Fantasy Baseball Today - Jorge Mateo's Hot Start, Grayson Rodriguez Promoted & Kenta Maeda Hype (4/5 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 5, 2023

Spencer Torkelson had a big game Tuesday (2:00). ... Kenta Maeda flashed some upside in his first start back after Tommy John surgery (5:50). ... Do we buy Jorge Mateo's hot start (9:00)? ... What's going on with home runs early in the season (15:00)? ... Grayson Rodriguez is being promoted on Wednesday (24:35). ... News (29:40): Gunnar Henderson is dealing with a sore hand. ... Let's talk Yandy Diaz, Garrett Mitchell and Brian Anderson (32:07). ... What did we think of Roansy Contreras and Yusei Kikuchi (42:56)? ... We had a bunch of aces on the mound Tuesday (50:35). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (56:53). 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.  Fantasy Baseball Today is a finalist in the Baseball Category for the Sports Podcast Awards! Quickly create an account and vote here: https://www.sportspodcastgroup.com/sports_category/best-baseball-podcast/ 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 lead. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. What's up and welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Wednesday, April 5th. Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, we're going to hit on all of Tuesday's action.

Jorge Mateo's hot stuff. The Orioles are calling up top pitching prospect, Grayson Rodriguez. Two more home runs hit for Brian Anderson, who Scott White does not believe in, and much more. Let's get things started. Yesterday I mentioned that we were going to mix in some new calls here with, oh my goodness gracious. It's not going to go away completely. We'll still play it once per week. You won't know when it's coming, though.

So I'll surprise you. But here's today's, oh my goodness gracious, player of the night. I don't believe! Of course, that is the... legendary Jack Buck call on Kirk Gibson's home run, something that many people sent in and wanted to hear. So, there you go. It's a classic. It's a classic.

By the way, if you're watching on YouTube, you might notice all three of us are wearing glasses today. We're the four-eyed trio. That's right. Bunch nerds. Chris almost always wears glasses. I'm wearing glasses by necessity. Can't wear my contacts.

Eye infection. Frank's doing it just in solidarity, so I appreciate that friend for joining the four. I had to support my guys. Speaking of which, let's start off with Chris. You haven't been on in a couple of days. Oh my goodness gracious. Who do you have? And the irony is you guys probably need glasses more than I do for me. It's it's sort of an aesthetic choice. I do need glasses when I'm using a computer. But I also, you know, it looks nice. My oh my goodness gracious player of the night is Spencer Torkelson who finally came to life tonight. He'd gone off to a a very slow start.

It was, you know, four games. So who cares. But no, now he's, now his OPS is all of a sudden up to 774. He had three batted balls hit over 100 miles an hour, including his first home run of the season.

Also had a double, drove in three runs. And not striking out so far. Only three strikeouts through the first five games, 20 plate appearances. That's what we want to see. I mean, he struck out about 25% of the,

the time. So this is a big improvement. Obviously, it's very, very early. And he wasn't exactly hitting the ball super hard before this. So I don't want to overstate the games that he's made, but it was a good sign. And at this point in the season, we're looking for positive signs. I think that's really like, there are very few things right now that can change my opinion of a player. So what I want to see is just guys putting together good games, guys putting together multiple good games, guys showing signs of progress. And I think tonight was a sign of progress for Spencer Turtles. Yes, indeed it was.

Monster game, three for four with a home run and three RBI had three batted balls. Over 102 mile per hour exit velocity. And I had this plan for a little bit later on comparing waiver wire hitters to other waiver wire hitters for the listeners out there. First base roster rate is kind of weird. There's this huge drop off after. Rowdy Tellez. So I'm not going to compare Torkelson to him because I think we'd all very clearly

rather have Roddy Telez. But how about comparing Torkelson to some of the other corner infielers that have emerged? Joanne Moncada, Elie Harris, Montero, Spencer Steer. Chris, where would you rank Torkelson amongst that group?

Ah, so is Montero, Steer, and Moncada? Correct. I think he ranks among that group. I don't have a specific answer because I think they were all probably in like the 240 to 300 range for me coming into the season Montero maybe a little lower than that and I don't think anything we've seen so far has changed

any of that order I could find the ranking that I had them in coming into the season if we'd like but I haven't grown much more interested in any of them I was sort of interested in three of the four coming in so I At least interesting to you, right? Yes, yes. Just not sure he's an everyday player. Don't think he's as talented as the other guys. But you're not sure he deserves to be an everyday player,

or you're not sure he actually is? Because I think he sat once for Mustakis in five games. Yeah, so he might be. I just coming in, I wasn't sure he was an everyday player, I guess would be the way to say that. He's the one I might consider dropping for Torkelson. But I, yeah, anytime you invest in a Rockies hitter, you got at least give them a series at Coors Field, right? They have a four-game series against the Nationals pitching staff coming up.

So it's, you know, it's always night. Like in theory, oh, yeah, it'd be great to pick up Spencer Torkelson. You know, somebody who is who I think is a more talented player than Montero in a neutral context. I mean, first overall pick a couple years ago. So you would think so. He should be. Spencer Torkelson should be. He's interesting. He's got that post-hype. Obviously, lots of prospect pedigree. We'll see if he can continue to string things together, but it was a big game on Tuesday night for Spencer Torkelson. He's 53% rostered. Scott, let's jump over to you. Oh, my goodness gracious from Tuesday night. Kenta Maeda is my, oh, my goodness, gracious player. Now, it is at Miami. So, you know, however much you want to ding him for that. But Kintamaiata's first start back from Tommy John surgery looked about as good as he ever has. Struck out nine in five innings.

No walks, notable, because he had some marked control issues in spring training. That's actually what steered me away from him. So no walks versus nine strikeouts and five innings for Kintamahed. And this won 17 whiffs on 79 pitches, including 12 on his slider. And he threw the slider most of all. He threw the splitter, I believe, second most of all. of all, those are two pitches that are especially tough on the elbow. And so to see him come back with his usual pitch selection and them being as effective

as they were, I think is a really good sign. And it's one of those situations where, man, I just wish I ignored everything he was doing in spring training because that's what ultimately steered me away from Kitta Vai. I probably would have been pretty excited about him, as I usually have pictures coming back from Tommy John's surgery, if not for that. Fortunately, let's see, what's his roster rate? Frank, you probably have there ready to go. 50%.

Yeah, so at least in those 12 team leagues, still have a shot at them. You know, I'm sure you guys talked about it yesterday with Freddie Peralta pitching, but I had a similar reaction there where I was just like, damn, I wish I had that guy on more of my teams. And that's definitely how I feel like that to my Ada. Yeah. And Maeda, I rode up as a sleeper earlier in the office. season. And then the spring kind of scared me off too. And I guess we could kind of take that as a maybe a lesson learned, a little check in that

box there and maybe don't overrate spring training performances. Of course, anytime I see a good pitching performance from anyone, I'm filled with envy because they have been so few and far between. Kenta Maeda looks like the best pitcher in the world today. Of course he's not. But that's how the experience of this season has been. far. And I'm sure we'll get into that more later. I'll tell you what, Scott. The pitcher on the other side of that game was actually the best

pitcher in the world. Fair enough. On Tuesday night. We'll get to him in just a little bit. Kentimaida, I mentioned pretty widely available, 50% rostered. The most added starting pitchers on CBS right now. Graham Ashcraft, Mike Clevenger, Aaron Savali, Justin Steele. Where would you slot Kentimaida among that group, Scott? I think we're all taking Ashcraft first, right? Yes, but Maida maybe second. Steals up there. Steel probably third. Let me just make sure I didn't I didn't miss a name. Yeah, Clevenger and Savali with other two. Yeah. Okay. So I'd rank them all Ashcraft, Maeda,

steel, then a bit of a drop off to Clevenger, then a really big drop off to Savali. I agree with that. All right. Oh my goodness gracious for me. We'll be Jorge Mateo here on Tuesday. who had a another pretty big game here two hits for him including his second home run of the season he also has four stolen bases

already this year this dude does not want to lose his job and there is something to that I know it's kind of narrative driven but we see things like this when there is I guess a it's so weird to call Jorge Mateo a veteran player but I guess by definition he is a veteran player but someone like that who hears the footsteps

and the murmurs of the prospects that are coming Obviously, the Orioles are loaded. And who knows, maybe, you know, a couple of weeks from now, a month from now, Jorge Mateo will fall off, and none of this will matter. But I've seen things like this play out before where, you know, lights a little bit of a fire there. And so far, Jorge Mateo is off to a great start.

Again, two home runs, four steals. He started four of five games. He has just two strikeouts through his first 17 played appearances. And he's 48% rostered, shortstop eligible on CBS. Had this little segment coming later on, Jorge Mateo versus Blank, Torkelson versus Blank earlier as well. Mateo versus Bryce Terrang, Scott,

who we just spoke about yesterday? Who would you rather have? Mateo's off to this awesome start. Yeah, definitely Terang. I don't buy this Mateo stuff. I mean, he'll steal a lot of bases, but the fact he's only struck out twice. I mean, he has enough of a track record

that I feel confident he's not going to do that. Yeah, he's going to hit a couple out of the park already, but, you know, I think it's just kind of a one of those fluky things that happens over a small sample of baseball. And outside of being a steel specialist, not much utility in Mateo. I assume I know the answer to this one as well, but Chris, Jorge Mateo or Ezekiel Tovar, who hasn't played a game in Coorsfield yet. Yeah, I would not drop Ezekiel Tovar. I mean, I don't, I just, I don't think we've learned anything about Mateo. You know, like, he hasn't struck out a lot in four games.

Well, that's nice. It's a good thing to see. But like, we know he's got a little poppy. He had 13 home runs last year. We know he can steal a bunch of bases. He stole a bunch of bases last year. Led the American League in steals. So I just, I don't think we've seen anything new that is compelling enough to change my opinion about Jorge Mateo, which is, if you need steals, he's going to get a bunch of them.

That's probably all he's really going to do. I don't know if there's enough of a track record, though. I mean, 783 career plate appearances. I still think there's a chance at Yeah, but also 250 games at AAA where he's had a 2, like a 730-ish OPS, which

that's not terrible. If Jorge Mateo had a 730 OPS this season in the majors, he'd probably be a really useful fantasy option. I just, he did that in AAA. And then we've seen him in the majors. So it's like, you know, I think it's entire,

it's possible that he's unlocking something. new he was a former top prospect clearly a talented player but I just I think it's more likely than not that he's just what he was what it surprised you though if he goes 250 with 15 home runs and 50 stolen bases it wouldn't be shocked I would be surprised yeah that's better than what I expect from him that's a probably a best case outcome for him and you know just looking at the stack cast sliders the thing that stands out is most different right now is the play

discipline and that has been very consistent and usually doesn't change much over the course of a player's career. All right. Well, I was mostly playing devil's advocate because I wouldn't drop him for either Bryce Serang or Ezekiel Tovar. I think it's much closer with Terang. I'm still giving Tovar the benefit of the Dowdies. One of the top prospects in baseball and again has not played a single game yet in course field. So for anyone who's worried about Tovar out there, don't be. Let's give them a little bit of time. If you specifically need steals, I could see dropping. Terang for Mateo. If you just have a really glaring need for that one category,

I could see it. I would rather gamble on Terrang's youth and pedigree and just being a little bit more of a mystery box. He might just be a Jorge Mateo S. Kidder. But I'd rather give him a chance. And he's obviously going to give you steals too. Mateo, if Mateo hits well enough to keep his job, which I think is a big question,

will probably give more than terrain, but like this early in the season, I don't think you should be chasing a category that hard. Oh my goodness gracious shout out to Sandy Alcantra. Let's just, let's give him his due here. He led baseball with six complete games last year, and now he has the first one in 2023, which obviously makes the most sense.

Three hit shutout with five strikeouts, 15 swinging strikes on 100 pitches in that start. He has at least 14 swinging strikes in each of his first two starts, which I thought was pretty interesting. The time of that game, one hour in 57 minutes. Yeah, that was one that like I looked down at my clock entering the night that my watch at entering the night thing. I was like, 8.40. And that game was a-

And this game started at 645-ish. Right. And so I was like, oh man, it's been almost three hours. Wait, that's not right. It hasn't been two hours yet. That was, yeah, he had a four-pitch inning at one point. It was, he was very impressive. I mean, he's-

And he's very impressive. And, well, it served as a reminder to me and to anyone else who might be experiencing some panic over the state of pitching right now that. It's been one start. Sandy Alcantaro was one of many pitchers, including high-end types like him, who did not look very good. First time out, second time out, looked more like what we were expecting. Well, I'll tell you, one pitcher did not. That was Max Scherzer. We'll talk about him a little bit later on.

Scott, before we get into Grace Rodriguez, I know that you were tracking home runs hit over the past two days, and we've been getting lots of tweets and people in the YouTube chat talking about home runs, you know, the juice ball is back and all this kind of crazy stuff.

What are you noticing with the home run outputs the past couple days? Well, remember when we talked about it just yesterday, we were looking at the results through Sunday. We hadn't factored in Monday. Or, yeah, what's today?

Tuesday. Yeah, we hadn't factored in Monday yet. And we were saying, okay, it looks about the same as through the first four days last year. Well, you know what happened Monday? 53 home runs were hit. 53, more than a third of the season total up to that point. And that kind of changed the math a bit. Now suddenly home runs are skyrocketing.

and maybe you could say, okay, it was a fluke day. I guess a lot of bad pitchers were pitching. The Giants happened to hit seven home runs that day. Well, today, at last count, and I don't think it's changed now that those last games have wrapped up, 43 home runs were hit. Not 53, but there's one fewer game. At 43 is still a lot, okay? I did a little quick math here.

If every day over 162 game season, there are 40 home runs, say we average 40 home runs. So not even 43, certainly not 53, just 40 is the average over 162 games. Then we end up with the second highest home run total. Like if we're lumping 2023 in with the juice ball year, it would be the second highest home run total behind only 2019. So that's pretty scary, especially since it's April, typically the worst month for office and seeing a total is exceeding 40.

So I'm a little scared. I'm a little worried. And to make matters worse, there was a tweet today. Do you happen to have that tweet ready, Frank? A tweet from whom? A tweet that shook the foundation of the fantasy baseball world.

A tweet, unlike any tweet, we've seen before or since that basically said the drag on the ball is much lower than last year. In fact, more in line with the juice ball era so far. I forget who tweeted out. I can't find it in my timeline either. But that was the gist of it.

That was the gist of it. I didn't see the tweets. Apologies. Well, it didn't shake your world, but it shook everybody else's. And so between that and the home run totals, we've seen the last couple days, is the juiced ball back? And if the juice ball is back, then everything we've worked for is ruined, Frank.

It's ruined. Okay, this is what I actually think, because that's what I fear. Right. But this is what I actually think is going on. I think just the terminology we've used to describe that era juice ball kind of suggests there's something nefarious going on. And I don't think that's true. I think it was happenstance.

Hanlon's razor, right? Never attribute to malice that which could be contributed to stupidity or maybe just negligence is a better word than stupidity. In any case, I think what's happening here and why we've seen so much fluctuation, just in the last three years when MLB is supposed to be making an effort to push this out of the game, is that it's just really hard when you have baseballs handcrafted.

These aren't put together by machines. The seams are actually sewn by real-life people. It's really hard to be that precise with it. And there's a range of acceptable, there's an acceptable range for the specs on the ball. That is pretty wide, all things considered. It's narrower than it used to be during the juice ball era, but it's still pretty wide in terms of how the ball can play, depending on how tight the seams are, for instance.

So I think it's less an issue of, oh, MLB, like, you know, they're trying to influence the game. They don't know what they're doing. I think it's less that than just the way the balls are manufactured causes a certain amount of variability. And this particular batch of balls seems to be more buoyant or have less drag, however you want to put it, then the batch of balls we were dealing with last year.

But I'll point out, it wasn't uniform last year either. It started out especially bad, and by the end of the season, it was bad for hitting, I mean. And by the end of the season, it was more on the good side again. And so, like, to say, oh, it's going to be 2019 all over again, probably not probably there will be a different batch of balls later in the year that reduce the amount of home runs being hit

have more drag and we're just going to have to look at the end of the season and look at the end of the season look back and see what the final numbers were to see if the overall trend is still more toward hitting or if the pendulum has swung back or is still more toward pitching or if the pendulum has swung back toward hitting as everybody is speculating right now.

I hope this pace that we've seen recently doesn't continue. Because if it does, then you have, with the shift bands in effect, you have a lot more success on balls in play and then a ton of home runs on top of it. And that's going to make for an oversaturated offensive environment that will frankly go beyond what we saw during the juice ball era because there's so many hits on balls and playing. now. That would be a problem. One thing I will point out is we're still dealing with really,

really small sample sizes. The home run to fly ball ratio of the first three days of the season, so through play on, or first four days of the season, through play on Sunday was 11.6%. Yesterday, Monday, was 18%. That's a really, really big shift.

And it could just be like, we've gone one turn through the rotation. and most teams number four and five starters pitched yesterday and today. That might be like, Max Scherzer also pitched today. And he was terrible. And you can look at it and say, well,

Max Scherzer giving up back to back to back home runs. This could be evidence of a juke ball. That's not something that we've ever seen. Well, he gave up 13 batted balls over 95 miles per hour. And the juiced ball era was not about the ball coming off the bat harder. You know, It wasn't like they were sticking a 25 cent rubber ball inside of the ball, and it was just flying.

It was that the ball carried further. A little bit was the coefficient of restitution or whatever, that it did bounce a little farther off the bat. But for the most part, the change came with regards to the ball not traveling as far or traveling further. There was more or less drag depending on what year you're talking about. Max Schurz are giving up 13, 95, 15, 95 mile per hour. bad at balls. That's just Max Scherzer pitching really poorly. And that's not because, I mean, it could be because of the baseball. I don't want to say it can't be because we also have had pitchers complaining about inconsistent seams and the ball not being tacky enough and all

these things. Pitchers are prone to complaining. They're very particular about their craft, as they should be. But it's just to say that like some of this could just be that a bunch of bad pitchers pitched the last two days and then a couple of good pitchers pitched poorly. We're one turn through the rotation for nearly every pitcher. All right, let's keep things moving here because I think it's a relevant conversation, but again, we're dealing with so many small sample sizes that we're just kind of speculating at this point. I do think that if what you said, Scott, where the ball is flying a little bit more frequently through the air, let's call it, and there's shift restrictions and

steals are up and we have all this offense, then I think we probably have to try and trade for pitching at some point in the near future, but I think we need to get more data around the league first before we start making moves like that in fantasy baseball. Let's take our first break here, and when we return, we'll talk about Grayson Rodriguez

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and your favorite CBS sports podcasts like Pick Six Fantasy Football Today and of course, fantasy baseball today. Scan the QR code in the top right corner if you're watching on YouTube or head to paramountshop.com. the Paramount Shop, where products are paramount. Let's talk about Grayson Rodriguez, who will apparently be called up on Wednesday, and it sounds like he actually could start in that game as well. I don't know that that's actually been confirmed, but there have been some rumors of that happening.

He will oppose Jacob de Grom if that happens, and frankly, that would be pretty awesome. We know the minor league numbers have been amazing for Grayson Rodriguez, 421 strikeouts, over 296 innings pitched in the minors. His spring training was very bad. So before spring started, we were all but assured, Grayson Rodriguez would be in the opening day rotation,

goes out, has a bad spring, gets sent down, okay, work on some things, get called back up. Now that Kyle Bradish is dealing with injury, he gets to call again. I think it's kind of weird timing because he made one start in the minors this year, and frankly, he wasn't very good. Four innings, three runs, four walks to two strikeouts. It was apparently rainy during that start,

but yeah, I agree with you. It's weird. It is very weird. Last year, Grayson Rodriguez only through 75 and two-thirds innings due to injury. So we're talking about a very talented pitcher here, guys. But I just don't know what to expect in these first couple of starts and what the workload is going to be like, obviously. So 72% rostered.

Scott, what do we think here? I mean, is he just a must add based on, you know, prospect pedigree and talent? Yeah, I guess. I mean, I consider him the top prospect in baseball. And, you know, I remember last year I had the take when Michael Harris got called up. I think they're rushing him. I don't think this is good timing for him. And wow, did that turn out not to be the case?

So I think that the rule that if you know there's a lot of talent there, you just go for it and see how it plays out. I think that's a good rule to have in fantasy without getting bogged down by, you know, bogged down in the minutia. We know Grayson Rodriguez is super talented, and if he had gotten called up last June, like I think the plan was before he suffered the strain lat, we'd all be tripping over each other to get him first. It's just that, well, he didn't look very good this spring, and his first start in the minors this year wasn't that good either. So it's a rare case of a top prospect gets called up, and I kind of wish he would have gotten more time in the minors. And I think, like, the Orioles didn't, were kind of forced into this because look who made the rotation. Tyler Wells. Like, it's not like they're working with a full deck here at starting pitcher already.

So they lose Bradish and, okay, I guess Grayson Rodriguez is the next man up. Fingers crossed. Yeah. Chris, if Grayson Rodriguez is available in leagues that have fab, how much money are you thinking to spend on him? Let's say, you know, a 12-team. points league versus a 15 team roto. Obviously, you know, he'd go for much more money in a deeper league. But what are you thinking in terms of fab for him?

I would say a shallower league maybe. I would say 20 to 25% for both is what my initial thought was. And maybe that won't be enough. Maybe people will be super aggressive for him. I do expect him to be very good. Just because I believe in the talent and I thought that he should have been a top 200 pick before we thought he was before we found out he wasn't making the rotation. so I'm not going to change my priors, all that much.

I think the process that led the Orioles here was weird. I don't really understand it, but I'm going to bet on talent. With young pitchers, like, I don't want to say development doesn't matter. But I do think, like, once you're ready, you're ready is how I tend to view it. And that doesn't mean he's going to be a superstar right now and can't continue to develop. But, like, I think I'd rather see him making these starts in the main. majors than in the minors anyway. We obviously know about the injury risk of pitchers. And we've seen a lot of young pitchers take the league by storm, especially guys who have

really, really good stuff like Grayson Rodriguez. This is not a Jared Schuster situation where, you know, you read, they was like, oh, well, the numbers are pretty good. And then you read the scanner reports, and it's like, oh, he throws 90. You know, Grace Rodriguez throws 97. He's got multiple secondary pitches. So I'm, I'm very excited. Scott, are you adding Grace and Grace Rodriguez over Ashcraft and Kent to Maeda, the top two pitchers we spoke about earlier? I believe so. I definitely Maida over Maeda.

I'm trying to remember where I moved Ashcraft today. But it would be close between him and Rodriguez for me. Probably, though. Certainly, like the kind of shallow league where you'd have to, where you'd be faced with that decision, I think you shoot for the upside with Rodriguez. All right. So again, Grace Rodriguez being called up on Wednesday.

Sounds like he's going to make that start opposing Jacob de Grom and lots of talent. We'll see if he can remain healthy and translate it into the major leagues. Let's get into some news and notes and we'll stick with the Orioles. Gunner Henderson was out of the lineup due to a sore right hand.

He took a 107 mile per hour grinder. Grindr, grinder, grounder off of that hand on Monday night. So that's why he was out. Joe Musgrove is scheduled to make a rehab start at AAA on Thursday, and after that, they should have a better idea of his timeline following that start. Max Fried was officially placed on the IL.

Bryce Elder was recalled and is likely to start Wednesday against the Cardinals. Lance McCullors said Tuesday that he's been throwing at high intensity and considers himself ahead of schedule. He's rehabbing a strained forearm and is 67% rostered. So if you have an IL spot available, go out and add Lance McCullors. Kyle Bradish is still dealing. with a sore foot. Sounds like he's going to go on the IL. Obviously, if they're calling up Grayson Rodriguez. Miguel Vargas was out of the lineup after getting hit by a pitch in his right

thumb on Monday, and he'll be reevaluated Thursday because the Dodgers have a day off on Wednesday. Mookie Betz started at second base. That is his second start. So in CBS, we only need three more of those, and bets will have second base eligibility. Max Kepler's MRI showed Pateller tendonitis in his right knee. Manager Rocco Baldelli said the team will see how Kepler feels on Wednesday. Johnny Quato will go on the IL with that lingering biceps issue, but is hoping for a minimal stay.

And Braxton Garrett was recalled. He's 8% rostered. Not sure how long he's going to be around. He doesn't have crazy upside. I think he's solid, but in Deeper Leagues, he's the name you can look at that. It's Braxton Garrett. Joey Wendell was also placed on the aisle

with an intercostal strain. Garrett Hampson was recalled, and John Birdie started at shortstop on Tuesday night. Leotie Tavares took batting practice Tuesday could be back as soon as next week. He's 5% rostered for those who play in, I would say, pretty deeply.

He's like 15 team, 5 outfielder leagues are deeper. He does have some speed potential. Again, that's Leotie Tavares. Miguel Rojas was out of the lineup due to a mild left groin train and just one other prospect update. Brett Beatty left Tuesday's game in the minors and is scheduled to undergo imaging

on his right thumb. The same thumb that he had surgery on last September. So it just sucks. It's bad timing. He had a monster first game. I think two home runs and a stolen base

and now dealing with this injury. We'll see the latest updates on Brett Beatty. Let's talk about some other waiver wire hitters in the shallowest of leagues. Yandy Diaz is off to a nice start. He went two for four

with a three-run homer, a walk and three runs scored. And in three games before Tuesday, obviously, a very small sample size. His fly ball rate was 37 and a half percent. The one thing we've always said about Yanni Diaz is if he just lifts the ball a little bit more

Maybe we're talking a 20 home run hitter with a good batting average good OBP and scoring a bunch of runs So he's 80% rostered Chris if you know if he's available in like a 10 or 12 team head to head points league do you think yandy dyes has to be rostered in a league I don't want to say has to it's very very early and a at this point in the league a 37.5% fly ball roll rate can mean like he has eight fly balls instead of six, which is what you would expect around this time. So it's, it's good to see. It's the thing you want to see from a guy like Yandi Diaz, but I'm not, I'm not ready to say that like a 12 team points league is pretty shallow. You know, is he a top 12 third baseman or one of the, you know, I guess he's first and third base eligible, right?

I'm guessing he was the top 12 in points leagues last year just because the plate discipline is so good. Maybe. At age 31, is he going to transform into something different? Probably not. It is interesting that regular season and spring training combined, 16 games. He has four home runs.

That's undiyaz-like, uny-Diaz-like. I think the fact that his better format is points leagues and points leagues tend to be the shallowest formats makes it more justifiable. He was 11th in Points League's last season. Wilmore Flores was 12th. I think that tells you a lot more about third base than it does about Yandi Diaz.

Yeah, I was going to say Yandi Diaz is only third base eligible for now. Probably gained first base, I assume at some point, because they move him between those two quite a bit. Scott, big night for your man. Garrett Mitchell there, two for four with a double dong. One of them was 112.3 miles per hour off the bat and it came off of a lefty

which you love to see for Garrett Mitchell. He's 54% rostered. Garrett Mitchell versus James Outman. Who would you rather have? Oh Mitchell. For sure. Okay. What about Garrett Mitchell versus Oscar Coloss? Mitchell

in most cases, I would say, definitely in categories leagues because of the massive steals potential. But, like, you know, he keeps having these games with the power that, you know, I know the longstanding narrative that I've turned to myself with Garrett Mitchell is, well, he has a lot of raw power, but that swing really isn't optimized for it. I mean, the home run production seems good enough, considering how many bases he's likely to steal.

I think a Cedric Mullins outcome is on the table here, A, if he makes enough contact to stay in the lineup, and B, if he can start making, if he can begin making some starts against left-handed pitchers, which we haven't seen him do yet this year. Let's talk about Brian Anderson, who went three for four with a double-dong, six RBI, two-run scored monster game here on Tuesday night. Three homers in the past two days. He's 11% rostered and has seven road games next week.

Chris, would you rather have Brian Anderson over? Over three names we've talked about a lot recently. Joey Gallo, Trevor Larnick, Joey Weamer. These are more, you know, five outfielder leagues. What do you think? I would rather have him than Larnick. I would rather have the other two guys than Anderson. Okay.

So you're going Gallo and Weamer over Brian. Gallow Weamer, Anderson, Larnock. Ah, so Chris is the one. Because we were debating yesterday Larnick versus Gallo. Frank and I went Larnick. with some arm twisting, him conducting some arm twisting on me to get me there. But interesting that you go the other way. I will just say, like, maybe I'm not giving Larnik enough credit,

and maybe there's something I'm missing there, but I've never found him particularly interesting. I've never found Brian Anderson interesting, okay? I'm tired of Frank. Oh, I thought you were talking about Gallup. I know. I'm changing the subject. He had two home runs today, so we have to talk about him.

Yeah, I don't really get the... There are some people out there who seem really enthusiastic about Brian Anderson. So like, I don't get him. Between 2019 and 2020, he did have an 8-11 OPS. Those were different offensive environments, but... Four and three years ago, he was passable. Worth pointing out, he's in a different offensive environment now. And so I think that would be.

be the biggest thing would be just okay Milwaukee's a magic American family field that's right that there's so much changed the name like three years ago and I still want to call him

so that's the biggest thing for me it's just like he's in a much better home park but I'm not super enthusiastic about Brian Anderson I know I could see how that home park could make him could take him from bad to

passable again, like a borderline 800 OPS, if he plays enough. But I don't get, I don't get the way some people are talking about it. It's like he has big breakout potential or something. I don't see it. Looking at the stat cast page, a lot of blue on there the past few years, a lot of blue. I don't think that there's some kind of big breakout coming, but if he's a, this is famously, you know, floor versus ceiling type thing. If you think that he can get to a borderline 800 OPS bat, that,

might just be better than Joey Gallo, Trevor Larnick, and Joey Weimer. Right. I mean, those guys who are kind of swinging for the fences and hope that, you know, in the case of Gallo, he reclaims some old form, or in the case of Larnick and Joey Weamer, they just break out because they're young players with upside.

But if you just kind of need a safer kind of boring guy in a deeper league, then Brian Anderson might be for you. Now, it's worth noting he didn't come close to an 800 OPS the past three years. So it's putting a lot of faith in the upside of 800

OPS. Past two years. Okay. I love... Yeah, he was actually good in 2020. I love Chris's defense of Brian Anderson. Actually, past two years. Just putting it out there. Last point here, I know you guys talked about it,

but I actually want to put numbers to it. American Family Field in Milwaukee is eighth best for right-handed power, and Miami is 24th. So it is a much better home run-hitting venue out there in Milwaukee. But, like, I think the best case scenario he's probably like an average hitter.

Yes, that sounds right. That is Brian Anderson. Rank these potential power speed options in five outfielder league. So probably deeper formats, maybe some 12s, some 15s. T.J. Friedel had two hits, including his second home run of the season.

And I believe he's played every game, even against lefties. He's the one who stays in the lineup over Jake Frailey. So Fridel is out there playing. He's 15% rostered. Jose Siri went two for three with his second home run, added a double, a walk, and two runs scored. We spoke about him the other day.

He's off to a very nice start for Tampa Bay. G. Juan Bay, who I will admit, I'm kind of reaching here because he hit his first career home run. I think he's mostly a speed threat. He could provide you steals, but he did hit that home run. He also made an amazing catch up against the Green Monster. So he's just becoming kind of this cult favorite of mine, this cult hero. I'm in on G1Bay. I want him to succeed.

And Chris, I mentioned last week that if he breaks out, that I would have a new soundbite for G. Are you ready? Yes. Here we go. Hey, baby, hey, baby, hey, Hey, baby, hey, baby, hey, baby, hey, baby, hey, baby, hey, baby, hey, baby, G, whey, uh, who would you guys prefer of those three if you need a little power speed? T.J. Friedel, Jose Siri, G. Juan Bay.

I think, Friedel. It's interesting that he's getting playing time over Jake Frealey. Freely's sat against every left-hander so far while T.J. Friedel, who also bats left-handed, has not. I don't know what that says about a lot of things But it does say Friedel's playing a lot And seems to have job security And he doesn't have the huge strikeout issues That Jose Siri does

Okay I will I will say I'm pretty interested in Bay He was the only one of the three That I Added last week He added him in some 15 team leagues Where I could use some speed

But like You know they all have decent minor league numbers I think Jose Siri probably has the best minor league numbers of them, but Friedel and Syria are both 27. So they've been in their mid-20s while putting up, I think Siri's case

it's like a high 800s OPS in the minors and Friedel's case, it's like a high 700s OPS. Ju-Wan Bay is only 23. And last year, as a 22-year-old in the International League, so not a super inflated offensive environment, he did hit 289

with a decent strikeout rate and a 792 OPS. So like, I think there might be an interesting skill set here even beyond the speed, which is to say that he might be able to steal a bunch of bases while being a better hitter than someone like Jorge Mateo. Okay. So is that your answer, Chris? Yes.

All right. So you're taking Bay. Scott's taking Friddle. And I'm taking Jose series. So choose your favorite analyst. And that's the player that you're going with. Does this matter? A.J. Pollock had a double dong.

He's 12% rostered. I will say all of that last group. worse than Brian Anderson. I think I'd rather have Bay than Brian Anderson. Oh, okay. So AJ, what was your question about Pollock? Does this matter? The fact that he hit a double down.

I don't think so. There were a couple of wall scrapers. They were 100 mile per hour home runs, which is not a particularly good exit velocity for a home run. All right, fair enough. He's 12% rostered. So, yeah, he's in that same roster rate as Brian Anderson and those other three names.

But yeah, I'm much less excited about A.J. Pollack than those other guys. Let's take our final break here. And when we get back, we'll talk about some Waverwire pitchers on Fantasy Baseball today. Make sure to download and follow Fantasy Baseball Today in 5. That is our 5-minute podcast, wherever you listen to podcasts. We talked about Kent Maita earlier. He was the top of my list in terms of waiver wire pitchers that could be available. He's 50% rostered.

What about these other three names? These are the interesting names. And we'll get to the not-so-interesting. games in just a bit. Rwanzi Kutreras had a solid start at the Red Sox, five and two thirds, one run, two strikeouts. And that one, you say Kikuchi, solid at the Royals, five innings, one run, two strikeouts. I love how I said, you know, these guys are interesting, and they each had two strikeouts. So that just kind of shows you where we're at. Dylan Dodd, solid debut at the Cardinals, five innings, one run, three strikeouts to zero walks there.

Chris, who would you take out of that group? Not including Maida, because I think he's clearly ahead of those. Ronzi Contreras, Cacucci, and Dylan Dodd. I would have said Contreras, but this was a pretty disappointing outing, just didn't get any whiffs. You would think, you know, with a slider like his, he'd get a bunch of whiffs. And he used it so much.

49% usage on the slider. I think Cacuchy's the way to go. I guess Cacucci, but again, in his case, it was also only nine swinging strikes, still gave up on 69 pitches. Sure. It makes the, the ratio a little better, but still not super impressive.

That's like, what, 13%? That's a good ratio. That's a decent, that's a decent ratio, but it's not, it's not super impressive for the small sample size. So here's what I liked about Cacucci, beyond that, a solid swing strike rate. Velocity was up 1.9 on the slider. It was up 1.3 on the fastball. It was up even more on the change up.

I don't know if that's necessarily a good thing since it's a change up. But the fact that he threw so many changeups, which was his best pitch last year, hardly by the data, it was his best pitch last year. And he didn't use it that much. A lot more in this start. A lot more sliders, too. He faded the fastball, which was by far his worst pitch last year. So an improved pitch selection here and improved velocity coming off a big spring.

I know we've all been faked out by you say Kikuchi more than once in the past, but I am going to try and shake that off. Well, and he didn't fix his worst problem. What was his worst problem? 94 mile per hour average takes of velocity. Look at the results against the changeup in the slider last year. Hitters did not have success against those pitches. Yeah.

Well, the slider, 342 expected Wobah against is pretty bad. 412 actual Wobah. So I guess there was some bad luck there, but the changeup was very good. I just, it would be one thing if like he got 15 swinging strikes and, maybe, and got hit hard.

You know, then I could live with, but this is like, it's like a pretty good swinging strike rate, but he got hit really, really hard. So it's like, I don't know how much I,

and these are all low end guys. I would just say I'm not that interested in any of them. And if you, wanted to drop any of them for Kent to Maeda, I would be perfectly happy to do that. I mean, they're not in the same categories, Maeda. That's fair enough. Yep, I agree with that. You say Kikuchi is SPARP eligible. So if you play in a head-to-head points league, you got that little cheat code option for him. The not so interesting names, but they did pitch well. Wade Miley, successful first start with the Brewers. He was up against the Mets. He went

six shutout with three strikeouts. His cutter velocity was up 1.3 miles per hour compared to last year. And Wade Miley was good back in 2021. 337 ERA. You know, 133 whipped. Obviously, that's not great. But he was a serviceable pitcher just a few years ago. And Kyle Gibson got his revenge at the Texas Rangers.

Seven innings, two runs, five strikeouts to zero walks in that one. 35% rostered. It looks like both of these guys are on track to be two-star pitchers next week. I think it's maybe a little bit too early to trust the schedules. But what do you, Scott, what do you think about Wade Miley and Kyle Gibson, do you actually have any interest in those two? I think very little of them. They matter in the deepest leagues.

And maybe once in a while, they'll show up as streamable pitchers on my sleeper pitchers list. Yeah, I would say Kyle Gibson, like, two home starts. I would probably be interested in him, but, or, you know, a home start and a good road start. But like, versus Oakland at the White Sox, even that I'm not sure would be enough to move me. I did want to circle back to Dylan Dodd because is this somebody compared to my leo Gibson, that we would have some interest in?

I mean, the results in this first start were good. 12 swinging strikes on 73 pitches, 1-er-run a 5 innings against the Cardinals. 12-swing strikes on 73 pitches. It was basically all sliders and fastballs that he threw in, you know, nearly 50-50. So very similar to the Wascar.

Arinoa pitch selection for Dylan Dodd. And it was definitely better than Jared Schuster's first start. I think it's going to own Dylan Dodd more starts, but it doesn't have me rushing to pick him up either. I think him and Kukuchi is close. I think I would still prefer Kikuchi, but I'd probably take Dylan Dodd ahead of Ronzie Contranus just based on team context.

So having a starter for the Braves versus Pirates. And Dodd did look pretty good. mention the swinging strikes. It's so weird that each of these guys, Kukuchi, Contreras, Dodd, they all allowed over 94 mile per hour exit velocity against in this game. So they allowed a ton of hard contact. But yeah, still got a few whiffs there with Dodd.

What about these two names here? Hayden Winski is someone that we were excited about during spring training and Domingo Hermann. He got the whiffs, he had eight strikeouts to zero walks in this game. He actually left the start with only two earned runs. there were two runners on base, and the reliever allowed those inherited runners to score. So the final line looks a little bit worse.

But are you guys holding with Hayden Wadsneski? I mean, I guess Domingo Hormand's a little bit lower rostered. But what do you think about those soon? I'm going to try to hold with West Nesky. If my only chance of getting Maeda, who's like the pitcher of the day, I guess, is to drop West Nesky, then I'm probably doing it. Yeah, his velocity, oh, sorry, go ahead. No, go ahead.

His velocity was up to 94.5 miles per hour on average. He hit 98, which is harder than we ever saw him throw last year. So I think that was interesting. You know, didn't get a lot of whiffs. Surprisingly, only three on the sweeper. That was a very good pitch for him last year. So I do think all in all, this was a not a promising start, but I think there were good signs. If you were high on was NASCia, I wouldn't give up on him for sure.

Average eggs of velocity was 82, so that's a promising sign in and of itself. Yeah, Wazniewski versus Maida, man. That's tough. If I have Wesneseki, I think I would hold rather than adding myita, but those two are really close for me. Yeah, actually, the interesting thing, the fastball velocity was up. It got crushed. 99 mile per hour average eggs of velocity on four batted balls.

It's a very small sample size, but that was the one thing that stood out to me. All right. Let's talk about the Aces. the ones that actually pitched well. Julio Reyes went six shutout versus the Rockies. Luis Castillo, five and two-thirds shutout with six strikeouts against the Angels. Worth mentioning that his velocity was down 2.3 miles per hour on each of his fastball and slider.

I think that's just something we have to come to expect early in the season for Luis Castillo. It seems like it's been that way every April as long as I've been doing this. And that was one of the colder games today, the one in Seattle. Yeah. Any thoughts here? I think it's pretty much status quo for this. these two? Mm-hmm.

Yep. All right. Aces that were just okay. Frember Valdez, seven innings, three runs. Two of those were earned. Nine strikeouts against the Tigers. He also gave up nine hits.

That's why it's just an okay outing. Shane Bieber, six innings, three runs, seven strikeouts at the Oakland A's. He threw his slider a career high, 54% in the start. His previous high was 43% in August of last year. Kind of interesting. You Darvish, Wilde, in his first outing,

five innings, one run, four walks to three strikeouts and two hit by pitch. So again, I mean, these are guys that are either your SP1 or or SP2. We're relying on them and neither of them, none of them were great. Chris, are you, what do you take away from this slider usage with Bieber? Because, you know, I was trying to wrap my head around it. I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing. Well, his fastball velocity's down another mile per hour so far. Yep. He's averaging 90 miles per hour with his fastball now. And I just think this is what it looks like when pitchers lose their fastball. It's they've got to throw the secondary pitches more.

And it's a trick that so far has worked for Shane Bieber. He has maintained a pretty high level of competition despite losing his fastball. You reach a point of diminishing returns in all likelihood. I think of Patrick Corbyn in particular as someone who. I was going to bring up the same name, Chris. Just had one trick. And it was just throw the slider more. And once that trick stopped working, he became the worst pitcher in baseball.

I'm not saying that's going to happen to Shane Bieber. And the fact that he's a righty and Patrick Corbyn's a lefty probably helps in that regard because he's going to have the platoon advantage more often than not. I think Bieber is like a safe high end, number two, low end, number one starting pitcher. And I think he will be until the moment he's not. I think the end is going to come fast for Shane Bieber, but I don't think it's here yet. I want to jump in real quick on Framber Valdez because I know we're running out of time.

I got a good news, bad news situation here with Framber Valdez. You said, Frankie, gave up nine hits, and that's why it wasn't a great start. Well, I think Frommberg... We need to get used to the idea of Framber Valdez giving up some hits because he's the most extreme ground ball pitcher in the majors and many more ground balls are going for hits these days with the shift band. So that might just be a higher whip.

That's the bad news. The good news is he may be able to counteract that with improved bat missing ability because he's begun throwing a change-up this year that I don't think he had before, not to any serious degree. He threw it 22% of the time in this one. It was responsible for seven of his 15 whiffs.

So it looks like a really good pitch for Framber Valdez. And it might help to counteract that that vulnerability to singles that he now has. Framber used the change up 9% last year. So not much, but not insignificant. And it was clearly his worst secondary pitch between the curb ball, the cutter, and the changeup. And I was going to say, I want him to use those pitches more, Scott. I want him to use the cutter and the curveball more because I feel like... He got half the whiffs on the changeup.

up. I think it's a different change up. I could be wrong. I didn't see any commentary. But like you don't go from throwing it, you know, is just a show me pitch to making it one of your top secondary pitches if you don't have new confidence in it. I do wonder, did the Tigers have any lefties in the lineup? Oh, I was watching that game and it, Riley Green was in the lineup. Okay. Because that's the one thing is he almost never throws the pitch to lefties last year. He threw two changes. changeups to lefties. It's the cutter is, he's very like bifurcated depending on which handedness he's facing.

He throws the cutter almost exclusively lefties. He throws the curveball and change up almost exclusively to righties. So that's the one thing that I would wonder is just like, was it a lineup trick? But, you know, the fact that he got nine strikeouts got a decent number of swing strikes, I think it's a, it's a, it's a promising sign. I have seen nothing to change my opinion on for Ambervaldez one way or the other. I think he's going to be very, very good. If the shape of his goodness is slightly different, so be it.

But I think he'll, I think he's fine. That changeup was also up 1.6 miles per hour, which also suggests it's not the same changeup he used in the past. Let's guess together the batting handedness of Ryan Creedler, who played second base for the Tigers on Tuesday night. What do you guys think? I'm going to say righty. Scott? I said righty too. All righty.

Yep. You guys are all right. There you go. Righty. So is he. The only lefty in the lineup was Riley Green. So yeah, you might be on to something there, Chris. Aces that were flat out bad on Tuesday.

Zach Gallen, six innings, five runs. Four of those were earned. Only three strikeouts, two home runs allowed. Only seven swinging strikes on 86 pitches. Fastball was down 1.1 miles per hour again, much like his first start. Max Scher's. who we've mentioned multiple times, he gave up back-to-back-to-back-home runs

to Rowdy-Tales, Brian Anderson, and Garrett Mitchell. He still had 14 swinging strikes, but allowed 14 hard hits and a 94.5 mile-per-hour average exit velocity against. Are you guys actually worried about either one? Gallin, Scherzer. Gallen more so than Scherzer, but not particularly. Yeah.

All right. Yeah. So hitting leftover, Xander Bogartz went two-for-four, hit his third home run that home run came off of, Zach Allen. and look, this is someone I had as a bus this year and I didn't like the move to San Diego. So far it looks good, man.

Three home runs and, you know, Fernando Tatis is not in this lineup yet and he very easily could make me look foolish although obviously it's a very small sample size. The debacks ran wild in that game. They had five steals total, one for each of Alec Thomas, Jake McCarthy, Geraldo Perdomo, Cotel Marte, and Josh Rojas. No contract extension, no problem.

Brian Reynolds went two. three for four with his league leading fourth home run of the season. And Teasca Hernandez is on the board with a double dong as well. For my deep leaguers out there, we'll quickly mention Jason Hayward. That's right, has started two games in a row. He's homered in each. This Jason Vossler guy hit another home run. A 444 foot shot for the Cincinnati Reds.

He's playing first base while Joey Votto is out. And guess what? The Luke Raleigh guy, who I also spoke about yesterday, He also hit another home run. So there you go. For NL, AL only. Matt Strom, he didn't go very deep, but he looked pretty good. He was at the Yankees, four shutout, one hit, one walk, three strikeouts.

This guy obviously like the deepest of leagues, but anything on these names? Strom, Vossler, Raleigh, Hayward? I mean, my stance on Vossler and Raleigh is the same where, you know, they have strikeout issues in the minors, and that's why they're only getting a chance in the majors now in their late 20s. generally bet against that, even if they're hot right now. Okay. Yeah. All right, well, let's get into some bullpen updates here.

I see someone for the Dodgers got a save. We'll talk about that. For the Diamondbacks, Miguel Castro, Andrew Chafen, and Scott McGuff likely unavailable because they pitched two days in a row. Drey Jameson converted a two-inning save, but he was pretty shaky in that one. I noticed change his pitch mix. He used, in his first relief outing,

used a slider 51% of the time. He used it just 24% this time out and clearly didn't have the same level of effectiveness. So I wonder if maybe he just didn't have a feel for that pitch. Chris, what do you think about this early season usage for for Jerry Jameson? I think they are trying to use him in a way that keeps him stretched out in case they need him in the rotation. And that's mostly what it is.

I think they'll pick their spots, but they're going to try to use him in multi-inning spurts because, you know, if a need arises, I think he'll get called on at some point. Yeah, well, Madison Bumgarter is dealing with that arm injury. I don't know if it's actually real or they're just trying to find a way to get mad bum out of that rotation. I thought maybe Drey Jameson would be an option, but I don't know. Maybe he could be used as a closer too.

I mean, there's an opening there. I don't know. One way I think Jay Jameson is going to have value. I just don't know which way yet. For the nationals, oh, Kyle Finnegan. If you started him, my thoughts are with you because in my most important league, I started him and it was terrible.

A one-run lead in the ninth, he gave up back-to-back home runs to Luke Raleigh and Josh Lowe. Then he later gave up a three-run homer to Yandy Diaz. The Nats later have four games in Corse Field this week, as the kids would say. Big yikes. Big yikes there for Kyle Finnegan. Is that what the kids say?

Yeah, that's what they say. I think. Not that I know. I don't have kids, so. Okay. But I see some kids, the kids on the internet using that term. And Hunter Harvey is the next name up for those who play in deeper leagues. For the Braves, A.J. Minter does indeed get the first save opportunity for them.

He pitched a clean ninth for his first save. 60% rostered if you need a closer while Rysel Iglesias is out. For the Phillies, Craig Kimball pitched a ninth inning with a four-run lead. He gave up a solo home run to DJ LaMayhew. That could be foreshadowing for their first save opportunity. For the Oakland A's, Danny Jimenez recorded five outs across the seventh and eighth with the game tied. Trevor May pitched in the ninth inning. And then I believe the Oakland A's walked it off in the bottom of the ninth.

So he wound up with the win. For the Dodgers, it was Phil Bickford, who started the ninth with a five-run lead. He gave up two runs, and then it was relieved by Evan Phillips, who got the final two outs for his first save. Bruce Stark Groudall pitched in the eighth. So, okay, maybe some signs of Dodgers reliever usage moving forward. The regulars, David Bednar picked up his third save, and Jordan Romano picked up his second save of the season. To stream or not to stream for Wednesday, Mitch Keller at the Red Sox.

Anybody? No. Not feeling it. Corey Klubor versus the Pirates. Definitely not feeling it. I think I'd rather start Keller. David Peterson at the Brewers. Not right now.

This is the one yesterday that I said, if you're forcing me to pick one from this slate, I guess it would be Peterson. I don't know. I'm not enthusiastic about it. Yesterday, it was a slam dunk for me. And now that he's going up against superstar Brian Anderson. I don't know.

I'm still starting David Peterson, if you have him. Eduardo Rodriguez at the Astros. Nope. Hunter Gaddis at the A's. Nope. Kyle Mueller versus the Guardians. No. Chris Flexen versus the Angels.

Nope. No. Zach Ranky versus the Blue Jays. You know. Nope. I did add Zach Rankie in a league. I'm not starting him, but I did add him in a league this week. His velocity is up.

He's over 90 miles per hour. We have seen him be very, very effective in this range before. I just want to say I'm keeping an eye on it. Yes. I think wait and see. Put him on the scout team, but do not stream him. Bryce Elder at the Cardinals? No.

On Thursday, Spencer Turnbull versus the Red Sox. No. No. Edward Cabrera is, he's kind of on the fringe here. He's 71% rostered at the Mets. He wasn't impressive enough in the first start. I would go away from him. But if you're forcing me to pick somebody from this group, it's probably him. I think I would take this next one instead.

Tyler McGill versus the Marlins. I'd rather start Cabrera than Miguel. I like Cabrera more long term, but six walks in his first start. Yeah, that's the thing. He's like he needed to... In his second, he probably should just be optioned. Yeah, I would, uh, I think I'd rather start Miguel. Alex Wood at the White Sox.

Probably not. No, they're typically pretty good against left-handed pitching. They have a lot of righties in that lineup. Clark Schmidt at the Orioles. No. That was okay. especially in Baltimore. All right.

Dean Kramer versus the Yankees. Nope. And good old Kyle Freeland versus the Nats. Come on. Nope. All right. We're going to wrap there

for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into 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.