Fantasy Baseball Today - Logan Henderson Legit, Who's Hot, Who's Not & More! (5/21 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 21, 2025

Logan Henderson looks legit (2:30)! ... Will Warren is on a roll (8:36). ... Yoshinobu Yamamoto took a no-hitter into the 7th (15:02). ... Spencer Strider struggled in his return (16:32). ... Sell-high on Jesus Luzardo (23:05)? ... News (27:04): Ohtani the pitcher remains without a timetable. ... Nick Martinez and Jameson Taillon have been solid (35:00). ... Sal Frelick and Rhys Hoskins have been hitting well (38:58). ... Who's hot and who's not in May (47:22)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (57:27). 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. Hey there. Welcome in Tough Fantasy Baseball today on Wednesday, May 21st.

I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Chris Towers. Today on the show, who's hot and who's not? Spencer Strider struggled in his return. All the young fun pitchers came through, so that was pretty cool. And much more. Let's jump in. All right, Chris, let's start with some of those young, fun pitchers. They pretty much all came through here on Tuesday, and you are up first.

Yeah, I mean, look, we could talk about Ryan Weathers, we could talk about Hayden Bird's song, but I think Logan Henderson might be the most interesting of all of them. He had another excellent start. Only five innings this time, which has been two out of the three starts, but 20 swinging strikes against the Orioles. That's the third most for any pitcher against them this season. Seven strikeouts over those five innings. He now has 25 strikeouts to four walks.

And I believe 16 innings of work in his major league career. The change-up continues to look awesome. The four-seamer continues. to just generate excellent results. Nine whiffs on 22 swings today, despite well below average velocity, 93.3 miles per hour, but he elevates that four seamer really well.

He tunnels it really well with the change up. Everything looks really good. Even the cutter today got three swings and misses and a bunch of weak contact and foul balls. So that was a nice surprise, and it's just, everything's rolling for Logan Henderson right now. It's one of those ones where, you know,

you look at the minor league track record and it doesn't quite look sustainable, but he was someone who started to get a little bit of hype, you know, towards the end of last season. And then I know fan graphs, I want to say they moved him into their top 100 prospects entering the season after spring training. and I don't know.

Logan Henderson certainly must roster in any format right now, right? Yeah, I think absolutely. And he's up to 73% rostered. He's at the Pirates later this week, at the Phillies next week. I'm not so sure that the matchups matter right now just because he's so new to the league. And this fastball change of combination is just deadly for Logan Henderson. I brought this up to Scott last week.

Can he succeed with most? just two pitches and the answer might be yes when your fastball is that deceptive and he's got that vertical approach angle and it's great IVB on that pitch and obviously the changeup is awesome and you brought up the cutter I mean maybe he has a legit third pitch he just hasn't really needed it too much yet and that cutter did look really good for Logan Henderson here so 73% rostered I do think that number needs to climb up let's figure out who we can drop for Logan Henderson. The name we brought up a lot recently, Shane Boz, Chris.

Would you drop Shane Boz for Logan Henderson? I would hope you have a less interesting pitcher than Shane Boss, just because Enoshares had a really good piece on the athletic today, I think, talking about the pitchers, the young pitchers with the biggest gap between their

stuff ratings and their actual results. And it's not a case where I think Shane Boss is getting unlucky. His command has been bad. He's leaving way too many sliders middle middle, way too many four seamers middle. But I still think there's clearly

a very talented pitcher there. So I don't know if you were going to ask about Max Meyer. I would also say I hope I have a less interesting pitcher. Like I would much rather drop pitchers who are getting better results, but who I don't think are as good

as those guys. Nick Martinez, I know he had a good start today. That's one ones that came to mind, but that kind of pitcher where they're useful, but they're never much more than useful, I think Shane Boz can be more than useful. You know, kind of, I don't know, innings eater types, Sagano, Mitch Keller. I mean, even Dustin May, I think kind of falls into that category. Yeah.

You could drop those names. I've been the biggest hold on to Sandy Alcantra guy. I think I'd rather have Logan Henderson right now. maybe not in the long run like maybe that ends up being an overreaction in both directions but Sandy doesn't look close to useful right now Henderson looks extremely useful right now

so again while I would prefer to hang on to Sandy I'm not opposed to letting him go for Logan Henderson couple other names here what about Taj Bradley 75% rostered Bradley was another guy in that you know Sarah's piece it's kind of a similar thing

And also just that home park's making life a little tougher for Ray's pitchers. So again, I like Bradley. I think he's interesting. I would hope I don't have to drop him, but I think it's okay. I would do it. I feel more confident than that.

I mean, the boss thing, gosh, he's been so bad lately. I mean, I get that like the upside we saw earlier. And I still think he has pretty good stuff. That one is tough.

Gavin Williams, we've talked a lot about this year. Would you make that swap if you need to? Gavin, Williams is one guy who does look fairly close to figuring it out. Like since he's brought this cutter back in, things are starting to look a little better for him. His command has looked better. So I'd prefer not to drop him.

But I look at like, you say Kukuchi, fine with dropping him. Brandon fought probably fine dropping him. I know you may not agree with that one. I would be okay with that. I think there's Jose Burrios, fine dropping him. Those type of, you know, like probably not Jackson Job, just because I think there's still some upside there. But none of that is to say that I don't think Logan Henderson should be ranked higher than those guys.

And in my next rankings update, I would imagine Logan Henderson is probably going to be a top 60 pitcher and it's going to be ranked ahead of, he might be ranked ahead of Shane Boss. he'll probably be ranked ahead of Gavin Williams guys like that. It's just I hope you have someone less interesting than any of those guys on your roster. Well Chris let's continue on with some of

these pitchers here and talk about I'll put on, I don't have a Yankee hat on right now but let's just imagine I do and we'll do the Homer thing and talk about Will Warren who I don't know man looks pretty good here. Five and two third shutout innings a career high 10 strikeouts, 13 whiffs

on 1001 pitches, six of those came on the sweeper, five on the fastball, two on the curve. He had seemingly everything working in this start. I will mention that this Rangers lineup is really bad, and they just look absolutely lost. He just will warrant dominated them. But they're not the only team that he's dominated. His last three starts, it's a 150 ERA, a 0.89 whip.

26 strikeouts to just three walks. Over 18 innings pitched, 66% rostered. He's at Colorado later this week. So for the two-star week, you picked him up. I think you're going to ride it out and stick with him here. At the Dodgers next week, I don't think you want to start him for that one. But, you know, again, if you picked him up for the two starts, Chris, you might have stumbled on to something here with Will Warren.

Yeah, I mean, it's a 405 ERA for the season. Okay, that's not great. But strikeout rate pretty close to 30% now. Walk rate, not great, but not terrible. It's in like the 9% range. His FIP is 286. that that's that's the one that really stands out now his xer a entering the start was significantly worse uh his quality of contact has not been great but yeah well warren is looking really

interesting right now i would rank him behind weathers and and henderson but will warren versus hayden bird song another guy we're pretty excited about i think it's pretty close and i think we've got more projectable evidence of will warren right now. Just because his success has actually come as a starter, Hayden Birdsong has not done that yet. Yeah.

Man, that is a close one. I like Birdsong a lot too, who in his return to the rotation, five innings, one unearned run, four strikeouts, 11 whiffs on 80 pitches through 68% of his pitches

for strikes, which is so key for Hayden Birdsong, who has struggled with control so far in his major league career. All the secondary pitches look really, really good for Birdsong. You know, in a points league, Chris,

I might go with Birdsong just because he's a spark. Anywhere else, I might lean Will Warren. I think that's fair. Yeah, I think that's reasonable. Let's bring up the other name here as well. Ryan Weathers, who was solid again against the Cubs, five innings, one run, four strikeouts, 11 whiffs on 80 pitches for him.

Only three hard hits allowed in this one through a lot more changeups because there were so many right-hand bats in the lineup for the Cubs here. But pretty much spot on with his first outing. fastball looked great. Velocity was there, 18 inches of induced vertical brake.

So, Weather's looks very good so far, and he's only 59% roster day. I think he's lagging a little bit behind because A, he didn't have two starts this week, and B, he pitches for the Marlins. But if we're just kind of reshuffling the deck here,

let's rank these four, Henderson, Weathers, Birdsong, Will Warren, how are you doing that? I think Henderson versus Warren is very close. or sorry, Henderson versus Weathers is really close right now. I think Weathers is the better pitcher or certainly the more talented pitcher.

Deeper Arsenal, better fastball. He's got that third pitch that weather or completely, wow, my brain, Logan Henderson, that Logan Henderson's been lacking. Maybe that cutter can be it for him, but Henderson's got the better situation, certainly. You know, the Brewers are a more competitive team. So I think it's really close.

tend to just favor talent over everything else. And that's where I think Weathers wins out. But it's really close. And I think both should be 100% rostered. I don't know if I'm ready to say Will Warren and Hayden Birdsong need to be 100% rostered. But I'll go Warren ahead of Birdsong. But the argument for Warren in points leagues is fair.

Yeah, I think it's a complete coin flip between Weathers and Logan Henderson, which people might not want to hear if you want our actual answer. I lean Weathers as well, but it's razor thin. So if someone else out there wants to go with Henderson, I have no problems doing that over a Ryan Weathers. All right, let's take our first break before we do that. Just a reminder to sign up for the FBT newsletter. If you haven't already, if you're watching on YouTube,

scan the QR code in the top right corner. That will take you right to the website where you can sign up for free and get a newsletter delivered right to your email inbox every weekday of the season. Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today. Before we get to news and notes, I do just want to quickly run through some other notable pitching performances from Tuesday's action.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the debacks. He wound up throwing seven shutout, one hit, two walks, nine strikeouts. And what's crazy, Chris, is that Yamamoto didn't even have a splitter working in the start and still took a no-hitter into the seventh. Yeah, that was really impressive. He was able to lean really heavily on the curveball and made it work. He's really good.

There's not a ton to say here because he's been awesome. The only thing is just he's getting the de Grom treatment from his teammates. I think they've scored 14 runs in his nine starts so far this season. And Taylor Scott blew his win in the ninth inning too. Yep. Yep, and the Diamondbacks are currently up, 3-1, heading into the bottom of the 10th. So, yeah, Dodgers' offense, deciding not to show up when Yamamoto is pitching. That's been frustrating, but I don't think it matters.

He's good at everything. Yeah. He's got a great team behind him. He gets strikeouts. He limits walks. He gets ground balls. Just stay healthy. Yeah.

Just avoid the shoulder issue from last year. And I think Yamamoto is going to be one of the 10 or so best pitchers in the game. the majors. Yeah, I think he's part of a clear top seven with Cole Reagan's hurt. Maybe that's a top six if you move Reagan's down a little bit, but some combination of scubel, Wheeler, Skeens, Chris Sale, Crochet, Yamamoto there up at the top. Let's talk about Spencer Strider, not too hot in his return at the Nationals. Four and a third, six hits, four runs allowed, only three strikeouts, had nine wits on 75 pitches. A problem here, he just gave up a lot of loud contact. Not in terms of volume, how many hits he gave up, it was only five hard hits,

but 94.7 average exit velocity against. And if you look at the velocity on the fastball, which has been a big talking point, he averaged 95 miles per hour on that pitch in this outing. It was 95.4 in his first start. Last year was 96.3, and the year before that was 97.2. So kind of just feels like we're living in this 95 mile per hour range with the fastball on Spencer Shreider, you know, for now. How good can he be with that? You know, that's probably the biggest question. But Chris, what did you see here from Shreider?

Yeah, so I did look at Strider's numbers in his career above and below 97 miles per hour. Because he maxed at 97.0 today. Remember, like you said, he averaged 97.2 in his last full season, 2023. So this is a significant drop off. And when he averaged on fastballs at 97 miles. per hour or above in his career, Spencer Strider has a 29.5% whiff rate and a 271 expected Wobah allowed. That's basically Hunter Brown's fastball last year. Hunter Brown had a 29.6 with rate and a 285X Wobo allowed. When Spencer Strider's fastball dips below 97 in his career, he has a 23.3% whiff rate and a

394 expected Wobah allowed. That's huge. Last year, Dean Kramer had a 207.5% 23.2% whiff rate with his foreseamer and a 373X Wobo allowed. Now, look, it's not that simple, right? Dean Kramer does not have Spencer Strider's slider. And they throw it from different arm slots.

And like, I still think a Spencer Strider averaging 95 miles per hour can probably be pretty good. But we have some concerns about how sustainable the inflated ERA from 2023 was.

Remember, he was by most of the metrics, the best pitcher in baseball, and then he had like a 380 ERA, if I'm remembering correctly. Was that just a one-time fluke? Or is there something about Spencer Strider that he's going to have inflated ERAs relative to his peripherals? Because then, if he's more of a 350,

FIP XERA, whatever peripheral you want to look at, and there's going to be some inflation, that starts to get a little worrisome because that could push the ERA closer to four. I don't know. I don't have a strong opinion on it. It was one season. It's unfortunate we didn't really get to see him after that.

But I think it's concerning. I think you have to be concerned just because a lot of people were drafting Spencer Strider as if he would just be Spencer Strider. after coming back. And one, that's not always a guarantee. Two, we have, we should have way left certainly about how Spencer Strider will recover from his surgery.

Then we do a typical Tommy John surgery. Just because we've never seen an elite, truly elite pitcher, come back from an internal brace procedure. So that's not to say he can't. back all the way, but it's to say that we are just in unknown territory, relatively speaking. And maybe it takes him a couple months. You know, Jacob de Grom came back at the end of last season. He wasn't bad in April, but he didn't look like Jacob de Grom.

In April, all of a sudden in May, he's averaging 98. He's getting a bunch of strikeouts and he looks more like himself. So it might just take a little while for Spencer Strider to figure it out. It might just take him a little while. like we saw a few more changes in curveballs in his first couple of starts. Maybe it's just figuring out the best way to make it work at 95. But all else being equal, more velocity is better and less velocity is worse. That's not to say Spencer Strider can't be good at 95 or that he can't get back to being a 96 plus mile an hour pitcher.

But he's not that right now. and so I do think you have to treat him as more of a top 20 pitcher with significant downside risk and some upside rather than the guy you hoped he would be, which was the best pitcher in baseball. I can't imagine the people who have waited on Spencer Strider this long are willing to sell low on him right now, but if there was any opportunity and someone was just freaking out about,

man, he just doesn't look like Spencer Strider. Would you be looking to buy right now? I would have trouble giving up a top 30 pitcher for him right now. So, like the one I was thinking was like Nathan Avaldi. Obviously, I think he's much more than the top 30 pitcher right now. It's just we've seen this play out enough times where things tend to go wrong for him at some point. So if I could get Spencer Strider for Nathan Avaldi, I think I would do that. but I wouldn't feel great about it,

which is a weird place to be. Yeah. What about Chris Bubich? That's another one I was thinking, where I'm not sure how the rest of the season's going to go. I'm really excited. I love what he's doing, but we've never seen him do it for a whole season.

So I think I would be okay with that, yeah. I'm not sure that I would do either of those first try to straight up. And maybe that is just like a very foolish statement. and it comes back to bite me. Someone I think I would, if you could pull it off, is Nick Povetta. I like what he's doing. I don't know that I completely buy everything

that we've seen thus far. Again, I don't know how realistic that is, but hey, you know, send an offer, see what happens. Luis Castillo? Yeah. 1,000. Who else do we bring up yesterday? Like, Nick Ladolo, if you can, like,

I doubt it. Maybe it's like... That's an easy one. Ladolo and a secondary piece or something like that, you know? Let's talk about this name. How about Jesus Lazzardo? Would you do that? Well, let's talk about what he just did

because he dominated the Rockies in course field. Six innings, one run, 10 strikeouts, 12 whiffs on 105 pitches. He has just been money. And we know when he's healthy, when that velocity is up over 96 miles per hour. This is what Jesus Lozardo is capable of. Obviously, adding in a new wipeout sweeper this season has helped.

But it is three earn runs or fewer in all 10 starts. two earned runs or fewer in nine of 10 starts, a 195 ERA, a 10K per nine. He's just been great, but there's also an injury history here, Chris. So, I mean, do you think Jesus Lazzardo is a sell high right now while he's healthy?

These are always the hardest ones to handle because if you treat it as an inevitability that Spencer Strider will get hurt, then yeah, I think he's obviously a Sallhaqq. Lazzardo. Luzardo. Then yes, he's obviously a Selle high candidate. But that's not actually how it works, despite the fact that it feels that way. It is not inevitable that guys will get hurt.

Okay, Tyler Glass now, it's probably inevitable he will get hurt at some point. But every other pitcher, like sometimes guys do stay healthy for almost entire seasons. Hazel Zazardo has even done that once before. He made 32 starts two years ago. So while he does have an extremely long injury history, shoulder, forearm, elbow, lots of issues. It's not a guarantee that he gets hurt. It's likely, but man, the performance just looks completely legit right now for

Hazers Lozardo. I think these are the hardest players in fantasy to rank. And I don't think I could give up Lizarta for Strider right now. Yeah, I think it's going to be too close. Like when I update the rankings on Wednesday, I think Lazzardo is kind of pushing top 24 starting pitchers. So right in a similar. range as Shrider right now.

And I totally get if someone wants to play it safe and sell high on Lazzardo while he's currently healthy. Don't do that for Spencer Strider. No, no, no, no, no.

Yeah, we're like that, that, because Spencer Strider is coming back from elbow surgery. 100%. And he already injured himself in his comeback. So, yeah,

I, I get it. But that, that would not be the move I would make. If your, if your concern is, injury risk. And personally, I wouldn't sell high on Jesus Lazzardo. I think this is, he's not true talent, 195 ERA, but if you look at some of the underlying numbers, a low three's

ERA with a 10K per nine, I think when he's healthy and right, that is the true talent level for Jesus Lazzardo. So, and I was a huge fan of him coming into the season. So maybe this is confirmation bias, but I would not personally be looking to sell high on Lazzardo right now. To be clear, I think this is the best version of Jesus Lazzardo we've ever seen, which is saying a lot because he had 210 strikeouts in 2023 with a 358 ERA. But, you know, we haven't talked a ton about the changes that Jesus Lazzardo has made because a lot of the focus has been on that fastball velocity, which has always been the key for him. But what he has done is introduced a new sweeper that is the same velocity as his slider,

but generates a lot more horizontal movement. And so now he's got a legitimate five pitch mix. You know, he's got a four seamer. He's got a sweeper. He's got a change up. He's got a slider and a sinker. Like it's looking really good. The slider, he can throw to righties,

but he also has that sweeper that's a much better pitch to get lefties out. It's just, Hazer Sazardo looks better than we've ever seen him in a way that looks sustainable until he gets hurt. Yeah, if he gets hurt, you know? Let's hope that doesn't happen. And let's get into the news and notes. Dave Roberts said,

Shoha O'Tani, the pitcher remains without a date to begin facing hitters. Look, the Dodgers are really slow playing this. I just wonder if maybe they kind of get it. They understand how valuable Otani is to them as a hitter, and they're just going to slow play this as long as they possibly can. And that makes sense. Dave Roberts also said that Tyler Glassnow could throw a bullpen later this week. He's currently on the IL with that shoulder injury.

Mike Trout told reporters that he won't require a minor league rehab assignment before being activated from the IL. Bryce Miller threw a bullpen on Tuesday his first time since going on the IL with shoulder inflammation. Dylan Cruz left early on Tuesday with back slash side tightness and we'll have an MRI. Before leaving, he did hit his seventh home run and that's back-to-back games with a home run for Dylan Cruz. so pretty unfortunate because it looks like he was coming around a little bit here, but now dealing with an injury as well. As a result of Dylan Cruz and Jacob Young being banged up,

the nationals are calling up outfield prospect Robert Hassel from AAA, and once upon a time a top 30 prospect entering the 2022 season, came over from the Padres in the Juan Soto trade, which feels like so long ago at this point. But Robert Hassel has struggled. past couple years. He's looked better this season, Chris. Any interest in adding Robert Hassel, or is this

a scout team situation for now? I think in almost every league, it's just a watch. You know, he's hitting the ball hard at AAA. He has cut his strikeout rate. He's running. There's some interesting stuff going on. He hits the ball on the ground way too much.

His minor league track record for the most part, especially since getting to AA is bad. like sub 660 OPS combined between AAA and AA bad. So I think the likeliest outcome is he's not great. If you're in a 15-team Roto League where 100 outfielders are rostered and you have a roster spot to play with, okay, see if you catch lightning in a bottle, but I think it's unlikely that Robert Hassel is going to do much.

All right, Ian Hap was activated and back in the lead-off spot for the Cubs. As expected, Moises by Astero. was option back to AAA. I do want to point out, though. I'm not saying they're going to cut Carson Kelly, but he has turned into a pumpkin since May. His expected Wobah in the month of May is like 270. They signed him to be a backup,

and he's always been a decent backup. So I don't think he's just going to get jettisoned out. But there could still be a chance for Moises by Estaris in the medium term, let's say. Speaking of the Cubs, they officially placed Porter Hodge on the aisle. Jacob Wilson left Tuesday after getting hit by a pitch on his left forearm. Walker Bueller was ejected for arguing balls and strikes. Colton Couser will begin a rehab assignment at High A on Wednesday.

He's been out since late March with a fractured left thumb. Parker Meadows began a rehab assignment at AAA on Tuesday, and he has been out since spring training with a nerve issue in his right arm. Chris, would you rather stash Parker Meadows or Coler? Colton Couser right now. Hmm. I think Meadows is better. And I would guess their timetables are pretty similar.

So I'll go with Meadows. Max Scherzer threw a 33 pitch bullpen on Tuesday. His previous two scheduled sessions were scrapped due to back tightness. Christian Campbell is not close to playing first base in games, but still kind of trying to learn it. And notable that Marcella Meyer, has been playing second base in the minors as well. So if they do make that switch within a couple of weeks

or whatever it might be, Campbell at first, then that might be the indication that Marcelo Meyer is close to getting called up. Or Roman Anthony, for that matter. The Astros option Colton Gordon back to AAA and selected the contract of Brandon Walter, who actually pitched pretty well. We'll talk about him a little bit later on.

The Rangers placed reliever Chris Martin on the aisle with right shoulder fatigue retroactive to May 19th. and the athletics placed J.T. Ginn back on the aisle with a right quad train. Just wanted to mention some prospect news. Travis Bezano, who was the number one overall picked by the Guardians last year, will be out eight to ten weeks with a right oblique strain. And look, if he's out ten weeks and it's May now, I mean, we're looking at, what, August at that point?

Early August at the earliest, yeah. I don't know if he's actually going to get called up this year by the Guardians. And he wasn't, he wasn't. He wasn't dominating AA to the level where you would think that he just gets called up after a couple of weeks when he gets back. So, yeah. Andrew Painter will start at AAA on Wednesday, and the plan is for him to get up to 75 pitches. I mean, the Phillies have such an interesting problem right now between, well, we'll see when Aranola gets back. But obviously they have Wheeler and they have Lazardo pitching well.

And, you know, Rander Suarez seems like a mainstay in that rotation as long as he's healthy. and, you know, McAbel looks great and painters coming. So life finds a way, but right now it's a pretty good problem. The Angels promoted second base prospect, Christian Moore,

to AAA, despite a poor showing at AA. Just kind of feels like an Angels thing, but I don't really know what to make of that, to be honest. Let's take our final break. One thing I wanted to look at with the Phillies, are any of their pitchers free agents

after this year? Ranger Suarez is, okay. So that, if they had a full rotation for next year, I could see maybe, yeah, maybe we just do Andrew Painter in the bullpen. But they're going to need the innings to get up there for him this year so that they can have him full go next year. So yeah, that'll be interesting. Life finds a way, though. Yes, it certainly does. Let's take our final break. When we return, we'll talk some waiver wire options. and who's hot, who's not. We'll do all of that right after this quick commercial break.

Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today. Taking a look at some Waverwire pitchers from Wednesday. We spoke about Henderson and Weathers, Birdsong, Will Warren. How about the non-hype guy starting pitchers here? Nick Martinez, a strong start at the Pirates, six innings, one run, three strikeouts, and in his last six starts, 196 ERA, 0.98 whip for Nick Martinez. control great during that stretch as well.

James and Tyone, solid outing at the Marlins, seven innings, one run. More walks and strikeouts, though. Three walks to two strikeouts. Chris, any interest here in Nick Martinez and James and Tyone? They're guys. I don't think there's any upside with either of them. And for the most part, they're just as good as their next matchups,

which in Tyone's case are the Rockies and Reds. at home. Yeah. Which that's actually, Riggly's not a great place to pitch, but it's a better place to pitch than Colorado or Cincinnati. So,

yeah, I think James and Tion is a perfectly fine pickup for next week. Although he's already 75% rostered, so there's not a ton of leagues where he's available. Martinez at Casey at Chicago next week. That's okay. I'm not rushing out to add him, though. Yeah.

Anywhere available in points leagues, obviously a spark and he's pitching well right now. Yeah, both guys in the right matchups. Two start weeks next week, fine. But obviously not taking those two over any of the names we mentioned earlier. Some deep league names, Bailey Falter, has been on a role for the Pirates.

Seven shutout innings with five strikeouts here. And four starts in May, a 0.38 ERA and a 0.85 whip for Bailey Fulter. Somebody named Brandon Walter, who I mentioned recently, pitched well for the Astros. Tampa Bay, five shutout with five strikeouts for him. And Adrian Houser is now on the White Sox, and he pitched well in his debut.

Six shotout innings, three walks, two strikeouts. I think we kind of know who Adrian Houser is, but his velocity was up like two miles per hour on almost all of his pitches. And the last time he averaged 94 miles per hour on his sinker was 2019. and that season he had a 372 ERA and over a strikeout per inning. So I don't know. Maybe there's a chance in like AL only leagues

Adrian Houser is a name. But Chris, any interest in any of these three? Falter, Brandon Walter, and I wish Adrian Houser's name rhymed with Walter or Falter, but it doesn't. Falter is versus Milwaukee at San Diego. The next two starts. Milwaukee could be okay, but...

Yeah, that was like it's not terrible, but I don't see much. Like, he's getting by by limiting hard contact right now. And that's really all he's doing well. His strikeout rate is bad. His walk rate is not great. And that is really tough to bet on. Like, he has a 371 XERA entering this start.

So it's not like it's a fluke. He is generating the soft contact. It's just that's really hard to sustain if you're not good at other things. And I don't think Bailey Fulter is particularly good at other things. So none of these guys are particularly high priorities. Houser, the velocity being up is somewhat interesting. But if there was, I don't know, maybe there's a little bit of an appeal to authority here. I just feel like if Adrian Houser was good, he wouldn't have had to wait until the white socks were desperate for pitching in May to sign.

you know, so that I have a hard time getting excited about that, but sure, AL only leagues, yeah, I'll be putting an offer in on him in my AL only league. All right. What about some waiver wire hitters? Big game for Sal Freelik, who went one for two

with two walks, a sock and a shoe, his third home run, his ninth steel, and, you know, hitting the ball harder this year, it's still not hard by league standards, but it's hard for Sal Freelik. 88th percentile sprint speed, so we're really just hoping that he runs a bunch. But 48% rostered, Chris,

you think that number needs to be much higher for South Freelik? I don't think so, because I would guess he's rostered in basically every category's league and then some points leagues on CBS. And while his skill set should be better suited for points leagues, he pretty consistently hits the bottom of the lineup, runs an RBI, not going to be a big thing for him.

So I just, I think there's only so much upside here. I think he's a decent player, but yeah. We spoke about Austin Hayes and Taylor Ward yesterday. I would rather have both of those guys over Freelick, but what do you think? Absolutely. Yeah.

What about Rees Hoskins, who continues to impress two for four with his sixth home run? You like the batting average. You like the OPS. You also like to see more power, from Reese Hoskins, you know, only six home runs. I'm not going to complain again. Like the OPS is well over, it's like over 850s.

He's been great. And still only 66% rostered. I know there's been so many first baseman, but it feels like that number should be higher, Chris. It should be. He's hitting the ball hard. He's hitting the ball in the air. His strikeout rate is lower than it's been in a few years.

Actually, lower than it's ever been since his rookie season. Yeah. So, yeah, I think Reese Hoskins, is probably under rostered. It's just that there just are not a lot of teams that need a first baseman right now. But he has, he didn't hit any home runs until April 15th. So it was, I don't know, 15 games until he hit home runs.

So the pace when you look at it that way looks a little better. It's probably still only right around a 25 homer pace, maybe a 30 homer pace. But he's hitting better. since that really slow start. So I do think Reese Hoskins is under-rastered. Yeah, some names that are rostered in more leagues than Hoskins right now

that I would drop for him straight up. Wilmer Flores, Michael Bush. I like Bush to player, but not playing against lefties is just a huge detriment on his value. And, you know, Yandy Diaz, Chris, is a name we haven't talked about at all, but he's not really doing exactly what we want.

He's not providing big batting average or big OBP. He's, you know, he's been okay, but he's still 87%. Like, yeah, I would drop Yandy Diaz to pick up Reese Hoskins. Yanni Diaz's underlying numbers do look much better than his actual production. He has a 288 expected batting average, 453 expected Wobah, or sorry, expected slugging percentage. still hits the ball on the ground way too much. So it's only ever going to be so much power. But it's tough because he's better in points leagues.

And that is where more of the CBS leagues are. But I feel like Hoskins is so good in that format too, right? It's it walks so much. The K rate is down. He's not as good as Diaz in terms of like the skill set. Diaz is really specially suited for points leagues. But Hoskins might just be better. Yeah.

All right, let's move on to Gabriel Moreno, who looks like he's coming around. He went one for three with his third home run. That's back-to-back games with a home run for him. And we were talking beforehand, Chris. I think he said he's hitting like $3.50 in his past eight games and has all three of his home runs during that stretch. 40% rostered. Like, I don't think he's out there in any two catcher leagues. And we've talked a lot about one catcher leagues recently.

I just, I don't know. I mean, it kind of goes 16, 17 deep before I'm thinking about Gabriel Moreno. know? Yeah, I mean, that's kind of the problem is he, he's been a fringe number one catcher in the past, but that's kind of by default, because we, we've always made the joke that if you have a pulse, you are fantasy relevant at catcher. If you have a pulse and own a catcher's mitt, I guess is the better way to put it. That's not really the case anymore. Catchers on the whole are league average hitters right now. It's a weird position though, because like, The top is filled with underperformers, and it would have this kind of middle glob that's actually been really good.

But there have been eight catchers who currently qualify for the batting title, have enough played appearances, and are at least a 100 OPS plus. The most that has been in the past 50 years is nine. So this is the second most. Obviously, it's only May. And that doesn't include Augustine Ramirez, Drake Baldwin, uh, Dahl. Alton rushing, Yvonne Herrera, none of those guys qualify. It would be even higher if they did. So I wrote about this on CBSSports.com ranking the nine biggest breakouts of catcher.

The one thing I will say is, I think I already mentioned it, but Carson Kelly is 69% rostered right now. That's 60% too high. I think we're done. He had a great month His numbers in May Are horrible The underlying numbers are back to being very bad I think

If you're in one of those leagues Where Gabriam Moreno is available And you have Carson Kelly Drop Carson Kelly and pick up Gabrielle What about Chase Midroth Who is doing some things lately Two for Four with his seventh steal And in his last seven games

He's hitting 407 with one home run Six runs, six steals Six runs, excuse me And four steals and overall, I mean, 295, 380 on base, he's pretty much doing what we expected here, Chris. I mean, he's hitting for batting errors,

he's getting on base, he's, you know, showing some sneaky speed right now. 17% rostered for Midroth. You know, in leagues that have a middle infield spot, I feel like this number should be a little bit higher, maybe double, like up to like 30, 40%, you know. Is he both shortstop and second base eligible as well?

Yes, yes. So that helps, a little flexibility there. the problem is, and this is, there are always players like this. I think Sal Freelix is another example where the skill set is more well suited for points. Yeah. But that's the shallower format.

And there's just, there's no way Chase Midroth is a top 12 shortstop or second baseman. No, no, no, no. That's where you run into problems. But the speed is surprising because he was always the kind of prospect. Like when he got traded to the White Sox, And you look at his numbers and it's like, well, there's some interesting stuff here. Like he makes a lot of contact and he draws a lot of walks.

And the whole thing would be pretty interesting if he stole 25 bases. And I think his career high in the minors is 13 or something like that. So that's where you run into, it's hard to get excited about Chase Midroth. But if he's going to keep running like this, then yeah, I think he can be at least in 15 team leagues pretty interesting for Roto. I do want to quickly pull up the White Sox team stats because I feel like they have been really aggressive on the bases this year. And because I know Luis Robert has stolen a bunch. So the White Sox are 14th in steals right now. I thought that number would be higher.

But, you know, new manager this season. Who is it, Will Venable, I think is their manager. So they're not playing for much else, right? like, let's see if these guys are capable of running and just stealing a bunch of bases. And I think they're just going to give my draw off the green light. He's getting a lot of opportunities because he's hitting well and he's walking. Yeah. And they're all singles.

That's the, you know, he's going to have opportunities for steals because he's not really going to get on second or third very often any other way. Yeah. Who's hot and who's not? Hitter edition in the month of May so far, names that are hot. And we've talked a lot about Raphael Devers, but he did it again. hit his 10th home run, and in May he's hitting 400 with five homers, 20 RBI, and a near-200 OPS. Riley Green, three-for-four with his 12th home run, and in May, hitting 333, six homers, 18 RBI, 1 steel, 1079 OPS, and Aesok Paredes is picking things up, his eighth home run,

and so far in May, hitting 286, a 400 on base, with four home runs and a 924 OPS. I guess there was a level of doubt early on for Devers but he's put that completely behind him you know Chris there was a lot of concern with Riley Green I saw some concern with Paredes you know just a just another reminder for some patience here with some of these names that's exactly it

you know these are for the most part pretty well established hitters I guess Pareda is not so much because we only had the one great season from him and green i guess only one like high level season but yeah all of these guys deserve more than a month certainly and i think we just it is natural to react to april it is natural when you look at a player season long ops and it's in the six hundreds it is natural to look at that and say this is bad, this is going to continue to be bad. But I've referenced it's a few times when I wrote a piece last April or maybe early

May. And I compared April production to the rest of the season. And then I compared June production to the rest of the season. And April has no more predictive power for what a player will do moving forward than their June production does. that is not how we tend to think this will work. We tend to think that the start of the season should have some predictive value, and it just doesn't.

Getting off to an especially good or bad start in April just doesn't really matter. And it's hard to keep that in mind, but it's worth keeping in mind that when you're talking about established players especially and players with upside, unless they're hurt or they're losing playing time, a slow start just really shouldn't change how you view them that much, even though it feels like it should. I understand.

I understand how hard this is to internalize it. And I struggle with it too. But it's true. Like that, it just is true that April doesn't matter more than June. It's also just, I mean, it's mostly a psychological thing, right? Because we've waited so long for baseball to come back. and this is the first thing that we're seeing and we want to react to it

and we want to have an opinion and we want our fantasy teams to get off to good starts. I totally get all of that stuff. Like we all... And it sucks to watch your team tumble down the rankings. Exactly.

But just a reminder, like, we actually got an interesting email and I want to bring this up at some point. Like if you fall too far behind in ratio stats in Roto, like how to climb back up and I mean, the obvious answer is just all right, get good performance,

but it's how late into the season can you be low in those categories and then pick things up? And you would be surprised, man. Like, if you have a lot of slow starters on your team and they all come together at the same point, which is just, for the most part, natural regression on guys that we expect to just, you know, kind of figure things out, then you'd be surprised how quickly you can move up like Roto's standings and not just Roto, like, head to head, like you can have huge weekly performances and things. So it's just a reminder that, yes, we're almost. two months into the season,

but you could still turn things around if you are off to a slow start. And one thing I do want to say is the further you get into the season while being low in the rankings, the more you should be trying to get high upside players who are struggling. Because what you then need,

if you're in last place at the end of May, is a bunch of high-level performance immediately because you need to make up a lot of ground. And so that's where you look at slow starters and you should probably be trying to go out and get them just because if you're in 11th place and you go trade for, I don't, I'm trying to think of like what the right example, like Anthony Santander. If you go out and trade for Anthony Santander and he just stinks the rest of the way, just like he has so far, okay, you dropped to 12th.

Like I don't know. That's not really that. But like there's a difference between 11th and 12th. unless you really want to avoid your league's last-paste punishment if you have one. But if Anthony Santander hits like he did last year from June 1st on, and you paid a discount price for him, that's the best way you're going to turn your season around. And it's not just Anthony Santander.

It's, I know, Aaron Nola or whoever has been bad. So William Contreras, Jackson Churio, like your chances of turning your season around are better if you bet on the disappointing slow starters because at least they, you know they have the upside to turn your season around. No, I think it's a really good, you know, talking point about, you know, what to do if you've kind of fallen behind this early in the season. And speaking of which, some other players, who's not hot right now is Jackson Trio, who, you know, we just brought up last week and then he went into a crazy slump. I think I heard on the broadcast, he was like in an 0 for 25 streak,

which he broke today. And so the batting average. The batting average is down to 237. The OPS is down to 672. Quality of contact is down this year. Pete Alonzo, another one that just has come crashing down in May, hitting 222 with a 644 OPS. Obviously it was so awesome in April. There was, you know, bound to be some regression there.

Anthony Santanderia brought up the name. He was dropped to sixth in the Blue Jays lineup, and he responded with his sixth home run in the season. It's just his batted ball distribution is just kind of out of whack this year, his fly ball rate is down. The ground balls are up. So that seems... He looks bad right now, yeah.

Yeah. And then Ben Rice, who kind of needed a big game, two for three with his 10th home run here. His previous 15 games before this one, he was hitting just 200 with a 653 OPS. But he was still hitting the crap out of the ball. The barrel rate looked great.

So we've been getting some questions on Ben Rice. I think he's a pretty clear hold, Chris. But what do you think about him and some of these other struggling hitters right now? Yeah, I think the problem with Ben Rice is less the production and more the playing time. Yeah. And what that's going to look like moving forward.

He sat for the previous eight before this game. Yeah. And we do still think John Carlos Stanton will be active at some point. So yeah, it's going to require an injury to someone or the Yankees getting creative about their usage of Venice to avoid that. So it's a little concerning. I'm not so concerned about the production. I think Ben Rice will be good. It's just, yeah, he just might not be an everyday player moving forward.

Alonzo, I think this is just classic. He was hot in April and he's not hot now. And this is a very clear example of a guy who your opinion on Pete Alonzo should not have changed because he had a good April. He has had very good months before. He will have good months moving forward. He will have bad months moving forward. But Pete Alonzo is 29.

30, very well established, several hundred career home runs. He was not changing his stripes because he had a hot April. Now, Jackson Cheerio, we have less of a sample size of him being a high level performer. It was really the last four months of last season. But that is also instructive because what do you think his OPS was on this date last year? 650 You are overstating it He had a 594 OPS on May 21st He was in the middle of a deep slump At that point as well And obviously Jackson Churio ended up with a 791 OPS for the season

And was a top 12 hitter in fantasy From like July 1st on or whatever it was Even from June on he was really good Yeah he might just be streaky He might just have some of that Julio Rodriguez in him where the plate discipline is pretty bad and it might be hard for Jackson

Chirio to be a consistent performer but we've seen what the upside is there's no way you're dropping Jackson Churio he's running a bit more of late I believe which is what we want to see so yeah I'm frustrated I'm right there with you on the

Jackson Chirio frustration I don't think there's anything you can do about it trading him would be a mistake. We've seen how good he can be. And dropping him would absolutely be a gigantic mistake. It's just keep in mind that all players fluctuate. Their production fluctuates, their talent level fluctuates. Guys get hot.

Guys get cold. You've got to keep steady, at least with these types of players. You know, your 212th pick, okay, whatever, drop them. I don't care. is off to a bad start. Jackson Cheerio, I'm going to give him a long leash. All right, let's get it to some leftovers here. And on the hitting side of things, say a Suzuki,

big game took advantage of a position player as well, three for five with his 12th home run and four RBI. Kyle Tucker, slumping a little bit in May, but went three for four with his 11th home run here. That was off Ryan Weathers, by the way. Nice. Aaron Judge, back at it with his 16th home run. It kind of was a Yankewarm.

Stadium special, just home run in four out of 30 ballparks here. You know, my favorite detail about that, though, is it would have been out in Fenway. And I love the pesky pole when that happens, because then Red Sox fans can't be obnoxious about it either, although they still were being obnoxious about it. Carrie Carpenter is doing his thing, his 10th home run. Kyle Schwaber, two days in a row, now up to 17 home runs, which is tied with Otani for the MLB lead. a name we haven't talked much about

Che Languilieris. He's just been rock solid. Hit his ninth home run. He's hitting 256, 783 OPS. I know Scott hates Logan O'Hoppy. I actually think he's kind of good. I know the strikeouts are way too high, but 2 for 5 hit his 11th home run here.

264, 796 OPS. He's another one. I just think he's rock solid fantasy catcher. And then Nick Kurtz, nice to see him get on the board. four with his second home run, but he has been slumping quite a bit, the batting average down to 222. Anything on any of those names? Yeah, I think maybe Logan O'Hoppy is just a poor man's Kyle Rally, and that's not a knock on him. Cow rally is a great player, and, you know, Logan Hoppe, the power is real. You know, that was a concern that I had a little bit last year.

but this is now three years in a row where Logan O'Hoppy's hitting for legitimate power when he's healthy. I think the batting average is going to be bad. And you do have, I think Scott's concern is that like, okay, Cow rally can make it work for him. Does he edge too far into being like a Mike Zunino? I think there's a little bit of risk for that with Logan O'Hoppy, but there's zero playing. time risk. He's playing a ton basically every day. How many times does he sat?

That was a concern coming into the season that they jumped the market on Travis Darno and Darno has like barely played. Unless Actually, O'Hpia has sat out a few times recently. Unless he's just playing a ton of DH, but I haven't noticed that. Yeah, Darno. Oh, Hoppe has set three of the past

eight games. But he's probably had some D.H starts throughout the course of the season than I would guess. But yeah, overall, he's played a lot. Yeah, him and Langaleers both look rock solid. We haven't talked a ton about Langeliers because there have just been so many catcher breakouts that are kind of overshadowing him, but he looks good. Yeah.

Yeah. I think both are, I mean, I think Langalears is probably top eightish catcher the rest of season. I feel a little bit better about, which is crazy to say. I feel better about the batting average for Langalears, but he's, he's in, he's in, he's improved his plate discipline quite a bit the past couple of years. And then O'Hopi, I think, is kind of like right on that border of top 12. But yeah, he has been rock solid as well. Some pitching leftovers, Dylan Seas took a loss in the quality start at Blue Jays.

Seven innings, three runs, six strikeouts for him. Two homers loud. also had 14 whiffs in this one. Chris Bassett was great on the other side, six shutout innings with six strikeouts. And Clay Holmes, a quality start at the Red Sox. six innings, two runs, five strikeouts, anything on Holmes, Bassett, or Dylan Sees? Bassett's been nice to see him turning it around.

The last two starts have been really good after about three weeks where he was pretty terrible, but the overall numbers look very good. The underlying numbers look really solid as well, best peripherals that he's had in probably at least three years. So that's good to see from Bassett. I'm still not 100. percent sure where I'm at on Clay Holmes. It just like, like the strikeout rate's not great.

The control really comes and goes. I don't know. What do you think of? I'm interested in getting other opinions about Clay Holmes because I can't really figure out what I think about him. I think he is, hmm. Like, I'm inclined to think he's on like just the high end of the just a guy spectrum, but I know the 313 ERA.

Yeah. I was thinking something like that, like an enhanced version of a Jose Burrios or Merrill Kelly. Yeah. You know, like a... Not bad, but not great. Low three's ERA. His whip will probably be higher because he walks a little bit. So maybe a low three's ERA, 120-ish whip.

But, I mean, he's going six innings. He's done that in three straight. So he's giving them some length. He gets a lot of ground balls. Decent amount of strikeouts, not a ton. So I think. I think he's fine. I got top 50th is starting pitching.

Like right on that cusp right there. Yeah, I think that's probably where I'm at. The call to the bullpen for the Pirates. Dennis Santana got the eighth inning with a one-run lead facing the bottom of the lineup. David Bednar then got the ninth, and he picked up his fourth save of the season. For the Blue Jays, nice bounce back for Jeff Hoffman,

who picked up his 10th save. For the Red Sox, I rolled his Chapman, picked up his eighth save. For the Nationals, Kyle Finningin, picked up his 15th, which is tied for the NLB lead, which is pretty crazy. Second year in a row he's doing this, right? I don't know what's going on.

Look, if the Nationals can't trade in this year at the deadline, it will never happen. For the Yankees, Devin Williams got the eighth inning with a three-run lead. He gave up a hit, put struck out two. The Yankees tacked on two more runs. Then Ian Hamilton started the ninth inning. He gave those two runs back. Luke Weaver got the final out of the game for his sixth save.

I just don't know what needs to happen here, Chris, for Devin Williams to get his job back. Because he's looked much better lately. I guess it would need Luke Weaver to struggle a little bit. And just Devin Williams to continue doing this, because as long as Weaver is awesome, why would they change it, you know? Yeah, that's the tough thing about that one,

just because, you know, the Yankees did go out and trade for Devin Williams. It's not like they gave up a ton for him. so you know i don't know if they're married to the idea of getting him back into the ninth inning role i would guess it happens at some point but yeah it doesn't look like it's on the verge of happening because luke weaver is giving them no reason to to lose it all right for the brewers Trevor mcgill was unavailable abner aribe picked up his first save he struck out the side he looked great this is just hilarious chris on sunday night we go on this kind of rant about the tigers

and they are not using Tommy Canley in save situations anymore and what do you know? Will Vest got the eighth inning with the game tied facing the heart of the Cardinals lineup probably the highest leverage situation there he walked two but he got out of it and then the Tigers took a one run lead

and who was it Tommy Canley who came on for the save and picked it up his sixth of the season. Did you talk about Pittsburgh? Yes. It was kind of a similar one where we had just the since the the firing of Derek Shelton they had just been using Dennis Santana in the ninth inning. I think every time Dennis Santana had pitched it had been in the ninth inning and every time Bednar had pitched it had been in the eighth and then Benar gets

the save today. I don't know. These are weird situations. The Pittsburgh one feels more clear to me just because I do think David Benner is just better than Dennis Santana. So that will work itself out eventually. And they are that's one where they actually are invested in him. He's a local kid. they like him, all that stuff. So, like, they want him to be the closer at some point. Detroit, it just might be a headache all year. But I do think both need to be rostered still because they're kind of that, you know,

fringe third closer on a roto team where you hope they give you 12 to 15 saves by the end of the season type thing. And, you know, that obviously has value. In a points league, that probably not. But, yeah, any type of roto or categories league, like Vest and Canley still need to be rostered. For the White Sox, the rare save chance went to Jordan Leisure, who struck out two for his first save.

For the Giants, Ryan Walker got the ninth inning with a one-run lead, and he picked up his ninth save. Nice to see in a close game for him. For the Dodgers, Tanner Scott got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He allowed a game-tie-home run to Gabriel Moreno. Then he came up for the 10th, and he gave up a two-run homer to Corby and Carroll. But he wound up with the wing, because, on the other side, for the D-backs, Shelby Miller, came on in the 10th inning with the 3rd.

two-run lead. He gave up three runs and took the loss in that one. And then for the... I'm just hoping Justin Martinez is back like this weekend. Yeah. Yeah, Miller. Miller has... He hasn't been bad, but he's gotten the job done, but he's been shaky and Ginkle has had some big blowups. Ginkle hasn't looked good. Yeah, I think it's Justin Martinez as soon as he's healthy. And then for the Angels, Kenley Jansen gave up a run, but picked up his 10th save that's back-to-back days there for Kenley Jansen. He's one that I thought about yesterday. It's just, I mean, he's probably going to get traded, right? The Angels don't really need him.

He's on one-year deal. So I don't... Cubs? Why didn't you just sign Kenley Jansen? I don't know. Like, go trade for him. He's not amazing anymore, but, you know, he gets the job done.

I think he's better than Ryan Presley, so... Yeah, like, why not? To stream or not to stream on Wednesday, we have Andrew Heaney, who's up against the Reds, Kate Horton at the Marlins, Tomoyuki Sugano at the Brewers, Chad Patrick, home against the Orioles, Andre Palante against the Tigers,

Shane Smith against the Mariners, Logan Evans at the White Sox, J.P. Sears, home against the Angels. There is a handful of, there are a handful of pretty mediocre pitchers with good matchups. I think that's the best thing we've got here. So I'll go Sagano at Milwaukee,

J.P. Sears versus the Angels. and I'll roll the dice on Kate Horton at Miami. Marlins have been pesky lately though. They're frisky. Yeah, they've been a little annoying for streamer matchups there. Yeah, I think I would... I know Scott like Shane Smith yesterday.

He's probably right in that mix. I just, I don't think the Mariners are a good matchup anymore. Yeah. I just think Shane Smith is good, though. I think he's fine. He has had trouble. sustaining his velocity deep in the starts. It hasn't really bit him yet,

but I feel like there's some real blow-up risk with him. I would go Sears, Shane Smith, and Sagano, and I think Kate Horton is fine. And then on Thursday, we have Stephen Kolek at the Blue Jays, Tyler Anderson at the Athletics, Louis Severino, Home Against the Angels. Bowden, Francis, against the Padres. I don't know.

Severino versus the Angels is my favorite. I don't really like anyone else here. I know there are some people who like Slate Sashone Cicconi. Cicconi. Cicone. Yeah. I would prefer not to start him at Detroit.

I don't really buy it. I know Tyler Anderson regression is coming at some point. If I had to choose a second, it would probably be him. But I do like Severino the most of that group as well. Yeah. I wish it was in the Angels ballpark, not Sacramento. All right. We're 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.