Fantasy Baseball Today - Liberatore Breakout, Hitters to Drop & Ranking Pitchers! (5/7 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 7, 2025

Chris Sale is back (2:19)! ... Matthew Liberatore might be breaking out (5:25)! ... Add Liberatore or Andrew Abbott (9:30)? ... Byron Buxton is on a tear and the Yankees had a 10-run inning (13:15)! ... We had bullpen meltdowns for the Cubs, Giants and Blue Jays (18:34). ... News (24:00): Teoscar Hernandez went on the IL. ... Any interest in Clarke Schmidt or Tyler Anderson (28:40)? ... Josh Smith is hitting .330 (35:33)! ... Is it time to drop these five hitters (38:39)? ... How do we rank these starting pitchers rest of season (47:50)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpens and streamers (58:00). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow FBT on TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CBSScottWhite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Roto_Frank⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Hello, welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Wednesday, May 7th. I am Frank Sample, joined by Chris Towers.

Today on the show, we had a disaster day for relievers. We'll talk about five hitters. You might be able to drop, rank some starting pitchers for the rest of the season. And I have questions for Chris. Let's jump in. Is this happening? It is. All right, Chris, you are up.

Player of the Night. Chris Sale, who, I don't know, he got off to a weird start. Like, he was bad. He had a 540 ERA in the first month of the season. But I don't know about you. I never felt any real concern level. Like, this was one of those ones where, like, his valourable. velocity was mostly fine.

I think there was one star where it was a little down, but like the slider was awesome. You know, the changeups still look good. It's just like, it was one of those situations where he just wasn't pitching well. And you can never be certain that that's going to turn around, right? Sometimes Aaronnola just doesn't pitch well for seemingly an entire season.

But betting on Chris Sale to figure this out always felt like the right move. And lo and behold, two straight double-digit-strike out after. two straight where he's pitched into the seventh inning after only getting five out five innings in his first six starts. Chris, that's fine. He's back. Yeah, I had a segment with questions later on. One of them was, is Chris Sale back? And you have already answered that question. Yeah. I feel good about it. Three starts. The past three, I know the past two have been doubled to just strikeouts. The one before that, it was like five innings one run. So technically a good

star for him. Last three outings for Chris Sale, 145 ERA 102 whip. 24 strikeouts over 18 and 2 thirds innings. And I'll tell you what, I think the Braves seem to be confident in him still. They don't have any concerns. They let him throw 112 pitches in this start. So they're just like, go, do your thing. You've got free reign. We're going to let you go as far as you can.

The only thing I've noticed under the hood, Chris, is that the fastball is not performing nearly as well this year. It had an ex-Woba over 400 entering this start. Last year, that was 299. So do think the fastball has to get back on. track and these last two starts double digit strikeout outings have come with him throwing the slider over 55% of the time in each i don't know how sustainable that is for how long that is sustainable for but i do think at some point we do have to see that fastball get back on track yeah when you look at

the fastball you're right the results haven't been great i think it's mostly a location thing i think it's mostly just that he's been catching a little more of the middle of the zone than he usually does. He usually likes to work in the upper part of the zone with the four seamer. This season has been more middle-middle. And it doesn't matter if you come from a super low arm slot and get good extension and throw 95 from the left side.

If you're leaving it in the middle, guys are going to hit it. And I think it's mostly just he needed to pitch better. And he has. And I never moved Chris Sale down in my rankings, I don't think. And certainly not now. You missed your buy low window, unfortunately. Yeah, and I think it was last week that we told people to go out and buy on Chris Sale. So that looks like it has been slammed shut.

The ERA is still over four with a 133 whip, but everything else looks great. It's a 302 FIP, 312 X-FIP, 12K per 9 for Chris Sale. So yes, he does look like he is back. Let's stick with the pitchers and talk about Matthew Liberator, who outduled Paul Skeens for the win here. Seven innings, one run, eight strikeouts, had 17 whiffs. on 99 pitches really had everything working in the start. For the majority of the season, it has just been the slider. That has been great for Libertor.

But he had everything working here. Seven whiffs on the fastball, four on the cutter, three on the slider, two on the change up, one on the curve. Fastball was actually up a little bit in terms of velocity in this one. This was the best of fastball has looked all season. The cutter velocity was up nearly two miles per hour as well. This kind of just feels like the most complete start

that I've seen from Matthew Libertor so far. in his career. And it's interesting that entering this outing, he only had three walks total on the season, and then he had three walks in this start. But he was still just so good generating whiffs. And at this point, it's a 307 ERA, 0.95 whip. He's gone six plus innings and six of seven starts. Once upon a time, this was a pitcher that had legit prospect pedigree. I don't know, Chris, it might just be a late bloomer and he's figuring it out. Like, maybe this is Libertor's breakout. I don't know. it's possible. I think the most interesting thing about this start is

like you said, he's gone slider heavy for the most part. It had been his most used pitch entering this star and I think it was his third most pitch in this one. Third most used pitch. And that was because the pirates, did they only start one or two lefties? I can't pull that up for you. Very few of his pitches came against lefties. Only 13 out of 99 pitches came against lefties. So I would think it was just O'Neill Cruz. Maybe Brian, Reynolds? Is he? He's a switch hitter. There was O'Neill Cruz. I have no idea which side of the plate this guy Gorski bats from. He's a righty as well. Yeah, I think it might have been O'Neill Cruz is the only lefty in the lineup. And so, yeah, he had to adapt. You know,

he couldn't throw his, he threw his, his slider a bunch in the rare times he faced the lefty, seven of the 13 pitches. But it was his fourth used pitch against four. most used pitch against righties. And it still worked for him because like you said, the four seamer and cutter velocity were up. They were really effective. He was spotting the pitch as well. I do think this was probably the most impressive start for Matthew Libertore,

a guy that I've been pretty skeptical of. But we are seeing tangible changes, both in the velocity being up here, but more the pitch selection. And then the fact that he could go up against a righty heavy lineup and still find that kind of success. I think speaks really, really well. I'm not saying Matthew Libertor is an ace or anything like it moving forward.

But, you know, we had two pitchers in the like 60%-ish roster rate range who had very good starts. It was Matthew Libertor and then Andrew Abbott. I think I like Libertor more. I don't know about you. Abbott is just weird. He's just always been a weird pitcher. I've never been able to figure him out. And so if you like Andrew,

I'll probably talk more about Andrew Abbott shortly, but if you like him more than I do, I think that's fine because I admit that I just, I don't quite get it. But his fastball velocity was up, Andrew Abbots was in this one. So that could help explain it. But yeah,

I thought this was the more impressive performance out of the two. And I would rather, if they're both available, go out and add Matthew Liberator. I wish, I wish his next start wasn't against the Phillies, but he is a two-star pitcher next week and he gets the Royals after that. That's a good matchup. And, hey, that slider's going to come in handy against Kyle Schwabre and Bryce Harper. Right?

Like, he's going to have to throw that one in the next start. So I think, yeah, I feel pretty good about where Matthew Libboretta is right now. And he's a spark. So if you play in head to head points leagues, you have that added eligibility. quickly mentioned Andrew Abbott's line here at the Braves, five shutout innings, eight strikeouts, zero walks, 11 whiffs on 91 pitches.

It was nice to see the control here. The zero walks after he had nine walks combined in his previous two outings there for Andrew Abbott. Yeah, it's a 225 ERA 117 whip. Great strikeout rate, but the walks have been high. I mean, he is an extreme fly ball pitcher. It is even higher this year.

We're talking like a 60% fly ball rate, which is insane for a pitcher who pitches in Great American Ballpark. But you're right, Chris. We've been saying that for a couple of years now. And, you know, Andrew Abbott is still just kind of performing. But the thing is, as a rookie, he got a lot of strikeouts. Last year, he didn't get any strikeouts. His strikeout rate, I think, was below 20%.

And yet he was really good because he improved the command, the control, and the quality of contact against him was really good. this season it's been tons of strikeouts, although really only the two starts, right? He has the 10 strikeout game and the eight strikeout game now. I think it's been five or fewer in the other three starts. And then the walk rate is super high. But again, it's kind of only the two starts.

He's got the one with five, the one with four. I don't think he has more than two in any of his other five starts. So it's just, Andrew Abbott's just weird. And I don't quite know what to make of him. And I, I maybe I there is just something about Andrew Abbott that I just can't grok and it will he will continue to make me look foolish. I don't know. Did you just say rock as a verb? Yeah,

that's a that's a that's a that's a verb right. Okay. Like understand I think is yeah. Understand. All right. So yeah. Um, it's, you know, we like to get our vocabulary work. And I can't remember what Scott was, Lark yesterday. Lark and Grock, here we go. Yeah, we love a K sound. But yeah, I do think I don't trust Andrew Abbott generally, but especially at home. I just, I think it's more likely, like two of his three good start, two of his three road starts have been very good. Then the one was at course field that wasn't good.

So I, I feel pretty good with Abbott as a road streamer at the very least. This shows you where my head is at at this point in just life and technology. When you said GROC, my mind instantly went to the AI GROC, like on X. How you can ask GROC a thing, but it's also a legitimate verb. I thought you were using the AI GROC as a verb. No, no, that's, yeah, it's a verb. Yeah, I'm a mess, dude. If you are, yeah, I think I prefer Libertor over Andrew Abbott as well.

yesterday we spoke about AJ Smith-Shava the day before it was Gunner-Hogland so I guess let's rank all four pitchers here Chris I think I would put

Liberator at the top I'm going to go Liberator hmm It's Abbott and who? I'll go Liberator Abbott A.J. Smith-Shivar and Gunner-Hogland

How would you rank the four? Yeah I think Liberator I think if both AJ Smith-Shawver and Abbott were available, I'd probably prioritize AJ Smith Schaver. That one is close. And then I think Hoagland is last.

Although I think he's really interesting. His fastball looked really good. His changeup was good. I do think there could be something there with Gunner Hoagler. All right, some, oh my goodness, gracious shout-outs. Just want to talk about these things up top here because it was a crazy day. I mean, Tuesday, you know, we've got a full slate,

although I think there was one. game postponed, but there was also a double header. So we still had... I think this was also how last Tuesday was, or maybe it was last Monday. One of the early days last week, we also had, I believe a Ryan Walker meltdown, maybe another Ryan Presley meltdown at a couple, like,

it's just Monday or Tuesday. Maybe that's all it is. Honestly, we're not even up to the bullpins yet, Chris. There's other stuff I want to get to even before that. Byron Buckson, I just want to mention, he has been tearing it up. Two for four with his eighth home run that's back-to-back games with a homer.

22 games since April 11th. Buckson is batting 311 with seven home runs, five steals, and OPS over 900. 92.6 average exit velocity, 17% barrel rate. I mean, he has been amazing. As long as he's healthy on a per game basis, I think Buxon is going to be a really, really good player.

Obviously, we don't know how many games we're going to get, but man, if you got him, just plug him in as long as he's healthy. He rules. Yeah, he is. He's been so good. One of the most fun. Did you see the diving catch he made to, to, end of game, I think last week. Yeah, it was insane.

He's the fastest player in baseball, according to sprint speed. He's still, like, one of the best defensive centerfielders in baseball. I know he can't stay healthy, but man, how could you not root for Byron Buxton? He is so much fun to watch. But even at this point, like, his price tag was so far out that even if you get this production for 50 games, it's a win. Like, it's a clear win. So, that's, it's just.

All bonus at this point. Really, the only time it hasn't been is like he got expensive in 2023. I think like he was around a top 100 pick. But last year he was super cheap. This year he's super cheap. If you just get the 100 games that you got from him last year, he had seven steals, 18 home runs and hit 280. Like you add that with whatever replacement level outfielder you can get.

It's a really good. That's a really productive spot in your lineup. Wanted to mention the Yankees. A 10-run inning, which is just insane, capped off by an Austin Wells Grand Slam. He went two-for-four with a sock and a shoe. Actually, the Grand Slam and the steel both came in the same inning, which is insane.

His seventh home run, his first steal of the season. It feels like it's been such a disappointing start for Austin Wells. He had that awesome spring training, and we're thinking, uh-oh, here we come, breakout. But the 220 batting average, I think, is what's really kind of like shaping our perception. he's still on a 28 home run pace and an 85 RBI pace which is like

Take that every time Amazing for a catcher I mean he's played 32 games already That's yeah I mean they're back up as a journeyman J.C. Ascara so they're gonna play Austin Wells As much as he can possibly handle like The Ascara guy was I think driving Uber last year or something

So like he's he legitimately plays like once or twice a week Yeah no Austin Wells he's not a superstar but he's very solid and I still think there's room to grow. Right? Like if he hits 240, that's not asking too much. And I think the 20 to 25 Homer power is legit here. Yeah. And then Aaron, Judge, no surprise,

one for three with his 12th home run of the season. Let's take our first break. We'll get into the bullpen meltdowns in just a second. But reminder to sign up for the FBT newsletter if you haven't already. If you're watching on YouTube, scan that QR code that will take you right to the website. website CBSports.com slash newsletters where you could sign up for free.

And thanks to everyone for watching us live. Make sure to hit that like button and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today.

Bullpen meltdowns. Let's just get it out of the way, Chris. Ryan Presley entered in the 11th inning with the game tied. He recorded no outs. He was charged with eight earned runs, nine runs total if you count the Manford Man. five hits, one walk, a hit by pitch.

There was a sacrifice bunt that actually reached pace two, so that's how you get nine runs on the board there. Yeah, eight earn runs, nine runs on five hits and one walk is like just, like I was watching it happen. I was still like, wait, how did that, how did that happen? In Roto leagues, this is going to take you weeks to recover from. It is insane. And it's, I know he's been dealing with the knee injury,

but the velocity wasn't down in this one or anything. He just, I mean, he's been shaky all. season. He's been bad all season. Like the results have been fine. And I think the ERA before this was like $250 or something. But he has, I think even entering this start, I believe he had more walks and strikeouts for the season.

I think, yeah, it was pretty close. Yeah, he only had a 9% strikeout rate coming into this. Five strikeouts and 13 innings. He's looked really bad. Porter Hatch has had his own struggles at times. A couple of big blops in his line as well. Really just the one, I guess. Six of his eight runs have come in one outing.

I think he's clearly the better pitcher here. I don't think Porter Hodge is like a shutdown closer by any means. His strikeout rate has fallen 10 points from last year. Seven points. His walk rate is up. But I think they have to give him the closer job. after this. Porter Hodge, 27% rostered here. So if you've got Presley, maybe make sure you have Porter Hodge or if you just want to speculate for saves. It feels like Porter Hodge could get an

opportunity here. Bold prediction, maybe not so bold. The Cubs leader in saves is not yet on their team. How about that? I think there's a decent chance that that ends up being the case just because I don't really trust Porter Hodge. I would guess the fact that they went out and got Ryan Presley suggests that they didn't super trust Porter Hodge as well. And so, yeah, going out and getting a closer would make a lot of sense. Hey, Ryan Helsley, here we come. In the division, though, could be tough to make that trade happen. Let's slide over to the Giants. Ryan Walker got the ninth inning with a two-run lead. He gave up a walk. It was a walk, strikeout, walk, RBI single, strikeout. He was relieved by, yeah, relieved by lefty Eric Miller to face Kyle Tucker, boom, game-tying single.

That was charged to Ryan Walker as well. The final line, he's charged with two runs, only recorded two outs, two walks, two strikeouts. And it's a 657 ERA 138 whip. Like, Camila Duval has just been better this season. So I just, I don't know for a team that has been as good as the Giants have, and they have been one of the best stories this season. Competing in that division, you just, you can't have meltdowns like this. Now, they still won this game, luckily, because they got to face Ryan Presley later on in the game.

but yeah, like they just can't keep trotting Ryan Walker out there. So I don't, I don't know when or if, but I feel like Doval, he's going to get a shot at some point. I agree. This is another one where I feel like, you know, it's been entering today Walker had six saves. Deval had five. It hasn't really been an even split though. Like there was a stretch where I think Deval, I think he got one save when Walker had already pitched. and had blown a save.

Then they put Ryan Walker on ice for a couple of days and Deval got two saves, I think. So it hasn't really been like a split, even though the numbers are close. I think they've got to give Deval a longer look. And look, he was, he lost the job last year. His strikeout rate is way down so far. Like maybe he isn't good enough to hold on to the job,

but I think they have to give him a try, you know? Who would you rather speculate on Camillo Doval or Porter Hodge? I think Doval is better, and I think the situations are similar, so I would go with Deval. And then for the Blue Jays, which happened not too long ago now, West Coast game there, out in Anaheim. Jimmy Garcia started the eighth inning with a one-run lead. He recorded only one out. He was charged with three runs.

He was relieved by Jeff Hoffman, who also only recorded one out, and gave up two homers, three earned runs, and next thing you know, they're down by like five runs, and they wound up losing that game. So Jeff Hoffman has been money all season. I'm not worried about it, but it was just another big meltdown here worth mentioning. And I guess while we're at it, I mean that athletics game just went final two. Mason Miller was unavailable. They went with Tyler Ferguson in a one run game. He was charged with three runs. He took the loss and the blown save there. And Miller's been a little bit shaky lately, but I don't think that's, there's anything to read into that. I think he had just, He threw 27 pitches yesterday.

He had pitched three of the previous five days and had struggled in two of them. So I think it was probably just a he's not available kind of situation. Yeah. Yeah, I would agree with that. All right, let's get into the news and notes to Oscar Hernandez was placed on the aisle

with a grade one left adductor strain. No timeline for his return. Dave Roberts said Hernandez will be, quote, inactive for a while. James Outman was recalled and in the lineup on Tuesday. 32 games. at AAA for Outman. He was hitting 254, eight home runs, five steals, but a 36% strikeout rate.

He's only 2% rostered. Any deep league interest in a James Outman? I wrote about him for tomorrow's waiver wire, but it's not with a ton of confidence. The strikeout rate has been so bad at AAA was terrible last year as well, both in the majors and AAA. and he misplayed a ball in centerfield. I think he was playing that was pretty costly for the Dodgers. So I was hoping it would be Dalton rushing. It didn't end up being him. But I don't think outman is the answer.

And by the way, the average time, let's make sure it's for hitters only. The average time for hitters with an adductor strain is 44 days, but the median is 21. There are two really serious ones that were like season enders that really skew things. So I would say three-ish weeks is probably what you would expect from

Teosca Hernandez. Like Royce Lewis only missed 23 days with an adductor strain last year. If he could come back in 23 games. Yeah. 23 days. I think early June probably makes the most sense for Tayasca Hernandez.

Plus we all know the Dodgers are playing for the World's series, and so they're probably not going to rush their guys back. Yeah, James Outman, NL-only leagues, deeper 15-team Roto League, things like that. I think you could take a look there. Corbant Burns remains on track to start Saturday against the Dodgers. We also learned that he received a cortisone injection in his right shoulder last Friday. No idea what he's going to look like in that start.

Please do not use him against the Dodgers. Apparently, Rafael Devers is not being considered for first base. They plan to stick with a combo of Romie Gonzalez and Abraham Toro for the time being. I don't think the time being is going to be very long because, you know, it's not the greatest combination of players. Jackson Merrill was activated and batting cleanup in the Padres lineup on Tuesday. He missed a month with a strained right hamstring,

so happy to have him back. William Contreras has been playing through a finger injury, apparently, and it's been bothering him long enough that he will now get x-rays on it. So he was someone that popped up. I was looking through leaderboards earlier, and yeah, he's all too. with slow start. It's like a sub 700 OPS and this was the top catcher drafted in fantasy.

So, yeah, hopefully, you know, we figure out what's going on, but could explain why he's off to that slow start. Royce Lewis made his season debut on Tuesday. He was batting fifth in the Twins lineup. He went 0 for 4 in his return. Yandy Diaz left early with right hip tightness. Gabriel Moreno was scratched with manager's decision. Yeah, I haven't seen what actually happened there. It's only been reported as manager's decision. So he's been really bad. Maybe it's just a day off. Maybe they just realized he needs some time.

But yeah, that was weird. For Noel V. Marte, he was a late scratch Tuesday with a left side pain. Jordan Westberg will work out at AAA a couple days before getting into rehab games later this week. Tommy Edmund is not expected to return this weekend, but the hope is he can return early next week. Josh Lowe will move his rehab assignment up to. to AAA on Thursday. He's been out since opening day with a right oblique strain, down to 66%

rostered. Chris, do you think Josh Lowe is a player that needs to be rostered in all leagues? I guess including head-to-head points. Not points leagues now. I'm not sure he's going to play against lefties very much. He's much better suited for Roto leagues anyway, but any category league where Josh Lowe is available, he should be rostered. All right for Tyler O'Neill. He began a rehab assignment at AAA on Tuesday. The hope is that he will join the Orioles on Friday. Zach Eflin is scheduled to throw a bullpen on Wednesday and said he's close to returning from the IL.

The Yankees designated Carlos Carrasco for assignment and Aaron Boone mentioned Alan Weinens and Ryan Yarbrough as replacements until Marcus Stroman is ready to return. The Mariners claim Lioti Tavaris off waivers could help with the injuries to Victor Robles and Luke Raleigh and Landon Nack is scheduled to pitch Wednesday against the Marlins.

Let's get into some of the ones. of the waiver options from Wednesday and from Tuesday, excuse me. We already spoke about Liberator. We already spoke about Andrew Abbott. Clark Schmidt turned in a quality start against the Padre, six innings, two runs, four strikeouts, only seven whiffs on 85 pitches. He threw more sweepers in this start. It was solid for him. His cutter velocity was up 1.4 miles per hour in this outing. And I noticed he's ditched his sinker this season. He's basically gone cutter sweeper curve Clark Schmidt has. And all three look like really good pitches to start this season.

So I don't know. Maybe there's another level here for Clark Schmidt, who is 61% rostered. And then Tyler Anderson, who, I mean, the guy has just been a quality start machine. It's now four in a row. He was up against the Blue Jays, six and two thirds, innings, two runs, seven strikeouts, 14 whiffs on 93 pitches. We know the changeup is awesome. He actually threw more cutters in the start, and it was the best that's looked all season.

268 ERA 104 whip. I'm not buying that for Tyler Anderson, but before you just cite FIP and XFIP, his expected ERA was 361 entering this start, and his swinging strike rate was 12.6%. I mean, those two numbers are really, really good for Tyler Anderson. So, Chris, do you have any interest

in Tyler Anderson or Clark Schmidt? I mean, we know the drill with Tyler Anderson. We know how this works. He had a sub-3 ERA at the all-examination. start break last year. Do you remember that? Yeah. Remember Tyler Anderson having a 297 ERA through mid-July? He finished the season with a 381 ERA. He was unusable in the second half. It's there are always stretches like this for Tyler Anderson. He's almost never good the whole season. The one outlier would be 2021, I think, when he was with the Dodgers. And he hasn't been able to replicate that for a full season. So I,

it's fine. Like as a streamer, just don't get married to Tyler Anderson. We know how this works. Also, Dodgers next week. Yeah. Probably not streaming him for that one. But a revenge game, Chris.

How about that? Yeah, I don't think Shohei Otani was around when he was there, you know? Yeah. Clark Schmidt, looking under the hood here at his pitch mix this season and moving away from that sinker,

entering this start his sweeper 50% whiff rate his curveball 44% width rate it's a smaller sample size he you know hasn't made that many starts this season any excitement for clark shment i wouldn't say excitement because what you've all also seen along with that is the command has gone really sideways his walk rate is up to 13.8% entering this start it was only one walk today um so that was good to see but something tells me those things are not a coincidence, right? Like he's throwing all these secondaries more often and all of a sudden he's walking guys more. His chase rate is down to 24%. Actually, weirdly, okay, this is weird.

Yeah. His in-zone pitch rate is actually higher than it's ever been, like significantly higher than last season. It was 47% last year. It's 54% this year. That's a huge jump from one year to the next. And yet his walk rate's gone up because he's not generating any chases. So he can't put hitters away, basically. That's what it sounds like.

Yeah, I'm not sure what to make of that. But I'm not so enamored with Clark Schmidt's talent that I'm super interested in finding out. I think he's useful. But I'm not viewing him as a must roster player or anything. He's behind Libertora and Andrew Avich. for you? I think he's right there with Abbott, yeah. I think I'd probably still prefer Liberator, but I think he's right there. Got to mention Lucas Julito, who got crushed by the Rangers here, just his second start back from Tommy John surgery, three and two-thirds innings, 10 hits allowed,

six earned runs, lots of hard contact, velocity was down, basically just through the fastball and change-up. I mean, this should be expected again, like, you know, just returning from Tommy John's surgery. Seventy-eight percent rostered, you know, people picked him up for. for the two-star week, Chris, but if you picked them up, would you just drop them for any of the names we've mentioned today? Liberator and Abbott and Clark's Mint? I think that's fine.

I will say, I'm trying to remember what it was about Lucas G. Alito that everyone was so excited about this time, or last March, I guess. Was it, he had gone to drive line, I think, and, like, had, you know, that there was some hope that he had, reworked some stuff, changed his delivery maybe.

I'm not sure what it was, but I do remember there being some hype. Yeah, last spring around Lucas Golito. And now I'm looking at it through the first couple of starts. It's been basically only fastball change up. He's thrown like five sliders total. The fastball velocity is where it was when he was bad, not where it was when he was good.

It was actually down, even more from this in this one. Uh, yeah, I think we can go ahead and drop Luke's G-Lie Lido. Deep League pitchers Ben Lively, Brad Lord, and two more actually. Sean Burke and Chad Patrick there. So four names, any interest in Deeperleagues, Chris, Ben Lively, Brad Lord, Sean Burke, and Chad Patrick. All pitched kind of well. I think with all four of these guys, I am only as interested as their next starts.

Ben lively has two-star week versus Milwaukee at Cincinnati probably going to pass on that one outside of deeper points leagues Brad Lord at Atlanta at Baltimore Nope I mean the thing is like

statistically those aren't bad matchups but I don't trust it I think there's way too many talented hitters to roll out a middling pitcher there Sean Burke gets the Cubs nope one-star week in Wrigley and Chad Patrick versus the twins

at Cleveland, that's not terrible. I don't have a ton of interest in it, but I would imagine if you did, if someone was doing a 10 sleeper pitchers list, he might sneak in there. I don't want to speak for anyone who has to do that, but I could see Chad Patrick sneaking onto that list of 10 sleeper pitchers next week.

All right, let's take a look at some hitters and I've only got two names written down here. Waver Wire Rangers. Josh Smith, three for four with a walk and RBI, did not realize he was batting 3.30 on the season so far. He's got three homers, four steals, and 895 OPS, 60% rostered with third base shortstop and outfield eligibility. And then Evan Carter's first game, he picked up two hits here.

He was batting seventh in the lineup versus a right-handed pitcher. 32% rostered. Spoke about him a good amount yesterday. But Chris, Josh Smith, should this number be higher than 60%? He has been the Ranger's second best hitter this season after Wyatt Langford, according to ex-Woba at least. Or according to regular Wobah, not expected. His expected stats are actually decent, but not as good as his actual stats. The problem with Josh Smith is just, like, even when he's hitting for a good batting average, he doesn't do a ton else, right?

Like, he has four steals. His career high is 11 in almost 600 plate appearances last season. So I don't expect him to keep his pace. up his career high in Homer's 13 last season. Like he can be useful, but I don't think there's very much upside here. Among these two, like I'm pretty skeptical that Evan Carter's going to be useful

or good, I guess is the better word. I'd rather take a flyer on the upside with Evan Carter than Josh Smith, just because I don't think the upside is particularly high. All right, let's take our final break. When we return, can we drop these five hitters?

We'll find out right after. this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Can we drop these five hitters up first? Brandon Lough, hitting 205 with four home runs and a 569 OPS. Expect the stats to look pretty good for Brandon Low. He's 83% rostered, Chris. Where are you at? Can we drop Brandon Low? I would really rather not to. I would really rather not to. I don't think that's... I would really rather not. Like you said, it comes down to the underlying stats, which suggest that Brandon Lowe has been or has deserved much better results. Like his expected Wobah is basically the same as it was last year and the year before.

His strikeout rate, it's up 1.7 points. That's basically nothing. So I'm inclined to hang on to Brandon Lough, but in points leagues, he's pretty marginal anyway. So if you drop him there, that's fine. I think in any 12 team or deeper roto league, I'm hanging on to Brandon Lowe. Yeah, I was updating the infield rankings here on Tuesday, and I moved Brandon Lowe down behind like Michael Garcia,

Jorge Polanco, Glaber Torres. Those guys are just all off to great starts, and we've talked about Garcia, Polanco's been awesome. Glaber, maybe we don't buy it as much, but he's doing some good things so far. So I dropped Brandon Lowe a little bit, but my guess is all those names are rostered in most leagues at this point anyway. He's 20th for me at second base,

so I can't say I'm like still super in on Brandon Lowe, but I think you're probably still rostering the top 20 or so. Yeah, I haven't met 20 as well. So I just, I moved a lot of those names up. Like I was just aggressive with moving those guys up today. Carlos Correa finally had himself a good game, three for four with his second home run, but he is batting 233 with a 611 OPS.

Chris, what's so interesting about Lao and Correa is that we expected when they play that they would be really good. And it's just like, all right, when they get hurt, maybe that's when you drop them or whatever. But both guys have been healthy and they haven't been good. So what about Correa?

He's still 80% rostered. He crushed that one today. I think it was 460 feet. I think it was the longest home run anyone hit today. Yeah, 458 feet. His underlying numbers are bad. Yes. This is not a case with Brandon, like Brandon Lauer, we can just look at it and say, yeah, but he's, he's hitting the ball hard and it's just not falling in.

I don't know, like, he's 30. Maybe we're starting to see some skills decline, but then you look at like the plate discipline metrics. He's still making a lot of contact. His strikeout rate's not particularly high. I haven't been inclined to drop Carlos Correa where I have him. I understand that I was higher than most. on him anyway, so there might be a little bit of a, you know, pot committed on my part, but I still think Carlos Correa's track record is strong enough that I'm going to hang on to him,

especially coming off a big game like this. I'm not going to, I'm not going to drop him there. What about Andres Jimenez? His first seven games of the season, he hit 308 with three home runs, one seal, and an 1131 OPS. His next 28 games, including Tuesday, 162 batting average, zero homers, two doubles, eight steals are nice, with an OPS below 500. He was also dropped to ninth in the Blue Jays lineup. Still 79% rostered is Andres Jimenez. He's not a particularly good hitter. You know, he's gotten worse every year since that 2022 breakout.

And I think he's better than he's shown so far. The three home runs early. It was, what, three in the first five games? Yeah, something like that. Four games. five games. And that was obviously a fluke. That was never going to be the norm moving forward.

He's better than he has been so far, I think. 320x Wobo compared to a 261 mark. Jimenez is going to hit probably around 250. He's not going to do a ton else besides steel bases, but he's stealing bases, and I think the batting average will be there. So I don't think I drafted Andre. Jimenez anywhere, but if I did, I wouldn't be dropping him right now. I think in points leagues, he can actually go.

He's extremely fringing points. And that goes for Correa, right? If you want to drop Carlos Correa in a points league where you only have one shortstop, like he's not a must start there anyway. You know, you look at the points, the rankings at the shortstop position. It's like, even if he gets hot, I think you'd rather have Danesby Swanson. I think like Alexander Bogartz, is really close. I think Matt McLean, even though he's struggled, I think there's more upside there.

So I, in point specifically, it's hard to hang on to a lot of these guys. Yeah. What about Alec Boehm, who finally is on the board? Two for four with his first home run on May 6th that happened. He's betting 237 with a 586 OPS. He's another one that has vastly underperformed his expected stats. Still 84% rostered. What do you think about dropping Alec Boe? Yeah, I mean, the one thing with him is his pull rate has collapsed. You know, Scott was talking about that pulled air metric yesterday. Alec Bohm has never ranked highly in that, which is always been part of the problem with Alec Bowm.

He hits the ball hard and he makes a lot of contact, but he just hits it in the least opportune way to maximize his damage. Well, it's gone from 12% last year to 7% this year. And so it's going to be really hard. to do anything with that kind of profile. He's a harder one because he genuinely is much better in points than Roto. He's a legitimately quite good points player because of how much contact he makes because of how many RBI he tends to get.

I feel like the audience wants me to say that we're dropping someone, but I'm going to hang on to Alec Bohm as well. You know, there just isn't many names behind him at third base either, right? If you look at the roster rate, the name's just below him. Under 70%. Josh Young, Dylan Moore, Zach McKinthry, Jonathan. Is Jorge Polanco higher than him now? Yeah.

Yeah, Polanco's all the way up to 94%. Michael Garcia? Yeah, Michael is 90% now as well. Yeah. Yeah, I could have seen maybe doing it for one of those two, but they're gone now. Yeah, or Novevue Marte, but that would be. in a Roto League where the rosters are deeper and I'm not sure I like Bones

someone I want to drop there anyway. So yeah, it's, um, I'm not sure there's, there's a move there that I'd want to make anyway. Yeah, I do think he's a pretty fair by low in a like deeper Roto league. If someone is just out on him, sure, take a shot.

Last name I'll ask you about Chris and it's just man, how long can this go? Marcus Semyon, he's batting 190, two home runs, one steel, 519 OPS, strikeout, rate is up this season. Line driver rate is a career low. His quality of contact is actually up from where it was last year, but it's bad compared to the rest of the league. Still 98% rostered, like, what do we do with Marcus Simeon? I don't know. I mean, because he's also gotten moved down in the

lineup, so that was always one of the biggest strengths for him as he's at the top of this very good lineup. He gets tons of counting stats. Well, you know, he's been hitting fifth. And the drop from first to fifth is about probably 80 played appearances over the course of a season. And he's not. He's always a volume play too. Yeah, like that was always the case for him. The quality

of contact is better than it was last year. He is striking out a little bit more. But he was always someone who had to outperform his underlying skills to be fantasy relevant. And he didn't do it last year. Now he's not doing it this year. So we're going on

100, 200 games probably. pretty close of him not doing the one thing that made him a standout. I don't want to give up on him. I think again in a Rotary League, it's harder to do because those lineups are deeper. I still think there's value as a middle infielder, but he is someone I have dropped quite a bit in my rankings. He's still, I think, a top 10 second baseman the rest of the way for me,

but yeah, it wouldn't take much to drop him out of the top 12. And I'm thinking about doing it when I update my rankings later this week. Yeah, I think the conclusion on Marcus Semyon, by the way, is just, no, I wouldn't drop him. Like, I would bench him. Yeah, just hang on to him. Ride the hot hand at second base. It always comes down to, like, if I saw Marcus Semyon on my waiver wire, I would instantly try to pick him up. So other people are probably thinking the same thing, and I think that means you probably should not drop Marcus Simeon.

Let's get into some starting pitchers here, and let's just talk about where we rank them, rest of season. Top blank starting pitchers rest of the season. Nathan Avaldi has been awesome this year. He was at the Red Sox, six innings, one run, seven strikeouts. He had 18 whiffs on 90 pitches. He's got a quality start in six of eight outings, seven plus strikeouts in six of eight outings, two-o-three ERA, point-80 whip, and he has just four walks in 48 and two-thirds innings. Like he has been tremendous this season, Nathan Avaldi.

has top blank rest of season, top blank starting pitcher, Chris. What do you think on Nathan Avaldi? I don't know how to answer this. Like, you can make a case that right now Nathan Avaldi is a top 20 starting pitcher. And I wouldn't really argue with it with the way he's pitching right now.

And with the way he always pitches in the first half. Like, he has changed his approach to prioritize the curveball, cutter and splitter. Fastball was a little more integrated. rated in this one, but it's been really good no matter what he's thrown. It's just 22, 491 ERA after the All-Star Break. 2023, 718, only seven starts because he got hurt.

2024, 481 ERA after the All-Star Break. It's just, it always comes off the rails for Nathan Avaldi. And that makes a rest of season ranking hard. So I'm going to say 35-ish. but that's like top 20 until July and then maybe not rosterable after that that's been the trend for him

I think that's a prudent way to rank pitchers like Avaldi though and I've mentioned this with other pitchers that have dealt with injury right if you think he's a top 20 pitcher on a per star basis but has elevated injury risk then you have to knock him back a little bit for that and as a result I think yeah probably top 36

top 30 maybe you can get them inside your top 30 starting pitchers but I do think Avaldi is close to that, and he's been a huge win so far. The thing is, it's hard to do that in the moment. It's hard to watch Nathan Avaldi or Tyler Glassnow or Blake Snell, frankly,

when things are going well and say, yeah, but he's not a top 20, like top 10, whatever. Like, it's hard to say that because like it feels dumb. Like when Tyler Glass now is healthy and pitching well,

he's a top 12 pitcher in baseball. And so it's, are you right? ranking right now or are you ranking rest of season? Those are different questions. And I think Nathan Evaldi right now, I probably can't name more than 20 pitchers. I'd rather start than him. That doesn't mean there are there aren't more than 30 pitchers. I'd rather have the rest of the way too. Let's talk about Zach Gallen, who apparently just loves facing New York teams. Seven innings, one run, six strikeouts here. Only eight whiffs on 101 pitches, though. You know, he's got a quality

starting four of eight outings. I mean, three of his best starts have been against the Yankees and now two in a row against the Mets. It's just so weird that he struggles so much to throw strikes. I mean, this has been an ongoing issue for so long now for Zach Allen. What do you have, Gallen? What do you think in the rest of season for him? I think he has remained in like the 30-ish range

at SP. I don't know. He's kind of an enigma because he, like you said, the command has been bad for, I mean, really, like the last four months of pitching that we've seen from him, basically since he came back from that hamstring injury last year, the control has been pretty bad.

The curveball looks really good, though. He's got 42% width rate. The change up 37%. Like maybe it's just, maybe he needs to go with that Nathan Avaldi approach and start fading that force seamer a little more because it's not like it's helping him avoid walks anyway. That might be the case with Zach Allen.

I'll say top 40 starting pitcher for Gowan, and I, in a vacuum, I think I would rather have a Valdi. It's close. Gallin just feels like such a safer bet to stay healthy. But I can't argue with you. Like, I think that's a really tough one, because when things turn for Avaldi, you could also just drop him

and find a replacement pitcher who helps you out and maybe you hit something really good. So I don't know. I'd rather have Gallen, but I can see that. What about Seth Lugo, who turned in a quality start against the White Sox? He has four quality starts in a row, and during that stretch, a 198 ERA, a 0.95 whip,

21 strikeouts over 27 in a third innings Chris Seth Lugo blank SP rest of season buddy I have no idea I cannot figure out Seth Lugo like his strikeout rate is even lower than it was last year and his walk rate is even higher than it was last year

and he's been the same guy like his ERA is now lower than it was last season his whip is almost identical the normal rules do not seem to apply to Seth Lugo. And at some point, I think it will catch up to him. But I've been saying that for a year now. And it has not come true. So I have no idea with Seth Lugo.

Like I am open to the idea that these guys who throw 15 different pitches, that's an exaggeration, but only a slight one for Seth Lugo, who throws 10 different pitches. Yeah. that there is something about that that just befuddles hitters and can't be, we can't use the normal rules to judge them. But like that's what XERA is supposed to account for. Like if Seth Lugo is generating so many weak swings because hitters are not sure what's coming

and they're just guessing and they're flailing, you would expect that to lead to weak contact, and that should be captured an XERA, and he has a one-run gap between his XERA and his ERA. So I will continue to say Seth Lugo is more like a top 40 starting pitcher, even though he has spent the last year-plus pitching like a top-15 starting pitcher. Yeah, I would have him even lower. I think it's more like a top-50 starting pitcher.

I still think this is the sell-high window on Lugo. Yeah. I totally hear what you're saying. maybe he is just, because of all those pitches, he just kind of defies the metrics that we normally look at it. It's totally a possibility for him, but... But it's just, you would think that would lead to a lot

of weak contact. Yeah. Like, that would be the way it would work out. He still gave up nine hard hits against the White Sox today, you know? It's just, I don't know. Maybe Seth Lugo will just keep making this look silly. Did you watch the end of that game? Oh my gosh.

The White Sox blew that game in the dumbest way I've ever seen a team lose a game. It's like the bad news, bears. It's no joke. It was a pop-up on the infield that hit him on the head, directly on the head. And then I think the next play is like hit right at the shortstop and he bobbles it and can't get the, it was just. Oh, my goodness. It's rough.

It is rough. They're somehow harder to watch this year than they were last year. Maybe because they actually have like decent pitching this year. Jeez. Yeah. It was a rough one. Tony Gonsolin, not a rough one. Solid.

At the Marlins again, five innings, two runs, eight strikeouts, 18 whiffs on 82 pitches. Velocity way up in this one. Tony Gonsolin, top blank SP rest of season. We'll say 60 for now. That's off the top of my head. I don't actually, where did I move him when I updated last week?

Yeah, not anywhere close to that. So I'll let's eyeball it. Tyler Malley or Tyler Gonsolin. I think 60 is a good number. Yeah, I think I'd rather have, here's one, here's one. Tony Gonsolin or Brandon fought. You're the fought guy. Yeah, and we saw a regression start last time out,

and he faces the Dodgers this week, so probably more regression coming. I would take Gonson. Yeah, I'm thinking tops. I think there's more swing and miss, and he's on a better team. Gonslin or Gavin Williams. Gonsland. Gonsland or Roki Sasaki. Ooh. Hmm. That is close. I won't rank it this way.

Head, head says Gonsolin, right? I won't rank it this way, but yeah, like, I'd rather start Gonsolin right now than Rue Sasaki. You haven't seen two starts from Sasaki as good as the only two starts we've seen from Gonson. You haven't seen one start from Sasaki, frankly, as good as anything we've seen from Gonson so far now. It's two starts against the Marlin. Let's see what he does against a better team. Yeah. But yeah, I'm thinking top 60, yeah.

And last one here is Drew Raspison, who has struggled a bit recently. Last three starts of 628 ERA, a 140 whip under a strikeout per inning. He has not completed six innings all season. What about Drew Rasperson, Chris, a top blank SP rest of season? Yeah, he's a tough one because it feels like it should be an upside case. But if he's never or if he's rarely going to throw six innings, is there that much difference between him and like Griffin Canning? I think Rasmussen's probably better.

Yeah. But the strikeouts have been weirdly hit or miss, especially lately. I think Rasmussen is more like a top 75 pitcher. I think that's fair. All right, let's jump around a little bit here to wrap up some leftovers. I had a hay real quick,

but it would have to be really, really quick. Jackson Trio, Two for four with his third stolen base of the season. I wanted to ask what's going on. And then I dug it, like, the numbers actually look okay. It's just, he's not walking at all. He has two walks this season, and the quality of contact is down. So I kind of think maybe Trio's just going to be a perennial slow starter.

It's too early to say that, but I don't know. That's kind of my lean for now. And it's not even that terrible to start. I mostly agree with it. The lack of steals has been disappointing again, because I thought that they would let him go. And he has five attempts in 36 games. So that would come out to,

it's still only around 30 steel, 30 steel attempts, which is right around what he was last year. So you'd like to see more than that. I think half jokingly, maybe some meditation. He seems like he's an incredibly aggressive hitter. And I think it's to his own detriment. He swings at the first pitch,

50% of the time. League average is 30% of the time. He's swinging overall at 60% of pitches. Last year, it was 49%. And he's their leadoff hitter. Yeah, like, just calm down, buddy. It's okay. Yeah.

But I'll bet on the talent with a player like Jackson Holiday. We saw first round upside from him as a 20-year-old. I'm not going to even think about jumping ship after a month here. Pablo Lopez was great against the Orioles, five innings. one run, 11 strikeouts, 18 whiffs on 98 pitches here. Fastball was incredible. The curve ball's been really good this season.

It's two and runs or fewer in all six starts. He's getting a lot of ground balls as well. So especially the ground balls, I like what Pablo Lopez is doing because he does struggle with like home runs at times and just these blow-up starts. But getting more ground balls, maybe that can help mitigate things

for Pablo this season. It looks like he's putting it all together. But we've seen flashes from Pablo before. Then he goes on these month-long stretches with five plus ERA. So I don't want to

say he's putting it all together but he's... It does look like it though. Yes. This is what Pablo Lopez looks like when things are going well. It's just he rarely does this for more than a couple of months at a time.

Anything going on with Paul Skeens who took a tough luck loss at the Cardinals six innings, two runs, four walks, six strikeouts, had 13 whiffs on 102 pitches, only through 59% of his pitches for strikes. When you pair that with 11 hard hits allowed, you're almost never going to wind up with a win.

And he didn't even pitch that poorly. It was six innings two runs. But, you know, just the walks in hard hits allowed, it's a bad combination here. Yeah, I mean, the hard hits today weren't great, but his expected Wobah entering this start was on contact was super low. And since he entered the majors, only three pitchers have a lower expected Wobah on contact than Paul Skeen's. He has the 18th lowest walk rate among 73 starters in that same span.

I think it's just a bump in the road. The strikeout rate has been low this season. He has a lower strikeout rate now than Chris Bassett, which is not what we expected. I don't know what the odds you could have gotten on that coming in. still 12.6% swinging strike rate the biggest thing he seems to have be having a little trouble putting hitters away

I wrote about this on CBSports.com but the stuff still looks awesome the overall swinging strike rate and whiff rates all look really good I think he's going to be fine he's I mean he's got like a 270 ERA so he already is fine but I think the strikeout rate is going to

shoot back up to 30%. I don't have any concerns about the walk rate. He did lower his arm slot on purpose this year. You know, maybe he's just dealing with a little bit of inconsistency as a result of that. I don't know. But my level of concern for Paul Skeins is extremely low. I do believe that Lance Brzeowski put out a video talking about that exact thing and that pitchers might be lowering their arm slots to,

avoid injury. But I didn't actually watch the video. So I do want to check that out. I've seen some suggestion of that. There was a piece in baseball prospectus about a similar topic. I think last week. If it keeps guys a little healthier, that's a great thing.

But it's also tough. Is a guy lowering his arm slot on purpose? Is he lowering his arm slot to account to account for some kind of underlying issue? it's impossible to say. I don't think there's anything going on with Paul Skeens. I would still bet on hit. He's still my number 3 SP. I have not moved him down.

So I'm not too concerned. We are getting lots of questions about Nick Kurt so far, who went 0 for 2 with another strikeout here. He is batting 262, zero homers. 39% strikeout rate. The zone contact is bad. The swinging strike rate is very high. He is hitting the ball hard so far.

it's a lot of line drives, zero barrels. Obviously, that would explain the zero home run so far. I know people probably don't want to hear this, especially if they spent a lot of fab to get Nick Kurtz, but he kind of feels like someone that you keep on the bench because we think that he has huge upside and obviously big raw power. But I think it might take a little bit of time for him to tap into that.

Yes, the problem is, well, I guess the problem is, well I guess the problem is how much do the A's take their you know decent start to the season seriously they are 20 and 16 or they were that's pretty good they're 20 and 17 I guess they lost today right so they're 20 and 17 they're second in the division they're within a two games I think or three games of the division lead do they actually think this is their chance to make a playoff run or are they intend to just see what happens. If they think that they are, that they actually have a real shot and they,

they want to go for it, I think there's real playing time risk for Nick Kurtz because this is the worst defense in baseball. I think by every metric that I've seen, outs above average, UZR, whatever you want to pick, I have seen that the A's have been the worst defense in baseball, which makes sense. Tyler Soderstrom is playing a lot of outfield for them right now. And when he's not, Brent Rooker is.

It's going to be a problem. And so, you know, if Kurtz doesn't get going quickly, I do think there's risk of being sent back down. I'm not cutting him until that happens, though. I'll sit them on my bench. They're minus 23 run differential. They're expected wins loss. I never saw this before.

This is something they have on MLB.com. Expected win loss is 16 and 21, so they have overperformed so far. interesting we'll see some other leftovers here studs being studs among starting pitchers Zach Wheeler seven innings two runs nine strikeouts against

the raise Michael King turned in a quality start in his return to Yankee Stadium six innings two runs only two strikeouts here but he has been money 222 ERA and a point 99 whip Chris anything on Wheeler and Michael King and these guys are awesome

all right hitting leftovers James Wood continues to match Hit his 10th home run in game one of their doubleheader, and it went to the pull side. How about that? Kyle Schwaburber had himself a huge game, three for four with a sock and a shoe, his 12th home run, his third steal.

Nick Castiano's just doing his thing, three for five with his fourth home run. Shohei Otani became the first player to go 1010, and he is currently on pace to go 4747. So if you thought he had no chance to go 50-50 again, I don't know. He might just prove us all wrong. Yeah.

I mean, we'll see what happens when they start trying to have him pitch, which I don't know when that's going to happen anyway. But yeah, he's been pretty bonkers so far. It is so crazy to me that he has 38 runs scored and 15 RBI. Like the bottom of the Dodgers lineup has been so bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's disappointing. But what is that? 53 combined runs in 30-something games.

You'll take that. That's pretty good. Yeah, I think I saw he's on pace for like 170 run score. That sounds about right, yeah. It's like 70 RBI or something like that. You know, it's crazy. Freddie Freeman will not stop two for four with his eighth home run. He has four homers in his past six games.

Jung Hu Lee continues his strong start, three for six with his fourth homer. He's batting 312 with an 871 on base. Nope, 871 OPS on pace would be insane. Elliot Ramos is coming around. his last nine games hitting 375 with two home runs and one steel. And I did want to mention, give a shout out to George Springer, who continues to hit here. I don't have the box score pulled up, but I believe he hit another. True for four with a home run and two RBI and a run scored.

What do we got? 960 OPS now. Wow, look at that, man. Fountain of Youth for George Springer. How about that? A couple of things had? I don't quite get it. all of a sudden at 35 he's putting together

not just the best numbers, but the best underlying numbers that we've seen from him in a long time. It's expected well, was 458 on contact. That's his highest mark since 2018. Wow. That's a long time.

Him and I were both in our 20s the last time he hit the ball this well. I didn't even work here. I have no idea if he can keep this up. but the underlying data is backing up what he's doing, which is perhaps more impressive than the actual numbers. Everything looks great for him. His average exit velocity is up five miles per hour.

And it's not like there's his bat speeds up a little bit, but I don't really understand. Like he hasn't made a huge change to his swing. He's raised the launch angle. That's a huge change. He's gone from a 50, 51% ground ball rate to 20, So it's a lot of fly balls, lots of line drives. The expected stats are awesome, man.

If you drafted George Sprier just on a whim in a five outfield or league. It's looking great. Yeah, you might have found something here in his age 35 season. Crazy. Call to the bullpen for the nationals in game one of their doubleheader. Kyle Finnegan picked up his 12th save and that is tied for second in all baseball. For the Reds, Emilio Pagan got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He promptly gave up a run.

on a hit and a walk, took his second blown save, and the Reds wound up losing in extra innings. The White Sox, I mean, we mentioned some of it, but somebody named... Disaster.

Cam Booser came on for the save. It was just a disaster. Chase my draw, a pop-up, just hit him on the top of the head. It was crazy. The White Sox have one saved this season. Well, that's because they keep blowing people out. Yeah, it just, like,

their run differential is oddly similar to the A's so far this season. Well, it's because I don't know if it's changed. But as of like five days ago, I saw a graphic that the White Sox and Cubs were tied for the most wins of at least seven runs this season with like six. Wow. Like they've only won by blowout margins. I don't have any clue why that's happening. That's baseball, Susan.

For the Brewers, Trevor McGill struck out one for his fourth save. and for the Cardinals, basically their entire bullpen was unavailable, Gordon Grecepho picked up his first career save. To stream or not to stream on Wednesday,

we have Gunner Hoagland going up against the Mariners, Tanner Hauke is home against the Rangers, Michael Waka home against the White Sox, Ben Brown home against the Giants. What do you think? I do want to see,

did I start Halk in the one league? I had one league where I hadn't dropped him yet. I did start him. Okay. The Rangers lineup outside of today has been terrible. They've been one of the worst lineups in baseball. That's another thing I wrote about on CBSports.com today that just not a lot to feel good about with that lineup either.

Like the underlying numbers don't really suggest that there's anyone like Adoles Garcia's had some bad luck. Corey Seeger has some bad luck, but they've also had a couple of guys with similar good luck. I think that's a pretty good matchup. I think 2023 is the outlier, especially the Rangers are old. For a team that kind of came out of nowhere very quickly, they're the fourth oldest lineup in baseball. Behind like the Braves, Dodgers, and Yankees maybe. I don't know who the other one was.

But what if Brett Boone gets them back on track, Chris? I mean, maybe. Maybe that'll happen. I don't know what, you know. Not going to say it. All right. Tanner Halk, I'll start Tanner Halk after the Velocie was up last time. against a good matchup.

I think, yeah, Waka is the top of the list, but if I had to choose, if I had to choose two others, I think I would go Gunner Hoagland and then probably Tanner Hock after that. But I would say I wouldn't want to choose two others just because I don't want to start Gunner Hoagland against the Mariners.

Mariners lineups actually good. Yeah. For on Thursday, some options. We have Jack Leiter at the Red Sox, Brian Beaux, home against the Rangers, and Jose Soriano, home against the Blue Jays. I don't really love these options either.

I could see Bayo having a good start, but I don't trust him yet. Yeah, that's the one I was looking at too. Soriano's similar thing. It's lots of hard contact, but a lot of it is on the ground. So if you need anything on Thursday, I would go Bayo or Soriano.

Lighter hasn't looked good in Fenway. That's a tough spot to pitch. So I would stay away from Jack Leiter there. We are going to wrap there for Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify,

and we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. Paramount Podcasts.