Fantasy Baseball Today - Mike Clevinger Complete Game & Tough Hitters to Rank in 2024! (9/19 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 19, 2023

Mike Clevinger tossed the second complete game of his career (1:20). ... What happened with Tim Anderson this season (5:53)? ... Apparently Manny Machado is going to need surgery on his elbow (10:05). ... Edward Cabrera and Connor Phillips pitched well Monday night (14:01). ... Should Ronny Mauricio be rostered in more leagues (26:00)? ... News (32:22): Mike Trout will start swinging a bat soon. ... Which hitters will be tough to rank in 2024 (42:02)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (55:11). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question, email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. What's up and welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Tuesday, September 19th. I am Frank Stanfield, joined by Scott White. Today on the show, Mike Clevenger stayed hot with a complete game.

Red's pitching prospect, Connor Phillips, had a great start, the best start of his young career, and we'll take a look at hitters who will be tough to rank heading into 2024. You know the deal. Please help us out by liking this video and subscribing on YouTube if you haven't already. And if you're listening on the audio side, download, follow, and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. Let's jump in. You can put it on the board. Yes.

Yes. Seeing as how we're both talking about White Sox to start off the show today, Scott, I felt like it was only appropriate to begin with a little Hawk Harrelson. I will take the breadstick and we'll start things off with Mike Clevenger, turned in the second complete game of his career and the first since April 21st of 2018. He allowed six hits here against the Nationals. One run allowed, seven strikeouts to zero walks, had 13 swinging strikes on 109 pitches. and trying to dive in a little bit more

and see what's different for Clevenger this year. How has he turned things around? You know, the past couple of years have been pretty rough from him. Know that he's dealt with a lot of injuries. The velocity is up a little bit this year. Fastball's averaging 94.3 miles per hour. Last year was 93.6.

He's throwing less sinkers. Change the pitch mix a little bit. You know, more forcing fastballs and more sliders for Mike Levenger this year. But outside of that, it doesn't look too great. You know, under the hood, he's got a 5.07 X-FIP, so I don't know, things aren't, don't look too great for Mike Clevenger when you dive in a little bit more. But look, if you've been kind of starting him here, you got all these great outings from him.

He's 71% rostered. He's locked into your lineups in a two-star week. He's at the Red Sox this weekend, and he's got the Padres in the final week. What are your thoughts, Scott? I'm Mike Clevenger, and I don't know. Is there anything sustainable here to get excited about for next year? Well, as you just pointed out, this was his last good matchup of the year against the nationals. And I did have him as a sleeper pitcher.

Actually, he was the cover photo of the Sleeper Pitchers article this week. So you feel extra good when the guy, the guy whose face is shown before people even click on it when he has a good game. But, you know, if you're talking to Daily lineup league, do you start him for his second start this week at Boston? I would have thought I'd say no, but this was such a good start, complete game effort. And now four of his last five starts have been amazing. So you were kind of giving the rundown of what's changed for Mike Clevenger this year compared to last year.

So you're doing like season long. Because I'm interested in figuring out what's changed for him just in his last five starts. Because in four of his last five starts, you know, you got a seven inning, one hit, ten strikeout effort, a seven hit. inning three hits, no run effort, six innings, two runs, seven strikeouts, and then this complete game effort at Washington today. Between those four starts, a 16% swinging strike rate. So it's not just like he's gotten good defense behind him or, you know, you can't just reduce it to luck. He's legitimately missing bats. I gave the numbers only for the four good starts and

the five start stretch because within that five start stretch, there was a also an eight-run 12th disaster against the Tigers. So we can't, you know, we obviously can't just dismiss that completely. But the four good starts

were so good for Clevenger that I feel like there has to be something to it. It doesn't mean whatever is behind it is sustainable and that he's going to be back to being a high-end fantasy option moving forward.

But at least for now, he's figured out some measure of success at Boston, this week, you know, if it's a daily lineup league points scoring, okay, I think you obviously start Clevenger, if that's the case. If it's category scoring, depends what you're looking to make up ground. ERA and WIP, maybe play it safe and sit them, wins in strikeouts. If that's what you need more, then you probably do start them at Boston. Yeah, I think for people who play in daily lineup leagues, they'll already know on Sunday what they need in order to

either win or sustain a win or if they're trailing, you know, like you mentioned, chasing wins and strikeouts, he could Clevenger in there. Looking at it now, too, he also is not giving up as much hard contact as he has in years past, not giving up as many home runs either. So obviously those things have helped for a guy who throws, gets a lot of fly balls at this point in his career. We'll point out the matchups recently have been awesome, Scott. I mean, a lot of these great starts, the nationals he just faced today, the royals

before that, Tigers, Tigers, and Oakland days. So a very favorable schedule here for Mike Clevenger, but an awesome start for him on Monday. And with that, I'll throw it over to you, your player, the night. Okay, so you took the Olive Garden Breadstick there in Clevenger, and there are a bunch of other noteworthy performances that I could highlight, but I kind of want to go off the map a little bit and talk about Tim Anderson, who we haven't talked about much this year

because he's been horrendous. One home run all year and among qualifying batters, he actually has enough of bats to qualify, only one home run and all those of bats, but third lowest OPS among qualifiers for Tim Anderson, actually below 600 is his OPS. So it's been terrible, no doubt.

But he did get four hits here on Monday. All four of those hits, were hit more than 111 miles per hour, and three of them were hit more than... Wait, do I get those numbers right? I'm sorry, I gave too much credit. That seemed too high. All right, all four of the hits were over 101 miles per hour,

and three of them were over 103 miles per hour. So, you know, four very hard hit balls for Tim Anderson. And you look at the stack cast page for him. Hitting the ball hard hasn't really been his problem. His max exit velocity, his average exof velocity, his hard hit rate. pretty much in line with career norms. I mean,

higher than some of his great years, his strikeout rate isn't outlandish either. You know, it's not the very best strikeout rate he's ever had, but it's not the worst strikeout rate he's had either. And then you look at the, you look at more of the, under the surface plate discipline numbers

like zone contact raid and, and Chase raid and all of that. It don't look so bad either. So it's, it's, it's kind of a head scratcher why he's been bad. His launch ankles down, okay, that that's adjustable. Obviously, it was higher than it is this year earlier in his career,

so it's something he could get back to. I wonder how much the knee injury that he suffered way back in April, how much of an impact that's had on the rest of his season, because he's not that old, he's 30. and because the decline that we're seeing in the actual on the surface statistics aren't reflected in sort of those skill indicators that we're always emphasizing on Stackcast and elsewhere, I wonder if he's poised to have a big bounce back season next year. No, I wouldn't stake a lot on it in next year's draft. I imagine as bad as this year's been for Tim Anderson, he's going to.

go undrafted in the majority of leagues and should. But, you know, some of those deeper roto leagues, like a middle infield option and a 15-team league, I think there's a lot of reason to approach Tim Anderson optimistically, as late as he's going to be going. And, you know, if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. You didn't invest that much in it. But I don't know that any, I don't know how much has actually changed for him. And it just seems like it, I get the impression it may just be a lost year because, because he was playing at less than 100% most of the time.

Yes, a confounding season here for Tim Anderson. One home run, as you mentioned. He has a club option this offseason for $14 million. I don't know what team he's going to play for next year. Yeah, that's a good point, too. I mean, he actually has a negative war this year. 14 million doesn't seem like a big ask to bring him back and give him a chance to prove it by the White Sox.

But they could just be free of them for a million dollars. and then he'd sign wherever. And there's a chance if they let him walk, he's not even going to be a starter for wherever he signs. That's a possibility, in which case I'll have to rethink everything I just said, because I don't want to Manderson if he's a backup somewhere. But yeah, it's an interesting decision for the White Sox. You know, it got me thinking the knee injury,

because for however long he was healthy, it was, what, two weeks, basically. He hit 298 with a 731 OPS for those two weeks, before he suffered the knee injury. We had no reason to believe anything was wrong with him. He stole five bases during that two-week span to Tim Anderson. He was off to a great start. Yeah, I don't know. It got me thinking because Manny Machado,

there was a report today about Manny Machado's going to be limited to DH for the Padres for the rest of this season and may decide to shut it down early so that he can have surgery on his elbow. He's going to need surgery on his elbow. I was like, what? What's going on with his elbow? I didn't even, I don't know, I may have seen that he was missing a game here, there with an elbow injury,

but I didn't know there was something major going on that required surgery. Turns out it was way back in May. He came down with tennis elbow, and he's been playing through it ever since. So, Mani Machado season's been a little confounding, not to the extreme that Tim Anderson's has, but I don't see a lot in the underlying indicators to make me think, okay, well, maybe Mani Machado. is just not going to be good anymore. And so, you know, it seems like he's been playing it less than 100% for most of this season, too. And that might explain why it's been a disappointment.

Again, not to the extent Tim Anderson's has been, but to a certain extent. Yeah, I noticed the same thing. I saw this report about, you know, surgery for Manny Machado that apparently is going to take six to seven months to recover from this tennis elbow injury that he's dealing with. and it seemingly came out of nowhere. So you said he was dealing with an elbow injury in late May. I saw that that was last year. So he might have been playing through this for the past two years, Scott.

Well, you know what? I may have just looked at the month and the day and not even bothered to look at the year when I saw the update on it. So, okay, maybe let me see what I found again to confirm what you're saying. Not that I doubt what you're saying. Because I was reading an article on,

I think it was MLB trade rumors, and they mentioned that he's kind of been playing through this for two years now. So, I think it might have been May of last year, too. Yeah, it was May of last year. You're right. So, yeah, this could have been, and he had a great year. Machado had a great season last year, right? So he could have been playing through this for some time. You know, he had that fracture in his, I think it was hand or wrist, right, earlier this season as well.

So Machado's been playing through a bunch of stuff, and he's, typically someone that just kind of plays through injury and he just kind of goes about his business. But man, yeah, he's an interesting one for the offseason too. Let's see what happens there. They could shut it down at some point already this season so that he gets kind of an early start, have that surgery, and hopefully ready to go for opening day next year. So that was some of the news I wanted to hit up front here as well, some, I guess, bad news for Manny Machado, which seemingly came out of nowhere.

I wanted to give a shout out to Adam Wainwright, who threw seven shutout innings for his 200th career win. Obviously, it's a pretty awesome milestone for him, the fifth active pitcher to reach 200 wins. The third Cardinals pitcher, joining Bob Gibson and Jesse Haynes. So I know Wainwright was, he was stuck on 198 for a while,

and then he finally got 199 recently, and then there you go. 200 wins for Adam Wainwright, I think in his age 42 seasons. So shout out to him, awesome stuff there. And shout out to Kyle Schwabber, who hit a 483-foot,

home run here on Monday. The Phillies kind of given the Braves a taste of their own medicine, huh, Scottie? Five home runs hit by the Phillies on Monday night. Kyle Schwerber hit his 45th. Nick Cassiano's hit his 25th. It's been a, I think, quietly solid bounce back season for Nick Castellanos. J.T. Real Muto hit his 19th. Bryce Harper hit his 18th. And Johann Rojas hit the second career home run for him. The good news, we mentioned some of the bad news with Mani Machado. Ronald de Cunia was back in the lineup Monday after missing two games with right calf tightness. So hopefully anyone who had him on their team, you saw that update, you keep him in your lineup here. Let's talk about some of these waiver wire pitchers got,

obviously, there's not much going on. We've got maybe just one matchup less. I think most people, if they play in weekly lineup leagues, they're already locked in for this week. So we can just talk about, I don't know, matchups for the final week of the season. But three names up top, who I knew you liked all three. Brian Wu had a solid start at the Oakland days. Five shutout innings with six strikeouts in that one. Continues to lean mostly on his four-scene fastball and his sinker. And he is at Texas this weekend and then home against Texas in the final week of the season.

Edward Cabrera, good on you. I know that you were adamant about using him and he pitched very well. Five and a third, one run allowed, four strikeouts against the Mets. And look, the key for him is always control. He only walked one in this game and he had a great start. He either walks one or six. Yeah, three games. Three games since returning for Edward Cabrera,

193 ERA, a 107 whip, 17 strikeouts to nine walks, over 14 innings. He is home against the Brewers this weekend and at the Pirates in the final week. And we mentioned with Clevenger, he's at the Red Sox this weekend and home against the Padres. Anything you'd like to add on, I guess Brian Wu and Edward Cabrera starts here. So no good matches for Wu left. It's worth pointing out. You probably had him active for the two-star week, mainly because of Oakland,

but then his next start is at the Rangers. It's really interesting how he's been successful. You mentioned it already, but I just want to stress it, underscore it. He basically just throws fastballs. It's weird. It's mostly different variations of fastball, but pretty much just fastballs.

There's the four seamer, which gets a lot of whiffs. There's the sinker. He threw them a combined 80% of the time in this one at Oakland. He also throws a cutter, not nearly as much as those other two, but again, another variation of fastball, basically.

And somehow that works for him. You know, it seems like that's kind of the Mariners' whole philosophy, right? Even when they brought in Luis Castillo, they had him, I forget which one he was thrown with Cincinnati, if it was primarily the two seamer or the four seamer, but they had him basically ramp up the usage of the other and not throw secondaries as much.

And I mean, he's taking a step forward. I feel like since coming over from the Reds, and I don't know, it seems to be working for him. They obviously have a good pitching staff, but Wu is taking it, I think, to another extreme, not even really showing a traditional breaking ball or off-speed pitch. I mean, he's technically thrown a few, but not a significant percentage of them.

Yeah, you know, I made the Brandon Woodruff comp with him last week. And while you were talking about all the different variations of fastball, I think a better comp for Brian Wu is actually Lance Lynn. Yep, that's what I was going to say. Yeah, the way Lance Lynn has kind of gone about his career, the four seam, the two seam, the cutter, you know, just kind of dotting these fastballs all around the zone. I don't know, that might be a better comp here for Brian Wu. It's interesting.

but you're right. A lot of the Mariners pitchers have done this. George Kirby relies heavily on fastballs. We know Bryce Miller, the same thing, that kind of riding four-seem fastball. But it's an organizational philosophy, and for now it seems like it's working for most of those guys. Let's move on to this next group of waiver wire pitchers.

John Means, he actually had a solid start here at the Houston Astros. Five innings, one run aloud. Three walks to one strikeout. Obviously, you don't love that. But to go into Houston against a line. lineup that crushes lefties and have a successful start. I thought that was good to see from John Means. He's at Cleveland this weekend. His final start is against the Red Sox. Cutter Crawford turned in a quality start at the Rangers. Six innings, two runs, seven strikeouts to zero walks

there. His first quality starts since August 19th, and he faces the White Sox this weekend and then at the Orioles in the final week. And Cal Quantrell turned in another solid start. He was at the Royals, five and two-thirds, innings, two runs, three strikeouts, completely changed his pitch mix in the start. 49% splitters. That was 7% entering the start. So, like, a pitch he barely would use

was his most used pitch in this one for Calquantrol. He also threw his curveball 26% of the time. Thought it was kind of interesting. He faces the Orioles this weekend. And then at the Tigers, the final week. So that's a good match up there. It's got anything you want to add on Cal Quantrell, Cutter Crawford, John Means.

Well, I wish I could share your optimism for Means because I've very much liked, expressed my interest in Means over the years. One strikeout in five innings. That's been the case in each of his two starts since returning, and I don't think that's a formula for success. One strike out in five innings. Now, he does get a great matchup next time out at Cleveland, but I still think he's in the Prove It stage versus me being willing to use him in fantasy. So if it is a daily lineup streaming situation, I'm still uneasy about using John Means. I'd like to see him have at least a decent strikeout outing before the season's over

so I can go in with some reassurance next year. Not that I think it's a loss cause if he doesn't. Obviously, coming back from Tommy John's surgery is not something that normally happens at the snap of the finger. You're back to being who you were. But need to see more strikes. I guess for means is the bottom line. Cutter Crawford remains pretty interesting.

He has starts like this semi-regularly. It's just his bad starts are intolerable. That's really Cutter-Crawford's problem. But for the year, 12.3 swinging strike rate, 12.3% swinging strike rate, that's pretty good. 3.62 expected ERA, better than his actual ERA. he remains kind of interesting. Not enough that I think you're going to get much use out of him this year anymore.

But I wonder if he'll be in the Red Sox rotation plans for next year. Move on to these final two pitchers I wrote down. Connor Phillips, the Reds pitching prospect. He had a great start. Picked up the first win of his career. First quality start of his career as well. Seven innings, two runs, seven strikeouts to one walk. He had 11 swinging strikes on 93 pitches.

and maybe it was misclassified on Stackcast, but apparently he threw a slider 20% of the time in this start, and he didn't throw an actual slider in his first two starts. It was classified as a sweeper. So I don't know if it was actually a different pitch or not, but... Yeah, I don't know either. Maybe tomorrow they'll kind of change it back to sweeper, whatever it was. The point is, he looked pretty damn good here, Scott,

and he's kind of got some moxie. He's got some swag to him. He's like yelling at people and he's pitching, and he's walking off the mound. It's kind of, I don't know. It's a pretty hyped up guy. It was fun to watch. He shaved his goatee too, so shout out to Connor Phillips.

Jose Buto, who pitches for the Mets. He now has three strong starts in a row. He was at the Marlins, six innings, one run, six strikeouts to one walk there. And in 32 innings pitched this year, a 309 ERA, a 134 whip. I actually picked him up and started him in South Warscout, which was very risky, but it's worked out.

It's worked so far. We'll see. I don't know, at the Phillies this weekend and then home against the Phillies in the final week. It's pretty scary stuff. Anything on Jose Buto and Conner Phillips? Connor Phillips, it's pretty clear he has talent. I'm not ready to trust in him after this start.

He had one swinging strike in his previous start at Detroit. So he's still feeling his way through. feeling his way into the majors, I guess. Feeling it out, I don't know. I'm trying to make that work now that I committed to the word feeling and it's not getting any better no matter how many ways I say it. But he also has control issues as Connor Phillips, and I just think,

I don't think he's going to have a chance to really gain our confidence before the season's over. Pirates? Pirates this weekend for Phillips? I don't. I'm not. No? It's not me. It's not me. I mean, it's working for you in that Tao Wars League.

I don't know. I kind of have a problem with the league that's set up that you could just throw any pitcher in there and it's going to work out for you in the long run. I mean, I've thrown pitchers in there where it works out very poorly, Scott. So it's... Apparently not, because you're going for your third straight championship.

If you're consistently doing it, it seems to benefit you in the long run. Quantity over quality, basically. Jose Buto. I mean, it is worth stating in this podcast league. You get to change your lineup midweek, right? In Tout Wars? Yeah, sorry, in Towers.

In this Towers League is what I meant to say. So it's CBS, because you're the champion, you get to choose what head-to-head scoring format you use. You choose CBS's standard point scoring. But unlike CBS, you get to change your line at midweek. you change your lineup on Mondays and Fridays, and it is deeper rosters than just the normal CBS scoring. It's Roto-style lineups.

You have seven starting pitchers and two relief pitchers. You can still use sparse too. So there are kind of ways to, I don't want to say, I mean, I guess the word is manipulate, right? I'm not cheating. It's within the rules, but you can, I just load up on a bunch of pitchers on my bench and try and get as many starts as I possibly can

on Mondays and Friday's and Friday. My point being the way you like spam starters in that league, there's less opportunity cost than the opportunity cost isn't as great as in a standard CBS points league where

you don't get the opportunity to change your light at midweek. You have to commit to the five starters and only five starters for the entire week and you have just a five-man bench to work with. So there are some differences there. But anyway, back to Jose Buto. I just, I don't see it.

I don't see it. And we've had a few of these pitchers in the second half who arrive without much prospect pedigree, and you look at their minor league numbers, and it's nothing special there either. I mean, Jose Buto and the minors this year had a 593 ERA, 163 whip, and less than a strikeout per inning.

And he comes up here, and he's looking like sunny gray. and I just, okay, I could find reasons to see why Christopher Sanchez was making it work. I could find reasons why Javier Assad, to a lesser degree than Sanchez, but I could see some reason why he was able to have a run of success there. I don't really see it for Buto. And so with two matchups remaining against the Phillies, I think, unless you're in a league like Franks Tau Wars League, probably stay away.

To be totally honest, I'm pretty scared of these starts against the Phillies. So I'm already locked in. Actually, I guess technically I could get them out this weekend. Bench him on Friday. I might do it. I don't know. At the Phillies, it's pretty scary there. Their lineup has really come around.

Let's take our final, not final, first break of this. And when we return, we'll talk waiver wire hitters and some other hitters. Guys, that might be tough to rank in 2024. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in. Let's run through some waiver wire hitters here again. You know, not much left on the schedule. But Ronnie Maricio continues to run with the Mets, one for four with his sixth stolen base. He's already got a home run as well.

He's hitting the ball hard. Lots of ground balls, so you don't love that. He is 45% rostered. Does that number sound right, Scott? Do you think that should be higher for Maricio, final week of the season or so? I don't think so. I've had trouble getting him active in any of the leagues where I have him. And even though it seemed like he's done well,

I've looked at his weekly point breakdown. I understand points leagues are probably the format. You're least likely using him. He had 18 last week, which isn't bad, but 6th the previous week, 10 the week before that. I don't know. It hasn't translated to great fantasy production, even though he's hit for a good average and stolen some bases.

All right. Next up, we've got Alex Kirloff, who went one for four with his ninth home run in 10 games since returning. He's betting 276. He's got that one homer that also has one steel. And he's 28% rostered. I looked at the Twins matchups for the final week. They've got three games against Oakland, three games in Cordes Field. So you must be thinking this is amazing. They also have three lefties on the schedule as of now. So. What I've been saying all along with Edward Julian, like you'd like to take advantage of the matchups, but same thing with Alex Kirolov. By the way, I just thought this was an interesting note on Kierloff. So it wasn't the home run, but he had a ground out in this game that he hit. I'm always looking for silver linings with Alex Keraloff.

He had a groundout that he hit 108.7 miles per hour. It was his hardest hit ball of the year. Find someone who loves you the way Scott loves himself. Alex Kirloff. Two names in deeper leagues. Ryan O'Hern went 5 for 5 with a double and 2 RBI. Quietly had a really good year for Baltimore. The stackass numbers look pretty good for him as well.

He's 17% rostered. Nelson Velasquez went one for three with his 14th home run. 31 games now with the Royals. He's betting 2.35 with 11 homers. So that batting average has come down recently, but still hitting for a good amount of power. anything there, Scott, final week, deeper leagues, Ryan O'Hern, Nelson Velasquez. And the strikeout rate hasn't been terrible for Velasquez either.

28% with the Royals. It's high, it's high, but we've seen it higher from him before. I don't think it's prohibitively high, I guess is the better way to put it. Last week of the season, let's see, they're facing the Tigers and the Yankees, so those are pretty good matchups. I don't know exactly what pitchers lineup win. maybe it won't it to be in such good matchups, but in theory it could be good matchups for Velasquez. I don't know.

If you're going to make up ground and home runs in a five outfielder league, I think he's in the discussion, at least, because I do think the power is legit. O'Hurne has a left-hander problem as well. He doesn't play against them. I think what we've seen, because we weren't sure how they were going to divvy up

the playing time with Heston Kyrstad getting called up and Ryan Mountcastle not playing with the shoulder injury. Well, it does seem like O'Hern has been in the lineup more regularly than Kierstadt has. Let's see, Baltimore next week. If these matchups hold, it looks like just one left-hander. And the matchups are not bad. I don't know. Somebody to consider in deeper leagues, I guess.

Yep. Though, it is worth mentioning. It was reported today Ryan Malkassel is not going on the IL with his shoulder injury. so he may come back before this week is done and shake things up a bit. Two names in two catcher leagues. Bo Nailer. I've been really impressed with Bo Nailer recently, one for three with a walk and his fifth stolen base.

His last 21 games with the Guardians betting 333 with four homers, four steals, 14% walk rate, 17% strikeout rate. So great plate discipline during this time, power, speed, just not a skill set we see often from a catcher. He's 24% rostered. Looks like the Guardians only have five games next week. I don't know how much he matters for this year, but a name to know for sure as a sleeper catcher,

I think heading into the next year as Bo Nailer. And I think the same thing could be said for Luis Camp Usano. I mentioned him on yesterday's podcast. The guy, he hits well when he gets an opportunity. He went three for five here on Monday with his seventh home run, three RBI. He's batting 307 on the year, 831 OPS. 14% rostered.

I think both of these guys are only two catcher league plays for now, Scott, but any thoughts on Bo Nailer and Camp Usano? No, I think they could be breakouts next year too at that position. More talent coming in at catcher, which is welcome because we are losing Dalton Varsho and MJ Melendez, and they may not be the only ones that we're losing from the position next year. Oh, Henry Davis, we're going to lose him as a catcher next year. So we could use another little bit of infusion.

a little infusion of talent here. I've always liked Camp Usano. He got to the upper miners at like as a 20, 21-year-old and continued to produce there. He had, he at one point in time was using a 40-ounce bat in the miners, which gives you an idea of his strength. I mean, most players used like a 32-ounce bat. 40 ounces is insane.

Wow. I doubt he uses it anymore, but that was some of the talk coming out of the miners at the time, and he was producing. he was making lots of contact with it. So he's still young enough that he could live up to his potential. And, you know, since they're more or less out of it at this point, maybe they're willing to tolerate his defensive shortcomings in a way they want it normally.

So maybe the plan isn't for him to just retain the job heading into the next season. I don't know. We'll find that out in the offseason, obviously. but if Camp Usano is the plan behind the plate for the Padres moving forward, then I'm excited about the upside. Yeah, for sure. Let's hit the rest of the news and notes. Mike Trout will join the Angels for their six-game road trip this week

and we'll start swinging a bat soon. There's still a chance he can return before the end of the season. Max Fried will not make his next turn in the rotation after developing a hotspot on one of his fingers. The Braves aren't overly concerned. and they think Freed might even be able to make a start this weekend. Sandale O'Constra threw a 20-pitch bullpen session on Monday, his second since resuming this throwing program last week,

and he remains hopeful to return before the end of the regular season as well. Obviously, the Marlins have hopes of making the playoffs too, and, you know, would help having someone like Sandy Alcansara. Of course, the good Sandy Alcanser, not the one we saw earlier this season. So, who knows? Josh Young and Adoli Scarsson. see you.

We're both activated from the IL on Monday. You know, big additions there for the Rangers who are trying to make the playoffs as well

here. Matt McLean could return as soon as next Tuesday. He took batting practice on Monday and we'll look to ramp up baseball activities

throughout the week. He's been out since August 28th with a right oblique strain. Tanner Bobby was placed in the IL with right hip

inflammation and we'll miss the rest of the season. It's been a phenomenal. I don't know. Maybe I'm overrating in Sky.

but is phenomenal the right word. I think it's a really, really great rookie season for Tanner Bybee that we saw this year. Did another rookie have a better season? I guess Kodai Senka, who's kind of a rookie with an asterisk. I think Bybee had the best rookie season for a pitcher other than that, right?

On a per inning basis, maybe you can go with Yuri Perez, but... I don't know. Bivey did it for longer. Last few starts haven't been that great. Yeah, I guess he has a lower whip and a better strikeout rate, though it's close with the whip. Bibi hasn't beat slightly an ERA.

And I just think his starts were more usable, by and large, than Yuri Perez's has been. But, yeah, I mean, they've both been good. All right, Salvador Perez was placed on the seven-day concussion aisle. He took a foul tip off the catcher's mask on Saturday and then was out of the lineup on Sunday. Shane Bieber pitched well in his second rehab start striking out seven over three and two-thirds scoreless innings at AAA. He averaged 91 miles per hour on his fastball, which is down a little bit from where he was at earlier the season. Bieber could take Bybee's spot in the rotation later this week.

The Brewers will likely have to make a decision on Tuesday whether to play's, Christian Yelich on the IL or not. He took part in baseball activities Monday, but was not ready to return to the lineup. Hassan Kim has missed two straight with abdominal discomfort. The team is still trying to identify exactly what's wrong with Hassan Kim. Tristan Kossis is unlikely to play again this season. He's still undergoing tests on his right shoulder, which landed him on the IL last Friday. The Mets announced on Monday that Edwin Diaz will not pitch the season. A return for the final week might have been in play if the Mets were in playoff contention, but obviously they're not. And instead, Edwin Diaz will focus on 2024. Orioles manager, Brandon Hyde, said that Ryan Malkassel

is not a candidate to be placed in the IL. He's missed five straight with shoulder soreness. Carlos Correa was removed after re-agravating the planter fasciitis in his left foot. Stalling Marte will accompany the Mets on their road trip in Miami this week. The 34-year-old has been out since early August due to a groin strain, which could be related to that core muscle surgery that he had last off season. Brian Dela Cruz has missed three straight with a sore right ankle.

Hunter Renfro was designated for assignment by the Reds. Harrison Bader was placed in the aisle with a right groin strain. Brett Batey has missed five straight with a left groin strain. And Joe Adele was reinstated from the 60-day IL and will be available Tuesday. against the race. A few prospect updates here, Scott. The Brewers, top prospect, Jackson

Trio, was promoted to AAA. I think they have maybe a week left in their season, but he is 19 years old. He hit 280 with 22 on runs, 43 steals at AA this year. And I don't know. I guess we'll see how this final week or so goes in AAA, but I think he's going to be in play for an opening day spot with the Brewers next season. Yeah, I would agree. I thought he had a chance of coming up late this year. I suppose that's still possible. Bow Nailer was called up, I think, for the final weekend of last season.

So it's never too late. And the Brewers, you know, if they think he can, I don't know. Would he be eligible for the postseason? I don't know the rules on that because I don't think he's on the 40-man roster. I actually don't know. Yeah, I don't know either. If it would be or not. But, you know, if they thought he could help for that,

that might factor in the decision-making. Look, it's not the most likely scenario. The most likely scenarios they're calling up to AAA, and they're going to be satisfied with them ending the year there. But I agree that he'll, the progress he's made this year, particularly with regard to the strikeout rate. I think Jackson Chorio is very much in play for next spring. And again, if he hits well in this, whatever, final week of the season at AAA, whatever it might be,

you know, Jordan Lawler got called up to the debacks after playing only 16 games at AAA. Jason Dominguez got called up after only nine games at AAA. So it's not crazy. Yeah, I think there's a chance we might see Jackson Turyo in the final week of the season and then maybe potentially helping the brewers in the playoffs as well because, you know, I think they could use a little bit more thump in that lineup. if they do have faith in the 19 year old helping them out. The Rangers are promoting their first round pick

from this year's draft Wyatt Langford to AAA on Tuesday and the 21 year old has hit 359 with 10 homers, nine steals, and an 1168 OPS in 41 games across three different levels. And he's looked amazing, Scott. I mean, this is, you know, one of those prized assets. Why you want a top two or three pick in your first year player draft.

We talked about him a lot recently, but the numbers are awesome, and he's already getting pushed up to AAA. Wyatt Langford, not to be confused with Wyatt Langmore, is a, I mean, you kind of, you didn't even mention the best part. Between rookie ball high A, A, AA, 30 walks to 28 strikeouts. He's reached at a 471 clip. Ooh. Power speed, average.

You know, I think the consensus was that Dylan Cruz, the White Sox first round pick from this past year he was drafted second overall while Wyatt Langford was drafted fourth Nationals

What did I say White Sox Yeah nationals I'm in nationals I think the consensus was that Dylan Cruz was the better of the two but it was close enough

that I do wonder if Wyatt Langford is going to creep ahead of him in the prospect rankings for next year and then of course Paul Skeen's the first overall pick for the Pirates

is the third of the three that I think they're all going to be top ten basically on the national prospect rank lists. So yeah, I was thrilled to secure the third overall pick in our first year player draft Scott White Dynasty League next year because I'll get one of the three of them. I've kind of been assuming all this time

it would be Wyatt Langford, but now I don't know. I hope it is. Yeah, I don't know. We shall find out. The Rangers also plan to promote Jack Lighter to AAA, and it's been another rough year for their former first round pick as well. He's been better recently. His last four starts have been pretty good there.

They put him on something called the development list, which allows them to, I don't know, put him, plug them into a computer or something and fix them. I don't know. He seems to have come back face. because problem, Jack Lighter's problem ever since being drafted, of course he was the second overall pick a couple years ago and looked like a can't miss pitching prospect,

son of former Major League or Alliter. But his walk rate was just terrible. It's been terrible ever since he was drafted unexpectedly. In four starts since returning from this development list, he's walked just four in those four starts, 25 strikeouts to four walks. And so that's encouraging because the stuff was never in question for Jack Leiter.

And I think he's back to being a dynasty asset. There you go. The development list is the same as the Matrix, basically. That's what it sounds like. I'd never heard of the development list until this year. But it seemed to do Jack Leiter a world of good. All right. Let's take our final break.

When we return? We'll run through some hitters that could be tough to rank in 2024. We'll take a look right after. this. Welcome back in. Scott has an article that is coming out on the site, CBSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. Tough players to rank for 2024. And today we'll do hitter, Scott. Later on in the week, we can talk about some of the pitchers that you have on that list as well. And I don't want to spend too much time on this because we have all off season to talk about these guys. So, you know, 30 seconds. You know, I haven't even written, I haven't even finished writing the article yet.

This is a spoiler alert here. I don't know that there's that much. crossover between the podcast audience and the readership. But, yeah, that's fine. Let's continue. Oh, yeah, you know, I didn't even mention to you. Well, we're doing this on the podcast today, Scott. I guess I should tell you right now. Is that right?

Thank you. All right. So let's run through some of these names here. We'll do like a minute or less on each of them. At Catcher, you have Mitch Garver, who we've talked a lot about this year. He's great when he plays. 267 batting average, 17 homers, and 883 OPS. he's done that over 77 games this season.

That's the most games he's played since 2019. So I assume that's why you have him at the catcher position. Oh, there's a lot of reasons why he's going to be difficult to rank next year. Not only, like you pointed out, he's good when he plays. There may not be anybody better at catcher than Mitch Garver when he plays. We've seen this various times at various points throughout his career, including now. But, yeah, he has to stay healthy. He has to get consistent at bats.

Is fixing him to the DH role like the Rangers have done recently the solution to that? Maybe. But you know what? He's a free agent in the offseason. So we don't even know if his next team is going to follow the Rangers formula. 33 years old. There's just a lot of question marks for Mitch Garver. And we've been reminded of the upside.

I just dropped J.T. Real Muto for him in a league where, you know, it's just me and up one other person competing still. But that's how much I value Mitch Garver's bat right now. But there are a lot of question marks. So I don't know how high you can actually rank him for as good as he's been and has always been. A lot of question marks for the Blue Jays as well, Scott. At first base, you have Vlad Jr. on this list. At shortstop, you have Boba Chet. For Vlad, we know it's been a disappointing year, 267, 24 home. a 788 OPS. The ground ball rate is actually down, and that's usually what we want from Vlad Jr.

He's still hitting the ball hard, but they have these new dimensions in Rogers Center, and he is not hitting well at home this season. And, you know, really he had that monster 2021 where the Blue Jays played in, you know, two other minor league ballparks that were extremely hitter-friendly. So we're still left here just trying to figure out, like, who is the real Vlad Jr. at this point?

I have no idea where to rank him or where he's going to go in drafts, but he is an interesting one. Because we gave him a pass this year for the disappointing 2022, and the numbers have only kind of worse after we gave him the pass. And meanwhile, he's gotten, he's been surpassed by some newcomers to the first base position, specifically Cody Bellinger, Bryce Harper. I mean, Christian Walker's been a lot better than him this year.

I don't think I'm going to rank Christian Walker ahead of him next year, But that's the thing is it's hard to know exactly how high to rank Vladimir Guerrero because you still have to account for the upside. He was the top player in fantasy in 2021, still only 24, still a stat caspage lit up and red, tremendous expected stats. If you're picking one player today to lead first base the most years moving forward, it would still be Vladimir Guerrero. But how high do you rank them for next year specifically?

it feels like just a guessing game. Is he going to bounce back or not? Yeah, at second base you have Luis Arise, who we know that had that amazing first half, batted over 380. Still had a solid second half here. He's overall, it's a 354 batting average, 10 homers in 865 OPS.

I was going to say a better player in points leagues, but at least according to CBS's algorithm, he ranks 57th overall in Roto this season as well, but he just doesn't really do it with power and speed. It's a very unique, meek profile. It is. There's only one Luis arise and he is the number one batting average guy in baseball. Nobody does that better than him. But he's a detriment in home run stolen bases in RBI in three categories. So whether or not, how valuable he is to you really depends on the build of your team.

And given that second base is kind of overflowing with upside at this point, there's tons of upside to be found at that position. It almost feels like a resignation to take that that single category standout in Luis Leyes. And then you also have to guard against the fact, you know, what if he doesn't hit 350 next year, but 315, which was kind of the norm for him prior to this year. So, like, just because he hit 350 this year doesn't mean he's a lock for that every year. He'll definitely be a help in batting average, but to what extent? And yeah, that's even, even in points, leagues that makes them hard to rank. Spencer Steer, we know, also had a great first half of the season. He really just had an awful July. If you look at his monthly production, he hit 233 with a

614 OPS in July. He bounced back in August. He's having a big September here so far as well. Overall, 22 homers, 14 steals, batting 269 at 815 OPS. I don't know, Scott. Why do you have Spencer Steer on this list at third base? Well, none of his skills stand out. He's manned. He's manned to be productive in spite of them. That was also true for Jonathan India, his rookie season, and it's been kind of lackluster since then. They don't really have a position for Spencer Steer. He's kind of been bouncing around.

So as players with louder skills are introduced to the Reds lineup, of course, Elie de la Cruz, Noel V. Marte, I think, is in that discussion as well. Even Christian Anconacian Strand, like, how much of a step back can Spencer Stier take with those very middling skills. How much can he take a step back in terms of productivity

and remain an everyday player in a crowded lineup like that? I don't know. That's why he's hard to rank. All right, Boba, I mentioned the name earlier. This season, 303 batting average, 18 home runs, three steals over 123 games.

We know that he went on the IEL twice this year, once with Pateler Tendonitis, and then a strained right quad. He's been terrible since coming back from the IEL. So part of this is just, you know, how much have the injuries kind of affected Bobachette this season? But also, I don't know, his skill set, he doesn't really run anymore. He only has three steals this year. I agree with you.

I think he's a pretty confusing player at this point. So I think, yeah, the steals are a big question mark. Are they coming back or not? His sprint speed has continued to decline. it was in the lower half of the league this year, Bo Bichette, and he just basically stopped running. That doesn't mean he'll always stop running.

I've been saying for years that that is a decision-based stat. It's largely a matter of intent, how many bases you steal. And for whatever reason, Bichette hasn't had the intent this year, but it could come back. It could come back, and that could obviously change things.

But right now, I think we have to presume he's not much of a help in stolen bases. And so it's a question of, how much power he's going to provide. And this year it was awfully disappointing. Does the Blue Jays home park have something to do with it? Because I noticed he was going the opposite way more this year, Beau Bichette. And it seems like right field is where it's the hardest to hit it out there. Even split home and away with the home runs, nine in each fin, in each, you know, both home and away.

Better batting average on the road for Bo Bouchet. But, you know, if he's just a 20 homer guy, who hits for a good average and doesn't provide much its stolen bases. I noticed the run and RBI production was down quite a bit this year too. He's a second tier shortstop and certainly not the first slash second rounder we've come to know him as. But how much do you see him bouncing back this next year? That's the biggest question for Bichette, because still only 25 years old, not far removed from that kind of production.

Sort of the same case with Vladimir Guerrero. but I would say, like, I don't, I think Vladimir Guerrero can approach his peak again. I'm pretty confident at some point in his career Vladimir Guerr will approach his peak. I don't know if it'll be exactly as good as that 20-21 season, but it'll be nearly as good. I'm not as confident Bo Bichette is going to approach his peak again. And I think the upside with Bichette and Vlad, I think they're kind of correlated, right? Because I think for this lineup, for those guys to kind of reach their ultimate upside, they need both of those two to be playing at the highest level possible, right?

And that's what we saw back in 2021, right? When they had crazy run and RBI outputs and big power and Bobichet was running that year. So I think their upside is kind of correlated, I think, if they're both going to kind of max out here ever again. If they do it, they probably will. They're young enough to do it. But we'll see. Four more names here.

Well, just a quick thought on each of these three outfielders and someone you have in the utility spot. Cody Bellinger, Cedric Mullins, Lane Thomas, and Marcel Ozuna. Bellinger, we know he's had an amazing bounceback season, but the previous three years combined. He hit 203 with a 648 OPS, so maybe we're just past that, but it was a good amount of time, right?

Cedric Mullins, kind of a down year here. He's been sitting against lefties recently. He's been on the IL twice with a groin injury, so how much has that injury kind of played into it? Lane Thomas has come back down to Earth in the second half of the season. And Marcel Ozuna, he has 35 home runs. He has an 869 OPS. But if you look at his year-over-year production, wildly inconsistent.

So just like, what are we going to get? I have no idea, Scott. That's the thing. I don't know what we're going to get for many of these players next year. Cody Bellinger, MVP caliber this year, 18th percentile average exit velocity. And he's a free agent, too. We don't even know where he's playing.

Right. How much the environment's going to impact that. Like, they all deserve to be drafted within the first five rounds next year based on their production. I don't, I think Bellinger will. I'm not sure any of the others will. But, like, you could certainly make the case for it based on how they perform this year. It's just, you know, Mullins, is he going to get back to being a 30 steel guy? How valuable is that in the base, the stolen base environment we're in now if he's not

going to be the 30 homer guy he was in 2021. Lane Thomas was thought to be a fourth outfielder type, got on a rebuilding team that had a need in the outfield and ended up producing a lot more than that. But it kind of reminds me of like Nate McClough, who had a season or two like that for the pirates and then just cratered after that. It was never really a factor in fantasy again.

I don't know if you remember him, Frank. Nate McClough. The Braves originally traded Charlie Morton to get Nate McLeod from the Pirates. It didn't go so well. I was going to say he played for the Braves, right? Yeah. And then Marcelo Zuna, he was the top outfielder in fantasy in the short in 2020 season.

And we all bought him pretty hard the following year. I think he was like a third round pick on average, third, fourth round. Obviously two dead seasons after that before he bounces back with another huge season. And, you know, historically good lineup. You definitely like to have as many shares of that Braves lineup as you can. but it does feel like if you value him next year based on his 2023 production, it's, you know, it does kind of feel like you're being led into a trap if you do that based on how things have played out for Ozuna previously.

But then where, how late is too late to take him? I don't know the answer to that either. It's going to be, I think Ozuna is the single most difficult player to figure out his draft value for next year because it just, the range of outcomes seems. so wide. And yeah, obviously he's, he's, he's burned us really more than once in the past. The 2020 to 2021 is the biggest example, but it happened earlier in his career too, where we thought he was a stud.

And then the following couple years, he turned out not to be so great. Yeah, so some tough players to rank for next season for various reasons. You can read more about it on the site, CBSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. Some quick leftovers here. We'll start off with the pitching leftovers. First up, the good. Zach Wheeler had a bounce back start at the Braves. Six innings, one run, five strikeouts, with 16 swinging strikes in that one.

Freddie Peralta continues his great run. He was at the Cardinals. Six innings, one run, six strikeouts, the zero walks. His last 10 starts. Peralta has a 196 ERA and a 0.74 whip. Jordan Montgomery also had a great start against the Red Sox. seven innings, one run, eight strikeouts to zero walks, 21 swinging strikes on 95 pitches.

Anything to add on Monty, Peralta, and Zach Wheeler? Not really. Not really. I mean, Montgomery, he threw his curveball a ton, which may have contributed to him getting so many swinging strikes, 21 of them. But unless it becomes a pattern, I don't know that there's much to take away from that.

Okay. Now the bad point. pitching left over. Joe Ryan has gone just five innings or less in four of five starts since returning from the IL. He was at the Reds. He allowed four runs over five innings pitched. He walked three. And I don't think he gave up any home runs in the start, but obviously home runs have been a problem for Joe Ryan overall. And five starts since returning a 365 ERA, a 122 whip. So overall, he's been pretty good, but this one was not very good for Joe Ryan. Kyle Wright, another rough outing up against the Phillies.

Four runs allowed over four innings. He also walked forward. He gave up three homers in that start. So the combination of bad control, giving up home runs right now. I don't know. Do we just give Kyle Wright a pass? Scott, I was thinking about how to value him. It's like last year was such an outlier for his career.

But then this year, obviously he's just like pitched through a bunch of injuries and the shoulder hasn't been right. So I don't know that we really put anything. into this year, but like last year was also an outlier. So I think Kyle Wright is probably a tough pitcher to rank moving forward too. Well, I don't think it's going to be that tough unless he has a good start at some point. And maybe it'll happen, you know, hopefully certainly seems like the Braves will be a team that go deep into the playoffs. And if he's a part of that rotation, then we'll get more chances to see how he performs.

in addition to the shoulder issue, he's kind of been changing his delivery this year. So there are a lot of variables that work here for Kyle Wright in addition to, you know, one of them just being how he performed prior to last year, last year being an outlier. So a lot of question marks. If you are looking for a silver lining here and this start against the Phillies, he did have six whiffs on his curveball.

was the pitchy through the most, six whiffs on it, a 43% whiff rate on that one pitch. And I know there was some optimism on the Braves broadcast, and I saw Kyle Wright talking to the media afterward that they feel like, they felt better about the start than the stat line showed, was the general consensus, partially because some of those swinging, swing and miss numbers for Kyle Wright. So not all hope is lost here. obviously you're not using him in the fantasy.

But I think it's going to be very important the way his last couple regular turns, his couple regular season turns go, and then whatever playoff chances he gets. I think that's going to say a lot about how we approach Kyle Wright in 2024, because if there's nothing good to take away from it, he's probably just going to be an afterthought.

Yeah. All right, let's talk about a few hitting leftovers. Royce Lewis went one for four with his 15th home run. He has homered. in four of his last eight games. Luis Robert went one for five with his 36th home run. He added three RBI in that game. C.J. Abrams went two for four with his 42nd stolen base.

Still providing very good power and speed, but I noticed the batting average has taken a step back since the start of August, 42 games for Abrams. He is batting just 2.17 over that stretch. 44% flyball rate and a 14% infield fly ball rate. So it kind of feels like Abrams is. maybe just off, getting underneath the ball a little bit, and as a result, some easy outs there for C.J. Abrams.

Wilson Contreras continues his strong second half. He went one for three with his 20th home run, and in the second half, he's batting 313 with 10 homers and a 969 OPS. J.D. Martinez, 3 for 4 with a double dong, 5 RBI, and now on the year he's betting 266. He's got 28 home runs, 90 RBI, and 870 OPS in just 101 games. I was blown away, Scott,

when I realized this guy has 28 homers in 101 games. I felt like JD Martinez missed so much more time than that, but it's been a great year. 290 ISO, that's his highest since 2018. He's hitting the ball extremely hard this year. Also a free agent, and I know he's older, but like the dude still seems like he has a lot left in the tank, at least based on this season.

Well, he did miss, I mean, he hasn't missed, what, about a third of the season? So to get to 28 home runs and 90 RBI is saying a lot. It's a near 45 home run pace over 150 games. Yeah, there you go. And the RBI, you know, when you got Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, just a little ahead of you in the lineup, that's bound to happen too. Yeah, no, he's been great.

He's been great. And, you know, the Dodgers kind of went with a, they kind of went with the youth movement this year. and J.D. Martinez was one of the players brought in to alleviate that. Jason Hayward also. Jason Hayward has the best slugging percentage in OPS of his career. So they kind of picked up both those guys off the scrap heap, and it's gone very well for them. Man, J.D. Martinez on a one-year deal. He's 36 years old. I really hope that the Dodgers bring him back for at least one more year because, man, what an awesome year.

It's been. Speaking of the Dodgers, Freddie Freeman picked up his 20th deal. That's right. Yes. A 2020. 2020. Freddie Freeman. Let's go. Ryan Clesco had a couple of 20, 20 seasons back to back for the Padres, kind of mid, midway through

his career when he was already into his 30s. Never had a 10-steel season otherwise, but back-to-back 20 steel seasons to go along with 20-plus homers. So this Freddie Freeman, really this year and last year for Freddie Freeman, didn't quite get to 20 last year, but just a spike and steals out of nowhere. Kind of reminds me of that. Yeah. Yeah, it's been an awesome year for him. Some power and speed.

Obviously, a great batting average to boot. And lastly, Nolan Jones, hopefully you listen to Scott. He's been talking about this guy for, I don't know, a month now. He's up to 80% rostered. He went three for five with his 17th home run of the year on Monday. A few bullpen updates for the Royals.

A gentleman named James MacArthur struck out one for his first, first save of the year and Taylor Clark picked up saves on both Friday and Saturday for the Royals. My guess is he was likely unavailable here on Monday. For the Marlins, Tanner Scott got the ninth inning

with the game tied. He gave up a run on two hits. He took his fifth loss on the other side. Talking him up. Ah, yeah. I mean, he is Tanner Scott, right? I guess this was bound to happen eventually. He has the fourth most strikeouts among relievers this year. And he entered this

game with like a 2.14 ERA, 212 ERI, something like that. For the Mets on the other side, Adam Adavino struck out two for his 11th save. For the Cardinals, Ryan Helsley recorded the final four outs, two strikeouts for his 12th save. And I think he now has the last five saves for the Cardinals. So he's been very reliable recently. For the Red Sox, Kenley Jansson is on the COVID-I-L, so Chris Martin picked up his second save. For the Astros, Ryan Presley entered the ninth with a two-runner.

lead, gave up a three-run homer to Cedric Mullins, took the loss in that one. For the Orioles, Conell Perez, got the bottom of the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He got the first two outs, and then Yaneer Canoe got the final out for his seventh save. And then for the Padres, Josh Hader picked up his 30th save of the year. To stream or not to stream, we will start with Tuesday, where we have Logan Allen at the Royals. We have Javier Assad against the pirates. We have Paul Blackburn against the Mariners. Kentimaita at the Reds. Maybe. Christopher, Christopher Sanchez at the Braves. I'm trying to remember what I said yesterday. I think I said

a son. No, I said Logan Allen at the Royals, Javier Assad against the pirates, Paul Blackburn against the Mariners. Those were my top three. Okay. So no love for Kent Mida. Still don't try. I know he had a bounce back outing last time out, but he was so bad before then. I'm not ready to trust him. All right.

On Wednesday, we have Michael King against the Blue Jays. We have Josiah Gray against the White Sox, Bailey Ober at the Reds, Reese Olson at the Dodgers, question mark. So I'm very curious to see how this Josiah Gray outing goes, because remember last time out against the Pirates. He had, I think he had 10 strikeouts, right?

And much better control, a different delivery, different pitch selection. If he can follow that up against the white sucks, I'm going to be very encouraged for Josiah Gray. But I don't think I actually want to use him. Who do I want to use here? Nobody? I'd be most likely to use Michael King against the Blue Jays, I think. Because he hasn't really had a bad start yet, but he hasn't been going deep into those starts either. So I don't know, Bailey over at Cincinnati could go okay,

but he's a fly ball pitcher and a small ballpark. Yeah, that seems boom or bust. Yeah, that is pretty risky. I think those are my top two as well. You're really desperate, I guess Josiah Gray, but yeah, I agree. I don't think I want to risk it there with Josiah. Great. 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-star rating on. or Spotify, and we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.