Fantasy Baseball Today - Lynn to Dodgers, Montgomery to Rangers! Injury Updates & Waiver Wire Adds! (7/31 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 31, 2023

Lance Lynn was traded to the Dodgers on Friday (2:45)! ... Jordan Montgomery should get more run support with the Rangers (8:30)! ... Will Jordan Hicks close for the Blue Jays while Jordan Romano is hurt (11:55)? ... CJ Cron and Randal Grichuk were traded to the Angels (15:40). ... Whos' going to close for the Mets (20:00)? ... Nathan Eovaldi, Jonah Heim and Jonathan India all went on the IL this weekend (26:36). ... Is it time to take Steven Matz seriously (29:53)? ... News (38:05): Aaron Judge returned Friday. ... Brandon Lowe or Tim Anderson (44:25)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (49:55). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Lance Lynn to the Dodgers, Jordan Montgomery to the Rangers, trades, trades, and more trades. Welcome into fantasy baseball today on Monday, July 31st.

I am Frank Sanfell, joined by Scott White. and Chris Towers. Today on the show, we are going to break down a whole bunch of traits. Big injury news to get you caught up on, waiver wire moves, and much more.

How was everybody's weekend? Chris, your Marlins went out and they got a new closer. It's fun. Yeah. Yeah, they still need like several hitters and probably another starter. But yeah, it's a start.

They won a series for the first time in three weeks. Let's go. All it took was Detroit coming into town. But, you know, it was, No, it was cool because they did Venezuelan Heritage Night on Saturday. And Miguel Cabrero was in town. He's Venezuelan, obviously, you know, probably the greatest Venezuelan baseball player of all time. Am I missing anyone?

And my wife's family's from Venezuela. So they all went on Saturday. And it was really cool to, you know, see the ovation for him. It was one of the biggest crowds of the year. So that was neat. Nice. Yeah, good stuff. I know that you said the Marlins have a bunch of other needs.

And the latest rumor that we're hearing is that they won Glaber Torres from the anchor. So well, that was a within minutes from trading for him last year. Remember, I think it was, uh, was it Pablo Lopez. I think it was try. I think that was going to be the trade. Yeah. Pablo was supposed to be the trade. Yeah, that was, uh, so I don't know, whatever.

He's, he's, he'd be an upgrade over, you know, Joey Wendell or whatever. So that's fine. Let's see, man. I mean, look, there were so many trades. The one thing the Marlins need is more second baseman. So that, that works. Yeah. They've only got like 12 on the roster.

Yeah, I think I read that Luis Arise would slide over to first basement. So soon they'll have a team of second baseman just playing everywhere all over the field, the Miami Marlins. Lots of trades this weekend, and I'm sure we're going to get a few more here, leading up to the trade deadline on Tuesday. By the way, we will have a live trade deadline special live stream podcast that will be on here at 6.30 p.m. Eastern Time here on YouTube. So if you want to come hang out, we'll be talking about everything that happens on Tuesday, and then we'll have a regular podcast that night as well.

Let's get into trades from this weekend. We did do a separate podcast on Max Scherzer earlier in the day, so be sure to check that out if you haven't already. The White Sox were very busy. First up, they traded Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly for Trace Thompson and two minor leaguers, Nick Nistrini and Jordan Leisure. And Lance Lynn, we've talked about him all season long. He has the highest ERA among qualified starting pitchers at 6.47.

He also ranks 11th in all of baseball with 144 strikeouts. You know, the Dodgers have possessed this magic touch at times, and Dodger Stadium actually has the second highest home run park factor in all of baseball behind only Great American Ballpark. So there's a little bit of give and take here. Scott, we'll start with you. Obviously, the ballpark, it seems like that wouldn't be a good landing spot for Lance Land. He's giving up home runs this year.

But it's the Dodgers, and he gets good run support, and, you know, they usually kind of figure these things out. Your thoughts on Lance Lynn sliding over to Los Angeles. Yeah, Lance Lynn's issues are way being. on ballpark. So if things are going to turn around for him, I don't know that any park was going to do it. I mean, it's more, if there was any player who could use his change of scenery,

it's Lance Lynn. And if there's any better organization for him, if there was any organization for him to join, it's the Dodgers. So it doesn't mean it'll work out. I mean, there were cases made for Noah Cindergarde this off-season that obviously didn't come true. It's not like anybody who joins the Dodgers is automatically better, but they do have a history of bringing out the best in players.

And there's still a lot underneath the hood with Lance Lynn to be encouraged about as a career best swinging strike rate. His strikeout percentage, I know you said he's 11th in strikeouts, his actual strikeout rate, as in strikeouts per inning. Per plate appearance. Per plate appearance. Thank you. At the time of the trade, it was 15. 15th. I'm on qualifiers. So he's been great at missing bats and there's no skill better than missing bats.

And so it doesn't look like a clear-cut case to me of a 36-year-old just becoming old. So that's why there's reason to reserve some hope. He's still 80% rostered in CBS Sports League. So people have surprisingly, I mean, for all the complaints out there, people have surprisingly held on to Lance Lynn for three. throughout his struggles and we should know within two or three starts if things are going to go differently for him with the Dodgers. I think it's worth holding on a little longer to see. And he's got a pretty great matchup in his first Dodgers start this Tuesday going up against the Oakland A's. So I'm not saying you throw him out there, but you know, if he has a good start, maybe we'll gain some confidence there in Lance Lynn. I will say there's an obvious problem for

Lance Lynn. And I don't know if you guys talked about this when he made his last start, but but he's been historically bad against left-handed pitchers this year. He has a 652 OPS allowed against Wrighties. That's very good. Against lefties, it's 1037. OPS. 1,037 OPS. He has given up 18 of his 28 home runs, two left-handed batters.

And the problem is, like, does, like, maybe he just throws the change up more, right? and that helps because that's typically, you know, maybe change up in cutter. He can just, you know, those have been his best pitches against lefties. Maybe he can figure something out. And, you know, if the Dodgers,

I don't think it's unfair to say the Dodgers are better at figuring that kind of stuff out than the White Sox. So, you know, if there is a change to be made, I have more faith in them figuring it out than the white socks. But that does feel like, you know, there are still, like Scott said, there are positives under the hood.

but that does feel like something's been figured out, like something's broken that may not be fixable. Well, I mean, it might just be a simple matter of pitch selection, like you said. And I think it's fair to say the Dodgers wouldn't have traded for Lance Lynn if they thought he was going to pitch to a 650 ERA the rest of the way. Like that just seems like you're shooting off on the foot if you're doing that. It's just for our purposes, they might be happy with a 450 ERA given what they've gotten from a lot their rotation.

Yeah. We wouldn't be. Sure. That's fair. Let's stick with the White Sox. They traded away. Kendall Graveman to the Houston Astros in exchange for catcher, Corey Lee.

We'll get into Corey Lee in just a second. Chris, I think the biggest takeaway here from a fantasy perspective is what happens at the back end of the White Sox bullpen. I don't know that they're going to win many games here down the stretch, but in deeper leagues where we're desperate for saves, it looks like Gregory Santos is the name that's going to step in here. He picked up a save on Friday. at least until Liam Hendricks returns.

If Liam Hendricks returns, maybe he's traded. Maybe they just kind of shut them down for the rest of the season. Your thoughts on the back end of the White Sox bullpen. Yeah, I think it'll be Santos. And I would assume this is not the last trade that the White Sox are going to make. So there could be even less competition there. And he's a pretty, in some ways, a pretty traditionally, 2023 reliever.

It's fastball slider 50% of the time, basically. Sliders a pretty good swing and miss pitch. I don't think he's a superstar. You look at the strikeout numbers, and they're a little bit better than average right now. But yeah, I'd rather have him than Trevor May. So, you know, for whatever that's worth. Gregory Santos, 10% rostered.

So widely available. Again, if you play in those deeper category leagues and you're looking for saves, he is the name that you should be looking at in the White Sox bullpen. Let's slide over to the Cardinals, who are also very busy this weekend. traded Jordan Montgomery and Chris Stratton to the Texas Rangers. The Rangers needed some pitching. They got Scherzer.

Unfortunately, Nathan Evaldi went on the IL. We'll talk about that a little bit later on. In return, the Cardinals received Thomas Sejisi, who is the name, Scott and I recently talked about on fantasy baseball today in five, a right-handed pitcher, Tocoa, Toccoa Robey, and a left-handed reliever, John King. Jordan Montgomery, he's been solid this year, 342 ERA, 125 whip. It is a negative park shift going from the Cardinals to the Rangers, but obviously big upgrade in terms of run support.

Scott, and he takes here on Jordan Montgomery, who will be available in AL-only leagues now? Yeah, you will. And if you did listen to the emergency pod about Max Scherzer, I pointed out that even though he was going to a better team with the best offense and baseball, we probably weren't going to see much change with the win-loss record because he managed to go 9-4 for the Mets.

opposite story for Jordan Montgomery. He's six and nine so far with the bad Cardinals team. And that's even though he's been going consistently six plus innings, more consistently than we've seen him do that in the past. I believe it's eight of his last nine starts. He's gone six innings or more. If I remember what I wrote earlier today. So it seems like an upgrade for him,

just getting with a better supporting cast. He's long been a good but not great pitcher. And that's the sort that can be elevated most by their supporting cast. So, you know, I doubt he's available, Jordan Montgomery, in any leagues. But hopefully get more wins out of him. Moving forward, I am interested to see what happens with the Rangers' rotation with these two moves. Nathan Avaldi did go on the IL with a forearm issue, but they're also saying they think it's going to be a minimum stay.

So he misses two, maybe three turns. And even apart from that, they have to kick somebody out just to get the two arms in. So I'm guessing Dane Dunning goes to the bullpen. He's kind of slowed down anyway. He has some experience and relief. He had been a borderline usable fantasy option at times. And then beyond him,

presuming everybody's healthy at the same time when Avaldi gets back, Martine Perez may not be long for the rotation either. That would be my guess. Yeah, Perez and even Andrew Heaney, you know, they both haven't pitched very well this year. So I think one of those two lefties will probably get the boot. If when Nathan Avaldi comes back, you know, they're talking like it's going to be a minimum stay,

but, you know, forearm injuries, they could be pretty tricky. Yeah, especially with the way that's just gotten worse and worse. Yeah. You know, it was, oh, we're just skipping a start now. Yeah. It seems weird that they're so optimistic, yet they're making all these traits for starting pitching. In my mind, I feel like they're pretty worried about Nathan Avaldi. Well, the rotation wasn't very good behind.

Yeah, Martin Perez has been kind of a disaster. I mean, even John Gray hasn't been very good. So, no, I don't know. I mean, I kind of read the Avaldi thing is let's just give him a rest more than he has an injury. You know, like one of those phantom I.L things. but I could be wrong about that. All right, let's stick with the Cardinals. Jordan Hicks was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday,

and this comes just a day after, or a couple days after Jordan Romano placed on the aisle with back inflammation. So, you know, originally I thought it was going to be one of Eric Swanson or maybe Jimmy Garcia or Tim Mesa. It sounds like they were going to maybe go with a committee approach. Chris, I don't know if they trade for Jordan Hicks and throw him right into the closer roll.

maybe if Jordan Romano misses extended time, he can kind of work his way into it. I could be wrong, though. What's your take on the Blue Jays bullpen while Jordan Romano is out? Yeah, I'd bet on him Hicks being the closer, excuse me.

Moving forward, at least as long as Romano's out. He's had experience in that role. He's had success in that role. So, yeah, I think they'd probably just throw him in there. That's my guess anyway. I stashed Eric Swanson away for weeks in some of these 15 team

rhodo leagues finally looks like he gets his opening and then the Blue Jays go and do this. Unfortunate. Well, let's hope that Chris is wrong, Scott, and that I was right. I would guess that as well. What's funny about Jordan Hicks, though,

and this is why I was kind of surprised the Cardinals went to him instead of Giovanni Gallegos, not that Gallegos has pitched well since that happened. But Jordan Hicks is, for us, a long time gotten this buzz about, oh, he could be a dominant closer because he peaks at 103 miles per hour with his fastball. His numbers for really his whole career and this year are just not that dominant. I think he has a whip over one five this year. Yeah, five point two walks per nine. So I'm, I didn't drop Swanson in any of those leagues where I picked up. And again, I'll stress,

these are 15 team leagues. These are not, yeah. These are not decisions the average fantasy player has to make. But I would I would guess it's Hicks. How about this? In my most important 15 team league, Roto, my two closers were Jordan Romano and AJ Puck. I now have zero closers. I picked up Eric Swanson. We'll see where it goes. I picked up Mason Thompson hoping that Kyle Finnegan gets traded. It's a disaster. Yeah, I've got nobody. One league, one league where I only had Romano and I've been trying to figure it out. And now I'm choosing between Trevor. May with five games this week or Eric Swanson with seven. Doesn't feel good.

Yeah, and Trevor May is a name that could get moved as well. So we'll see what happens there. The Cardinals, I mentioned they traded away, Jordan Hicks. That means someone is likely going to have to close in the interim, at least until Ryan Helsley is able to return to the team. On Sunday, Giovanni Gallegos pitched two perfect innings with a three-run lead. However, it was in the seventh and the eighth innings. And it was a gentleman named Jojo Romero, who got the ninth inning and struck out two for his first save.

He's only one person at rostered. Scott, how do you see the Cardinals' bullpen kind of shaking out until Ryan Helsley comes back and then, I guess, even after Ryan Helsley comes back? I think it's going to be a committee. It's hard for me to see Jojo Romero just being a closer for two weeks or however long it takes Halsley to come back. And so maybe Gallegos will factor in there as well. Maybe others will.

If I'm forced to pick up one Cardinals reliever, I'm picking up Guy. goes. But that's not with a high degree of confidence or a high amount of fab dollars. And if you want, you know, if you play in a deep league where everybody who gets saves are scarce, maybe you throw a dollar to it, Romero as well, just in case. We saw the trade chips start to fall last week when the Angels announced that they were buyers instead of selling Shohei Otani. They made another move on Sunday.

They acquired CJ Crone and Randall Gritchick for two minor league pitchers, Jake Madden and Mason Albright. And obviously, you know, leaving Corse Field, this is pretty bad news for C.J. Cron and Randall Gritchick. Trying to figure out where everyone's going to play, you know, once Mike Trout returns, they'll still have Mickey Moniak. They'll have Randall Gritchick. Chris, I think this is a pretty obvious downgrade for both CJ Cron and Randall Grichick. Yeah, the other thing that precipitated this trade was Taylor Ward. His season's likely over. He was added to the 60-day IL after being, hit in the face with a pitch. Hopefully he'll be okay. But yeah, his season's basically over.

So that's why they went and got Cron in particular. I do think like we've seen Gritchick be useful outside of course field. We've seen Cron be useful outside of course field as well. So I don't think it like totally buries their production. But it's going to be pretty, it was pretty fringe in both cases already. So it certainly doesn't help. You know, the thing to keep in mind when. when you're talking about players leaving course field,

and we saw this with Nolan Arnato, right? Nolan Arnato has probably been a little worse his last couple of seasons than his last couple of seasons in Cores, although he had the one really bad one in 2020, albeit very small. But, you know, he's still been a must start player. You're going to see a downgrade, but don't look,

don't just look at the home road splits when it comes to C.J. C.J. Cron and Randall Gritchick and conclude that they'll be completely useless because their road splits are bad, because we do know about the course hangover, effect guys tend to play worse than their baseline talent level specifically the first series away from cores but really cores guys road numbers tend to be exaggerated across the board so i don't think crone or gritchick are going to be

particularly useful but i'm not necessarily dropping crone immediately i i think it depends what sort of league and because sure you know a corner infielder league okay maybe not. But if you don't have a corner infield spot, I think C.J. Crone is going to have a very difficult time rising to the level of relevance in that league. Because, you know, we saw... He already kind of was.

Yeah, true. Fair enough. He was about 80% rostered, which I think was fine. He had hit well since coming off the I.L. But, yeah, I mean, he's... What made him... What got him to that level in fantasy in the first place was going to Corse Field.

We'd seen him for several years before then. He put up pretty good power numbers, but that's about it. The other thing with, so aside from the obvious, oh, they're leaving course field now for these two is they're both like low OBP guys that the angels aren't going to be as committed to playing them, I think, is the Rockies will. And when Mike Trout comes back, Gritchell's, Gritchick's probably the lesser half of a platoon with Mickey Moniac. You got Brandon Drury coming off the IL pretty soon. How much is that going to cut into Crohn's playing time? Hard to say. But it's really bad news for both these players.

All right. The Braves, they made a massive trade on Sunday, Scott. They traded away Taylor Hearn in exchange for Nikki Lopez, who will likely be a bench utility bat in Atlanta. Well, yeah, that's the weird thing about this trade from the world. It doesn't matter. It's Taylor Hearn for Nikki Lopez, who cares? But like, Taylor Hearn was just available a week ago.

They could have just gotten him for nothing. Yeah. That's like when somebody makes a trade in your fantasy leg and you're like, I could have beaten that. Or I had only known he was available. I mean, I tend to like if someone offers me a player that they just picked up, just like kind of out of principle, I tend to turn it down. Yeah, that's how I was looking at. I saw the transaction log. I know Taylor Hearn was available a week ago.

I'm not trading for him. Yeah. Well, I didn't, I hadn't heard it was. I saw the braids got Nikki Lopez. I hadn't heard her and was the one going the other way. I thought he had some untapped upside. Pretty sure Nikki Lopez doesn't. Whatever.

They're both useless in fantasy. Some quick follow out from the David Robertson trade to the Marlins that we found out about late on Thursday night. The Mets apparently will not name a closer. Adamadovino and other options are quote, on the table. However, Brooks really converted the save on Thursday night. and then he did the same thing on Sunday. Adamadovino pitched in the eighth inning with a three-run lead,

and then Brooks Raleigh got the ninth. He walked one but struck out three for his third save, and he's currently 15% rostered. Chris, you're just getting all the bullpen questions tonight. I don't know why it's just kind of worked out that way. Do you think Brooks Raleigh will be the leader, I guess, for Mets saves going forward? At this point, I think you kind of have to assume that

given the way that they've used them, but that's also assuming he doesn't get traded. in the next 48 hours, which are probably like 40 hours at this point, which is not necessarily a safe assumption. I think anyone who doesn't have long-term appeal for the Mets is a trade candidate, including Justin Verlander. Yeah. Who will probably not be the closer, just to be clear. Because Ottavino isn't signed for next year, I imagine between him and Rayleigh, Otavino is the more likely of the two to be traded, which is.

I kind of thought why they didn't want to name a closer because they'll name Ottavino and just trade him and have to name another one. But, yeah, I mean, they've been using Rayleigh anyway, so maybe it doesn't matter. Also on the subject of Rilander being traded, who else is an obvious candidate at this point that's left? Michael Lorenzen, I guess,

because his contract expires after the year. And there's been some talk of maybe the Tigers moving Eduardo Rodriguez, too, though he's signed for several more years. Padres, we haven't really seen them get involved yet. I think they'd more likely be sellers than buyers, but maybe not. I'm just kind of wondering what kind of day we're in for Tuesday because it feels like the trades have been kind of spread out

instead of everybody waiting until the last minute. Yeah, I mean, Jamie Candelario and Lane Thomas from Washington, Tommy Fam, Jack Flaherty was, I just saw he was taken off the probable starters list on Tuesday. So, Eduardo Rodriguez, you know, he's got sub 3 ERA.

Yeah, there's a few guys left, but that could. That could. Yeah. Nobody's super interesting. So they wouldn't have to trade in. Yeah,

there was the quote that like they, they would move him if somebody else views him as an all star. Yeah. Which, okay. Yeah. And we've already heard Cody Ballinger isn't getting traded. They could always change their mind,

I guess. That's what they've said. Joe Hattani isn't getting traded, obviously. So I don't know. I mean, there are a few, like Paul Sewell. Yeah. It's been mentioned in some rumors that that would be really interesting. Josh Hater, obviously, you know, that that's one that is different than trading

Juan Soder or Blake Snell. And like, Hater and Snell are both free agents after the year. So if the Padres are deciding they're out, they should trade them. But, you know, they're the kind of player. the caliber of player they could commit a qualifying offer to. So obviously they have to feel like the return they're getting back is worth more than the draft pick. Yeah.

And also the perception that they're, they're cashing out for 2023. So it's, it's a bit more complicated than it seems. And I just have to think if, if Ryan Helsie was healthy, Giovanni Gallegos would get traded. I don't know how that'll work now. I still think there's a decent chance that happens. But it's mostly like bit players we're talking about. Yeah. For that Padres duo?

Yeah. I don't know. I could be wrong. I'm not rooting against like a wild Tuesday. But it was pretty wild the last two years, right? And I'm just not as confident we're going to get that this year. Yeah. I don't think that we have some kind of Juan Soto-esque player unless it's Juan Soto himself.

But I don't think that's happening either. The White Sox, you know, maybe Tim Anderson, Liam Hendricks, something like that. But we'll see. Tuesday, a couple days away, the trade deadline at 6 p.m. We will find out around then. Some poorly timed injuries also. Shane Bieber could have gotten traded if he hadn't gotten hurt. Jonathan India.

Jonathan is the other one that, yeah. If he wasn't added to the aisle this week, I think there's a decent chance he would have gotten moved. All right. Let's take our first break. When we return, we'll talk about some big injury news. And then we'll get into the rest of this weekend's action right after this. Welcome back.

And a quick reminder to join our fantasy baseball today. Facebook group, it's free. Facebook.com slash groups slash fantasy baseball today or just go on Facebook and search up Fantasy Baseball today. That'll pop up in your groups. You can join, ask questions, Keeper League questions, Dynasty, Trades, Waver Wire Questions, and interact with other fans of the podcast.

Again, we will have a trade deadline live special Tuesday at 6.30 p.m. Eastern Time. So if you are around, maybe you're just finishing up work, you want to come hang out, see what's going on with the trades. Feel free to do that. And I usually start each podcast asking our listeners to leave a five-star rating if you enjoy the podcast. We do appreciate everybody who has done that in the past. I noticed two unsatisfactory reviews this weekend, which is fine.

You're entitled to your opinion. But we got a three-star review for saying Glob too much. So take that, Scott, the Glob father. I guess I picked the wrong word to call that giant mass of pictures that are indistinguishable from each other. I don't know. I mean, he could have said we say exit velocity too much or fastball or pitcher. But, you know, we keep saying those words and nobody seems to mind. It's just it's just globs the one they don't like it.

Glob. Yep, yep, they're not about it. And also a two-star rating because I too enthusiastically say double dongs or just dongs on the podcast. So I do apologize, but look, guys, we're just trying to have some fun out here. And it actually does matter. It is an actual descriptive word that's meant to help us contextualize the starting pitcher positions and those who occupy it. Man, those people would have been really upset if like during the height of the peak ball error, we just referred to like the dong glob. Oh, gosh.

But for those who actually enjoy the podcast, feel free to help us out. Give us a five-star rating. We do appreciate it. And for those who don't, we apologize. All right, let's get into the big injury news from the weekend. we mentioned already, Nathan Avaldi went to the IL with a forearm strain, and I've expressed concern for quite some time now. I think we all have.

He was the SP4 overall in both Roto and head-to-head points before landing on the IL. Obviously a big loss for fantasy. Bruce Bochie said on Sunday he expects Nathan Avaldi to return. On August 11th, when first eligible, we shall see. And we will talk about Waverwire pitchers in just a bit. Maybe some replacements there for Nathan Avaldi. More hits for the Rangers as Jonah Heim went to the IL, with a left wrist tendon train, retroactive to July 27th.

Currently, the number one catcher in Roto, the number two catcher in Head-Dead points, batting 280 with 14 home runs, and an absurd 70 RPI from the catcher position this season. If you are looking for replacements, Cabr Ruiz has hit pretty well in the month of July, 54% rostered. It's got two other names I thought about. You tell me, maybe I'm off base here.

The Padres have the fourth best hitter matchups. week, according to your sleeper hitters article. They have three games in Coresfield. And I think maybe rolling the dice on Luis Camp Usano or Gary Sanchez could work this week. Could. I mean, Gary Sanchez just had a double dong here Sunday. Yes, guys. Embrace it. I mean, listen, we can't, we can't react to every isolated negative review. I know. Have you ever read Amazon reviews before? People give something a one-star review because the box showed up. Like, what does that have to do with the product?

Scott, if I read every negative review, we'd have some really long podcast here. You know, I just thought those were a little out there, so I guess I just wanted to bring them up and bring some attention to them. Double-dong, baby. Yeah, let's go. Jonathan India was placed on the IL

with plantar fasciitis in his left foot. The hope is that he'll only miss the minimum time as well. Some replacements for this week. Edouard Julian has six games. We know he's been hitting well. He's currently slated to face four relief, relief. Four right-handed pitchers and two TBDs. Hopefully they aren't lefties.

Wilmer Flores is on Scott's sleeper hitters list this week. And Jake Berger recently gained second base eligibility. He's been hitting some home runs recently. He's got the crazy home road splits, though. That's the only problem. Six road games this week. He's been much better at home. Chris, how would you rank those three potential India replacements?

Edward Julian, Wilmer Flores, and Jake Berger. Um, I'd probably lean towards Julian. I think there are some concerns about how much playing time he's going to get, but that's become less of a concern lately. Sort of similar to Jake Berger. I just have a little more faith in Julian's profile. All right. Well, you know, I don't think we've ever done this.

Maybe one time. But I think we have to skip, oh my goodness gracious today, because there's just too much. We'll get to these names a little bit later on. But I do want to get into Waverwire pitchers and hit, and I feel like that is more important at this point. So let's get into the waiver wire pitchers again. In the notes, even.

What? You said you had my guy, not even in the notes. I'll bring him up. I'll bring them up. I'll make sure you have an opportunity to talk about Bailey Oberstcott. I promise you. Waiverwire pitchers, part one. Again, we're looking for some Nathan of all the replacements.

Braxton Garrett got back on track Friday, but it was against the Tigers. So maybe a ticket with a grain of salt. Six innings, one unearned run with six strikeouts there. His velocity was up across the board. I thought that was pretty encouraging for Braxton Garrett. Kyle Hendricks, another quality start. He was at the Cardinals on Sunday. Seven innings, three runs, two strikeouts for him.

And Stephen Matt continues to pitch well. Over his last five starts, he is a 169 ERA and just over a strikeout per inning. Scott, how would you rank those three? Stephen Matt's, Kyle Hendricks, and Braxing Garrett. Hmm. I guess I'll stick with Garrett, number one, though. I'm surprised his roster rate as high as it is with his poorly as he's pitched recently.

Hendrix 2, Matt's 3. All right, let's get into our WaverWire pitchers Part 2 on this list. If I could find them, here they are. Emmett Sheehan put together a solid start up against the Reds, five shutout innings with five strikeouts for him. Christopher Sanchez through five no-hit innings with three strikeouts at the Pirates.

Graham Ashcraft continues to pitch Well, he was at the Dodgers on Sunday. He threw six shutout innings with two strikeouts. No mooky bets in the lineup. But over the last six starts for Graham Ashcraft, he has a 175 ERA and a 1.19 whip. Chris, any interest in Emmett Sheehan, Christopher Sanchez, and Graham Ashcraft? Yeah, I have interest in Sheehan, obviously given his youth and the potential for upside there. I think Sanchez is moderate.

interesting in a preferably a ground ball innings eater type of role although five no hit innings today and pulled after 73 pitches I'm not sure what was up with that but he's been really interesting this season because he's kept that

that walk rate super low he's not going to get a lot of strikeouts but he's consistently had the walk rate in like the two and under range per nine and if he can sustain that given how many ground balls he gets I didn't think Sanchez can be a an above average pitcher.

Ashcraft, I don't think it makes any sense. I can't see anything that he's really doing all that differently than when he was doing poorly. I think that this is just a situation where he might just be the ultimate random number generator because his stuff is so good. And when it's on point, things tend to happen that are good. But on the whole, he still doesn't get any strikeouts. He still gives up a lot of walks.

I don't really have any faith in Graham Ashcraft moving forward. I did add Christopher Sanchez to the sleeper pitchers for this week because his next start is against the Royals. I'm skeptical he can keep the walks down and that's going to be the key to everything, but I agree with Chris that the round ball rate is high enough. If he does, then there may be something here. It's a massive outlier for his career. Like his minor league numbers, he was like a bad control guy.

Yeah. And then this year in the majors, he's been an elite control guy. Don't really know how sustainable it is. But like you said, and like I said, if he can't sustain it, it should be pretty good. 266 ERA. 0.91 whip so far. For 359 X-FIP. For Christopher Sanchez, who is 41% rostered, good matchup this week.

And he is a spark. So if you're playing a points league, you could throw him in a. relief pitcher spot. I would say of the two groups so far, Christopher Sanchez and Stephen Mattes, I think have the two best matchups this week. Stephen Matt's facing the Rockies in St. Louis later on this week. Waiver Wire Pitchers Part 3, Brady Singer racked up the whiffs

up against the Minnesota Twins, though many starting pitchers rack up whiffs against that team. Over Singer's last six starts, he has a 365 ERA and a 124 whip. Cutter Crawford had a strong start at the Giants, five and two thirds innings, one run, seven strikeouts with 14 swinging strikes. And Jameson Tyome has turned in four solid starts in a row during that stretch, 178 ERA and a point 99 whip. Scott, I don't know that there is much upside or excitement with this group,

but do you see anything here with Brady Singer, Cutter Crawford, Jameson Tyone? I remain intrigued by Crawford. He gets whiffs at a really nice rate, and two of his last three starts have been, I think the best he's had all season, right? With a really bad one in between. So it's more just I'm intrigued by this guy and enjoy seeing his stat line, enjoy looking up his stat line after every start

versus I want this guy in my lineup. But there is a 15-team league where I've struggled to get, to fill out my pitching staff basically because in 15-team leagues there are no good starting pitchers on waivers. And I've had to mix. and Cutter Crawford a little in that deeper format.

Yeah, I think that makes sense. He's at the Mariners this week, too, who are 20th in Wobah against right-handed pitching. Two names in deeper leagues, Luis Medina, kind of pitching well over his last four starts, 286 ERA, 105 whip, 27 strikeouts over 22 innings, and he has 13 or more swinging strikes in each of his last four starts.

He had 16 swinging strikes Sunday at Corse Field. Ryan Yarbrough has sneakily pitched well recently also. He's going, uh, went up against the twins. This weekend seven innings, one run five strikeouts for him with 12 swinging strikes on 78 pitches. Chris, we're talking again, 15 team league, super desperate for pitching, but anything here with Luis Medina and Ryan Yarbrough. They're kind of polar opposites. Yeah, I mean, Medina's got some interesting things going on. The, the slider whiff rate is over 50% for the season or it was before today when he had 12 swings and

on the slider, so that's really good. And the curveball has been a pretty decent pitch for him. You know, his fastball tends to get hit pretty hard. He doesn't generate a lot of whiffs with it, despite it being a 96 mile per hour pitch. But yeah, I think Medina's worth a look in deeper leagues. I'm not sure even in a 15 team league that I'd want to start him right now. But there's some interesting things going on for sure.

Two names that we might be able to drop. Probably should. Let's see. Tyler Wells was optioned back to AA after another. Another disappointing outing on Saturday against the Yankees. He had an 11 ERA in three starts after the All-Star break, and I know that enemies were a concern for Tyler Wells also. He's still 89% rostered.

And Luis Severino, if you were holding on to any hope, Sunday night baseball blown up, destroyed, nine earned runs. His ERA now stands at 749 on the year. Scott, are you okay dropping either Tyler Wells or Luis Severino at this point? I have an easier time dropping Severino. I mean, Wells had been pretty solid before those last three starts. And, you know, I mentioned him among my 15 pitchers who were coming up on innings issues. And, I mean, the Orioles kind of laid out the plan for him.

They're just going to shut him down for a while and then build him back up again like the Marlins appear to be doing with. Yuri Perez. Yuri Perez, thank you. And yeah, they said they need them down the stretch. He's been, he's arguably been their ace this year, right? Do they have a better pitcher? I guess Kyle Bradish has pitched. He's got like the second lowest whip in baseball, which is...

Yeah. So they do need them. I mean, if they're going to go anywhere. I think it's just, you know, keeping the innings from getting too high. And within a couple weeks, we'll see him again. I don't know. I mean, it depends how much roster space you have. But it wouldn't surprise me if you did drop them

that we're all picking them up again later on. All right. Well, let's hit the news and notes, and then we'll get to a break. Got some waiver wire hitters. We'll get to in just a little bit as well. But more news items from this weekend. Aaron Judge made his return on Friday.

He homered on Saturday. Oswald Paraza was optioned back to the minors. Corey Seeger received a cortisone injection in his sprained right thumb on Friday and could start swinging a bat within the next couple days. MRI results on Juan Soto's right middle finger showed progress compared to the scan he had done back in January. Apparently he's been playing

through this dating back to spring training, which we just found out last week. Mookie Betz has missed two straight due to right ankle soreness. We haven't heard much about the injury though it seems like he is day-to-day. Let's see what happens on Monday here. Let's see. Are the Dodgers playing on Monday? They are not playing on Monday. So we'll have to be. to wait until Tuesday to find out about Mooky Betts.

Clayton Kirschaw worked three in a simulated game on Saturday, depending on how he feels in the coming days, could be activated as soon as next week. Jadish Chisholm began a rehab assignment at Single A on Sunday. He has been out since July 3rd with a left oblique strain. Cedric Mullins appears on course to return in early August. He's been out for the past few weeks with a right adductor strain. Brandon Woodruff confirmed that he'll make his

next rehab start Tuesday at AAA. And if all goes well, that could be his final rehab outing before rejoining the Brewer's rotation. Zach Eflin said he is, quote, good to go for his scheduled start against the Yankees on Tuesday. He left his previous outing with a knee issue. That's one that like I would love to start him against that matchup because even with Aaron Judge back,

I still think that's probably going to be a pretty good matchup. But given the injury and the way the last start went, I think I'd probably avoid Eflin. I should mention that if it's a borderline case like that, Zach Eflin against the Yankees coming back from injury. As we talked about on Friday, the two-start pitcher slate for this week is ridiculous in terms of the number of usable pitchers who are making two-starts,

including several who are probably available in your league. And so, you know, it might be a time. to be a little extra discriminant with those choices. Of course, the trade deadline is coming up and we still don't know how much of that will be blown up, but even with all the trades we saw over the weekend, I made very few changes to those two-star pitcher rankings.

They stayed mostly intact for now. All right. Chris Sale will begin a rehab assignment at AAA Tuesday. He's been out since early June with a stress reaction in his left scapula. Dodgers catcher Will Smith left Sunday after getting hit by a pitch on his left elbow. X-rays came back negative.

Hassan Kim, who has been on fire, left Sunday, with a jammed right shoulder and is considered day-to-day. So pay attention Monday for that. J.D. Martinez exited Sunday with that recurring hamstring injury, he'll undergo an MRI. Nester Cortez. That one sounds like it might be an IL stint. Yeah, this is something that feels like consistently been

kind of hampering J.D. Martinez over the past few weeks. Nessar Cortez is set to make one final rehab start Wednesday before rejoining the Yankees. It sounds like Trevor Story could be activated this Friday when the Red Sox being a homestand against the Blue Jays. Obviously, very important matchup there in the ALEs. Story is up to 70% rostered, but still could be out there in some shallower leagues.

Brandon Drury is targeting a return on Thursday. He was batting 277 with 14 home runs before getting hurt. He is 71% rostered. Scott, who would you rather have moving forward? Drury or Trevor Story. story easily more upside and i think the playing time's more trustworthy with given all the pieces the angels have added that are very drury like at the plate yep sounds funny makes it sound like they're bad and boring which is kind of which is kind of what drury is like they're dreary like and drew they're

dreary like drury like drury might be boring but he's been pretty good this here scott and you want to give him his credit good and good in good in the boring way where okay 260 with 20 homers than a bad OBP. Yeah, that's fair. Hunter Green has an estimated return date of August 20th. He's been out since mid June with a right hip issue. His teammate Nick Ladolo through a side session Friday and is now targeting a return in late August instead of September.

He's 59% rostered and the time to stash Nick Ladolo is now if you have an IL spot available. Kyle Wright through a bullpen session Friday, but all signs seem to indicate he won't be back with the Braves until September at the earliest. Junjin Ryu will make his debut Tuesday against the Orioles. The Blue Jays are apparently expected

to go with a six-man rotation due to a long stretch with no days off coming up. So, uh, Hyun Jin Ryu, 25% rostered. Chris, any interest in Ryu? I can't say I have too much interest there now.

All right. John Meesey Kikuchi is no longer a two-star pitcher for next week because of this, FYI. That is good to know. Uh, John Means could begin a rehab, assignment in early August. He suffered a back injury in late May while rehabbing from Tommy

John's surgery, which he had last year. Sounds like he should be back by September, barring any setbacks on John Means. Lamont Wade has missed the reach rate due to back tightness, and the Brewers will reinstate Wade Miley to have him start Wednesday against the Nationals. A couple names that went to the IL this weekend. We mentioned what happened with Taylor Ward. Hope everything is all right. Obviously expected to miss the rest of this season. Anthony Descophani had a right elbow flexor strain, Alex Kirloff with a right shoulder strain, Julio Taran with a right hip impingement,

Evan Longoria with a strain lower back, Nick Prado with a left groin strain, and Tommy Henry with left elbow inflammation. Let's take our final break when we return. I've got some waiver wire hitters and a bunch of leftovers will do it right after this. Welcome back and a big shout out to everyone watching us live.

Our Sunday episodes here, they do quite well. I think people are trying to, trying to get information after all the trades and everything. 460 people here. We do appreciate you. Hit that like button and subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already. Let's lock some Waverwire hitters here. I've got two potential middle infield options.

Tim Anderson, he's off the Schneide. He went three for five with his first home run of the season on Saturday. Is hitting much better so far in the second half. Batting 344 with that one homer, one steel, and an 829 OPS. Brandon Lau is on fire. Went two for three with a sock and a shoe on Friday. And then he went three for five with another home run on Sunday. Also hitting much better here in the second half.

Chris, if you can only choose one, you go in Tim Anderson or Brandon Lough. Brennan Lau. I think, you know, like Anderson, since the all-ster break, is hitting 344, which is awesome. Problem is five walks, so OBP is pretty good because he's hitting 344. one home run, one stolen base. And yeah, that's not really going to work, right? Like, this is a guy who, if he's himself, should be a good source of batting average.

Maybe one of the best sources of batting average. But what's always helped him is, you know, the 2020 pace that you hope he stays on. And he hasn't been anywhere close to that this year. So I'll go with Brandon Lau, who I believe when he's healthy, he's one of, if not the best power sources at that position. Yeah, I mean, there's no reason to think Brandon Lau isn't just Brandon Lau right now. He certainly looked that way since coming off the IEL. All three of his hits here on Sunday were hit over 106 miles per hour.

The question is just, is he going to play against lefties? He hasn't all year, basically. And, you know, when he came back off the IL, they basically explicitly said he's probably not going to play every day. So I do think that will limit the upside. But in relative to Tim Anderson, I would rather have him. His normal platoon partner, Taylor Walls, is injured now. They haven't faced a lefty since that happened. Yeah. So we'll see. But, you know, Brandon allowed very hot right now in the second half, batting 288 with four homers, one steel, and a 950 OPS. Two outfielders you might want to look at for this upcoming week.

Newpar. He's getting hot. Two for four with a double dung on Friday. And then so far in the month of July, Newt Bar batting 309, six homers, two steals, a 980 OPS, one of Scott's sleeper hitters for this week. Number one. Marcel Ozuna looks like he could be getting going as well. He had four home runs this weekend, including a double dong on Saturday. And overall this year, he's betting 236 with 22 home runs. Scott, who would you rather have moving forward? Lars Newpar or Marcel Ozuna? That's a tough question. Before the weekend, I would have said Newpar.

But Ozuna, I think, has the potential to make a higher impact if he can stay hot. So remember, he was terrible in April and then amazing for like, what, a two-month stretch? Prior to this four-homer series against the Brewers, he had hit 147 and 20 games. So he's running very hot and cold this year. Yes. But he's on the right side of it now. So I, I, unless it's specifically a points league where. Yeah, I was going to say that this might be the, this might be an opportunity for the coward's answer.

Yeah. Newpar and points, Ozuna and Roto. Fair enough. A couple names here in deeper league. Zach Gelloff enjoyed his time in Cordes Field this weekend. He hit a home run on Friday and then went two for six with a home run and two steals on Saturday. on Saturday. Zach Gulloff only batting 222,

but showing off some power and speed so far. John Bertie has started seven straight games for the Marlins, and so far in the second half, he's batting 472 with three stolen bases. Dominic Canzon with the Arizona Diamondbacks had three straight multi-hit games from Wednesday to Saturday. He was crushing it in the minors this season.

I just don't know if he's going to play every day. For what it's worth, the Diamondbacks play seven games this week, only one lefty on the schedule. So that should work out well for Dominic Canzon. And it was a big weekend for Kyle Isbell, who went one for four with a sock and a shoe on Friday. And then had a four hit game on Saturday. Chris, any interest here? Deeper leagues, 14, 15 team leagues are deeper.

Zach Gelloff, John Bertie, Dominic Canzon and Kyle Isbell. Yeah, I'm not sure Zach Gelloff is just a deeper league guy. Given prospect pedigree, minor league production, the batting average is probably going to continue to be a problem because there's some swing and miss there. But I think there's legitimate power and speed there and not really any playing time concerns. So yeah, I think Zach Loff 24% rostered is too low. The rest of these guys don't have much interest in. I would imagine Bertie, the Marlins seem likely to make a trade. And I would guess he'll lose playing time as a result of that. So no, I don't think so. I was watching Hazes Lizardo start on Sunday and

John Bertie was playing shortstop. He made an absolute. terrible defensive play. I don't know what the numbers are this year, but I feel like the shortstop position has been a real problem for the Marlins defensively. But they have so many of them. Yeah, they're all second baseman. That's the problem.

Let's get into some leftovers from the weekend. We did have a pitcher's duel on Friday. It's time to do-do-do-do-do. Between Garrett Cole and Grace and Rodriguez, a nice little pitching performance from both of them. Garrett Cole went seven. shutout innings with five strikeouts in that one. And on the other side, Grayson Rodriguez, six and a third,

shutout innings, three hits, two walks, four strikeouts, with 12 swinging strikes on 97 pitches. And in three starts since returning, obviously very small sample size, Grod, 3.18 ERA and a 1.12 whip. He's still only 74% rostered. That seems kind of low for Grace and Rodriguez. Scott, any thoughts here on Garrett Cole versus Grayson? Yeah, I think it's pretty clear,

Grayson Rodriguez is a different pitcher since returning. I'm buying into that. He was so dominant in AAA, and we hadn't seen that since June of 2022, because when he came back from the lat injury, he didn't look dominant in the minors. So I think he righted himself. That doesn't mean he's a must-start pitcher yet.

Doesn't mean he's the must-start pitcher he's eventually going to be. He still has the usual issues that young pitchers have, not going deep enough into games. struggling to put hitters away with strike three, even though he's good at getting whiffs in general. But he's trending the right direction and very excited about Grayson Rodriguez's future again. Would you drop Tyler Wells and or Luis Severino for Grace and Rodriguez? Yeah, I'd drop either one. I'd drop both, yeah.

I think so too. Pitching standouts part one. Zach Wheeler turned in his third double-digit strikeout start of the season. He was at the Pirates this weekend. Six and two-thirds innings, one run, 11 strikeouts. And that one, Kevin Gosman turned in a strong start at the, at home against the Angels, excuse me. Six innings, one run, nine strikeouts with 19 swinging strikes. And Luis Castillo had a strong start at the Diamondbacks on Sunday.

Apparently, the anniversary of him being traded last year. So shout out to Luis Castillo. Six shout-out innings with seven strikeouts in that one. Chris, anything to add here on Castillo, Gosman, and Zach Wheeler. Do you guys know who leads the majors in FIP right now? I will say that of these three pitchers, it is Zach Wheeler. Zach Wheeler leads the majors in FIP. Kevin Gosman is second.

Luis Castillo is like 29th. Bum. I don't actually think Zach Wheeler is the best pitcher in baseball, obviously. But he seems to have had some bad luck this season, but he's got. is that a career high strikeout rate? If it's not, it's very close to it because his numbers look eerily similar to two years ago when he broke out.

Career high K per 9, slightly worse K percentage. There's a sign there of the distinction between those because his Babbip is higher. His walks are actually a little lower, but he's facing more hitters per inning, hence more opportunities for Ks per inning.

He's really good. I've remained un worried about him for most of the season. Is the Babbit Pire? Like, could it be a shift thing? Isn't he normally a ground ball pitcher? That could be an explanation. He's not a ground ball pitcher this year. Interestingly enough, it's down to his ground ball rates down to 39% by far the lowest of his career.

Over a ground ball rate. And trending that way. It was 46% last year, 50% the year before. So that's been a multi-year trend for Zach Wheeler. Um, which could help explain why he's struggled to live up to the FIP, except you would think that fewer ground balls would lead to a lower, uh, bad. Lower profit. Yeah.

So I, I mostly think the, the explanation there is just bad luck. Pitching standouts part two. Joe Musgrove, another strong start up against the Rangers. He went six shutout innings with five strikeouts there. Kentomita's velocity was up considerably on Sunday at the Royals. He threw five innings to run seven strikeouts, but the fastball was up two miles per hour. The splitter up 1.3 miles per hour, I think very encouraging for Kentimaida. And Aaron Savali just continues to get it done.

Six shutout innings with four strikeouts at the White Sox. It's got anything on this group, Musgrove, Maida, and Savali. I didn't take the time to calculate what Kentimae's numbers would be if you take out that 10 earn-run start. They'd be really good. Probably pretty good. As good as that 2020 season where he was the Siong runner-up. So, yeah, I remain excited about him.

Savale continues to get it done. Less confident in that. But the fact of his velocity was back up a bit after being way down the last two stars. Didn't impact the results, but it had been way down. Man, if anybody's willing to give me anything for Aaron Savali, I'd be looking to move him. I just, I have no faith in it. I do consider him part of the glob. I'd be more likely to start Aaron Savale

than going back to the Waver Wire pitchers, the highest end of the Waver Wire pitchers, Braxton Garrett, who I ranked first of that whole group we talked about. I'd be more willing to start Savale than Garrett right now, but that doesn't mean I hold him in high esteem or wouldn't trade him necessarily if a decent offer came along.

Starters, these two pitchers who both bounced back, had some good starts this weekend. Positive signs for Christian Javier, who was up against the Tampa Bay race. He allowed three runs over six innings. He had nine strikeouts with a season high, 22 swinging strikes, 17 of those coming on a fastball.

Worth pointing out, you know, Tampa Bay Rays have struggled big time offensively in the month of July, but a great start here. for Javier. Chris, I know you wanted to highlight him. What do you think about the start? And are you starting Javier against the Guardians this week? Yeah. So I'm looking at Lance Brasdowski. He does the great pitch breakdowns. And he was someone, Christian Javier was someone that he identified pretty early on as having taken a pretty big step back in terms of his stuff. But

velocity was up a little bit. And the vertical movement on the fastball looked more like it did earlier in the season and last year. So, the various stuff metrics all suggest that this was the best Christian Javier's looked in a long time. And I think that's a very good sign because, you know, this was a situation. I think his arm was dropping and it was changing that he was getting more cut on the fastball, not as much rise. So that's a good sign that he seems to have at least temporarily turned things around. That's, you know, obviously doesn't mean he'll continue to do it moving forward.

But it seemed like the issues for Javier were mechanical. and there's at least some sign that he figured that out. So, yeah, there's no guarantee that he'll continue to do this. There was no guarantee that he would continue to struggle in the ways he had before. And I find this, I expressed the need for patience with Christian Javier. And, you know, there were a lot of analysts pointing out, the movement on his pitches is off. And obviously he was getting a lot fewer swinging strikes

in addition to strikeouts for, what, a two-month stretch there. And those were all concerning signs, but it's also like, you know, look what he was doing before that. Look what he did his entire career up to this point. Do pitchers never go through stretches where things are just a little off? And then normally, if it's a pitcher with that kind of track record, it's part of what makes analyzing pitching difficult is that we can point two signs why they're struggling,

but that doesn't mean they're going to continue to struggle. That's how I felt it was going to play out with Javier. And it doesn't mean it's necessarily, you know, he's fixed and he'll never struggle again. But like, this is what I thought would eventually happen is hopefully he goes on a run like this. I don't think it's just pitchers. I think that this is something that we can talk about just as a fallout. of the statcast era, I guess is what I would say,

which is the, we have all these granular, minute details about Arnslaught and the, this guy's getting three inches of vertical movement, but last year he was getting four and a half inches of vertical movement. Like, that's not to say that stuff doesn't matter. It does, clearly. You know, as we're talking about with Christian Javier, we're seeing a change.

But one thing that I think we need to remember when we talk about stackass is like, we talk about Stackast and these types of granular things as if they are true measures of talent. And that's the idea, right? Is that like, if a guy throws 98, he throws 98. If a guy gets this much sweep on his slider,

he gets this much sweep on a slider. Talent fluctuates. And guys go through stretches where they're not throwing as hard, where their mechanics are a little off. And that's something to keep in mind is like, yes, Christian Javier deserved. to pitch as poorly as he did for the two-month stretch that we're talking about.

It doesn't mean he's faded to pitch that poorly forever. That's one thing to keep in mind when we talk about these things is they are snapshots in time, not predictions moving forward. Just like numbers regress to the mean, talent often regresses to me. That doesn't mean nobody ever declines and gets worse, but you know, try not to live in the moment entirely.

One other pitcher to mention here, Scott, I know you wanted to talk about Bailey Ober who had his worst start of the season at the Kansas City Royals of all places. Four innings, 11 hits, six earned runs. What do you see in this start? And would you start him this week up against the Diamondbacks who have the fifth highest Wobah against right-handed pitching? I'd lean against hit given the way this start went against the Royals. And it's more a warning that Bailey Ober might be the most, like the most obvious

innings concerned guy, apart from Yuri Perez. He was the one who stood, when I wrote that article, 15 pitchers with innings concerns, Ober, he's already beyond his career high innings. And he's been that way for a while. So is he going to hold up the rest of the season? The twins, you know, they're trying to lock up the AL Central. Presumably they want his arm available in the playoffs. Are they going to have to do something to manage?

his innings going forward. He had been as reliable as any pitcher in fantasy up until this start, a streak of seven straight quality starts prior to this bad outing at the Royals. But we're entering that time of year where pitchers begin to wear down and particularly if they're in uncharted waters

innings-wise. That might help explain why Hazers Lazzardo's start was so bad today coming off arguably his best start of the season. He's already surpassed his career high in innings. And through a hundred and fifteen. pitches his previous start too. Yeah, that can't help.

So I'd be, you know, we were talking about Luzardo as a sell high candidate coming off that, what was it, a 13 strikeout effort, 14 strikeout effort prior to this one. And it doesn't mean you've missed your window now that he's had a bad start, but I think for both him and Ober, it's something to think about. Not that you need to like panic and dump them for less than their worth, but if you can trade them for the value they've accumulated to this point, you might save yourself a headache over the last two months. Let's slide over to the call to the bullpen.

Some updates here, and we'll start with the Cubs. On Friday, Adbert Alzali recorded the final four outs for his 12th save. Many thanks to a home run robbery by Mike Talkman. It was pretty clutch catch for him. Yeah, that was amazing. Awesome stuff. Alzali, 51% rostered if you do need saves. For the A's on Friday, Trevor May walked one but picked up his 10th save.

He is 14% rostered. much more widely available for those in deeper leagues. For the Diamondbacks on Saturday, Kevin Ginkle entered in the eighth inning with the game tied at the time. He struck out the side. The D-backs then took the lead. Ginkle started the 9th.

He got the first out and then was relieved by Andrew Chafin, who gave up a triple and a walk. And then Scott McGuff got the final out for his eighth save. Are we any closer to knowing anything about the Diamondbacks bullpen? I want to say that Ginkl is at the top of the list,

but I don't know. I will let you know Tuesday at 6.01 p.m. There you go. That's probably the right answer. For the Marlins on Sunday, AJ Puck entered in the seventh inning with a one-run lead. He gave up two runs. Tanner Scott pitched in the eighth inning

and then David Robertson got the ninth and picked up his 15th save and first with the Marlins. Chris is at the end of the road for AJ Puck. Are you okay dropping him? Yeah, I think he's dropable. Yeah, I think so too. For the Royals on Sunday, Scott Barlow was unavailable.

Carlos Hernandez picked up his first save, and if the Royals do trade Scott Barlow away, it looks like it would be Carlos Hernandez as the next man up. He's kind of interesting. I know he throws super hard. Yeah. He was one, I think he pitched for Nicaragua in the World Baseball Classing.

It looked really good. He's got a very good, I think, change up. For the Rockies on Sunday, they had a two-run lead. Daniel Bard pitched in the eighth inning, and Justin Lawrence pitched a clean ninth for his eighth save of the season. So I did not write down the names for to stream or not to stream, so guess what?

We are doing it. Old school style, I'm just going to run through the names, and you guys let me know. Edward Cabrera at home against the Phillies on Monday. I'm starting him in one league as a two-star pitcher, and I benched him in another for... I can't remember who. Might have been Jose Cantana in a points league.

I just feel a little more confident in the length there, but it wouldn't shock me if Cabrera had two good starts this week. He's super talented. How about Domingo Hermann at home against Tampa Bay? They are struggling. I mean, I'd rather not, but that's the difficulty in doing it this way, is I don't know who to compare it to. Well, we've got J.P. France at home against the Guardians.

That sounds better. Yeah, that's fine. We have Seth Lugo in Corse Field. He's so curveball dependent that I just don't know how he's going to react to Corsefield, so I steer clear. Nick Povetta will actually start, it seems like, on Monday, not be a bulk reliever.

He's at the Mariners. That seems pretty good. Yeah, I mean, if you're looking to make up ground and strikeouts, it might be a heady play. but it's hard to get excited about this guy. I mean, I just, it's Nick Povetta. Like, maybe something has dramatically changed, but we know he's capable of stretches like what we've seen.

There's also a difference between throwing five innings when you're facing the heart of the order twice to get through five innings versus what he was doing out of the bullpen. Okay. Well, I'm going to go ahead and say, I think JP France is at the top of the list and then maybe Edward Cabrera and Seth Lugan. Either Cabrera or Or I'm on for me.

Okay. I don't feel super confident either. All right. On Tuesday, we have Ranger Suarez at the Marlins. I'm fine with that. Why would? We usually go two days. Yes.

Go ahead. Sorry. Josiah Gray at home against the Brewers. That could go okay. How about Matt Manning at the Pirates? No. I'd steer clear of both Manning and Oviedo. I know they're both, they've both had decent.

and starts lately, but no. Junjin Ryu in his debut against the Orioles. No, I'll watch it, but can't start him. Okay. How about Ben lively at the Cubs? Nah. No. Gavin Williams at the Astros.

I don't think so. Probably not. Jose Cantana at the Royals. Yep. Yeah, that's fine. And, yeah, that's pretty much it. So who did we like, Ranger Suarez and Jose Cantana? Yep.

And maybe Josiah Gray? I think those are the three. I'd be more willing to roll the dice on Johano Vieto than Chris is. I have him as one of my 10 sleeper pitchers for this week. Granted, that's for two starts, two good matchups, as opposed to just the one day by itself. But, you know, if you need to stream a pitcher, I think you could do worse than him against the Tigers.

All right. We're going to wrap there for Skisups. Scott, I and Chris, I am Frank. I almost forgot to include you, Chris, I apologize. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify, if you actually enjoy the podcast. And we'll be back again tomorrow.

Bye-bye.