Fantasy Baseball Today - Is Trevor Rogers Back? Henderson's Debut & Worry-O-Meter! (9/1 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 1, 2022

So, is Trevor Rogers back (1:00)? ... Add Rogers or Patrick Sandoval (5:00)? ... Gunnar Henderson hit a home run in his second at-bat (8:08)! Could Corbin Carroll lose some playing time? ... Lars Nootbaar did it again (16:10)! Yandy Diaz deserves more respect. ... News (28:45): We've got an update on Shane McClanahan. ... Spencer Torkelson is getting recalled on Thursday (34:05). ... Let's fire up the Worry-O-Meter for Freddy Peralta (37:20). ... Tyler Anderson vs. Jacob deGrom was as advertised (44:25). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (48:00).  Want a 2023 Fantasy Baseball pre-draft Zoom call with Scott White? You can bid here with all proceeds going to St. Jude's Children's Hospital: https://www.ebay.com/itm/374227992145 Want a 2023 Fantasy Baseball pre-draft Zoom call with Frank Stampfl? You can bid here with all proceeds going to St. Jude's Children's Hospital: https://www.ebay.com/itm/374227991188 Do you want to join the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast as a guest? You can bid on it with all proceeds going to St. Jude's Children's Hospital here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/374225470953 Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get 20% off Fantasy Baseball Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your lead. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. And just like that, it's September. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Thursday, September 1st.

Frank Stamphill joined by Scott White. Today on the show is Trevor Rogers back. Break it down. We've got the Worryometer a little bit later on. It's been a while. Worryometer on a Thursday The thurionometer, I guess. Yandy Diaz. A lot to be worried about, Frank. A lot to be worried about. Freddie. A couple worry warts. Freddie Peralta. I'm looking at you kid. Yandy Diaz might need more respect. We'll talk about him as well, but let's jump in. Oh my goodness gracious. Oh my goodness gracious. No one cares. Yankee stink. Anyway, Scott, who would you like to talk about.

Well, I think we got to talk about Trevor Rogers here to start out. First start back from the IL, first start since July. And I'm looking over the game log now, tempted to say it was his best start of the season. Yeah, I think it was his best start of the season. So against the raise, he allowed one run and run in six innings with five strikeouts, 12 swinging strikes on 84 pitches, respectable, six on his change-up, which he threw 36% of the time. And it was actually up 1.4 miles per hour, which was interesting.

Because velocity, you know, we've said all along Trevor Rogers doesn't seem to have that change-ups this year. Well, velocity wasn't the issue. It's actually been higher than usual all season, but even more so in this start. I'm not quite sure what to make of that. But it was a really good start. Like I said, best start of the season.

Only his second quality start all year, the last coming in April. And this is after that AAA rehab start where he threw six no-hit innings and struck out 12 with 24 swinging strikes. He said after that rehab start, it's the best he's felt all season. He said after this return start in the majors, that the IL gave him a chance to reset mechanically. And, you know, he's kind of had mechanics on the mind all year. and didn't have to think about it in this one.

So it's very encouraging signs here down the stretch. It's obviously every time you set your lineup this time of year, there's a lot riding on it. And so it's difficult to put faith in somebody like Trevor Rogers. And look, kind of getting back to what we're talking about with Matt Manning yesterday, ideally you don't have to do that. Like ideally your team just has a bunch of awesome players on it, right? But if you lost Justin Verland or if you lost Shane McClanahan, you know, you have this opening and your pitching staff.

I mean, Trevor Rogers was somebody who was drafted on the level of like an Alec Manoa and... Dylan Seas. Well, but McClanahan himself, right? Like some people were taking... Some people preferred Rogers. I don't think either of us did preferred Rogers to McClanahan, but some people did. And so he could be a nice fine this time of year. Hopefully this is legit.

I agree wholeheartedly, Scott. Like, this is not a pitcher that you want to trust right now, but there are just so many injuries, as we talked about yesterday. You mentioned Verlander, Shane McClanahan, Zach Wheeler on the aisle, hopefully returning soon. You know, that was a report that we received recently, but that's not confirmed. We lost Tony Gonsland.

So there's a lot going on. Nester Cortez, another one there. So just wanted to point out, Scott, a few things with this start. I think there's a lot of good. there is some bad, obviously. So first pitch strikes to 15 of 23 batters faced. Love to see that. 65% that's really strong.

Only one walk in the start. Also, really strong that had been an issue earlier in the season for Trevor Rogers. 12 swinging strikes, love to see that. 11 hard hits allowed. His average exit velocity against was 99 miles per hour. So, you know, there's a lot of good, and then there's that. So that will fall in the bad pile here for, Trevor Rogers.

I wouldn't want to trust him, but you might not have a choice this time of year. I mean, he's 48% rostered. He's widely available. Has a good amount of upside, at least based on what we saw last year from Trevor Rogers, but there's also a lot of downside. So keep that in mind if you're looking to add Trevor Rogers. Would you prefer to add him over Patrick Sandoval, Scottie, because he had another strong start up against the New York Yankees where he went seven innings of two-run ball with seven

strikeouts. He had 17 swinging strikes on 82 pitches. Just a fantastic ratio there. Seven of those came on the changeup, which he threw 34% of the time, which we love to see because on the season, he's only used that change up 24%. And it's his best pitch. It's a really, really good changeup. We're talking about one of the best changeups in all of baseball in Patrick Sandoval. So you really like to see that, Scott, over his last three starts, only three walks. Great from Patrick Sandoval. He's only allowed three earned runs over these last three starts, and he's 67% rostered. So who do you prefer him or Trevor Rogers? That's a tough one because we can point to certain skill indicators for Patrick Sandoval that we'd like,

but they've been present all year. And so where has this version over the last three starts been all year? Because yeah, it's been three great starts for Sandoval combined. three earn runs in 22 innings. You mentioned just three walks versus 21 strikeouts. I mean, that'll play if he's able to keep doing that. But there have been control issues. There have been pitch selection issues.

And I can't really say I have a lot of faith in Sandoval right now either. I don't know. I don't know. Who do you think? Who would you trust more this time of year? Sandival or Rogers? I prefer Sandoval just because he's done it a little bit longer. You know, recently, what have we seen?

We've only seen one start from Rogers. We've now seen three pretty damn good starts from Patrick Sandoval. Yeah. So I think a lot of it comes down to that control, Scott. Like, if he can keep the walks down, if he throws this change up more, you know, that's the pitcher that we loved, frankly, coming into the season. He was a popular breakout pick for everybody in Patrick Sandoval. And, you know, it's, I don't know if this will remain, but as of now, it looks like his matchup next week will be against the Tigers. once again. He threw a complete game shut out against them last time.

So I think, I prefer Sandoval. But you know, if you have the space, I would try to add both. If I have to play one, I think it would be Sandoval though. Yeah. Well, I mean, if he does line up to face the Tigers next time,

I mean, that's enough to clinch it for me. You made the case. He's been doing it for longer as in three starts. And I was kind of leaning that way for the same reason, which isn't much of a reason. right but you know the other side of the coin is Rogers has more of a mystery box quality

I think because he had that reset that he's referred to and maybe he's just going to come back a completely different pitcher that's that's more of the risk reward side I think of that coin but as I said that the fact that Sandival's next start lines up against the tigers. I mean, that

makes it a no-brainer which to go with if you have to choose. Oh my goodness gracious, for me, Scott, just got to point it out. I mean, Gunner Henderson, awesome debut here on Wednesday. He goes two for four, hits a home run and his second at-bat. So his first hit, technically, a home run here in the major leagues.

107 exit velocity, 429 feet, came off of Tristan McKenzie, who frankly is a pretty damn good pitcher. He does struggle with fly balls and home runs, so I guess no surprise there. But Gunner Henderson had three batted balls over 97 miles per hour. Exit velocity.

He has got a great head of hair, Scott. Love the hair. Hit the home run. He swung out of his helmet. And then he's just running around the bases with like his golden locks just flowing through the air. Like he kind of helped it off, right? Like he was starting to lose the helmet on the swing and he just kind of took his hand and threw it off. It was a perfect moment.

He could have the hair flowing for his first home run of his career. It was very, uh, it was very fobby. Fabio-esque. Definitely. Think of that scene from Moneyball. Like we're looking for Fabio. Well, maybe in this case you were, because look at him go. Yeah, 45%.

Go ahead. Yeah, I mean, the most impressive things, I think, was the quality of contact that he did hit the 3.97 miles per hour or more that the home run did exceed. How long did you say it was? 400. 429. 429. Oh, yeah. that's yeah it was good now he was playing third base not his natural shortstop position perhaps

that's what he's going to play mostly down the stretch he also saw a little time at second and first in the minors just in the days leading up to his promotion so I might move him around some but that that's interesting if he enters next year with third base eligibility rather than shortstop I guess that would be preferable right oh yeah uh the other thing is and And this is related to the other big call-up we've seen here recently, Corbyn Carroll. Corbin Carroll was out of the lineup for his third Major League game after really impressing in the first two. He was out of the lineup against the left-hander, Bailey Falter, so not a particularly good left-hander. By the way, Bailey Falter had a great start against the Diamondbacks, unlike Aaron Nola and Ranger Suarez.

Baseball. Maybe because Corby and Carol was out of the line. But that's getting off track. What I'm saying is they're both left-handed hitters, and these teams have to be careful about preserving their bats over the final five weeks here, because I think the number one rule for these high-profile promotions here in September. If that does become a normal thing, the number one rules for teams that follow it is going to be

you can't let him lose his rookie eligibility for next year because then you blow your chance at a draft pick potentially. So 130 at Bats is the magic number. You can get to 130, you can't exceed it. Then you lose your rookie eligibility. So Corbyn, Carroll got 10 total of Bats this first two games. 34 games were remaining for the Diamondbacks. obviously, you know, you just, you pace out those numbers.

You can't afford to get five at bats every day. They're going to have to sit them from time to time. They've had him low in the lineup, so they're going to be days where he gets only three. But still, they're going to have to monitor it and maybe sitting them against left-handers is a way to do that. I think that's going to apply even more so, finally bringing it back around.

That's going to apply even more so for Gunner Henderson because his splits against lefties were suspect at AAA, and because the Orioles want to put the best lineup out every day. They're actually competing for a wild card spot. And if Henderson struggles against lefties, well, that would be the time to sit him. I want to give credit to Jamie Campbell was the one who tweeted at us. He plays in one of our podcast, listener leagues.

And it was a Reddit user, Flaky Scarcity 4790, who pointed this out. So I wanted to give credit where it was due. It really wasn't something that I thought much about. But, yeah, based on that breakdown, Scott, I mean, sounds like Corbyn would be on pace to just start 24 of 34 remaining games. If we're presuming he gets five at bats every game,

which as I said. Yeah, so I mean, this is a rare case for these players where you want to see them like bat ninth, you know? Yeah, yeah, that's true. The more chances to start. Yeah, I guess even if you gave them four at bats per game, right?

Just average it out. Probably would get you to like 27 out of 30. four remaining games, 27 or 28. So he's going to sit. He's probably going to sit, let's say, every third or fourth game, something like that. Against a tough left, he'll make an excuse. Oh, you know, we've got to get Stone Garrett in the lineup, who, by the way, is betting 423 through his first, like, seven or eight games.

So I kind of wish that they would give him a shot to play, too. But we'll talk about that a little bit later on. Just kind of proceed with caution. Yes, add Corbyn Carroll, add Gunner Henderson, but just keep that in mind. They're probably going to sit like every third or fourth game, something like that. I did want to see where you plopped Gunner Henderson in your ranking, Scott. And we both dropped him right there at our 20th ranked shortstop rest of season, obviously with the ability to move up or down, depending on what he does here.

Amazing how often that happens. Like, I make a big change in my rankings. We don't confer about it in any way. And then I notice you move the guy to within like a spot or two of where I moved him. Yeah. You know what's like a lot of the times I'll update my rankings. And then I'll look at yours, just see like, all right, well, what did Scott do with this player?

It usually happens for really polarizing players that frankly I don't really know what to do with. But then it's funny, like when we kind of wind up in the exact same spot. Someone asked me on Twitter earlier, would I drop Alec Bohm or Nico Horner to add Gunner Henderson? And the answer is probably just yes, I would, either one.

But I said I would drop Nico Horner to get Henderson on my team. Yeah, you know, I might lean to dropping Bome instead. I mean, Bome's the one who's eligible at third base, right? So I think ultimately, ultimately that drives the decision.

What position do you need filled more? But Horner provides a speed element that Bome doesn't. Frankly, I think you could make the case. Horner has a little more power than Bome. As funny as it sounds. Yeah. It's at least not any worse.

I did want to ask you about a few other pitchers, Scott, and some deeper waiver wire pitchers. Jordan Lyles put together a scoreless start at the Guardians. He went six and two third shutout. Only two strikeouts. I think he's probably just more of like a deep streamer. He's 37% rostered. Looks like he's on pace for two starts next week

against the Blue Jays and the Red Sox. Woof. And then Billy Falter did have a strong start, but he left with right groin tightness at the end there. He was at the Diamondback, six and a third, one run, six strikeouts. I actually started him in a really deep league. an important league too.

So I was very pleased to see this start. Velocity up a little bit across the board for Bailey Fulter. He's only 8% rostered, but now he's kind of got this injury. And Zach Wheeler could be back next week, so I just don't really know if we could do anything with it. Yeah, I don't know either. I like Bailey Fultor in sort of a nebulous way.

I just don't think there's much application for him in fantasy yet. By the way, it's now 18 to 1 in that game. The Philly is really repaying the diamond. backs for the last two days. 18 runs and no home runs. Yeah. They're going bad bit crazy here, just like the Diamondbacks did yesterday,

off Nola. Yeah, they had to fix the plus minus after the past two days there. We'll get to the Phillies a little bit later on once that game goes final. I want to talk about a few waiver wire hitters. Lars Neupar, we talk about him all the time. He's not universally rostered yet.

His roster rate is now up to 72%, which is great, but it should continue to climb just... Get on it. As amazing as he has played. He sat for just the second time in 35 games here on Wednesday and still managed to have a huge performance. He came off the bench, walked twice, hit a home run.

Lars Neupar will not be stopped. I moved him all the way up, Sky. I went crazy with it. I put him as like my 30th ranked outfielder just because a lot of the other outfielder past that I just I don't feel good about like this is someone I actually want to play I want to put my line up right now So you have him as your 43rd ranked outfielder which I think it's fine But I would drop guys like J.D Martinez and Ketel Marte to to get new bar if I had to yeah Yeah, yeah that's fair I probably would too

Yeah yeah I might I might need to move them up yes more than I already have joy I probably would too it's just You know, it's, it just kind of depends how literally you want to take rest of season for rest of season rankings. Because, of course, the further we get, the less season we have left, the more radical you could get with your adjustments to the point where it's just ridiculous. Yeah. Like, you could, you know, oh, it's the last week of the season. And Brady Singer has matchable. against the Tigers and White Sox. Brady Singer is the number one pitcher

rest of season, guys. Like, yeah. I mean, at some point, you got to draw the line there. But I agree that probably, probably this is not the point to draw that line with Newpar. I want to talk about Yandy Diaz, Scott, because I feel like we probably haven't given him

enough credit recently. He went three for three with a double and two walks. Now, since the start of July, 49 games played. He is batting 3.10. with 21 doubles, five homers, 33 runs scored, and 33 RBI. He's 65% rostered. That might cover all of our points leagues.

I don't know that he has to be rostered in category leagues, but if he is available in any points league, Yandy Diaz needs to be rostered. The furthest that the head-to-head points counting system on CBS goes, at least the one that I have, you might be able to go back further, Scott. Last 28 days, Yandy Diaz is the fourth high. highest scoring third baseman in points leagues.

So if he's out there, I think he needs to add him. Yeah, okay. That's, I was going to look up something like that. If I have a minute to do that. Basically, I mean, that probably says it well enough because, what, you went back 28 days? Yeah. So since June 26th, Yomdi Diaz is batting 322

with five home runs. You know, five home runs isn't that impressive. That's not the main thing he does. He gets on base. Again, he gets on base. Moneyball reference. Let's get them all in there. Well over 400 OPP since June 26th.

And that brings the OPS over 900. And yeah, I think clearly a points league specialist because of that lack of power and because so much is driven by him getting on base. But sure, being eligible at third base, I think a lot of people could use them. I would be okay dropping, I mean, this late in the season, Justin Turner hasn't done much. I would make that swap. The Andy Diaz, probably similar to Alec Bone, but he's been better.

So I would be okay making that swap as well. I mean, at that point, we're looking at like a top 15-ish third baseman rest of season in the NDDS. Scott, I got three outfield eligible players here for you. Fran Mill Reyes, I know I bring him up a lot, but he's played well. He went one for four with his 13th home run. John Birdie definitely heard me the other day and stuck it to me. Went two for four with a sock and a shoe. His third home run, his 32nd steel of the season.

He did leave that game with right hip soreness. So we'll see if he is all right. He's 51% rostered. And then I don't know why it took me this long to make this reference, Scott. But Jake the Snake McCarthy is the easiest nickname of all time. He plays for the Diamondbacks, a snake. Uh-huh. And that's, you know, a very popular wrestler from back in the days, back in the day, Jake the Snake Roberts.

So it just works perfectly. Jake the Snake McCarthy went one for three with his sixth homer, lefty on lefty. So, you know, the guy can hit lefties, or at least he has so far. He's pretty interesting. 33% rostered. How do you rank those three? Reyes, John Birdie, Jake McCarthy. Now, that's a tough one.

Probably Bertie has to be number one, the versatility, the stolen bases. I mean, particularly if you're talking about a Categories league, what he provides there in that category. Second and third between Reyes and McCarthy. Well, Reyes would definitely be last in a points league. Although, I mean, I think the most encouraging thing he's done since joining the Cubs, the numbers are 276 batting average 821 OPS, four home runs now. The most encouraging thing is striking out 26% of the time with the Cubs, knocked almost 10 percentage points off the season strikeout rate.

And if Framo-Raeus is striking out only a quarter of the time, good things are going to happen. But I still think just in general, the plate discipline is so bad. He'd be third in points league for me. McCarthy is becoming pretty interesting. So second home run is many games. That gives him 6 and 234 plate appearances, which isn't, paste that out.

It's not like he's some power hitter. but an outfielder with a solid strikeout rate who can steal bases and is on, what pace would that be over a full season at bats? Like 13, 14 home runs? I mean, in today's environment, that'll play. So I'll say McCarthy is second

between Bertie and Reyes. But I think especially in, I think those first two, Bertie and McCarthy are close in points leagues, and I think those last two, McCarthy and Reyes, are close in categories leagues. All right. Let's rank three more hitters. These are more so deeper league middle infielders, or at least middle infield eligible. Luis Garcia has returned for the nationals. He's played four games. He has five hits during that time, one homer, one steal. He was leading off on Wednesday. He's 17% rostered. Nick Gordon, another strong game. He went two

for four with two doubles and two RBI. Kesson Hiro went two for five. with a double, an RBI, two-run scored. He was in the lineup, even with Roddy Telez, back for the team. So maybe they're just finding ways to get Kessin Hira more involved now. Scott ranked those three, Garcia, Gordon, Hira. Gordon? Hmm. Hira Garcia.

Obviously, there's a shelf life on. Hira. Let's see. So, We don't know how much he's going to play, right? But we think he's going to play a little more right now. Is that the story with Kestin Hira? Yeah, I think so.

I mean, I think he's going to play as long as he's hitting, right? Their offense has kind of been stagnant. Yeah. And so I'd rather just get the home run production from Hiro's been great on a per game basis. It's just he hasn't played enough. So, yeah, Nick Gordon, followed by Hira, and then Garcia is just not providing enough power and no on base skills either. But yeah, Gordon, we talked about him yesterday, and he had another big game today.

He's really, he's just as interesting as I think Jake McCarthy, I would say, providing some power, some speed, projecting for even more power than he's actually 93rd percentile for X-slug now. It's crazy. And he never did much in the minor leagues, Nick Gordon, but he was a very high draft pick. He was the fifth overall pick back in 2014. It's a long time ago. He's now 26 years old. But, you know, he came with some prospect pedigree. So it takes some time for, you know, different players progress differently.

And Nick Gordon, he looks really good right now. So I agree. He's got baseball in the blood, son of Tom Gordon, brother of D. Gordon. For sure? Yep. Three more names got in much deeper leagues. Just if you have any note on any of these or any interest, rather. Dermice Garcia, with the.

Oakland A's. He went one for two with a walk and he hit his second home run in as many days. He's got some pop too. I saw the minor league numbers. He strikes out a lot. That's the big problem for him. I guess he's kind of like Fran Mill Reyes in that way. I don't know if he'll become that good, but he's one person at rostered. Mike Taglia, who we mentioned on yesterday's podcast, Big Power, now getting a chance to play for the Rockies. He went two for four, hit his first home run and it came off of Kenley Jansen. Pretty impressive. And then Stone Garrett picked up two hits. He's now batting. Last I saw was 423. He. He might have got another at bat.

No, he's up next. But yeah, now batting 423 for Stone Garrett. I just don't think he's going to play enough, Scott. What do you think about those? I like Stone Garrett in theory. Awesome name, great physique. Love the guy. I want him to play, but the diamond backs don't see it the way that I do.

So, Michael, and let's get this pronunciation right, Michael Tolia? It might be Tolia. I feel like I've heard that other places. It looks like talk. That's a G in there, but I think it's silent. Michael Tolia of the Rockies has a lot of power, but he struck out at like a 30% rate between double and triple 8. I mean, he showed that power home runoff, Kenley Jansen.

And I think he's going to play a lot because he is the Rocky's first basement of the future. And if there's any place that can make up for batting average deficiencies, it's course field because so many batted balls land fall in for hits. So there may be something here. Like if it comes down to Michael Tolia or Joey Menesis in a redraft league, of course, we're not talking about a dynasty context. But if it comes down for those two to fill a corner infield spot, I think I'd prefer Meneses.

But Tolia could end up being a, because of course, field, Tolia could end up making an impact. And it is indeed Tolia, Scott. So good call there. I was listening to a minor league baseball video while you were talking to make sure we got that right. All right. Good deal.

Yes. I could have said all kinds of crazy things and you wouldn't have been able to check me on it. You could have told everyone my dental history, which we talked about before we started, and I would have had no ideas, Scott. Yes, Michael Tolia. He's interesting.

I just put a bid on him in one of my 15 team leagues. So a little interest there. Let's take a break, and when we get back, we'll get to the news and notes here on Fantasy Baseball today. The news and notes. Ray's manager, Kevin Cass, said that Shane McClanahan underwent an MRI on Wednesday, which confirmed the diagnosis of a shoulder impingement.

Shane O'Mack will receive a cortisone shot and could be back after a minimum stay on the IEL. And for pitchers, it's 15 days, so, you know, a little bit past two weeks. seems a little optimistic, but we'll see. Ronald Acuna was back in the Braves lineup on Wednesday. He went one for four with his 11th home run of the season. And that was a 444 foot shot.

So an impressive sock there by Ronald Acuna, no shoes, but there was that sock. Here's the thing. I don't know if you caught this after the game, what Acuna said. No, I didn't see it. So he was asked about the status of his knee. The quote is, it's terrible. We're just going to have, we're just going to play through it until the season's over.

Wow. Yeah, that's pretty blunt, huh? Wow. Yeah, that's. I don't know that we're going to see too many shoes from him. True. But it's, it's nice to see he's still got the sock there. Yeah, I mean, if he's not running,

we're going to need some power to make up for that. And powers, has been what's been lacking those from this year. So I don't know. I don't really know what to expect. He's going to he's going to have to sit a fair amount himself, I would guess. And

I mean, I hope he doesn't need some kind of intervention in the off-season or I don't know, maybe it'd be better. Maybe it'd be more comforting if he did. So that I don't know. I don't know. It's kind of a problem. I'm looking up to see when his last stolen base was. It was August.

13th. It wasn't that long ago. He has three for the entire month, but he's three out of three. And his last three steal attempts he was caught. You mean three for six? Three out of three for six, yeah. I was like three for three. That's pretty good, Scott. Yeah.

All right, well, yeah, it's a tough situation because if he's not playing every day and he's not running, like we want him to, like, you can't bench a cunea because, I mean, he has as much upside as any hitter in the game. maybe not right now the way that he's clearly playing hurt, but yeah, I think you just kind of got to leave him in there. He leads off for one of the best lineups in baseball. It's, I don't know,

unless he goes on the I-L, that's probably the only way we're going to get him out of our lineups. I mean, the only way you'd even consider sitting Acuna, as if is a points league, I would guess, a three outfield or points league where you're just stacked in the outfield.

I think that's the only scenario where it's even thinkable. Yeah, that makes sense. Brett Beatty, unfortunately, will undergo surgery to repair a torn UCL in his right thumb, and he was placed on the IL retroactive to August 29th. The standard recovery timeline for this type of procedure is about five weeks, so we will not see Brett Beatty again for the regular season. Maybe he can help them out in the postseason.

That remains to be seen. Brandon Lau was placed on the IL with a right triceps contusion, retroactive to August 28th. Yordan Alvarez was out of the lineup again on Wednesday, but said he 100% expects to return to the starting lineup Friday against the Angels. Salvador Perez was scratched Wednesday with back tightness. Wilson Contreras was out of the lineup on Wednesday,

had X-rays come back negative, and was cleared of structural damage after undergoing an MRI on his ankle. This ankle has been an issue for a while now. It's clearly affected his production too. So I don't really feel great about Wilson Gutierrez right now, but it's the catcher position. So you don't really have a choice.

That was one move I made in my rest of season rankings update today. I moved JT. Real Muto up ahead of Wilson Contreras. Makes sense? I'm sure that's that's changing people's lineups left and right. All those people who have both of them. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, hey, JTR has been amazing for like the past two months. So I get it.

The Rockies won't have an update on Chris Bryant's foot for another seven to 10 days. Robert has missed five straight due to a sore left wrist and remains day to day. Nick Castiano's has missed the past two games with turf toe. Jorge Polanco has now missed four straight with left Pateller tendonitis in his knee. Ramon Laureano will begin a rehab assignment at Singale on Thursday. He's been on the IL since mid-August due to a left oblique strain. Scott, would you look to maybe stash Luriano in five outfielder leagues right now? Yeah, I mean, presuming Roto.

but I'm not sure I've ever played in a five outfielder points league. They probably exist. I've just never played in one. So Tout Wars, head to head points, the salary cap draft that I'm in. The one you're in, yeah. It's a roto-style lineup. So, yeah, we've got five outfielder. They do exist.

I prefer it, too. I mean, I like going deeper into the player pool. My home league uses four outfielders, too, so. Not exactly that deep, but close enough. Justin Steele is expected to start Tuesday against the Reds. he exited his previous start with lower back tightness. Spencer Torkelson will be recalled by the Tigers when rosters expand on Thursday, and he hasn't been good.

Even in the minor leagues, he was betting 229 with five homers, a 737 OPS, strikeout rate is elevated to 27%. The power has been nearly non-existent. He's 39% rostered Scott. I think even in deeper leagues, you don't really need to add Torkelson, unless maybe we see something in this first week when he gets called up. Yeah, I feel the same way. I wrote about 20 impact call-ups for September.

Potential call. Possible call-ups are already confirmed call-ups. So I had like Corbyn Carroll in there, but I also had Josh Young in there. 20 names. And I thought about including Spencer Torkelson because, you know, he's coming back. Obviously, good pedigree and all of that. technically doesn't qualify as a prospect anymore because he's used up his rookie eligibility. But, you know, I'd be willing to fudge it if I had enough confidence in him.

And I just don't. I didn't think it was worth listing him there. Man, he is so tough to figure out from a Dynasty League perspective right now, Scott. Like, would you, would you try to buy on him? I would say, you know, we'll try to buy low on Torkelson and Dynasty. But whoever drafted him in their first year player draft, they probably used a top three pick on him and you know they're not gonna just sell Torkelson for you know pennies on a dollar like and he's on a dollar I think that's the same anyway what would you

try to do with Torkelson and Dynasty depends sometimes pennies sometimes nickels sometimes 75 cents sometimes 90 cents it just depends on what the comparison is it feels like pennies right all it feels like pennies right now yeah I've never heard dimes on the dollar I've never heard that either I was about to say it and I'm like that this is Saturday. Yeah, no, there probably aren't Spencer Torkelson trades happening in Dynasty Leagues for

exactly the reasons you laid out, I think. If I did hear that somebody was willing to dump Torkelson in the Dynasty League and it was a true pennies on the dollar situation, then sure, I'd be all about that. If I was negotiating a trade with somebody who had Torkelson and And I was trying to get that little bit extra. I might bring up his name and see if he could be something like a throw-in.

But yeah, I think he's really hard to trade and to trade for right now in a Dynasty League. My instinct is to buy, but it would have to be buying low. And it doesn't seem realistic right now. I don't know what kind of like, you know, obviously. if you're a non-contender and you have pieces who aren't going to be part of your future, then that's, you know, dynasty creates opportunities like that, where you don't have to give up anything of real value to your own scenario to get somebody like Torkelson.

And that would be the most likely scenario where it could happen, I think. It's been a while, but let's fire up the worryometer, Scotty. 10 on the worryometer, you are freaking out. You don't know what to do. You're worried. one, you're fine. You're not concerned at all. Freddie Peralta, he had a solid start against the Pirates.

He gave up one run over five innings pitched, three strikeouts, a zero walks, 10 swinging strikes on 74 pitches. It was a fine ratio. His velocity was way down in the start. Fastball was down 2.4 miles per hour. His curve was down 2.3 miles per hour. He's been okay since coming back from the IL. He's got a 2.47 ERA over six starts.

the FIP and the XFIP are much higher. I mean, they're up over four. They're like near four and a half. So what do you think? Wariometer on Freddie Peralta? I would go maybe like a five. Because the results have been fine, I'm pretty much just running them out there.

But the velocity is concerning. And this is actually the second straight start where the velocity was down. It wasn't down as much on the fastball last time out. as it was in this one, but it was down on both the breaking balls more than two miles per hour on his previous start, too. And yet they've been among his best starts. So, yeah, that's a tough one to figure out, but you don't like to see velocity go down, generally speaking.

Might have to be a little bit more careful with the matchups with him. He's getting it done, but I don't know. I don't like it. I don't like it one bit for Freddie Peralta. Joe Ryan was hit hard by the Boston Red Sox. He gave up five runs over five innings pitched. He did have eight strikeouts. He had 19 swinging strikes, 14 of those coming on the fastball. So that is amazing.

However, he gave up a lot of hard contact, 95.4 mile per hour, average exit velocity against in this start. And since June 14th, I'm kind of cherry-picking here. There's a 10-earned run start in there. I get it. But the numbers are what they are. His last 14 starts, including tonight,

He's got a 4.80 ERA over a strike up or ending, so that's fine. But you know, Scott, there's a lot of five-inning starts in there. There's a few like four earned run, five-earned run starts. Joe Ryan just from Maine's an enigma. He is tough to figure out. Where is he on the Wariometer? So there's also four starts, two-runners, or fewer, right? A lot of those, it's kind of a more extreme version of what we've been talking about

with Aaron Nola the past few days. days where the starts are either really good or they're really bad. And in Joe Ryan's case, the really bad starts are a little more frequent than they've been for Aeronola. I think it's just part of the profile. He's going to be susceptible to the long ball, and that's going to lead to some ugly statelines from time to time. I made the 10 runs start. He gave up five home runs. You don't see anybody give up five home runs very often.

But the strikeout rate's good. The walk rate is very good. It's been a little worse lately, but that's throughout his minor league career. He was the guy who showed great control. So just kind of a boom or bust pitcher, and obviously you're stuck with them now, but if you're thinking about next year how to value Joe Ryan,

you'll need to keep that in mind. There's going to be some frustration. He's not exactly the same profile, but he's kind of similar to Trista McKenzie and that he gives up all these fly balls and he's got relatively good control. But yeah, a lot of fly balls can lead to home runs, obviously. Tristan McKenzie has more breaking pitches.

So, you know, it's not an apples to apples comparison, but... I didn't tell you where Eometer number, three. I'll say for Joe Ryan versus the five for Freddie Peralta. Okay. The last one here is Martin Perez, who was touched up once again by the Houston Astros. And over his last five starts, he's got a 4.82 ERA. three of those were quality starts.

The other two against the Astros were the ones where he got rocked. So I might be reaching a little bit here. The overall whip's got now for Martine Perez is up to 1.23. So that has been climbing pretty rapidly here. Where is he on the Worryometer? I'm gonna give him,

I'm gonna put him right in between the other two. I'll say four. So there is some worry. But I don't think I'm gonna do anything about it. I think I'm just going to keep starting him. You mentioned the whip. The most worrisome thing about Martin Perez,

he's a guy who's had control problems in the past, and most of that increase in whip has to do with an increase in walks. And it's pretty alarming how drastic it is, if I can find it real quick here. Oh, where did it go? I know I put the numbers in here. Hang on a second. Hang on a second, I got it.

And in the meantime, I will let everyone know that Martin Perez is on pace for two starts next week against the Blue Jays and at the Astros. So it's pretty scary stuff. Points League, I definitely do it still. I definitely start in Points League. Roto League, you got away what you need more as far as the categories go. Okay, so past nine starts for Martin Perez, 4.8 walks per nine. That's compared to 2.2 in his first 17 starts. So that's the most concerning aspect of this.

Yep. And yet, I mean, you look at where he ranks among pitchers, and it's just so high. Like, I'm not particularly coming off three good starts in a row prior to this one, right? Like, I'm not going to bench him in most cases. That start against Astros once again, though. That just, it scares me quite a bit when it comes to Martin Perez. Well, look what he did in his last start against the Astros.

You mean when he gave up seven runs over five innings? All right, I guess I was thinking of a two points. He did throw a complete game against him earlier in the season. Oh, he threw seven shoutout innings at Colorado last time out. That's probably what I was thinking, at Colorado. Oh, yeah. And the only leagues where I have him, I benched him, of course, for that one. And he was great.

And then I started him again this time, and boom, that's basically fantasy baseball in a nutshell. Or I was thinking about he threw a complete game shutout against the Astros on May 20th. Yeah. Maybe that's what I was thinking of. I was thinking of something. That's what I used to talk myself into starting him this week. All right, he's had one bad start against him.

He's had two really good starts against him. He'll be fine. If you're protecting ERA and Whip in Roto, then probably don't start Martin Perez for that two-star week. But in any other scenario, certainly points leagues. I think you stick with them. All right. Let's get into our point.

pitcher's duel here from Wednesday. Tyler Anderson at Jacob de Grom could potentially be an NLCS matchup that we were watching here. Tyler Anderson was great. Once again, seven innings, eight hits allowed, two runs with three strikeouts. Kind of weird that he has a career high 12.2% swinging strike rate, yet his K-per-9, I think, is now below seven. So either way, he's found a way to get the most out of his skill. set. That is Tyler Anderson. And then Jacob de Grom, I mean, just keeps plugging away. Up against the Dodgers, the best lineup in baseball, seven innings, one run, nine strikeouts to

just one walk, 25 swinging strikes on 93 pitches, 15 of those on the slider, eight on the fastball. And that is his second start with at least 24 swinging strikes in just six outings. The first one came against the Braves. This one came against the Dodgers, who, by the the way, have the eighth lowest strikeout rate against right-handed pitching and the highest weighted on base average also against right-handed pitching. So it's insane, Scott. It's what, I don't know what else to say. I'm literally speechless when it comes to Jacob de Grom. Let me give you a scenario, Scott. Let's say he remains healthy for the rest of the season. He continues to pitch this way as he has the past two or three years, basically. What do we do with him next year?

I think if there are no hiccups rest of season and he continues to dominate like this, Jacob de Grom probably deserves to be the first pitcher drafted. Will you be the person to do it? Probably not. There is no way I'm doing it. Yeah. If he's a first round pick next year, no. And it's not a knock on Jacob de Grom.

He's ridiculous. Well, I don't know that there's any. starting pitcher I would draft in the first round next year as I sit here right now. I can't knock it. Yeah. Like who is? Points leagues? Who's the one standout, right? I mean, Corbyn burns has slowed up recently. Garrick Cole doesn't look like himself. Max Scherzer has been really good. I mean, he might have a claim to the throne, honestly, to be the SP1. But he's older. You know, he misses time.

Points leagues, specifically, if it's not DeGrom, it might be Sandy Al-Com. Yes. Now we're talking, Scottie. But I, I, the drop off at hitter is so steep by comparison that I think even in points leagues. Like I'm going back to 2015 Scott White and earlier. Just give me all the hitters. Swing from one extreme to another in a two-year span. I actually think I'm going to be with you. Scott, I mean, just like looking back at my teams this season, And, yeah, I actually saw an email, and we got time, and we'll dig into it. You know, someone pointed out that there were a lot of first round busts for hitters this year.

You know, Bo Bichette, Ronald de Cunia, Luis Robert was in that mix, which is fair. But there is a higher hit rate in terms of taking a hitter in the first four rounds versus a pitcher in the first four rounds. It's more likely that you will get return on your investment on a hitter than you will a pitcher. That's just based on data. I was talking with like Ariel Cohen about it, you know, recently. And he's a lot smarter than I am, so I would take his word for it. But just thinking about it, it makes sense. Let's get into a few leftovers here from Wednesday's action, and we'll start with the hitters.

Corey Seeger went one for four with his 29th home run. Alejandro Kirk went one for four with his 13th homer. And I know he slowed up a lot in the second half, Scott. Have you looked at Alejandro Kirk recently to maybe diagnose what's going on with him? No, I haven't looked that closely because he's, you know, whether he's the second best catcher in fantasy or the seventh best catcher in fantasy, it doesn't really make a difference how you approach him,

especially now that we're beyond the trade deadline. I still think he's good. I think he's really good. I think he'll be, at least in points league, is one of the top five catchers drafted next year, and maybe in roto two. Moogie Betts went one for four with his 30-second home run, which came off of Jacob de Grom.

Mookie had this to say about DeGrom. quote, he's pretty much the best. Maybe the best to ever pitch. I don't know. There could be an argument made. Stalling Marte went... What's up? I would say so.

Arguably. But, you know, there's an argument for it, too. Stalling Marte went one for four with his 16th home run, and he has really, really come on strong over the past two months or so. That is Staling Marte. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. O'Hio-Swarres went two-four with his 25th home run.

What year is it? Zander Bogarts and J.D. Martinez homered in the same game, which is just crazy. Bogarts actually had a sock in a shoe, his 12th homer and his eighth steel. J.D. Martinez, his 11th home run of the season. Trevor Story could make a big impact here down the stretch. Finally getting healthy, he went three for five with his 12th steel. Bobby Witt Jr. went one for four with his 19th homer. Nolan Aronado went two for six with his 28th.

And Choha Tani went one for three with his 30th home run, which came off of. of Garrett Cole, unfortunately, for me. The Phillies, by the way, that game went final. They put up 18 runs on 22 hits. Is there anything notable here? No home runs, as you mentioned, Scotty. A lot of three hits, you know,

everybody in the starting lineup had multiple hits. Every single player in their starting lineup had multiple hits. Bryce Harper had three. Rhys Hoskins had three. Brandon Marsh even had three hits. Not really much to take away, but nice showing for the Phillies. Pitching standouts.

Bryce Harper's been great since returning, by the way, exclusively DHing, but he started every game. And I would prefer him to both Acuna and Jordan Alvarez the rest of the way. I guess he'll be an interesting one for next year because we still kind of have that partially torn UCL lingering in the back of our minds for Bryce Harper. So, you know, doesn't come with no risk. Well, is he supposed to get that corrected in the offseason? Is it something where he can get it corrected and still be ready for spring training? Partially torn UCL? It's aggressive, but you do see hitters.

I think we've seen hitters return within six months before from that. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I couldn't remember if there had been any comment about that. Pitching standouts part one. Joe Musgrove posted a season high 11 strikeout. at the Giants. He went six and two thirds, three runs allowed, 11 strikeouts in that one, the ERA, back down to 3.01 for him. Drew Raspison has allowed two earned runs or fewer in eight

straight starts. He was at the Marlins. He went six innings, one run, four strikeouts, had 14 swinging strikes on 72 pitches. The problem for Raspson, he doesn't go deep into his starts. He's only gone six plus in three of his last eight starts, but the results have been very good. And then Kyle Wright now has eight quality starts in his last nine outings. He was up against the Rockies

seven shutout with six strikeouts for him. The ERA now drops to 2.85. Scotty, anything on Musgrove, Rasmussen, and Kyle Wright. Not really. Great month for Rasmussen.

Six starts in August a 157 ERA, but as you mentioned, six plus innings and only three of those. And, I mean, yeah, that's about it. All right.

That's about it. Pitching standouts part. By the way, well, we have an awkward pause here. Shout out to the guy in the L.A. Lakers shirt at the Dunkin' Donuts in Boka Raton. Dave Richard ran into him today. He said he was a big fan. I don't know why he didn't bother to get a name, but guy in the L.A. Lakers shirt, you know who you are. That's your shout out.

you find out about this? Dave emailed me. Oh, he, all right. Yeah, I mean, that's easy enough. Speaking of Dave Richard, I was on the draftathon on Thursday night with Dave and Adam and Eric Young, actually a wrestler. And it was a lot of fun. You know, I don't really get a lot of opportunities to do stuff with the football guys

and Dave Richard in particular, but they're good dudes. I enjoyed it. Pitching standouts part two that I wanted to mention here. Michael Waka, another strong start at the Twins. and what he's doing looks a little bit more sustainable since returning. He went six innings, two runs, seven strikeouts, and in those four starts since coming back, he's got a 2.23 ERA, over a strikeout per inning,

12.6% swinging strike rate. Michael Walk is 78% rostered. He could be out there in some shallower leagues. It looks pretty good. Lance Lynn also looks pretty good. He looks like himself once again. He was up against the Royals. He went seven innings, one run, eight strikeouts in that one,

in 6 August starts he had a 2.49 ERA and well over a strikeout per inning and then Garrickle whatever he was solid seven inning seven innings three runs two of those earned he had four strikeouts I don't want to talk about caracol Scott anything on lanselin or michael walker yeah lance lynn's been great in august I think he's back the velocity hasn't come all the way back but it doesn't matter the results have been so good and I didn't think the velocity and you need to come all the way back for him anyway. Did you see my trades got, my buzzer beater in the podcast Points League? You know, particularly in a head-to-head league,

I don't know why the trade deadline hasn't come yet. I kind of find that a little irksome that teams that are clearly out of it, like literally the playoffs start next week, and you can still make trades that seems little bonkers to me. But no, what was the trade? To be fair, it was the number one and two teams trading with each other. but you're right I'll let you in on a little secret, Scott.

I don't think that I've changed it since the short season. So I got to jot that down in my notes for things to change in the podcast league going into next year, but you're absolutely right. Probably shouldn't have went down. Anyway, my trade, I lost Verlander,

I lost McClanahan, I lost Zach Wheeler. I'm holding on for Dear Life right now. I traded away Bobby Witt, Jr. and Jordan Romano for Lance. Lynn, Jose Miranda, and Kenley Jansen. So I guess downgrade a little bit at relief pitcher, and then Bobby Witt for Lance Lynn and Miranda. I mean, it doesn't sound great, but it might meet your needs better.

So does Miranda takeover as your third baseman? What do you mean? It doesn't sound great. Like, for me? Yeah, I mean, just in a vacuum. I get a top 30 starting pitcher. I need it. I guess.

Top 30-ish. Yeah, but Bobby Witt's the top seven third baseman with a very steep drop off after that. So I assume Miranda takes over as your third basement. He sure does. Yeah. You got big shoes to fill, Jose. So I hope you're ready, bud.

The call to the bullpen. Let's start with the Astros. Rafael Montero gave up a hit, but picked up his 10th save. For the Padres, interesting. Nick Martinez was unavailable. He pitched each of the past two days. Josh Hater converted his 30th,

save of the season. Yeah, boy. What does that mean moving forward? That means I may have been too aggressive moving them down in my rankings. Clearly, this was instigated by an availability issue there with Nick Martinez. I'm sure Hater

wouldn't have gotten this chance otherwise, but since he converted it, opens the door to new possibility. So this is what he had to say after the game. He said it was something mechanically I was going through. Interesting that he uses the past tense because remember it was just his previous

outing. He allowed six earned runs against the royals and in his last 21 innings 28 earned runs. It's just been terrible. So he said it was something mechanically I was going through. He also said he also called it a step in the right direction.

So he both referred to it in past tense and kind of referred to it as a work in progress. He did have a wild pitch in it. But yeah, it was a scoreless inning. Hopefully Josh Hader's going to bounce back. I think I need to see one more

before I think about starting him again. Frankly, I am shocked that they went to him in the ninth inning. I know he's Josh Hader, but he has been so bad recently. I mean, good for him. I hope he gets back on track, but I was shocked myself to see it.

For Tampa Bay, Jason Adam pitched in the ninth inning with the game tied. Jalen Beeks then picked up his second save in extra innings. For the Cubs, Brendan Hughes entered in the 7th, inning with a two-run lead to face lorres gueriel there was a runner on first base um but then brandon hughes

recorded the next four outs row and wick then closed out the ninth inning for his ninth save i still think brandon hughes is their highest leverage reliever and probably who they prefer in the ninth inning so hughes had gotten three of their previous four saves and the only one he didn't get was in an an extra inning game, but he had during that span of time worked innings other than the ninth. So it's clear he wasn't being treated like a conventional closer, but I agree that he seems to have, he seems to be the reliever David Ross trusts the most, and probably will get the majority of the save chances because of that.

He has the best numbers. He has way better numbers than Rowan Wick. For the Mets, Sound the Trump. Scottie. Edwin Diaz struck out one for his 29 save. I'm assuming you've seen this big trumpet entrance that they've got going on. Yeah, it is. It's pretty great. It's pretty great. So this is kind of a feud between Mets and Braves fans. I mean, obviously this, what's the name of that song? I don't know. I know the guy who does it is Timmy trumpet. I'd recognize it if somebody said the name, but and I don't know a song I don't think there's lyrics but I never know what to call a song that doesn't have words it's an instrumental I guess yeah anyway so it's also William Contreras's walk-up song yeah oh it's called narco okay it's William Contreras's walk-up song and it's been his walk-up song all year but because Edwin Diaz is now most known for it Metz family

thinks that William Contreras stole it or is trolling Edwin Diaz with it. And so it's become a point of contention. I mean, either way, it's fine by me. If he's trolling him, then I'm cool with that too. Obviously, I'm a hater, right? In New York, Scott, I mean, the media here, it's like, Edwin Diaz is the new Mariano Rivera. He has got a cool entrance, blah, blah, blah.

And I'm just like, can we not be so ridiculous all the time? Why do we have to do this? Anytime anything even resembles something else, we have to make it a comparison, which just doesn't make sense. Regardless, it's pretty cool. For the Mariners, Paul Seawald walked two, but struck out two for his 17th save.

For the White Sox, Liam Hendricks, allowed two hits and a run, but converted his 29th. For the Red Sox, Matt Barnes gave up a hit and a walk, but picked up his fourth save. What's dead may never die. Scott, Matt Barnes,

do you think he's actually kind of working his way back into the closer mix? here? I mean, maybe, but it's very messy. And Tanner Hauk could be back soon, which would just make it messier. I'm not confident how it's going to become the closer again, but he'll make it even messier. All right. Kenley Jansen gave up two runs, but picked up his 30th save. And then for the Angels, Jimmy Hergett entered in the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He, I believe, walked both Aaron Judge and John Carlos Stanton to lead off the inning. And then he recorded the next three outs in a row. So.

And I think that's either two or three saves in a row for him now. That is three in a row. Jimmy Hergut has each of the Angels past three saves. Yeah. And in a five-day span, which is interesting. Numbers for the year, Jimmy Hergett, 273 ERA, 0.95 whip, 8.7K per 9. You'd like the K per 9 to be higher, but those are good numbers. Yep.

He's been mostly a multi-inning reliever this year, but, three of his last four appearances have been conventional closer type appearances. So I think Jimmy Hergitt's the clear favorite now for the Angels. I agree. Yeah, I think if you play in deeper leagues and you're chasing saves, Jimmy Hergut is 3% rostered. Definitely a name to target. To stream or not to stream for Thursday,

Eduardo Rodriguez versus the Mariners, Ken Waldichuk in his debut at the Nationals, or Kyle Bradish at the Guardians. If you're desperate to start one, Eduardo Rodriguez would be my choice, but not a lot of confidence there. It doesn't get much better on Friday. Kyle Freeland at the Reds,

JP Sears at the Orioles, Dean Kramer versus the A's, Daniel Lynch at the Tigers, and Domingo Hermann at the Rays. You know, I know my sleeper pitchers for the week included Eduardo Rodriguez and didn't include Dean Kramer and Daniel Lynch,

but given their matchups, Kramer against the A's, and Lynch at Detroit. If you're combining Thursday and Friday, I think I prefer both of them to Eduardo Rodriguez. That's Dean Kramer and Daniel Lynch. We're going to wrap there.

For Scott, I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching. Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.