Fantasy Baseball Today - League-Winning Pitchers, Prospect Report & Week 24 Sleepers! (9/3 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 3, 2021

Logan Webb, Frankie Montas, and Shane McClanahan are setting up to be this season's league winners (1:56). ... Triston McKenzie returned Thursday with another quality start (10:55). ... News and notes (14:36). Ozzie Albies has sat out two games with his knee injury, Max Scherzer tweaked his hamstring and more (14:36). ... Prospect report (16:42)! Will Shane Baz get the call in September? ... Week 24 sleepers (23:48)! Which two-start pitchers and sleeper hitters should you target? ... Start or sit Aaron Nola, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Carlos Carrasco next week (35:33)? ... We have Thursday leftovers, bullpen updates, and weekend streamers (43:25). ... We wrap up with emails plus how to handle Ohtani next season (52:27). '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 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

Happy Cocomo Friday and welcome into fantasy baseball today, presented by Lining Cougles. More on their great variety of beverages later on in the podcast. September 3rd, Frank Stamphill joined by Scott White, who is back home. Looking good, the couch is in place. How's it going, Scott? It's lovely, Frank. I got the two monitor set up again instead of the tiny laptop monitor. It felt very confined, you know.

got my nice seaside painting over here done my done by my it is painted by my grandmother-in-law by the way all right no you know this isn't this isn't you know this has some sentimental value to it it's not just it's not just some department store art that we stuck on the wall there for all the haters yeah so scott i actually drew this derrick cheater on my wall too i don't know if you can tell but I'm pretty talented artist myself. No, I didn't. Today on the podcast, we are here to get you ready for week 24.

We know that those head-to-head playoffs are rapidly approaching. Some people might even be starting their head-to-head playoffs next week. Final month in Roto, too, so it's a very big month. Two-star pitchers, are we starting Aaron Nolan next week? He's got two starts, but he's been pretty bad. Logan Webb continues to crush it. We'll answer some of your questions and more. Let's get things started.

Oh my goodness gracious. Oh, my goodness gracious. All right, Scott. Kick us off. Well, I know it's easy to just do the stud pitcher of the day, and I did carrot. Carrot. That's one of my favorite spoonerisms, by the way, carrot goal. I did Garrett Cole yesterday.

I'm going to do somebody who's trying his best to live up to Garrett Cole, especially lately, and that is Logan Webb. Logan Webb just keeps getting better and better. He had a 10-strikeout game against the Brewers who they're not such a bad offense anymore. They've risen to the middle of the pack in Team OPS after being a bottom feeder for much of the year.

So, you know, that's not a cupcake matchup anymore. He struck out 10 and 7 innings allowing one earned run, 21 swinging strikes Logan Webb had against the Brewers if he's going to be this kind of bat misser and on top of being one of the best ground ball generators and baseball

I'm that he could be an ace like he could the upside could be that high in eight starts now his last eight starts all of them quality starts Logan Webb has a 140 ERA a 0.9 whip and nearly

10 strikeouts per nine innings. So he's suddenly looking like not even a not even an average strikeout pitcher like an above average strikeout pitcher with that amazing ground ball rate. And like there aren't many pitchers I have more trust in right now than Logan Webb. Like it feels like he's somebody

that you just need to lock into your lineup regardless of matchups and and ride it out for the rest of the season. And if it continues to go this well, I mean, we might be talking about him as the top 30 pitcher heading into next year. Yeah, it's funny you bring that up because that's something that I was thinking about. And we'll get into this a little bit more because I have a few other starting pitchers that I want to compare him to. And as we go further into September, of course, we're going to continue to talk about everything that's happening day in and day out. And we'll help you obviously win your leagues.

But we're going to put a little bit of focus on things for next year as well. And I think Logan Webb is going to be very interesting to try and rank for next. year given this recent string of success that he's going through. And you mentioned his last eight starts, which are all quality starts. But if you also take it back to just when he returned to the rotation, which was back on July 9th. And a few of these starts, he was limited. He went three, four innings in his first two, and then five. It's a 1.57 ERA over his last 11 starts since rejoining the rotation. So the ability to miss bats, get ground balls, and have really good control, not walk anybody, I mean, that's, that's everything. That's everything we want from a starting

pitcher, which you obviously touched on, Scott. So I moved them up to SP 25, which is probably really aggressive this time a year, but he's just behind Max Fried and Framber Valdez for me, which puts him in Mustardt territory, as you mentioned. Let me see where I have them, because I've been working on my rankings. It's kind of been a never-ending project this week. Now, I have him 31 right now. Come on, Scott. We got to get him up. slow based on what I like, so let's let's talk this out because I think some comparisons here would be useful to the audience. It's kind of be ahead of Zach Granky now, right? Has to be. Yeah. I'd put him ahead of Marcus Stroman. Yep. I'd put him ahead of Lance McCullors. Yep. Do we put

him ahead of Max Fried and Frankie Montas? I think I'd draw the line there. Yeah, so I moved Montas as well up to SP 20. Yeah, I got him at 23. It's also very aggressive. But I have Montas at 20, Blake Snell at 21. I kind of, I threw Darvish in at 22 as like a placeholder for now because I don't really know what to do with him. But then I have Valdez at 23, Freed at 24. Freed should probably be ahead of Valdez, but whatever. They're very similar pitchers in my opinion.

And then I have Logan Webb at 25. Yeah, I mean, I feel like Webb has to be, I have Webb behind Freed, but I think he definitely has to be ahead of Valdez. Valdez is pitching very well also. Yeah, but he's not as good as looking at Webb. He could, you know, he could pop out this. six walk game. I'm not saying Framber Valdez is bad. I'm a big Framber Valdez guy, but Logan Webb is like a better version of him. Yes. So you mentioned must art. I mentioned must

start. He's at Colorado next week. So we're really putting this to the test. Of course. Of course he's at Colorado next week. I still don't think he can sit him. Yeah, I'm with you. That's the famous last words I know, but I still don't think you can. Yep. So I was going to compare Logan Webb to Frankie Montas and Shane McClanahan. These three who I think could be league winning starting pitchers. I mean, just the way that they're going right now.

Frankie Montas, another quality start on Thursday. Six and two-thirds, three runs, seven strikeouts. He wasn't as sharp as he has been recently. He still had 16 swinging strikes on 103 pitches. And Montas now has at least 14 swinging strikes in 10 straight starts. Which is just...

an unbelievable accomplishment. So he is on fire right now as well. I believe his ERA is barely over two during that stretch. And then Shane McClanhan is the other one who, he wasn't as good as these other two guys on Thursday, five innings, four runs, eight strikeouts to two walks. But I was pretty impressed by, he clearly didn't have his best stuff in this start

and he's going up against one of the better lineups in baseball in the Red Sox. And he still finds a way to get through five innings, give you eight strikeouts. He had 19 swinging strikes. on 88 pitches. And in his previous eight starts before this one, McClanahan had a 2.84 ERA, 10.4K per 9.

So, I mean, I think it's going to be interesting, Scott, to try and rank these three starting pitchers going into next year. Montas, Logan Webb, and McClanahan, because I'm going to be very excited about all three. And the problem, the problem specifically for McClanahan, is that I know the race are going to go deep into the playoffs. so he's going to get all this national exposure and I could just see Randy a Rosarena all over again, right?

Like McClanahan's EEP is just going to skyrocket assuming that he performs well, but... I think they will. A Rosarena, a Rosarena's playoff performance was historic. Sure. So, I mean, let's not put the cart before the horse. McClanahan might not do very well in the playoffs and then it won't be an issue.

Oh, I hope so. Well, for multiple reasons, obviously, Yankees, but... I mean, yeah, he hasn't... We see the upside, obviously. One of the things I loved about this start, you know, the breakdown of the swinging strike, seven on the fastball, five on the slider, seven on the curveball. That is to get five plus on three different pitches as a rookie who throws as hard as he does, he's a left-hander, I mean, that's...

That says a lot right there. And obviously the performance, the line wasn't great eight hits. They were all singles. Average exit velocity was 85.4. He pitched much, much better than his final line. And the upside appears to be enormous for McClanahan. And yet, you look at the stat line for the season,

and it's pretty good. It doesn't blow you away. So there will certainly be a breakout case for him next year. He might be that pitcher that's on. everybody's breakout list and gets pushed pretty high and drafts as a result, but he might not be. We'll see. I could see it being like two years ago where everybody was on, was it two years ago or was it last year? Actually, I think it was last year. Two years ago, I feel like everyone was on

Shane Bieber. Yes. Last year it was Zach Gallen. Everybody was on Zach Gallen and he, you know, he had his breakout season. He wound up as a top 20 starting pitcher being drafted well, before his injury in spring training. But everybody was on Zach Allen last year. I could see McClanahan being that player for us next season. Someone asked me on Twitter how high, you know, I'm going to rank him. And I mean, it's really too early to say. But I was thinking like 25 to 30 range,

but that's just like off the top of my head for now. We'll see what happens. It might be tough. Yeah. Certainly he has that kind of upside, but it might be tough. There's a lot of good pitchers. Do you still start him at Boston next week? Shane McClainahan

Well, I said that too quickly I mean it kind of depends How deep your pitching staff is I wouldn't be scared away By the matchup I think is probably The most succinct way of putting it Alright we just talked about a bunch of pitchers We're going to talk about one more

My oh my goodness gracious player From Thursday is Tristan McKenzie Who made his return to the mound He was at the Royals Six innings only two hits And we talked about how few hits he gives up One earned run one walk Six strikeouts

he had nine swinging strikes on 76 pitches. The velocity remained up for Tristan McKenzie in this start. Nine starts since the beginning of July, basically when he re-entered the rotation. 3.27 ERA, 54 strikeouts to just nine walks, over 55 innings pitched for Tristan McKenzie. And on the season, he has a 173 batting average against. To put that in perspective, Max Scherzer leads all qualified starting pitchers.

with a 180 batting average against. So Tristan McKenzie, you know, he doesn't qualify. He's only thrown, what is it, 97 and a third this year, but he has a 173 batting average against. Scott, I have a little bit of a trivia question for you. Okay, dokey. Would you like to guess, well, you don't really have a choice. You have to guess.

But guess Tristan McKenzie's expected batting average this season. The actual batting average is 173. The expected batting average, I presume, would be higher. Let's say 220. 220. you're not far off. 207. That's still really good.

207 expected batting average for McKenzie. He is, believe it's 79% rostered. So he's probably rostered already in your league, maybe some shallower leagues, but not as excited about him as those other pitchers we mentioned, but still pretty damn excited.

Yeah, and so I gave you the comparison between last year and this year. Yesterday I gave the comparison between last year and this year for McKinsey's hits per nine, which was 5.7 for each year. That was prior to this two-hit performance. On Thursday, obviously,

his batting average against last year, if I can find him, I'm not finding it. I have his overall batting average, Scott, in the majors. 130 and a third innings pitched 175 batting average against. Yeah, so it was even lower last year. And, you know, he didn't pitch that much, but it was even lower. So, to put it another way, four of his nine starts since returning from the minors. He's allowed two hits or fewer.

And there were some before he got sent to the minors where he allowed two hits or fewer, but they were also short because he was walking so many guys. It's not even worth getting into those. But, yeah, he's among other things, really hard to hit. And certainly seems like he's on an ace trajectory, too. and it's well behind Logan Webb. He's behind Shane McClanahan too, I think, in terms of trust level. But if there's anywhere where Tristan McKinsey's,

if there are any leagues where he's still available, I think you've got a remedy that. Yes. And part of the reason why he gives up so few hits is he gives up a lot of fly balls, which we talked about before with Josiah Gray, where you can live with giving up fly balls and even home runs, assuming that you're not walking too many batters. And through this recent nine-star stretch, he's not really walking any.

He only has nine walks over nine starts. So that's really good. That'll get it done even with allowing as many fly balls as Tristan McKenzie does. Before we hit the news and notes, I just want to remind everybody that, starting next week, we are moving to three podcasts per week for the rest of the season. You'll have a podcast in your feed Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. We'll still be live on YouTube Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights. We really, really do appreciate all of your support.

season and hope that you stick around with Scott and me as we close the season out strong. News and notes, Ozzy Albies has now missed two straight games after fouling that ball off of his knee on Tuesday. He had to be carried off the field by his teammates. He was originally expected to play on Thursday, but did not make it back. So hopefully he returns for the weekend because I would love some Ozzy Albies in Corse Field. Why not, right? Max Scherzer did leave Thursday start after just 76 pitches due to hamstring tightness and when asked about it after last night's game, he said, quote, in the past, I've always been able to make my next start, and I definitely think I'll be able to

make my next start. So it's good news. Getting older, Max, getting older. He is indeed. He's the lines up for two starts, so hopefully, hopefully it does. Yep. After missing two days with an ankle injury, JT. Rio Muto returned to the lineup on Thursday. He finished one for four with two runs scored. Wander Franco left Thursday's game with a headache, but he did manage a walk in his three-plate appearances. So that extends his on-base streak to 33 games. Wanderfranco is awesome. Avisa A.L. Garcia, exited Thursday's game due to back and hamstring tightness.

Glaber Torres left his rehab game after getting hit by a pitch, but later reported that everything is fine. And if that's the case, they originally said that he's going to be back on Friday. So, I mean, I don't know that he's going to play every day when he returns because the Yankees have all this depth and they like to move guys around and give points. and give players days off, but Andrew Velasquez has played really well for them. DJ LaMayhew's still been kind of mad.

Tyler Wade's been very good, so I don't know. I don't know that Glaber Torres is going to play every day when he returns. Cabrion Hayes has missed three games in a row due to a blister on his hand. Wilmer Flores was placed on the aisle with a left hamstring strain. Kyle Freeland received an injection to alleviate inflammation in his hip on Thursday and is expected to be ready for his next turn in the run. rotation. Brett Anderson was placed in the aisle with a left shoulder contusion. Zach Thompson has been moved to the bullpen for the Marlins, so it looks like Edward Cabrera's role is safe for now.

The Prospect Report, currently live on the site, you know that Scott writes it every week, and it is there every Thursday. Five on the verge of making it to the bigs. Well, these are the five most likely to give you production this year. They're the five most worth stashing, I would say. A combination of proximity and impact. Yes, that's a much easier way to say it rather than that word salad I was trying to get out. Bobby Witt with the Royals, Jose Miranda with the twins,

Seth Beer with the Diamondbacks, Fidel Bruhan with Tampa Bay. Those are all names that we've talked about quite a bit before. One that we haven't talked a lot about. Newcomer Shane Baz to the five on the verge. This season in the minors has a 2.13 ERA,

0.80 whip. And, man, lots of strikeouts. this season, very dominant, 22% rostered currently on CBS. And Scott, you think that there's a chance that he's called up in September. I'm saying there's a chance. Yes. Shane Boz, you know, he's been for a couple years now considered among the best

pitching prospects just in terms of pure stuff, but he's really harnessed at this year, throws a lot more strikes with it, and has emerged as arguably the best pitching prospect as a result. I think I would personally put Grayson Rodriguez ahead of him, but those are the the two kind of vying for that top that best pitching prospect spot and the way the rays have handled him they basically shut him down for a month before bringing him back three turns ago and then he he went five innings in his most recent outing his third start back and I think five innings is the most he's gone all year.

So why would you, why would you bother to shut a guy down like that who's already had a successful season developmentally? Why would you bother bringing him back? Why would you bother building him back up again if you weren't planning on incorporating him into your postseason plans? They have the best record in the AL, the raise do.

And yet they don't have great rotation. options. McClanahan's their ace. And Luis Petino might be their number two. Exciting young pitchers, but neither you know, clearly it's not the kind, it's not what you'd consider a playoff caliber rotation. Shane Baz, obviously,

you know, it's asking him a lot to come up and be an impact pitcher on a postseason roster, but that may be their best hope, you know? And they did it with David Price. the first year they made the World Series back in 2007, I believe it was. Price came in as a reliever that year. He debuted as a reliever, but kind of a multi-ending guy. And I don't know that Shane Boz would be used as a traditional starter if he got called up.

He might be a bulk reliever following an opener, something like that. But in that role, if he meets his potential right away, could still be impactful in fantasy. So I'm not saying it's a huge priority to stash him. None of these guys are a huge priority to stash and redraft leagues. But if you want prospects to stash, I think Shane Boz is among them at this point. Yeah, I agree with you that it could be some kind of piggyback situation. Maybe it's Shane Boz and Drew Rasmussen, something like that, or Shane Boz and Chris Archer.

They have three innings each, four innings each, whatever they want to do there between those two. But I could see that being the most likely outcome here if he were called up by Tampa Bay. So keep that in mind. I don't know that he'll have much value in head to head. leagues, but if he gets called up, can it give you some ratios and strikeouts? Yeah, I think that's definitely possible in a Categories League for Shane Boz. Five plus... That was 2008 for Price, not 2007. Sorry. Corrections. Small correction. I do appreciate your allegiance to being correct, Scott,

and getting everything on point there. Five prospects that are on the periphery, Cleveland outfielder, Oscar Gonzalez, Mariners starting pitcher Matt Brash, who by the way, I don't know if he's on the CBS site, Scott, so we got to figure that out because whenever I read this article, whenever I read this article, I search all of them in your dynasty league just to see, like, who's available. So I just completely honestly. It's, it's, I wish there was a simpler process for getting these guys in the database. I pass them on to someone who sometimes has the ability to add. When I write about them and find they're not in the database. So I, I'm trying. But, uh, yeah,

It doesn't surprise me to hear Matt Brash isn't in the database. And I don't think Vinnie Pasquantino, Royal's first baseman, is either. Oh, he is. He is. Okay, so it eventually came through because I think that was a request from a few weeks ago. All right, good.

Nice. Yes, because I know because I throw him on the scout team tonight when I was making the rundown. So, awesome name to A-plus name. Vinny Pasquantino. Love that. Royal's first base prospect. Dodgers shortstop prospect,

Eddie's Leonard. Also, five on the periphery, and then the last name here, Baltimore's third baseman, Kobe Mayo. Again, you can find Scott's article currently live on the site. I do want to mention a couple of these guys,

if I can. Sure. Matt Brash in the Mariners organization might have the best slider in the minor leagues. It's a devastating pitch, and he's been getting a lot of strikeouts lately.

So that's definitely a name to keep. keep an eye on and Vinnie Pasquantino not not somebody you're going to see ranked high on many traditional lists because he's got the limited defensive profile strictly a first baseman and the Royals first baseman of the future is obviously McPrado at this point you know maybe it could be a Billy Butler or a Cosmer situation where one of them's playing DH but then they got them MJ Melendez Salvador Perez issue to contend with too so we'll see but despite the lack of

prospect hype for Pasquantino, very interesting numbers at AA, and he's actually older than Prado too. About as many extra base hits as strikeouts and also about as many walks as strikeouts. Wow. For Vinny Pasquantino. All right. A name to remember there in your dynasty leagues.

I'm looking up these numbers for Matt Brash. He has 131 strikeouts in 86 and a third innings pitch in the minors this year. So the strikeout stuff is ridiculous for him. Mariners fans, I'm telling you, the time is coming. You have all these prospects, George Kirby, Emerson Hancock, Hancock, Julio Rodriguez. I mean, gosh, the future. You know, they got Matt Brash last year from the Padres for Taylor Williams. You remember Taylor Williams, who was a bad closer in a very short season?

That's who the Mariners got for him, Matt Brash. Job well done by the Seattle Mariners there. All right, let's get people ready for next week. The week 24, pitcher and hitter planners presented by line. in Cougalls, and we're going to tag team this one together, Scout. We'll figure things out here on the fly. Scheduling for next week, we have two teams with five games. That includes the Diamondbacks and the Padres. We have 16 teams with six games next week, 10 teams with seven games, and two teams that have eight games next week. That includes the Orioles and the Blue Jays. I do just want to quickly

talk about these two teams with five games, D-backs and Padres. For me, must start on the Diamondbacks, it's really just Catele-Marté, right? Josh Rojas, five-game week. You don't necessarily have to start him, right? In a five-game week, no, I wouldn't be... Yeah, I think Catelle-Marté is the only Diamondbacks player that would be widely started. Yeah.

Okay, and the other team there is the Padres. Obviously, they have some superstars there with Fernando Tatis and Manny Machado. I would throw Jake Cronomworth in that conversation as a must-star player. So the thing is, the Diamondbacks matchups aren't so bad, even though it's five games. The Padres legitimately are. They're five game week, and they're scheduled to face Bueller and Scherzer in that week. But, yeah, guys like Machado, Tate's, Croninworth. I would say they're too high-end to set.

But at the same time, I doubt you'd be starting any of the others unless it's a very deep league. All right. Let's go on some pitching here. Scott. Two-start pitchers for next week. Who you got? Well, it's a bad week if you're looking to pick up a two-start pitcher off the waiver wire. For our purposes, that means rostered in less than 80% of CBS Sports Leagues. The list is two that I'd be willing to recommend on some level. And one of them is Kyle Freeland, who left his last start with an injury. And sounds like, like he's going to make his next start, but who knows, you know, it may not, it may change the alignment so that he's not in line for two starts. Plus, you know, he could suffer a setback

or whatever. So it's risky even him. But he gets the Giants at home and then he visits the Phillies. So, you know, I don't feel great about that one. That might be a points league only wreck. But Bailey Ober, who's only 32% rostered, is at Cleveland and versus Kansas City. And we like the way he's been trending lately. So that looks like by far the most attractive waiver wire pickup among two-star pitchers. We're going to get into

Aranola later, right? Yes. Yeah, okay. I'll save that for later. I'll save that for later. Maybe some questionables like John Means versus the Royals versus the Blue Jays. That's probably a points league only one. You got Hyun Ryu at the Yankees at Baltimore.

more good matchup and a bad matchup. Probably yes to that one. And you say Kukuchi the same at Houston versus Arizona. Nice bounce back start from last time. That Arizona matchup in a two-star week, I think makes Kikuchi worth using across the board. Oh, McKenzie. Is McKinsey's roster rate over 80% now?

He is 79%. And I don't know that I can call him a sleeper. But he's going against the twins and going against the Brewers. So that's, you'd pretty much be starting him across the board as well. Keep an eye on Jackson, Kowar as well,

because we were talking beforehand, Scott, and the Royals are, they're kind of figuring out their starting rotation for this weekend. So there's a chance that Kowar starts on Monday. Chris Bubage pitched out of the bullpen on Thursday. So it seems like they're going back to a traditional five-man rotation.

And if that's the case, it looks like Kowar could have two starts next week. So we're not saying that for sure, but pay attention. to how they shuffle things this weekend, there's a chance. Even if it is just one start, it would be at Baltimore.

Yep. For Kawar. So, yeah, I probably like more than Kyle Freeland to pick up, given the health concerns for Freeland. 100% with you on Bailey Ober, by the way, eight starts since being recalled 2.81 ERA, 1.08

8 whip right around a strikeout per inning for Bailey Ober. Any other single-start streamers, Scott, that you have for next week? Sure. Let's see how Glenn Otto's second start goes this weekend. But, um... Wait, who's got? Might be worth dialing up 1-800 Glenn Auto.

1-800 Glenn Otto. Come on. Yeah. Pick up the phone. The call is free. Yep. That's the one. That Glenn Auto. Glenn Otto at Arizona is who he's in line to face next week. So let's see how it goes this weekend. But if it goes well, that's a good matchup.

Jesus Lazzardo against the Mets. We haven't seen him pitch yet since that turnaround start, have we? Nope. So we'll need to monitor him over the weekend as well. But if that goes well, like the matchup against the Mets. Luis Pettino at the Tigers, that's pretty good. Terrick Scoobel at the Pirates. Feels like that's a must.

And, well, Joe Ryan is at Cleveland, Ranger. Okay, Ranger Suarez against the Rockies. Rangers Swars is apparently just going to become a fixture on this list. The way, who was it earlier in the year that was always on the sleeper pit? It was J.T. Brewbaker. That's right. Ranger Suarez is better than J.T. Brewbaker. We hope.

And you'll want to start him against the Rocky. Now, I feel confident saying that. By the way, on Ranger Suarez, if I looked at the schedule correctly, that will be the first game out of Corse Field. and we know that that game, usually the Rockies bats kind of lag a little bit. So that makes that matchup even more exciting for Rangers Suarez. So I know that you have the top hitter matchups for next week, Scott. So let's talk that out and then figure out some hitters that we like that are on those teams.

So who you got? So the best hitter matchups are the Royals, the Orioles, the Blue Jays, the Rangers, and the red. but there are a lot of good hitter matchups this week actually. It's one of those where the convention of having a top five probably doesn't do it justice because the Braves have good matchups, the Indians, the Tigers, the Dodgers, the Pirates, the Giants, the Mariners. There's a lot of hitters we could choose from on these teams. But I will point out the two with eight games

because of a double-hitter next Saturday are the... The Orioles and the Blue Jays. There you go. Yep, Orioles and the Blue Jays, who are second and third in my top hitter matchups. All right, so between those two teams,

Anthony Santander, I would imagine, is under 70% rostered, so he's probably someone that you could look at. And then Toronto's a little bit tougher because all of their awesome hitters are all. Awesome, and they're on everyone's team already. But I guess if you need a catcher, Alejandro Kirk's been playing more.

Let's see who else they got here. Corey Dickerson, he's kind of in a platoon role. Lordis Gariel. He's, hey, you know, very quietly, Lordis Gariel's batting average has climbed up to 270. I noticed that the other day. He's maybe someone that you could look at there. You mentioned the Royals too. So, Adelberto Montessi, I'm telling you, man, it's going to be a big September.

It could be a big week next week. I know he didn't play on Thursday. They gave him a day off after. you know, sock in a shoe on Wednesday. So great game for him there. What other teams do we have here? Well, I mean, I might look at Nikki Lopez for the royals, particularly if you're trying to catch up stolen bases. Obviously, he's not going to provide much in the way of power.

But he's been getting multi-hit games with some regularity. Nick Solac is probably somebody to consider. He's been hitting pretty well since returning from the minors. Sure has. You did mention the Reds, right? I did mention the Reds, so that would have me look toward Kyle Farmer. Yes. And there's three lefties on the schedule, so that helps Farmer's case too. Okay. So I was going to bring up Tyler Naquin, but the lefty thing doesn't exactly work out well for him.

He's right at 70% rostered. He had a really, really big month of August. So assuming that Jesse Winker remains out, Naquin should play. every game next week, even against the lefties. I like, I like Akeel Bedou, who just homered in for the second straight game on Thursday. The Tigers I mentioned, they're not among the five teams of the best matches, but they have good matchups,

and five are against righties. So it might be the time to get Akele Badu active again. Again, those teams, the Orioles, the Blue Jays are the ones that we're looking at, the Royals. So we talked about all those. How about the teams with the five worst hitter matchups? Scott, do you have those available?

Yep, the Padres, Angels, Red Sox, Cardinals, and Marlins. So yeah, your angels are on the opposite end of the spectrum there, Frank. Oh, my guy, Brandon Marsh, and his near 40% strikeout rate will have to wait at least another week. So there you have it, the week 24, pitcher and hitter planners presented by Lining Cougals. And if you're like me and you missed the summer already, it is cold here in New York. I went outside, I walked down to the corner store. it's like 65 degrees outside. I can't even go outside in shorts anymore.

Anyway, no fear. Line and Cougal Summer Shandy is here. It's this awesome blend of crisp beer and refreshing lemonade that fits perfectly when sitting in the backyard, enjoying the weather, or when watching a baseball game. And the summer shandy isn't all they offer.

They also have their Session Hellas, which has all the flavor of a crisp German-style beer and it's only 99 calories. Let's not forget about their Lemon Hays IPA, a well-balanced hazy IPA that blends hops with delicious lemonade. So no matter what type of beverage you're craving, lining cougles has you cover. Just head on over to linie.com.

That's L-E-N-I-E dot com. Or follow lining cougals or Instagram on Instagram or Facebook for more information about all of the delicious beers that they brew. Let's take a quick break when we return. Start or sit. Aranola, what is going on? All right. So let's talk about them.

Aranola at the Washington Nationals. Supposed to be a good start at this point in the season, right? They trade away most of their players, except Juan Soto, who actually crushed Aranola in this game. Four innings, six hits, six runs, five strikeouts. He allowed two more home runs, eight more hard hit balls. The ERA is now up to 4.54 for Aranola. Even with that, it's old at this point. It's September.

How much are we going to hold on to this? each of his FIP, X-FIP, and expected ERA are all under 3.60 for the season. I don't really get it. There are seasons where this can happen where a player is just unlucky the entire season. It's not fair to Arandola. I think that he's performed better than the overall results that he has this season. But we've seen this happen before. It was, you know, Marcel O'Suna a couple of years ago,

he underperformed his stat-cast numbers for an infant. entire season. And then he was a by-low the next year. And then he had like a near MVP season. So it just, it just happens this way sometimes. It's weird. I don't really know how else to explain it, Scott, but Aaron Nola is in line for two starts next week versus the Rockies at the Brewers. And there could be a lot on the line. If we're in our head-to-head playoffs, you know, destroying ratios right now, do you actually start them there? Oh, yeah. Yep. No hesitation. And those matchups are good. the Rockies especially At the Brewers

At the Brewers Kind of scares me Yeah I mean it's not as good of a matchup as it used to be But it's Between that and the Rocky start It's a really favorable two-starred slate For Aaron Nola And even if it wasn't

Like I'm going down the ship Going down with the ship With this guy Because There's no reason why he Should continue to have starts like this I mean He did allow two

home runs in this one and that that is the one thing I can point to okay his fly ball rate is up his home run rate is up maybe that explains why the ERA is a little bloated but doesn't fully explain it because he gave up six earned runs only three were on those two home runs you know um but another thing to keep in mind too is it hasn't it hasn't been all bad for Aaron Nola the previous two starts were great. Five of the last eight have been great. Now, one was only four innings because it got rained out. So, you know, that was disappointing. But it was against the Dodgers and he had struck out seven in those four shutout innings. I believe they were shutout innings. It was off to a great start. So five of the last eight, not as great as they could have been, but more or less great. So, you know, if he's doing it at least

half the time. I mean, how many starting pitchers do you trust to do well more regularly than that? There have been a lot of implosions among the most high-end pitchers lately. I just don't think,

I just don't think there's much upside to sitting Aaron Nola, particularly in a two-star week. Yeah. I mean, it's it's tough to say with Aronle. I think it's all relative to where he was drafted, right, Scott? So, I mean, chances are, if you drafted Naranola where he was going, second, third round, he's your

SP1. I mean, you might not even be in the fantasy playoffs right now for just being completely honest. Maybe you got lucky and you picked up a Logan Webb or Shane McClanahan along the way, something like that. And, you know, your pitching staff has bounced back because of that. But yeah, I think a lot of the disappointment in him is just where he was drafted, obviously. Oh, I totally get the disappointment. I'm not saying you don't have a right to be disappointed. But I think sitting him now compounds that disappointment. Yeah. All right.

Let's talk about Eduardo Rodriguez. He was at Tampa on Thursday. Six shutout with six strikeouts to just one walk. He had 14 swinging strikes on 94 pitches. He went fastball and change up heavy in this start. And over his last six starts in particular for Erod, 2.73 ERA, 35 strikeouts over 33 innings pitched. But, I mean, it's been a roller coaster ride here, Sky.

Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, I mean, whatever you want to say, whatever you want to call him, but I mean, he's been so up and down this year where he goes through these stretches where once you start to buy back in, you put him in your lineup and then he gets like rocked for his next three starts and then you take him out, performs well for the next three or four, you get him back in and then it's just, it's up and down all year. So, uh, Erod is still 84% rostered. He's at home next week against Tampa Bay once again. We just start him there. I mean, I don't think it's must start. but I think it's at least worth considering.

I mean, I wouldn't sit a stud for him. I wouldn't sit aeronola for him, obviously. Yeah. I'm hoping, and it has been an up and down season for Eduardo Rodriguez. Eduardo, not Edward. Yeah. Eduardo Rodriguez has been an up and down season. But I'm hoping Exfip is finally having the last laugh here,

because despite his 488 ERA on the season, 344 X-FIP. I mean, that's pretty good. Not many discrepancies between ERA and X-FIP bigger than that. Yeah, he's a lot like Aaron Nola in that way, right? Obviously, we were drafting Nola a lot higher than we were. Eduardo Rodriguez, but those are two names that we've talked about all year where, hey, trust the underlying numbers.

They're going to come around. And it just hasn't really happened. But Erod, last six starts, he has looked much better. It's worth mentioning in three starts against Tampa. He has a 2.63 ERA this season. Again, that is Eduardo Rodriguez. Carlos Carrasco, he went up against the Marlins on Thursday. Five and a third, three runs.

He had five strikeouts, 12 swinging strikes on 82 pitches. And if the schedule that I saw is correct, it looks like he lines up for two starts next week against the Yankees and at the Marlins. Would you start Carrasco there? I would. Yep. I think just a little shy of must-start in my two-start pitcher rankings for the upcoming week, but he leads the, he's the top name in the next category down for must-start.

So pretty much everybody's going to be starting Carlos Carrasca with those two match-ups. All right, let's talk about some offense again. We had a pair of socks, socks and shoes. Yeah, that would make more sense. Sox and shoes. Juan Soto went three for four with his 23rd. home run and his eighth steal of the season. Juan Soto's awesome. We don't have to talk about him.

Charlie Blackman went two for four. 11th home run, third steal. On the season, he's batting 267, 751 OPS. We haven't talked about Blackman in a while. And we were kind of waiting for him to come around. It's clear it's not going to happen this year. And he's 35 years old, so I think we're just, we're kind of hitting that point in Charlie Blackman's career.

Probably not going to happen again. Yeah. But I thought it was interesting. His strikeout rate is 13. It's a career best, but it also comes with a 49% ground ball rate, which is also a career high. So, you know, it helps that he's putting the ball in play, but not that it's on the ground, obviously. Yeah, he could still be a pretty good contact hitter, but the power is, I don't think the power is coming back. Would have been easy to say that about Joey Votto prior to this year.

But Joey Votto's a really special case. So, yeah, I'm not holding. out hope for Blackman in the future. Some Thursday leftovers I wanted to mention. Sandy Alcantara at the Mets, not his best here, six and a third, four runs, six strikeouts. He got hit hard. He gave up 11 hard hit balls

in this one. He's at home against the Mets again next week. I'm assuming we leave Alcantara in the lineup. Oh yeah. I mean, his previous four starts were as good of a four-start stretch, I would guess, as any pitcher has had all year. So

yeah, this is This one Thursday is not a disqualifier by any means. Mitch Keller brought a smile to my face. I'm still rooting for you, Mitch Keller. He was up against the Cubs, six shutout, six hits, eight strikeouts to zero walks. It was nice to see easily his best start of the season. That brings his ERA down to 6.23 for Mitch Keller.

He's 9% rostered. I don't think you need to add him anywhere. Let's see where it goes. He's still just 25 years old. So I'm rooting for you, Mitch Keller. Two of his last three starts have been good but then he had a seven earn run outing in the middle. That's not really a sandwich you want to be a part of.

Raphael Ortega went two for five with his ninth home run. He slowed down a bit recently, but he's still leading off for the Cubs. And they have some hotter bats behind him. So there'll be some stuff for Raphael Ortega. Adam Duvall went one for four with his 30th home run. The quietest 30 home runs I've ever seen in baseball. I mean, it's like barely talk about him.

He just goes out, does it. thing, Adam Duval, boom, hits home runs, 70% runs. And his RBI total is shockingly high too, considering he's with the Marlins for most of this year. Yeah, I think it was him and Jesus Aguilar who basically drove in all of the Marlins runs this season. Yeah, it's crazy. Their offense is one of the worst, and yet they were both not too, just a few weeks ago,

right before the trade deadline, they were both among the NL leaders and RBI. In fact, they may have been one and two. It was crazy. Anyway, yeah, Duval being only 70% rostered, I would say he's a sleeper hitter for next week. Given the Braves matchups, they have in six games, the Nationals, and the Marlins on the slate,

but they're missing Alcantara. So, yeah, there's a pretty good matchups for the Braves. If I am looking at this correctly, let's see, I believe that Jesus, Aguilar still leads the National League with 92 RBI this season. And Adam Duval is number two with 88. Oh, so they're currently one and two. That's awesome.

That is crazy, man. That is, wow. I did want to bring up, uh, did you mention Jorge Soler? I'm sorry, I was like zoned out there. Uh, I did not. Okay. He went two for five with his 22nd home run. He, it was his ninth home run with the Braves in just 29 games.

So, Soler, he's coming around. He's 79. percent rostered, so it's, there's a good chance he's not available in your league. Do you believe, you know, obviously you're very close with the Braves? Do you believe that Duval and Soler are locks to play every night, even with Eddie Rosario and Jack Peterson now there? Well, locks is a little strong. I mean, they've each gotten a day off since Rosario came off the I.L.

Let me see. Is it just one day off? Yeah. Yeah, they've each got. gotten a day off. And Peterson's gotten a day. They're managing to mix it up pretty well. Four outfielders.

I would say the outfielders who are going to play the most of that foursome are Jorge Solair and Adam Duval. Will it be literally every day? Probably not. But I don't think their playing time will be interrupted enough for you to worry about it too much. Brendan Rogers. When two for four,

he now has multiple hits. in three of his last four games. We keep telling you. Add Brendan Rogers, if you can. Tucci Toussaint could not survive Corse Field and his return to the rotation. Three innings pitch. Five runs.

Four of those were earned. He is 56% rostered. Home versus the Nationals next week. Would that warrant sleeper designation for Tuki Toussaint? I don't have him as lining up against the national. I'll have to look into that again. But I think that's a stretch.

I think that's a stretch. Okay. Yeah, I think that's fair. Call to the Pen. We'll wrap up here. Some bullpen updates. We do have some streamers, and of course we'll answer

a few of your email questions. Let's start off with Oakland. Sergio Romo picked up his second save, and he now has two of the last three saves for the Oakland A's, and he faced two, three, and four in the lineup. Andrew Chafin was used for the four outs leading up to Sergio Romo.

So in the seventh and the eighth there. Interesting. Lutrovino still not being used. I know that there was... I saw an update that he was going to be available for this one, so I think he's dealing with some kind of slight injury right now. Lutrivino is. Yeah, I mean, they haven't...

When they said they were going to take a break from him, they haven't used him at all since then, so... Yeah, he's dealing with a back injury, apparently. Okay. September 1st, the news was he's dealing with back spasms, and then on Thursday it said likely available. to pitch Thursday, but they had a save opportunity, and they didn't go to him. So, Sergio Romo in deeper leagues, I picked him up in a 15-team Roto League where I am very desperate for

saves. For the Mets, Edwin Diaz got his 28th save of the season. Having a really strong season, I didn't realize he was that good because I don't have any Edwin Diaz, but he's been mostly good for Cleveland. Emmanuel Class A gave up a run, but did pick up his 20th save for the Cubs. Rowan Wick came on for the save in the ninth. inning, he gave up two runs. Only one of those was earned, and it tied the game. The Cubs did wind up winning in extras. And for Boston, Garrett Richards, a three-ennings save. One hit, one walk, four strikeouts. He's allowed just one earned run over 10 in a third inning's since being moved to the bullpen. And he has two of these three-ennings saves already since being shifted there. So,

I mean, it's not really something that you can count on, but he's pitching well. I mean, I mean, for the deepest, AL-only category leagues, Garrett Richards is the name there. To stream or not to stream, let's start with Friday. Stephen Braltz at the Cubs. Alec Mills versus the Pirates, Nestor Cortez, versus the Orioles, Glenn Otto, at the Angels and Thailand.

Glenn Otto. What was the jingle? I've got to pull up again. Pick up the phone. Oh, wait. Are you going to play the sound or I'm going to sing it again? 1,800 Glenn Otto. Come on.

Pick up the phone. The call is. free. I love that. That is great. And then Tyler Anderson at the Diamondbacks. Yeah, so Nestor Cortez against the Orioles is my favorite. And Hernandez in Otto. You know what, Tyler Anderson at the Diamondbacks. That's probably my second favorite. Yeah, so I didn't mention Carlos Hernandez because I think there's some, it's like up in the air if he's going to start Friday or Saturday right now. Oh, yeah, that's right. That's right. Yep.

I mean, he would be in consideration. It's a tougher matchup against the White Sox, but he's pitching very well, Carlos Hernandez. Alec Mills is someone I am also starting in a 15-team Roto League. So cross your fingers, everybody. Saturday. Saturday to stream or not to stream, Tanner Hauk versus Cleveland, Ranger Suarez at the Marlins, Ronaldo Lopez at the Royals. Carlos Hernandez, I wrote him on both of these lists. That's hilarious on both Friday and Saturday. All right, forget about Carlson. Adrian Howser versus the Cardinals and Tyler McGill at the Nationals. Ranger Suarez at Miami.

Danger Ranger. It's going to strike again. Tyler McGill at Washington is fine and Rinaldo Lopez at KC's. Okay. Sunday. Luis Petino versus the twins. Eliezer Hernandez versus the Phillies. Daniel Lynch versus the White So,

I was trying to think how that lines up for next week, but I can't figure it out right now. Zach Davies versus the Pirates, Tyler Gilbert versus the Mariners, and Taylor Hearn at the Angels. Okay, so let's go with Patino against the twins. Yeah. And I don't know.

I don't really want any of the others. I agree. Maybe Eliezer Hernandez against the Phillies if you have to. All right. Yeah, I'm right there with you. We're going to wrap up this week with emails because there was no fantasy justice. If you do have anything going on in your league with your commissioners, rules, whatever's going on, make sure to send us in your questions and put fantasy justice in the subject line.

This one's from Bill, and he's addressing you, Scott White. You've helped me to a couple of championships. So I believe in you, especially down the stretch. Pick two for next week. Fran Mill Reyes, C.J. C. C. Cron, Frank Schwindell, Connor Joe, and Enrique Hernandez. Okay, two for next week. Let's start with the matchups. So Cleveland has the best matchups of the players on those teams.

So for M. Reyes, I think, would be the easy choice there. We don't know when Enrique Hernandez is back from COVID, right? So that's pretty easy to eliminate. They are hoping it's this weekend. Yeah, I know Red Sox have bad matchups anyway. The Rockies, they don't have the best matchups. but half of the week is in Colorado and it's seven games.

So as hot as C.J. Cron has been, I think he would be the other choice. So for M.L. Reyes and C.J. Cron. Yeah, I'm right there with you. This one's from David. I play in a 10-team head-to-head points league and I'm in a three-way fight for first. I'd like to stream Trista McKenzie next week,

but I'm not sure who I should drop. I was debating dropping Montas, Chris Flexon, Shane McClain, or Michaelinhan or Michael Brantley. Please do not drop Montas or Shane McClainahan. who's been Michael Brantley

who's been sitting on my bench for most of the year but you Darvish has the worst record recently for reference my pitching staff

is Chris Sale Robbie Ray Charlie Morton Joe Musgrove U Darvish Frankie Montas Chris Flexson Shane McClannhan

so I'm a strong pitching staff shallow league I could understand maybe you won't have reason to start Darvish

again this year but maybe you will and as I said multiple times on yesterday's show you don't want a weapon like that falling into the wrong hands. So drop Chris Flexen.

I don't think he's actually good. No. And then you don't have to worry about him blowing up in your hands. Don't be mean to Chris Flexen. Come on. He's had a pretty good year. He's better than me.

You know what's so funny, you bring that up? Like, whatever my friends have criticism for athletes, like, whatever. We have a bunch of group chats. We talk smack. And they'll say, oh, this guy stinks. I'm like, he's better than you.

What do you have to say about that? I mean, lots of people think I stink. That's fine. No, I tend to think that you have pretty good hygiene, Scott. So I have faith in you. You've never been in the same room as me, Frank. Oh, man. You have no idea.

You know, I was considering, yeah, I'm thinking about where I should move next. I currently live in New York City. I'm considering South Florida, but I don't know, Scott. I mean, if you're stinky, maybe I should. shouldn't move to Florida. Well, the way I said that and made it sound like I was implying that, right? No, I'm just saying

you'd have no idea, whether I have good hygiene or not. I mean, I looked... That is true. I look well-kempt, I guess. Yeah. But you don't know. You have no idea. That's a fair... I like to think I do, but who knows? That's a fair point. That's not something many people are going to tell you.

You smell like onions or whatever. You know? Oh, man. Stay away from the B-O. This last one's from Matt. Long-time listener and love the work and views. Well, thank you. I am in a decade-long homekeeper league with friends from high school

that has evolved into a strong collection of managers from across the country. We recently voted and migrated to a new fantasy platform that has Shohei Otani as one player where with daily lineup settings can be started as a pitcher or hitter, but not both on a given day.

Several of the managers feel like this has created a unique, non-replicable cheat code in owning Shohey Othai O'Donan. that creates an extra roster spot effectively and flexibility not provided to your average pitcher in the National League who does accumulate hitting stats. Given the league allows four keepers, the manager with Otani could be benefiting for years to come. He is currently in first place with a decent lead.

No surprise there. How would you propose the league handles this or is this just the fact we all have to agree with? My idea was to force the manager to pick hitter or pitcher per week to use or use use two keeper spots on him to dilute the huge advantage that Otani brings the manager. Again, daily lineup, head-to-head categories league with a regular season and playoffs. I think that this is a really good topic of conversation and something for next year where if anyone has ideas on how we should handle Otani, send them in. Email us, Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com.

I think that he's such a unique player and we're still like very early in the process of trying to figure out what we should do with Otani. On CBS, he's one player. If you play in a weekly league, you have to decide if you want to use him as a pitcher or a hitter for that given week. And honestly, Scott, it sucks. It sucks, man. In my opinion, because, and I'm not saying, because there's other platforms that do it

too. I have him on NFBC in my main event league, my most important league. And I have none of his pitching production in my lineup this entire season. It's hard to complain because, you know, as a hitter, he's, you know, in a MVP just as a hitter as well. But it's frustrating. It's frustrating that I get none of this production, none of his pitcher production, this historic season, and it's out the window. I get none of it. So, yeah, I'm frustrated. I think we need to figure out how to approach Otani better for fantasy. Well, it sounds like what you're campaigning for is to make him more impactful when Matt here

wants to make him less impactful. So it's interesting because he's painting it from that person, perspective, obviously, someone who's going up against a player in that format where you can reap all of the benefits of Otani. And I'm telling you my perspective as someone who's only getting half of his production. And again, it's really, really good production. So it's hard to complain about what he's done as a hitter. But in a 15-team league, I would love to have Otani's pitching stats in my lineup. You know, maybe I wouldn't be in the middle of the pack if that was the case, right? In pitching. So it sucks. It just sucks. It does. Yeah. So what's really made it more difficult is that he's become so good.

Yes. Right? Like, to address the email here, like, everybody knew this was possible for Otani, and they could have drafted him instead. They didn't when his value was low. And so, you know, I kind of feel like the guy who had the foresight and was the most willing to take a chance on Otani, meeting his best case outcome should reap the benefits.

And if that makes him the most valuable player in the format, so be it. I mean, he may be the most valuable player in real life, you know? But if you're getting all of his pitching stats and all of his hitting stats, he's an even more valuable player in fantasy than he is in real life because he's also just taking up one lineup spot. it's not just the one roster spot it's the one lineup spot that you're getting pitching and hitting stats from and so that's

obviously the angels real life they're having to set a different lineup every day you know they don't get that the benefit isn't quite as big as it is in fantasy so I don't know that it's fair to get everything I don't know I mean it's

it was like moving mountains I know just to tell you from like an internal perspective. I was very much in the conversation on this when Otani was first being introduced to the player pool and what should we do with them. And ultimately, the path we took was the one I proposed. So I kind of have a stake in it, I guess, because of that.

You know, we heard the easy solution would to be make to Otanis. And that's what a lot of other sites did. And I'm just like, no, I mean, we need to, we need to give this unique player his due and make it so you could get pitching or hitting stats from him, not knowing which side he'd be better at, you know? But it didn't really even come up that you'd get both

because I think part of the problem was there was, oh, well, then it wouldn't be fit. You'd need to get all the hitting stats from every other pitcher. Like, any player. And we see position players pitch sometimes. any player, you should be getting all of their hitting stats and all of the pitching stats

if we're going to do that for Otani. And that's probably true. Now that the DH is presumably coming to the NL next year, that it's less of an issue. Right. So, I don't know. It's still, it's fraught. The discussion is fraught.

But that's why I think we should open it up, right? Like, let's talk about this. Like, let's make a forum. Send us in your ideas. And I don't know, maybe we just do an off. season podcast where we, like, that's just a large portion of the podcast. It's like trying to figure out what to do with Otani because I think it's still a very unique situation for a very unique player. Specifically for this situation that, what is this gentleman, Matt emailed in about.

Yeah, I think making the manager who has Otani here use two keeper spots on him of his four, I think that, I think that makes sense. I mean, Otoni's, He's pitching like a top 30 starting pitcher, and, you know, he's a, he's a top. I don't think that's fair. That's not fair. Yeah. That's not, that's too much of a penalty. Like, there, there shouldn't be a penalty.

But he is a cheat code, though. He is a cheat code. Yeah, okay. Okay. Yeah, that's it. You're just, yeah. No, I, I, I, he's a cheat code in real life, too. I do think, as I said, it's more valuable, even more valuable in fantasy than in real life.

But everybody knew it was a, possibility and they didn't take advantage of it. I definitely don't think it's fair to use two keeper spots because maybe you don't, maybe it's not worth it at that point, you know? That's true. And like that would really stink as the guy who invested in Otani. I could see the other solution more having him declare for the full week, whether he's going to be a pitcher or hitter, then it becomes,

No. Otani's value ends up being the same as it is in a weekly league. No. Which is still very high. I hate it. Well, it's better than using two keeperspots on them. Yeah, and those are the only options that we're presented with. I'm sorry, Matt.

I feel like we didn't really help you out much here. It's a good conversation to have about Otani. But between the two, I lean towards using two keepers spots on him. Scott is against that, but if it's just these two options, I like being able to use him. huge penalty. Keep your spots are so precious and to have one used up on two players. Like, yeah, I don't think that's fair. I don't think that's fair at all. I hear you. I mean, look, I don't think that there is a perfect answer for this. So the conversation rolls on regarding show hey, Otani. Let's wrap there. Man, we ran a little bit long here. Sorry, I mean, look,

I'm passionate about this Otani thing. I want to figure it out. I want to, I kind of want to make CBS like the forefront for how to use Otani. And I don't know if it's going to, it would require a lot of work behind the scenes to make it happen. I don't even know if it's realistic. Trust me. I was surprised that we got him set up this way because apparently it was a programming nightmare. But yeah, yeah.

We got to figure it out. All right, let's wrap there. For Scott, I am Frank DeGall for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again on Monday. Bye-bye.