half last year. But that really played a big part in his emergence. and it's been really, really good all of a sudden. 39% whiff rate ex-Woba down to 209 for the season,

easily the best marks of any of his pitches. So I think being optimistic about Nick Povetta moving forward makes sense. If you don't want to trust him at Coors Field, I think that is perfectly reasonable as well. I am team Nick Povetta again. I mean, one thing we haven't talked about much is the control gains from last year. He's still been a really good control pitcher. In fact, if I were to,

tell you K-minus BB rate. He is eighth in that. And the seven names ahead of Nick Povetta, Garrett Crochet, Jack Flaherty, Chris Sale, Tyler Glassnow, Terek, Scouble, Sonny Gray, Dylan Seas. It's like, who's who of Cy Young contenders. And then you got Nick Povetta right after that.

And then after Povetta, Joe Ryan, Pablo Lopez, George Kirby, Freddie Peralta, Cole Liggins. That sounds more like the group that. that Nick Povetta belongs in. No, George Kirby, Coler Riggins? I mean, there's some really good pitchers in there, too. I'm saying they're all really good. Public offenses have trouble with home runs, but otherwise, we,

well, Joe Ryan. Joe Ryan is good. Everybody has Joe Ryan as a top. Nobody's, nobody's saying he's not good. It's just, you know, things can tend to go wrong for these guys. Fair enough. Let's talk about four hitters who have been pretty hot over the past month or so. and Randy Rosa Rana.

Flash some of that power this weekend up against Nestor Cortez. Four for five with a double dung on Saturday, one for four with another homer on Sunday. And since the start of June, he's batting 292 with seven home runs, seven seals, and OPS over 900. So kind of feels like Randy Rosa Rane is just back.

We already spoke about Jackson Churio. Byron Buxton continues his hot hitting last 17 games of 419 batting average, seven homers, 20 runs scored, and 17 RBI. and George Springer over the past 22 games. He's batting 372 with eight home runs, 25 RBI and an OPS over 1100.

Anything to add on Springer, Buxton, and a Roserena? I thought Springer's good stretch started before late June, but I guess not. Yeah, it's only been about the past 20 or so games. But I still, yeah, I think he's, I think all these guys are, more or less going to be very useful moving forward. A Rosarina, Buxton, and Springer,

if they all played the same amount of games, I'd probably rank Springer last. But obviously, Buckston's injury history is hard to overlook. But I think all three of those guys, Jackson Churio, we're not including in this discussion, right? We talked about him earlier. Right. Sorry, he's in the rundown.

I think a Roserena, Buxton and Springer are probably all must-start players in certainly any five category, five outfielder league and probably pretty close in three outfielders. Yep, I think so. Some pitching standouts, some other standouts from the weekend. And there's lots of names on this list. I'm not going to read off what they did. I'll just throw the names your way.

And Scott, you will get the first group, Seth Lugo, Michael King, Dylan, Seas, Taj Bradley, all big starts this weekend. Anything to add on those names. I mean, I could just add details about how dominant they've been, especially Michael King. I guess Michael King's the one I'll focus on here because now in his last 10 starts, a 221 ERA, a 105 whip 10.7 K, per 9, pretty much living up to all the wild, everyone's wildest dreams at the start of the year in those last 10 starts, as rough as it was in the beginning, where he was having trouble throwing strikes especially. This one, he got 11 of his 19 whiffs on the changeup, which he threw 41% of the time. It is his best swing of miss pitch, but he threw it a lot more, which is always nice. And I just think Michael King's trending a great direction here, really happy with him.

Probably must start going forward. I'm taking big, big L on Michael King. I was out on him preseason. He had that bad start, and I was completely out on him. I told people to drop him. I think we all did. Yeah. to drop him when he was as bad as it was.

I mean, he was the only pitcher in baseball in addition to the walks. He was giving up home runs when no one else was. He just seemed totally off, but it's great now. This is the most innings he's thrown in this season, I believe, since 2018. So I do worry how it's going to hold up. But yeah, I don't think being skeptical of him makes any sense anymore. He's already made me look dumb twice. Again, that is Michael King.

The next group includes Pablo Lopez, Freddie Peralta. and Chota Imanaga, big starts from each of those. Chris, anything to add on Imanaga, Peralta and Pablo Lopez? Yeah, Imanaga is one of those ones where the turnaround has been really abrupt. You know, he really struggled for a few starts. He's been really, really good for the last few starts. He hasn't really changed anything, though. Like, it's still like 85% fastball splitter.

I think in this one, it might have been a little lower because he did throw a few more sweepers. Got four whiffs with it. I think Pablo Lopez, Freddie Peralta, and Shoday Minaga, they all might be more prone than you'd like to stretches where they're not very helpful, but I think all three of them are absolutely must-start pitchers moving forward. And three other names, Brady Singer, Jake Irvin, and Severino.

Scott, anything on those three? It's a good bounce-back start from Jake Irvin, who leaned on his fastball quite a bit. it's an effective fastball for not being one that is visually appealing. He got nine of his 13 whiffs on it through 50% at the time, and it seemed to get him back on track after a couple of rough starts. So that was encouraging to see. Severino is, I said after the last time we talked about him,

that he just seemed to be on. of himself and not and really searching for what kind of pitcher he was going to be because remember he kind of reinvented himself as a ground ball pitcher at the start of the year has gotten away from that in recent starts and the results hadn't been good until this one six two eight innings against the marlins I will note it was against the marlins yeah he just changed his pitch mix a lot and so we'll see where he goes from here But if there's a chance Severino could stumble on something that works, and so I don't want to completely write him off, even though I don't think he's a high-priority roster or anything like that. Some hitting leftover is Vlad Jr. hit two more home runs this weekend. Anthony Santander had himself a huge weekend as well. A double dong on Friday.

He added a steal on Saturday. Another home run on Sunday. He's up to 27 home runs now on the season. Jaron Duran picked up right where he left off. He had six hits, including two home runs. And Shohei Otani demolished a baseball on Sunday night, one for three with his 30th home run, 116.7 exit velocity, 473 feet.

It looked like that ball legitimately left Dodger Stadium. It was crazy stuff, but we're kind of just used to that at this point from Shohei Otani. Bad job by me. I did mean to get to this earlier. I missed it earlier on the rundown, but shout out to Yordon Alvarez, who hit for the cycle on Sunday.

It's just like one of the most improbable cycles, I think you'll see the ninth player in Astros history to accomplish that. And also shout out to the Hall of Fame class of 2024 who were inducted on Sunday, Adrian Beltray, Joe Maurer, Todd Helton, and Jim Leland. Some bullpen updates from the weekend, and for the Phillies on Friday,

Jeff Hoffman pitched a clean eighth inning with a one-run lead, facing six, seven, and eight in the Pirates lineup. Jose Alvarado got the ninth with, a one-run lead as well. He gave up two runs. He took his third blown save and fourth loss. I don't know how much more they need to see

to just give Hoffman majority of the save opportunities, but it feels like we are getting closer. You know, he was the closer. I know it didn't come to a save chance because the AL-1, but he was the closer for the NL team in the All-Star game.

He was lined up to close that game. So among all NL players, he is considered the closer, but not necessarily. Well, Jose Alvarado didn't make the All-Star team, Scott. Yeah, if it weren't me managing the Phillies, I'd just go to Hoffman in the ninth inning to close out the game. But, yeah, you know, it's continued this long,

so you can't rule out the possibility that Rob Thompson sticks with the platoon there. For the Tigers on Friday, Jason Foley entered in the 8th with no. a man on first and a one-run lead facing the heart of the Blue Jays lineup. He retired them in order, and then it was lefty Tyler Holton who got the ninth inning. He pitched a clean inning for his third save, and he's only 3% rostered. Foley did face, you know, he had the higher leverage situation facing the heart of the Blue Jays lineup. So I don't, do you guys actually think Tyler Holton is going to factor in here and get more saves? I don't think he's going to get the majority of the saves.

I don't think Foley is like untouchable in the ninth inning. I think he's just the best of some not great options for the Tigers. He's pretty mediocre himself. So yeah, I do wonder like, I don't know, maybe there were lefties coming up or because he's significantly better against righties than he is against lefties. He has been his whole career. So I do wonder if it was just they happened to have three righties coming up in the eighth

and maybe there was a lefty or two coming up in the ninth. Maybe that might explain it. For the Dodgers. Some questions here. Yeah, on Friday, Daniel Hudson got the ninth inning with a three-run lead. He gave up a hit but picked up his fifth save on Saturday. Evan Phillips then got the 10th inning with the game tied. He gave up a two-run homer to Tyler O'Neill.

And then on Sunday, Phillips was used again this time in the ninth inning with a six-run lead. He gave up three runs. He only recorded one out. Daniel Hudson came back on. He got the final two outs and picked up his sixth save. Phillips is going through it right now. very rough July, 1137 ERA, a 175 whip. His usage has been weird.

He pitched the sixth inning in a game before the All-Star break. Look, I think Daniel Hudson, if you need saves, you can go and take a shot. It also wouldn't surprise me if the Dodgers go out and trade for closers. Well, I mean, Daniel Hudson has a 159 ERA, a 0.81 whip, 9.8K per 9. So closer caliber numbers there. He's gotten each of the team's last three saves, including two this weekend. I think in leagues where saves are scarce, you've got to consider him a pretty high priority pickup.

I wish I had seen this save on Sunday before I put in my claims in those 15 team leagues because he went for a modest amount in them. I would have probably bid more on Daniel Hudson than he went for, which isn't to say he's just the Dodgers closer now. I mean, before he got involved here, Alex Vesio was the one stealing Sussia. saves from Evan Phillips, and he's a left-hander, so that may continue. But Evan Phillips, if nothing else, we can say Evan Phillips looks like he might be on the way out here.

For the Blue Jays on Saturday, Jimmy Garcia got the ninth inning with a four-run lead. He struck out the side, and then on Sunday, Chad Green recorded the final five outs with a one-run lead for his seventh save. Who do you guys think gets more saves the rest of the way? If they both remain on the Blue Jays, would it be Garcia? or Chad Green. I mean, I'd been saying Jimmy Garcia and the fact that he's only made one appearance and struck out all three,

certainly doesn't rule him out, but I was little discouraged to see Chad Green get the save on Sunday. Jimmy Garcia didn't pitch, so maybe he just wasn't available. But it's a coin flip for me, I think. I'd certainly wouldn't be looking to drop either one of them right now. I would lean Garcia, but I agree.

It's pretty close to a coin flip. And for the Rockies on Saturday, Victor Vodnik got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He struck out one for his third save. He also pitched a clean ninth inning with a four-run lead on Friday. So it feels like next up here for the Rockies is Victor Vodnick. If, you know, you're playing deeper leagues and only leagues I saw him out there. So you've got to be pretty desperate, but I think he might be next up for the Rockies. To stream or not to stream on Monday.

some players we can look at. We have Andre Palante who's facing the pirates, Michael Lorenzen against the White Sox, Tobias Myers at the Cubs, Yulbert Diaz at the Royals. I could see a good Michael Lorenzen start. The White Sox are terrible. Arrogetti at the A's.

And then Arrogati at the A's is a real volatile pick. But I've had him in a few leagues. and there have been some real, real bright spots and then a lot of real, real bad ones. I'm going to surprise you. Pretty optimistic about these Monday streamers. I think Lorenzen and Araggetti are fine choices. Lorenz is probably the best.

Like Peterson against the Marlins? David Peterson against the Marlins, I think is fine. Andre Palante at the Pirates, you know, he's not going to have a brilliant start, but he's perfectly capable of a quality start to buy us. Myers. I know I'm higher than Chris is on him in general and the Cubs are a very middling matchup. Even Yolbert Diaz at the Royals. I added him as a two-star pitcher

sleeper this week. I know we're doing daily streamers, not weekly streamers here, but Yolbert Diaz I added to the list. Okay. And then on Tuesday, some options. Lance Lynn at the Pirates, Jose Gantana at the Yankees. We have John Gray versus the White Sox, Colin Ray at the Cubs. James and Tyone versus the Brewers, Jose Soriano at the Mariners. Soriano's the number one for me. Agreed.

Yeah. But gray against the white socks, I know it's been a rough go for him lately, but I could see that one going well. And same with Suarez against Miami. Yeah. Yep.

Yep. I think so. Yeah, I'd rank up Soriano Suarez. Gray. All right. We're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify,

and we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. Podcasts.