Fantasy Baseball Today - Kyle Hendricks Concern; Rising Players & Buy or Sell! (4/29 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 29, 2021

So is it Vladimir Guerrero Jr. or Byron Buxton's world we're living in (1:37)?... What is going on with Kyle Hendricks (7:39)? ... We have news and notes (17:05), including Bryce Harper who got hit in the face, Jazz Chisholm to the IL, Shane McClanahan getting called up by the Rays and more. ... Raising the bar, presented by Sonos Arc (25:18)? Let's talk about five players who have elevated their play recently including Alex Wood, Jesus Aguilar, Kolten Wong and more. ... Fantasy Justice must be served (39:30)! ... Buy or Sell (42:52)! Is Sandy Alcantara a top-20 starting pitcher rest of season? Should you sell-high on Bo Bichette? ... We wrap up with the waiver wire. bullpen updates and streamers for the next two days (51:45). ... Email us at [e-mail].  'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank, @AdamAizer 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. I drive. Center field is magnificent. Got a fantasy question, email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank, Scott, Chris, and Adam. You know, yesterday I started the podcast saying it's Vlad Jr.'s world, and we're just delivering in it.

Well, Byron Buxton had something to say about that. Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today. Frank Stamphle joined by Chris Towers, and we're excited to announce a new sponsor. Today's episode is sponsored by Sonos Ark, the premium smart soundbar for TV, movies, music, gaming, and more. Stay tuned for additional details about the Sonos Ark later in today's show. I've never had a soundbar before, but this thing has blown me away. It is really awesome. Today on the show, buy yourself questions all throughout the podcast, players who have elevated their game,

We have fantasy justice for all. That's the new regulators, by the way. If you guys have a regulators question, I posted in the Facebook recently, what do people want to hear more of? They said, regulators. Well, for copyright reasons, we can't really do the regulators anymore.

But if you have a dilemma in your league, please email us. We can just do Metallica. Yeah, we could just do it. Fantasy justice for all. Yeah, yeah. Put that in your email subject line, and we will try and help you out

with your league dilemmas. All right, let's just talk about, Byron Bucks in, he's too worthy of being the, oh my goodness gracious player. We talk about him every day, so I don't really know what else there is to say about him. But he went five for five on Wednesday with a home run, two doubles, 10 total bases. He added his second steal of the season. Very different player from Vladimir Gereux Jr. I realize that, and on different timelines, 100%.

But I think this is just a good reminder that it's hard to give up on prospect pedigree, especially when you're considered one of or the best prospect in the game. So sometimes it just takes a little bit extra time for other players. And entering Wednesday, Byron Buxton was the eighth best outfielder in Roto. He was averaging 4.6 fantasy points per game. That was top five in points leagues. Chris, buy yourself, Byron Buxton is a top 15 outfielder rest of season. Top 15 outfielder rest of season.

Let me take a look from my outfield rank. and I always forget to pull this up at the start of the show, even though I know it's something. So points leagues or Rota? I moved them up to Outfielders 16 and both. Wow. Okay. So I have him at 18.

So I need to move him up, I guess. Did you move him above your boy, Austin Meadows? I guess I'm the Byron Bucksing guy, Chris. Yeah, you moved him above your guy, Byron, Austin Meadows, right? I did move him ahead of Austin Meadows. I'm assuming you still have him behind Nick Castellanos. He is behind Nick Castiano's. He is one spot ahead of Austin Meadows, by the way.

Yeah, that's what I'm looking at right now. I've got Meadows 16 Castellanos 15. I think Buxton over Meadows is a somewhat easy call. Awesome Meadows is going to get better, though. I highlighted that on yesterday's podcast. His stack cast numbers are really, really good right now. Yeah, yeah, agreed. Yeah, you know what?

You don't have to say yes, Chris. Yeah, but I got a reputation. to uphold as the Byron Buckson guy. I can't let someone else be higher on Byron Buxton than I am. So I'm moving him ahead of Nick Castianos. And now I'm thinking, is it time to move him ahead of Chris Bryant? Obviously, Nick Castianos and Chris Bryant both living up to the loftiest of expectations so far. But Byron Bucston's been considerably better than both of them so far.

And, you know, like you mentioned with, you know, Vladimir Guerrero and not giving up on top prospects, it's not, you should probably give up on Alex Wood and Dallas McPherson, you know, like, I think it's time for that. You know, those guys, I don't think you're going to figure it out. But like with Byron Buxon in particular, because he's six or seven years removed now from being a top prospect. He's been disappointing for sure. But what I liked about him coming into the season was over the last couple of years he had shown, I mean, he's always shown elite skills. but the last couple of years, the power had been really breaking out. You know,

he had started hitting the ball much harder the last two years and especially 2020. Obviously, it was a small sample size, but, you know, coming into the year, he had 23 homers,

I believe, in 2019 and 2020 in 2020, in 100-something games, you know, 115, 108 games, something like that. It was a 30, 35 homer pace. And now since the start of 2019, he's got 30 homers and 143 games,

games in only 497 plate appearances, which if you gave him a 600 plate appearance pace, that'd be 38 homers, which is pretty good. I don't think Byron Buxton's going to hit 38 homers, but he had shown the elite skills. And Vladimir Guerrero had shown the elite skills. Both of them had been disappointing. Both of them had not lived up to expectations. But Vladimir Guerrero has been basically since entering the league, like the non-Aaron judge, non-junct Carlos Stanton, a hard hit leader, you know, in terms of Max Ex-Vilo, the number of times he's hit at 115 miles per hour, all that stuff.

You know, sometimes it's worth betting on elite tools. And that's what those guys have. And in Buxton's case, like, I continue to think that, yes, he is a sell high candidate, but I don't know who's going to pay enough for me to sell him right now. if you called me up and offered me Marcelo Zuna for him, I think I'd have to do it. You know, As soon as having a pretty rough start to the year, but he's got a track record. If you offered me...

Kyle Tucker. Kyle Tucker is one that comes to mind. I would rather have Byron Buxton at this well, no. They're very similar, but I think... Yeah, I think Kyle Tucker is more likely to steal 20 bases. I agree. You know, I think, yeah. Buxton, I don't know if you saw his infield single today.

Oh, I saw it today and I saw it yesterday. And I highlighted it. That dude could easily steal 50 bases if he wanted to. Like I don't, he might not get on base enough and he might hit too many homers to actually do it. But like, in terms of skills, he's as fast as anyone in baseball. Oh, he really is. But Kyle Tucker runs more. Yeah.

So I think I still give the edge to Tucker. The twins just don't run either. So that's like a team philosophy thing. he's batting clean-up, so he's just not going to have many opportunities to run. There's seemingly always going to be someone ahead of him on base, because that's just what the twins do. But I would actually sell it. I would sell Byron Buxton as a top-15 outfielder rest of season.

I think he's close to it. I think he's top-20, top-25-ish, but I think some other outfielders that I rank behind him are going to creep up. Are they going to get better than Byron Buxon? No, but I also think Byron Buckson's also going to slow down at some point. I think, just based on what he's doing, right? He's not going to hit 390 for the rest of the season. So those things combined, I'm telling him as a top 15 outfielder rest of the seasons.

Let's get into, oh my goodness gracious, a few other standouts from Tuesday, Wednesday. Oh, my goodness gracious. I don't even know what day it is anymore. Chris, give me an oh my goodness gracious player. Oh, no, I blanked. You go first. This happens to me a lot. I always think about it before the start and then I don't write it down and then I forget.

And I should remember like, hey, Chris, you can't remember anything. That's your whole thing. It's like a big part of your personality. It's true. It's always been true. Just write things down and I never do it. We're very alike in that way, Chris.

I forget things constantly. I'm just going to go with the Cubs versus Brave games as my, oh my goodness gracious. Yeah. Anthony Rizzo. You're going to go with, all right. So you're going to do Anthony Rizzo. I'm going to.

I'm just, I'm joking because he struck out Freddie Freeman. Oh, really? I'd actually didn't see that. You didn't see that. That's wild. That's awesome. Freddie Freeman went four for five with a strike.

and it was on a 61 mile per hour, Anthony Rizzo curveball. It was amazing. Let's just talk about this whole game. And I think the question that everyone has right now, much like yesterday, yesterday was what to do with Kent Maita? What do you do with Kyle Hendricks? At the Braves, 3 and 2 thirds, 11 hits, seven earned runs, wound up with negative 10 and a half fantasy points. If you play in a points league on CBS, he allowed 11 hard hit balls with an average exit velocity of 97 miles per hour in this start. Entering this game, he wasn't struggling with hard contact. He actually, that's been his calling card for years. And so far, it was good this year. He was actually struggling with walks. He had zero walks in this one. So if you want to take a positive

away from this start, that's it for Kyle Hendrix. Chris, what do we do? Buy or sell Kyle Hendrix is a top 30 starting pitch of rest of season. I still haven't ranked that way. Like, if you're asking me what actionable advice I can give on Kyle Hendricks, my advice would be to trade for him. I agree. I know it sucks if you have Kyle Hendricks because obviously you've endured all of this terrible production, so you might just want to spite drop him or spite trade him. But that's not the answer. Should you bench him right now, Chris? He is in line for two starts next week versus the Dodgers and versus the pirates. Oh, man. One great start, one terrible start.

I don't think you can trust him right now. I think you have to see him figure it out, but I think he will. And the point you said about, you know, kind of having banked Kyle Hendricks poor performance, I actually wrote about that in my trade values column on Wednesday today. Yeah. And I wrote about Luis Castillo and Dustin May and the idea of buying low and selling high and how to use that to your advantage and the stats that you bank to your advantage. And so what I pointed out is if you took what it basically I said if Castillo and May are the same picture moving forward, but Castillo throws 150 innings moving forward and May throws 21, 25, which seems pretty reasonable. I think they can be very similar pitchers.

If you take what May has done so far and what Castillo would do rest of the season, you'd have 207 strikeouts and a 3.20 ERA. If you take what Castillo's done so far in May rest of season, you'd have a 3.08, 3.80 ERA and 165Ks. And so I think that's something to keep in mind, especially if you play in a traditional roto league when you're talking about buying low and selling high is it's even more valuable than it seems because if you get two guys who you think are going to be the same moving forward, you come out ahead because of what you've banked.

In Hendrix's case, I think you can probably acquire him for somebody who's almost certainly going to be worse than him moving forward. I haven't seen any reason to really think Kyle Hendricks is going to be a significantly different pitcher than he has been in the past. And so I have to assume that he's going to be fine. I'm not 100% sure about it. I don't feel great about it, but his pitch selection hasn't changed much.

His pitch movement hasn't changed all that much. His velocity hasn't changed all that much. All this stuff, I think it's probably just a little bit of a cold stream. I agree. I can't guarantee that he's going to bounce back for sure, but if you just look at the track record, we're talking about someone who has nearly 11,

endings in the majors, a 3.17 ERA and a 1.1.1 whip. So is he going to be as good as we wanted him to be coming into the season? I would actually sell him as a top 30 starting pitcher rest of season. I think, you know, we probably overvalued him a little bit based on what he did last year in a shortened season. But can he be in that 30 to 40 range like he has been every other year? Sure. I think that's fine. And I think if you can trade someone like, would you sell high on Aaron Savali for Kyle Hendricks? Yeah, I think Hendricks will be, like I think they're pretty similar pitchers,

but I don't think Savale, I don't trust Savale to be a guy who suppresses hard contact, like Kyle Hendricks does. I agree, I would do it historically. How about this one, John Means, who's been great? Would you sell John Means for Kyle Hendricks? I would. I would do it as well, so.

Yeah, like. And you might not even have to go that high. Like, you can probably sell a pitcher who hasn't even been as good. hood as those two for Kyle Hendricks. I think you could get them really cheap right now. I think people are considering dropping him. I've certainly gotten some questions on Twitter. Don't drop him.

Definitely don't drop him. And I'm trying to find June of 2018, he had a 703 ERA, 15 walks and 24 innings. The rest of that season, he had a 278 ERA, 15 walks and 107 innings. So three months where he had as many walks as that June, 91K. So like, I think it's the same thing. Like, I think it's just a bad stretch. I think you have to, just because at the beginning of the season doesn't mean it means more. And I think that's the thing you have to remind yourself at this point in the season.

It can be hard to look at a 7.3 or whatever he's got right now. 754, but you can't overreact to it. Like, you trust the track record there. Let's talk about how they brave score all these runs. They put up 10 runs on 18 hits. Freddie Freeman had four hits himself, hit his seventh home run, Ozzie Albee. He's three hits. He hit his fourth home run.

Everyone's coming around, guys. You've just got to be patient. Marcelo Zuna hit his second home run of the season. More on Austin Riley in just a little bit. But Guillermo Heredia, just a name I want to mention. I think in the deepest of leagues, I mean, maybe 15 team, five outfielder leagues. But he's a journeyman. I don't think he's all of a sudden great.

He had three more hits. He's batting 333. But it's cheap exposure to one of the best lineups in baseball. So I'll just mention the name Guillermo Heredia. Chris, do you have a, oh my God. goodness gracious player. We got to make it fast because we got a lot to get to. Uh, yeah, I, sorry. I got, I started doing the Kyle Hendricks research and it just, yeah, it's Anthony Rizzo, uh, you know, lefty on lefty crime, struck Freddie Freeman out. All right.

Uh, got a whiff on 25% of the curveballs that he threw. Very good outing for Anthony Rizzo. Love it. FBT listeners, I want to talk to you about the CBS Sports mobile app. As you know, it's my go to for live scores and breaking news, but it's NFL draft week and I want to to let you in on a little football fan hack. If you don't have the app, you can download it at your mobile app store. The CBS Sports app is totally free. Once you have the app,

or if you already have the app on your phone, make sure your NFL team news and draft alerts are turned on via the setting screen. It takes about five seconds. You'll not only get updates on each pick your team makes, but also when the pick is in, breaking news if your team makes a big trade and lightning fast analysis like draft grades

and player comps on each of your team's draft picks. The CBS Sports app is the best way to never miss an NFL draft moment. So if you haven't yet, fire open than CBS Sports mobile app and get your mobile war room ready ahead of the action this Thursday. I'm just hoping when my New York Jets select Zach Wilson second overall, the player comp that comes on my screen is Patrick Mahomes, baby. You can always hope. It's not going to happen. Maybe. News and notes. Actually, I do have. Here's an oh my goodness gracious. I don't want to let the audience down. Sunny Gray was awesome today.

Sunny Gray was awesome today. 11th strikeouts in five and two-thirds innings. Velocity was actually up higher than last year overall. It was 93.5 miles per hour with the sinker. Clayton Carlschild was also incredible in that game. Yep, sure was. Sunny Grace 16 whiffs, 12 of them on his curve ball. Velocity was up to 93.5 miles per hour.

You know, it hasn't been a great start. so far, even with today's outing. He's got a pretty ugly ERA, but I think he'll be fine. Chris, he was filthy. He was absolutely filthy in that start. I was watching it. He was throwing this, you mentioned the sinker, but it's, they label two-seem fastball and sinker basically the same thing, but it has this movement like Luis Castillo's change-up where it breaks out over the plate against left-handed batters. And it just had this ridiculous horizontal movement. He was also. I mean, it was maybe the best I've ever seen Sunny Gray in my life. And you mentioned the fastball velocity.

It was higher than even his breakout 2019 season as well. So, man, like, I was, if you held on to Sunny Gray throughout his injury, and he was off to a rough start, this is eye-popping and something that you should be very excited about if you have him on your fantasy team. Some news and notes. Bryce Harper took a 97-mile-per-hour fastball off of his cheek. He left the game immediately, obviously, under his own power. I hope he's all right.

It's a pretty scary moment. I hope this doesn't... I think he posted something on social media saying that he was okay. I mean, come on. He's a man's man. That's Bryce Harper. But I hope this doesn't affect him at all long term

because two completely different players, but Willie Calhoun hit in the face with the ball last year, just completely derailed his season. Bryce Harper's obviously built different than Willie Calhoun, but I hope there's no lasting effects here. Ryan Weathers left his start

against the Diamondbacks for unspecified reasons. I didn't see a reason. Left arm soreness. left arm soreness. What the Padres said. So he throws the ball with his left arm. Yeah,

so that's not what you want to see. I mean, it's vague, but certainly not great. And maybe that means that Denelson Lemette will be back this week because there was a report

that he could start Sunday for the Padres as he recovers from forearm tightness. In the words of Dr. Evil? I hope so. Right. Did Dr. Evil ever say, I hope so?

I don't think so, Chris. I mean, I'm sure he did at some point in his life. Austin is 40s at least. Austin Nolo was activated off the IL but was not in the Padres lineup Wednesday. Jazz Chisholm. Ah, this really sucks.

Was placed on the IL with a left hamstring strain, though he'll be back, quote, fairly quickly, according to manager Don Mattingly. Yardonne Alvarez was placed on the COVID-IL for an unspecified reason. He was scratched earlier on Wednesday due to health and safety protocols. And of course, the Astros had a bit of a COVID situation

over the past few weeks. So monitor that with Alvarez. Could just be the vaccine also. You know, it's worth mentioning that that's happened several times this year. Either guys getting the vaccine or guys having some side effects. So, you know, hopefully that's all it is.

One day after saying Hyunjin Ryu would not miss his start this week. He was placed on the aisle with that glute strain. So he might only miss one start, hopefully, because I really need him in a few leagues. Mike Yistramski was placed on the aisle with that oblique injury. Mike Talkman.

started in center field and was batting seventh for the Giants. He had two hits, the last that I saw. I think that game is still going on. George Springer made his Blue Jays debut on Wednesday. He was batting leadoff and playing DH. He finished 0 for 4. Roddy Telez was optioned to the alternate training site. Starling Marte may not be back in the lineup for the Marlins

until early June due to that fractured rib. Another tough blow for the Miami Marlins there. Brian Anderson is expected back when first eligible this weekend. All right, so the cavalry is coming. The race pitching prospect, Shane McClanahan, will be promoted to start against the A's on Thursday. He's a top five-ish prospect in their organization, not overall in baseball.

He is electric. Tell me about it. Overwhel. His spring, he had 10, I believe he faced 10 batters in spring training and struck out seven of them. He's a lefty who throws really, really hard. You know, minor league numbers are pretty good. There are questions about whether he'll be able to stick as a starter.

I think based on pure stuff, he's one of the, you know, arguably the best pitching prospect in their organization. There are, I think, questions about whether he'll be able to stick as a starter that, you know, have him getting pushed down. But, yeah, he, I would guess this is just one of those, you know, like Luis Patino and Brent. Honeywell where he's probably just going to make a star for a couple innings, get his feet wet and

go down, but expect some really, really impressive stuff. Yeah, seven strikeouts and three innings and spring training. And back in 2019, in the minors, he had 154 strikeouts in 120 and two-thirds innings pitch, so

definitely has the strikeout stuff. 10% rostered on CBS, Chris. He's not a must add by any means, right? No, no, I don't think so. There are things to definitely get excited about if he sticks, but only in ALE only and obviously any dynasty league that he's available in if he shouldn't be. But yeah. The Royals plan to have Bobby Witt start in AA, which means if he performs well early on, I think we could see him sooner than expected.

So keep an eye on that, Bobby Witt. Luis Robert is expected to be back from the COVID-I-L on Thursday, both Cole Calhoun and. Taylor Widener were placed on the IL. Riley Smith started the bullpen game on Wednesday. Plus, Dalton Varsho was recalled. Chris, what is your interest level in Varsho? Who is 15% rostered? I don't know where he's going to play.

I guess like they're not going to play him at catcher. Probably in the outfield, right? If he's replacing Cole Calhoun. Josh Rojas started at right field today. He's been really bad this season. He's been better as of late, though. Yeah, I guess it's possibly. in the outfield.

I would guess it's not going to be every day at least to start, but it's kind of a, you know, at this point, if he can hit, he'll stick kind of situation.

You know, especially because I don't think we've gotten any updates on Catele-Marte, have we? I haven't seen anything on Cotel-Marté. I would guess he's probably back within the next

at least two to three weeks. He's been not, you know, quite a long time by now, but, you know, hamstring injuries can be pretty tricky. He had a follow-up MRI.

that showed healing, according to the athletic yesterday. So that's good news in as much as it's any news, but it's not really any news. Varsho, just a super interesting prospect. He has some power. He has some speed. He plays catcher and outfield, some really good minor league numbers.

I think in two catcher category leagues, you pick this guy up if you have a need of catcher. If you have two good catchers, it's fine. You don't need to pick him up. But if you are struggling at that position, I'm not saying you have to start him, but I would just pick him up and see where it goes. I mean,

the most important thing is he's probably not going to play catcher at all. Which helps his value. Right, but he is catcher eligible. And so if he can get something like an everyday role, I mean, we talked about this in spring training. He was really,

you know, one of our favorite sleepers at catcher until it became clear he wasn't going to play. But yeah, if he can play, if he gets something close to an everyday job as a catcher eligible player with 20 steel potential, you know, that's a must-start player. Javier Baez underwent an MRI on Tuesday

that revealed a grade one strain in his left hamstring. He's missed three straight games. Chris Bryant was back in action after sitting out on Tuesday with a mild biceps injury. Alex Verdugo was back in the Red Sox lineup. He was batting second. He was dealing with a hamstring injury himself. Anthony Santander is likely out until late May

with a left ankle sprain. Gary Sanchez was out of the lineup for the second straight day. Since Kyle Higashioka is swinging a hot bat, Sanchez has sat four of the past seven games, and this was definitely in his range of outcomes because Hagashioka was really good for the Yankees down the stretch last year and in the playoffs, and I don't feel great about Gary Sanchez right now,

though he's not striking out as much as he did last year. He's just in a really prolonged slump like most of the Yankees, but I think in one catcher leagues, with all these catchers emerging, you can drop Gary Sanchez. in shallower leagues. Yeah, like, he went 0 for 4 today. My guess is Kyle Higashioka is going to be badly exposed playing more often,

and Sanchez is going to be back to the lion's share of the playing time before long. Hopefully, because I have quite a few shares. Terrick Scoobble will work as the starter on Friday against the Yankees. Michael Fulmer will be available out of the bullpen, both Thursday and Friday. Another one. Don't love it. Michael Fulmer, he can be dropped, which sucks. I think he's looked electric at times.

this year, but his role is all over the place right now with the Detroit Tigers, so he can be dropped. Raising the Bar presented by Sonos Ark, a new segment that we have here, and we're going to talk about some players who have elevated their game so far this season, and let's start off with Alex Woodman, who has just been fantastic for the San Francisco Giants. His previous two starts came against the Marlins, so you're kind of stuck in this limbo. where, okay, is Alex Wood really back? He's been facing the Marlins. And even on Wednesday, he's going up against the Rockies in San Francisco.

So I think the jury is still out. But six-innings pitch, two runs, two walks, nine strikeouts. Chris, is Alex Wood a must-ad starting pitcher? Yeah, I think he's got to be at this point. I mean, any league where he's RP eligible, for sure, that's an easy ad. He's a potential difference maker in a points league because of that. SPARP eligibility. But, you know, even in Roto leagues, I think, you know, what he's doing so far, he's been really, really good at suppressing hard contact, which when he was at his best,

I mean, you look back at like 2017, 2018, his ex-Wobon contact was 341 and 336. That's really, really good. I don't think he's going to keep, you know, being a 28 to 30% strikeout guy like he's been through his first four starts, but he looks like he's mostly back. I mean, his velocity seems, you know, okay, not quite where it used to be, but you know, I think

it's been encouraging enough and the results have obviously, you know, been incredibly encouraging. So, I think, uh, yeah, I think you probably want to add him. I'm going to put you on the spot here, Chris, because I know you love his teammate, Anthony Descalfani. Who would you rather have right now?

I think I, I think I would rather have Deisclophani. I agree. But I do need to move Alex Wood way up. And I'm looking, I think I'd

probably rather have him than I'm going to put him actually right behind Deisclophani. I'm going to put him just behind Deisclofani and Sean Mania at 72nd overall. So ahead of Domingo Armand,

Christian Javier, Michael Paneda, Michael Copec. Let's move on to a hitter. We spoke about the Marlins quite a bit already here. We're always talking about them. Very eventful team recently. Jesus Arrepa, Aguilar, who gave up on an arugula salad and now he's only eating Arapas apparently. Getting his revenge against the Brewers. He hit a three-run Homer on Wednesday, his fifth home run of the season. He's hit all five of those in the past

six games. He is 60% rostered. And guess what? He faces the Brewers again next week. Is this for real Chris with Hase of Zagalar? No, not for real. Not for real, real. Not for realsies. But, you know, he's a talented power hitter who gets hot. And when he's hot, it's, you know, it's nice to ride him. And then, you know, he'll stop being hot at some point.

He certainly had stretches last year where he was hot and ended up being about a 780, 790 OPS hitter. Oh, 809, even better. And so I think he's fine. I don't think you'll miss him when he's not around, you know, once you drop him. But sure, go ahead and add him. I love the plate discipline that we've seen from him. He's really reinvented himself in that way. I mean, he's always walked quite a bit, but he used to strike out, you know, a quarter of the time, 20 to 25%.

Strikeout rate this year is all the way down to 14.6% for Jesus Aguilar. He's walking 12.4% of the time. I agree with you. I don't think he's a must roster type player, but while he's performing this well, I do think that he should be on someone's team. He might lead baseball in RBI now. He was leading the NL entering play today with 19,

and he had three more today. Yeah, he now is 22. I just did some quick math. How about that? I don't know why I rent that on the screen. I was like, yeah, well, 19 plus three. He is tied with Nate Lowe for the MLB lead and RBI. So how about that for Hazers-Aggler?

heck of a start. Five home runs, 22 RBI. Oh my God. I think he's a solid hitter. I mean, 800 OPS are better in four out of the last five seasons. Baseball is just hilarious, Chris.

If you asked me who was going to be leading the league in RBI by the end of April for both the American League and the National League, Nate Lowe and Hazers Aguilar. It's not exactly who you. I mean, Kyle Seeger and Justin Turner are in the top five. Colton Wong hit another home.

home run on Wednesday. He now has 11 hits, including two home runs and a stolen base in five games since returning from the IL. And I feel like we kind of know who Colton Wong is at this point. He has such a long track record of, you know, being a, you know, 10 home run. Maybe he'll give you a 15 to 20 steel kind of guy. But now he's in Miller Park where left-handed power can play up, not that he's a power hitter, but can he be 15 homers, 20 steals? That's a, a really valuable player and he's leading off for the Milwaukee Brewers. Not that they're a great lineup. He's 60% rostered. Chris, I have moved Colton Wong ahead of Kesson Hara in my rankings for both Head Dead points and Roto. It might seem crazy, but I think Kesson Hure is really good. So anywhere that

he's been available, I added him even in the podcast league, 12 team points league. Colton Long, you mean? Yeah, Colton Wong. I agree. Colton Long is really good. I don't know if I'm brave enough to move because that would be moving him above for me. Ty, Kavan Bigeo and Brandon Lough, in addition to moving Keston Hiro down, I guess I could just move Kestan Hiro down to 16. I already moved him down like six spots this week, so I probably won't do that quite yet. But Colton Wong is really good. I drafted him in like 40% of my leagues this year, because, you know, especially in an OBP or points league, he's a really good on base percentage guy. He's been above 350 in every season since 2017, except for 2018.

You know, he's a weird player. He's all over the place. You never get the same version of Colton Long every year. But yeah, he could absolutely be a kind of what Lorenzo Kane was at the kind of tail end of his peak. Maybe not quite as good in batting average. But like when Lorenzo Kane was 11 homers, 18 steals in 2019. He could be that kind of player, yeah.

Maybe more steals. He might even be better than that. Yeah, I was just about to say, well, would you rather have him or Chris Taylor, who we have not talked about all season long? Yeah. But he's someone who, he's been amazing. He went one for two with a triple, an RBI,

two walks, two runs scored on Wednesday. He's averaging 3.6 fantasy points per game. That's fourth among second baseman. He's batting 264. He's got a 939 OPS. I think the biggest question, Chris, is what happens when Cody Bellinger returns? does Chris Taylor continue to play?

So answer that question for me and Chris Taylor versus Colton Wong. You mooted yourself. Yeah, I had to cough. Well, you look at the Dodgers lineup and they started Luke Rayleigh in right field with Mookie Betts and Centerfield today. Yesterday, was Sheldon Neuse in the lineup yesterday

and Matt Beattie? I think that they both were. That sounds right. I mean, this is a ridiculous team that just keeps getting production out of random guys. Sheldon News has a 933 OPS. I don't even know if that's how you pronounce his name, but it seems like it would be.

It's noisy. Noisy? It's actually Sheldon Noisy. Okay. I like that. That's way better, actually. I would guess Chris Taylor's going to play pretty much every day. He played pretty much every day last season.

So, yeah, I think he's started 21 of 24 games, it looks like, maybe 19 of 24. So something like that moving forward makes sense. Do you want him or a Colton Wong? Taylor's real fast. I think I'd rather have Colton Wong, but I was shocked to see Chris Taylor's a 93rd percentile sprint speed this year. Yeah, it's close.

I like both quite a bit, man. I move both up inside my top 20 second baseman. Yeah. It's close, but I would say Colton Wong, but I do really like Chris Taylor quite a bit as well. Taylor is eligible at how many positions, though? Probably. It's got to be at least three, right?

No, it's at least second base and outfield for sure that I know. Yeah. And of course, when I type in Taylor on CBS, there are plenty of tailors. He has second base outfield and short base. And yeah, shortstop. Because he played 20 games last year. Yeah. That's a valuable player right there.

That's incredibly valuable. Yeah, that's, um, that might be enough to tip it his way if you think they're pretty similar. I don't think he's going to keep hitting this well. I mean, he's got like, at least. bat at ball numbers, but I think he's good. He's very good. And he was very good last year as well. Yeah. Let's talk about Austin Riley, who went four for five with his third home run of the season on Wednesday. He was part of that Braves barrage, and all of a sudden he is betting

286 with an 843 OPS. What interests me even more about Riley is 24% strikeout rate, 12% walk rate. So this is someone when he first came up, the strikeouts were out of control. Last year, he bounced back in that department. And this is, year, it looks like he's doing that again. The bad of ball numbers don't look great for Austin Riley. He's only 51% rostered. But he does come with some prospect pedigree. He had a good batting average in the minors. He had some pop. So where do you need to have Austin Riley on your team, Chris? Uh, he's probably worth rostering in any 12 team roto lineup league, whether it's a roteau or a category's based, um, or even head to head points league with that, those deep

rosters. I think he's still 21st to third base for me. I could move him up, but, you know, it's kind of hard. Maybe he's ahead of Eduardo Escobar, but that's kind of it. But that's third base is really good. And that puts him solidly in the middle infield conversation. And I think, you know, even when he started off slow, I haven't really moved him down. So I think, yeah, I think I'll and Raleigh is pretty good to have around. Probably not in a points league, I think. Even with that plate discipline, it's been pretty good.

Yeah, I'd be surprised if he keeps walking that much. The strikeout rate does seem legitimate because it's identical to what it was last year, which is a good sign for him. But yeah, I have a really hard time seeing him getting close to the top 12 at first base or third base. And even with utility spot, I think it's going to be pretty hard. If he was outfield eligible still, that would make it pretty interesting because as we've talked about lately,

there are only like 25 good outfielders right now, it seems like. Yeah. So he might be a top 36 guy or top 40 guy at outfield if he were eligible. He probably has that eligibility on Yahoo because that's true. Everybody has outfield eligibility on Yahoo. Yeah, awesome. Riley, 51% roster.

Make sure you get them in those deeper category leagues with those expanded lineups. That was raising the bar presented by Sonos Ark. And if you love baseball the way I do, there's just something about hearing that crack of the bat or the pop of the mitt. Watching baseball has completely changed with the Sonos Ark soundbar.

I turned the volume all the way up, and it feels like I'm actually at the game. Pretty sure my neighbors hate me at this point because of that. Admittedly, I never had a sound bar before this, but the Sonos Ark has been a great addition to my home theater. It has multiple uses too. when the TV is off, feel free to stream music, podcasts, radio, audio books, and more using the new Sonos app, Apple AirPlay 2, or your voice with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. I've listened to some music on this thing as well. Not only does it get loud, it gets really loud if you need it to, but the sound is just so clear with this rich bass that fills the unique acoustics of the room that it's in. Also, it's super easy to set up. You just plug in the Sonos arc into your TV. You download the app on your phone, connect, and that's it.

Lastly, it looks great. No complaints. I've seen some other soundbars that look bulky and they take up all this space. I just place it on top of a shelf, which is right below my TV, blends in right with the decor. It's great. I love it. So if you are looking for a way to enhance your home theater, make sure to check out the Sonos archead tosonos.com to learn more. We're going to take a quick break, but when we return, we have fantasy justice for all.

some buyer cell questions for Chris. I have a by-low hitter for you. And a few more things here on fantasy baseball today. Fantasy justice for all. I mentioned at the top. This is replacing regulators because you cannot play the regulators' music anymore on this podcast. But if you have a dilemma with your league, commissioner,

something that's not actually fantasy related. Like, hey, grade my trade, which is fine. We love grade the trade questions. But write fantasy justice for all on your email and we'll get it answered here on the podcast. So, let's answer. This one's from Jason. I play in a 10-team, Yahoo! Head to Head to Head, Head, Head, Head, Categories League.

To fill a managerial hole prior to the season, the commissioner's 15-year-old daughter joined the league. She's never played fantasy baseball before and doesn't know the players. Despite that, she's actually leading the league after three weeks, which is cool. What's not cool is the trade she just made with a far more experienced manager. She gave Mike Trout for Dylan Carlson, David Fletcher, and DJ LaMayhew.

Our league doesn't veto trades, but this one seems so lopsided that it borders on... Not fair. I'm not going to say that. And I think our commissioner, the father of the girl who traded Trout,

should unwind the trade to protect the competitiveness of the league and his daughter's chances. What do you think, Chris? Yeah, I mean, I'm looking at the trade chart. It was Carlson, LeMayhew, and who? David Fletcher.

Fletcher. Not that. matters. No, yeah, it's not even close even, you know, even with three players for one, which is harder to make work in a trade chart like this. Uh, no, it's not particularly close there. I'm anti-vitoes generally, but in this instance, like, come on, guy, what are you doing? Like, you're really going to take advantage of, of, of a 15-year-old playing fantasy for the first time. Like really?

And she's dominating. Like this is her opportunity to like fall in love with fantasy baseball. This is awesome that she's doing so well. She's got Mike Trout. This is like really cool experience for her. And you got some jerk, you know, coming in and offering her a crap trade and trying to take advantage of her inexperience. That's, that's a jerk move.

I would say, I think you should veto it. I am generally opposed to vetoes, but I think you should veto it. And really like shame this person. Make them feel bad publicly. Should they have to walk through the streets and we're waiting shame bells at them? Exactly. Yeah. Something like that or just like, you know, if you've got like a, you know,

Facebook group for your community, maybe let everyone know that you've got this, this kind of personality in your league. But yeah, this is bad and that person should feel bad. Undo the trade. A lesson learned for everyone involved.

We can move on from this, but justice has been served. Yeah, yeah. That doesn't really sound like Metallica music at all, but it's epic, so I went with it. Buy or sell. Not actual players, it's more concepts, right?

So is Sandy Alcantara a top 20 starting pitcher rest of season. Byer's sell. On Wednesday at the Brewer's seven innings of two-run ball. Alcantara has gone six plus in five of six games. He has a 3.19 ERA,

a 0.98 whip, nearly a strike upper inning, a 50% ground ball rate. Top 20 starting pitcher. Rest of season. By herself, Chris. Sell. Like, I'm looking at the rankings

and I think the he's 25th for me. I just moved him up. And he's kind of like we like I said with Dustin May on Monday show. If the breakout were happening, this is exactly what it would look like for Sandy Alcantari. He's getting more strikeouts, keeping the walks under control like he was last year.

And he's done that without sacrificing his elite ability to suppress quality of contact. He's 25th and the guys ahead of him are Charlie Morton, Zach Wheeler, Joe Musgrove. Can't move him ahead of those three guys. So then you have to look a little higher to guys I had ranked much higher preseason. Zach Granky, Jun Riu, Zach Allen, Lance Lynn, Kenta Maeda. Well, cranky, maybe. I could definitely see that.

I'm not worried about him. I know he didn't have a great start today, but he'd been good before that. I think he's fine. He might surpass Kentimaiata. Yeah, I mean, I could see Sandy Alcantar being better than anyone up to 16 at Blake Snell, maybe 15 at Walker Bueller.

But I'm not ready to do any of that yet. I still need to see more. But I mean, we're going on three months now, Sandy Alcantara pitching at this level when you go back to last season. So there's certainly a lot to like about him. You should be thrilled if you have him on your team.

He is one of the 10 most likely, 15 most likely pitchers to throw 200 nings this season too. Yeah, he's consistently going deep into his starts. So I'm with you. I'm selling it. I think he's just outside that top 20, but a few more games where Kenta Maeda struggles, I think we can prop him up a little bit more. Luis Cascio continues to struggle. That might not be crazy either. Domingo Hermann on Wednesday, he was at the Baltimore Orioles. It's a great matchup, obviously. Seven shutout with six strikeouts. He's currently 71% rostered. Chris, by yourself, Domingo Hermon should be

90 plus percent rostered on CBS. Yeah, he probably should be. I have him 73rd, and that might be a little low, I guess. Yeah, I'm trying to figure out how high I can move him,

and like, I'd still rather have Andrew Heaney and Robbie Ray and probably Nathan Avaldi. Yeah. But, like, yeah, he should probably be 90% on because you're looking at standard 12-team league with five starting pitcher spots.

That gets you to 60. There are probably, yeah, he should be on someone's bench in every league probably. Chris, buy yourself, Stephen Mats in general. Do you want him? Do you want to sell him

after his first bad start of the season? He was going up against the nationals at home, well, in Dunedin on Wednesday. Three and two-thirds, six earned runs. Buy or sell Stephen Mats. I buy him about as much as I'd buy Domingo Armand.

Who would you rather have to? I have Matt's ranked higher for now, and I will stick with that for now. I agree with that. I think Hermann's upside is higher, specifically in strikeouts, but everything Stephen Matt's did entering Wednesday, as, I mean, it all looks pretty sustainable. 3.59x5.3.28, expected ERA. A 46% ground ball rate. He's throwing harder this year than basically ever.

His fastball is averaging right around 95 miles per hour. The one thing that I think is going to come down, I think the strikeouts are going to take a little bit of a step back. He's got a 9.7% swing in strike rate, which is below league average. It's not great. It's a little bit below his career norm too. So, you know, the strikeouts are going to regress a little bit.

But in general, I am buying Stephen Matt's. I think he's NSP-5-ish, someone that more often than not, you're probably going to get into your lineup. Buy or sell, Chris, Boba Shett is a sell-high candidate, it, which is going to be weird because if you say buy, it's going to... Should you sell high on boba shit, basically? Well, I was lower on consensus than him coming into the season. He's had a pretty good start, but not a great one.

Obviously, six home runs and three stolen bases is excellent. And I think I would try to sell high on him. But that's also because I was lower on him than the consensus coming in. Yeah, he's a weird case, man. He's got a 3-2-97 ex-woba, and he's never stood out by that metric. So it's kind of a question of, do you believe he has an innate ability

to outperform his ex-wobah the way someone like Chris Bryant has historically? You know, maybe he has that, but it's been a rough start. Yeah, I would try to sell high. I think there are still people who probably view him as a top 30 player like he was being drafted as. And I just, I don't think he'll be that. Ex-Wobo, for anyone listening or watching, is the league average, rather, X-Woba is 332,

and Boba-Shet's is 297. So it is well below that. And Ex-Wobo takes into account batted ball data plus strikeouts plus walks. So it's basically all-encompassing, you know, what you're, how good of a hitter have you been so far this season? His plate discipline has been very bad. It's 28% strikeout rate, 5% walk rate. Is he a sell high candidate? I wouldn't try to sell high on him.

I think better days are coming in terms of the batting average. But it's been, I do agree with that. It's been a really weird start. It's 51% ground ball rate. It's not really what his batted ball profile has been the rest of his career. So I would hold on to Boba shit. I would say it's not so much a sell high as a sell the name kind of thing maybe. Fair enough.

Nothing you can do that. Last by yourself. Hermann Marquez is the most annoying starting pitcher in fantasy. He was at the Giants, four innings pitched, four runs, three walks, five strikeouts. Woo-hoo. Three plus walks in four of six starts. Classic Hermann Marquez. We talked this guy up the other day.

We get a little excited. It's a decent matchup. He's on the road. And he lets you down. Chris, I feel like this happens all the time with Herman Marquez. I definitely buy that he's one of the first. the most frustrating pitchers in baseball. I don't think that's arguable in any way.

But I think he's probably going to be okay. I still have him close to a top 50 starting pitcher, 57 overall. I think that's a good spot to have him. And I don't know, I guess I'd be selling or buying him. I don't know. He's very frustrating, but the thing that's gone wrong so far this season is the walk rate, which has never been an issue for him. He's never had a walk rate over 7.3%. Coming in today's start, it was 13%, and it likely went up. So, yeah, I think he's going to be okay. Chris is not only buying that Hermann-Marquez is one of the most annoying pitchers in fantasy, but just buying him in general. So if you can, can get him on the cheap, go and do it.

A by-low hitter, I wanted to mention. Nick Senzel, he just went four-for-four with four singles. The overall numbers still look very bad. He picked up his second steal on Wednesday. He also picked up his third caught stealing. But at least he's running. I think it's a positive that he's trying to run. His expected numbers, 287 expected batting average,

479 expected slug. Nick Sanzel has, he's in the 94th percentile in terms of sprint speed as well. The Reds lineup is playing pretty good. the top of it, right? Jesse Winkert and Casiano's, they've been awesome. Joey Votto, you know, he's, he's been pretty good and Mike Mastakis just return to the lineup as well. I think much better days are coming for Nick Senzel. This is someone we were very excited about coming into the season as a sleeper potential breakout candidate.

He's off to a slow start, but the underlying numbers look really, really good for Nick Zenzel. And I think you could get him for dirt cheap, so I would personally try and do that right now. A few waiver wire starting pitchers, it's slim pickings from Wednesday, so hear me here, Chris. But Jayhap at the Cleveland Indians, he threw seven innings of two-run ball, only three strikeouts, and over his last two starts, actually, 14 and two-thirds, two earned runs, only six strikeouts. So he's not getting a lot of whiffs. 38% rostered is Jayhap. Nick Pavetta was at the Mets, five shutout with seven strikeouts. Cole Irvin at the Tampa Bay

Reyes, six innings, two runs, eight strikeouts. His last three starts, Cole Irvin. He's allowed just three re-earned runs to 20 walks, to 20 strikeouts, and just two walks. So he's been very good. Chris, any interest in J-Hap, Nick Pavetta, Cole Irvin. Yeah, I mean, Cole Irvin's one of those guys who has like a pretty interesting minor league track track record. It's sort of Zach Plessackian. 3.07 ERA and 452 innings, seven strikeouts per nine, 1.9 walks per nine. So good control. It's possible that, you know, the A's are a relatively smart organization. Maybe they saw something in him. And it's a good place to pitch, Oakland, you know, good, very good infield defense and, you know, very spacious home park.

So I think Cole Irvin is probably the most interesting of this trio. I'm not going to get Nick Pavettad again. I am, it is got to get a pretty early in the morning to make me. fall for Nick Povetta in 2021, my friend. But yeah, Cole Irvin's probably the most interesting Povetta and Hap are just fringy, you know, fringe top 100 guys at best, which Irvin probably is as well, but maybe he can be more than that. Well, Chris, you said I got to get you pretty early in the morning. It's technically 1 a.m. Eastern time when we're recording this. So, It is a little early.

I don't know how much earlier I can get you, man. I just got my bedtime reminder from my iPhone, which is hilarious because it's been six months since I went to bed before one o'clock. Yeah, we are not going to bed anywhere close to that time. Specifically for Nick Povetta and Cole Irvin in CBS leagues, they have SPARP eligibility. Both of them are in line for two-star weeks next week, as is J-Hap. And J-Hap's matchups are pretty good. He's going up against the Texas Rangers and the Detroit Tigers. Actually, all three of these pitchers have pretty good matchups next week.

Cole Irvin faces the Blue Jays for one of his. So that's not great, but both of his starts are at home. So if you want to beat the waiver wire with some two-star pitchers, Hap, Pavetta, Cole Irvin, they're very fringy, but just thought I would throw their names out there. Two outfielders who do very different things that I think we should mention in terms of five outfielder category leagues. Who would you rather have, Chris, Tyler O'Neill or Miles Straw?

The real deal, Tyler O'Neill. physically the guy looks like he could be a wrestler or a boxer, so I just, I imagine that would be his nickname, the real deal. But he went three for four with a home run, two RBI, his first deal of the season on Wednesday. He's 24% rostered. Miles Straw went two for two with his fifth steal of the season. He has seven hits over his last seven games

with three steals during that span, 24% rostered. The exact same roster percentage, Chris. If you can only roster one in a five outfielder category league, which one is it? I think it's probably got to be the guy who has almost twice as many plate appearance as the other guy, which is Miles Straw. Boo, come. I thought we were to Miles Straw.

Oh, you did say, I don't remember. Yeah, Miles Straw. I'm losing it. Tyler O'Neill has not been hurt, right? He just doesn't play every day. No, he has been hurt. He just returned on over this past weekend. Yeah, man, Tyler O'Neill is a freak athlete.

Like, his max exevalo is 90th percent. His sprint speed right now is 90. 9th percentile. His sprint speed last year, 99th percentile. O'Neill has started five straight games, Chris. Yeah, um, that... He also has a 38% strikeout.

Yeah, I think it's probably got to be straw. I think O'Neill's one of those guys. I'm going to keep chasing forever, but Straw is much more likely to contribute right now, especially in categories, leagues. Oh gosh, there's so much more to get to, and not a lot of time to do so.

So I will just quickly mention a few of the things that I had listed here. Studs being studs on Wednesday. Jacob de Grom, nothing like mentioning him in the 59th minute, but there's, what am I going to tell you about Jacob de Grom? I'm not going to move to Jacob de Grom up in my ranking, you guys. I'm sorry.

Although I saw your trade chart in Roto, and I do think Jacob de Grom is the most valuable player in fantasy, even in Roto. So I would make that argument. I think he was one point below the top players, wasn't he? Yeah, but I thought I moved him up. to... He's got to be number one.

I thought I moved him up tied with Trow and Soto, yeah. He, look, six innings, one run, nine strikeouts. He tied Nolan Ryan. 59 strikeouts in his first five appearances which is a record, a major league record. DeGrom has allowed two earn runs

this season. The Mets have lost both of those starts, so just thought I would... I mean, they're two and three in the five games he started and he has like a 0.048 ERA right now. It's stupid. He's the best pitcher in baseball. It's so frustrating. He's putting together the kind of run that we're going to talk about with like the best of Sandy Kofax and the best of Randy Johnson.

Like his last four years are pantheon level if we're excluding Pedro Martinez because he's in a whole different world than everyone else. But other than that, I mean, he's putting together one of the best starting pitcher runs in the history of Major League Baseball. Jacob Berggris is incredible. I don't know what the hell is wrong with the Mets. Maybe their clubhouse is haunted. It's a mental thing. I think they just feel so much pressure when he's on the mound that they're just in their own heads at this point.

There's no other explanation. I mean, in fairness, they're not hitting, in fairness, they're not hitting when any other other starters are playing right now either. Chris, I've seen the fastball and whiffle ball, man. I think that you could actually do a number against the New York Mets right now.

Tyler Glass now wanted to mention seven shutout with 10 strikeouts. He has allowed one earn run or less in five. of six starts. He has gone six plus in five of six starts. Tyler Glass now has double digit strikeouts in three of six. He is legit. He is a top 10, top eight starting pitcher. Just stay healthy. Signs of life from these gentlemen, Mitch Garver had a double dong on Wednesday. Josh Bell hit his second home run of the season. Lordes Gouriel hit his first home run of the season. Matt Chapman went two for four. It was only his second multi-hit game of the year. And the Yankees offense in general is coming around. It definitely helps when you

facey Baltimore Orioles, but two or more hits for each of DJ LaMayhew, John Carlos Stanton, Glaber Torres, that's back-to-back multi-hit games for Glabre Torres, Gio Orchella, and Clint Frazier, who hit his first home run of the season. The call to the pen? Got to mention Josh Stalmont recorded a four-out save for his fourth save. He is still only rostered in 31% of CBS leagues. You got to get Josh Stallmont on your team if you need saves in any type of category. League, and honestly, maybe even in a points league as well. For the Red Sox, Matt Barnes struck out the side for his sixth save. He's been great this year.

The Phillies, Hector Nairus, got his fifth save. Reisel Eglacius for the Angels, picked up his fourth. For the Astros, Ryan Stanick got his first save. Ryan Presley was used in back-to-back days, so he was unavailable. For the Blue Jays, Jordan Romano, he pitched an inning with the team down big. But I noticed the fastball velocity was a 98.3 miles per hour. That was down around 94 miles per hour. hour this past weekend.

So a nice sign there with the velocity on Jordan Romano. We'll wrap up here, Chris, with to stream or not to stream. Choose three of these for Thursday. It is not a great group

of... The matchups are worse. I think Matthew Boyd is actually a decent pitcher. Quanghan Kim versus the Phillies. Adbert Alzely at the Braves. Martine Perez at the Rangers. Kyle Gibson versus the Red Sox.

Matthew Boyd at the White Sox. Dylan C's versus the Tigers. Oh, no, thank you. You have to take three. I would like to take Kim, Al-Zalay, and Boyd. I think they're the three best pitchers in this group, but I don't like their match-ups enough to feel confident in streaming them.

But yeah, Kim, Al-Zalai and Boyd is my picks. You know when I just read The Braves, I realized I did not mention Wascar, you know what, single time in this podcast. he's having a real interesting season what a mess man I'll save it for tomorrow we will talk about him early on tomorrow's podcast

I'm not on tomorrow's podcast so I just want to say tell me the swing strike numbers are awesome he's getting a ton of K's the stuff looks really good he is getting absolutely crushed when guys are making contact

so you know I think there's a pretty capped ceiling I think there are going to be some ugly starts but he's he's looked very impressive The name there, Wascar E. Noah. Some streams for Friday, Chris. J.T. Brubaker versus the Cardinals.

John Gant at the Pirates. Robbie Ray versus the Braves. Yuck. Brave Singer at the Twins. John Gray at the Diamondbacks. Mad Bum hosting the Rockies. Andrew Heaney at the Mariners. Start John Gant.

Yeah. Yeah, he's like, I don't know. He's always weirdly decent. And we never, you know, he's not really in their rotation consistently. but he'll he that's that's a good one. I think he has a sub four ERA with a 1.5 whip. Just saying. He has a 225 ERA and a 1.6 whip right now.

But for his career, he's got a 369 ERA. He's always been a bad whip guy because he walks a lot of guys. But against the Pirates, like I think he can go six innings and give up two runs with five strikeouts. I think he can be pretty good. Other than that, Andrew Heaney at Seattle is probably

the pick and Madbum. I like what I've seen from Singer, but at the Twins, I don't know that. Yeah, I can't start him there. He's a two-pitch pitcher. That's a team that can punish mistakes. I think it's Madbump versus Rockies,

but I think Singer Ray and Heaney are the best pitchers of this group. And I mean, look, I basically called Robbie Ray's start last time out. You know, he had like nine strikeouts and six innings or something like that. I don't think he's going to do that well tomorrow.

I think tomorrow's like a three earned runs and five innings, three walks, six strikeouts kind of game for Robbie Ray. Okay. The Robbie Ray whisperer, Chris Towers. So he won't be on the podcast on tomorrow's podcast, but he will be back here for next week. And for Chris, I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball.

Today will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.