Fantasy Baseball Today - Jackson Holliday vs. Jackson Merrill + Wednesday's Standouts (8/8 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

Episode Date: August 8, 2024

A couple of rookies named Jackson had big games on Wednesday. Chris Towers and Scott White rank Jackson Merrill and Jackson Holliday, and they might not side with who you expect. Plus, the latest on Joe Ryan and Grayson Rodriguez's injuries, Zach Neto's breakout, waiver-wire targets, and more from Wednesday's 17-game schedule. Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. We're recapping 17 games worth of action on fantasy baseball today. I'm Chris Towers here with Scott White,

and there is so much to get to in today's action that honestly, I feel like I'm drowning a bit. 17 games, a couple of doubleheaders, a bunch of big performances. And we're going to start with the oh my goodness gracious player of the night. And let's see if I can do. I've got trying to be a little technical here up the standards of the show with Frank on. Let's see if this works. He's good.

He is Christian Moore, the number eight pick in this year's MLB draft, who homered twice. Today, he's already up to AA for the Rocket City Trash Pandas. That was a call from the Rocket City Trash Pandas broadcast. Shout out to listener Travis Robidow for that one. Maybe we'll get Christian Moore on a prospect spotlight because, you know, he's on the Angels. We might see him in the majors in the next couple of days. Just the fact they've already moved him up to double A and he's producing there. I did not expect to lead the show with Christian Moore.

Well, that's not actually the oh my goodness gracious player of the night. It was kind of a sneak one. No, no, no, no. We're going to the real Los Angeles Angels. My oh my goodness gracious, he's good player of the night is Zachary Netto, who at least for one day was the king of New York in a doubleheader against the Yankees, he went four for nine with two home runs, including a grand slam. Two runs scored eight RBI.

He is hitting 350 with a 950 slugging percentage in the month of August. Three home runs, it's a six game sample size. But he remains on a 22 homer, 28 stolen base pace for the season. And I know we've we've talked a lot this season about how it's kind of an empty 2025-ish pitch. and has been for a while, but he is 73% rostered and the change to batting second

in the lineup for the Angels does change his outlook a little bit. Is Zach Netto at 73% rostered? Is that too low, Scott? You know, it might be, and I've had a difficult time.

You've been the skeptic. Yeah, that's fair. And, you know, even now he's on pace for, well, this isn't updated with today's stats. Obviously, he had, what did you say, 8 RBI between the two games? 8 RBI, yeah.

Entering today, he was on pace for 73 RBI, 70 runs. So even with the nice home run, stolen base combination, that does limit his appeal in fantasy, but he entered today just inside the top 12 at shortstop in year-to-date production and head-to-head points leagues, which you think would be his lesser format. So he's just creptu.

inside the top 12 there. He was behind Hassan Kim. So, you know, I don't know that that's that strong of an endorsement for Zach Netto. But he's

technically a top 12 shortstop now. And so I think we need to take that seriously. Obviously, some shortstops who we will probably continue to like more, who are outside the top 12. Mookie Betts, of course, who will be back next week. Carlos Correa should be back relatively soon.

I would think he's in the same spot. O'Neill Cruz, I would say. I like more still Jackson Merrill. I like more. Trey Turner's still catching up from the time he missed and not inside the top 12 in year-to-date production. So realistically, I'm not sure I can rank him much higher than 16th or 17th.

I see Zander Bogartz is down here too. I'd rather have Bogart's than Netto. So that's part of the issue, is just shortstop has a lot of a lot of players who either are good or should be good or... But cracking the top of 18 at shortstop, that's no small feat. It's not. I mean, Zach Netto's...

Zach Netto's a fantasy asset at this point. It's just a question of, does he need to be rostered everywhere in leagues without middle infield spots? I think it's fine if you're rostering him and playing on those formats, but I don't feel like he's a difference maker in those formats. All right. Who is your He's Good player of the night? You know, we didn't discuss this beforehand. We did not. I'm going to have to pick it out on the fly here, because it's not like we do it every night or anything.

There's no way you could have seen this coming. No way I could have seen it coming. Let's go with Jackson. Which Jackson? Holiday. I want to do Jackson. Okay. All right. I do have a segment later in the show. We've got a bunch of would you, rather's coming up. And so I'll just move this one up. But go ahead and talk about Jackson Holiday. So he homered again. Yeah, he did. Great game with the home run. And wasn't a cheapie,

424 feet. That was probably a clip from the announcer that was worth taking and using in future installments. It was pretty excited. So yeah, three straight games with the home run for Jackson Holiday. Obviously, he's been great since returning from the miners. He's not 21 yet. No. And he joins a pretty impressive list of players who've homered in three consecutive games prior to turning 21. The complete list, this is according to Jake Rill on Twitter and Orioles B reporter for MLB.com, the complete list, players who formed in three consecutive games prior to their 21st birthday. Fernando Tatis, Juan Soto did it twice, Giancarlo Stanton did it twice, Ronald de Cunia, Jason Hayward, Justin Upton.

Those are probably the least impressive names. Miguel Cabrera, Orlando Sepeda, Willie Mays, Mel Ott twice, and Eddie Mixis. I've actually never heard of him. But that's it. That's the entire list. that is the company Jackson Holiday is now in. And what a turnaround. What a turnaround.

I think it's just obviously Jackson Holiday needs to be rostered everywhere at this point. And yes, I would take him over Zach Netto. Would you? Zach Netto? Yeah. Yeah, I would take Jackson Holiday over Zach Netto. It's just a reminder that development can happen very suddenly. You know, it's because he was in Xxon holiday.

in April. A 50% strikeout rate in his first taste of the majors yeah. One hit. And now all of a sudden

it's like he's everything he was supposed to be all along looking exactly like that top overall prospect he was at the start of the year. So I've been struggling the last few years with how exactly I should approach prospects,

high-end prospects in drafts because they're just not paying off as immediately as they used to. And, you know, every league where I drafted Jackson Holiday, which was a lot, virtually all of them, I ended up dropping him,

waiting for him to come back. And so it was a wasted pick. And, you know, I have him in a couple leagues. Maybe I got him back. Maybe there was a couple where I kept them because they were deep enough for that.

But in most cases, he's on somebody else's team now. And so I don't even get the benefit. it. And so I still don't know what I want to do with it. I still don't know what my plan is with it going forward.

But I think if nothing else, you have to go in thinking I'm only going to take him if I can afford to be very, very patient. Or if it's such a shallow league that I don't even need to worry about that, you know? I don't know. I'm still sorting it out.

But this is just a reminder that, like things can change very quickly when you have players this talented. He has, since coming back, 17 batted balls in, what is it, seven games? So 17 balls in play. 11 of them have been hit 100 miles per hour or harder. That was the biggest question I had about Jackson Holiday back in the spring. you know, it seemed like a safe bet for, you know, advanced approach at the plate, batting average, maybe some steals, good lineup.

I had some questions about the power. Now all of a sudden, he's hitting for power and doing all the other stuff we thought he would. So it's been very impressive. I don't know how long he can keep it up, but I do want to ask, would you rather the Jackson edition? Would you rather have Jackson Holiday rest of season? or Jackson Merrill, who is also incredibly young, also had two home runs on Wednesday, 411 and 442 feet.

But he had just one home run in July. And he is one of those guys who the underlying numbers have been excellent like since the second he stepped on the field in April. And then the actual numbers outside, especially of that one stretch in. was it June when he had like eight home runs in 10 games? Feels like forever ago. It must have been something like that.

Or maybe, yeah, maybe may. But either way. It was Jim. I don't remember what the exact number of home runs was, but it was June. Yeah, since then, obviously the power has not been there. And he might be one of those guys who, you know, 351 X Wobah 326 actual Wobah, 295XBA, 496 X slug, but doesn't pull the ball a ton. and so might be one of those guys who's not quite optimized.

Who would you rather have the Merrill or Holiday? So I have them one spot apart in my rankings that was prior to tonight. And Merrill was the one one spot ahead. And I got to looking into it more obviously in reaction to this two homer day for Jackson Merrill. Because yeah, the home runs hadn't been there in July. And was it just this, was it just this, a fluky thing that happens and we can't

actually expect them to be a great source of power rest of season. His fly ball rate since the start of June, so the month where he hit all the home runs and then also July where he hit just the one and now the little bit of August. His fly ball

rate, Jackson Merrill's, is over 40% during that time which is a fly ball rate where if you're hitting the ball hard, it's going to result in home runs. And so I think the July where he hit just one home run, I think that's more the fluke than not. And in fact, the expected stats are showing this now too. He has a, Jackson Merrill has a 295 expected batting average. That's kind of been true all along, the high expected

batting average. The expected slug, though, now for Merrill is 496. Very good expected slug. His actual slug is 467. So he's underperforming it. I think the power breakthrough, we have more evidence now to confirm that it was legitimate. And I don't think this two homer game is going to be the last indication of it going forward. He, yeah, I mean, it's worth noting like Jackson Merrill, did he even get to double A last year? I think he barely did. Yeah. Okay, he played 46 games,

AA had a 782 OPS. He was 20 on opening day. He didn't turn 21 until a couple weeks into the season. Learning a brand new position at the major league level on the fly. Really, really impressive rookie season for Jackson, Maryland. And I think the Padres have a very, very special player on their hands moving forward. So really good stuff from him.

And we are going to take a quick, break before we do. Make sure you subscribe to the FBT newsletter. It's right there above Scott's left hand shoulder and that's your left right. Yeah. Makes me, makes me feel good when you subscribe because boy, I'll tell you this week doing the newsletter and the podcast hosting. I'm going to sleep well on Friday morning at about 5 a.m. when I've been going to sleep this week. So make sure you subscribe. We've got the code right there and we will be right back after this message. All right, welcome back to fantasy baseball today. Let's move on to news and notes from Wednesday.

And unfortunately, another significant injury to a, well, another significant pitcher suffered an injury. Not clear if Joe Ryan's injury is significant, but he was removed from his start on Wednesday in the third inning due to right. Right triceps tightness. I guess if you want to be optimistic, triceps aren't generally, uh, too significant of an injury for starting pitchers. as long as it's not actually an elbow injury or something that just manifests in tricep injury. But look, any arm issue probably leads to an IL trip. And it wouldn't be at all surprising if that's what we find for Joe Ryan. Hopefully not, but we'll learn more on Thursday.

Along that same line, Grayson Rodriguez was placed on the IL on Wednesday. No surprise after he was scratched from Tuesday start. There's no timetable as of now, but he'll be out at least 50. 15 days. Though manager Brandon Hyde did say Wednesday, the team is optimistic that Rodriguez will pitch again this year, whether that's, you know, in late September or late August, obviously matters a lot. Is he a mustache player?

Do they have MRI results? Has there been? I didn't see anything there. Because if he's optimistic, he's going to pitch again this. year with less than eight weeks remaining. That makes it sound like it's a very insignificant lad issue. Remember the one he had two years ago, Grayson Rodriguez. It cost him three months. So people have been asking me throughout the day, can I drop Grayson Rodriguez? I want it. I mean, if they come out later and say it's a grade whatever strain and he's going to be a bunch of weeks,

then sounds like a slight, a mild right lat strain. And they did do an MRI. So, So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, unless the outlook changes. If they're optimistic, he's going to return. I'd rather him return for my team that somebody else's. All right. Jerks and ProFar was forced to leave Wednesday's game after being hit by a pitch on his right knee.

He tried to stay in the game. It had to be replaced by a pinch runner because he just was not moving right after a single by the hitter behind him. Good news. His x-rays came back negative. He is day-to-day for right now. So hopefully that ends up being a relatively minor issue. Did you see why Ryan Feltoner was pulled from his start? He made it through just one inning, 24 pitches,

but as of like midnight, I had not seen any details on it. I mean, I didn't see. It doesn't. I don't know how much I care. Yeah, no, that's fair. Yeah. I'll look it up while you keep going.

Nick Povetta will have his next start skipped as he is dealing with some arm fatigue. That is not terribly surprising after his velocity was down. like two miles per hour in his most recent start. And I think he only threw like 70-something pitches. So not a great sign for a guy that has already gone on the IL this season with an elbow strain. Although the Red Sox do not expect him to go on the IL at this point. He will probably be back next week. How do you feel about Nick Povetta moving forward?

Oh, I mean, I think you probably hold on to him too, except in shallower leagues. I'm more likely to hold on to Grayson Rodriguez than Povetta just because he's more impactful, but it does sound like there's an even greater chance Povetta will be back than Grayson Rodriguez. I do have the update on Ryan Feltoner for the 5% of leagues where he's rostered. He exited due to a shoulder and lat issue, Bud Black said he's likely headed to the I-L. Okay. All right.

Dylan Seas will start at some point this weekend against the Marlin. after getting through just one inning Wednesday before a rain delay. That could push Joe Musgrove's return from the IL to next week, which would make him a two-start pitcher probably next week. I'm not actually sure I love that, though, because what I really would have rather have seen was Joe Musgrove make a start against the Marlins this weekend, look good, and then I could have some clarity about whether I want to start him next week.

now we might go into a two-star week with a historically must-start pitcher who I have no idea if I want to start and would think in a Roto League, probably not. Yeah, I don't think you can risk it in a Roto League. It's just too much of wildcard. As we said, a couple times this week, it's not even clear that it's going to be the same Joe Musgrove

because there was talk of him changing his delivery to compensate for the bone spur and his elbow. So we have no idea what we're getting. and I mean, look, if you're chasing everything and just got to go for whatever you could get, obviously you're gambling wherever you can. But outside of that scenario, yeah, I'd avoid musgrove for the two-star week. All right. Tyler O'Neill was placed on the IL on Wednesday, retroactive to August 4th due to an infection in his last.

He had been out of the lineup with an illness the previous few days, but it sounds like that was a different situation than this. So that's a little worrisome. It doesn't sound like it's a long-term thing. Alex Corr said he won't be able to play in the next probably three or five days, but he might be back relatively soon. So that's something to keep an eye on. Hope he gets better soon.

O'Neill Cruz was out of the lineup for a second straight day to an illness, but he did appear in this game as a pinch hitter later on. So hopefully he'll be back. on Thursday. Walker Bueller will make his final rehab start Thursday at AAA with the expectation he'll return to the Dodgers rotation for the first time since June sometime next week. He's been on the ILs with a hip injury slash a bad case of the he wasn't very goods before this.

And he has continued to not be very good at his AAA rehab assignment. Eight runs in seven and third innings. He's working on mechanics, right? He's probably working on pitches. The goal here was not. Let's go get the Oklahoma City storm chasers a couple of extra wins with Walker Bueller on the mound. So I don't want to take too much from that. There is still a chance Walker Bueller can make an impact.

I'm not really expecting it at this point, though. And the same goes for Bobby Miller, who will also start on Friday at AAA after being delayed a few days by an inductor strain. Sounds like both have a chance to be back in the Dodgers rotation before the end of the month, but I'm at a total wait and see with Walker Bueller and Bobby Miller. Who do you expect more from the rest of the way? It's, I don't know that I have expectations for either. Yeah. To be honest, I expect either one could be good.

I don't know that I'm expecting it, though, because they've just, look, Bobby Miller first start of the season, I think he struck out 11 and 6 shutout. out innings or something like that. It's a dominant, dominant start. And since then, between the majors and minors, I think he's at an ERA over eight. So how could you have any confidence in him at this point? Walker Bueller hasn't shown much in either the majors or minors either,

coming back from his second Tommy John surgery. I mean, we haven't seen anything for Walker Bueller since 2022 at this point. We really, I don't think we've seen him pitch like an ace since like 2021. because if I remember correctly, 2022 was not a great season for Walker Bueller. If you're asking me who I think has the brighter future, just broadly speaking, Bobby Miller.

Yeah. But I don't have any confidence in him being useful this year. All right. Hassan Kim has missed the past two games due to his triceps injury. It doesn't appear to be a long-term issue at this point. The Orioles, remember they sent Heston Kirsted down to AAA, a couple of, I believe, at the All-Star or at the trade deadline, he has been recalled from AAA and added to the 10-day IL,

retroacted to August 1st, with a concussion. So indicates that he was dealing with some lingering symptoms when he was hit in the head by a pitch almost a month ago. So that's one of those things with concussions that you can get cleared and it'll still take a little while for symptoms to go away. So that's a little scary. A's pitcher Luis Medina had Tommy John surgery Wednesday ending his season and likely keeping him out for all of 2025. Louis Varland will start during the Twins doubleheader against the Guardians Friday.

I know he's someone who has had some appeal but has not really been very useful when he's been out there this season. Any expectations there? Eh. No, I would say not. Marcus Stroman has been pushed back to Sunday against the Ranger so he can try to work on his mechanics. Before he takes the mound next, he has a 680. ERA over his past eight starts. If you haven't dropped him now,

well, I guess he'll have a chance to show you something before waivers run on Sunday, but you can probably drop him. It's not like the upside is ever super high there. Drew Rasmussen has been activated from the IL and he will pitch out of the raised bullpen. He's coming back from Tommy John surgery. Probably won't make much of a fantasy impact unless he somehow forces

his way into the closer discussion. Chris Martin was activated from the IL Wednesday for the Red Sox after missing a month due to a sore right elbow. And James Outman was optioned back to AAA to clear a roster spot for Miguel Rojas. Outman has just been an absolute disaster with the Dodgers after a very promising rookie season, hitting 148 and being sent down to the minors multiple times now. I've had him in a few leagues this season and it has not gone well. So hoping for better days ahead at some point for James Outman, but probably not this season.

And before we move on to the rest of Wednesday's action, let's take one more break. We'll be right back on Fantasy Baseball today. All right. Welcome back to Fantasy Baseball today. And let's, I feel like this is like the third time I've done this this week, but I don't have a lot of bits, you know? I'm not a very, uh, I'm not a very creative person. So we're just going to fire up the Worryometer again.

You're ready for it, Scott? Zero, not worried at all. 10, your hair is on fire and you're freaking out. And maybe you're dropping the player, although that doesn't necessarily apply across the board. So, you know, whatever. Cole Regans, wariometer for Cole Regens,

who the line was good today. One earned run and six in a third inning, six hits, seven strikeouts, two walks against the Red Sox. However, four-seem fastball velocity down one mile per hour in this one. That has been a recurring issue for him over the past month or so. And it's worth noting, he gave up three unearned runs, including two home runs. So while the

line was good, the pitching not quite as good. What's the Wariometer on Cole Reagan, so as a 380 ERA over his past 23 and two-thirds innings? Well, it's getting up there. It's probably about a four now. I actually did lower him from seventh in my rankings to 10th. Still my 10th overall, starting pitcher, but it's concerning for a number of reasons. One, it seems to be impacting his performance now. First,

not so much, but the last few starts, he's looked more vulnerable. And two, his big breakout last year was fueled on a big velocity increase. More than the amount he's lost over these last Yeah, he's still up from where he was before. Right.

But but that's that was the key to everything for for regans was adding all the velocity so no he's still got 18 swinging strikes he's still had more than a strikeout per inning i still think he could be good like this but will he be as dominant um is this something he's doing intentionally i we went to do it after his last start uh is he doing it to improve his command well he he was actually throwing strikes at a lower rate with with this diminished velocity than he was before so i I don't know that there's much evidence to support that. I'm kind of worried. Not so much that I'm like panic dropping them or anything, but a little concerned. Yeah. Where are we at on Freddie Peralta who gave up four earn runs and five innings

against the Braves on Wednesday, six strikeouts, two walks. He got off to a pretty good start, like a 340 ERA in April. He's had an ERA over four in each of the past three months. Now, I guess it's worth pointing out it hasn't been any higher

than like a 4-6 ERA so it's not like Freddie Peralta has been a disaster at any point he's just been a disappointment right it's like a 380 ERA a 390 X ERA what's your worryometer on him I don't know that I'm worried

I think I think he's kind of in line with who he normally is maybe maybe I'd worry if I just looked at his final 17 starts last year. I think it was. I'm going off memory from March. So that'd be amazing if it actually was 17 starts.

I got a pulled up here. It sounds right. Final 11 starts. It wasn't as many of 17. So final 11 starts. It's still a prime number. Last year, Freddie Peralta had a 244 ERA and a million strikeouts and just looked like an out and out ace.

And so if that's what I was expecting going into this year, then yeah, it doesn't look like you're going to get that. But maybe it's just because Freddie Peralta is not that. You know, he's, his control comes and goes. He's the right-handed Blake Snell. His control comes and, well, except not as predictable. When the ups and downs are. Yeah.

Blake Snell, we've learned to just sit him until he takes off and then never sent him again. With Freddie Peralta, I think you just always start him and take some lumps. Yeah. But the ups are worth the downs. and that's about it. So worryometer for Freddie Peralta, I think it's pretty much a one. All right.

What about Tage Bradley, who's had a couple of ugly starts in a row now? And the problem is I'm not sure there's a good explanation for his struggles. The pitch mix still looks very similar to when he was dominating. Velocity's not really down. Still got five whiffs with the splitter in this start. The problem is Tash Bradley always gives up hard contact.

like even when he was doing really well in June and July, there was a lot of like averaging 91 miles per hour, average exit velocity starts. And he just was avoiding walks and getting strikeouts, which he didn't do in this one, three walks, three strike hits and four and two thirds innings, en route to five earned runs. What's the Worryometer on Tage Bradley?

Oh, not particularly high. I will say two and a half. Okay. For Tage Bradley. what he was doing during that dominant stretch, an 082 ERA and 9 starts, you knew he was going to give some of that back. Yeah.

And yeah, if you allowed hard contact in those starts where you're giving up more contact, they could go sideways. Every pitcher has warts, right? But I think what we've seen with Taj Bradley from Taj Bradley this year with the strikeout potential, I see him as a top 25 pitcher rest of season still, even though he's got a couple of bad starts.

I know there's a tendency to evaluate pitchers based on their most recent start. No, Tosh Bradley's terrible now. You know, it's baseball. They're going to be ups and downs. I think he's fine. All right, let's go in a completely opposite direction with a totally different contraption.

and let's fire up the drop-o meter with four starting pitchers who are, it's fair to say, going through it right now. We'll start with Cutter Crawford, who, hey, good news, he only allowed one home run in this outing. Bad news, he still allowed six earned runs in three and two-thirds innings to the Kansas City Royals. That's 13 homers in his past four starts. Scott, I know you've had a lot of skepticism about Cutter Crawford lately. He's still 90% roster.

Where is he at on dropping me? Let's say, one is there's no way you're dropping him. 10 is get this full out of my face. I want to say 10 just because that's the frustrated you are. But realistically, I don't see myself dropping him in like a 15 team league.

So I will say eight for Cutter Crawford, trying to pull up how far I've moved him down my rankings. because that'll give us an even better idea. So prior to this start, I had moved Cutter Crawford down to 70th among starting pitchers. So, yeah, I just, I don't think he can survive

with the way the ball is played lately, too much of a fly ball pitcher. And like you said, the home runs weren't even an issue in this one and he still had problems. What about Gavin Stone? Four and two-thirds innings, three-earned runs,

one walk, two strikeouts in this one. He is 84% rostered. And it's been a pretty rocky season for Gavin Stone on the whole. There have been some really, really good stretches, 197 ERA in both May and June. But 4-5 ERA in the month of March slash April, 627 in July. And now he's given up eight runs and eight and two-thirds innings in August. And the problem with Gavin Stone is, for the most part, the strikeouts have never really been there. So he was really relying early on when he was succeeding on generating a ton of weak contact.

And that has not been the case lately. Where we are on Gavin Stone? Where we are on Gavin Stone is not interested. It's been bad for a long time now. Did you give the numbers already? Yeah, it's an ERA over seven since the start of July. Yeah, and this is from a guy with like less than 7K. per nine. I really don't see what the point is and hanging on to Gavin Stone at this point. I think if we're doing drop a meter, it's a full 10. Are we at the same spot with Jake Irvin, who gave up five earned runs here in five innings against the giants? He has a 548 ERA since July 1st. The fundamentals of his game are the same. He's an averageish strikeout pitcher with good control, which is what he's been during this season. It was what he was when things were going well.

He's got an XERA over four, which is very similar to Cutter Crawfords for the season now. Jake Irvin on the dropometer. I'm not as down on him, but probably like six and a half, seven. Okay. I'm thinking of some of my 12 team leagues, and if there's any pitcher out there in them that I'd be willing to drop Jake Irvin for. I'm not so attached to Irvin that it's like, I can't get rid of him. Hmm. That's pretty close. Okay.

I think I'd rather have Birdsong, but I might change my mind depending on how their next starts go. You know, that's how close it is. What about like Tyler Malley or Edward or Rodriguez? I think I'd rather stick with Irvin. What about? Shaman High is actually 86% roster. That's way too high.

Yeah, there's just not a lot of interesting guys out there. Paul Blackburn, David Festa, but I I wouldn't mind in a shallow league, like just streaming the hot hand or whoever's got the best matchup. And then I think I know what the answer is going to be here, but Andrew Abbott, six earn runs in five innings against the Marlins, seven strikeouts, three walks, but has not been the same guy over the past couple of starts as he was early on, and we never bought it.

No, we never bought it. but he was going against the Marlins and I got to pick out these 10 sleeper pitchers every week. So I was rooting for you. We were all rooting for you, Andrew Abbott, and you let us down, three home runs to this janky Marlins lineup. Get out of my sight. Full ten.

Yeah. I don't think he's that good anyway. So I'm generally repulsed by the idea of a rage drop. but you can rage drop him because he's not that good. All right, let's move on to some waiver wire pitchers. Not a ton of exciting options today, but I do think Paul Blackburn is kind of interesting. I don't think he's certainly not an ace,

but he has made some changes since getting to the Mets through his cutter around 40% of the time today. He's up to about 35% overall in the two starts, change up around 25%. Both of those marks way up. from when he was in Oakland, and it's led to 12 strikeouts, four walks,

and two earned runs over 12 innings in two starts. What do you think about Paul Blackburn? I don't know. I mean, you mentioned changes he's made. So he did throw his cutter a lot more. It's like twice as often in this one, 40% rather than 20%.

It entered the day with a 333 batting average against. So I don't know that's, I necessarily want Paul Blackburn to do that. I think he's the sort of pitcher who can fake us out for stretches. And I wouldn't want to buy in too hard to this particular stretch. All right. Let's talk about some real low-end types and just tell me if any of these four guys deserve to be rostered in your standard 12 team league.

Valente Beluts, Balazzo for the Marlins, five and a third innings, four hits, zero-on-runs. he was almost he almost got to i think the marlins have gone like 37 games without a quality start and he he got real close um i don't i don't really see anything there 368 career era and the minors 343 strikeouts to 335 innings joey estes did well against the white socks two runes and five innings. That's probably just the White Sox, but he does have a 308 ERA over the past five outings. Bowden Francis has been decent in his past two starts,

both against the Orioles, five earned runs and 10 to two-thirds innings, but not great. And Davis Martin, four strikeouts and six innings, shutout against the athletics, 11 whiffs on 82 pitches. But bad minor leaguer numbers for a 27-year-old

at the major league level. Any interest in any, of those four guys. Well, Davis Martin had good minor league numbers this year. 343 ERA, 110 whip, 10.7K per 9. You know, probably nothing happening there, realistically. Bowden Francis, I remain kind of intrigued by because his minor league numbers aren't just pretty good.

He looks like the best pitcher in the world in the minors for two years in a row now. he had in six appearances four starts a 0.93 ERA 0.57 whip 11.2K per 9 at AAA Buffalo and now Bowden Francis in this start I noticed he was throwing his splitter and slider a lot more ditched the curveball, which had been his number two pitch and hadn't gotten great results. So he seems to be changing things up here. And I don't know. There's been enough success in the miners that I'm taking him halfway seriously, not to the point that I'm looking to add Bowden Francis outside of like A.L. Only

leagues. But it wouldn't surprise me if he became something halfway useful. All right. Let's move on to waiver wire hitters. Would you rather addition. I said we were doing some would you rather's. We did the Jackson Merrill Jackson Holiday. We're going to group some waiver wire targets.

And you tell me which one you would rather have. And I guess whether they need to be rostered more widely than they already are. Josh Bell for the Diamondbacks, it's like identical to what happened last year. He got traded. I think he had a 701 a OPS at the trade deadline last year. This year it was $6.99. He went three for nine with two homers in the double header. both of those in game two.

He now has two two home run games, four in six games overall with the Diamondbacks. He is 58% roster. Would you rather have him? Or Jake Berger, who homered twice in his game as well, has four in seven August games and nine since the All-Star break. Obviously, if you're looking for a corner infielder

or a first baseman, both of these guys are options. Who would you rather have? Yeah, obviously, if you need a third basement, Burger is the only choice. Pretty easy call there. Yeah. So Bell, you mentioned his numbers with the Diamondbacks, but he has, in his last 13 games, Marlins or Diamondbacks,

352 with nine home runs. Of course, Berger's been very hot too. I would say, I don't have a particularly strong opinion. It would probably come down to who has the strongest matchups next week, and I haven't looked into that yet. Sounds like both could be sleeper hitters for next week, though. It could be. I'm just going to fill in two of those 10 spots for you already, buddy.

Well, let's see what the matchups are. My gut says burger. Burger. Bell, because of the better supporting cast. I just overruled my gut. How do you like it? Buddy, if I could do that. All right, let's move on to some catchers.

would you rather Kyle Higashioka, who has homered in consecutive games and has five since the start of July. He has 8% rostered. Or Adrian Del Castillo, who we mentioned yesterday, had been incredible at AAA this season at OPS north of 1000. He went one for three with a double an RBI and a walk in his MLB debut, also a couple of strikeouts. Who would you rather have Adrian Del Castillo or Kyle Higashioca? If it's a situation where I get one shot and have to get it right, Higashioca is the same. safe choice. So I'm thinking like a deep two catcher league. But if it's shallower than that, and I can just shoot for upside, Del Castillo. So if it's like a 15 team or an NL only league,

you'd probably just go with Higashio, but anywhere else, Del Castio? Yeah. Okay. I would say so. And let's do one more. Would you rather? Would you rather add Astros' infield prospect, Zach Dezenso, who went hitless in his MLB debut Tuesday, but was two for three with a walk and two runs scored on Wednesday. It's 5% rostered. Or Leo Jimenez of the Blue Jays who's been filling in for Boba Chet, three for four with three doubles, three hard hit balls on Wednesday night. But he was hitting 230.

He's hitting 239 overall with an OPS right around 640 and had a 770 AAA OPS. Dzenzo, a kind of interesting prospect. Who would you rather have there? Well, Jimenez, I think the most interesting stat you could pull up for Leo Jimenez from AAA was that he reached base at a 416 clip with some amount of power. But yeah, Desenzo's a better prospect. I think he has, I think it's more likely he's going to play every day for the Astros. He looked great in the second game where he was playing first base after playing D.H in the first game. and I don't see a lot to criticize in his hitting profile in the minors.

He just looks like a solid all-around offensive player who's going to get a lot of runway here for the Astros. I think he's going to play every day as long as he proves deserving of it. So I would much rather have Zach DeZenzo. All right. And then not a would you rather unless it's like, would you rather drop this guy or not or add this guy or not add him, look, Elohimenez, he's playing a little bit for the Orioles. I think he's sat one or two games since they acquired him.

He's eight for 16. That's a 500 batting average. Two doubles, no home runs. I think it's five strikeouts and 16 played appearances. Does he need to be rostered more than 49% of leagues? Probably if he's going to keep playing this often, it's four straight that he started. Ryan O'Hern has sat some.

Colton Couser has sat some. I think Rutherman even sat one of them. I am concerned that Eloi Jimenez, just because he started four straight, doesn't mean he won't be part of the city. That's a really good lineup. And I think he's still a talented hitter as poorly as things had gone for him with the White Sox. It's hard to blame him for that. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing when you're talking about, like, Luis Robert as well, where it's just like, that team is so hopeless right now. That it, they're professionals.

They're getting a lot of money. they should still be good. But like, that's one of those unknowable factors, but it wouldn't be unreasonable for a player to struggle that poorly in those poor circumstances. So yeah, I think like if Elohimenez was in my league, I'd have to be really weak at the utility or DH spot to want to add him. But it's possible I am in some leagues and then it would be worth it.

Let's do one more would you rather for the bullpen. would you rather add Calvin Foshae of the Miami Marlins, who got the save on Wednesday, his second in a row, sure seems like he's the closer, or would you rather add Justin Martinez, who in game one of the doubleheader was warming up in the bullpen when Paul Seawald was working with a four-run lead and allowed a couple of base runners,

and then came back in the second game of the doubleheader, worked the ninth, got the save. That sounds like a closer to me. It does, and I wasn't aware that he was warming up in that first game. So I was going to say, even though he got a save today, the fact Paul Seawald worked the ninth inning with a four-run leading game one makes it a little iffy what the Diamondbacks are thinking. But that little tidbit about him warming up with a couple of men on base,

I think that puts me over into the Justin Martinez is, is now the front runner for saves for the diamondbacks. And so, yeah, I think he's a better pitcher than Calvin Foshae. I think if he does hold onto that role, secure that role for the diamond backs. I think he'll get more chances. Foshae can really close to blowing it today, and he has like a 150 whip. So I would edge Justin Martinez ahead of him in my rankings now. Less confident that he has the role, but it's not like Fosier is a guarantee to keep it.

Yeah, I mean, If we set the over under at six and a half saves for Calvin Foshae the rest of the way, I think I'd take the under between the rest. It was like that a 150 whip. Like he's got a 3.30-ish ERA, I think, but a lot of walks, pretty hitable. I think things could go wrong there. So yeah, I agree. I'd rather have Justin Martinez, even if I'm less certain that he'll be the closer,

the rest of the way. And let's move on to talk about some other starting pitchers before we close up. And Terrick Scoobel, much just business as usual here. And actually, I'll go ahead and say he's up to 143 innings, 143 in a third inning so far this season. He only threw 94 and two thirds last year. Obviously, remember he was coming back from elbow surgery. And nonetheless,

His velocity was actually up in this start, about a mile per hour. He averaged like 97.8 with his four-seem fastball. 21 swings and misses, 12 on his change-up, might be the best single swing and miss pitch in baseball at this point. He's your number one pitcher in fantasy. I think he's your AL-Sai young choice, right? He was my AL-Sai young choice in October. So, yeah, he remains so now.

All right. Chris Sale. Cruise through the first four innings in this one. And then things kind of fell apart. It was a lot of Babip, bad luck. I think four straight singles at one point or four singles in six hitters. Ended up giving up nine hits, two earn runs, two walks, 10 strikeouts in four and two-thirds innings. The slider was really good in this one.

no sign of diminished velocity. His hardest thrown pitch actually came in the fifth inning. I don't see any reason to be concerned here, even though obviously I think there is generally just some, let's keep an eye on him vibes as he is also, you know, at an innings level that he hasn't been at in a long time.

I'm wondering if that's having an adverse effect now, them spacing out his starts, because they said they weren't going to as much in the second half, and yet they inserted Bryce, Elder yesterday. So Chris Sale, Chris Sale is in the two-star pitcher rankings every week

because he just keeps getting pushed back a day. And this is now four of his last five starts. He's gone less than six innings. He just hasn't been very efficient. But he's still, all the dominance indicators are there.

He's just not as efficient. The loss, he's been fine, yeah. Yeah. So I'm not really worried, but I'm just kind of frustrated by it more than anything. All right. George Kirby, three earned runs and five innings in this one.

I did initially tweet out that this was the first time he didn't have a quality start since May 24th. That was actually not true. He only went five in a third innings in his previous outing. But this was the first time that he, sorry, the second time that he's allowed more than two earned runs since May 24th. And he hasn't allowed more than three earned runs in any start since then. So kudos to the Tigers in this one, but I don't really think there's any concerns about George Kirby. Let's talk about what,

do you want to say something? I mean, I hope not. I just traded for him in the Scott White Dynasty League. I think you're in good shape. Let's talk about Blake Snell, who led up some hits this time. Geez, four hits, three run runs, one walk, eight strikeouts in this one,

six innings against the Washington Nationals, not as good as the no hit. obviously, and it's no surprise that they limited him to 93 pitches after his very first complete game ever. But still more than enough for a solid fantasy outing, continues to go foreseen change up curveball very heavily, and really showing excellent command of all three. He's getting whiffs at the top of the zone with the four seamer, throwing the curveball for strikes now, and just bearing the change up at the bottom of the zone for tons of whiffs. There's volatility there, obviously, but.

like you said earlier. Once Snell figures it out, it seems to stay figured out. And I've moved him into the top 12 at starting pitcher. It was kind of interesting that he mixed in the change up more like he threw it more than the curveball

when it was a distant third pitch for most of this good stretch Blake Snell has been on. But I don't make anything of it really. The two-run-home are he allowed. If that one pitch, if he has that one pitch back, this stat line looks pristine. Mm-hmm. Because he would have just given up one run in six innings with less than a base runner an inning.

And yeah, no, I mean, Blake Snell, I think he's still right where we want him to be. Speaking of change-ups and curveballs and whatnot, you say Kikuchi looked like he did in Toronto in this one. He completely remade his arsenal in his first start with the Astros. throwing his change up heavily and fading his curveball almost entirely. In this one, I think he threw them the same amount. Maybe he threw one more change up than curveball. Didn't get a whiff with the changeup. And that might explain why we saw fewer changeups in this one.

It just wasn't at working as well. Couldn't locate it consistently in the strike zone. I think the zone rate was like 23% or something. So I mean, look, I think you're going to look at it this way. It's a little disappointing that he didn't follow up the changes he made in that first start. on the other hand eight strikeouts of five in a third innings two are in runs allowed

you'll take that yeah you will if he can keep doing that it's I feel like this is always how it goes with you say Kukuchi he can't stick with the game plan he he there's just

like you see signs of this really dominant pitcher in there but he just can't sustain it for whatever reason and I'm I was pretty discouraged by this start, to be honest, after moving them way up in my rankings, because, oh, they figured it out.

Look, that change up. It's so dominant. Why wasn't he throwing it more? And then the very next start, it's just not even there for him. It is, I will point out, a new pitch for him this season. He reworked his change up in the off season. It's a completely different grip.

So the fact that he doesn't have the feel for it every time out, it's not terribly surprising. But I'll grant it's a little. little disheartening that he didn't build on the first start. Sure. Michael King, three earned runs in five innings, seven strikeouts, two walks. He, I believe, the change up just wasn't there for him today. And it was King's worst performance in over a month, which tells you how good he's been, because it really wasn't that bad.

And he left his previous start with a calf injury after getting hit by a comebacker. So I'm pretty willing to give a lot of leeway on this one. What did you think of Michael King today? Yeah, I don't really, no concerns. I mean, previous 12-250 are a 105 whip 11.1K per 9. Like I was saying for Taj Bradley earlier, I see Michael King as a top 25 pitcher rest of way, and this little hiccup doesn't change that.

All right. one more pitcher before we close out the show. And that was Louise Heel. And I wanted to make sure that I got this right, because I believe he threw his change up a season low amount of the time in this one. Yeah, only 9% in this one clearly just didn't have the feel for it. And you can see five innings, didn't give up any runs against the Angels, two hits, five walks, six strikeouts.

and needed 107 pitches to get through this five innings, which is definitely not what the Yankees want from Luis Heel, who is, he's like 100 innings up from where he was last year and the year before. So, look, it's a good sign that he was able to get through the outing unscathed without his best stuff. I do wonder at some point when the Yankees are going to, it doesn't seem like an if. It feels like a when they have to limit him. And we could have some garra crochet type outings from Louise Heel, but they're not there yet.

How do you feel about Luis Heel? Yeah, I think you just, I don't see them as a must start anymore because the outings have been shorter. But I think he's somebody, you keep on your roster, you play the matchups, and you just, you just go wherever it takes you. I'm not even sure, like, do we have a sell high? Is there a sell-high discussion to be had at this point? I imagine most fantasy leagues trade deadlines have passed by now. So, and since he hasn't been out now dominant lately, I'm not even sure that he would fetch quite the return you're looking for.

So I think you just ride it out and be aware that at some point he may become unusable. All right. There really were not any other noteworthy bullpen up. updates for this one. Adrian Mordaone got a save for the Padres, but that was with Robert Suarez already having pitched the ninth. So Moroan pitched the 10th. It was his first save of the season. Don't think there's anything there. Tender Scott did, uh, what's up? Sorry, go ahead. Finish. No, no, no. I mean, Tanner Scott came out and kind of bailed Robert Suarez out, but he also walked three in a third of an inning. So I don't know if you can really

call that bailing him out. What were you going to say, though? I just wanted to give a mention to three hitters who had performances that I think demand mentioning. Let's do it. One is Anthony Santander. Two home runs, yep. Two home runs.

He's up to 34 on the season. Incredible. 25 since the start of June. I mean, he was bad early on this season. I remember he was someone that every time I looked at him in the rankings, I was like, why do I? I have this guy ranked so high. And, well, we've seen over the past two and a half months.

Exactly why. And with this performance, Anthony Santander is now the fourth best outfielder in head-to-head points leagues this year. Wow. He's already at a career high in home runs now. Yep. Okay. The other one is Jackson Chorio, who went three for five with two stolen bases. He's up to 15 on the year.

And his last 12- Yeah, all three Jackson's had good games today. Oh, yeah, that's true. Last 12 games, Jackson Chorio, 396, two home runs, one steal. So, I mean, he continues to pick up the pace. His average exit velocity during that 12 game stretch is 88.5. So we're still not seeing that climb very much.

And so the power production, I think, is still a little on the underwhelming side, but he's doing enough of everything else that I think he's right on the fringes of being a three outfielder league guy, Jackson Chorio. Oh, my God. just realized something. What?

Were you about to mention Kyle Schwerber? I meant to mention him in the opening segment of the show, and I completely forgot. He was supposed to be the Olive Garden breadstick. Now it's stale, and it's been sitting on the table for an hour. I'm so sorry. Holy Schwerbaum, four for four with three home runs. Seven RBI as a lead-off hitter. He has five homers over his past four games.

He is hitting 261 on the season. OPS plus 900. He's been awesome. He's on pace for fewer home runs than the past two years, but his batting average is like 50 points, 40, 50 points higher. And there's been a tradeoff there. He's not, he hasn't been as extreme of a fly ball hitter this year. So I think, I think it's been a good tradeoff for Schwerber overall.

It makes them less extreme as a real. roto option especially. And in points leagues. I mean, he's still top 10 outfielder. Top eight outfielder. Okay. Yeah, I'm glad you got Schwerber in here. The last one I was going to mention, though, Alex Kahl.

Yes. Who has taken over for Jesse Winker, 29-year-olds. He's gotten chances in the majors before, and it hasn't gone well. But I've always liked the minor league numbers, really good walk rates down there. He's an unimpressive exit velocity guy who pulls the ball well. and gets to some power because of that.

Since taking over, and then he went two for five today with two strikeouts. Since taking over in the Nationals outfield, Alex Call is 12 for 27 with a home run, four doubles, two steals, and twice as many walks as strikeouts. Like I said, 29 has gotten chances in the majors before, so it's probably not going to amount to anything,

but he's been hot enough for long enough that I thought, I thought Alex Call needed to be mentioned on our show. All right. That is going to do it for fantasy baseball today because I forgot to look up to stream or not to stream options. It's been a lot going on today. So I apologize for that. We'll get back to it on tomorrow's show. So for Scott, I am Chris.

We'll see you tomorrow.