Fantasy Baseball Today - Matt Mervis Promotion, Week 7 Sleepers & Two-Start Pitchers (5/5 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 5, 2023

Matt Mervis will be promoted by the Cubs on Friday (1:13)! Mervis or Christian Encarnacion-Strand? ... Is Jack Flaherty droppable (13:05)? ... Eduardo Rodriguez is off to a great start (18:45). ... The Red Sox offense is on fire (23:18). ... What's going on with Gunnar Henderson and Grayson Rodriguez (26:49)? ... News (32:14): Ronald Acuńa left after fouling a ball off his knee. ... Are we looking to add Wade Miley or Jorge Soler (37:23)? ... What's the Week 7 schedule and who are the sleepers to target (43:07)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (50:22). 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

And happy Cinco de Mayo. Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today. I am Frank Sample joined by Scotty Dubbs, Scott White. Today on the show, another big prospect promotion. They just won't stop. We're going to recap all Thursday's action. Week 7 sleepers, two-star pitchers, and all that fun stuff. Before we get started, please like this video and subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already.

And if you're listening on the audio side, download, follow, and leave a five-star rating. Thank you very much. We do appreciate it. Let's get things started, Scott, even before, oh my goodness gracious. Let's start off with this prospect promotion. Matt Mervis is getting the call by the Chicago Cubs. This year down in the Miners was hitting 286 with a 402 on base percentage. Six homers, seven doubles, 962 OPS, just a 17% strikeout rate.

It's got pretty much everything you could ask for from a hitting prospect, outside of speed, I suppose. but lots of hype around Matt Mervis. I saw him out in the Arizona Fall League last year in November. The two games that I saw him playing, he homered it in both of them. So I think he's going to be really good. What are your thoughts? He's 45% rostered.

Is he a must add in fantasy baseball? Well, you know how you say the prospect call-ups just won't stop? I would kind of like for them to stop. I would kind of like to put a pause on them. Because it's starting to feel less like something to celebrate than. Oh, I'm celebrating, Scott. I'm celebrating every single one. Here's an opportunity for me to mess something else up.

I don't know. I don't know what Matt Mervis is going to do. I don't know how I can have any confidence in any prospect call up anymore. I mean, on paper, it seems like there's a lot to like here. There's a lot of reason it should go right. I like that he's maintained a strikeout rate below 20%. It's very good for a power hitter. And in theory, it should, it would seem to indicate that he would make a smoother transition to the majors

because that's one area less for more advanced pitchers to exploit. I like that he was basically unfa. phased by every move up the minor league ladder the last two years. His production remained steady from level to level to level without any sort of adjustment period. He just mashed everywhere he went, beginning at IA last year. I like that he's 25, actually. I mean, it's old for a prospect, but that means he's experienced. He's gotten a lot of at-bats already. He's seen some things between college and the minor leagues that, again, would seem to indicate that he's more prepared for this than a 20-year-old like Jordan Walker.

But, I mean, I could make a lot of arguments for a lot of different prospects getting called up why they're going to have no trouble at all and they're just going to cruise to fantasy prominence. And, you know, that's happened less often most of the time that has, most of the time, certainly this year. And I feel like, you know, the last two or three years, that hasn't been the case. They've let us down. So I don't think it's wise for me to just say

for anyone who's called up, Mervis or otherwise, blanket statement, this guy's must add. I think you have to consider the circumstances of your league and understand that you're not buying, you're not buying a solution to first base here. You're buying a lottery ticket, who may end up being a top 10 first baseman the rest of the way. That's within the run.

possibility for Matt Mervis, but he may also be somebody you're cutting in two weeks. Those, and it's, it's less likely to be the former than the latter, given the recent history of prospect call-ups, prospects who are much more highly regarded than Mervis even. So I have Mervis ranked 22nd at first baseman rest of season. that puts him behind guys like Josh Bell like Thai France he has more upside than Josh Bell

and Thai France I think so you have to weigh am I dropping so so what yes I rank him behind those guys but that doesn't mean you absolutely can't drop those guys for them you have to consider

is this a bench spot do I already have an answer at first base and I'm just pursuing upside here with Mervis is it a little league so deep that whoever I decide on right now, I'm probably stuck with it first base for the rest of the season. So if I drop Thai France for Matt Mervis, like, I'm married to Matt Mervis, henceforth. Somebody else is going to pick up Tive France and I'll never have another shot at him. You have to weigh all those things and understand that more likely than not, we aren't going

to get the stud outcome from Mervis or anyone else who gets called up. But in theory, Matt Mervis could be really good. I don't want to just say, don't add him either. It's, it's, it's become so nuanced, and I know that's probably annoying to listen to, but,

you know, if I just say I'm all in or I'm all out, it feels like a wild guess at this point. And I don't think, I don't think that's helpful to anyone to treat it that way, at least of all, I'm not helping myself by doing that. you know. Yeah, no, I think nuance is the right word to use when we're talking about prospect

additions. And look, in shallower leagues, like you mentioned, in a 10 or 12-te-pointe league, or even like a head-to-head categories league, I have to imagine you have somebody on your bench who's expendable. And if that's the case, then yes, you should go out and add someone like Matt Mervis, because while a lot of prospects have flopped, there is a lot to like about his profile. And again, he's older and he's every level he's been to, he's just kind of thrived and the plate discipline coupled with the power. Like, this is about as polished as a hitter as you're going to find getting called up to the majors and get a lot of Vinnie Pasquantino vibes from last year from somebody like Matt Mervis. And frankly, Mervis is an even higher regarded

prospect than Pasquantino was a year ago. So, uh, no, I don't know that that's necessarily true. I remember baseball prospectus was saying, you know, like right after he got called up that they were preparing to put past Guantino in their top 10 for their mid-season top 50. I'm not sure anybody who can do that with Mervis. But, you know, some other things to point out with Mervis to get excited.

And I've already mentioned some. He led all the miners in total bases last year. He led all the miners in extra base hits last year. 36 home runs, 40 doubles. He led all the minors in RBI last year. Well, I don't know if he led it. or he may have been third, trying to remember what I read. But he had 119 RBS.

So he was great. He had over 300. The lowest he hit at any of his three stops was 297. You mentioned he was hitting 286 this year. I had kind of an underwhelming spring. I'll point that out. But, you know, at the same time, what, name a single thing we saw in spring training that has carried over to the regular season.

Because I struggle to think of one other than stolen bases were way up. Graham Ashcraft, baby. No, no, I mean, yeah, he's gotten good results, but like he was a bad missing machine in spring training, and that clearly hasn't carried over. True. So, yeah, everything, like, I wish, I wish, I wish I just snoozed through spring training

because it was highly misleading in many ways. You and I did not talk before ranking Matt Mervis. I wound up at the same exact spot. He's my 22nd ranked first baseman as well. He's just behind Josh Bell. I feel like less of a downer then because I really like Matt Mervis too I was obsessed with him all last summer

I felt like every prospect report I was writing about him it's just I've totally lost faith in my ability to evaluate the readiness of any prospect call up and I guess I'm not alone in that regard because I doubt teams would be calling him up if they thought they were going to stink and like you

if you play in a shallower league I can make an argument that Mervis should be ranked at 15, like just ahead of Thai France and Andrew Vaughn and Alec Bowman, guys like that. So if you don't, if you're not depending on that player in like a deeper league kind of sense where you just need plate appearances and someone who's going to play, then yeah,

again, Jaller League, you can make that swap and take the upside on a Matt Mervis. Scott, that's a concise way of putting it, yes. The questions that I kept getting are surrounding other prospects as well. Do I drop someone like Jordan Walker or Gunner-Henner,

if they're on my bench for someone like Matt Mervis, do you make that swap? So no, I don't think I do either of those. I don't think I swap Mervis and for either of those two. It's easier to make the case for Walker. And like, I don't think it's crazy to drop Walker for Mervis. But I do assume in even like a shallower 10 team league Walker would probably be picked up. And then you never have a chance at him again. So I'd be reluctant to do that.

I think in that shallower league scenario where you, could even consider dropping a Jordan Walker, there's a chance nobody's going to pick up Mervis just yet. And so, like, you don't have to decide just yet. Here's a fun one. Matt Mervis or Christian Encarnassion Strand, who seemingly every Thursday night has a multi-home run game because he hit three more homers on Thursday night. He is batting 432 with seven home runs in 10 games at AAA. Who would you rather have on your team, Scott? I mean, nervous, he's being called up now. And he's a more well-rounded hitter, I would say.

And Carnacian Strand, not a particularly patient hitter, although we did see him make contact at a surprisingly high rate this spring. We saw him basically do everything, right, this spring. Hit over 500, four home runs, very loud home runs. I keep linking up this video from one of the spring training home runs. It's just one of the funnest home run highlights you'll ever see, because the sound off the bat and the way the announcers react to it. It's awe-inspiring power that Christian Incarnacion Strand has.

And he was the cover boy for my latest prospect report that just went up this morning, even before he had this three-homer game. So that makes me feel good that he goes up, and then he hits three home runs that day, up to seven home runs now and just 10 games at AAA. And like the Reds are playing Spencer Steer at first base. There's been no updates on, Joey Vado status in like two weeks, they could certainly rearrange their lineup to integrate

Incarnazion Strand. And I think that's coming very soon. So to answer your question, yes, Mervis over Encarnassian Strand, but if you're kicking yourself now, like if your league is the sort where you missed out on Mervis today, somebody got to him before you and you're kicking yourself for not picking them up ahead of time so that you didn't have that struggle, go ahead and pick up Incarnatian. Strand now. It may go just as well. It may go better because the power is so big. And the ballpark is tremendous, obviously, Cincinnati as well. So I do like both of them, but I'm with you right now. I am

taking Matt Mervis over Christian and Carnaccio on Tran. We should see Mervis in the lineup on Friday. That's a day game too. So a little day day game baseball on a Friday gets to see Matt Mervis's debut. He should play every day too. He's, you know, he's been good against lefties. Maybe they sit them against a tough lefty here or there, but I already saw a report that, like, Trey Mancini could lose playing time. So it sounds like they're planning on Matt Mervis being a near everyday player as well.

Let's jump into the rest of Thursday's action. Oh, my goodness gracious. All right, Scotty, oh, my goodness gracious for you. I'm going to stick with the downer approach here. You've been really down lately, Scott. I need, like, a good week of your fantasy teams just going off so we can get positive Scott back. We need to have, yeah, we need to have Corey Seeger come back maybe.

Apparently he's seven to ten days away, so we're getting close. Vinny Pasquantino, maybe have a three-homer game or something. He's playing well. He's getting better. Yeah. Anyway, Jack Flaherty. Let's talk about Jack Flaherty. Jack Flaherty was a disaster. Oh.

And this keeps happening, where I feel like I'm making some head. headway and ERA and whip. Oh man, I'm finally going to climb out of last place here. Just chiseling away at it a little bit at a time. And then I get a star like this where Flaherty allows tenor and runs in two and a third innings. It was bad. It was against the Angels.

And what makes it frustrating is, you know, I was pretty close to giving up on Flaherty a couple weeks ago, got off to a rough start to the season. And there wasn't a lot reassuring in the underlying data either. But then things started to turn around a bit. He had that quality start with nine strikeouts a couple turns ago. The following start wasn't great, but he had a ton of swinging strikes again, and just seemed like he was maybe starting to get it back. And then this happens.

How much of it is, wow, Jack Flaherty is bad now? probably that and I certainly wouldn't hesitate to drop Flaherty if you know to pick up Matt Mervis or something like that if there was somebody exciting on the waiver wire

but I will point out Jack Flaherty still had 10 whiffs on 74 pitches in this one a very good rate of the nine hits he allowed eight of them were singles his velocity was fine he got hit hard with the cutter

which was a pitch that entering this start had a 11-batting average against so that pitch kind of turned on him for some reason and like he certainly isn't alone in terms of oh look this pitcher seems like he's on a good run and then he blows up like this like that's happened to more pitchers than not

so yeah you can drop Flaherty if you want I'm totally cool with that but it wouldn't be totally surprising if there came the point where we were talking about adding him again. 22 walks in 34 and a third innings pitch for Jack Flourty, 5.8 walks per nine on the season. I assume that you're good dropping him for

any of the pitching prospects we've mentioned recently. Bryce Miller, Tanner, Bybee, Logan Allen, all of those players are Rosson 75% or less. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. You didn't get a chance to opine on Brandon Fott's debut, which was not a very good one. I don't know if a swap like that makes sense, but what do you think?

Flaherty for Fott. Yeah, I don't know that a swap like that makes sense either. Yeah. Another example, I mean, between Fott and Gavin Stone yesterday, another example of these highly regarded prospects calling up and just stinking it up. And it's funny because they both got more hype than either of the Guardian's guys. who've come up and pitch well. That's part of the reason why it's hard to trust

my judgment on these things right now. I guess with regard to fought, I watched a fair amount of the start. Things kind of fell apart in the fifth inning. He was doing okay before then. The slider had an interesting shape to it. The change-up and slider both had a 40% width rate, which is great.

He didn't throw either that much. He was heavy on the fact. And so maybe changing the pitch mix, we could see some improvement. I mean, maybe NERF played a huge role. Like, it's hard to, it's hard to know what to make of anybody's debut, because debuts are weird and all of that. But, you know, it may just be also that we're in a cycle now where top prospects, you know, they'll come up and they'll struggle for a couple years before starting to put it

together. I go back and look at careers of very famous players from the 90s and early 2000s. And the first like three or four years of their career, they're terrible. And then they figure it out. And like that we just may be entering a phase like that in baseball again, which, you know, is going to be a big adjustment for everybody. And it's too early to conclude that. But I don't know that there's a lot to take away from Brandon Fotz's debut other than, well, It's hard to rely on Brandon Fah right now. You know, that's the only thing I can really take away from it. To your point, Scott, two names just in the past decade, who got off to really slow starts and were consensus top prospects,

Byron Buxton and Lucas G. Leto. And eventually, they figured it out. In Buxon's case, a lot of it was injury related. But he just really struggled a lot early on in his career too. So, I mean, those are two guys that eventually they figured it out. And look, Jared Kelnick right now too, right? Yeah. Look, it's a very small sample size.

Who knows where he goes from here, but so far so good. But, you know, it took him some time to get where he is. Oh my goodness gracious, for me, I want to highlight a good starting pitcher. For one, Scott, we've got one. And he's actually done it five starts in a row. Eduardo Rodriguez up against the Mets, eight shutout, two hits, one walk, nine strikeouts with 13 swinging strikes on 102 pitches, limited the hard contact in this one.

He was, I watched the highlights of the start, dotting his fastball. Wherever the catcher put the glove, the fastball was there. He was hitting it high in the zone. They were swinging underneath it. Definitely some help from the umpire, too, like a very wide strike zone. So that helped out. I don't want to take anything away. Eduardo Rodriguez has been very good.

His second start this season of eight shutout baseball and at least nine strikeouts. He had another eight shutout, 10 strikeouts, which, like, what year is it? Eduardo Rodriguez is doing this one, like, you know, the top pitchers in baseball can't even get on track right now. I know. The overall number is 181 ERA, 0.78 whip, 39. strikeouts over 44 and two-thirds innings pitched. There will be some regression, Scott.

The babbip is very low. The strand rate is very high. But to his credit, I mean, he is really limiting hard contact right now and keeping the walks down. How much are you buying in on what Eduardo Rodriguez is doing? I mean, buying in enough that I'm not particularly eager to shop him. You know, he's going deep consistently into games. He's getting strikeouts at a pretty nice clip.

I mean, he's been genuinely dominant here during this stretch. Only seven hits allowed over his last four starts, 20 and two-thirds inning, seven hits. I think you just have to ride that out. I think you don't want to mess with a good thing, especially given how volatile pitching has been. I'm sure he'll have a blow-up start at some point. But he also has some really good seasons in his track record

and back in his history. So it's not like this is totally unprecedented. And we should all be waiting for it to blow up. I think you can stick with Edward or Rodriguez unless you're blown away with a trade offer. I'm going to give you a two for Scott and go over to another starting pitcher who had a fantastic outing on Thursday.

Zach Eflin had his best start as a member of the Tampa Bay raise. Up against the Pirates, seven shutout, only three hits, zero walks, 10 strikeouts, with 13 swinging strikes on 80 pitches, incredibly efficient in this outing. He also limited the hard contact. What I noticed with him is he's fading his four-seem fastball this season, basically going with a three-pitch mix,

sinker, curve, cutter, immaculate control, more whiffs this year. The swinging strike rate and the ground ball rate are both up. No surprise, right? It's like Tampa Bay. We're like, oh, why did they just give out their biggest contract in history to Zach Eflin, a free agent contract at that? but it seems like they may be on to something here following this outing.

Are you buying into Zach Eflin maybe the same way you are with Eduardo Rodriguez? Well, not quite to that extent because this was only the second time in five starts that he's gone more than five innings. So like the race no pitching and it isn't terribly surprising that they figured out how to maximize his arsenal. The curve ball was a pitch for Zach Evelin. Eflin that really came on last year and emerged as a big bat misser. And so they have him throwing that more. It seems like the cutter. You mentioned they have him throwing that more.

And it just seems to be a more productive mix for him. But the Rays also like to play these workload games, these usage games that make it, that kind of undermines some of the effectiveness of their pitchers. And Eflin seems to be falling into that as well. So I imagine he's not going to be a must-start type in fantasy this year, even if the ratios are strong. But, you know, career high-swinging strike rate, there's a lot to like here. I just between him and Eduardo Rodriguez, I prefer Rodriguez. Let's take our first break.

And when we return, I want to talk about a few of the young Orioles players. What's going on with Gunner Henderson and Grayson Rodriguez will discuss right after this. Welcome back. and a quick reminder to sign up for our fantasy baseball today newsletter. Head to CBSports.com slash newsletters, punch in your email address and press sign up. Easy as that. It's free. You get the latest news and articles delivered right to your inbox every single weekday.

Again, that's the Fantasy Baseball Today newsletter. Before I get into the Orioles, I want to talk about another AL East team real quick, Scott. This Red Sox offense has been on fire. They entered Thursday, third and run scored in baseball, fifth and hundred. home runs, second and hits, third in batting average overall. And that's without the likes of Trevor Story and Adam Duval, who got off to a hot start this season as well. In that game on Thursday, they beat up on Kevin Gosman.

Masataka Yoshita went three for five with his sixth home run. Now has a 14 game hitting streak and up to a 317 batting average. Justin Turner just quietly doing what he does. Typically with the Dodgers, now with the Red Sox. He went three for five with three runs, three RBI added his second stolen base. Rafael Devers has been in a bit of a batting average funk recently, but he went three for five, hit his 11th home run. He has 31 RBI on the season two,

so despite the lower batting average, he is giving you power and the counting sets. And the legend continues, Scott. Jaron Duran, three for five with two steals. The batting average remains over 400. He's moved up to fifth in the Red Sox lineup, and the guy can seemingly do no wrong. Any thoughts on this Red Sox offense, which is on fire?

I've gained a lot of confidence in Jaron Duran and especially Masataki Yoshida here in the last couple weeks. I'm a huge Yoshita fan at this point. The guy walks more than he strikes out. The quality of his contact is very high and the amount of his contact is very high. And while I wish he elevated a little better, he has elevated a lot better during this 14-game hitting streak,

the ground ball rate down to 50%, which is still kind of a high ground ball rate, but it's certainly manageable if you're going to make that much contact. And I think Yoshida is absolutely a must-start player going forward. And yeah, I wish I

I didn't draft him anywhere because I was kind of a skeptic, but he is proving me wrong. There, Duran, I still have some questions about him, but he's still pretty available on CBS Sports League's amazing. for as long as he's been batting over 400. The quality of contact's been great for him. Of course, he has speed.

We always knew that. And it's definitely gained a lot of ground in my mind as well. I still think the Red Sox offense as a whole is punching above its weight. Because I look at the lineup, and I don't see any sluggers there except for Raphael Devers. Like, who in their lineup is going to hit even 20 home runs? Masataka Yoshida's got? Maybe. Maybe.

He's probably the best bet. Maybe Duran can do it. Maybe Kassas. Maybe Justin Turner, though I think that's a real stretch at this stage of his career. There just doesn't seem to be enough power there, but there's a lot of on-base ability. A lot. And they may not be a top-five offense, but they're probably...

in the top half of the league in offense. Yeah, and I mentioned this on yesterday's podcast with the Welsh that I moved Yoshita inside of my top 30 outfielders in head-to-head points leagues because for the reasons you mentioned, it's the plate discipline, the power coming around now. Even if those aren't home runs, I think he'll hit a lot of doubles. He's batting seconds, so she'll get lots of plate appearances and counting stats.

So lots to like right now with Masataka Yoshita. Not lots to like about those young Orioles. Gunner Henderson and Grayson Rodriguez. We'll start with Gunner, who went one for two with a walk and actually hit his third home run of the season on Thursday. The batting average is 190. But what's so odd about this, Scott, is that he is walking a ton. He has 21 walks to 30 strikeouts on the season.

I kind of feel like maybe he's being a little bit too passive. Like his swing rate is down this year. He's not really, he's not chasing pitches at all, which usually is a good thing. But maybe he needs to just be a little bit more aggressive. he's still hitting the ball hard, the ground ball rate is down. I think there's actually, under the hood, I think there's a lot of good signs with Gunner Henderson.

One thing I don't really like is he has struggled mightily against lefties. He's only two for 22. It's a small sample size. But what are your thoughts on Gunner Henderson? And would you be looking to buy right now? I think Gunner Henderson is probably going to figure it out. Like you said, there are a lot of good signs under the hood. And, you know, he's just another example of these young players needing

more time to figure it out. And certainly from a dynasty perspective, we shouldn't lose faith. In a single season, you know, a redraft perspective, there will come a point where we have to move on if he continues to, about under 200. But I think we're, you know, at least two or three weeks away from that. And even if we do move on then, I mean, we may end up regretting it. How late was Bobby Witt batting 210 last year? I think it was like June 7th.

He was still batting 2.10, something close to that. So, yeah, don't be so quick to give up on Henderson. Would I buy on him? If the price is right. If the price is right. But you have to treat him sort of like I talked about how we should treat prospect call-ups. Like, you're not buying a certainty. You're not buying the solution to your third base problems.

You're buying a lottery ticket. And if the cost is right, I mean, the appeal of buying a lottery ticket is the cost is very low. You're probably going to lose the money you paid for it, but the cost is low for a potentially huge reward. And so just keep that in mind with these young, unproven types. Yeah, and you're buying versatility, too. If you play on CBS, Gunner Henderson entered the season with third base eligibility, now has shortstop.

So that middle corner kind of helpfulness, from Gunner Henderson is something that you could also be looking to buy right now as well. Let's move over to Grayson Rodriguez, who had another subpar outing at the Kansas City Royals. You know, on paper, it's supposed to be a good matchup here. Three and two-thirds, eight hits, six earned runs, three strikeouts to one walk, three homers allowed in this start, and the average exit velocity, 92.5 mile per hour against in this one. The velocity was down a little bit across the board for him and faded his slughey.

slider in this start. Really uses cutter more. Maybe just didn't have a feel for that slider. The changeup didn't give him anything either. He got zero whiffs on that pitch. Just feels like he's trying to work through it right now, Scott. And again, it's like maybe we just like had too high of expectations for the quote unquote, you know, top pitching prospect in baseball. No such thing as a pitching prospect. But your thoughts on Grace and Rodriguez, would you be looking to by low on him? To top pitching prospect of baseball two years running.

That's right. and it seemed like he was I mean sort of like Jack Flaherty it seemed like he was on the right track he was coming off his best start yet the nine strikeout effort against the Tigers and the start before that also against the Tigers was really good

Kansas City seemed like it should have been another cakewalk for him and it just it didn't happen and so I mean I hate to sound like a broken record here but sure buy on Grayson Rodriguez

if the price is right just understand you're not going to getting a sure thing. You're getting a lottery ticket, blah, blah, blah. If somebody's lost patience with him and is close to dropping him and you can offer up a borderline rosterable guy for him, then great. Or if somebody drops him, go ahead and pick him up. But I don't know what it's going to take for me to feel comfortable starting. Grayson Rodriguez at this point. Yeah, his next, oh gosh, next week his matchup is the Tampa Bay raise. There's no way. There's no way you can start Grace Rodriguez against the race right now.

Probably means he'll dominate, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't go against process just because nothing seems very predictable right now. It's one of those where even if he dominated on my bench, I wouldn't be upset because I kind of need to see a prove-it start from Grace and Rodriguez or maybe even a couple of starts following this outing against the Royals. Here's what you need to remember. He has not thrown more than five innings in any of his starts this season. He is going to give you a lot of strikeouts.

He's already done that this year. He's got an 11.8K per 9, but the control has been an issue. He's giving up a lot of hard contact. Those two things combined. It's obviously going to lead to a higher whip and lots of runs scored. So strikeouts, yes, but remember,

he's not going to give you a lot of length and volume. So maybe in a points league, probably not someone you want to go out and buy right now. That is Grayson Rodriguez. Let's get into the news and notes. Ronald Acuna was removed with a left knee, injury, he fouled the ball off of his knee in the sixth inning of that game. There was a later report that should be fine. Seems like he's good to go. No issues there.

Corey Seeger. Like a daily scare from him. He's writhing around in pain. Everybody's concerned. And then it's like, I'll be fine. Yeah. Which is good. We want him to be fine. It's just getting to be kind of funny. Corey Seeger is seven to ten days away from returning. So get those trade offers in now. If you'd like to acquire a question, choir Corey Seeger before the return. Tyler Glassnow will make a minor league rehab start at AAA on Friday. The plan is for him to make two to three rehab starts. So middle of May, that seems pretty realistic for Tyler Glassnow.

Tristan McKenzie threw another bullpen session on Tuesday, his second since being diagnosed with that muscle strain in his shoulder. Nolan Gorman exited with lower back tightness. Zach Plesack was optioned to AAA. Patent Battenfield will start in his place on first. Friday and Scott yesterday, the Welsh brought up Gavin Williams as a stash candidate, another one of those top pitching prospects in the Guardians organization. It seems if you told me that at some point this season, all three of Gavin Williams, Tanner Bybee and Logan Allen would be in

the Guardian's rotation. I would not have believed you, but now it seems like a pretty realistic thing. Like Gavin Williams is dominating in the minors. He's recently promoted to AAA. It would not surprise me if we see him soon, ish. Yeah, well, if you told me that all three be in the rotation before the end of May, which hasn't happened yet, but yeah, it does seem plausible.

As I mentioned earlier in the show, my latest prospects report is out, and if you haven't read the prospects report, I have the five on, my five on the verge every week, the five who most need to be stashed and redraft leagues, and then I have more in there than that. But that tends to be the focus of the article.

I don't, I didn't put Gavin Williams in there as one of the five I considered it but Mervis was one of them so Mervis was in there would Gavin Williams think that's not I don't know that will I don't know that Williams was necessarily the 60 either if it was 10 if it was 10 on the verge Williams would have been in there I feel confident saying but based on everything else I've we've said about prospects in this podcast I don't know that there are many leagues where that many prospects should be stashed anyway. Fair enough.

I mean, the only thing that I think Gavin Williams has in his favor is just that organization, man. Like, the Guardians just churn out pitching prospects, and Bybee and Allen have looked so great so far. And in theory, he is a bigger talent than either of them. Yeah, he's got more prospect pedigree than either of those guys. So just a name that should be on your radar at this point. Vince Velasquez left his start early due to right elbow discomfort,

and somebody tweeted us asking about Luis Ortiz. I think that's another name just to have on the radar. Six starts at AAA. The numbers have been pretty good for him as well. So that's definitely an option. He has RP eligibility on CBS as well. Jake Berger was placed on the IL with a strained left oblique. Lennon Sosa was recalled.

Philly's manager Rob Thompson confirmed that Matt Schramm will move into the bullpen when Ranger Suarez is activated, which is likely to happen next week. Orlando Arcea began taking dry swings on 30. Thursday, Scott, what happens when he returns? Do you think that is the end of Von Grissom for now? Yeah, I do. He's had some defensive issues, mostly like throws. I think he has like five errors already. And hasn't been providing, I don't think he has a home run yet, doesn't have a stolen base yet. It's a fair amount of singles, but yeah, there's no reason for them to keep him around once.

C is ready to go. Cardinals manager, Oliver Marmull, was non-committal when asked whether Stephen Mats will remain in the rotation. Adam Wainwright is set to return this weekend, and Matthew Liberator has looked great in the minors this year. He is another name that should be on your radar. I don't think he's a must add or mustache right now, but he's made some changes. The Velocides up, and he's getting more whiffs this year.

Liberator is the name there. Uri's Familia was designated for assignment by the A's. Zach Jackson had the most recent save opportunity, and of course he gave up a game-tying home run to AJ Pollack, which ruined the potential first win for an A's starting pitcher. That would have been J.P. Sears on Wednesday night, but Zach Jackson ruined it. Blue Jay's pitching prospect, Ricky Teeteman,

left his start in the minor Thursday due to left biceps discomfort, which obviously does not sound good. I think he's probably going to be shut down for a while. No confirmation, just speculation there on my part. Let's take our final break. When we return, we'll get into a few waiver wire options and our week seven preview right after this. A few waiver wire options worth mentioning real quick.

Before we get into our week seven preview, Wade Miley goes into Corris Field and he produces a quality start. He survived. Six innings, three runs, only two strikeouts for him, limited the hard contact, just 80.1 mile per hour, average exit velocity in that start,

and now Wade Miley has allowed three earned runs or fewer in all six of his starts. He's 65% rostered. Scott, are you pying into the Wade Miley Renaissance here, a latest start in Coorsfield? No, I'm not. I mean, he's been, he's been at times a worthy streamer over his entire career, but I don't think he's going to break through as more than that. Yes, I tend to agree as well.

65% rostered going up against the Dodgers next week too. Don't really like that matchup. In deeper leagues, Dylan Dodd made his return to the Braves rotation, turned in a quality start at the Marlins. And I used the term quality very loosely there. Six innings, eight hits, three earned runs, three walks, one strikeout. That was it.

I thought it was interesting. He did change up his pitch mix in this one. He used his change up a lot more than we saw earlier in the season. It's got deeper leagues, you know, 15 teamers. and deeper than that. Any interest in Dylan Dodd, he could stick around due to the Kyle Wright injury.

Oh, no, Brian Snickker said it was just a spot start. I lied. It's rare clarity. But yes, another example of something that couldn't be going any differently than it didn't spring training, Dylan Dodd, and Jared Schuster both, frankly. Well, I wonder if Mike Soroka's a name there to watch.

I speculated on him on yesterday's podcast. Yeah, he'll probably be up soon. I don't know that we should be that excited about it. I don't know that there's much reason to believe he'll be good. It's been so long years since he pitched a major league game and the little bits we've seen of him since recovering from the second Achilles surgery between the minors and between bring training. He hasn't been that effective. He's not going to be a big strikeout guy. I'm just not that eager to stashed to Roca, I'd rather see what he has and see if he's worth picking up than the investor

roster spot in him now. There were a few waiver wire hitters I wanted to mention from Thursday's action. Jorge Salare, we spoke about him earlier in the year. He was crushing the ball and, you know, he's obviously a very shrieky player and, you know, he kind of went through a recent slump, but he woke up with another big game here on Thursday. When three for five hit his sixth home run of the season. Three batted balls over 111 miles per hour. That is insane for one game. He's still crushing the ball this year.

I know he's very up and down, but, man, Jorge Saler, there's still a lot to like with him. He's 47% rostered right now. Scott, I was just talking about Jorge Saler. I know recently he hasn't been very good, but the batted ball data still looks really, really strong for him.

It always has. right? Like he's always shown that outlier quality of contact that should make him, you know, that basically backs up the 48 homer season he had in 2019. But other than that season and a partial season with the Braves two years ago, he hasn't delivered on those metrics.

So maybe that should, changes this year. The fact he's hitting 220, though, I don't know. I'm not buying especially hard on Jorge Salar. He is hitting 220, but the expected numbers, 253XBA, 513 X-slug. It feels like he's been unlucky. At least, you know, based on the strikeout rate is not as bad as it has been in years past. And he's still hitting the ball really hard. So maybe not a must roster in like three outfielder leagues. But if you need power or if you're playing a five outfielder, outfielder league, I think it probably should hold on to Horace O'Halear. Scott, anything with Carlos Santana.

He went two for four with two doubles and two RBI. He's betting 278 this year. Plate discipline still looks really good. Only two home runs, but 11 doubles. So I think it has to be like a deeper points league kind of play. But he's doing a lot of the Carlos Santana things that we've always liked in that format. Yeah, he is. How old is Carlos Santana now?

Older than me. 37. You know what Carlos Santana hit last year? 202. You know what he hit the year before? 2.14. You know what he hit the year before that? 1.99.

Scott, it's the Pirates Renaissance, baby. It's the golden age of pirates. There you go. With that being said, Andrew McCutche. 17th century. I don't know. Andrew McCutcheon has slowed down quite a bit. So I see you do have the Pirates

as the number one hitter matchups next week. So I do. I'll just throw it out there. If you need a corner infielder in a deeper league, Carlos Santana, maybe you can look at. Speaking of those deeper leagues, anything with these names got, Michael Garcia went two for five with a steel, and in three games since being called up by the Royals,

five hits, two runs, two RBI, and that stolen base. J.J. Blood Day went two for four with his first home run as a member of the Oakland A's. Again, we're talking 15 team leagues are deeper. Any interest in, you know, kind of prospecty names there. Woof. All right. I guess that's all you need to know. Let's move into our week seven preview, the schedule for next week.

Eight teams have seven games. 18 teams have six games and four teams have five games. That includes the Braves, the Red Sox, the Blue Jays, and the Phillies. Star pitchers, Scott, and it wasn't a great week for this segment. Like, it was very straightforward to me. You start your stud two-star pitchers. There's very obvious pickups. And then there's like a few kind of crappy names just below them.

And that's who I'm going to ask you about. Kyle Gibson going up against the rays and the pirates. First of all, do I sound like a robot still? Do I sound okay? Nope. I think you're perfect just in time. Okay. Commenters are making me self-conscious here.

All right. Kyle Gibson, well, if we're starting with Kyle Gibson, I'm probably saying no to everybody because coming off a start where he gave up 17 hard-hit balls. now he's facing the rays and pirates in a two-star week. And I guess for now we're considering the Pirates a tough matchup, certainly considering the race a tough match-up. So no thanks. So it's a no on Eric Lauer and Michael Walker, right?

Yeah. Yes, it is a no. Let's get to two-star pitchers to add in stream. You've got six names on the list. Yes, I do. Those names are Tanner Bybee's number one. Easy. Not sure why he's still available.

25% of CBS sports leagues because he's looked great in his first two starts and one of his matchups this week is against the Tigers. So yes, please. Andrew Heaney. So Andrew Heaney is third among my sleeper pitchers, whether we're talking one start or two, this week. And yet I don't feel great about him because he's Andrew Heaney.

So that goes to show you the state that we're in now with sleeper pitchers. were even third on my list. I'm already not feeling great about. Okay, so Andrew Heaney, though, gets the Mariners and athletics this week. So that makes me feel a little better, but still not great. Don't want to call him a must-start by stretch of the imagination. John Gray gets those same matchup, Seattle and Oakland.

So if you're looking to maximize starts, I guess you could give him a look. Then we go down a few spots here. and we get to Louis Varlant, who's facing the Padres and Cubs, not great matchups. But we have, between the two starts we've seen from in the majors this year,

he's gotten a lot of swings and misses. So I think there's something to see there with Louis Varland. I don't know that this week is really the time to use them, but at least he's making two starts. And this will really go to show you just how hard it is to come up with 10 sleeper pitchers in any given week.

Because I'm going to mention, Brandon Fott is one. I don't think you should actually start Brandon Fought. Those matches are really good though, Scott. Marlins and Giants, yeah. It's better than the Rangers. I don't think you should actually do it. Like if it's a really deep points league

where you can't do you that much damage and you're hoping to get lucky, okay. But that's really the only situation where I could see doing that. And then I also have Miles Michael this here. Like I'm even less than Fought. His matchups at the Cubs, at the Red Sox. Those clearly aren't great, but it's two starts from a pitcher who we trusted not so long ago in

Miles Michaelis. All right. Let's stick with the. Ringing endorsments there, I know. Sometimes I just hate this task because it's like, it's trying to make chicken salad out of chicken crap. There's a few, I think, more interesting names, at least on the single star streamers. Scott, four names that you, that I like quite a bit.

I don't know if you like them. Yes. Well, I do like Bryce Miller at Detroit. How could you not after that debut he had against the athletics? So him and Bybee are really the two sleeper pitchers this week that I feel really comfortable recommending. But Drew Smiley at Minnesota is interesting. We don't think of the twins' offense as being that bad, but they are second worst in terms of OPS against left-handed pitchers. and that's what Smiley is.

He's a left-handed pitcher. So that one's pretty good. Logan Taylor Allen, or just Logan Allen, if you prefer. Logan T. Allen, some might say. I would start hint. Like, I think he would deserve to be on this list no matter who he's facing, and so I'm putting him on here against the Angels. No, that's kind of a tough match-up.

But, hey, he was great against the Red Sox last time out. Reed Detmer's is at Cleveland. Maybe that'll go well, maybe not. And that's it. That's it for the one-star streamers. All right, let's move over to the hitting side of things, the best hitter matchups for next week. The Pirates, the Brewers, the White Sox, Guardians, and the Giants,

the worst hitter matchups, Blue Jays, Padres, Astros, Reds, and the Braves. With that being said, Scott, your top sleeper hitters for week seven. So Jack Swinsky's number one on the list. You mentioned the Pirates have. the best matchups of any team. He has cooled off recently, like right after the point where we got excited about him. But the Pirates matchups,

I recall, were pretty tough last week. So it stood to reason that he would cool off. Only one left-hander on their six-game schedule, in addition to having favorable matchups. So, Jack Swinsky, is a go. I have Jaron Duran on here as my number two sleeper hitter, even though the Red Sox are playing only five games, which kind of says something about the state of sleeper hitters as well.

I just want to start Jared Duran, even in a five-game week, over just about all of them. Go ahead and keep him in the lineup, even though he has five games. You mentioned the Giants have the fifth best matchups. They only have two lefties on their seven-game schedule. So I think Lamont Wade, who's been hot, is a good play. I think Jack Peterson. It's a pretty good play.

I might try my luck with J.D. Davis again if I'm hurting at corner infield. Miguel Vargas has been heating up, and I think it's a fine time to use him. Matchups are middle of the road for the Dodgers, but he's heating up. Brett Beatty also heating up, and the Mets have just one left-hander on the schedule, so it's not a bad time to try him out. And then others who have a seven-game schedule, which not many teams do this week, include Harold Ramirez, Ezekiel Duran, Ezekiel Duran, Estuary Ruiz, who's been hot, stealing a ton of bases. I'd be fine using any of them in a pinch if I needed help with those positions.

All right, well, let's wrap up with a few leftovers here. And there was a pitching duel, Scott, between Lucas Gilito and Pablo Lopez on Thursday. And yeah, they were both fantastic. Gialito, seven innings, one run, seven strikeouts with 18 swinging strikes. Pablo Lopez on the other side, seven innings, two runs, eight strikeouts for him, 16 swinging strikes.

Anything in particular you wanted to point out about these two. Yeah, Gialito, the one thing, the one ingredient that had been missing for him is the swinging strikes. His swinging strike rate for the year prior to this start where he had 18 of them. his swinging strike rate was only 11.1. Last year it was 12.2.

During his best years, it was more like 15. So he needed to get that up. He needed to start to get that up for me to feel really comfortable, really confident that he's back. And this is a good first step toward doing that, getting those 18 swinging strikes. And of course, the ERA now is down to 367, 110 whip. Things are looking up here for Lucas Gialito.

Justin Verlander made his Metz debut and he was okay five innings two runs five strikeouts to just one walk he allowed back to back solo home runs in the first inning and then settled down after that anything that stood out to you from Verlander's debut

I had a lot of hard contact 95.2 mile per hour average exit velocity but apart from that nothing stood out as too concerning I'll give him a pass for that. I mean, he has Justin Verlander after all. And it's good to have him back. Kevin Gossman got destroyed in Fenway Park.

Three and a third, 10 hits, eight earned runs. That is the second time of the season. He's allowed eight runs in a start. Just like that, the ERA jumps up to 3.86. And as much as, look, Gawzman is a very talented pitcher, Scott. He gets a ton of swinging strikes, a lot of strikeouts. He keeps to walks down. He allows a.

a lot of hard contact. He did last year. He's doing that again this season. He did that again in this start. I really like Gosman, but I think that he's going to continue to have these blow-up starts every now and then. Well, I go back to who hasn't this year.

True. It's just nobody's immune from it. You think you have a guy here in Gosman who, yes, I have a reliable ace, you suckers who didn't draft him. You're not as smart as me. And then it happens to him too. And who hasn't it happened to?

Eduardo Rodriguez. Garic Cole, baby. Yeah. You know, it's coming. I'm sure it's coming. Don't get too comfortable. Don't you wish that evil on him, Scotty. A few signs of life for hitters that I wanted to point out.

Taylor Ward over his last three games has six hits, one homer, four RBI. He had four hard hits on Thursday. Anthony Santander, multiple hits. in four of his last five games. He went two for five with his third home run. Eloy Jimenez went three for five with his fourth home run. He had four hard hits in that game, two at 111 miles per hour or harder for Eloy.

Over his last seven, he's batting 448 with two home runs. Dalton Varshot, multiple hits in three straight and home runs in each of his previous two before this. Anything to add on those, Scott. Ward, Santander, Eloy, and Varsho. I mean, no, not really. I think the player who I've lost the most faith in of these four is Santander. I probably have the least faith in him to begin with.

Let's be honest. Part of the reason I've had, I, part of the reason I had to leave Gavin Williams out of my five prospects to stash was because I had Colton Couser in there, who has been on fire at AAA for the Orioles. He entered Thursday. Let me see if I can find the numbers real quick. He entered Thursday, Colton Kouser,

about a 417 over his past 20 games at AAA with an on-base percentage. I mean, for the season, his on-base percentage is 4-50-70. He has great on-based skills, power, speed. Like, basically does everything you would want a hitter to do. Strikeout rate is a little on the high side considering, but it's a great hit tool. And considering the Orioles, you know, was funny you mentioned how disappointing gunner henderson and grace and rodriguez have been

Orioles entered thursday with the second best record in the american league so just imagine if if henderson and rodriguez were performing up to expectation but my point with that is like if they think cow's ready they're not going to hold them back and santander's slow start you know i'm kind of rooting against santander at this point because i don't want to see cowser they could always just move santer Tantere to DH make him a full-time D-H. There's room for Kouser either way. But that's the name to keep an eye on, too.

Colton Kouser. A few youngsters that are coming around, hopefully. Riley Green went two for four with a sock and a shoe. He hit that home run off of Justin Verlander. Has nine hits over his last six games. Ezekiel Tovar went one for three with two runs and two RBI. And over his last 10 games, he's betting 314 with a homer, two doubles. The strikeouts are high, but the average exit velocity has,

look pretty good. So not saying you need to re-add those guys, but who knows, another week of this, then yeah, maybe that's something we're talking about. Two other hitters that have been heating up for quite some time now. Salvador Perez over his last 16 games is betting 3-11 with four

homers and a ton of hard contact. Javier Baez, very quiet. Get him, Salvi. Havier-Ayes very quietly, one for three with his second home run. He had three hard hits in that game, a couple of those coming against Justin Verlander. Over his last 17, games. Baez is batting 333 with two homers, two steals, 91.6 mile per hour average exit

velocity, and an 18% strikeout rate. He's down to 77% rostered. So something to monitor with Javier Baez. A few bullpen updates for the tiger is Alex Lang, struck out two more for his fifth save. He's 47% rostered if you need saves. For Tampa Bay, Jason Adam entered the ninth with a three-run lead. He gave up two unearned runs, but struck out three for his second save this week. Reminder that Pete Fairbanks was placed on the IL. And that sweeper for Jason Adam, insane. It is an insane pitch.

He's 28% rostered. So again, if you do need saves, I actually prefer him over Alex Lang. For the, I was about to say Seahawks, that is the Mariners. Paul Seawald pitch a clean ninth inning for his ninth save and for the Braves. A.J. Mentor struck out two for his seventh save.

It sounded like Bryce Luglesias was close to returning and then, I don't know. He's just not back yet. Have you heard anything, Scott? No, I was just looking that up because I'm surprised he's not back yet. But it would not at all surprise me

if this is Minter's last save for a while. All right. Let's wrap up with, to stream or not to stream. We'll go through our two or three favorites for each day. And oh, I remember this group, because I talked about it.

it with the Welsh yesterday. And actually, it's okay. I thought it was worse than it was. Josiah Gray at the Diamondbacks. It's a tough-ish matchup, but he's pitched very well this season. Bailey Ober at Cleveland, I think, is okay. Yeah, I prefer that one to Gray, actually.

Maybe Eduardo Cabrera at the Cubs. It's a little scary. It's just Edward Cabrera, Frank. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know why I did that. Sorry. I've done it a few times myself. I guess that's the third best, but it's a distant third behind Ober and Josiah Gray.

Okay. On Saturday, we've got Logan T. Allen going up against the twins. I like that. Domingo Hermon at Tampa Bay, I mean, that's so boom or bust. I don't think I don't think I have it in me to do it, Scott. I don't think so. What? Logan Allen's a lefty, right?

And the twins, as I pointed out earlier, have the second worst OPS against lefties. So I think he's a very easy call. Yeah. It really just comes down to who the second choice is. Wainwright's debut against the Tigers? No, no. No?

No, I mean, I think Hermann and Oviedo are choices two and three here. But again, distant two and three. Tough. Not ones I feel great about recommending. Yeah, Oviedo is going up against the blue jays. I thought about Brady Singer against Oakland just because Oakland's so bad, but Brady Singer might actually be worse

than the Oakland A's offense right now. On Sunday, scrolling through here, Mason Miller at the Royals, check. Sure. Hayden Wensniewski up against the Marlins, check. A little if-y, but I could do it. This one's interesting.

Bryce Miller, his second start of his career up against the Houston Astros. I think I do it. I think I'd do it. Do it over West Nesky. Okay. Yeah, I think those are the main ones that stand out for me. So I would go Mason Miller, Bryce Miller, and then Wisnski in that order.

Yeah, and if you're really desperate, I don't think, I don't think Cal Quantrell against the Twins is terrible. You might get a quality start out of it. We're going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We'll be back again. Next week.

Bye-bye.