Fantasy Baseball Today - Jordan Westburg Promotion, Elly De La Cruz Cycle & Waiver Wire Moves (6/26 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 26, 2023

The Orioles are promoting Jordan Westburg on Monday (2:48)! ... Elly De La Cruz hit for the cycle Friday (9:22). ... Joey Votto added another double dong this weekend (12:35). ... Matt McLain continues to crush it (15:48). ... Griffin Canning pitched very well in Coors Field (18:42). ... Let's rank all of the waiver wire pitchers (26:10)! ... Should Ha-seong Kim be rostered in more leagues (37:38)? ... News (41:43): Aaron Judge has a torn ligament in his toe. ... Do we start or sit Luis Severino and Bobby Miller this week (49:27)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (51:25). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. What's up and welcome in? This is a great start to the podcast.

What's up and welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on June 26th. Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White. and Chris Towers today on the show, the Orioles are finally calling up one of their big prospects. L.A. Dela Cruz is amazing. Waiverwire moves and much more before we get started. Please like this video and subscribe on YouTube

if you haven't already, and if you're listening on the audio side, I apologize because I sound terrible. Download, follow, and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. I went out to a concert on Friday and for some reason I thought it was a great idea to also do karaoke this weekend.

narrator it was not a good idea chris i need some advice here man i know you're like the concert goer what do i do uh i i don't know because i usually i don't like i went to a concert on friday night as well it was a solo acoustic show so not exactly the same kind of screaming and and and yeah yeah whatever but i don't know some tea some honey i don't know some cough drops oh gosh i tried warm a warm bath Oh, man. I know I'm no help here because I was asking you before the show. You were telling me about this before the show. And I go, so I'm not much of a concert goer, but I always hear this.

People say, I have no voice because I was at a concert. You weren't actually putting on the concert, right? You weren't the one. How are people constantly? You're screaming along, you know? It was, it was like a, it's like a hardcore kind of band, right? Like a, like a. Yeah.

Like a screamo maybe would be what you would classify them as. You saw Avenge Sevenfold, right? Yes. So it was a metal show. And yeah. And so you're yelling. You're singing along. You're having a good time.

And that'll happen. Scott, let's unplug the mic and plug it back in because your audio is like incredible start to the show. Yeah. We're off to a rousing start here. Anyway, the big news from the weekend is that the Orioles. Are we good, Scott? I don't know. He's asked me.

Sounds good. You sounded perfect. before we started and then I don't know what happened. I probably need to order a new one of these cables because it has a shorten it somewhere. That's my theory. Let's talk about baseball. Orioles prospect, Jordan Westberg, is getting called up on Monday. The 30th overall pick back in 2020.

He is 24 years old. And this season down in the minors, he was batting 295 with 18 homers, six deals, a 939 OPS. He is 24% rostered. shortstop eligible on CBS, but also could play third base. He's played a little bit at second and in the outfield this season as well. Scott, what do we need to know about Jordan Westberg? Is he a must add in all formats?

Well, I hesitate, I guess, with the shallower formats, the head-to-head lineups where you only start nine hitters, only one shortstop, one second baseman. Is everybody in that league going to need Jordan Westberg? Probably not. But I'd venture to say somebody in that league could use Jordan Westberg. And of course, if you get into the rhodo leagues with the extra middle end field spot, then yes, you should pick up Jordan Westberg, who has had a very productive season.

I don't know. Did you give the stats, Frank? Yes, sir. You gave the stats. Very productive season. He was pretty low in my top 100 coming into the year. I think he was in the back 20. That was the top 100.

but I had concerns at that point, Jordan Westberg, you know, also hit for plenty of power between double and AAA last year, 27 home runs. I had concerns at that point. He had pretty extreme pull tendencies. It wasn't clear exactly how much natural power, how much raw power he had just because he hit 27 home runs. And obviously, it's a pretty punishing park he's entering into for a right-handed power hitter, Camden Yaw. has become that since they moved back the fences. But things look a little rosier now for a couple reasons, not just that he's had a productive year at AAA,

but we have data now, stat-cast data from his time at AAA, and they show a lot of raw power there. The exit velocity readings are very good. They're not L.E. de la Cruz or anything, but they make Jordan Westberg out to be like a legitimate power hitter. And two, he's become much, more all fields minded this year, spreading the ball all over the field a lot more than he did

last year, which probably helps account for the 295 batting average that he's had at AAA. The strikeout rate, you know, a little on the high side. And just as a general rule, I've been more cautious in my approach to prospect call-ups this year, for the most part, that's paid off because a lot of them have underwhelmed us. L.E. de la Cruz was a big exception, but I was also pretty gaga about Ellie Dayla Cruz when he got called up, so that was a good call. Yeah, so I would say, you know, pick them up if you need middle infield help, hope for the best, and hopefully he plays a lot.

He's gotten exposure to second and third base. I imagine he'll play those positions more often than his natural shortstop because Jorge Mateo is such a good defender at shortstop. And Westberg, from what I understand, is not such a good defender. but that'll just give him triple eligibility, you know, and that'll make them more useful too. Again, that is Jordan Westberg, one of the top prospects in the Orioles organization.

One thing that stood out to me that does worry me a little bit is his swinging strike rate was 13.9% in the minors this year. So just some concerns that maybe the strikeout rate can push like 25, 30% in the majors. To color that even more, or just to add to what both of you are saying, 91.5 mile per hour average exit velocity so far this season, that's 91st percentile. Max exit velocity 110.2 miles per hour. That's 63rd percentile. These are for percentile rankings at AAA. So, you know, the raw power a little less impressive at the max end, but should still play, like Scott said.

But the big concerns here are zone contact rate, 79.1 percent. That's 19th percentile amongst AAA hitter. out of zone contact percentage 46.8%, 17th percentile. So it's less the swing decisions and more what happens when he swings, which is a little more concerning for me, I think, than like, yeah, he's, I mean, I guess both would be concerning swinging at bad pitches and swinging and missing on those. But the in zone contact rate particularly I find concerning, just because that, I feel like that's something that's like fell Joe. Adele to name one example.

You know, something that that's something I'm trying to pay more and more attention to when it comes to top prospects, because to overcome a flaw like that, you really need to have outlier skills or tools, I guess. And, you know, Westberg seems to have good, but not great tools. So that's the thing I'm going to be keeping an eye on moving forward. You know, whiff rate overall 30.2%. That's in the 22nd percentile among AAA players. So the swing and miss is the biggest concern here.

Scott, would you take Jordan Westberg over either of Royce Lewis or Ezekiel Duran? That was a question that I kept getting on Sunday. I don't think I would. I mean, especially with the way Royce Lewis is heated up now. And last week we were talking about him and just how often he was sitting for the twins.

He started six straight games. So he's picking it up at the plate like I thought he would. And they're playing him more often. So I don't really see how Westberg is going to outperform that. You know, who knows what will actually happen. But it's that doesn't seem like the most likely scenario for Westberg. I had one league run waivers where Westberg was available so far. And he went for $52 out of a $1,000 budget.

That was in my 12 team tout words head to head points league. Chris, does that sound right around this point in the season like five to 10ish percent on Westberg? Yeah, I don't think he's someone that I want to break the bank for, but, you know, 158 games at AAA over two seasons, 283 average, 36 homers, 15 steals. There's clear upside here. So I don't want to say I'm not interested in him at all. It's just not necessarily someone I'm beating the door down to add. All right. Again, that is Jordan Westberg getting called up on Monday by the Baltimore Orioles.

Let's get into the rest of the weekend. That ball had a family. Can we just quickly acknowledge Ellie De La Cruz and what he did? on Friday, four for five with a cycle in his 15th career game, the first cycle for Reds player since 1989, and the cherry on top, he added two more steals this weekend. So he is just electrifying, really fun to watch. Yes, there's been a little bit of up and down with the strikeouts. I get that. Lots of ground balls too, but he's amazing. Strikeout rates down to 27%. Like, it's not even that. I don't know. It's one of those things where like, there are,

there are things to be a little concerned about. He's got like a 460 Wobah or something. 449. His expected Wobah is 331. Okay. That's, but like expected batting average is 277. That'll play. Like, I'm not sure he can keep this up, but he's a pretty remarkable talent.

And we're probably not going to talk about him. He's probably not going to become a first round pick next year. but like he's got the skills for it. Yeah, he definitely has the skills to be. And he's not as overwhelmed as we worried he might be. And the kinds of feedback I'm getting on Twitter about Ellie de la Cruz makes it sound like people are valuing him almost to the level of a first rounder already.

So, you know, usually when people say, hey, should I trade L.A. Dela Cruz for this. Or, hey, somebody offered me this for L.E. Dela Cruz. I'm saying, yeah. I mean, like, I think L.A. Dela Cruz is great. I moved him into my top 10 short stops the day he got called up, and he seems to be living up to that. And I do think he has the potential to be a first round pick in fantasy someday,

but it does seem like people are going crazy for him, you know? And so if you want to, if you're able to take advantage of that, like if you can trade, like somebody was saying, Shane McClanahan they were able to get for him. I can't even think of all the examples. But if that's the level of player that Elie De La Cruz could get for you, okay, then go for it. But that doesn't mean I'm saying,

oh, you need to sell high on Ellie De La Cruz because I don't want to hear that and think, oh, I better get rid of him before he collapses. I don't think he's going to collapse. I just don't think he's quite up to the level of a first rounder yet. So if that's the kind of return you can get, go for it. And to kind of circle back to what we're talking about with Jordan Westberg, L.A. Dela Cruz's in-zone contact rate is right around 81% at the major league level,

which is fine. It's not great, but like, that's workable. That's much actually better than I thought it would be given, you know, his size and his swing, the violence in his swing, I guess. So he's been, I mean, everything you could have hoped he would be in a way that looks at least moderately sustainable. He is so fun. Let's stick with the Reds and let's stick with you, Chris. You're, oh my goodness gracious player of the weekend. I'm going to stick with the Reds, like you said, and go with Joey Votto, who has three home runs and six games.

I think he homered twice on, was that Friday, that he had a two homer game. And look, it's reasonable to be skeptical that at 39 years old coming off a really, really disastrous season that saw him require shoulder surgery, that Joey Votto is going to contribute much. And I think his roster rate reflects that. But we have written him off before. And he had 36 homers two years ago. So, you know, I'm not saying that Joey Votto is a must add. certainly in, you know, your 12-team points leagues or anything, but I put a few bids out there in a 14-team Roto League and a 15-team league,

and I didn't get him in TGFBI. I don't know what he went for in that one, but I put in like an $18 bid, so it was a pretty low-dollar bid, but it's good to see, and I'm always going to be rooting for Joey Votto. Now, he was pretty terrible in 22 games during his minor league rehab, Simon, which is worth pointing out. 674 OPS at 173, 32 strikeouts and 97 play appearances, but he's a tinkerer. We don't know what he was down there working on if he was really concerned about his

results, but I'm glad to see him hitting. Joey Votto, 39% rostered on CBS. And I asked Scott, Scott this question last week, Votto or Tristan Kossis, who quietly has played well since the start of May. And specifically in June, Tristan Kossis hitting 267. with three homers, five doubles, and an 848 OPS. One other name here as well, if you're just looking at corner infielders,

Jamer Candelario went three for five with his 10th home run on Sunday, and since the start of May is betting 275 with an OPS that's just over 850. Chris, how would you rank that group? Votto, Kossis, and Candelario. Yeah, I noticed Candelario is like 12th in the National League and wins above replacement,

which is surprising. I think I would, put Votto at the top of that list. Just maybe I'm hanging on to that 2021 season a bit too much. But, you know, last year's injuries, maybe that explains the struggles.

So I'm cautiously optimistic. Yeah. And when you're comparing boring options to a potentially non-boring option, even if it's a low chance of being non-boring. Because you're right, Kossis has turned things around, but not with like,

you know, it's not hitting a lot of home runs. Yeah, whatever. Yeah, I'll go Votto at the top of that list. too, but I do want to stress continue to stash, strash, continue to stash incarnation strand over-roastering any of those guys.

Someone tweeted at me that incarnation strain was not in the AAA lineup on Sunday, but I assume if something was going to happen, we would have heard about it already, so we'll see. Maybe, maybe not. Minor leaguers get days off too, guys. Yeah, that's true. Let's go over to Scott, and we are

sticking with the Reds. Sticking with the Reds. Sticking with the Reds. I am going with Matt McCain. McLean. I will get a whole sentence out with that.

We got to restart this podcast. It's been a rough start so far. We really do. It's been bad. Sorry, thanks for sticking with us, folks. When I'm at the top of my game and no one else is, you know you're in a rough time.

Matt McLean. had a big game, much like Ellie De La Cruz did earlier in the weekend. Matt McLean had a four-hit game. In a way, more impressive than hitting for the cycle because they were all extra base hits. There was a home run, his fifth. There were three doubles.

It brings his season slash line now to 325, 380, 542, which is very impressive. And much like he was doing a AAA prior to his call-up, this really curious player, this Matt McLean, because I keep thinking he's going to slow down at some point. We're eventually going to see that batting average slip below 300.

The exit velocity reading's not impressive at all. In fact, he has a 260 expected batting average versus 325 mark of 423 expected slug versus the 542 mark. The plate discipline hasn't good. It was great in the minors. It hasn't been good in the majors. He's striking out like 27% of the time, I think,

and walking 6% of the time. Is that right, Chris? You got his page open? Yeah, going on memory there. So that's not like, it doesn't seem like he should continue to produce at this level, and yet there's been no let up at all. And watching him play,

you get the sense there's not going to be. He just seems like a ball player. And I know that's like boomerish baseball analysis that people are going to laugh at me for, but I don't know how to explain it other than that. I just gave you all the advanced stats. And yet he's one of those players where, I don't know,

I'm more, I don't think he's going to hit 325, okay, like there is going to be some regression here, but not enough that you're going to take McLean out of your lineup at any point. That's the feeling I'm getting. I believe the term you're looking for, what the zoomers are using.

Matt McLean's got that dog in him. There you go. That's what we're saying. That's that that's exactly what I'm saying, yes. I do wonder if with Matt McLean, he'll be able to kind of overcome his expected numbers because he plays half of his games in Great American Ballpark where so far he's hit four of his five home runs.

He's got a 1031 OPS at home and an 810 on the road. So strikes me as something that might be able to help Matt McLean moving forward. But yes, he has been amazing. And speaking of amazing, We had a pitcher this weekend who went into Corse Field and pitched exceptionally well. And his name is Griffin Canning. He threw six shutout innings with seven strikeouts and 18 swinging strikes on 99 pitches. And he's got the ERA back below four.

It's right at 399. He's got a 1.16 whip. And over his last six starts, that drops to a 225 ERA and a near 13% swinging strike rate. He's 46% rostered. Scott, I feel like we've talked about Griffin Canning recently, but that roster rate is still pretty low at 46%. What do you think? I understand.

It's too low. It's too low. I don't think he needs to be rostered everywhere. He's been somebody that I feel like I keep putting in claims for every week, but pretty far down the priority list. So I don't end up adding him either. I'm interested by all the swinging strikes. I mean, that's the number one thing I look forward to pitcher.

and he's delivering in that regard. He's also giving up hard contacts. So you have kind of the push and pull of those two things tugging on it. I feel like that's the main thing Chris looks for in a pitcher is how hard is the contact that he's giving up. So, you know, low marks for canning in that area, high marks in terms of swinging strike rate. And lately it's been delivering results.

I pointed out earlier that when this run started, he was really fading his fastball, throwing it closer to 25% of the time to allow that slider and change up to play up. But he's been bringing the fastball back in. It hasn't affected the results. I don't know what to make of that. I think ultimately what's keeping me away is he pitches for the Angels.

And so that means he's starting less frequently because they have to space out. Shohei Otani starts. And so like relative to the other like waiver wire standouts from this weekend, I would probably still rather have Ken to Maeda than him. I don't know about you guys. I'd go canning over Maeda. Yeah, I think that's...

I'd rather... I think I'd rather have Taiwan Walker. I think there's just... Especially in a points league, for sure. Yeah, I'd rather have Walker. Would rather chase upside with Emmett Sheehan. Brian Beyo's still available in around 30% of leagues.

I love Beio. I'm a little skeptical of Beio. I'm sure we'll talk about him a little more, but I would rather have him than Canning. like, I'd rather have Canning than you say Cacucci. Sure. I'd rather have Canning than Reese Olson, although he's doing some interesting things.

I think he's like, what's Canning's roster rate? Did we say it? 46%. That sounds right about, yeah, he sounds like the median rosterable fantasy baseball pitcher this season. All right.

Well, we will compare him to some of those other names that you just mentioned in just a little bit. One other mention of oh my goodness gracious this weekend. The Angels scored 25 runs in Corace Field on Saturday, which is just bananas. Six different players in their lineup had three or more hits. Mike Trout went three for three with his 17th home run. Hunter Renfro went five for five with four RBI.

Mickey Moniac also went five for five with his seventh home run. And good old David Fletcher is back with the Angels. He went four for six with his first home run. The guy never hits home runs. his first game back, he hits home run. What was funny about that is they were up 23 to nothing after four innings. So they really took their foot off the gas. I mean, they should have been rewriting the record books.

Hey, man, major disappointment those last. I mean, that's a weird. Did you guys see the UFLSU game today? No. You have won like 20 to 2 or something. And it was one of those ones where like, it was a very pro-LSU crowd and UF just kept hitting tanks like deep end of the game when they were already up by 17. And it was one where it's just like, the crowd was just like, oh, and that's how the Rockies Angels felt in it. You reach a point where the game becomes so uncompetitive that it's like, yeah, sure, David Fletcher can hit a home run.

This isn't a real Major League baseball game anymore. You know, it's one of those. It's crazy stuff. David Fletcher, by the way, in the minors, the season was. batting 383 with a 909 OPS. Do we care about David Fletcher or even Mickey Moniac in deeper leagues? I feel like we continue to bring his name up. There is only so much you can care about a pure platoon player.

I think Moniac has like eight plate appearances against lefties. He's been really good. Yeah. It's just who's the best platoon bat? Like pure platoon bat. You know, like it's... Jack Peterson. And he's not the best.

You know, he's probably. not even Jock Peterson. So I think it's unlikely that Mickey Moniac matters much for fantasy, but Remarkable story if nothing else. The Angels for for Fletcher because it took a while for them to actually get Fletcher in the lineup after calling him up right? They finally got him in a game and it happened you happen to have this big performance. I couldn't confirm that, but go on. Okay So they've acquired a couple infielders this. weekend, Eduardo Escobar from the Mets, which good news for Brett Beatty, and Mike Mustakis from the Rockies right after this game, actually. Yeah, they got beat so bad they had to give up Mike Mastakis. That's actually the rule.

If you lose like 23 runs and you have Mike Mastakis, you have to give him up. It's like playing Pokemon or Magic or one of those card games where you collect the cards. Anyway, what was I going to say? Oh, that's good news for Nolan Jones that they traded Mike Mustakis. And obviously neither of those guys, Mustakis, Escaro, they can't play shortstop. But, like, they've got a glut of infielders now that are almost interesting.

And that probably makes none of them that interesting. That is the angels that we were talking about there. And David Fletcher, by the way, it looks like he was called up on Saturday, and he started Saturday, Scott. Okay. Yeah, I got that timeline wrong. My bad.

All good. Let's take our first break. and when we return, we'll take a look at all of the waiver wire pitchers here on Fantasy Baseball today. Welcome back into Fantasy Baseball today and a quick reminder to sign up for our Fantasy Baseball Today newsletter. It is free and you can find it at CBSports.com slash newsletters. All you got to do is punch in your email address. Hit subscribe and you'll get those delivered to your email inbox every day for free. And Chris, correct me if I'm wrong, but I know that you've been working on some of those recently.

Yeah, I'm writing the Monday. I do like a big weekend recap with all the waiver wire and injuries and news and notes that you need to know about. And then Fridays I do a little weekend preview, give you some streamers and stuff to keep an eye on. So yeah, I think they're, I think it's worth reading. It's free. Absolutely. If you are watching us live on YouTube right now, then you can take out your phone and scan the QR code. That will take you right to the website where you can once again sign up for free.

And I do apologize once again because my voice just sounds absolutely. Absolutely terrible. So thank you for sticking around and fighting through this with all of us. Weaver wire pitchers from the weekend. Let's start with the first group here, which includes Brian Beyo, who has now turned in four straight quality starts. He introduced a new cutter this weekend. He threw it nine times in that start. And honestly has been pretty good this year. 327 ERA right around a strikeout per inning. Eminie H. Sheehan opens his career with back-to-back quality starts. He was up against the Astros, six innings of two-run ball with four strike and 12 swinging strikes.

Taiwan Walker, he keeps on rolling. He's got a 0.69 ERA over his last four starts right at a strikeout per inning that coincides with a velocity jump that he's been pitching with recently. And then, of course, Griffin Canning was the other name that I had in there. So Scott, how would you rank that group?

Bayo, Sheehan, Taiwan Walker, and Griffin Canning. Well, I think I'm ready to put Bayo number one. I feel like the breakthrough was happening. It sounded like Chris had some doubts there that maybe he'll get into in a minute. But I've been kind of calling him a poor man's Framber Valdez really going back to last year. And the kind of run Bayo has been on now.

Poor man's Fromber Valdez in the respect that he's an elite ground ball generator who also gets whiffs at a nice rate, mostly because of his change-up, which is a good swing and miss pitch. He does have some walk issues. Fromber Valdez did it first too. But that's really the only hang-up for me at this point. Bayo's going deep into games, so 2-1 runs are less in 10 straight. Four straight have been quality starts, so he's gone to six innings required in four straight.

And, I mean, at this point, other than the whip, the season numbers look good too for Brian Beow. So he's number one for me. I'll put Emmett Sheehan, too. I'm not sure exactly... Well, you know what? The whiffs were better in this start against Houston. He only had four strikeouts in six innings, but he got 12 swinging strikes on 87 pitches, which is a nice rate.

He got six on the fastball itself. He threw it 62% of the time. So that's not a great whiff rate. I expect him to get more swings and misses on the fastball. But overall, the whiffs were there. Better, more than in his first start. And I think there's still enough upside to stay enthusiastic about him. At Sheehan, so he'll be number two behind Beio.

Number three is... Walker. Taiwan Walker. Yes. whose velocity was down closer to normal. Because remember there was that big jump in velocity that preceded this three-start, an awesome three-star stretch for Taiwan Walker.

So this start over the weekend was the fourth start where he got good results. But the velocity was back down a little, which I thought was curious, because I was putting a lot on that improved velocity, like up to three miles per hour on all his pitches is what he was working with prior for those initial three starts and then it kind of receded a little bit in this fourth one.

So that's interesting. I'm not sure what to make of that. But overall, I still would say Taiwan Walker's trending up. And then Griffin Canning fourth. Brian Beow, by the way, up against the Marlins this week, too. So a good match up there for him. And the aforementioned, Terrick Scouble is 54% rostered. He'll make another rehab start at AAA this week. Maybe he'll be back the week after that.

Waver Wire pitchers part two. Wade Miley continues to pitch well. He was up against the Guardians. He threw six shutout innings. with three strikeouts and his velocity remains up around between one and two miles per hour on his pitches since returning from the IL. Reese Olson has eight plus strikeouts in each of his last two starts. Josiah Gray, solid bouncebacks start at the Padres, five and a third shutout with six strikeouts and 13 swinging strikes. And Kyle Bradish continues to pitch well, seven innings, two runs loud, seven strikeouts with 13 swinging strikes there.

Scott, this next group, Kyle Bradish continues to pitch well. Braddish, Josiah Gray, Reese Olson, and Wade Miley. How would you rank them? I would have them, I would have some of them ahead of Griffin Canning, for what it's worth. One of the ones I would have ahead of Griffin Canning from the previous group is Kyle Bradish, who has actually pitched a lot better lately than he's gotten credit for. He hasn't gotten a lot of wins, but it's not because he doesn't work deep into games, typically. and now over his last nine starts he has a 292ERA.99 whip 8.4K per 9. But he's always been a guy who like the stuff rates better than the actual strikeouts,

so I'm not even going to fixate on the 8.4K per 9 so much. I think Kyle Bradish is pretty good and he's doing it for a really good team. So that puts him number one of this group ahead of Griffin Canning for me. Number two of this group is Reese Olson, who continued to, pitch well, as he mostly has since getting called up. So what was interesting about this start, the whiffs were there, certainly 13 on 88 pitches, including 11 on the slider alone. He got six on his changeup last time.

He barely threw the changeup. He threw it seven times in this game. So it went from being a pitch that he was relying on heavily for swings and misses to just not just basically ditching it the next time out. And so that was an interesting. interesting choice, but in a way, it's like, okay, well, he's not totally dependent on that one pitch. He's got a couple different weapons to work with, does Reese Olson. And yeah, his fastballs are bad.

That's the one is that they're just so far at least, they're getting hit really hard and they're getting no whiffs. And I would love to see him just like, let's see if we can throw the slider and change up. Yes, 65% of the. time. Sort of, sort of like what Griffin Canning's been doing recently. Yeah. But,

you know, between the start to his major league career and the way his minor league career finished, which was with, what was it, three dominant starts right before he's called. The overall ERA was bad, but he, like,

figured things out right before his call up. And a bunch of strikeouts has been consistent. Yep. So, you know, I wish you pitched for a team other than the Tigers, but Reese Olson's pretty interesting. Let's see.

Next, I'm going to go with Wade Miley here. actually his velocity's been way up since coming off the I.L. Like two miles per hour on everything. And actually better than it's been in years too. It's not just like, oh, his velocity was down early this year, then went on the IL and now it's back. It's like better than it's been in a long time.

Doubt that's going to last, but it makes Wade Miley a little bit more interesting right now. And then Josiah Gray's fourth because he continues to exceed his peripherals, but not by as much as he used to, and I just think it's all going to fall apart sooner than later. All right, fair enough. Waiverwire pitchers, part three. This next group includes Johan Oviedo, who has thrown back-to-back quality starts. He had 14 swinging strikes against the Marlins this weekend.

Clark Schmidt has pitched well over the past month or so. His last seven starts, he's got a 2.19 ERA and a 1.16 whip. Dane Dunning, a quality start at the Yankees, seven innings of two-run ball with two strikeouts there. and Kent Maeda, who did pitch well in his return at the Tigers, five shotout with eight strikeouts and 11 swinging strikes. Chris, anyone stand out from this group? I know you mentioned Maeda, but also Dane Dunning, Clark Schmidt, and Johan Oviedo. Maeda and Oviedo, I think, are the only two that I'm interested in, really. And I think I have more interest in Maeda than Oviedo. I just, Oviedo's had these flashes this season, but you look at the overall numbers and to, 8.1K per 9 and pretty mediocre to bad control. And I just don't seem much to be excited about with my at least it's kind of the Joey Vado thing where it's like,

hey, maybe he can recapture what made him so special a couple of years ago. So I would at least give the guy who's been there a chance, especially because, you know, 11 swinging strikes on 83 pitches. It's pretty good. Five on the splitter. I'm not super excited about it,

but it's worth a look. And if you need a pitcher specifically for this week, I'll point out, Kentimaida has the worst matchup by far of this group. He's at the Braves, but the other three. Dunning is facing the Tigers. Clark Schmidt is at the Oakland A's and Johan Oviedo is home against the Brewer. I would say Braddish is rostered in fewer leagues than two of them, Dunning and Oviedo.

And he's a home this week. He's got a 303 at home, like a 460 R a road. So if you're looking for a streamer, I'd prioritize Braddish over any of that group. All right. And then in deeper leagues, Daniel Lynch, back-to-back quality starts for him. Luis Ortiz through eight innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts at the Marlins. A gentleman named Brian Hoing has made two scoreless starts in a row now for the Marlins. And Ronel Blanco, who pitches for the Astros, he's allowed three earn runs or fewer in three of four starts.

He was at the Dodgers, six innings, three runs, six strikeouts with 17 swinging strikes on 99 pitches. Scott, anything to see here with Ronel Blanco, Brian Hoeing, Luis Ortiz, and Daniel Lynch in deeper leagues. Well, I think Ronel Blanco is interesting enough that he might matter in more than just deeper leagues. So he had 17 swinging strikes in this one. He had 16 swinging strikes two starts ago. The pitch he throws most often is a slider. It was responsible for 12 of his 17 whiffs here over the weekend. He throws it more than half the time.

And it has a 47% whiff rate on the year. You won't find many pitchers whose primary pitch has a whiff rate as high as 47%. You know, most pitchers, their primary pitch is a fastball, and that might, you know, if it's a good, good pitcher might have a whiff rate of 20 to 25%, you know. So to have your main pitch, would you throw more than half a time, have almost a 50% whiff rate, I think Ronel Blanco might have some pretty good upside.

Now, you look at his minor league track record, his walk rates were just awful. And this year, especially prior to his to being called up, he was walking way too many guys. And, you know, maybe he'll never amount too much because of that. But I'm definitely interested in him. And he's been pitching well enough for the Astros that, you know, if you wanted to speculate the guy, speculate on a guy at the back end of your bench. I prioritize Griffin Canning over Ronell Blanco, but I don't think they're that far apart. And Renele Blanco, 3% rostered at the Rangers this week is a very tough matchup. So maybe it's like a hold situation, but he does have RPL.

on CBS. So specifically if you play in a points league and you want to take advantage there, again, the name Ronel Blanco. Let's quickly run through some waiver wire hitters. We mentioned some of the corner infielders earlier on. And Hassan Kim is someone I wanted to mention as a middle infield option,

although he does have second, third base, and shortstop eligibility. He has homered in three of his past four games. He has let off four straight for the Padres. They are now batting Fernando Tatsi second in the lineup. and Kim is only batting 251, but he does have eight home runs and 13 steals. So some power and speed there. Chris, do you think Hassan Kim should be rostered in more than 47% of CBS leagues?

I don't think so. I can't imagine he has much use in a points league. And there aren't that many, there probably aren't more than 47% roto leagues in CBS. I guess the number is even lower than that. So that's probably about right, maybe even a little bit high. All right. Two names in five outfielder leagues. We mentioned last week, Alec Thomas got recalled by the Diamondbacks. He went three for four with his fourth stolen base on Sunday. And in six games since returning from the minors, he has 10 hits, one homer and one steal. And Jose Siri went three for four with a home run on Friday and then hit another one on Sunday. He now has 14 homers and seven steals this season. Scott, who would you rather have in a five outfielder league, Jose Siri or Alec Thomas? or neither. It doesn't seem like you like either of these guys.

Well, no, I wouldn't consider either of them a high priority, just double-checking series playing time, because that's always been an issue. He's played 15 in the last 22 games. He started 14 of them in the month of June. Yeah, I guess I'd lean Thomas there, though not with a lot of confidence. I'm just not sure that he's ever going to provide enough power to be,

you know, more than a five outfielder type, but I guess that's what we're talking about here, right? Has Thomas played against any lefties? He was out of the lineup for one game since coming back, so I just kind of assumed that that was against a lefty, but... Yeah, because that's the thing, is his numbers against lefties are just unplayably bad so far in the May. I think it's...

I want to say it's a sub-400 OPS against lefties, if I remember correctly, and so... You know, he's obviously, he's too young to write off completely, but, yeah, in his career, 365, OPS against left-handed bat pitching and a hundred and thirty-five play appearances so small sample size but not nothing Alec Thomas was out of the lineup on Saturday and It was against a bullpen game for the Giants so maybe it was just like a routine day off for him in two catcher leagues we mentioned the name a couple of weeks ago and you know we just kind of brushed it off but

the guy is playing well Patrick Bailey two for three with his fourth home run on Friday the expected stats look great for him he's got a 35% line drive rate according to Fangrass, 91 mile per hour average exit velocity. He's 19% rostered. I think this is solely for two catcher leagues. I thought about dropping Shea Langalears for him

in a deeper two catcher league that I have, but ultimately I didn't do it because I feel safer about Langalears' playing time rest of season. So here's an interesting one, right? Like Patrick Bailey has a 403 Babbup right now. He is

actually right at his he is actually underperforming excuse me his expected batting average is expected batting average is 334 his actual batting average is 323 which is all to say that like it's not just luck that he's hitting 323 but he's not going to keep hitting 323 he's earned a 403 babb it but he's not going to continue a 403 babb as i think the way i think Jorge Alfaro has the highest babb up over the last five seasons and it's like 370 or something and nobody else is above 350. So Patrick Bailey has earned what he's done so far and also what he's done so far is not real. Both of those things are probably true. Let's take our final break and when we return some news and notes, some starter sick questions.

We'll do all of that right after this. Welcome back and let's hit the news and notes. Aaron Judge confirmed that he has a torn ligament in his right big toe and that he still has pain. when he walks and we don't we don't have a timeline. This was one of those annoying ones where like it was like Aaron Judge confirms he has a tear in his toe. The Yankees said it was a sprain. It's like a sprain is a tear guys. We didn't actually learn any new information.

It's it's, it's, that doesn't mean it's not bad and it doesn't mean that it may not limit him for the rest of the season and all of those things. But this wasn't new information. I saw a lot of people freaking out. on Twitter. So I just wanted to like provide, well, go to Will Carroll's Twitter page. Will Carroll is an injury guy used to write for baseball prospectus.

His pen tweet is a sprain is a tear. Okay. But I just, I just want to get that out there. They do call injuries sometimes sprains and they do call them tears sometimes. And the presumption is it's a more significant tear when they use the term tear instead of sprain, right? Maybe.

I don't know. Like I don't know. I don't know how the Yanke's came. What we do know is that. Because some teams handle them differently. Some teams have like specific verbiage that they use consistently. And I don't know what the Yankees system is. What we do know is that when he first suffered this injury,

it was like, oh, maybe he won't even require an IL trip. And now they're talking like he might not bake it back this year. So like we did, we did learn whether they should have called it a tear all along or should have kept calling it a sprain. We did learn that it sounds like he's going to be out for a lot longer. Yeah, there was. There was the Aaron Boone interview where he, he did that annoying thing where it was like,

Aaron Boone wouldn't confirm that he won't return this year. But he also said, I have not been told that he, that he's not going to return this year. So it was like, yeah, the Yankees are frustrating with how they handle injuries. They tend to downplay them.

The Mets also did this for a long time. And they should just be more honest with it. but I'm hoping it was just a little freak out so Brian Hawke who covers the Yankees for MLB this is something he tweeted out as in the aftermath of this press conference

spoke to a sports orthopedic surgeon at NYU Langone who has not treated Aaron Jones but gosh I can't even read properly spoke to a sports orthopedic surgeon who has not treated Aaron Judge, but he believes optimistically, my best guess would be that Judge could return two months from the date of the injury, which would be about August 3rd. So, someone who didn't actually treat Judge, but he's saying optimistically August is what we're

looking at for his return. I guess I should have just paraphrase to begin with. It would have saved this all a lot of time. Anyway, not good news. No, no, it is not good news for Aaron Judge Shane McClanahan threw from flat ground with trainers on Saturday, and it seemed to go well, but we still don't have an official update on whether he's going to make his next start or not. I assume we should just bench McClanahan unless we find something else out on Monday. That's how I would approach it, yeah. Cedric Mullins was activated off the IL this weekend.

Marcus Stroman was removed from Sunday start with a blister on his right index finger. He allowed six runs, three of those earned over three and a third innings. before leaving. Byron Buckson left Saturday's game with back spasms and was not in the lineup on Sunday. Max Muncie is expected to be activated from the aisle on Tuesday. He's been out since June 13th with a strained left hamstring. Nathan Avaldi said Saturday that a mechanical issue

was the root cause in the decrease in velocity during his last start. The problem is that his velocity was also down on Sunday. His fastball was down 1.2 miles per hour. splitter down 1.2, the curve down 1.4. Are you guys more concerned that it's now two starts in a row, velocity down for Nathan Avaldi? Yeah, I'm more concerned. I would still put my concern level more in the moderate range than the severe range.

I mean, he is getting pretty good results with this reduced velocity. And, you know, just because he's identified the problem doesn't mean he's fixed it yet. for what it's worth Tyler Glass now two turns ago he blamed a dip in velocity on a mechanical issue and then he came back out

here on Sunday right and looked great he had his most dominant start of the season yeah first time he looked like Tyler Glass now yep as we suspected the Marlins are considering

pausing Yuri Perez following his start next weekend to potentially give him an extended rest going into the All-Star break he was amazing again on Sunday. He threw six shutout with

nine strikeouts and 15 swinging strikes up against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Michael Waka had his start skipped Saturday due to shoulder fatigue, which might also explain his velocity being down in recent starts. James Paxton, please be okay.

Was removed from Saturday start with knee soreness but believes he'll be able to make his next scheduled start. Alec Manoa threw 74 pitches in his latest simulated game and we'll make at least one start in the minor leagues before returning to the Blue Jays. You know, all the waiver wire pitchers are we talked about so far, if I didn't need someone right

now, I'd probably rather have Brian Bayer than him. I think I'd rather have Terrick Scoobal. I don't know if I wouldn't rather stash Alec Manoa than any of the other guys we've mentioned so far today if I don't need someone. Like the likeliest outcome is Alic Manoa stinks the rest of the season, whether it's in the minors or he gets called back up. But obviously he has more upside than any of those guys that we're talking about. I think he has more upside than Brian Bayo if he figures it out. So we'll see how the minor league session goes, but just want to throw that out there. Alex, go ahead. He has 72% rostered, which is well more than most of those guys. So I think the majority agree with you. And I agree with you too.

Yeah, right around where Bayo is. Yeah. Eduardo Rodriguez felt fantastic following his live batting practice on Saturday. he threw about 50 pitches over three simulated innings. Riley Green took batting practice and did some straight-line sprints at full-speed Saturday. He remains without a timetable as he recovers from a leg injury. The Brewers had a scare when outfield prospect Sal Freelick fouled a ball off of his knee last Thursday, but he was back in their minor league lineup on Sunday. Nestor Cortez is roughly a week away from throwing off a mound.

He's been out since early June with a left rotator cuff strain. Daniel Hudson will head to the Dodgers spring training complex in Arizona to throw an inning on Tuesday. And if all goes well, could be activated next weekend. Jack Flarety was scratched this weekend due to hip discomfort. And as you guys mentioned earlier, the Angels acquired both Eduardo Escobar and Mike Mustakis this weekend. The Reds prospect, Noel V. Marte, was promoted from AA to AAA.

He's had a pretty good start to his minor league season. and a couple names that went to the IL, Ben lively with a right pectoral strain, Mike Yistremski with a hamstring strain, and Ramon Luriano with a fractured right hand. He suffered on a slide. Starters hit these pitchers. On the surface, it looked like a solid start

for Luis Severino up against the Texas Rangers this weekend. Obviously, it's a very tough lineup. He threw six shot-out innings with four strikeouts, but he only had four swinging strikes. He allowed 11 hard hits in this game. He only threw six sliders. The effectiveness of that pitch has gone way down this season. Chris, are you benching Luis Severino at the Cardinals this week?

Yeah, both slider and cutter, which was a pitch that Severino introduced. I think last season have been pretty miserable for him so far. There's no way you can start him right now, even with this good start. Yeah, his swinging strike right on the slider down to 23%, 11%. on the cutter. Last year, it was above 40% with both. He's clearly still searching for it. And I'm not dropping him, but I'm, there's no way I'm starting Louis Severino right now. The other name I wanted to mention here is Bobby Miller, who all of a sudden has got roughed up in his last two starts.

He allowed six runs over four innings pitched this weekend up against the Houston Astros. Didn't really allow that much hard contact. His velocity was actually up in the start as well. Seems like might have been a little bit unlucky here, Scott. I think I would be okay starting him at the Royals this week, even though his last two starts have been pretty bad. That's Bobby Miller. I mean, I feel better about him than I do Luis Severino.

I think I'd rather sit him until I saw him bounce back. That's just kind of the way I'd normally play it. I don't know exactly what's going on with him. He's allowing weak contact. It was 85.2 was the average XIVor velocity in this one, 83.9 in the previous one. So I don't know what's going on with him. I'd rather sit him until I see him bounce back,

but I'm pretty confident he's going to bounce back. Again, that is Bobby Miller. Let's wrap up some rapid fire leftovers here. Pitching standouts from the weekend, part one, Jesus Lazzardo, a dominant outing up against the pirates, seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts. Logan Gilbert got back on track at the Orioles. Seven innings, one run, five strikeouts for him,

and Lucas Gilito. picked up 10 strikeouts over six innings. He allowed three runs. Only one of those was earned. Pretty tough matchup against the Red Sox there. Had 17 swinging strikes. Chris, anything to add on Gialito, Logan Gilbert, and Jesus Lazzardo? I can't really figure out Gialito.

I can't figure out if he's good or bad or somewhere in between right now. It seems like it's kind of different every start. But Lazzardo and Gilbert, I think, are good. I'm more confident in them than Gialito. But they're all, I think they're all in like the 40-ish range for me at starting pitcher. Logan Gilbert, I think I have inside my top 25. That Cada Walker is a little higher, yeah. Yeah, the K to walk ratio has been so good this year.

It's just limiting the hard contact when he can. Other pitching standouts, part two. Joe Musgrove had his best start of the season up against the national seven innings of one-run ball. With seven strikeouts, Justin Steele, just continuing. to roll this time against the Cardinals in London, six innings, one run, eight strikeouts there, and Tanner Bybee turned in his first quality start since May 27th. Scott, anything here on Bybee, Justin Steele, Joe Musgrove. Nothing major.

I think they, none of them did anything in this start that like changes my opinion of them. would you be i was just going to say with go ahead go ahead scott by we got a lot of wuss with a changeup which is nice to see but you know he walked for and we just got to see it more consistently from him you know steel continues to outperform his ratios musgrove you know he seems to be getting better yeah i'm searching for things to say i think they they all did fine uh the only thing i was going to ask is with Musgrove, we recently had a report that he's dealing with elbow bersitis. Would you use this as an opportunity to sell after his best start? So high, I guess.

Sure. But, like, as always, it's got to be high because how many people have somebody they could just plug in for Joe Musgrove? How many? Yeah. Pitching standouts, part three. You say Kikuchi back-to-back quality starts. He has allowed two earn runs or fewer in six straight. Up against the Oakland A's this weekend, seven innings, one run, eight strikeouts there.

Tyler Glass now, we mentioned he had a 12 strikeout effort on Sunday, 26 swinging strikes up against the Royals. And Yuri Perez, again, was dominant, six shutout innings, nine strikeouts, 15 swinging strikes there. Chris, anything on Yuri Perez, Tyler Glass now, Yusei Kikuchi. I wrote a bunch about Yuri Perez in the trade values column so you can get my thoughts there. They haven't really changed. But I would expect he's not really going to pitch over the next three weeks as the Marlins shut him down until the All-Star break.

And then he's probably got like, I don't know, seven or eight or nine more starts after that. And I think he's going to be awesome. I think he's going to be a top 25 starting pitcher in the rankings next year. He also, he won't be 21 on opening day next year. Like that's the thing to keep in mind. Like, you think it's impressive what he's doing. He turned 20 on April 15th of this year.

For context, Jose Fernandez, his rookie season turned 21 in July. Uri Perez is like nine months ahead. And Jose Fernandez was better and Uri Prez is not going to be that good. But still, the context is remarkable. He's outrageously good. This was the first time Tyler Glassnow looked like Tyler Glass now. In fairness, the Kansas City Royals looked like the Kansas City Royals also, which serves certainly helps. They are kind of a disaster against right-handed pitching right now. And then

you say Kukuchi's got this new curveball that he's throwing this year. It's a harder version of the curveball that he debuted with and then threw away when it was terrible. He's thrown at least 20% of the time, six straight starts. And he has a 382 ERA over that six-start span with 34 strikeouts and 30 and two-thirds innings. I'm always hesitant to buy in. I'm always hesitant to right you say Kukuchi off. I believe I have him ranked like 80th at starting pitcher and I feel comfortable with that. All right. Corbyn Burns more struggles this weekend at the Guardians. He allowed four runs over five and two thirds. And he is now allowed three or more runs in eight of 16 starts. He's got a 4.1 ERA. And look, if it was a tougher matchup this week, I might say, all right,

you consider benching him, but he's at the pirates, which is starting him. Yeah, I think. You just got to start him. You're not even considering it. No, you're not. And what's strange is, you know, he seemed like he got his season back on track statistically for a while there. And then it's kind of gotten kind of stumbled again here in his last couple starts. That's the stumble has come as his cutter velocity has gotten back to where it was last year.

So like those velocity issues, Corbyn Merns was happening at the start of the year, completely gone now. So it's a little surprised the timing of this most recent stumble, but pretty much all of the elite class of starting pitchers have been a little less than elite this year. They've all kind of underachieved. That is fair.

One last note here on a hitter. Anthony Santander, he has homered in five of his past six games. He's batting 271 with 14 homers and an 836 OPS. Scott, would you say it's time to move Santander up the rankings? Yeah, I might need to move him up a bit. I had him outside of my top 60 before this. I mean, look, he was on pace for less than 20 homers with a bad OBP.

And, yeah, he's just, you know, I don't see him getting back to the 33 home runs he hit last year, even now. The data's worse. he's striking out more than he did last year. But, you know, he plays every day for good offense and is probably like a number four outfielder in fantasy. We did have some interesting bullpen happenings this weekend,

but pretty late here in the podcast. I'm just going to ask you guys to rank this group of four if you're looking for saves. I think they're all kind of emerging as the closers for their respective teams. Scott McGuff, Jordan Hicks, Justin Lawrence with the Rockies, and Hunter Harvey with the Nationals. How would you guys rank that group?

You could probably throw Trevor May in there, and I think him and Lawrence are at the bottom. Hicks has four saves in the past seven games, which is kind of wild. It looks like he's the guy with Halsley out. But I would probably prioritize McGuff and Harvey over Hicks in the long term. But Hicks sure looks like a solid source for the short term.

I mean, I'd go Hicks over Harvey. It just doesn't seem like, it's becoming more clear that they're, sorry, it's becoming more clear that they're transitioning away from Finnegan. Yeah, that's, yeah, yeah. But, so Harvey's gotten each of the last three saves for the Nationals. Only two have come in June. Like, the third happened way back in May.

So, like, he's just not getting many chances here. And so, yeah, I'd go McGuff one, Hicks, two, Harvey 3 Lawrence 4 Just stay away from Trevor May That's that's Yeah I think that's probably McGuff has four saves in the last five days

Yeah And they're a good team He's pitching really well I know he got up to a bit of a rocky start this year But over the past two months He's really turned it on Would you guys be okay dropping Jason Adam For any of those names?

He just looks like he's back into the eighth inning role for Tampa Bay Yeah, except for Trevor May. Okay. Let's wrap up with to stream or not to stream, and we'll start with Monday. It's a very short slate of action. I think Reid Detmer's up against the White Sox is probably the best name on this list. And don't love anyone else.

Yeah, he's fine. And no one else's. Yeah. Who did we say was fine? Reed Debtors. Yes, he is fine. Yep. Matthew Boyd at Texas.

It's a really tough matchup. Trevor Williams at Seattle. As a streamer, he's fine. Yeah. On Tuesday. Deadmers. To be clear. On Tuesday, I think Garrett Whitlock stands out against the Marlins.

Gavin Williams up against Kansas City. I think that's pretty good. Brian Wu versus the Nationals. Those are great. Those are all better than Debmer's. And Julio Taran at the Mets, I think is fine. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Tuesday is a pretty good day of streaming. All right, we're going to wrap the air. Thankfully, it's over for me. Thank you all for sticking around and fighting through and listening. We do appreciate it, but I know it was kind of a mess here today. For Scott and Chris, I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify.

We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.