Fantasy Baseball Today - Kyle Bradish vs. Garrett Crochet, Waiver Wire Adds & More! (5/28 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 28, 2024

Hunter Greene is quietly having a great season (2:25)! ... Julio Rodriguez looks to be turning the corner (6:45). ... Kyle Bradish vs. Garrett Crochet was must-see TV (9:09). ... News (16:28): Shohei Ohtani continues to ramp up his throwing program for next season. ... Brenton Doyle or Ian Happ (24:35)? ... How do we rank MacKenzie Gore, Christian Scott, Erick Fedde and Luis Severino (36:48)? Is it alright to drop Charlie Morton? ... What do we do with Alek Manoah, Pablo Lopez and Blake Snell (51:07)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (56:10). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your lead. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Hey there, welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Tuesday, May 28. I am Frank Stamphill here with Chris Towers, and I hope everybody enjoyed their long holiday weekend.

Today on the show, we've got Waverwire hitters, Waiverwire ads and drops. Excuse me. Brenton Doyle is running wild. Braxton Garrett complete game. Where did that come from? Kyle Bradish versus Garrett Crochet was must-see TV. But there is four days worth of baseball to talk about.

So let's jump in. Oh my goodness gracious. All right, Chris. Who is your player of the weekend? Player of the weekend. Who did I say it was going to be? Hunter Green. Hunter Green.

I think Hunter Green is having a really interesting. season. And I think it's fascinating that there is not more hype around what he is doing right now. If you had told me a third of the way through the season that Hunter Green would have a 306 ERA, a 255x ERA, a 317 FIP, I would have expected a lot of fantasy players and fantasy analysts to be really excited about it. And I don't know if it's just that there were so many early season breakouts or if people just don't buy what Hunter Green is doing or people are just kind of out on Hunter Green more generally. But I think he deserves a little more discussion. And honestly, I feel like we haven't talked about him at all on the podcast either. So here here's our opportunity. Hunter Green went six innings, gave up one run, five strikeouts, one walk.

doesn't sound that interesting, except did against the Dodgers. And that was after facing the Dodgers in his previous start. He faced the Dodgers in consecutive starts, limited them to three earned runs over 12 and a third innings with 13 strikeouts. And the strikeout rate is lower than we've gotten used to seeing from Hunter Green, which may explain why the lack of excitement is there, 27% strikeout rate compared to 31% for his. career, but it's worth pointing out that 1, 27% strike carry, it's still really good.

And two, he is doing a much better job of limiting hard contact this season. His quality of his expected Wobon contact 287 right now. That would be in the top 3%, or I guess bottom 3% in baseball, over almost 100 points lower than it was last season. Now, the caveat here is that quality of contact stats take a long time to stabilize for starting pitchers, probably more than a season to really know a player's true talent level when it comes to the quality of contact they're allowing. So skepticism is warranted here. But if Hunter Green was taking a step forward, this is the way he would be doing it with better fastball command primarily. His expected woe on his fastball, 241.

And last year it was 345, still getting a ton of whiffs on the slider. Splitter's actually been a decent pitch for him in limited usage. But all, no, I just wanted to highlight Hunter Green because while the numbers are good, it feels like there is enough skepticism around him that this might actually be a buy high opportunity for Hunter Green because if everyone's skeptical of the breakout, you can make a relatively cheap bet that, hey, what if the breakout's real? And he has taken this big step forward with his fastball command and can induce weak contact more consistently and can just be a better version of what we've seen in the past. I'm pretty excited about what we've seen. Yeah, he was

amazing against the Dodgers. You read off the stat line, 23 whiffs on 107 pitches, had everything working, 11 of those on the fastball, 8 on the slider, 4 on the splitter. And, And he uses splitter a little bit more in this start, 11% usage. And it was really good. Four whiffs, a 50% width rate, 42% CSW. Last six starts for Hunter Green. It's a 195 ERA, a 103 whip. And I've noticed this season that pitchers who are inducing softer contact and are getting fly balls,

expected ERA really likes those pitchers this season. So for whatever reason, if it's because of this environment, where the ball is just not traveling out as often and just fly ball pitchers are performing better. Hunter Green is in that category. He's more than halved his barrel rate from last year as well. So I think, yeah, he probably is deserving of, I got to get him at least inside my top 40 starting pitchers,

I think, the way that he's pitching right now. It's quietly been a breakout season here for Hunter Green, who's doing a lot of great things. Someone else who's doing a lot of great things. He just needed the old, the kick in the caboose, Right, Chris. We spoke about him on our, our, I wanted to say Labor Day weekend. It is not Labor Day weekend. Memorial Day weekend. We spoke about Julio Rodriguez. I always got them confused too. Julio Rodriguez was one of our slow starters this season. And we threw out some by-low offers out there. And what did he do? He just went out and had a massive weekend. And hopefully this is the start of the turnaround moving forward for Julio Rodriguez, who went one for four with his third home run on Saturday. Then he had a huge game on. Sunday. He went two for three, three for five, excuse me, with a sock and two shoes. That's a

home run and two stolen bases. And then he followed that up by going two for four with two more steals on Monday. So just a truly massive weekend here for Julio Rodriguez, who is up to 13 steals. He's got four home runs. Starts to lift the ball more. I think the power will come. Obviously, we spoke about it. He still hits the ball extremely hard. So I wanted to give Julio Rodriguez credit. Anything you'd like to add to, I don't know that there's anything else that needs to be said outside of it being a great weekend for him. Yeah, I mean, when we talked about it on yesterday's podcast, which when we're recording was four days ago. So, you know, if I can't remember exactly what we said. But I believe that we had no real concerns about Holy Rodriguez.

Like, look, the quality of contact has not been as good this season. He hasn't been hitting the ball as well, entering this weekend especially. but I just don't have much reason to think that's going to continue. And so obviously a big weekend like this makes me feel even more confident that Julia Rodriguez is going to be fine moving forward. Holi Rodriguez is going to be fine moving forward. And you might have missed the pylow window. Yeah.

Kind of wish that podcast came out a little bit earlier, especially when we had the Ronald de Cunia news as well. And if people are wondering, why didn't they lead the podcast with Ronald Cunia out for the season? We did an emergency podcast earlier on Monday. You could check it on on YouTube in your audio podcast feed as well. We broke down the injury, what we're expecting for next season, future seasons, some players you could add, replacements, all that regarding Ronald de Cunia.

I wanted to get to this a little bit earlier than where I had it on the rundown. So just want to run through a pitcher's duel that happened on Sunday between Kyle Bradish and Garrett Crochet because Chris, this was must-see TV. Kyle Bradish at the White Sox, seven no-hit. four walks, 11 strikeouts, had 13 whiffs on 103 pitches. He only allowed one hard hit in that game. And notice that he's changed up his pitch mix a little bit this year. He's throwing his sinker a little bit more and his four seam less.

And I think, frankly, that is a great idea because the four seam fastball is one that typically gets hit pretty hard with Kyle Braddish. The slider remains dominant. And the obvious here is that he spent most of the season on the I.L. with that, you know, slightly torn UCL, and he's come back, and he's just been amazing. 175 ERA, it's a 105 whip, a 228 expected ERA, nearly 12K per 9, 51% ground ball rate. Everything has been there for Kyle Braddish. And you can say the same thing about Garrett Crochet, who on the other side, six innings, two runs allowed,

11 strikeouts, 18 whiffs on 91 pitches, and now over his last six starts, it's a 132 ERA, a 0.71 whip. Nearly 12 strikeouts per nine, getting lots of ground balls, lots of swings and misses. Both these guys look awesome right now. Chris, what are your thoughts on Kyle Bradish and Garrett Crochet moving forward? Yeah, what's interesting about Bradish is he has 34 strikeouts so far this season, I believe, if my top of the head math is correct. 23 of them have been with his sinker. last season he had 31 strikeouts with his sinker

75 with the slider 47 with the curveball this year it's been predominantly the sinker I don't really know what to make of that his strikeout rate is way up his velocity is also way up it sort of all feels like and maybe this is obvious

but Cobbreddish is really good and if you had any concerns that he wasn't that good and that last year was a bit of a fluke, I think he's doing a lot to answer those concerns. And I'll admit, I had my concerns that Cal Bradish was as good as he looked last season. On the other hand, it sort of feels like a sort of Damocles, if I may, now that I've been to Europe, I'm going to use those kind of things. No.

In that, like, he missed so much time with an elbow sprain. and now he's come back and he's throwing harder. Velocity on his sinker. It's up right around where it was last season. I think it was up a little more in his most recent start. But that's a little concerning. If I was going to sell high on Kyle Bradish, though, it would only be because of injury.

And given how hard that is to predict, if you don't want to sell high on Kyle Bradish, I think that's perfectly reasonable as well because I do believe as long as he's healthy, he's going to be really good. As for Garrett Crochet, I mean, I was out for about two weeks, and when I had left,

it was right around the Niddeer of the Garrett Crochet hype. You know, everybody was kind of out on him. He had those three bad starts, and it was like, ah, see, it was a fluke. But he was still getting a ton of strikeouts, and he still really wasn't walking anybody. He was still getting a ton of swinging strikes and all that.

And so, I think Eric Crochet is just really, really good. And he's finding ways to be successful almost every time he goes out. It's kind of a little bit different. And this one, it was a little more cutter-heavy. A lot of his success came from that pitch. And, you know, when we first started talking about Gary Crochet, it looked like he was just a fastball slider guy.

But it's a legitimate four-pitch mix that he can lean on at any given time depending on what's working and what isn't in a start. Yeah, you had 10 whiffs with the cutter in this one out of 18. I think you're a crochet. I mean, we still have the concerns about, one, his ability to hold up and two, how many innings he's going to throw. But I feel really, really confident that he's going to be excellent moving forward.

It's just a question of, is it 50 more innings? Is it 90 more innings? I think that's probably the range. and I have no idea where he's going to fall in that range. Yeah, Scott and I were talking more about Crochet last week as well. And it's really hard to say for certain. I mean, I think it could be anywhere from like 100 to 150 innings for Garrett Crochet. And there's just not really any way to know for certain.

I do agree that with both of these pitchers, they're kind of found money because Oh, yeah. Bradish was going so late because the injury in drafts. And so now you just. you just stumbled upon another like top 30, top 40 starting pitcher. And same thing with Garrett Crochet, he was actually, you know, picked up early on in a lot of leagues. So look, if you have excess pitching. And then dropped.

Yeah. If you have excess pitching with these guys, just go to the manager in your league that needs pitching. And, you know, try and find whatever kind of struggling hitter you can on their team. And just try and send out some offers, man. Because I do think people are going to have Crochet and Bradish as like, you know, excess. You might not need them based on like how you got them on your team.

So I would just throw that out there. Not that you have to sell them, but just something to keep in mind. Quick reminder to subscribe to the FBT newsletter if you haven't already. If you're watching on YouTube, thanks for hanging out. We appreciate you being here.

And you can scan that QR code that will take you right to the website. You click on that FBT logo, you punch in your email address and it's easy as that. Let's take our first break and when we return, we got a whole bunch of news and notes. We'll do it right after this.

Welcome back in. Let's talk news and notes. Shohay Otani has apparently been playing through a bruised hamstring, but has not missed any time. He also continues to up his throwing program as he rehabs from Tommy John's surgery. And Otani apparently said that he threw at 80 miles per hour from 60 feet last week. He's not going to pitch this year in games, but still working his way back to get ready to pitch in 2025 and beyond. Trey Turner ran at a higher intensity on Saturday. to run the bases before he's cleared for a rehab assignment. He's on the IL with a hamstring injury.

Aaron Boone said Saturday that there is a chance. Garrett Cole will begin a rehab assignment as soon as this week. Kodi Senga was shut down from throwing Friday after he received a cortisone shot for inflammation in his triceps. And Chris, the vibes are just kind of weird with Kodai Senga right now, man. Between the shoulder, the triceps popping up. I almost wonder if is he overcome? compensating for something and it's leading to another injury and I don't love it.

Yeah, and especially like the, the Mets are what? Yeah, eight games under 500. This season's going nowhere, which we mostly expected after the, the sell-off last trade deadline. But, you know, is there going to be like if there's another setback, are they going to just hit the brakes and wait as long as possible to get him fully healthy? I'm not saying that Kodai Seng is not going to pitch this season. But yeah, it's it seemed like he was starting to accelerate. And then he clearly hit a couple of speed bumps.

And that's concerning. And this is always the concern when you have the spring injuries. Sometimes guys come back like Cal Braddish and they're fine. And it doesn't seem like there's any that they missed any time. And then sometimes you have this or Emmett Sheehan where, you know, it just gets worse and worse until they're So it's a concern for sure with Kodai Senga. Mike Trout has been working out on the elliptical and exercise bike and will next progress to the treadmill. He's continuing to rehab from left knee surgery he had earlier in the season.

Josh Lowe was officially placed on the IL Saturday with that right oblique strain. And Lowe said he's hopeful for an abbreviated stay and expects to resume baseball activities this week. Christian Javier was placed on the 15 day IL with right forearm discont. retroactive to May 24th. His velocity has been down the past few starts. So another one where, you know, the vibes are a little bit off here with Christian Javier. Royce Lewis responded well to his first two minor league rehab games, but remains without a clear timeline to return.

Bobby Miller made his first rehab start on Sunday, allowing three runs over three innings at Singale. He built up to 55 pitches in that start. Stephen Kwan began a rehab assignment at High A Saturday. He's been out since May 6th with a hamstring injury. Apparently, Max Muncie is still feeling his oblique strain and will proceed cautiously. John Means, who's on the IL with a strained forearm, will get a second opinion. That one does not sound too good either.

Yeah. Chris Bassett left his start Monday due to next spasms. Gavin Williams will begin a rehab assignment at AAA on Wednesday. He's been on the IL all season with right elbow discomfort. He's 57% rostered. And I think he's probably someone that needs to be stashed right now, Chris, if you have a spot available. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, he's probably still three weeks away at least. Yeah. So I'm not necessarily expecting him right away. And things could still go wrong.

But yeah, if it doesn't cost you anything but a roster spot, I think Gavin Williams is absolutely worth stashing. T.J. Friedel could return later this week or early next week. He's been out since May 13th with a broken left thumb. He's 52% rostered. And I know Outfield hasn't been a good position. We just lost Ronald de Cunia. So I'll throw T.J. Friedel's name as, uh, another one that you might be looking at.

Wyatt Langford could be activated on Tuesday. He's been out since May 5th with a hamstring injury. And he was pretty bad early on in the season. 224 batting average, one homer, one steal. Uh, but another name, perhaps you can buy extremely low on Wyatt Langford now before he returns. Tyler O'Neill has missed. two straight with a sore right knee. Lamont Wade left Monday's game due to a left hamstring strain. Jorge Polanco was placed in the aisle with a right hamstring strain and the Mariners

promoted one of their prospects, Ryan Bliss, who this season in the minors was batting 247 with seven homers and 28 steals and only 50 games. Last year was one of the biggest breakouts in the miners, hit 304, 23 homers, 55 steals. He's only 2% rostered. I think this is very deep leagues for now, Chris, A.L. only maybe a name just to know in 15 team Roto leagues, but yeah, I would say he needs to be on your radar at least. That is Ryan Bliss. Yeah, I think in 15 team Roto leagues for sure,

as a middle infielder, especially. I think there's some upside there with the stolen base upside, obviously. But, you know, the fact that he had 23 stolen bait or 23 homers last season, I think he's got seven so far this year, there's been a sacrificing batting average aspect to it, especially since

the Mariners traded for him. I think he's hitting like 250 since then. But, you know, if he can be a non-zero with power and a big help and stolen bases, there's some upside there. Yeah. Again, that is Ryan Bliss of the Seattle Mariners. Jeffrey Springs, who's currently

on a rehab assignment, will be shut down for a few days because of a lat issue. Rocky's young outfielder, Jordan Beck, is scheduled to undergo surgery on his left hand Wednesday. He suffered a broken fourth medical Carpal in his left hand on Saturday. The Astros option, Joey Loperfito, back to AAA on Sunday.

Some mixed results, a good batting average, but lots of strikeouts for Loporffito. He's 28% rostered still. And Chris, would you hold on to Loprfito in a five outfielder league if you spent big fad to get him? So the story on Loporfito was that while he wasn't like this huge prospect coming into the season, he was so red hot at Trey. AAA that he kind of forced the Astros hands. He forced them to call him up.

He forced fantasy players to take notice. And then he got called up and was pretty bad, nearly 40% strikeout rate. I know he hit 333, but 40% strikeout rate. I believe he did not have a barrel while he was up. There's very little stolen base potential there. So I don't know. If he had hit the ground running,

I was excited to see what he could do. But the fact that he didn't makes me think that, He was just hot for a month at AAA, and he's probably still that kind of fringe, fourth outfielder, you know, maybe low end second division starter type that we thought he was coming into the season. So I don't think there's much reason to stash him.

DeBack's prospect, Jordan Lawler, will play in rehab games this week in the Arizona Complex League. He underwent surgery in late March to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb, 28% rostered and somebody who could make an impact later on the season. Again, that is Jordan Lawler. Other players who went on the IL since Friday, Dean Kramer with a right tricep strain. Retroactive 2 May 21st, Justin Lawrence with a right shoulder strain,

Michael Massey with a lower back ligament sprain, AJ Smith-Shawber made a start on Thursday, and then he went on the IL Friday with a grade 2 left oblique strain, Ross Stripling with a strained right elbow, and John Burdy with a left calf strain. Last but not at least, Chris, rejoice! He is gone. Angel Hernandez is retired. as an umpire effective immediately.

And all I will say to that is good riddance. Good riddance, Angel. Yeah, I got nothing to add. Fair enough. Let's log WaverWire hitters. And Ronald de Cunia replacements, we did talk about this a lot in the emergency podcast that we did, but we'll throw a couple of their names out there.

And we spoke about Brenton Doyle. That dude has just been running wild lately. He has 10 steals over his last 15 games. He is batting 269 with a 7-16. OPS. He has lowered the strikeout rate so far this season. He's up to 76% rostered. And the other name is Ian Hap, who had himself a big game on Sunday, two for three with a double dung and three RBI. He's still getting on base at a good clip, 3.30, but the strikeout rate is elevated this season. He's still hitting the ball hard. He's barreling it up. I think he's had some bad

home run luck so far this season. That is Ian Hap. He's 67% rostered. Chris, who do you prefer between the two Doyle and Hap? It would be Hap who has more of a track record. The weird thing about Ian Hap is he's kind of a different version of himself every year. Like one year he walked like 94 times. I think he like had one year where he stole a decent amount of Bates. He's like he's never put it all together, but he's got this like weirdly broad skill set that I think will always make him useful for fantasy.

And remember, he's another guy who was hurt a lot in spring training in April. He dealt with that hamstring injury in the spring. I think it recurred multiple times. I think he heard it in the spring, tried to play through it, had a setback right before opening day, if I'm remembering correctly. Yeah.

And so it's not necessarily surprising that he's struggled, but I think a lot of the Under the Hood stuff still looks pretty good for Ian Hap. So I do think 67% is too low of a roster rate for him. I think I would go Doyle in a Categories League and I would go with Ian Hap in a points league. That's fair.

I just did want to, quickly look up Brenton Doyle's roster rate on Yahoo. It is 66%. So, I mean, in a head-side categories league, I think that number needs to be closer to 100% the way that Brenton Doyle is running right now. How about these names in five outfieler leagues? Eddie Rosario continues his massive May,

257 batting average, six homers, 16 runs, 16 RBI, six steals. He's only 17% roster. J.J. Bladay homered in three straight from Wednesday through Friday, and he is now up to eight home runs on the season with a 779 OPS. Leotie Tavares has been moved up to fifth in the Rangers lineup, also having himself a nice May hitting 280 with three homers, 16 runs, and three steals in the month.

Alec Berlinson is playing well for the Cardinals right now. Last 11 games batting 422 with two home runs, two steals, lots of line drives, hitting the ball really hard and barely strikes out. That is Alec Berlinson. He's 39% rostered. Adam Duval has homered in back-to-back games. and should be the biggest beneficiary of this Ronald de Cunia injury. And Tyler Freeman is someone we haven't talked much about, but last 15 games,

298 batting average, one homer, 14 runs, three steals, an 844 OPS, and he has let off 14 straight games for the Guardians. Lots of names here, Chris. Give me your, I don't know, two or three favorites from this group. Freeman, Duval, Burleson, Tavaris, Bladay, and Eddie Rosario. It's probably Rosario. I'm going to go Freeman and then Burleson. And Freeman is someone who was a pretty much a consensus top 100 prospect for a couple of years.

Didn't really like it's not like he stopped hitting in the minors. It was just he got called up for 64 games last year and was pretty mediocre. But he's got really good bat to ball skills. He's got a little bit of speed, a little bit of pop. I think there's 10, 20 upside with a good batting average there. So he's an interesting one for deeper leagues for sure, Tyler Freeman. I guess should point out with Stephen Kwan returning, he's obviously going to move down in the lineup. But I mean, it's a good lineup, right?

It's a great story. The Guardians are one of the best teams in baseball. And we were talking beforehand, like Jose Ramirez is just having a bonkers may as well. And he's like 54 RBI. He leads baseball. So shout out to the Guardian. man, they're getting it done right now. Some interesting middle infielers, some signs of life from Jonathan India,

who went three for three with a home run on Friday and then one for four with a steel on Sunday. His quality of contact is down quite a bit this year. 45% rostered. Mason win is heating up for the Cardinals. Last 13 games, betting 375 with two home runs, two steals, tons of line drives, barely striking out. And Nick Gonzalez is, he's looked really impressive, man. And two for three with four RBI on Friday, one for two with a steal on Saturday. And overall, he's batting 286, 841 OPS in 16 games so far.

The strikeout rate is way down. That's backed up by 92% zone contact rate for Nick Gonzalez. He's hitting the ball extremely hard. He's barreling it up. And this was a former top 10 overall pick in the MLB draft back in, I want to say, like, 2020. So there was tons of prospect pedigree, and he clearly has changed. some things this year and I think he's pretty interesting. Chris, how would you rank India, Mason, Wynn, and Nick Gonzalez? It's probably that order, India, Mason, Wynn, Nick Gonzalez.

But Gonzalez is so interesting. It's kind of like what we were talking about with Freeman, where it was a top prospect who kept hitting in the minors. In his case, Gonzalez, this specifically, it's not clear how high the ceiling is for fantasy, even for like a fully realized version of himself, just because in AAA, he played 129 games, 309-23 OPS, only 18 homers and four stolen bases. It was a ton of doubles, 10 triples in 129 games, but not like a super fantasy-friendly profile. And so that's the concern there is that, you know, even if he's good, is it like he hits 14 homers and steals six bases and it's not really all that valuable for fantasy?

That's my concern. But he's young enough and has the pedigree and very good underlying data right now that I do think Nick Gonzalez is worth a look. Two corner infielders. We have Ty France, who's been picking things up lately his last 14 games, betting 271 with four homers and 10 RBI.

And Jose Miranda, quietly doing some things for the twins. All because I laughed at Chris for picking him up, and now he's been really good. So shout out to you for picking up Jose Miranda. But yeah, he is up to five home runs. He's got a 780 OPS. Who do you prefer between those two Thai France, Jose Miranda? It would be Thai France, who I had some interest in coming into the season.

And, you know, with Miranda, like, he's playing well right now. And the twins have enough part-time players that maybe he can keep playing somewhat regularly. But you have to keep in mind that Royce Lewis is. coming back within the next couple of weeks. You know, probably I think the, they have 20 days on rehab assignment for hitters and he's already started that clock. So it's going to be within the next three weeks. And so I don't, I just don't know if there's like Miranda might be playing his way into a role on the roster when Lewis comes back. I don't know if that's going to be an everyday role unless he really stays

hot. And I'll just point out with Thai France. You know, in a 12 team, Rotter League with a corner infield or something like that. I think it's fine to pick them up the hot hand right now. But anything shallower than that, like a 12-team headhead categories or head-ted points. I don't think we're looking at either of those guys, frankly. Two catchers. Cape Ruis slowly picking things up. Four straight multi-hit games.

He's got eight hits, one home run, four runs, and three RBI during that span. And quality of contact is way, way, way down for Cape Ruis so far this season. and Patrick Bailey had himself a huge game on Friday, two for four with a sock and a shoe. And overall, he's batting over 300. He's got an 846 OPS hitting the ball really hard this season. The expected stats look great. As second catchers in like a 12 team, Roto League, Chris, who would you prefer between Ruiz and Patrick Bailey? If both were available, I think I would have to take Aber Ruiz.

Just there's a little more of a track record. There's a little bit of a higher floor. That being said, I have added Patrick Bailey in like three different leagues already. And I am not saying he is a star. But what he is doing right now, if he were able to keep it up, given what we already knew coming into the season was elite defense, he might be a legitimate star if the batting stuff that he's doing right now is at all for real,

because he's cut his strike out right down to 22%. It was 28% last year. His quality of contact has improved. It was already pretty good last year. 410 expected Wobon contact. It's up to 438. His ex-B-A is 304. His ex-WOBA is 364.

Like, Patrick Bailey, again, I don't expect him to keep this up. But what he is doing right now is incredibly impressive. He's playing really, really well. And in any two catcher leagues, I think Patrick Bailey is a viable option. while he's hot. And one name in deeper leagues just wanted to throw out there. I know the Blue Jays had, I think Scott's number one hitter matchups this week. Isaiah Kiner Folefa. He's doing some things recently last six games, 10 hits, two homers, five runs, one steal, eight percent rostered, has three different position eligibility. So if you play, I think I picked them up in Tout Wars, which is a 15-te-te-team

league. And same thing with like another 15-team Roto League. So just wanted to throw the name out there, IKF. Let's take our final break and when we return, we'll dive into the Waverwire pitchers. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in. Let's talk Waverwire pitchers and I've got four names in shallow leagues. I believe they're all between 65 and 80 percent rostered. Mackenzie Gore turned in a strong start Friday against the Mariners. Seven innings, one run, eight strikeouts with 17 whiffs on 98 pitches. And he's now turned in three straight quality starts.

He's up to 76 percent rostered. is Mackenzie Gore. Luis Severino had one of his best starts of the season against the Giants. Seven innings, one run, six strikeouts with 10 whiffs on 103 pitches. Tweet the pitch makes a little bit in this one. He leaned on his sinker, which he continues to do this year. I think it kind of limits the upside for Luis Severino. Eric Fetty turned in another quality start up against the Orioles,

six and a third shutout with six strikeouts, only seven whiffs on 103 pitches, but it's now two earned runs or less in eight of 11. starts for Eric Fetty and Christian Scott turned in another quality start. He was up against the Giants as well, six innings, two runs, four strikeouts, only five whiffs on 94 pitches and really lean into his fastball and this starts 68% usage. I feel like that's been the case the past couple of starts for Christian Scott. I feel like he just hasn't had a great feel for his secondary pitches. But even with that, it's a 397 ERA, a 110 whip, and a 12.1% swinging strike rate for Christian Scott. How would you rank this group, Chris? Scott, Fetty, Severino, and McKenzie Gore.

Gore is, I think, far and away, number one for me, at least. It's been an interesting season because from the very first start of the year when he was throwing his fastball, you know, about two miles per hour harder and had this new change up. There's been a lot of interesting things going on with him, but over the last three starts is when it's really turned into results that like are making. gain impact for your fantasy team. I think he should be 100% rostered. I really like what we've seen for McKenzie Gore so far. After him, I think I go Feddy, Scott, and Severino.

And maybe I'm just being unfair to Luis Severino. And I'm not giving him credit for what, like you said, I think maybe a lower ceiling because the strikeout upside isn't there. But it might be a really high floor because of this high ground ball rate that's caused by the heavier sinker usage. I think Severino's fine. I think he's a useful pitcher to have on your roster moving forward. But I think there's more of a chance that Fetty and especially Christian Scott could be difference makers moving forward in a way that I think is less likely for Severino.

I think I would take Scott ahead of Fetty. I think Scott versus Gore is really close. I might take Scott in a points league and Gore in a categories league just because, like, I know Gore has three quality starts in a row, but he's usually inefficient and he doesn't usually go that deep into his starts, but the strikeout upside is great, obviously, with McKenzie Gore. Would you drop any of these four pitchers for any of the names I just mentioned? James Paxton, who had another rough outing. He's up to 86% roster. Like, it's like, okay, it's because he had a good ERA and I think had like five wins entering the start, if I'm remembering correctly,

but like that was it. Yeah. He had more, I think he has as many walks as strikeouts for the season still. So yeah, I, I have seen nothing to be optimistic about with James Paxton. You would drop him for any of those names. Any of those names, yes. What about Kyle Harrison who gave up five runs, four earned over five innings this weekend, and he's up to a 390 IRA and a 130 whip. He's 82% rostered. Would you drop Kyle Harrison for any of them? I want to say no because I still think Kyle Harrison can be a useful pitcher, but he's just, he's throwing his fastball way too much. It's still like 70% usage.

And it's a good fastball, but I'm not even sure it's like Bryce Miller good. And he's throwing it more than Bryce Miller. So I just, I don't know what the giants are doing. I don't know what the approach here is. I don't know if they're ever going to try to have him throw that. breaking ball and change up more, but I just, I don't really believe in Kyle Harrison right now.

Yeah, I think I would drop him for Scott and Gore. Yeah. The other ones are closer. Like, I drop him for Fetty. For Fetti, yeah. I think that's probably right. Uh, next name up is Reid Detmer's who had another, I mean, mass start. It was four walks, eight strikeouts, five innings three earned runs up to a five, seventy six year a one forty three whip. He's down to 62 percent rostered. Would you drop Detmer's for any of those? Yeah, I mean, this is one of the pictures I was thinking of when I was talking about Hunter Green earlier and how like there seems to be very little hype and very little excitement. Nobody's like talking about Hunter Green. Like you think about how much hype there was around Redetmers after the first four starts at the season.

Yeah. And that hasn't made. And maybe it's just there there's only so many players you can get excited about. Right. But yeah, I think you can. I would prefer not to drop Redembers because we know how high the ceiling can be. when he's right, but he just hasn't been for basically every start since those first four or so. So yeah, I think it's fine to drop Detmer's. I probably wouldn't do it for Severino or Fetty,

but I would rather have Scott and McKenzie Gore than read Detmer's right now. I might be overreacting with this one, but Charlie Morton had a rough start on Monday, five and two thirds, 12 hits, eight earned runs, still had seven strikeouts. 429 ERA, 132 whip. It's not terrible by now. means, but still 96% rostered. Would you drop Charlie Morton for any of those? Yeah. Yeah, he's been

his ERA is like over five, I believe in the month of September. September, geez. Labor Day, Memorial Day. Yeah, since the start of May. I just, yeah, I don't see what Charlie Morton does

that I'm supposed to be excited about at this point in his career, especially if Braves' offense isn't going to be as good as we thought it was going to be. True. Both because it hasn't been so far and because Ronald Cunia is not there the rest of the way. So yeah, I think Charlie Moran at 96% rostered is one of the most over-rastered players in fantasy right now.

All right. WaiverWire Pitchers, part two. Braxton Garrett turned in his first career complete game at the D-backs, the team that typically hits lefties very well. Guess what? I mean, they still had 14 hard hits in this game and a 94.3 average exit velocity. Still a great star for Garrett, four hits shut out. had six strikeouts, 11 whiffs on 95 pitches.

He threw more changeups in this start, and that change up actually is a pretty damn good pitch for Braxton Garrett. He is only 50% rostered so far. Michael Waka has pitched well recently. He was at Tampa Bay, six innings, two runs, seven strikeouts with 14 whiffs on 94 pitches. Completely change his pitch mix in the start. He threw his slider 28% of the time.

Michael Waka did, and it's a small sample, but that slider has been awesome so far. 100 batting average against with a 45% whiff rate. That is Michael Waka. Robert Gasser turned in a strong start against the Cubs. Six shutout innings with seven strikeouts, which was a career high. He had 12 whiffs on 81 pitches.

He's up to 47% rostered, and Ryan Weathers continues to pitch well. He was at the debacks as well this weekend. Six shutout, seven strikeouts, with 12 whiffs on 91 pitches. Scott and I talk about this recently. Like the change up and the sweeper, they look like great pitches for Ryan Weathers.

I kind of wish that he would use them more, but it's five straight quality starts. And during that span, a 191 ERA, a 0.73 whip. Chris, how are you ranking this group? Weathers, Gasser, Waka, and Braxton Garrett. So for some context, if I had James Paxon and Charlie Morton, I would drop both of them for any of these pitchers. Braxton Garrett, Michael Waka, Robert Gasser, Ryan Weathers.

I'd probably rank them Garrett. Not to be a homer, I think I'd go Garrett-Weathers, Gasser, Waka. Gasser's a really interesting one because he got really good results in his first three starts, but it was with six strikeouts in his first 17 innings this season. He got a lot of strikeouts in the minors, though. And then in this one, seven in six shutout innings, 12-swinging strikeouts. strike six on his sweeper. And I think that's the thing is he might only have the one good swing and miss pitch.

But he is leaning on his sweeper. It's been the most used pitch for him this season. There might be some like Brandon fought here where when it's ugly, it's really ugly for Gasser. But I think what he's done so far has been pretty impressive. So I don't want to write him off entirely. Garrett, I think just because he has the track record between 2022 and 2023 of of, I think it's like a 36 ERA over 300 innings or so.

He's the clear top option, but I don't necessarily think there's a huge ceiling there. It's just a nice high floor for Baxter Garrett. Would you take Braxton Garrett over any of the four names from the first group, Scott, Fetty, Severino, and Gore? I think him versus Severino and Fettie is very, very close because they're going to be guys who don't really get a ton of strikeouts. I think Fetty probably has the highest upside on the strikeout side, but ideally they're generating ground balls. They're not issuing free passes, and they kind of get by in that way.

So Garrett versus Severino, very close. I think you could flip a coin. I don't have a strong take on it. Waverwire pitchers part three. Trevor Williams continues to pitch well. He was up against the Mariners, five innings, one run, eight strikeouts to zero walks. And he's throwing a sweeper.

a lot more this season, 19% usage, and it's been a really good pitch for him so far. 136 batting average against with a 48% whiff rate. That is Trevor Williams. Michael Lorenzen keeps finding a way to pitch well. He was at the Twins, six innings, one run, four strikeouts, only five whiffs on 90 pitches. And Mitchell Parker turned in a quality start at the Atlanta Braves.

Six and a third, three runs allowed, six strikeouts, 17 whiffs on 100 pitches. I thought that was pretty impressive here. from Mitchell Parker just in general. He's doing a good job limiting walks. He's getting ground balls. I didn't really know much about Mitchell Parker before he got called up, Chris,

but I've been kind of intrigued if I picked him up in any deeper leagues. What are your thoughts here on Parker, Lorenzen, and Trevor Williams? Yeah, I mean, it was 17 whiffs in this one. That's pretty eye-opening. The splitter has been an exceptionally good pitch for him so far this season.

I feel like I should be more interested in Mitchell Parker than I have been. I can't exactly put my finger on it. And maybe it's just a perceived lack of upside, right? You know, 21.5% strikeout rate even after a couple of good strikeout games in a row. But like three whiffs with the splitter, eight with the slider today, which he threw a little more. I agree he's pretty interesting. You know, his slider usage was 4.4.4.5. 4% coming into this start. It was 22%. So maybe that's a path to a little more upside for

Mitchell Parker in a way that deserves more respect than he's gotten from us guys. Would you take him over anyone from the last group, Weathers, Gasser, Waka, and Garrett, Mitchell Parker? I could see the case for him ahead of Waka just on a, you know, Waka's old and Parker's young and hasn't had bad seasons at the major league level before. But I also recognize that that might not be the best reason to prefer one pitch or to another. All right. Last group here includes J.P. Sears who had a solid outing against the Astros, six innings, two hits, one unearned run with only one strikeout. Calquantral turned in another quality start. He was up against the Phillies in course field.

It was six innings, two runs, five strikeouts, 18 whiffs. on 98 pitches. Who is this Cal Quantrell that we speak of? And Ben Lively continues to pitch well for the Guardians. He was at the Angels, seven innings, two runs, five strikeouts, with just seven whiffs here on 92 pitches, but he is down to a 280 ERA and a 118 whip.

Are you buying any of these three, anything that they're doing, Chris? J.P. Sears, Cal Quantrell, and Ben lively. No, not really. Maybe Sears, like, in good matchups, especially at home, because it is a good part to pitch in. Maybe Quantrow,

like I know this was at Corse Field, but I can't see any way he's going to be good more often than not at home. But maybe in the right matchups on the road, there can be. But no, I don't see. Quantril, the biggest change is that splitter.

He's throwing it 39% of the time this season. It was 12% last year. It's been a, good but not great swing and miss pitch, but the results on quality of contact have been really, really good. 188 expected batting average, 283 expected slugs.

So maybe it's, it just helps him survive, but there's no strikeout upside there. I don't think even after this start. So I can't really get excited about how Quantrell. Yeah, I mean, if it was any other context, you know, if he pitched for the Padres. Yeah, yeah.

Sure. He's doing interesting things, but it's just like Coors Field, you know? So I agree. Like in a deeper league, if you have Calquantrol, stream them in the right matchups and stuff. But it's just, it's pretty tough to get behind any Rockies pitcher, obviously. What do we make of these pitchers right now? Moving on from the Waver Wire names, we already spoke about Hunter Green, who, yeah, I thought it's obviously doing some interesting things right now.

And these guys are kind of the opposite end of the spectrum. So Alec Menoa, we got the bad Alec Menoa again on Friday at the Tigers, four and two thirds inning, six runs allowed. Four of those were earned. He gave up two home runs in this start, and it's now been two really good starts and two really bad starts. From Alec Manoa, he is 73% rostered, so he's, you know, right there on the fringe. Pablo Lopez has given up six plus earned runs in back-to-back starts. He was up against the Rangers, where he gave up six earned over four and two-thirds. He has allowed two home runs in each of his last two starts.

And Blake Snell, just part of the experience, I guess. Another rough start up against the Phillies. Four innings, four runs allowed. Three of those were earned. Ten whiffs on 90 pitches. Only through 58% of his pitches for strikes. Blake Snell has just been a disaster so far this season. But Chris, what do you think?

What are your thoughts on these three? Blake Snell, Pablo Lopez, Alec, Alec Menoa, I would say, all pretty polarizing pitchers right now. Yeah, although I kind of think my thoughts on all three of them are fairly straightforward. With Manoa, if you've got the roster spot to play with and you don't need to start him,

I still think it makes sense to hang on to him and just see if he can keep building on the couple of good starts that he's had and just the good signs that we've seen here and there. But do I expect Alec Manoa to be a must start pitcher? No, I don't think that's the likeliest outcome. I think it's possible. And I'd like to hang on to him. But if McKenzie Gore or Christian Scott were available in my league,

I'd rather have those guys. I'd rather have Eric Fetty. I think I'd probably rather have Severino. Just because certainly if I need someone to start this week or next week, it's Severino ahead of Manoa for sure. Lopez is simple because I'm not concerned about him at all. We've got a really good track record of Pablo Lopez. Last season was the first one where he stayed healthy.

and was really good, but he's been a really good pitcher for five seasons now. And I don't see any reason to think he's not going to be a really good pitcher moving forward. This feels like Luis Castillo after the first three starts of this year,

or like we go through this with Aces, he's given up more home runs than we're used to. That's really not an issue for him. His peripheral stats are all, for the most part, exceptional. So I, whatever discount is to be found,

on Pablo Lopez in the marketplace. I am buying. And then Blake Snell is Blake Snell. I don't know. I just, I never have anything interesting to say about Blake Snell because he's inconsistent. He's never going to be consistent. I don't really have a lot of faith in my ability to say,

this is the thing that's going to fix Blake Snell. Because a couple years ago, it was stop throwing the change up. And then he comes back. the next year, I think he throws the change up more than ever and has a great season. So it's, I think he's just, when he's doing well, start him. But he's not doing well right now, so you don't start Blake's Snell. I think it's as simple as that. Yeah, I look, there's going to be some regression just because some of the things that are happening. Like, basically Blake Snell was a little

bit fortunate last year, maybe a lot of bit fortunate. A lot. Yeah. And this year, it's gone the complete opposite way. He's got a 414 BABIP last year. That was 256. he has a 46% left on base percentage last year. That was 87%. So just lots of things going wrong for Blake Snell. But as we said last week, you shouldn't have had him in your lineups this week anyway, as bad as he's pitched.

It might be, you know, we talk a lot about like Aaron Nola being a guy who doesn't have a huge margin for error relative to other Aces because his stuff isn't great. Blake's cell's problem is not stuff. He's got fantastic stuff. But it could be a situation where like, the margin for error for.

Blake Snell is relatively slim because he has to live in the shadow zone of the strike zone so much. Like he's just, he's always going to be below the strike zone. He's always going to be trying to get chases. He always going to be trying to generate weak contact that way. And when he's doing that, when he's getting those whiff, those those whiffs and those chases and, you know, the contact, especially on pitches out of the strike zone, he's unbeatable. But if hitters are laying off, he might not have an. answer. You know, he's not a guy who can, okay, I'm going to pound the strike zone and make you pay for

not swinging. You know, it might just be when things aren't going for him, they tend to snowball. That could be the reasoning for it. But I have a lot of faith that at some point this season, Blake Snell is going to be unhittable for 11 or 12 starts because that's just what happens every year. Let's get into the rest of the leftovers and we will start with the pitchers. And the first group includes Chris Sale, who just keeps on dominating. He was at the Pirates. Seven innings, one run, eight strikeouts, had 13 whiffs on 97 pitches. Logan Webb had one of his best starts of the season at the Mets, seven innings, one unearned run, eight strikeouts, 17 whiffs on 96 pitches. Seth Lugo continues to pitch really well.

He was at Tampa Bay. Seven innings, one run, three strikeouts for him, and Justin Verlander had one of his best starts up against the Oakland A's. It was six innings, two runs. One of those was earned. Nine strikeouts to zero walks, 15 whiffs on 90s. nine pitches. Chris, anything to add on Verlander, Lugo, Logan Webb, and Chris Sale. I don't know if this is going to become like the next version of the Ranger Suarez thing where everybody else at us, but I'm going to go ahead and say, I think Seth Lugo is maybe the most

obvious sell high candidate in baseball right now. His ERA is two full runs lower than his XERA. And like, look, if Seth Lugo had a 373 ERA the rest of the way, which is what his XERA is, that'd be a super useful player. Yeah. But it's not an ace. And when you put him in a category with Chris Sale and Logan Webb, I mean, one of these things is not like the other for sure.

I also, did you mention Justin Verlander? Yes. I don't know if he can build on this. I don't know if Justin Verlander still has this kind of consistent strikeout upside, but it was nice to see because we have not seen a ton of strikeout upside from Justin Verlander the past couple of seasons. He was still successful last year because he was generating a ton of weak contact.

Got a lot of whiffs with the slider and curveball in this one, seven, 15 whiffs total. It's one start and it's against Oakland. And it might just be that. But I want to keep an eye on the whiffs the next couple of starts to see if just maybe, maybe, maybe he figured something out. Again, that was Justin Verlander. Let's move into the next group. Jordan Hicks pitched really well at the me.

It was five innings, one run. Eight strikeouts had 19 whiffs on 87 pitches. And notice that he's allowed three runs or less in all 11 of his starts, but he hasn't gotten more than five innings since April 27th. And I think that's going to be pretty common for Jordan Hicks. Tanner Bybee racked up the whiffs at the Angels. It was six innings, three runs, six strikeouts, 20 whiffs on 91 pitches.

13 of those came on the fastball. Just like, where did this come from? and Ronell Blanco returned from his suspension with a great start at the Oakland days. Seven innings, one run, six strikeouts. He had 17 whiffs on 104, 104, briby, and Jordan Hicks. Bybee, it just always feels like there should be more strikeouts. And I'm not exactly sure what it is about why he can't put hitters away because he has three really good swing and miss secondaries.

And the fastball was awesome in this one. He had 13 whiffs with it. And yet only six strikeouts. and six innings against the angels. It's just like, he's like right at the top of the list of why isn't he better? And I don't quite understand what it is about Tanner Bobby that just isn't clicking the way it feels like it should.

I think the fastball's been getting hit hard a lot this season. But I mean, as I mentioned, I mean, it was the fastball was amazing in this start. So that wasn't the problem. So I know control has kind of been off from at times. Last three starts, it's right around two walks per nine. So Tanner Bybee is getting better. All in all, given the environment right now, you know,

he might wind up being a little bit overdrafted based on, you know, there's like a top 100 pick, but I think he's probably going to be better moving forward. That is Tanner Bybee. And the final group includes Joe Ryan, who turned in a gem up against the Royals, seven innings, one run, nine strikeouts, 15 whiffs on 99 pitches. Nick Lodolo pitched well in his return. He faced the Cardinals. Five and a third.

one run allowed, three strikeouts. The velocity was up in the start for Nick Ladolo, so that's a good sign. And Justin Steele got back on track big time at the Brewers, seven shutout innings, eight strikeouts, 13 whiffs on 93 pitches, and finally got that fastball in the slider working. That is Justin Steele's bread and butter.

And if he doesn't have that, it's going to be hard for him to succeed, and obviously he did have that here against the Brewers. Anything on Steele, Lodolo, and Joe Ryan. I feel very good about Lodolo and Succeed. Steele moving forward. I think they kind of speak for themselves. Ladolo, as long as he's healthy, I mean,

kind of what we've seen in his major league career is outside of, you know, what 11 starts last season or whatever it was, when he's healthy, he's really good. And I think that's going to be the case. Steele, I didn't really have a lot of concern about him coming into this start. I'm glad we saw this, but I think he's going to be great moving forward. Joe Ryan is the one that's really interesting, though, because you look back at last year and right at this point is when things started to turn for Joe Ryan.

He had a 221 ERA through his first 10 starts last season, very similar underlying numbers to his current run. And then he had a really bad May. I think it was like a four June. It was like a 480 ERA in June. And that was his best remaining month. The rest of them were even worse. I can see being skeptical. based on that, but given the changes he made to his sweeper and splitter, he's throwing them harder,

his velocity's been up, was way up in this start. I don't know if you noticed. The average 94.7 miles per hour with his foreseamer today. That is wild for Joe Ryan. He was like 92 last year. So I don't know, man. I know there was a lot of skepticism around Joe Ryan. You and Scott both had him as a bus coming into the season, although I know you've changed your tune on him. He looks really good. And I don't know if it's a, I don't think it's a fluke. And so I'm willing to, I don't know if the term, if we want to terminus by high or whatever, I believe in Joe Ryan. I guess is the way I want to say it. Yeah, I haven't ranked right around a top 20 starting pitcher. And I was critical of him for, you know, I was worried about the secondary pitches coming

into the season. I just didn't know if like I could trust in those. And so was he. Yeah. But, you know, to his credit, he's really stepped it up with those pitches. And I think partially being in this environment right now where like home runs are not traveling out as much, being a flyball pitcher is actually a good thing. So Joe Ryan, who has done a better job of limiting hard contact, not giving up as many barrels and home runs. Yeah, I think, you know, if you have Joe Ryan, you obviously should feel pretty good about it right now. Some other hitting leftovers, Corey Seeger is on a power binge right now. He has six home runs in his past six games, including a multi- home run game on Sunday.

Jose Ramirez is on fire, having a huge mate. Ridiculous. 284 batting average, 10 homers, 30 RBI, four steals, and a 1018 OPS in the month. Luis Renhifo continues to produce this weekend. He had six hits, including a home run. Aaron Judge homered in four straight from Wednesday through Saturday,

and he is now up to 17 home runs with a 1039 OPS. Some signs of life from Paul Gulchmidt, two for four, double dong on Sunday and then he hit another home run on Monday. Last 13 games for Goldschmidt, it's a 306 batting average, five homers, two steals, hitting the ball hard. The problem, still striking out a lot during the stretch. 30% strikeout rate.

So I don't know that Goldschmidt is back, but he looks better. He's hitting the ball hard and, you know, he's hitting home run. So I think if you waited on Goldschmidt, you know, slowly turning it on here, hopefully. Matt Olson has been doing exactly that as well, turning the power on. Last 17 games hitting 288 with five home runs and 13 RBI. Bo Bichet looks like he could be coming around, one for four with his fourth home run on, I believe he did that here on Monday.

Is that right? I don't know. But in the month of May, Boba Chet batting 291, three home runs, 12 RBI, a 772 OPS. And last name on this list is Kyle Schwerber, who had himself a big game on Monday, for four with a sock and a shoe, his 10th home run, and third stolen base of the season. Some bullpen updates, lots going on with the Tigers right now, Chris. Jason Foley on Friday entered with two outs in the ninth.

Runners on first and third with a four-run lead. He got Danny Jansen to ground out for his 11th save. And then on Saturday, Foley got the eighth inning with a one-run lead facing the heart of the Blue Jays lineup. He gave up a hit, but got out of it. It was lefty Tyler Holton, who picked up his first save of the season. and then on Sunday, Jason Foley entered with one out in the eighth. Runners on first and second, a three-run lead. He gave up a two-run single to Boba Chet,

and then a three-run homer to Dalton Varshot. Foley took his second blown save of the season. I just don't really know where else the Tigers could go because they optioned Alex Lang back to the miners, and they don't really have anyone else that's performing that well. So I think it's Jason Foley's to lose still. Yeah, I mean, I think part of it is, He's bad against lefties.

And, you know, the eighth inning usage might just be a, hey, he's the fireman. Also, we want to use him against their best right-handed hitters. But yeah, I just, I don't know who else in that bullpen I would even want to see get an opportunity. You know, the biggest problem there is just I'm not sure they have any other exciting options. So I hope it's fully. I have him in a handful of leagues, so I certainly hope that myself, but just I don't know who else it would be.

For the Phillies on Friday, Jose Alvarado got the ninth with a one-run lead. He gave up one run on two hits. He took his first blown save, and the Phillies eventually lost in extras. I'll just point out that Alvarado has a 363 ERA. Jeff Hoffman is at 119. And I know they kind of split that roll up

and they use Alvarado as like their highest leverage guy, but there might be more to the team, using Jeff Hoffman in the ninth inning the way that he's pitched this year. For the White Sox on Saturday, Michael Copac entered in the eighth with one out and a one-run lead. He gave up three runs on three hits,

took his second blown save and fourth loss. For the Brewers on Saturday, Trevor McGill got the final out for his eighth save, and he's still just 56% rostered if you are looking for, even just a reliever and a points league. I think Trevor McGill is pitching really well, and he's the closer until Devin Williams is back.

And then for the Rockies, lots going on. Jalen Beeks on Saturday entered with two outs in the seventh inning, a one-run lead. He gave up a single and then got out of it. He also pitched a one, two, three, eighth inning. He started the ninth, but he walked Brandon Marsh. It was Justin Lawrence who then entered with that runner on first. He gave up four runs on a walk and three hits. He was charged with his third blown save and third loss.

Justin Lawrence also went on the IL this weekend. On Sunday for the Rockies, Jailen Beaks threw. 23 pitches on Saturday, so I'm guessing he was unavailable. It was Tyler Kinley, who got the ninth with a three-run lead. He picked up his second save. And then on Monday, it was back to Jalen Beeks, who got the ninth with a three-run lead. He gave up one run on two hits, but picked up his fifth save of the season. Do you think it's just Jalen Beeks moving forward, Chris?

He's 12-person rostered, but the numbers are not good. Yeah, it's a bad situation. It's not a particularly interesting pitcher. Yeah. So even if it is Jalen Beeks moving forward, he's about as low as you could rank a closer. But yeah, with Lawrence on the IL, I think it's probably Beaks moving forward. Yeah, 15 team, Roto Leagues and I think those are probably the only places where Jailen Beaks needs to be rostered. Let's wrap up with to stream or not to stream.

And we will start with Tuesday where, who do we have? There are a couple who are interesting. I think Andrew Abbott against the Cardinals. Cardinals' offense remains pretty stinky. Yeah. Would love to see him get some strikeouts. I think that was supposed to be his thing. Yeah.

Yeah, Andrew Abbott is one of these that also could be benefiting from being a flyball pitcher. Home runs not really going out of the yard right now. But yeah, I think Andrew Abbott is fine. I think Matt Waldron against the Marlins. And I kind of like Ben Brown at the Brewers. I like what I've seen from him. so he just doesn't go deep into games very often. Yeah, he's probably only going to give you like four or five innings, something like that.

And go ahead. I was going to say I like Jake Irvin, but at Atlanta. Yeah, even with Atticunea, I don't think I'm, I'm ready to do that. Yep. Anyone else? No, I was going to move on to to Wednesday,

because you've got Matthew Liberator. He pitched today on Monday. Oh, okay. But it was only two thirds of an innings. He faced four batters, so it might have just been. I use, Like a bullpen day. I use ESPN schedule just because like on MLB.com, they usually have so many TBDs.

So ESPN's like a little bit more liberal with like who they project to start. So Matthew Libertor might not actually be starting on Wednesday. But if I had to choose anyone here, yeah, I think Braxton Garrett at the Padre is coming off that great start. Manoa. Yeah. I mean, Manoa is coming off a bad one, but he's at the White Sox. Yeah. That's a pretty good spot.

And honestly, Hunter Brown has been better. in May. He hasn't been good, but he's been better. A lot of teams, a lot of mediocre pitchers have had very good starts against the Mariners. I think the Mariners have like,

is their team strikeout rate still like 30%? We can. 28% strikeout rate for the Mariners right now. That's pretty bad. They are, they've been a pretty terrible offense so far this season. Yeah, or at least a very feast or famine offense.

So that is one that, could very easily go sideways on you, Hunter Brown at Seattle. But it's a good place to pitch. It's a good matchup. I could see that being a pretty good one. And it's not really close in terms of the Mariners. By the way, they're like 28% strikeout rate. Oakland A's our second highest at 26%.

I mean, that's a pretty big difference. Yeah. And then I could see Frangie Montas against the Cardinals having a good game. The Cardinals are pretty bad, especially against Wrighties. I feel like at some point, Tyler Anderson's going to get destroyed. and we're going to get like a huge regression start and maybe it happens against the Yankees, but we keep doubting him

and he just keeps pitching well, so I don't know. Maybe. Man, I don't. With the way Soto, Stanton, and Judge are playing right now, I don't think there's any way I could do it. Yeah, that's fair. All right, I think I'm going to go with Braxton Garrett, Alec Manoa, and yeah, Hunter Brown

if you're really desperate on Wednesday. All right, there you go. Four days worth of baseball. We are going to wrap there for 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, and we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.