Fantasy Baseball Today - Is Michael Conforto Back? Week 10 Sleepers & Two-Start Pitchers (5/26 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 26, 2023

It's time to have our yearly Aaron Nola conversation (2:22). ... What do we do with Alex Faedo (8:10)? ... Is Michael Conforto back (10:51)? Conforto or Marcell Ozuna? ... The Tigers have some interesting hitters recently (18:44). ... Does Brandon Belt and Trent Grisham matter in deeper leagues (24:51)? ... What do we do with Alek Manoah, Blake Snell and Lucas Giolito (29:20)? ... News (36:15): Max Fried has started a throwing program. ... What's the Week 10 schedule and which two-start pitchers are we targeting (40:00)? What about sleeper hitters? ... Are we adding Kyle Gibson or Braxton Garrett (51:05)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (57:28). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  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/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on May 26th. I am Frank Stample joined by Scotty Dubb, Scott White, and Chris P. Towers. Today on the show is Michael Conforto back. Let's find out. Time to have our yearly Aranola conversation, week 10 sleepers, two star pitchers, and much more. Before we get started, please like this video

and subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already. And if you're listening on the audio side, download, follow, and leave a five-star rating, on Apple or Spotify. A little behind the scenes before we actually get into the show here. Kokomo Friday starts playing. I look at what Chris is doing.

He's dancing. Look at what I'm doing. I'm dancing. Scott's just there like scratching his forehead. Blowing his nose. He's just like not interested, not in it at all. You guys can see me?

Because I can't see you. I just see a countdown. Yeah. Yeah. We got we got that admin access baby. Yeah, that's exactly it, Scott. Always got my eyes on you, Scotty. It was great.

Okay. It was, yes. I was taking the opportunity to clear my throat. And I'm sorry you guys had to witness that. It's totally fine. Anywho, let's get it too. Why don't I see you guys? You don't have that admin access, baby?

I can give it to you, Scott. But then that means there's more of a chance of you producing a show one day. So I don't know. You don't want to have power. I pass. I pass on admin access. All right. Well, let's get into it.

Can you believe it? Wow. Wow. Scott, let's start with you. Player of the Night. Good or bad. Is that what we're called Player of the Night now? Yeah, it's like, oh my goodness gracious,

player of the night, right? Something like that. Okay. I'm going with Aaron Nola. He didn't actually make me say, oh, my goodness gracious today. But apparently the start was the source of great consternation for people.

So let's talk about it. Aranola did not have a particularly good start against the Braves. It's worth noting a high-powered lineup. They powered up against him. They hit three home runs in his six innings of work. So in all, he allowed five runs in those six innings. And the home runs have been a problem this year. His home run rate after this three-homer games,

home runs per nine is up to 1.4. which you'll remember two years ago when he had the ERA over four, home runs were also an issue then. His home runs per nine that year were 1.3. So now after this game, the home run per nine rate is actually a little worse for NOLA this year

than during the bad year, the one and only bad year that he's had. So that is concerning. At this point, though, it's looking like the only concern because for a while there, he was, Nola was kind of going through the same thing

as like Corbyn, not Corby Carroll, Pat, Corbyn Burns. He was going through the same thing as like Corbin Burns and Garrett Cole where the K-Pernine was way down, the swinging strike rate was way down. Last two starts, though, have been great

as far as that goes. He had 10 strikeouts in his last start. In this start, he had seven strikeouts and six innings. He also had 20 swinging strikes. So the start, stuff was there. The Braves just got a few hard hits off him.

And so the final stat line was suboptimal. I think he's trending the right direction. I had faith in him coming around anyway. As you mentioned at the top, Frank, every year it seems like we go through this with Aranola where, oh no, what's wrong with Aranola? And except for that one fluky season, he always does come around. The final numbers always look great. And I wouldn't be worried about him.

I think there are bigger, I think there are other pitchers, high-end pitchers who you should be more concerned with. Dylan Sees. And then. That's the thing about home runs, right? Is like, you could pitch really well.

Let's say you throw 100 good pitches. There are 100 pitches. 97 of them are good. and three of them are bad, and you can have a bad start. And so it's one of those. And I'm not saying that's actually how the breakdown happened with Aranola. There have been, you know, the strikeout rate is way down, career low 21.3% right now. With rate on all of his pitches pretty much is way down, but especially the curveball down to 27.7% from 39% last season.

So it's not to say that there's nothing to be concerned about with Aranola, but I generally agree. agree with Scott. Like, if I'm not concerned about Corbyn Burns, really, you know, if he's still a top 10 pitcher for me, I can't really in good faith be concerned about Aaron Nola, who has, you know, doesn't have the velocity drop off that Corbyn Burns does, doesn't have the, you know, second half of last season concerns. So I don't really have much to be concerned about with Aaron Nola. Like Scott said, the things that were concerning the strikeout rate and the swing strike rate,

mostly trending in the right direction over the past couple of starts. So I think in this case, it's just even for really good pitchers, the margin for error can be really, really slim against this Braves team. And specifically for Aaron Nola, he usually winds up with ace like numbers. He doesn't kind of do it the same way that other aces do. He doesn't have like the big fastball and, you know, these gaudy swinging strike numbers. And sometimes it's kind of a rocky road. but at the end of the season, more often than not,

you kind of wind up with like that low to mid-3s ERA and a bunch of strikeouts and a really good whip and probably a lot of wins because he has a great offense behind him too. So it's kind of rocky, but by the end of the season, I think we'll probably just have Aranola numbers. To put it another way,

it's kind of a rocky road, but at the end of the day, you still get ice cream. Fair enough. I was thinking about ice cream too when you said Rocky Road. Yeah, I saw you smiling. I figured that's why we were. I like ice cream. You know, I had, I really like chocolate fudge brownie, the Ben and Jerry's.

And I had it the other day. But like the brownies were not good on the inside. And the ice cream wasn't expired. So I don't know what was going on. It was weird. Take it up with Ben and Jerry's, Frank. I really, I need to. Yeah.

I was annoyed. I've had a similar experience the last time I had Ben and Jerry's. It was disappointing. Yeah. I don't know what it was. I don't know what it was. I go for the big containers. Then I don't know.

They don't make a big container, so I never. I love just digging in with a, because I, you got kids. You can't like, you know, you can't let them see you eating ice cream out of the pint, right? That's a bad look. Oh, okay. No, I thought Jim, and you couldn't let them see you eating ice cream without giving them ice cream. Oh, no, no, no. Oh, no.

Oh, yeah. With hold. I am. I am the alpha dog here. You can't, you can't let them see you with the bad habits like eating the ice cream out of the pint. So that's probably why I don't got kids. Who cares if my cat see it, you know? Well, your cat can't see anything.

You showed us beforehand. He's just like face down, passed out in your desk. I don't know what's going on. It's adorable. Anyway, Chris, oh my goodness, gracious for you. Let's do Alex Fayetteau, who about this time last year. I remember there was some moderate levels of, I don't know if excitement is the word, but interest. Let's call it interest.

And he looked very interesting. today. 18 swinging strikes, 10 strikeouts of seven innings. It's the White Sox. They do that kind of thing occasionally. But 11 swinging strikes on 17 swings with the slider. That is a 65% whiff rate. That is a massive, massive number, even for one start.

You know, the slider, 42% whiff rate coming into today. It's his only pitch with a double-digit whiff rate. So, you know, not necessarily dominating over. overall. But that's been when he's been interesting. It's been because his slider has been really good. He's showing some, you know, very small sample size, but some interesting quality of contact suppression skills so far. I think the likeliest outcome is Alex Fayetteau is probably not even irrelevant in your 14 team leagues. But this was the kind of performance that I think you just, you have to take note of. For Alex Fayetteau, two starts ago, he had a, he had a, he had, 12 swinging strikes as well. And I was kind of interested after that because he was facing the nationals last week. I actually picked him up in a 15 team league and started him. He was pat against the nationals. I drop him. And then here you go. He goes out and has this awesome start. But if you're thinking about adding him, look, I think deeper leagues, sure, I mean, we're

desperate for starting pitching in like those 15 team roto leagues. The problem is Alex Fayto faces the Rangers next week who are one of the best offenses in baseball, especially against right-handed pitching. So, uh, I am interested, entering the start. The slider had a 42% with rate for Alex Fayetteau. I don't know that there's too much actionable yet, but you're right, Chris. Let's just watch it. Scott? Mm-hmm. No, I agree with that. I will remind everybody that we did kind of go through this with Alex Fayato. It actually lasted seven starts last year. He had a 292 ERA. And then it all collapsed on itself. He did have a hip injury that required surgery that he tried to pitch through.

I don't know how much, you know, whether that was part of why he struggled from that point on. But it's just worth pointing out. The slider for this very small sample has played even bigger than it did during that stretch, though. So, you know, I agree. Something to monitor with Alex Vito. He hasn't had, you know, he hasn't been particularly dominant in the minors. So ultimately, I'm betting against it. But it's something to monitor.

All right. Oh, my goodness. for me. Let's talk about Michael Kinfordo, who the guy is pretty hot right now. He went four for four on Thursday, hit his 11th home run of the season. He had three hard hits in this game. Two over a hundred and eight miles per hour exit velocity. Really just loud contact too. I was building the rundown. I usually have games on to the right of me and like watching them out of my peripheral vision. I heard one of his vatted balls and it was like like just smacked it. And I was like, whoa, who hit that?

It's Michael Conforto who hit that. In the month of May, he is hitting 273 with seven homers. A 931 OPS has severely lowered his strikeout rate compared to April. He's 64% rostered, so it could be out there in some three outfielder league, some shallower formats. He's got six home games next week as well. And Scott, a little sneak peek, but I know that you do like Michael Conforto next week as well. Yeah, the Giants have are one of the teams, one of the five teams with the best hitter matchups. next week.

So Conforto as hot as he is right now and let's see, it's last 14 games he's betting 370 with seven homers. As hot as he is right now with those favorable matchups and the fact he's available in a certain number of leagues makes him a sleeper hitter for next week.

I think there's a chance. This could be the start of him returning to being like a top 30-ish outfield in fantasy. He wasn't very good when we last saw him in 2021, but I would believe he was already dealing with the shoulder issues that ultimately led to his surgery is the missed season in 2022.

If memory serves, I'm just relying on memory for that. But, you know, obviously prior to that, he was considered a fairly high-end fantasy outfielder. So this may be the start of something. I can't say for sure that it is. But outfield is a position and need for a lot of people. So it's not a bad idea to take a flyer on him.

And I think he has a better chance than, for instance, somebody like Marcel O'una, who himself has a chance. Of course, we've seen him be great in the past. It's been a lot of fake-outs since then. Speaking of Marcel O'Zuna had another big game on Thursday, went two for three with his 10th homer. Eight of those have now come in the month of May where he's batting 3-43 with an 1167 Ops.

Ozuna is 24% rostered. Also on Scott's sleeper hitter list. We'll get to that a little bit later on. But six games next week with three of them coming against Oakland A's pitching. So anytime you can get that, I think it's pretty enticing there for Ozuna. Chris, who would you rather have?

Ken Fordo or Ozuna? They're really kind of similar in that they've both had big upside in the past and they've had like their peaks and their valleys. Who would you rather have moving forward? I think it's reasonable to think. that they might be fairly comparable players moving forward. I would pick Conforto,

but even if I didn't think Conforto is going to be better moving forward, just the fact that he's 64% rostered and OZuna is only 24% rostered, means that people are buying into Conforto a lot more than they are with Ozuna. So if both are available, it's an opportunity cost thing. And then I think there's a much lower chance that Conforto is going to remain available moving forward than OZuna is. So if for no other reason, if they're both available, you should prioritize it for it.

I have no idea how to tell if this could be legit for OZuna, because like I said, there have been fakeouts the past couple years from him after that amazing 2020 short season where he was the number one outfielder in fantasy. And like, okay, I look at his stat cast page, oh, everything looks pretty good. He's high quality of contact.

It's not like he's striking out a crazy amount. But that's been true the last two years too. He is dramatically underperformed his expected stats during this whole run where he's been terrible. And so like,

A, I don't know how to explain that. That's been part of the frustration over the past couple of years. B, I don't know how to explain what's different now. That is a, that's a thing with Marcelo Zuna though. Over the course of his career, he's underperforming as expected Wobo by 21 points. And really outside of 2020 and 2017, he's underperformed every single season during the Stackast era, which we're now on nine seasons.

And you're talking about 24 points, 13 points, skip forward a couple of years, 31 points, 42 points. It's been pretty massive underperformances. There's, you know, as someone said on Twitter today to all of us, sometimes Stackcast doesn't capture. every player. And there is something about Marcelo Zuna that has just not allowed him to live up to expectations. Even just within this season, I started to get a little bit excited about him toward the end of spring training because he was batting 315 with an 854 OPS this spring. Oh, maybe he's figured it out.

Then comes April of the regular season where he hits, let me see if I can, he's, he's, So he's batting 0.91. I'm sorry, 0.85 at the end of April. 0.85. Okay, clearly the spring was just a fake out. And then comes May. He's patting 3.43 with eight home runs. So I have no idea.

I mean, it's to the point where the Braves are playing him every day. And so they're going to write it as long as it lasts. And I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with that approach and fantasy, especially with the matchups the Braves have. coming up next week. But you don't want to get too comfortable. Yesterday we kind of wax poetic about Riley Green. Scott, I'd like to get your thoughts on him because I think he's kind of in this mix.

He's more rostered than Michael Kinfordo, but he has also had a great May. He went two for three with two walks, a run, and an RBI on Thursday. He had a batted ball, 110.7 exit velocity. And so far in the month, 3.85 batting average, three homers, three steals, a 1045 OPS. I know that the Tigers are on your worst hitter matchups for next week list, but with what Riley Green is doing, would you put him at the top ahead of Conforto and Ozuna? No, I learned a long time ago that it almost never works out

when I put a team with bad matchups, a player from a team with bad matchups, a hitter from a team with bad matchups and the sleeper hitters. What about just for like rest of season though, like not just for next week? Oh, yeah. No, there's a lot of upside there. And he's hitting the ball very hard.

He's striking out a lot less during this hot stretch. Certainly, I think it's about 22% of the time, 22% of the time since April 24th, during which he's batting 350. And this could be the start of him breaking out. It took a lot longer than anybody expected. I had him, I wrote a Dynasty Stockwatch article at the end of April, and I had him as one of the five fallers in terms of dynasty value,

and he's quickly regaining that value. I mean, I don't think he's quite back to the point where he was when he got called up last season, this top five prospect of baseball. But if he continues down this path much longer, then he's, you know, he may well live up to that high standing. We'll see. We'll see. But he's trending the right direction. Again, that is Riley Green.

with the Tigers here because they do have some interesting players like Spencer Torkelson picked up two more hits in this game. He's quietly having a solid May. He went two 84, uh, batting 284 in the month, two homers, seven doubles. And he's hitting the ball hard this year. His expected numbers do look pretty good. Again, that's Torkelson, 44% rostered. Akeel Badu went two for three with his second homer. This is more of, you know, very deep league stuff. He's three percent rostered. He's now batting 257 with two homers and four steals. Just two years. Just two years. years ago, Akeel Padu hit 259 with 13 homers and 18 steals. And his plate discipline, his quality of contact is much improved so far this season. Chris, any thoughts on Torkelson and Akiel Padu in

much deeper leagues? I like Torkelson much more. I'm pretty impressed by what he's doing so far in the month of May. You know, you read the stats off, right? 280. Yep. Not hitting for a ton of power, only two homers in the month of May. So that's a little disappointing. But you look at the expected stats, expected ISO 174. That's a decent amount higher than his 130 or 129 actual ISO. So I think you can expect some regression there moving forward. It's not necessarily to say that he's going to be the 30 homer guy that we hoped he would.

But he's hitting the ball in the air. He's hitting the ball consistently. He's cut the strikeout rate. He's doing a lot of the things that you want to see prior to a break. And so, you know, whether that breakout is going to come or not, I feel a little more confident in Riley Green because the quality of contact is a little better. But I like both. I think Torkelson at 44% roster feels a little low to me. I don't know who has Torkelson in the Scott White Dynasty League, but I keep sending offers and they just don't respond. Either they really don't like these offers or they're just not trading Torkelson or they're not paying attention.

Who is it? I don't know. Should we call them out by name? Nope, don't do it. Don't do it. Might have to do it. But I would like some... Might have fire under them.

I even emailed this person, I think, and I didn't even get a response. I'm like, come on, man. I want some Torkelson in my life, but whatever. Ah, okay. We'll talk a little bit more about the Giants coming up. We spoke about Conforto. Lamont Wade and Casey Schmidt are doing some interesting things as well. In five outfielder leagues, T.J. Friedel,

who we spoke about earlier this season. He returned recently from injury. He went two for three with a walk and his fifth steal in this game. And he's quietly betting 321, three homers, five steals on the season, 26% rostered. Randall Gritchick went three for five with a double and two runs scored. He's betting 3.42 with one homer, one steal, in 868 OPS in 19 games.

So far this year, only 18% rostered, seven road games next week for Colorado. So, you know, not as interesting as playing in course field. Scott, in five outfielder leagues, who would rather snag up here? T.J. Friedel or Randall Grichick? I mean, I guess I have to say Fridl, just given how productive he's been, you know, before coming off the IL and he seems to have picked up where he left off. He brings an element of speed, obviously a favorable home park.

But I am interested in Gritchick, who, you know, last year we think of his first year in Colorado as a disappointment. And I guess it was. But he did what he was supposed to do in Colorado itself. he hit 307 within 851 OPS in Colorado, and obviously is off to a great start this year, both home and away. He hasn't gotten as consistent. The playing time hasn't been as consistent as I'd like, but he has now started 6 of 7,

and Brent and Doyle had to be carded off today. I think there's early, optimism that that's not such a serious injury, but there was also a report that Nolan Jones is being called up from AAA on Friday. Kind of interesting. A corner man in both the infield and outfield. So presumably that's in anticipation of a Brenton Doyle. IEL stint.

So how does that affect Gritchick? Well, I mean, you think that would give him more job security, except how much do they want to play Nolan Jones? because Chris mentioned it kind of interesting. Nolan Jones at AAA this year. Former Guardians prospect. Yeah, 356, 12 home runs, 5 steals in 1193 OPS. The number started out ridiculous.

They've been getting more ridiculous. And this is actually coming from baseball America. I don't know how they find these numbers. I don't know how to find them for minor leaguers. But specifically, Nolan Jones has gotten a lot better against breaking balls this year. It was a problem for him in the past. He's hitting him better this year. So it's not just like he's hot.

He's improved a flaw that he had. Now, that's playing at AAA Albuquerque, which is a mile above sea level, where breaking balls don't break as much. You know, where else is a mile above sea level? Exactly. Colorado, same thing. So I don't think that's necessarily something we have to worry about for Jones. It's just a question of how motivated are they to play him?

Because he was up earlier this year, four games, didn't get a single level. bat. So, I don't know. I know you were just asking me about Randall Gritchick, and I gave a whole long spiel about the Rockies. It's a playing time issue for Gritchick, and ultimately, I'd rather see Jones get that playing time. All right, let's take our first break, and when we return, I've got deeper league hitters, Jake McCarthy is being recalled by the Diamondbacks. We'll talk about all that right after this. Welcome back, and make sure to follow us all on Twitter, if you haven't already. At CBS Scott White, at C Tower, CBS, at Roto underscore Frank.

And for the podcast, it's at FBTPod, where I always tweet out when we're going live and the link to the audio podcast. So yeah, make sure to follow us all on Twitter. Some deep league ads, players that are making some noise. Brandon Beltwood, one for two with two walks and an RBI. He is batting 377 in the month of May. Only one homer, 1047 OPS.

Only plays against right-handed pitching. But the good news is the Blue Jays play six games all against Ritey's next week. Yuli Gerell had nine hits in three games at Corpus Field. He is now batting 299 with an 800 OPS. Trent Grisham went one for three with a sock and a shoe, his fifth homer and his first steal. Still batting just 194.

And Rugnad O'Dor. What's Dead may never die. Went two for five with a home run. Five RBI that's back-to-back games with multiple hits and a home run in each. Chris, do any of these names matter in deeper leagues? Brandon Belt, Yulee Gureel, Trent Grisham, and Rugnette Odore. Probably not. I think, like, I don't know, Euligariel, I guess if he keeps hitting 300,

the Marlins might be inclined to play him, but I don't think he's better than Garrett Cooper. Just an incredible stat. He had a triple yesterday and today. He's one of three players with triples and consecutive games this season. He's never had more than two triples in a season. I think it was his first time with multiple triples in a season since, like, 2019. So that was fun. But no, I don't think any of these guys matter otherwise.

You know, Belt, he's crushing Ritey's. So if you're in a daily lineups league, he's got like an 850 OPS against Ritey's. He can be useful there. Grisham not doing as well against Ritey's obviously, but it's still an intriguing skill set if he can ever, you know, figure it out. I mentioned before the break that Jake McCarthy is being recalled by the Diamond backs and Dominic Fletcher has been sent back to AAA. McCarthy in...

What did Dominic Fletcher do to deserve that? I feel like he's been cold like his past, I don't know. Yeah, okay. He's had a five-game stretch where he's only gotten three hits or something like that. But like, he's still batting over 300 and just... Deserves got nothing to do with it. Scott, you must have picked him up in N-al-only, huh? That's why you're...

No, I picked him up in like some of those 15-team-five outfifes. fielder leagues. Oh, I did too. Outfield stretched then. I picked him up in my main event league. I picked him up in NL labor. So I'm pretty invested in Dominic Fletcher, picked him up in the Scott White Dynasty League.

So yeah, pretty bummed to see him get sent down as well. But Jake McCarthy does come back to the Diamondbacks with a decent amount of upside. Of course, we saw it last year in 99 games with the team. He hit 283 with eight homers and 23 steals. He truly was one of the league winners down the stretch last year. And in 22 games, since being sent down at AAA, hit 333 with four homers, four steals, a 952 OPS. 20% rostered is Jake McCarthy.

I think, Scott, he kind of fits into that T.J. Friedel, Randall, Gritchick, five outfielder, you know, Roto League kind of mix. Would you take McCarthy ahead of both of those names? Yeah, I think I would. I think so, too. I mean, the upside he showed last year is more than we've seen from Gritchick in a long time. or Friedel ever. So I think I would,

especially if speed is your main emphasis. Would you take them ahead of the other group? Any of those names? Riley Green, Can Fordo, Marcel O'Suna? I don't think I would do that. No. I mean, I could see taking him over Ozuna if specifically you're chasing steals.

But it's a close call. All righty. I wanted to mention that heads up on Sunday we won't be live because of Memorial Day weekend, but Scott and I recorded a fun podcast breaking down all the players who were off to slow starts this season and what to do with them. A little sneak peek, we kind of talked about Austin Riley and what happens. He went out and hit two home runs on Thursday, so that might be a little outdated by Monday, by Sunday night. You spoke it into existence.

There you go. We also spoke a lot about Aranola. So be on the lookout for that. it'll go live on YouTube Sunday night at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. So if you want to watch it when it comes out, you could do so. The podcast will show up in your audio feed Monday morning. And then we'll be live once again Monday night breaking down the long weekend of baseball. Let's get into some other, I guess, questionable starting pitchers.

What do we do with these guys? Start or sit moving forward. Alec Manoa, he stunk once again. It was at Tampa Bay. It's, you know, the best offense again. against right-handed pitching so far this season. Only lasted three innings, gave up five runs, four of those earned, five more walks,

six strikeouts, that was good to see for him. Didn't allow a ton of hard contact. His slider was actually solid in this one. I had five whiffs, a 36% CSW, but again, like no pitcher is going to succeed five walks and three innings pitched. The walks are up to 6.4 per nine this season. Chris, your latest thoughts on Alec Manoa,

and do you start them next week up against the Milwaukee Brewers? No, of course not. I'm not dropping him yet, but of course you can't start him right now. There's no sign of him figuring things out. I did my big rankings update today, and I moved him way down and honestly, probably not far enough down for anyone's liking, including potentially my own. I moved him to 40th at starting pitcher.

I think most people listening think he should rank 400th. And maybe he should. I don't know. I can't, how many times are we going to have this same conversation on the podcast? I can't give you any affirmative reason to believe Alec Manoa is going to turn things around. It's just players with his track record, even a relatively slim track record like his, only a year and a half before this one, tend to figure things out eventually. And I believe Alec Manoa will figure things out eventually.

There's nothing I can point to that shows that he is figuring things out. although the slider playing up today is a promising sign because that's been an issue for him most of the season. Yeah, I mean, we don't know what, we don't know if it'll happen. We don't know how it'll happen. But it's baseball is such that very small changes can make a very big difference. And it might be a pitching coach spotting something in his delivery

or Manoa himself spotting something. on film and like, oh, I'm doing this wrong. And then he changes it. And suddenly everything's fixed. Like just as quickly as the switch went off, it could switch back on. And again, I have no idea if that's going to happen. But I know if it does happen,

then the upside is huge. There is a chance that he will have that light switch moment. And from that point forward, Alec Manoa is an ace again. And you'll be glad you held on to him if that happened. there may come, and obviously that could happen at any point during the season. Having said that, there may come a point this season where I can no longer justify waiting for him, but I think it's too early for that.

I think that's going to be more of a mid-season thing where you're just having to play for the short term a little more because we're running at a time. I think you can still, at least look at my own teams, I can just afford to stash Alec Manoa on my bench in the hope that he does have that light switch moment. some point. I think the same thing could probably be said for Blake Snell who was at the Nationals on Thursday. He allowed one run over five innings pitched four more walks did have six strikeouts in this one. He's at the Marlins next week but surprisingly the Marlins are really good against

lefties they are ninth in weighted on base average. Scott I'm assuming we bench Blake Snell next week. That's a big turnaround from last year where the Marlins were just Jorge Salera I saw during the game today currently has the best home run per at bat rate against lefties in a season in major league history. Now, obviously, that's 60-something played appearances, but that's a big part of it. He's crushing lefties right now. Yeah, single-handedly bringing the Marlins up. You're asking me about starting Snell against the Marlins next week?

No. No. I'm really tired of Blake's now. I think I talked about this after his last start because he did have a light switch moment each of the last two years, but I'm tired of him always having to need that moment and not being able to use him until it happens. And of course, there's no guarantee that it's going to happen this year

just because it happened the last two. I wish, if I had him right now, I wish I never drafted him because, I mean, there's nothing you can do with them but just wait. Yeah, or give up. and then potentially you're letting him fall into somebody else's hands. I'm going to pull out one of my towersisms that I love going with. Every time we do this every year with Blake Snow and people get mad at Blake Snow and they're like,

Blake Snow is so frustrating. I'm going to say it again, if you go outside on a sunny day and you stare at the sun and your eyes hurt, that is your fault. That is not the son's fault. Okay. if you draft Blake Snell and you get frustrated by the two-month stretch that he has every year with a 5-E-R-A, that is your fault. You knew what you were getting into when you drafted him. He has always been this guy.

That's all. Well, actually, I yield my time. At least for the third year, he's been this guy. I was going to say, Chris, it might not be the drafter's fault. It might actually be my fault because I told people to draft Blake Snell. So I do apologize. And yeah, basically what you said about Manoa could be applied to Blake Snow. We don't know when or if he's going to turn it on.

Last name here is Lucas Gialito, who was at the Tigers and had a really terrible start. Three and two-thirds innings pitched. Four runs, seven walks tied a career high to four strikeouts. He'd been so great in terms of the control this year and limiting walks. And, of course, it all comes tumbling down in this one. Did allow seven hard hits, 94-mile-per-hour average exit velocity. Scott, I kind of thought that Gialito was back in the circle of trust, and maybe he still is, but it's just...

Against the Tigers? It's frustrating, man. Against the Tiger. Do you start them next week up against the Angels? They're 12th in Wobah against Redis. I mean, it depends. It depends what your options are. I'm obviously not excited about doing it now.

I'm not going to say I for sure won it because I know some leagues I don't have enough pitchers to choose from to not start Gialito. He entered this start with... A 362 ERA, 112 whip. Everything was trending the right direction. I don't really know what happened. I'm just going to, I'm going to call it an aberration when it's an isolated event like this. Let's hope it doesn't become a trend.

All right. Well, let's get into some news and notes before we hit the break. Max Fried played catch on flat ground Thursday. The initial expectation was that Freed would miss a couple of months, but he might be ready to. return sometime before the end of June, assuming everything goes well. Again, that's, you know, an assumption. We don't know for sure.

Padre's manager, Bob Melvin, said he doesn't expect Manny Machado to be ready for activation from the IL. When first eligible on Friday, he remains out with that small fracture in his left hand. Logan Webb, who was initially lined up to start Thursday, will instead start Saturday against the Brewers. He'll get a few more days to recover from that lower backsornness. Tyler Glass now is listed as the Ray's probable pitcher Saturday against the Dodgers. That will be his season debut.

Liam Hendricks will throw live batting practice Friday and seems to be on the brink of activation. John Carlos Dan is hoping to begin a rehab assignment early next week. There was some talk that it could have started this weekend, but I don't know if it was a setback or anything, or maybe they're just giving him a few more days rest, but yeah, you got to wait a little bit longer for Stanton. Jose Alvarado will throw another bullpen session Saturday. If all goes well, he'll move out to live batting practice next week. Anthony Rendon is not expected to need a rehab assignment before returning. He's yet to take batting practice, but went through agility drills on Wednesday.

Gavin Stone will make another start this Sunday at the raise. You should not start him there. Hassan Kim was carted off the field after fouling a ball off his knee. X-rays came back negative, and the hope is he'll avoid the IL. Brenton Doyle was also carted off the field after crashing into the center field wall while attempting to rob a home run. Early indication is that he suffered a knee contusion.

They said they hope he avoids the IL, but as Scott pointed out, you know, Nolan Jones promotion, that doesn't sound too good for Brenton Doyle. Derek Hall could start a rehab assignment early next week. He had surgery April 12th to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb and could be activated as early as June 5th. The Cubs officially released Eric Hosmer on Thursday,

and Randy Vasquez, who is the number 12 prospect in the Yankees organization, will make his Major League debut on Friday against the Padres. And, you know, up and down minor league career so far this year, a 485 ERA, a 157 whip, so I don't think there's much there. Chris, I saw that you rostered him in the Scott White Dynasty League. I don't know if you have any takes on Randy Vasquez. Big, big moment for me in the Scott White Dynasty League. to I'm a steleague.

No, he's someone that scouts still like a decent amount, probably more than the results should make you think. But yeah, he's kind of falling on hard time since getting the high minors, 390 ERA or worse at AA and AAA across three parts of three seasons. So expectations should be low, but we've seen guys have mediocre minor league numbers and then come up and impress in the majors, you know, guys in the minors.

We talked about this. We talked about it a couple weeks ago on one of the pods, but it's always hard to tell when someone's struggling in the minors because they're just not good versus when they're working on something specific that makes it hard for them to put up good numbers. And maybe this is a situation where the Yankees don't care if the results are good at, you know, Winston-Salem or whatever. Like, where are they, their AAA team?

Scranton, Wilkes-Berry. Scranton, Scranton Wilkesbury. That's right. So we'll see. But yeah, expectations should be fairly low. All right. Let's take our final break. And when we return, we'll get into our week 10 preview here on fantasy baseball today.

Welcome back. And let's get into our week 10 preview. We'll start with the schedule for next week. Eight teams have seven games. That includes the Diamondbacks, the Red Sox, Guardians, Rockies, Astros, Angels, twins, and rays. 20 teams have six games next week. and two teams have five games. The Royals and the Cardinals.

If you're looking for the Rockies, they have seven road games next week, four at Arizona and three at Kansas City, so no taking advantage of course field. Start or sit these fringe two-start pitchers for next week. We'll start with Kodai Senga, who's going up against the Phillies and the Blue Jays. Scott, what says you on Senga?

I think I'd leave that for points leagues. He's done a pretty good job of preventing runs, but he's going to kill your whip, especially with those matchups. So I think points league's only for Senga. Domingo Hermann, in his first start back from suspension, is at the Mariners and at the Dodgers next week. Chris, what do you think about Herman? I would prefer not to go with him, especially we don't know how much the sticky stuff

was helping. The results have been pretty inconsistent, but there's going to be heightened scrutiny. I would probably try to avoid it, especially in my roto leagues. JP France has been mostly good for the Astros so far. He's going up against the Twins and the Angels. Scott, what do you think about France? No, I don't trust him. I have him in the no-thanks section of the two-star pitcher rankings.

Okay. And Chris, I find it appropriate that you get to talk about you say Kikuchi because I feel like you're always talking about you say Kikuchi some way, somehow. He's going up against the Brewers and the Mets next week. worth noting that both of those teams are bottom 10 against left-handed pitching this season.

That's because they haven't faced Usaikuchi yet. I think that answers the question, right? Look, he may have two good starts. He'll do that occasionally. His stuff is pretty good, but the ERA is back up over six again now? I think

it's over five now. Yeah. That's pretty much what happens with Usa Kikuchi. He'll have a, oh, only four, five, six. The FIP is 483. Oohie. Yeah, I just, he might have a couple good starts,

but there's no reason to think that it'll happen this week. Yeah, I bring him up because he's still 81% rostered on CBS, right? He's RP eligible, right? Yes. Yeah. So I think that explains a decent amount of it, and he probably won't get dropped. And look, if you're in a league where he's RP eligible and you play with points,

I'd probably rather start him than someone like Kyle Finnegan next week. Yeah, yeah, I think that's fair, but in most cases, I think you probably want to stay away from you say Kukushi. Scott, some two-star pitchers to add and stream for next week. Who you got? Pretty good group here. Michael Kopeck got to start with him as if we haven't talked about him enough. His matchups next week are Angels and Tigers lately though. He's just looked like a dominant pitcher regardless. Tigers, of course, make for a great matchup. So are you Are you somewhat buying into Kopec now?

Chris, is that what you were getting at earlier? I am deeply, deeply skeptical of him. He's a one-pitch pitcher, I think. But that pitch looks really, really good over the last two starts, talking about his forcing fastball. He's starting about 70% of the time in those two starts. I think the likeliest outcome is, Michael Kopeck will be bad moving forward, but I think you should...

Three days ago when I was on with you, you were saying he's definitely bad. So you're kind of softened that stance a little. Yes. Yes. Okay. All right. So Michael Kopec is won. Bobby Miller coming off an impressive debut against the Braves.

He's lined up for two starts this week, one against the Nationals, other against the Yankees, which isn't so great. But it could be a really good week for him. Brian Beyo, who's been on a nice run. It gets the Reds and Rays. A lot of the two-star pitchers this week is one good matchup, one bad like that. Bayos in that category as well, but he's at least good at putting the ball on the ground,

so hopefully the Rays don't knock them around too badly. Logan Allen at Baltimore at Minnesota. Minnesota's bad against lefties, so that makes that a better matchup than it might otherwise seem. And Cal Quantrell, if you're just looking to to sneak in an extra quality start, he's usually pretty good at delivering those. He has those same matchups at Baltimore, at Minnesota.

Probably leave him for points leagues, Cal Quantrell. But he's usable. Yeah, we'll dedicate that one to my dad because, yeah, he'll start any two-star pitcher at any point, doesn't matter, but yeah, that's Cal Quantial for next week. Single-star Tremors got it, uh, this, This group is a little bit more interesting.

That's the word that I'll use. Yeah. James Paxton gets the Reds. And it is in Boston, which is better than being in Cincinnati. He has given up hard contact, and it came back to Biden him in his last start. But for the most part, I've been encouraged by the way he's looked. Coming back from Tommy John surgery, and that's a favorable matchup. Grayson Rodriguez, this might be the first time I've recommended Grayson Rodriguez.

as a start all year. He's going against the Guardians. Worst offense in baseball, worst OPS against right-handed pitchers, which is what he is. And so if there was any time when Grayson Rodriguez would rise to the occasion, you would think this would be it.

They do not strike out much against Ritees, for what it's worth. They're last in Wobah against Ritees, but like the third lowest strikeout rate against Ritees. I was looking at that up the other day. Yeah, they got some. some contact hitters in that lineup, so I guess that makes sense. Miles Michaelis, he had a good start here on Thursday,

and he's been on a good run lately in a way that doesn't make a lot of sense. Like, I'm not back on board Miles Michael, Miles Michaelis from a season-long perspective, but he is a hot handplay right now, 198 ERA in his past six starts, despite a high average exit velocity and a low strike rate. And he's at Pittsburgh, and really cold offensive. right now. So I think he makes for a decent streaming choice. Edward Cabrera, never know what you're going to get from him, but against the A's, it could be really good. It could be a lot of strikeouts.

And Brandon fought scary play, but the Rockies anywhere other than Coresfield are a favorable matchup. Should Edward Cabrera's new nickname just officially be Box of Chocolates? Because you never know what you're going to get. Hey, if you like. One or zero walk, I think, in three of his last four. So, you know, the other one was a six walk start, I think. Yeah, that makes up for all the good.

Let's get into the hitter side of things. Best hitter matchups for next week, the Marlins. So if you picked up Jorge Soler for this week, just enjoy the ride next week as well. Number two, Braves on that list. And then the Rockies, Brewers, and Giants, the worst hitter matchups, Yankees, Tigers, Angels, Astros, and the Reds. With that being said, it's got your top sleeper hitters for Week 10. So I just want to point out you mentioned the Rockies have the third best hitter matchups.

They are facing weak pitchers in a seven game week. So that's why I put them there, but they're on the road. So I'm not actually recommending any Rockies hitters, even though I'm saying they have favorable hitter matchups. It's just kind of a weird What's the word I'm looking for? A paradox. It's a paradox.

Okay. So the Giants have the fifth best matchups, as you pointed out. Five of their six games are against Ritees. Lamont Wade, I think, should always be starting pretty much, unless there are a bunch of lefties on the schedule with which there clearly aren't. 43% rostered that seems insanely low to me. Against Ritees, he has more walks. and strikeouts, so even a shower points leagues.

I think Lamont Wade makes for a good play. We mentioned Michael Conforto. Lower down on the list, same team, though, J.D. Davis. He's not playing as consistently as he was earlier in the year, but he's playing enough that hopefully he can take advantage of these good matchups. Higher on the list, Marcelo Zuna, who we've talked about a lot today. I also have Orlando Arcea represented from the Braves in their second best hitter matchups with that series against the A's.

You mentioned Marlins. By the way, unfortunately, Jorge Soler is now too rostered to qualify for the sleeper hitters list. So that's the only reason he hasn't here. Obviously, you should keep starting Jorge Saler. But you should also start, or at least consider starting, Brian De La Cruz, who remains hot and will hopefully take advantage of the matchups that also include a three-game series against the A's, just like the Braves. The Twins are not among the teams with the five best matchups, but they do have good matchups in a seven-game scoring period.

six righties on the schedule. So I think Edward Julian and Alex Kirolov both make for decent plays. You'd figure they'd be better against righties and be more likely to play against righties being left-handed hitters. Owen Miller, Brewers have the fourth best matchup.

He's a hot hand. Don't really buy it, but he's eligible almost everywhere. And it's hot right now. And Kyle Farmer, If you need another versatile guy, he's cooled off a bit, but the overall numbers still look good, and as I mentioned, the twins have good matchups.

Scott, I would like to submit a write-in vote. Is that okay? Okay, sure. Casey Schmidt, 49% roster. Yeah. So he was one of the four rejects. Back then he had a big game here on Thursday. I might swap him in for Kyle Farmer.

It's close enough. Do it. A new addition to the preview, something we did last week, is where should we use Otani? next week as a hitter or pitcher. I think more often than not, it will probably be decided by your team context, whatever you need more pitching or hitting. But Chris, let's just say, you know, you can use both. Do you need hitting or pitching? Um, next week, Otani is at the Houston Astros as a pitcher.

And as a hitter, seven road games at the White Sox and at the Astros. Do you have a lead on hitter or pitcher? There are some tough matchups in there, but I'm, I'm going to go with him as a hitter. I don't think like Houston's actually not a particularly tough matchup for pitching at this point, but I would lean towards using it as a hitter. All right. Let's wrap up with some other waiver wire pitchers who pitched well on Thursday. Kyle Gibson had a great start at the Yankees. He went seven shutout with three strikeouts.

And over his last four starts since getting rocked at the Royals, he has a 252 ERA and a 124 whip. That is Kyle Gibson, Braxton Garrett, had a decent start in Cores Field. He went five innings, two runs, three strikeouts with 15 swinging strikes on 82 pitches. Carlos Carrasco had his best start in quite some time. He was at the Cubs. He went six and two thirds, one run allowed, four strikeouts. Velocity was up around a mile per hour on his fastball and his curveball.

He changed the pitch mix quite a bit too in this start. He went heavy change up, used his curveball a lot more as well. That is Carlos Carrasco. J.P. Sears had an okay start at the Mariners. five innings, one run, only one strikeout, only three swinging strikes as well. Yeah, it was kind of a fluky start. Chris, how do you rank this group? Do you actually have any interest here? J.P. Sears, Carrasco, Garrett, and Kyle Gibson.

I don't have much interest in any of these four fellas. I think Gibson is, for the most part, just a streamer at home. I know he's had two good starts in a row on the road, but the underlying stats and peripherals are all generally pretty best. add 45 expected ERA. So I would not be running Kyle Gibson out there unless it was good matchups. At home versus Cleveland next week counts. So I think he's actually a decent one-start streamer for next week.

Braxton Garrett's probably my favorite of this group. He's actually been quite good outside of the 11-earned-run run start. So if I have to add one of these guys, it's Braxton Garrett. Scott, I noticed, do I have that? Go ahead, Scott. I've noticed Garrett is doing something different during the last three starts in particular that have been, I think it's three best all year. And that's rely on a cutter a lot more. It was his most thrown pitch in this game Thursday.

And so I'm wondering if that that's helping his slider to play up because when he got hot last year, it was mostly about the slider. And maybe the cutter pairs with that better. and that's why we've seen better results from him recently. He's going to have to start working deeper into games, Braxton, Garrett. I think if he's actually going to become a real fantasy asset. But there are reasons to believe he's on the right track. His fastballs are pretty poor. So it could just be as simple as trying to find something

that he can throw relatively straight for strikes consistently that doesn't get hit quite. quite as hard. Although the cutter actually has a very good whiff rate this season as well, 30%. Scott, I don't know if you have all the pitching matchups in front of you, but do I have this correct Kyle Gibson at home against the Guardians? Because that's what CBS had written down. Is that what you have? Uh, yes. Okay. So then, yeah, I do like that matchup quite a bit for Kyle Gibson. We know who he is. He's not like a great pitcher or anything, but the Guardians are an even worse offense than Kyle Gibson is a good pitcher.

Some deep league names, Julio Tehran, a blast from the past. He is back, and he started for the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday. Actually, had a solid start. Five innings, one run, five strikeouts to one walk. He had seven swinging strikes on 83 pitches. He averaged less than 90 miles per hour on each of his sinker and his four-seem fastball on that one. Luke Weaver.

I did get some requests on Twitter to sing the Luke Weaver song. Do either of you want to do that? Luke Weaver. Perfect. Weaver, great start, up against the Cardinals, six and a third shotout, three hits, one walk, six strikeouts in that one. Very deep league names here, Scott, but anything that popped out for Julio Tehran or Luke Weaver?

No, it's too early to get excited about either. The thing about pitchers is, you know, they have to be a minimum amount of good to matter even in deep leagues. Like, there's a certain depth of pitching. I won't bother with no matter how deep the league is. And I think they're both on the wrong side of that right now. You know what made me actually say, oh my goodness gracious?

I saw somebody tweet that Julio Taran is only 32 years old. Oh my God. And I went and verified, and that is somehow true. I looked that up. I actually looked up how old he was when I saw that he pitched today and had the same thought.

He's had, a lengthy career. He's 12th year. Yeah. 13th year. It's wild. I mean, he's like tied. I'm going to get this stat wrong. Tehran Braves opening day starts. Yeah.

He's really the Braves have had a lot of great pitchers in their history. And he's like tied for the record for most opening days. Yeah, I think he has six or seven. Yeah. That is crazy stuff there for Julio Tehran. Kyle Hendricks made his season debut, his first start in 11 months following shoulder surgery. He wasn't great up against the Mets. Four and a third, five runs allowed, three earned runs, five strikeouts to two walks. Did limit the hard contact, which is good to see here.

Mostly the same pitch mix that were used to. 19% rostered for Kyle Hendricks. He's home against Tampa Bay next week. There's no way that you're starting him. But I don't know, Chris. Any kind of a spec ad here on Kyle Hendricks? I'm more interested in him than Julio Taran. Okay. If you can damn with faint praise. Yes, indeed. I think, but you'd probably take him over Graham Ashcraft, right? That was the one that you just like dunked all over the other day.

I would probably hang on to Graham. I would not drop Graham. I'm fine with dropping Graham Ashcraft. I don't think Kyle Hendricks would be the guy I would do it for. Right. All right. Here's this very important stat that everybody cares about. Phil Necro eight opening day starts for the Braves.

Gregmatic 7. Julio Tehran 6. Third most. There you go. Braves history. There you go. A few leftovers here. We mentioned earlier, but Austin Riley had a double dong. He went two for five. He's now up to nine home runs.

He had two batted balls over 110 miles per hour in this one. Pete Alonzo had a huge game. He went two for two. With two walks, a sock and a shoe. His league leading 19th home run. His first steal. It was the back half of a double steal. So, you know,

take that for what it's worth. Pete Alonzo is now on pace for 62 home runs. One year after Aaron Judge did it. Coincidence? I think not. The raise ran wild against Alejandro Kirk. Randy Orozarena picked up his sixth steal. Wander Franco picked up two more. He now has 17 steals on the season.

Luke Raleigh, not really the fastest in the league. He also had two steals. Taylor Walls also had two steals. Now up to 11 and Scott's sleepers continue to dominate. We mentioned Jorge Soler went three for five with his 15th home run. Third straight game with a homer. Elias Diaz went one for four with his sixth homer. Has three homers in four games so far this week.

One pitching leftover, I want to, I guess we could talk about both of them. Two names here. Zach Eflin, seven innings of one-run ball, zero strikeouts. Just kind of interesting up against the Blue Jays. And Logan Gilbert was amazing. Up against the Oakland A's, eight innings, two-run, six strikeouts, with 14 swinging strikes on 77 pitches. I'm a little upset that the Mariners didn't let Gilbert just close it out,

go complete game. I mean, 77 pitches after eight, why not? Let them go for it. But any thoughts here? Chris, Zach Eflin, Logan Gilbert. Gilbert looks awesome. His swinging strike rate on his curveball is way up 36%. That new splitter that he's throwing also up to 36%

Splitter looks really good as well, certainly passes the eye test when he throws it. And that was what we talked about before the season was, you know, Gilbert was going to have to develop one or multiple of those secondary pitches into legitimate swing and miss pitches for him to live up to his potential, and that's what he's done. You know, the four seamer and the slider right around where they were last season,

both in usage and in results. But the curveball and splitter growth, has helped him take a big step forward. I'm pretty impressed by him. In the words of InSync, bye, bye, bye on Logan Gilbert. Call to the bullpen, some updates here for the Cardinals with Ryan Helsley unavailable.

Well, Scott, it kind of works. Well, I know they're saying... Except the buy their singing is kind of the opposite version of the buy you're singing. I know. But I think it still works. No. It's a play on words.

Well, it's a confusing message as well. That's fine. Do not drop Logan Gilbert. I'm telling you to go out and acquire him. B-U-Y. Yes, that is the buy that we're looking for. Call to the bullpen. Some updates here for the Cardinals.

Ryan Helsie was unavailable. Giovanni Gallegos recorded the final four outs for his fifth save of the season. For Tampa Bay, Jason Adam and Pete Fairbanks were unavailable. Colin Poshay recorded the final two outs for his first save of the season. For the Marlins, Dylan Floreau entered in the eighth with a runner on first. and the game tied at the time. He gave up three runs on a walk and four hits, which meant a four-run lead for Pierce Johnson

in the ninth inning. Well, guess what? He gave up exactly four runs on two homers to Jorge Solair and... Garrett Cooper. Garrett Cooper, yes, that was the name I was looking for. I know that the velocity and strikeouts are way down, but the surface level numbers

have been much better for Daniel Bard than Pierce Johnson. Do you think they go to Bard at some point? I don't know. I haven't seen them use BART even in a high leverage non-closing situation. They've been taking it real easy with him. So I don't know. It doesn't seem like they can keep, they can sustain this with Pierce Johnson because he just doesn't,

he's not good. But I don't know. They've shown no indication of switching back to BART. For what it's worth Bard over the last six appearances. has eight walks to seven strikeouts. Okay, well, that's not helping. No, it is not. For the Nationals, Kyle Finnegan entered in the eighth with a one-run lead.

He struck out three. Hunter Harvey got the ninth. He allowed a three-runner to Rugned Odor. Took his fourth-blown save and second loss of the season. For the Padres, Josh Hader struck out two for his 13th save. For the Orioles, Felix Batista was unavailable. Yaneer Canoe got the ninth inning. He allowed a run, but picked up his fourth save of the season.

He also allowed his first walk of the year. One walk in 26 and two-thirds innings for Yaneer Canoe. He has been awesome. For the Braves, Reisel Iglesias picked up his fourth save, and for the Mariners, Paul Seawald picked up his 11th save of the year. To stream or not to stream, let's get into Friday. And scrolling up and down here, Matthew Libertor at the Guardians. Friday is good.

We talked about this yesterday. Friday is good. Yeah, Reed Detmer is against... Although they are good against lefties. I still think it's okay. Detmer's against the Marlins. Louis-Varland, I don't mind. Even though it's not great matchup against Toronto.

Matthew Libertor against Cleveland, I like. It's a pretty good day for streamers. The Brewers are really bad against lefties, too. So if you're feeling frisky with Alex Wood, go out and try that one on for size. Brewers are 29th in Wobah against left-handed pitching the season. On Saturday, let's see what we got here. here.

Decidedly less interesting. I remain very interested in Garrett Whitlock, but I probably would not start him. I think Edward Cabrera against the Angels is probably the best streaming option here. And even that, like we talked about earlier, don't actually know what you're going to get from Edward Cabrera. Not great. I think Rowanzi can charge us at the Mariners and Michael Lorenzen versus the White Sox are decent, lower. end kind of plays, but not much confidence. Yeah, we got burned with Lorenzen earlier this week, but

true. That's, it's either him or gamble on Edward Cabrera, I think. Not great. Yeah. Don't stream on Saturday. Do it on Friday instead. On Sunday, Dane Dunning at the Orioles, maybe. Yeah, I mean, tough matchup, obviously, but he's come through

against other tough matchups so far. Tanner Howick at the Diamondbacks. I know you like what you saw. recently from Halk. The Diamondbacks, Diamondbacks offense is really good. Yeah. Yeah, I'd rank Halk behind Dunning,

but he's probably my second choice here. Mm-hmm. And I don't, like, Marco Gonzalez against the Pirates, like, I don't know. It's all right, but, yeah, I probably wouldn't. Go with Dunning or Tanner Halk or skip Sunday as well. Or nobody.

Stream everybody on Friday. We're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks, as always, for tuning in to Fantasy Baseball. day please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We'll be back again next week. Bye-bye.