Fantasy Baseball Today - Maybe They're Just Great! Evaluating Ranger Suarez, Garrett Crochet & Maikel Garcia (5/22 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 22, 2024

Ranger Suarez has been otherworldly this season (3:00)! How do we evaluate Suarez moving forward? ... Colt Keith is racking up hits in May (14:50). ... Kyle Tucker and Bobby Witt have both taken another step (17:16). ... News (20:06): Trea Turner is running at 80 percent. ... Maybe these breakouts are just really good (24:43). ... Brandon Pfaadt and Andrew Abbott are pitching well (35:16). ... Should Matt Chapman and Ezequiel Tovar be rostered in shallow leagues (41:48)? ... What's going on with Michael Harris, Thairo Estrada and others (50:06)? ... We got rough outings from Javier Assad and Cristian Javier (53:55). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (57:55). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @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/ 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 lead. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Move over, Marcel Ozuna. Maybe Ranger Suarez is the fantasy MVP. Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Wednesday.

May 22nd. I am Frank Sample, joined by Scott White. Today on the show, let's take a closer look at four breakers. Maybe they're just really good, and we shouldn't doubt them. I have some hitters we haven't talked about lately, all the potential waiver wire ads, and much more. Let's jump in. You can put it on the board. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Let's talk about Ranger Suarez, who has been otherworldly this season. Seven innings, one run, 10 strikeouts. Did that with just nine swinging strikes on 108 pitches. don't really see anything different, Scott, in the pitch mix this year, but I have noticed that the velocity on his sinker

is down almost two miles per hour this season, 91 miles per hour, he's right around 93 last year, and maybe that's just allowed Ranger Suarez to command better. His walks are way down compared to his career walk per nine so far this season. He has allowed a total of 10 earned runs in 10 starts per opta stats on Twitter

Ranger Suarez is the only MLB pitcher to go undefeated with a sub 1.5 ERA and 65 plus strikeouts over his first 10 appearances of a season. And that was since ERA became an official stat in both leagues in 1913. It's a 136 ERA, a 0.79 whip, doing a phenomenal job, limiting hard contact. What do we do, Scott? How much do we buy into what Rangers' Juarez is doing? and how much should he move up the ranks? Maybe he's just really good and we should buy in. Well, you know, I've given the take so many times before.

There have been many think pieces written about this. Ranger Suarez is doing a much better job of locating his change-up to minimize damage. And obviously, he's avoiding walks. And maybe that'll continue. It's gone on longer than expected already. it's kind of reminding me actually of Justin Steele last year. That's what this feels like for Ranger Suarez.

And I was skeptical of Justin Steele for a long while. Remember, anytime his name was mentioned, people got angry at my takes on Justin Steele because, you know, he seemed like the obvious Cy Young winner for most of last year. And as late as September 9th, Well, season's almost over. September 9th, Justin Steele had a 249 ERA.

But then the last three starts happened, and the ERA climbed over three and ended up not being the Sy Young Award winner. So, you know, regression isn't on a schedule, but regression does come. What do I think is going to happen with Ranger Suarez? I have no idea. I have no idea. Like, obviously, there's no reason to take them out of your lineup ever. I suspect from today forward he'll have an ERA over three. Maybe not much over three, but over three.

Can he continue the low walk rate? Well, that was kind of part of what fueled Justin Steele's breakout last year. He went from being a poor control guy to an amazing control guy without having, you know, he had a pretty good ground ball rate. Rangers Suarez has a great ground ball rate. Steel swing and miss stuff was kind of middling. Ranger Suarez is a little less. and middling, though he has averaged more than a strikeout per inning so far.

So, I don't know. I think that's a good comp. And I guess that makes me relative to most people, a Ranger Suarez skeptic. But at the same time, what is there to be done about it? I mean, he's the top pitcher in fantasy to this point. If you're going to consider trading him, it'd have to be for a haul. and yeah, I guess that's basically it. I don't know what more to say at this point.

He had another good start. He keeps doing it. Hopefully he'll keep doing it for a long time. But I don't think he's mid-90s Greg Maddox. For him to be this good all season, he's mid-90s Greg Maddox? I don't think of Rangers Swart. Do you think he's that? I don't think he's mid-90s.

A couple other things I wanted to point out on just what he's done this season, Rangers Suarez. The ground ball rate is back up. It's right around 56% last year that dipped down a little bit. It was under 50%. So he's getting ground balls. And doing a phenomenal job of limiting hard contact. 84.1 average exit velocity entering this start.

That was 97th percentile. His 2.31 expected ERA according to Stackcast was 95th percentile. Something that Chris talks about a lot with quality of contact metrics for pitchers takes a long time to normalize. So while he's doing a great job of. that now, maybe it will continue. It's just, it's not that sticky. But he's doing a great job of it so far, as I mentioned. And how much further is he going to move up the ranking, Scott? I mean, I'm looking right now. I have him SP 31. You have Ranger Suarez at SP 37. I've had Phillies fans in

the mentions all season saying he's a top 25 starting pitcher. I mean, are we at that point? Is he a top 25 starting pitcher. I think you could make the argument. He's right on the verge of that. That's where I see kind of the drop-off in the starting pitcher rankings. Pitchers who have like an ace track record and or they've performed like aces, but with like huge strikeout numbers while Ranger Suarez just has decent strikeout numbers. So, you know, I wouldn't be inclined to move him ahead of.

of Jared Jones, for instance, or even Paul Skeens, who I have right at 25th now. So, yeah, I think right there on the border of the top 25, I'm okay with anybody who wants to move them there. That's kind of the point where you get past the top 25, the ones who I, the pitchers who I see as really durable aces, I guess, would be the way to put it, because they excel in so many ways and or they have that ace track record. Once you get past that group, it's kind of 50 spots where anything goes, you know? So if you want to rank Rangers Juarez atop the Anything Goes group, I'd be fine with it.

What are we calling that? The good glob this year? Last year, it was the bad blob. It was the bad blob. Now it's the good club. I got to tell you, Frank. And maybe it's showing in my tone, I have pitcher fatigue right now. I have pitcher fatigue because it just seems like everybody's good.

And there's not really any rhyme or reason for it. You know, it's not necessarily the big bat missers. It's not necessarily the extreme ground ball guys. It's not necessarily the extreme fly ball guys. It's if you throw enough strikes, and it doesn't have to be like amazing control, if you throw enough strikes and you avoid home runs because so few of them are being hit,

then you're great. You're great. So, like, that's why it's like, okay, you could try selling high on Ranger Suarez. You would have to get a haul. Who's giving up a haul for any starting pitcher at this point? Because everybody has too many. That's what it feels like. That's what I was going to say.

Last point on Ranger Suarez was I wouldn't sell high because the way he's performing, you're not going to get anything close to what Ranger Suarez has provided you. And I just don't think it's worth it. I don't think you're going to get what a fair return should be. for Ranger Suarez right now. So in most cases... Well, let me challenge you on that. Somebody offers you Kevin Gosman

for Ranger Suarez right now. What do you do? I don't think I would do it. Okay. Which might be crazy to say. I would do it. Looking at where those guys were drafted, right? Gosman's like a third round pick.

But Gosman has slowly moved down my rankings. He's like closer to SP20 now. And Ranger Suarez is... It's going to be inside my top 25-ish, so they're really not that far off. I don't really know that that's selling high per se. Reverse the rolls. Let's say you're the one with Ranger Suarez. If I'm offering Ranger Suarez to the Kevin Gosman owner,

I'm asking for more than just Gosman, for sure. Right. Okay. Well, let's try something a little different, so it's not such a buy-low situation there with Gosman. Somebody offers you Cole Regens. straight up for Ranger Suarez. I would do that.

I would take Cole Regans. Yeah, me too. The bat missing is just so much more enticing. All right, your guy, Logan Webb. It's been fine. I wouldn't do it. Yeah, because it's not like there's a huge difference in bat missing ability there.

And again, I've moved Logan Webb down. I haven't met SP 16. They're going to be within 10 spots of each other in the SP rank, so it's not a huge difference. Pablo Lopez. I think I would, but... You take Pablo. I know people listening to this with Ranger Suarez are...

They're just laughing. They're like, no way. Why would you do that? Let them laugh, Frank. Where's their podcast, huh? Trust the process, man. I mean, you know, the K-minus walk rate, all the underlying stats are... As good as Ranger Suarez has been, the underlying stats for Pablo Lopez are even better than Ranger Swarles.

I mean, going back to what I said, and hopefully this is not dragging down the podcast. You know what? I don't care because it's interesting. I don't have a lot of interesting things to say about today's slate, but this is the most interesting thing I have to offer today, probably. Going back to what I said about how it just seems like every pitcher's good, that can't last. I don't think that can last a whole season,

just because I've never experienced a season like that. And I've been playing fantasy baseball for 25 years. So I don't know exactly what's going to happen. I imagine as the weather heats up, the ball carries better. And also you're going to see attrition kick in. And some of those pitchers who are performing well are going to be replaced by ones. You won't perform so well. It can't last.

But since we don't know who exactly is going to drop out there, I mean, by presumption is it would be more the Javier Assad types. See, I'm reluctant to say Seth Lugo. now, but I think it's more likely that he drops out than like Kevin Gosman does permanently. You know, I understand he's underperformed a little to this point, but it can't last. So I do still think it's worth upgrading where you can within that very difficult to gauge starting pitcher position. and so that's why I do think it's worth exploring cell high possibilities for Ranger Suarez.

I think the answer might be cashing him in on a hitter, an early round hitter who's struggled so far. Yeah, we always do the position-to-position thing, but that's what everybody needs. So you said at the top of the show, maybe Ranger Suarez is the fantasy MVP rather than Marcel as in, which we talked about yesterday. My answer is no, because,

hitting has been so much more scarce yeah everybody needs hitting a lot more than pitching so ranger swarez is one of many many many many many pitchers who have way exceeded expectations and marcello zuna is one of very few hitters who have while many high-end hitters have fallen well short of expectations all right well i would say 12 minutes is probably enough on ranger swarez god who is your player of the night who was oh it was colt keith because we We all need hitting. So he went three for four with the double, second straight three hit game.

And that gives him now still bad numbers for the season, but he's batting 386 in May. And his strikeout rate is 11% in May. That's low for anybody, but especially a rookie, especially for a rookie who's thought to have the power potential that Col Keith does. the power hasn't shown up yet at all.

Zero home runs. It's a tough environment for power. It's a tough venue for power. But if he keeps making contact like this, and I think we're going to see some amount of power from a guy who is eligible at both second and third base, which are two difficult positions to fill off the waiver wire. He's been dropped in a lot of leagues.

I'm encouraged that Colt Keith has made this much progress from month one to month two. Because remember we were talking just yesterday about how it seems like first year hitters are often needing a whole year to acclimate to the league now. Well, Colt Keith may have only needed a month. So I think if you have a need

at one of those positions, second or third base, and the wafer wire just looks barren to you, I think he's worth a second look. Again, that is Colt Keith, who is currently 31% rostered, what do you think, Scott? Maybe like 12-team Roto Leagues, anywhere where you have a middle or a corner,

just kind of put them on the bench and see where it goes? Or are we not at 12-team leagues yet? No, I think in 12-team leagues, you consider picking them up and putting them on your bench. It's always, you know, the bigger distinction is Head to Head versus Roto. This is probably more of a Roto recommendation because it's had-to-head so much of your bench

has to be devoted to pitchers. But in Roto leagues, I'd be looking to pick up Cole, Keith, if he was dropped. So I just put a poll up on Twitter. Which pitcher would you rather have rest of season? Pablo Lopez or Ranger Suarez? That should be a fun one. Lots of recency bias on Twitter. If you remember, Scott, remind me to check back in on that later on in the show.

I want to update people on what the poll results there on Lopez versus Ranger Suarez. I want to give an honorable mention to two stud hitters who, both look like they have taken another step forward this season, which kind of seemed hard to believe for either one, but my goodness, Kyle Tucker, two for four with a double dong, he retakes the league lead with 17 home runs, his current 162 game pace, 57 homers, 121 runs, 121 RBI, 30 steals, and Bobby Witt, three for four, with two socks and a shoe, that's two homers and a steal, six RBI in this game, three hard hits. home runs, 111 exit velocity, 468 feet. Bobby Witt is batting 304. He's got seven homers, 45

run scored 16 steals, a 908 OPS, and just crushing the ball. 93 mile per hour average exit velocity. The barrel rate is up. The expected stats are just on a different level right now. So shout out to those two guys in an environment where we have needed offense. Kyle Tucker and Bobby Witt are carrying teams right now. to sign up for the FBT newsletter. If you have it already, if you're watching us on YouTube, you can scan the QR code. That will take you right to the website.

You click on the FBT logo, punch in your email address, and it's easy as that. Speaking of the newsletter, Chris Towers, is back tomorrow. We'll welcome him back with open arms, find out about his trip, and have lots of rankings updates on tomorrow's show. Let's take our first break,

and when we return, we'll hit the news and notes. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in the news and notes. Trey Turner hit on the field and ran at 80% effort on Tuesday. He's ramped up his workouts over the last week and has not reported any soreness in his left hamstring. Austin Riley has now missed eight straight

due to left intercostal inflammation. It's kind of baffling that the Braves never put him on the IL, especially when it first happened. But at this point, it kind of feels like they should just wade it out, I guess, right? No, they should put him on the IL. He's already gone eight days without playing. Yeah, I guess they could do it retroactively.

actively, right? So it's just weird. Weird the way they've handled that. Luis Robert will play five innings in the Arizona Complex League on Wednesday. That will be his first rehab action since suffering the hip injury that he's dealt with. Kodai Senga played light catch on Tuesday, and the hope is he'll be able to throw off a mound later this week. Bobby Miller threw a three-inning 51 pitch sim game on Tuesday and is expected to make a rehab start at Single A on Sunday. Royce Lewis ran the bases Monday

his first time doing so since suffering that right quad train sounds like he'll be back at some point in June assuming no setbacks. Max Muncie took some ground balls Tuesday as he started up baseball activities. He was placed in the IL last week with a grade one right oblique strain. Ryan Pepio will be reinstated to start

Wednesday against the Red Sox. Nico Horner returned to the lineup after missing six straight with left hamstring tightness. Ronell Blanco will return from his suspension to start Sunday against the A's. John Gray left his start with a right groin strain. Christian Encarnacian Strand will have a follow-up exam on June 5th. He's recovering from a fracture in his right wrist.

Nick Ladolo will throw an extended bullpen within the next day or two. He's on the aisle with a mild groin strain. The Rockies have halted Nolan Jones's rehab assignment because of right knee soreness. There was some speculation that he would be activated on Tuesday that obviously did not happen. Jeffrey Springs made his first rehab start at the Raise Florida Complex League affiliate. He allowed one run with two strikeouts over one inning of work. He's 24% rostered, likely back at some point in June. And I don't know if you remember off the top of your head, Scott,

but you did the IL stash rankings recently. Do you remember ballpark where Jeffrey Springs was on that list? I mean, I don't know that it offers much context to just three. a number out there. So maybe I would have to say what other IL stashes he was around and I'd have to pull open the article to do that. But hey, I got it right here.

It's opening. It's opening. You wanted me to answer quicker than this, probably. It's all good. I just kind of threw it your way. Jeffrey Springs. I've got him in the same range as like Shane Baz and Eduardo Rodriguez. Wilson Contreras.

Yeah, I mean, he's still a ways away. Yeah, I would say probably a month from now. Yeah. I wonder if the raise, you think they treat him like a normal starter when he first comes back? Because the rays don't really do things in traditional ways. And I don't know, maybe he's like a four or five-inning starter for the first couple turns through. There's a good chance. I think what his rehab outings look like, particularly as he's nearing in return,

will give us some insight into that. Because I don't think he'd go further in his rehab outings than he does when he's promoted. All right. Again, that is Jeffrey Springs. Should be back in about a month. 24% rostered widely available if you have space on your IL. I know there's been a lot of injuries this year. Jake Freilly exited Tuesday after getting hit by a pitch on his right hand.

X-rays came back negative. DJ LaMayhew is expected to be activated on May 28th. Joe Ross was placed in the IL with a lower back strain, and Kyle Hendricks has been moved to the Cubs bullpen following a 10. 157 ERA as a starter this season. One pitcher who has not been good. No, no, Kyle Hendrix has not. I think I rank in the middle of the pack in ERA and WIP in NL Labor,

and I've had Kyle Hendrix in my lineup all season long. It's all his fault. I mean, just think about it. A 1057 ERA, where would my team rank if he was not in there? I know. I got a couple starts from him at the start of the year in Tout Wars. So I feel you. So annoying.

I feel your dog. I have showed it Imanaga, so I mean, those two are kind of like canceling each other out. It's been so annoying. All right, let's get into some of those breakouts. Maybe they're just really good. And Ranger Suarez was part of that list. We spoke about him extensively. Brian Wu, he was awesome at the New York Yankees.

Six shutout innings, two hits, zero walks, seven strikeouts. He had 16 swinging strikes on 77 pitches. That is a 21% swinging strike rate, and 10 of those came on the fastball. Two on the slider, two on the change-up, one on the sinker, one on the sweeper. Basically had everything working in this start. That fastball in particular was great. Ten of the 16 whiffs, as I mentioned. His velocity was up pretty much across the board in the start as well,

and he has now allowed one earned run total Brian Wu has in his three starts. It's 15 strikeouts to two walks. I have the lingering concern of the forearm, the elbow. how he's been dealing with that kind of off and on all season, I guess. But man, if you picked him up, he was a popular breakout candidate before he got hurt entering the season. He might just be awesome, Scott. I mean, he might be because that is the default for any starting pitcher. What's weird about Brian Wu is that so much of his arsenal is just two most used pitches, fastball.

and sinker. So two fastballs. That's kind of the Mariners way, right? It's kind of like the George Kirby Bowl, I guess. But he doesn't throw any kind of breaking ball or off speed pitch much. I don't know. He's been a weird one for me to figure out, but the results have been consistently good even last year.

I think the most notable observation here with Brian Wu is that even though he made it six innings, he threw just, 77 pitches and he has yet to throw 80 in three starts since returning. So we could say, hey, look, he extended to six innings this time. But if the pitch count wasn't up there, I don't know that the Mariners are ready to let him handle a full workload yet. And by the way, they didn't really in his rookie season either. There were a lot of early hooks for Brian Wu then as well.

So that may be the biggest thing holding him back. I mean, to his credit that he was so efficient that he got through six on 77 pitches, but that's not going to happen often. Right. Again, that was Brian Wu. Let's talk about Garrett Crochet, who was great again. At the Blue Jays, he threw six shot-out innings, two hits, one walk, four strikeouts, only 10 swinging strikes on 85 pitches, but did a great job limiting the hard contact, and he has really gone away from that slider.

Over his past four starts, he used it only three times total in this outing. And he was throwing it 40% of the time in his first start of the season care crochet. And then he threw it three times in this one. I don't know if it's such a bad thing, though. The slider did have a 722 slugging percentage entering this start. And if you look at all four of his pitches, they've all been great. The fastball, the cutter, the change up, the slider. So I think maybe eliminating the slider while it's getting, you know, hit harder than those other pitches,

he's still pitching well. Now, the swinging strike rate has kind of trended down as a result of not throwing that slider as much, but the results are still there. The last five starts for crochet, it's a 0.96 ERA, a 0.71 whip, 34 strikeouts to just five walks. I know we had that like little snag early on in the season, but since then, he's just been money. Yeah, so is he better off throwing the slider? Yes, it's his best swing in this pitch. And I will note that his, if you look at the game log, the swinging strike rate, the swinging strike totals start to start for Garrett Crochet were very high consistently early on.

And they've been low consistently pretty much since he began fading the slider. If you just do the first however many starts, it was this number. And then the last however many starts, it was this number. It won't be as striking to you as going through the game log because he did have one random start two turns ago. where he had 11 strikeouts in like 21 swinging strikes. So that kind of skews the rates over the stretch where he's faded, the slider. The results have been better,

and that's because the way the league is playing right now, a pitcher doesn't need to miss a lot of bats to find success, as we were talking about a lot at the top of the show. If the environment changes, will Garrett Crochet maybe want to mix it? that's lighter more and get more whiffs, yes, I could see that happening. But as you point out,

he's doing fine without it. At what point, Scott, would you look to sell high on Garret Crochet? Because he is up to 57 and two-thirds innings so far, and we know he had a pretty limited workload entering this season. Is there, like, once he gets to 100 innings, would you maybe, all right,

it's time for me to kind of cash out on Garret Crochet here? I mean, if you want me to answer that specific question, yeah, probably 100 innings is, how many is he out now? 57 and 2.30s. Maybe more like 80 innings because I don't know that. It's hard to say how much the White Sox are going to let him go. Obviously, he's hardly thrown at all this year. And you look at his professional history, it was all in relief. So he hasn't thrown many innings any year.

But he is already a few years into service time and closer to free 80s. agent that see then you might realize. And so how protective are they going to be of him? These are questions without answers. So 80 innings, 100 innings, okay, might start to get a little concerned. But I want to be shocked if he threw 150 innings, having said that. Maybe it'll be more like 125. Maybe it'll be more like 150.

Maybe you'll get hurt and it won't be either. But it is something that has to be on your mind. Just as a general idea, though, the idea of selling high on Garrett Crochet, how are you going to pull that off? And it's kind of the theme of the show. Like, who is so desperate for a Garrett Crochet that they're going to pay high for him? I mean, it wasn't that long ago. People were dropping him and other people were picking him up off waivers. And what's his overall ERA now?

It is 375. Not a bad team. A 0.95 whip. Yeah, I get it. I think Derek Crochet is good, but there's so much good out there. Yeah. So I think just as a general,

I said this yesterday, who did I say it about the other day? Tanner Halk? I think so. I think it was. If there's a starting pitcher who's good and you have any misgivings about him, and somebody is demanding to make a trade,

is demanding that the trade you're making to get a hitter, let's say. the scarcer commodity between pitchers and hitters. You're getting a hitter in this deal and somebody's demanding. I'll only do this if you include, the other day it was Tanner Hock, but I'll only do this if you include Garrett Crochet. I don't think I'd let that stop me. I'd be like, okay, I can find someone else to fill in for Garrett Crochet,

given the current state of pitching versus hitting. Last name on this list of breakouts, maybe they're just, really good. Michael Garcia. He's really picked things up since that early slump. It was a weird start. It was like the first week was amazing for Michael Garcia. Then the next two weeks were really bad. But since the middle of April, Garcia has been great. His last 30 games, he's batting 320. Only two home runs, but eight steals and an 846 OPS. He makes a lot of contact. He hits the ball extremely hard. And overall, the counting stats are there. He's got five homers, 11 steals, 263 batting average. I was updating the infield ranks today. And I now have Michael Garcia, I think,

inside of my top 15 third baseman in both formats, in both Roto and head-to-head points. And I think he might just be really good. Yeah. I mean, I hate to oversimplify everything. But you have a hitter who's performing. You just stick with him at this point. And no, I think Mikel Garcia, we've talked about him a lot this year. But yeah, strikeout rates down, eggs of velocity's good for Mikel Garcia, we're talking about elevating the ball a little better this year and steals bases. So

what's not to like? All right, let's take our final break. And when we return, we'll get into all of the waiver wire options from Tuesday's action. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in. Let's talk waiver wire pitchers from Tuesday. And Brandon Fott

turned in a strong start at the Dodgers. Six innings, three runs, two of those earned with seven strikeouts, to just one walk, and he has now turned in five straight quality starts. He's allowed three earned runs or less in seven straight outings, and he has lowered the ERA to 405. Still a little bit high, but it's a 108 whip. The FIP 317, the XFIP 355, the Kata walk ratio looks really good,

and how has he done this? Well, he's taking a step forward with the walks, home runs, barrels, hard contact. They're all down so far this season. home run rate is drastically down. Could be part of the environment, but I really like what we're seeing from Brandon Fott. He is 68% rostered. The other name is Andrew Abbott, who continues to pitch well, seven shutout innings,

four hits, one walk, with two strikeouts, and he has allowed two earn runs or less in nine of 10 starts this season. He also has four strikeouts or less in seven of 10. So the FIP and X FIP, not really buying it as much with Andrew Abbott. but he is doing a better job limiting hard contact, limiting barrels this season, and the expected ERA was 279 entering this start. So I don't know, Scott, maybe if home runs are just down this season and Andrew Abbott's a fly ball pitcher, maybe he'll just find a way to succeed.

He's 54% rostered. Which one of these two do you buy into more? Brendan Fott or Andrew Abbott? Oh, definitely fought. Even so, I'm not sure. sure he quite makes the cut in most leagues, given the amount of pitching that's, the amount of quality pitching that's available. He has an ERA on the high side. Maybe he deserves better, but it is on the high side. It's over four, and he's not like a big-time strikeout pitcher.

He's a fine strikeout pitcher. And so I think that that kind of just leaves thought on the outside looking in in most leagues for now. Would you... Go ahead. But then Andrew Abbott, like, he's emblematic of what we're talking about here where, okay, yeah, his hard hit rate is low. But average exit velocity is still in the bottom half of the league. Barrel rate still in the bottom half of the league. So the quality of contact is, or contact quality, I should say, is decent. He's allowing decent contact quality, an extremely high fly ball rate pitching in the most Homer-friendly park.

It's not like his control is very good. It's not like he's striking out of any guys at all. this should not be a good pitcher, Andrew Abbott. And yet he continues to thrive because it's, everybody's thriving almost. So like, I guess he would be the first if the environment were to change. If the ball were to start carrying better as the weather warms up, Abbott would be one of the first to drop out of the usable range and fantasy. But nobody's that invested in him anyway.

What did you say his roster rate was? I know it was like, I think it was around 50% when I was doing streamer pitchers this week. Yeah, 54%. Yeah. So nobody's much buying in anyway. Mm-hmm. Would you take either of those names over Alec Menoa, who's the most added pitcher on CBS? No, I prefer Menoa.

I'd prefer to chase the ceiling there versus what I think is probably a mid-tier guy and fought. If things go right. And in Abbott's case, he could, like I said, he could be one of the first to drop out if the home runs pick up. Yeah, every time I look at James Paxton's roster rate, it's still so high, it's 88%. Would you drop either of hit? Like, would you drop him for either of these names? Yeah, I'm sorry, James Paxton will be one of the first to drop out too.

He may happen. That may happen even if the home runs don't pick up across the league. So I'd be fine dropping Paxton for, well, definitely Manoa. find dropping them for Fought. I wouldn't mind dropping him for Abbott, but that's, I'm not going to push for that one. It's hard.

Here's an interesting name. Kyle Harrison, 85% rostered. Who would you rather have Harrison or Brandon Fought? Fought. I think Harrison. I think so, too. No, I'm surprised that that roster rate has continued to remain as high as it has.

Because does he happen to have like a good, a good win-loss record in kind of a flukey way? He has four and one. So that probably has something to do with it. Just the points leaguers holding on because the points total looks decent because he's happened to win a lot of games. But he hasn't done a lot to deserve those wins. Again, that was Kyle Harrison.

Scott and I are both taking Brandon fought over Harrison. Moving forward, some pitchers in deeper leagues. Alec March turned in A, quality start against the Tigers. Six innings, three runs, five strikeouts in that one. Cal Quantrell pitched very well at the Oakland A's. Six innings, two runs, eight strikeouts. he is throwing the splitter a lot more this season. It was actually his most used pitch in this start,

and it's been a really good pitch for Calquantrol so far. And Cooper Criswell is the name we have not talked about. He pitches for the Red Sox. He was at Tampa Bay. He threw five in a third, two runs allowed, six strikeouts, and he's done a good job limiting runs, but not going deep into his starts. He hasn't completed six innings a single time this season.

In Deeper League, Scott, any interest in those names? Marsh, Quantrell, and Cooper Criswell. My interest level, I'll rank them, is Marsh, Criswell, and Quantrel. I have pointed out that Quantrel has basically ditched his breaking balls now that he's in Colorado and he's going with fastball splitter primarily, which may work. That may be the approach that works at Cores Field better than any other, and he's had success with it so far, but only one pitcher in the Rocky's 30-year history has been a real fantasy asset.

So I would strongly bet against Quantrell. Being that in the long run, I don't think the success for even Marsh, my top choice of these three is especially durable. So it would just be deeply consideration for these three. All right, let's slide over to the Waverwire hitters. And in shallower leagues, Matt Chapman has really picked things up.

He went two for five with his sixth home run. He had four hard hits in this game. And over his last 11 games, batting 372 with two homers, 12 runs scored, and two steals. Matt Chapman is 74% rostered. And Ezekiel Tovar is quietly having a solid season. Two for five with a double dong. He's batting 279, seven homers, four steals, a 781 OPS.

The plate discipline remains a mess. I mean, Ezekiel Tovar. He puts Javier Bias to shame in terms of his aggressiveness. I mean, the chase rates, the swinging strike rates, they are massive for Ezekiel Tovar. But even with that, he's finding a way to succeed so far. He is 73% rostered. The only leagues they probably need to, could be added in Scott are like 10 team leagues or points leagues. Do you think either Chapman or Tovar should be rostered in those leagues?

Only on an emergency basis. They were both among my sleeper hitters for this week, so I'm glad they're off to the good starts this week. There you go, Scott. Take a bow. Yeah. I mean, it's more relief because as I try to stress as often as possible, when I'm putting together those sleeper pitcher and hitter lists for the week,

I'm choosing among some bad options. And so it's never, I put out that list with very low confidence every week. And I'm usually surprised whenever it works out. Just because all the good players are rostered already. So what are you going to do? But yeah, Tovar and Chapman, I think they're more emergency options than ones you're going to want to rely on long term. How do you rank these multi-position hitters? They're all rostered in right around 70% of leagues.

Luis Rehnhifo continues to hit two for five with his third home run. He added three RBI. He has 12 steals on the season. Willie Castro, low-key, has been pretty good. One for three with a walk and his fourth home run. He has six stolen bases as well. And Abraham Toro has been solid with the A's one for four with his fifth home run. He has let off every game since May 7th.

And he is batting 294, five homers, 25 run scored, two steals, and an 803 OPS. Scott, how do you rank Renhifo Castro and Abraham Toro? First of all, I need to correct myself. I don't think Matt Chapman was on my sleeper hitters list. I think I'm confusing that with the waiver wire article I put out. at the start of this week. So, you know, take away that credit. I don't deserve that.

Okay. So now we're talking about those scrubby infielders. I actually, we talked about him yesterday. I don't think Luis Renhifo's a scrub. I think even in points leagues, he deserves to be rostered at this point because he's been so prolific on the bases and doesn't strike out much.

And it's super versatile. I think he's good. I think he's good. I think he's one of the most under-rusted hitters right now, that is a rare find. Probably should have had him on the sleeper hitters list, regardless of what the matchups looked like, frankly. And then the other two, Abraham Toro,

and who was the third one? Willie Castro. Willie Castro. Yeah, I don't think either is especially durable. Castro hasn't been nearly as prolific on the bases as he was last year. That could always change. It's not like stolen bases have a consistent distribution

over the course of the season. he's playing a lot, and he's hitting well enough to keep playing a lot. So of those two, I'd be more interested in Castro. But Toro was among my sleeper hitters for this week. I am certain of that, so I can take credit for him having a good game. A name we mentioned towards the end of yesterday's podcast is David Fry, who came off the bench as a pinch hitter and blasted another home run. He went one for one with a walk and his fifth home run.

He is batting 338 with 3. five homers and three steals, a 1064 OPS. He's only started five of the past 10 games. I think this is only for like two catcher leagues anyways. But I don't, should David Frye be rostered in like 12 team two catcher leagues at this point? 12 team two catcher leagues. I'm not sure. It probably makes the top 24 for me now.

I did go through just this past weekend and all my 15 team roto leagues, the Tout Wars and TGFB. and I'm in a main event league with a team I share with somebody else and made sure Frye was my second catcher and all of them because I'm tired of dealing with the bin Rortfits of the world

and the Reese McGuire's of the world. Just give me David Frye. He keeps producing. Doesn't play as consistently, but I have hope because they use them at positions other than catcher sometimes. Some names in deeper leagues. Luke Rayleigh is having himself

a big May. He went one for five with his fourth home run and so far in the month. Batting 396, all four of his home runs have come here in May. Two steals and 11-18 OPS. Nick Gonzalez continues to impress early on with the Pirates, two for five with a run and an RBI. He's 11 for 39. Has two homers, a steel, a 772 OPS, hitting the ball really hard so far. G. Juan Bay was recalled by the Pirates and made an immediate impact,

one-for-three with a walk, a steel, run, and RBI. And he was hitting really well at AAA this season. 367, four homers, seven steals, hitting the ball really hard, OPS over 1,000. That was G. Juan Bay. Mark Viantos has multiple hits in three of five games since being recalled by the Mets. He went two for four with his second home run.

And Dylan Moore had a huge game against the Yankees, three for four with a double dong, four RBI. He's got six homers, six steals, has started 11 straight for the Mariners. any interest in these, Scott, deeper leagues. More Vientos, G. Juan Bay, Nick Gonzalez, and Luke Raleigh. Sure. So, you point out what Gwant Bay was doing at AAA, and, yeah, that's exciting.

Nick Gonzalez kind of has a stranglehold on second base, I would think, right now, given the improvements he's made, cutting down the strikeout rate, hitting the ball harder. He's the one I'm most excited about of this group, Nick Gonzalez, but definitely interested in seeing how this playing time shakes out for Gwam Bay, given that he's capable of stealing a lot of bases too. Dylan Moore has had a huge May for the month. Dylan Moore is slashing 293-391-672, five home runs for May. his fly ball rate is very high,

his pull rate is very high. So he has maximized his swing for power. But J.P. Crawford is back, and Dylan Moore had mostly been playing shortstop. So they'll have to find... He's a versatile guy if they're motivated to keep him in the lineup. They can. A quick glance at the depth chart here.

Yeah, they got room in their outfield for him, I would imagine. Will they... actually play him. I don't know. It remains to be seen. They got Dominique Canzon. They got Luke Rayleigh, a couple lefties who they usually play against righties. So we have to see for more too. It's bad timing if you're looking to pick him up with Crawford back. But there is a possibility he keeps getting to play. And then finally, Mark Vientos, he has power.

He's since returning, he started three games, I believe, against a left-hander with Brett Bady sitting. And this was the first time he started against a right-hander over Batey. good numbers of AAA this year, but still a 29% strikeout rate, 29% strikeout rate down there. And I imagine that's going to cause problems in the majors. Worth keeping an eye on for the power potential as Viantos, but I'm not optimistic that he'll be an impactful fantasy option. Four hitters, we haven't talked much about lately. Michael Harris had himself a game here on Tuesday, one for five with a sock in the shoe, his fifth home run, his seventh steal.

The counting stats are what's holding Michael Harris back. 19 runs scored 17 RBI. And he's taking a step back in some areas that I really liked that he did last year. Like he's been bad against lefties so far. The ground ball rate is way up once again for Michael Harris. But I will point out, just remember what he did from June 1st on last year. So maybe it's just, all right, the weather heats up. and so does Michael Harris.

I think that is a possibility moving forward for him. Yeah, it's difficult to rush to judgment on him, knowing that at this point last year, as disappointing as you think Michael Harris is now, on May 21st last year, he was batting 171 with a 509 OPS. OBS. Things turned around.

Yes, he certainly did. Tyro Estrada is picking things up lately. he went one for four with a walk and his eighth home run. He had four hard hits in this game in the month of May, batting 282 with three homers, 13 RBI, a 772 OPS. I just hate that he only has one steel, and I kind of feel like this is a Bob Melvin thing. Since, you know, the Giants this season,

they are dead last in steals. They have 16 steals as a team. L.A. Dela Cruz has double that by himself. It's crazy to think about. Yeah. So. Yeah. Don't love it. I mean, Estrada had 44 steals the past two years entering this one.

I think he's probably going to run eventually, but so far he hasn't. Jaron Duran had himself a big game, one for three with a walk, a sock, and a shoe. His third home run, his 11th steel, and he's batting 271 with an 804 OPS. And T.J. Abrams, we haven't talked about him lately because he's been really bad. He hasn't done anything in the month of May, batting 216, zero homers, one steal, a 504 OPS. I kind of, I wonder if this might just be part of the profile for Abrams because we've seen them have these massive months and then also month-long slumps.

And I just wonder if maybe that's kind of the player he's going to be like a shrieky hitter from month to month. CJ Abrams. Anything to add on him, Duran and Tyro Estrada. Maybe for CJ Abrams. I'm certainly not enjoying this month given that I was buying him pretty hard on that May, feeling like he had taken a big step forward.

He is still only 23. So we have many years to figure out what kind of player he is. Must start a shortstop, especially given the offensive environment. I'm not backing down from that part of it, at least. But is he going to be a 30-30 guy this year? Well, probably not. Okay, who else are we talking about?

We're talking about... Duran and Estrada. Duran. Yeah, you kind of want to. went into Estrada already. Duran's fine. He hit his third home run in this game, and I don't think you should expect anymore, because he's very groundball oriented and all fields minded.

So it's not a batting ball profile that's optimized for power, but decent batting average, stealing bases. That's good enough to start in most leagues. Yeah, especially at the outfield position, which has been a disaster so far this year. So the expected numbers back up the batting average for Duran. I think I got 270, 10 homers, 30 to 40 steals. That's a pretty damn valuable player.

But I think that's perhaps what we're looking at with Jaron Duran this season. Two pitchers who had some rough outings on Tuesday night. Javier Assad took a step back at the Braves, four and two-thirds innings. Three runs, two of those were earned. He walked five, which was a career high. He also allowed two homers,

so we got pretty much a regression across the board with the walks. As soon as I open my mind to the possibilities of Javier Assad, comes back to bite me. That happens off. He wants me to stay closed-minded that Javier Assad. Yep. He still has a 170 ERA. Yeah, I mean, it's...

True what it's worth. The X-FIP is 416. It's, you know, if home runs do start to leave the yard, Yeah, he'll be... In baseball, I mean... Javier Assad will be like Andrew Abbott and probably one of the first to drop out of relevance here. I agree with that.

He does get a pass for the two home runs in this one, I think. I didn't see what direction they left the yard, but the wind was blowing out 22 miles per hour to left field. There's a lot of wind blowing out, as often is the case at Wrigley Field. So maybe we give Assad a pass, you know, five walks. or bad any way you look at it. But it's not like he was a control artist

prior to this start. I don't do this often, Scott, but I tried to tell you. I tried to tell everybody out there, you should have sold high on Christian Javier when you had the chance. He went up against the Angels, four innings, eight hits, four runs allowed,

three walks to one strikeout, allowed a lot of hard contact, two starts in a row now. The velocity was down quite a bit. His fastball down 1.5 miles per hour. The slider down almost two miles per hour. I don't know if he's healthy right now with the velocity as bad as it is

and his inability to throw strikes. I mean, all the underlying numbers look terrible for Christian Javier. Is he a drop candidate? Well, I said so prior to last start. Last start maybe want to take a second look at him because even though the velocity was down a mile per hour, it was down more like one and a half to two miles per hour

in this one. It was down one mile per hour in the last one. thought that might be intentional because he got more movements on his, he got more movement on his changeup and slider. And it was one of his best strikeout starts, one of his best swinging strike starts. It was by the stat line, a throwback Christian Javier start to the good days.

And so maybe it was an intentional adjustment and he was going to take off from here. But then he follows it up with this start striking out one in four innings. Yeah. And never mind. Probably safe to move on from Christian Javier. Would you drop him for either Brandon Fott or Andrew Abbott? I mean, I'm not eager to pick up Abbott. If it's a streaming situation, it's fine.

I'm not eager to pick up Fott either, but I think that's a little easier to sign off on. Let's check back in in the poll. Bad job by you, Scott. You didn't remind me to check. But... Well, the show's not over. You don't know.

Which pitcher would you rather have rest of season? Pablo Lopez or Ranger Suarez. 58.5% of the vote goes to Pablo Lopez. So perhaps I was right to say that I would take Pablo Lopez over Ranger Suarez if I got that trade in my inbox. But guess what? You're just going to crowdsource all of your roster decisions, Frank. Is that how you're going to run your fantasy team?

Yeah, why not? Just run them all by your Twitter following there. act accordingly. Yeah. Yeah. You're okay with that? You're good with that? Yeah, we've always said that, you know, we love Twitter and all of their,

and all of the people that occupy that website. Well, in this case, I think they're right too, obviously. Yes. I agree. It's a dangerous game you're playing. That's all I'm saying. Let's get into some of the other leftovers. Starting with the pitchers, Joe Ryan was dominant at the National Seven shutout

innings with six strikeouts there. Logan Webb turned in. a quality start at the Pirates, six innings, two runs, six strikeouts, still just nine swinging strikes on 103 pitches. I guess glass half full, all nine of them came on the change-ups, so that was a welcome site. You say Kikuchi, another quality start up against the White Sox, six innings, three runs, two of those were earned with six strikeouts and 13 swinging strikes, and Joe Musgrove did not last very long in his return at the Reds. He did not have a rehab start, So my guess is they wanted to limit him here.

He threw three innings, two unerred runs, three strikeouts, 12 swinging strikes on 66 pitches. That's a pretty damn good ratio. But we need to see more, obviously, from Joe Musgrove. Anything on him, Kukuchi, Logan Webb, and Joe Ryan. I thought it was pretty encouraging, Musgrove. Yeah, I mean, it was going to be a short start. First one back from elbow inflammation.

Through a lot more curveballs than usual, 33% versus 20%. And so got a lot more whiffs. And I always like wiffs, even though they haven't been as useful. It hasn't been as clear of a ratio this year, wifts to success. I think taking the 30,000 foot view, it will be. Hitting leftovers, a welcome back to Byron Buxon, who actually returned on Saturday,

but this was his official welcome back. Two for five with a double dong and three RBI. The plate discipline has been a disaster for Byron Bucson, and the batted ball distribution has also been very weird for him. Maybe this is the start of Byron Bucston taking off. I hope so, but we haven't seen much from him so far. It would be nice if Chris comes back and Byron Buxden comes to life. That would be fitting.

Let's do it. Bryce Harper is crushing in the month of May, two for three with a walk in his 11th home run. In the month, he is batting 359, 5.5. homers, two steals, and an 11-11 Ops make a wish. O'Neill Cruz recorded the two hardest hit balls of the season in the same game. Three for five when two doubles and an RBI had three batted balls over 116 miles per hour, a single that went 120.4, and a double 121.5.

How about that? That is impressive. How is the strikeout? rate looking. It is down in May. It was 37% in April, which was discouraging. 27% in May. That'll do.

Which is, it's high, but it's probably low enough for O'Neill Cruz to find success. So I don't know. Now I'm kind of wondering at one point this, at one point in April, I had moved C.J. Abrams ahead of O'Neill Cruz. Should I move them back? I think I would stick with Abrams. Why don't you ask Twitter? Should I? No, it just seems like something you'd do.

I did it one time. I agree. I agree. I'm going to keep Abrams over a cruise for now, but it's tightening up again. And Shohei Otani had another big game, two for four, with an RBI, two-run scored, and two more steals. He is up to 13 steals on the season. Some bullpen updates for the Guardians Emmanuel Class A allowed a hit in the ninth

but picked up his 15th save. He has a 0.36 ERA and a 0.59 whip. He looks like the Emmanuel Class A from a couple years ago, one of the best closers in fantasy. For the Reds, Alexis Diaz got the ninth with a two-run lead. He walked one, but picked up his eighth save of the season. For the Red Sox, Kenley Jansen,

allowed a hit but picked up his eighth save. For the Phillies, Jose Alvarado got the ninth with a three-run lead. He struck out two for his ninth. save. For the Giants, Camillo DeVal, entered with one out, two runners in the ninth,

and a four-run lead. He gave up a walk, a single. There was an error behind him, an RBI ground-out, and then a game-tying double. And that equaled four-run scored. DeVal took his first blown save of the season.

For the Brewers, Trevor McGill got the ninth with a two-run lead. He gave up a hit, but struck out three for his seventh save. For the Mariners, Andres Munoz, a lot of walk, and a hit, but struck out one for his 10th save, and I know earlier in the season,

Munoz was being used more higher leverage situations. It really kind of seems like he's settled back into the ninth inning, but never know with Scott's service, I guess. Never know. He's not here to serve us. That's for sure.

No, no, no. For the Astros, Josh Hader tossed two perfect innings with four strikeouts across the ninth and the 10th on the other side. For the Angels, Carlos Estavis got the bottom of the 10th inning with the game tied. He gave up a walk and a hit.

The Manfred. man comes in to score and he took his third loss of the season. If you have Carlos Estevez on your fantasy team, don't ever, ever watch him pitch. It is so scary to watch Carlos Estevez pitch. It is just, my goodness. For the Oakland A's, Mason Miller got the ninth with a one-run lead and guess what he did. He struck out the side for his, he, come on, Mason Miller, he doesn't blow saves. He struck out the side for his ninth save. I heard the broadcast call Mason Miller the Reaper. And if that is really his nickname, I love it.

So if there are any A's fans out there, tweet at me and let me know if this is a real nickname for Mason Miller, the Reaper, because that would be fantastic. Let's see if this is a baseball reference sanctioned nickname. It is not. It is not listed on baseball reference. But maybe... That was the first place I looked. Maybe they just haven't gotten around to it yet. Maybe it's such a new nickname, fresh off the press.

That's not what you do with nicknames. But fresh nickname, fresh nickname just dropped. The Reaper, Mason Miller. I like it. Oh, yeah. Mason Miller sold your spy. To stream or not to stream for Wednesday. And, oh, right, we hated this yesterday.

I don't know. Jake Irvin against the twins, Austin Gomber at the A's. Euck. Mm-hmm. Not good. Who did we pick? We said somebody gun to the head. Kyle Gibson Revenge Game, I think.

I think it was Jake Irvin. Yeah. Tyler Anderson at the Astros? Ugh. No. No. No. No, I don't think so.

On Thursday, it is a smaller slate, and we don't have great options here either. Oh, no. I think Cole Irvin... What is the cutoff you use for roster 8 to pick among the pitchers here? Under 75%. Under 75. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. I think Cole Irvin at the White Sox is fine. Yeah. Ryan Feltoner at the 8th. It could work. Nah. No. Done with him.

I think Cole Irvin's the only one I could stomach. Maybe Matt... You know, if you're a gambler, Matt Waldron at the Reds, just because they got a young strikeout prone lineup and his knuckle ball is going to be unlike anything they've ever seen before, and he's coming off a great start against the Braves. All right. We're going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank.

Thanks as always for tuning into Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-stop. a rating on Apple or Spotify, and we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.