Fantasy Baseball Today - Mikolas Destroyed, Pitching Duds & Struggling Hitters (8/10 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 10, 2022

Kyle Schwarber is out here destroying baseballs while Miles Mikolas is destroying your ERA (2:20). ... Time to re-add Vinnie P (8:11)? ... Add Randal Grichuk following his five-hit game (12:25)? ... Should Jean Segura and Tommy Pham be rostered in more leagues (15:45)? Any interest in Oscar Gonzalez or Aledmys Diaz in deeper leagues (24:05)? ... News (29:52): we have a Bryce Harper update and Chris Sale broke his wrist! ... Kerry Carpenter is getting called up Wednesday (38:06). ... What do we make of Braxton Garrett and other pitching duds (41:12)? ... Drop Jeremy Peña and JD Martinez (47:48)!? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpens and streamers (49:40). Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get 20% off Fantasy Baseball Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection 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 lead. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. I was having a pretty catastrophic night in terms of fantasy baseball, and I was going to come on here and complain and cry to you guys.

But then I realized that I didn't have any Miles Michaelis, so that just made everything better. I was going to say, how much of my best. Miles Michael is do you have. Zero. Welcome in to fantasy baseball today on Wednesday, August 10th. Franks devil joined by Scott White and the returning Chris Towers. Today on the show, we do have a bunch of pitching duds to talk about hitters that have been slowing down over the past month or so.

So much action to get to. Chris, you're back. How is life? How was Lady Gaga? Tell us all the deets. Oh, Gaga was incredible. She puts on a heck of a show. I got to go to Nationals Park for the first time.

How was it? getting out of Nationals Park late at night is impossible. There are no Ubers in that area. I don't know what was going on, but that was a bit of a trek. But great. She played the Joey Gallo song. She wore like an alien helmet while singing it.

It was wild. But it was amazing. Did she Joey Gallo lyrics? No. Oh. Wow. She did this whole like her sets like five acts. It's like a play.

although there's no narrative structure to it whatsoever, at least none that I could follow. But between one of them, she comes out in this alien headdress, like a xenomorph kind of thing. And then she sits down and starts playing shallow while wearing it. And then just takes it off.

It was just for that one song. It was a real weird bit. She was like, yeah, you think I'm going to do something weird here and I'm going to sing this. I'm just going to sing this country ballad. Yeah. Yeah. That sounds about as Lady Gaga as it gets, but I'm happy you.

That was a good time. You had a great time there, Chris. All right, let's get into Tuesday's action. Oh, my goodness gracious. All right, Chris, we're coming right back to you because you have a very interesting stat that I would like you to reveal to the audience. Yeah. Kyle Schwerber hit three batted balls today, 110 miles per hour or harder, which is.

a lot. I think he had 17 for the full season coming into today. So that's pretty good. And he went two for four with a double. So another good game for a guy having a good season. Here's a partial list. It's kind of like a full fantasy lineup of batters who have not hit three balls over 110 miles per hour this season. Freddie Freeman, Jorge Polanco, Jared Walsh, Kyle Tucker, Brandon Jury, Ian Hap, J.T. Real Muto, Francisco Lindor, Marcus Simeon, Nick Castiano's. Glaber Torres, Alejandro Kirk, Tyler O'Neill, Jesse Winker. That's not the full list, obviously. That's just a partial list of some relevant names who have hit fewer balls over 110 miles per hour than Kyle Schwerber did today. So there's your fun fact of the day. That is indeed.

It very high fact. Kyle Schwerber does hit the ball very hard. Has been awesome this year after a, you know, very slow start in terms of his batting average, but obviously the power has just been tremendous, as we expected. the beef cake for our very own Scott White way back on Valentine's Day.

So I think we all Still feel the love there. Love it. Absolutely love it. Still feeling it for Schwartz. All right, Scottie. You get, I can't say it. No, I think you actually have the breadstick. Oh, I have the breadstick.

I think you actually do. Well, so no, but this is like the breadstick that fell on the floor and like. Yeah. This is the one that you don't want. Okay, so like, let, Let's, I'll just let you go first, Frank, because like Miles Michaelis is the one who made me say, oh my goodness gracious, beyond any other, any other player performance today. So go ahead, Frank.

All right. So let's take it away here. Miles Michaelis, with likely the worst start of any starting pitcher this season, does not finish three innings at Corse Field, 14 hits, 10 earned runs, eight hard hits allowed. And the exclamation was that he left with a runner on base and then Packy Notton came in and gave up a three-run homer. So that is how Miles Michaelis gets to 10 earned runs in this start. His ERA jumps from 2.9 to 3.50 in this start alone. And we know Miles Michaelis is at this point. He doesn't get a lot of whiffs.

He pitches to contact. He typically does a very good job limiting hard contact. But when you are a pitcher, that pitches to contact and you go to Corse Field, you know, you could be prone to have. having a blowup start. I mean, look, obviously nobody saw this start coming, but yes, you could be prone to a pretty bad one, and that's exactly what we got here. I mean, I mean, I, I feel like it's been a while since we've seen somebody get cores fielded this, this badly. Yeah. Corsed this badly. Whatever, whatever the proper verb is.

And I actually had Miles Michaelis as a must start two-star pitcher in spite of the trip to course field. So got some egg on my face there. You had two. 292 to 350 in one start, as you pointed out, Frank. That's what happened to Michael, this is ERA. That's hard to do for a guy who's been healthy for four and a half months, or four months at least. Minus 20 was his score. I just looked it up on CBS, minus 20.

That is pretty bad. Wow. It's not what you want. I will point out. So he gave up 14 hits. 12 of them were singles. Average exit velocity, 87.1 miles per hour.

So it does seem like, yeah, he kind of got cores to you. I didn't watch the game, so I don't know if there was some bad defense happening that contributed to it as well. But generally speaking.

It's kind of like Patrick Corbyn this season where like the nationals have the worst defense in baseball. I'm pretty sure by outs above average. And he's had some bad luck in terms of bad. But, yeah. know, that happens when you pitch as poorly as Patrick Corbyn has this season or as Miles Michaels did today, you probably earn a lot of it too. You know, it doesn't happen without both.

It's tough, though. I always struggle with a game like this because like when you say that a guy is going to regress all season, you just keep saying it all season, all season. And it doesn't happen. And then it finally happens. It's kind of like, well, I told you so, but it's also like you were just waiting for something like this to happen. and you looked dumb for four and a half months.

And it's like, yeah, I mean, this doesn't, this shouldn't change how you view Miles Michaelis. This was always, like he's a, he's a 350-ish ERA pitcher, probably a little worse. That's where he's at now. That's probably what he'll be moving forward. Unfortunately, you just got a 10 spot dropped on you on a, on a Tuesday night. Yeah, look, it's obviously rough to get hit with all of the regression in one star. You know, maybe over time periodically, you get hit with a couple of,

starts where the ERA rises quite a bit, but even before this start, his ex-fip was 3.84, his FIP was 3.68. So again, I think you're right, Chris. He's probably more of like a mid-3s ERA, which is not bad. That's a quality pitcher. So obviously, even with the start, we're not dropping Miles Michaelis. It sucks that it happened. It would be too late. In fact, if trading is still loud in your redraft leagues, I would, I would just try to like buy extremely low after this one, but probably not going to happen. Anyway, that is. Miles Michaelis. We'll get to the Rockies in just a little bit. How did they wind up with all these runs? But before we do that, Scott, oh my goodness gracious for you. Vinnie Pee, baby. Vinnie

Pasquantino finally had his day. Took two games in one day to have his day, double header. He homered in each game of the double header, three for seven overall, didn't strike out between the two games of the double header, which, you know, that's what he's been not striking out all along that's part of the reason why I've kept the faith on Vinnie P average exit velocity coming into the double header 92.1 miles per hour so he continued to impact the ball

in a really hard make really hard contact and you know if he keeps doing that if he keeps striking out 15% of the time hitting the ball in excess of 90 miles per hour with regularity good things are going to happen I'd like it to go on for a little longer than just one day before I say he's here.

This is his time. Because I remember Alex Kirolov had that two homer game and then was basically never heard from again. And I don't think that's going to happen with Vinny Pasquantino. Obviously there were some extenuating circumstances there with Kierloff and his wrist. I think Kira Lov, I think Pasquantino is profiles to be a really good hit. hitter. And I'm hopeful this is the start of it. I wish I had him in my 10 sleeper hitters for this week, but I have been careful not to drop him in all but one of the leagues where I had. I'm a really shallow one where, you know,

I don't have any hitters on my bench. So I had to let him go on that one. But otherwise, I've held on to pass Guantino and I hope it still pays off here over the final seven weeks of the season. All right, with Vinnie Pee, he is down to 56% rostered. in CBS leagues. And rightfully so, I mean, before this game, he really was not playing well. And even with these two great games here on Tuesday, he's now batting 237 with only five home runs in 37 games.

But there are first basemen who are more rostered than him. So I just wanted to point out those names and just get your opinion. I mean, the three that... I'm sure there are a lot are more rostered than him that I'd rather dump for him. The three that stand out to me, Joey Votto, Jared Walsh, Josh Naler. Yeah. Yeah, I'd rather have Pasquantino than any of those. I agree.

I mean, Walsh especially. I drop Walsh for just about anybody at this point. I still think there is some value to Votto and especially Nailer, but I'd rather have Pasquantino. Yeah, I would probably push back on Votto a little more. He does have an 850 OPS since the All-Star break. It's very low batting average, but I do still think he's a useful player. and Pasquantino, like, there are definitely things to like about him.

You know, Scott went through most of them, quality of contact, amount of contact. Those are both very good. I do think he is someone who has a chance to consistently underperform his peripherals, like the expected stats and all that stuff, just because he is incredibly slow, 12% on sprint speed. He hits an inordinate number of his ground balls into the pole side. he's gone the opposite way 9.1% of the time on ground balls

so far this season so he's incredibly shiftable and so that combination Not going to matter next year though What's that? Not going to matter next year They can still do some shifting But yeah

I mean hopefully it will be less of a thing But even even still I mean when the defense Like if you're that predictable In terms of the quality of contact or the direction that you hit it I think there's going to be room for him to be, you know, probably not 50 points south of his expected well

like he is right now, but, you know, to to the point where he might be frustrating because the numbers might say he's elite and he's just good, you know? Like, I worry that might be in his future. But that's not to say he can't be good. All right, that is Vinny Pasquantino. The Rockies wound up with, let me get this straight, 16 runs on 22 hits scored in that game against Miles Michaels.

The ones who did the most damage, CJ Cron went two for five with his 23rd home run. He added 5 RBI. Randall Gritchick went 5 for 5 with his 12th home run. Three runs scored, 3 RBI for him. Brendan Rogers went 4 for 5 with four singles and 3 runs scored. And then Eli Huris Montero, a prospect with the Rockies here, has played well since being recalled. then he went two for five with two runs scored as well.

Scott, specifically here, Randall Gritchick last 30 games. He is batting 300 with four home runs, 23 RBI, and one steal. That's really good and surprised me. I didn't realize how well Randall Gritchick has been playing, but he's 53% rostered, could be out there. Talk to me about maybe re-adding him if he were dropped,

and Elehurst Montero in deeper leagues if he needed a corner infielder. Yeah, I mean, I think you're talking, I think you're talking deeper leagues in both of these cases. This is kind of, what Randall Gritchick has done over his last 30 games is kind of what we were hoping he'd do at the start of the year. But to just take his best 30 game stretch and say, all right, it's all going to happen for him now. I think is, I find that a little hard to believe. And he is, let's see, he started playing more regularly again for a while. while there, his playing time was in question, but it looks like he's playing again. I think in five

outfielder leagues, Randall Gritchick has some value, but in three outfielder leagues, probably not so much. Elehires-Montaro, I think he's more of a scout team guy than somebody you can plug into your lineup just yet. I do think the, I do like the contact skills, and now he at least showed he could hit for power in the minors. I think he has the potential to be somebody who benefits greatly from Corse Field. And I like that he's getting more regular playing time now. But he got a couple singles today. I don't know that that is enough to quite move the needle for me yet.

But I'm keeping an eye on Elaheiros Montero, sure. How about Ryan McMahon hitting the second longest homer in the majors this season tonight? Wow. 495 feet. Jeez. Corse Field. Wow, that was a look, to his. credit. I think he's played a little bit better recently, but...

Yeah, he's got like a 760 OPS since the All-Star break, which is fine. He's got like an 800 OPS at home, like a 600 OPS on the road. So it's been an even more extreme season than normal for him. Still baffling to me. I know we mentioned this recently, Scott, but Ryan McMahon, 88% rostered on CBS. It's, it's got to be something in like the projections where people keep adding or just won't let go of Ryan McMahon. The 88% of people who drafted Ryan McMahon quit playing after a week. Potentially. I mean, he's a third baseman,

and I know that's been a tough spot to fill, but like, if you're playing him at corner infield or he's just a bench option, drop him for Vinny Pasquantino now. Like, there's no excuse for that. And if you're playing Ryan McMahon at second base or middle infield, then I'm here to tell you that you can drop him

for Gene Seguerah, who is still just 71% rostered. And that will move us into some more waiver wire hitters from Tuesday. Segura had two hits, including his seventh home run. And in case you forgot, he was incredible early on in the season. Really the first month, month and a half.

He was your Fernando Tatis replacement. And he was basically playing like Fernando Tatis. That's how awesome Gene Sagara was. Now, I don't expect him to keep that type of production up. But this Phillies offense is really, really clicking right now. Chris, Gene Sigero is 71% rostered. I feel like, regardless of format, he needs to be 100% rostered. Yeah, I mean, he's what, third, short and second eligible right now.

So. So, Seguera? I think he might just be second base. I could be wrong, though. Just saying, okay. Yeah, I think I'm at least on CBS. He's just second base on CBS. That does limit it.

In like points leagues, he's, he's probably pretty close to a starting caliber second base when moving forward, but I don't think it's, um, you know, such a slam dunk that I would say he's a must roster in those formats, but anything with middle infield, yeah, I think he's worth having. Yeah, for example,

Luis Arias is rostered in more leagues, rather have Seguera. Same thing with Gavin Lux, Colton Wong. Tyro Ostrada's, he's been a good player all season, but I would rather have Gene Segaro over him as well. Same thing for Josh Rojas,

though he is very versatile. Yeah, I just feel like Gene Seguer needs to be up around like at least 80, 90%, at this point in the season. Cabo Ruiz went two for three, and this was part of my, my downfall here on Tuesday. My disappointment is that I held on to him all season

in the podcast points league. One catcher league, Kabor Ruiz. I drop him this weekend finally for Carson Kelly. What happens? He has his best game of the season. Kbert Ruiz went two for three with a double dong.

He's now up to six home runs total for the season. So not much. He's betting 247 overall with a 666 OPS. Makes a lot of contact. Just 11% strikeout rate. But the contact that he makes is not very good.

87.6 mile per hour, average exit velocity for Cabot Ruiz. He's down to 66% rostered. And Scott, somebody on Twitter earlier on Tuesday night asked me, Cabot Ruiz, William Contreras, or Yasmani Grandal? Who would you take of those three? I think I'd take, I'd have to check Randall's numbers again since coming back. I know season long numbers are still terrible. I don't know how much he's improved since coming back.

but I think regardless of scoring format I take William Contreras for the upside he's been playing more consistently lately Travis Darno isn't even available right now and I just think there's more upside there but Kbert Ruiz let's see 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

he's been the 11th just because he strikes out so infrequently he's been the 12th best catcher in points leagues even prior to him hitting two home runs here so he may have climbed actually past Travis Darno and as the 11th best in points

leagues so it's a good format for him and I think he's a viable option still I don't necessarily blame you for dropping him for the hot hand in Carson Kelly but I wouldn't have blamed you for sticking with him either all right

the concern I have for Ruiz long term he just hasn't been able to hit lefties so far in his career. Like 606 OPS against them this season. Average eggs of velocity 84.8 miles per hour. Yikes. He's yet to hit a home run in 111 plate appearances against lefties. It's still early, but that's the one thing I look for with like young switch hitters,

especially when they're struggling like that, is like, what does it, you know, are they actually switch hitters, I guess would be the best way to put in. Well, if we want to have a long-term discussion about Cape Ruiz, like, I'm not at all confident he's going to be an impact bat and catcher. I just think he has this superlative talent of making contact that in certain scoring formats is going to make him always usable, you know? It's very Christian Vasquez. Yeah, I mean, a more extreme version of it, but sure. Yeah, Yasmadi Grondal, by the way, entering Tuesday's action, where they played a doubleheader.

I assume he played at least one of those games. He played nine games since returning, and he was batting 176 with two extra base hits, zero being home runs. It's just been a brutal run for Yosmani Gras this year. I think I agree with you, Scott. I agree that William Contreras has the most upside. I still kind of question,

what does the playing time look like when Darno is backed? He's supposed to return this weekend. obviously that's up in the air but if Contreras played every day it would be a slam dunk I just kind of worry you play every day yeah I mean you know what I mean

as even when so let's see it had been kind of a recent development but Contreras over the last week plus I guess was starting two of three and Darno was starting one of three and Contreras let's say at one point he started

four straight because he got to start at DH there So it does seem like they're making a concerted effort to get them in the lineup more. All right. That is William Contreras. We're taking him over Kbert Ruiz and Yasmani Grondal in one catcher leagues at this point. Tommy Pham went two for four with his 13th home run, back-to-back games with multiple hits and a home run in each. He has now let off three straight games for the Red Sox,

and he's 61% rostered. Chris, I know recently he went through a stretch where he didn't hit a home run for like 30 games. This is Tommy Fam we're talking about. but if he's leading off for the Red Sox ahead of Raphael Devers and Xander Bogart's I kind of feel like he needs to be more than 61% rostered just in principle for that reason like leading off for the Red Sox what do you think about

Tommy Fam in this reason? He's fringier in the three outfielder leagues just because those rosters are shallower but I think a big thing is you just look at you know the what seven games he's played since getting to Boston, he has 31 plate appearances in those games. That's quite a lot.

That's like a 700 played appearance pace over 162 games. That's kind of the whole thing when you're hitting lead off in a really good lineup or even a pretty good lineup like Boston's is you're just going to get a lot of opportunities and in a points league. I think that's probably going to be enough to push him into fringe starting territory.

I mean, that's probably where he's been all season in head-to-head points, but to keep him there for sure. Yeah. Tommy Fam, I mean, he's an incredibly shrieky player, but... I guess the only question is, like, is there any chance that Kike Hernandez coming back in the next couple of days messes that up? Because he's supposed to be back, like, this weekend, right? Is he? I feel like he was shut down recently. Oh, did I read it wrong then? I saw it. But I haven't seen an update in a while, so I could be behind on this situation.

Yeah, he begins a rehab assignment tomorrow. So he could be back. I mean, given how long he's been out, it's probably going to be another week or so. But that would be the only question I would have. Okay. I know from this place I hang out called Twitter.com that Red Sox fans, I mean, to the degree you can trust that Twitter.com

is a reflection of the real world, which it often isn't. But at least what the Red Sox fans are. are intimating there is that they are out for Jaron Duran's head. And so I suspect because of the many miscues he's made, he would be the one to lose his job if ever that scenario came up rather than FAM.

Whether that, you know, whether FAM in the lead off spot or not, is a different question. Yeah, I don't worry about FAM losing his job. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So that is Tommy FAM again.

Let's move into some deeper ads, uh, hitters that did something of note here on Tuesday. Oscar Gonzalez went two for four with a double and two RBI. He now has a hit in all six games since returning to the Guardians, including multiple hits three different times, batting $2.99 on the season, but his power upside is limited because he hits so many ground balls.

That is Oscar Gonzalez. Bubba Thompson with the Rangers went two for four with his third steel in five games. Lots of speed in the minors this year, something like 50 steals overall. And then Jake McCarthy, another one for speed. He's been playing for the Diamondbacks recently. He went two for four with three RBI and he now has seven steals with four of those coming in the last nine games. So Scott, in deeper leagues, if you need a fifth outfielder, what do you think of these names?

Oscar Gonzalez, Bubba Thompson, Jake McCarthy. My favorite is Oscar Gonzalez. I'm still pretty high on Oscar Gonzalez in general. I get the sense the Guardians are too. Since he's come back. They've basically binged Nolan Jones. They DFAed friend Mill Reyes. They're showing a lot of confidence in Oscar Gonzalez, who is another player who

quality of contact is very high, like beyond what even his home run total is. And I think that just looking at his minor electric record, it would suggest also there are a lot more home runs to be had here. And he's

kept a strikeout rate under control, well. Doesn't walk at all. So I think there's a clear limit to Oscar Gonzalez's ceiling, but I do think there's a potentially a low OBP impact bat here. All right. Last point on Oscar Gonzalez. Chris, I know something that you mentioned a lot in the preseason with Tim Anderson is that with hitters like this, because they don't walk at all, their batting average actually means more when they have a good batting average. So just something to keep in mind in Oscar Gonzalez if you do need help.

in that category. A few middle infielers I wanted to mention. Christian Arroyo went two for four with his fifth home run. He added three RBI in nine games since returning from the IEL. He's batting near 500, 90.3 mile per hour, average exit velocity. Aledmus Diaz went one for four with a grand slam. It was his 10th home run. His last 26 games, he's eating 309 with seven homers, 10 doubles, 17 RBI.

He's been great for the Astros plays every position except catcher on CBS. Paul DeYoung back-to-back games with a homer. He now has four home runs in eight games since returning to the Cardinals. And Michael Chavis went two for four with a double dong. He is up to 12 home runs. Chris, do you like any of these if you need a middle infielder in deeper leagues? It would be something if the Cardinals figured out how to get Paul DeYoung right again. But it's been such a long time that I'm pretty skeptical of it.

It's a minor league production this year is what's it? I was going to say it's a small sample size. but since returning, 96 mile per hour average X velocity. Yeah. You know, he struck out 52 times and 51 games in the miners, which isn't a terrible rate. You know, 52 times out of 230 plate appearances is below a 25% strike. I'm pretty sure.

So, like, he was hitting for power down there. It's, it's interesting, but it, I'm filing it under more something to keep an eye on in most mixed leagues than anything else. But, you know, not, I think he's probably the most interesting of this group. if nothing else DeYoung is incredibly steamy right now 10 home runs in his past 18 games majors and minors included

I made sure he was rostered in at least my 15 team roto leagues and I may have picked him up in a 12 team roto too I mean I agree with Chris that it warrants great skepticism but who could you pick up all waivers right now

who doesn't you know no love for LEDMIS Diaz the way he's played over the past month so. There's value in the positional eligibility that he has and, you know, given that he's playing well, but, you know, it's his, what, last 26 games, you said, last 27 games? Yeah.

How many games has that been for the Astros? You know, it's probably been something like 35 or 40. He sits out like every third or fourth game from what I could garner there. But it is cheap exposure to one of the best lineups in baseball. So if he is available in 15 teamers, I would, I would take a look there on a Ledmas Diaz. Before we get the break, just want to remind everyone,

if you're listening on Spotify, help us out with a five-star rating. We really do appreciate it. Same thing on Apple. If you do leave a rating, you could also drop a question or a team name Tuesday in their review, and we will read it on an upcoming episode.

Let's take a break, and we'll be back right after this. The news and notes, Bryce Harper has not regained as much flexibility in his thumb as anticipated and is not yet ready to face pitchers. Recent reports had Harper returning in September, but we shall see.

Once we get more news, we'll let you know. Julio Rodriguez is expected to return this Friday. He's been out since July 31st with soreness in his right wrist. Tim Anderson was placed on the IL with a torn ligament in his left hand and is expected to miss four to six weeks. Scott, is it okay to drop Tim Anderson in leagues without an IL spot? Sure. Yeah, I mean, you're left with a couple weeks that he's going to contribute.

If you play in such a little, league, which you shouldn't, but I know certain high profile providers you can only set up your league without aisle spots, then yeah, then you might have to drop them. Scott, also any interest in Lenin Sosa, he's someone I know you liked earlier in the season, and he was recalled here on Tuesday. He went two for four with his first home run, I believe first career home run in game two. 2428 feet. Yeah, yeah, that was a shot. Imagine hitting one that far. I don't. I can't. I don't know. I don't you're getting at Chris what am I missing I didn't I didn't think there was any chance Frank got that one I wasn't sure about John Lennon oh gosh yeah it's yeah way over the head anyway

with Lennon Sosa for the minor in the minors this season okay I just we're all just kind of getting it like 30 seconds later in the minors this season 316 batting average 16 homers 878 OPS 3% rostered Scott anything here with Lennon Sosa maybe I'm, you know, I'd rather pick up somebody like Paul DeYoung over him. He got called up initially straight from AA where he had incredible numbers and then went back down to AAA. And the numbers were not so incredible. And I've noticed that happening with a lot of prospects this year. Like the leap from double A to AAA, it seems like it's been bigger than we remember it being.

And I wonder if that has to do with the restructuring of the minor leagues now, like, low A. Is, you know. Are they using Robo-O-O-O-O-O-O-Mps in every league now, or is it only certain ones? Because that could also be, like, from what I've gathered, the Robo-O-O-O-O-Mps have, like, caused real, like, adjustment periods for players? Yeah, I don't know if that, I mean, it might be. I don't know, the answer to your question. But I just, the talent distribution across the minor leaguers is different now because they've gotten rid of some of the lower levels. So I think, I don't know if we should continue to treat AA like, oh, if a player can hit a double A, then AAA is just, you know, it's superfluous at that point.

But anyway, back to Lenin Sosa. Keep an eye on it, see how much he plays, see how well he hits. It's not like he was a high-end prospect coming into the year. So the production was pretty surprising at AA. But we'll keep an eye on it. This is weird. The AAA East, which is the, the. what used to be the International League, the AAA East League,

only uses automatic balls and strikes in Charlotte, which is where the White Sox play. So, you know, his play discipline has gotten much worse. So maybe there's something to that. My idea, I just pulled out of my rear. All right. Well, oh, man, between losing shifts and it's not going to be next year, but I think eventually we are going to have Robo Omson's Major League Baseball.

It's going to be very tough to kind of. of Oh, we're going to have to adjust a lot of our. I mean, I was just, who was it? We were talking about the Bubba Johnson guy, Bubba Thompson guy has 49 steals with three caught stealing this year. His, in 20 fewer games than he had the previous year when he had like 25 steals. It's just like the stolen base totals and the miners are bonkers.

And we're going to get those rules in the majors at some point. We're just going to have to like really, really. Recalibrate our expectations for a lot. of things. It's going to be weird. But we're used to that at this point. We're used to every April running around with our with our heads cut off like chickens. Last couple of seasons. That sure is true. So this will be no different moving forward. I know we usually get to bullpens later on, but this Padres game is pretty wild. Josh Hater came in with a three run lead in the top of the ninth. He gave up three runs, blew the game. Then in the bottom of the ninth,

Mani Machado goes out and hits a three run walk off home run off of Tyler Rogers. So just Pretty crazy game there out in San Diego. Don't trade for closers. Right. Trevor Story has resumed swinging a bat, which is a positive step forward with that hairline fracture in his right wrist. He remains without a timetable for now.

Tanner Halk was placed on the I.L. With lower back inflammation, retroactive to August 6th, which kind of came out of nowhere. Chris, who are you thinking kind of takes over for saves here in Boston? Garrett Whitlock, John Shriver? I feel like there's probably a pretty good,

chance for Whitlock, but they haven't really, like, given him the full endorsement at various points this season. You know, they've kind of always seemed to be looking for a different role. So I wouldn't be surprised if that stayed in a similar situation now, especially because he's, you know, a multi-inning guy. Teams like to keep flexibility there. And Shriver's been great this year. Mm-hmm.

I could see him getting the bulk of the saves. But I do think Whitlock will factor too when they want him to go. Yeah, he worked and just cover the eighth and ninth. Yeah, he worked the eighth and the ninth today with a, in a tie game. So, right? Yeah.

Yep. All right. Let's, what do we got next? Oh, fire up the random baseball injury alarm because Chris Sale underwent season ending surgery on Monday to repair a fractured wrist, which he suffered in a bicycle accident over the weekend. So it's just like one thing after another for Chris Sale.

It's been a real... I hope he was wearing a helmet. Just like a... You know, when you say bicycle accidents, you know, wasn't like a dirt bike, wasn't like a motorbike. It wasn't even like a moped. Just a bicycle. Yeah.

I mean, that would have to be pretty bad to break your wrist, right? Like, just on a bicycle? I don't know. I feel like if I just fell off a bike, I could break my wrist. Well, please don't do that, Chris. I'd rather not test that theory. I'd like a lot. The Red Sox said that Chris Sale, quote,

should be fine and ready to go for spring training next season. I have no idea how you have any faith in him. No idea. Jack Flaherty will begin a rehab assignment at AAA on Wednesday, and they have been optimistic on him recently. And speaking of optimism, the Yankees thought that Anthony Rizzo would be back here on Tuesday, but he was not and has now missed five straight games with a back injury.

Jesse Winker, not in the lineup Tuesday. After leaving Monday's game with back spasms himself, Fran Moraes was thrown right into the Cubs lineup, batting fifth here on Tuesday. I think he finished that game with just one hit. Matt Carpenter was placed on the IL with a fracture in his foot. Miguel Anduhar was recalled

and he started as a designated hitter for the Yankees on Tuesday night. Orlando Arcia was headed, is headed to the IL with a hamstring injury. 6-0 Sanchez will throw two in a simulated game on Saturday but is not expected to return this season. Chris, would you be looking to buy Sanchez and Dynasty?

I understand that it's risky. He's dealt with shoulder injuries. scary stuff for a pitcher, no doubt about it. But I think you might be able to get 6-0 Sanchez for like a pretty suppressed cost. What do you think? It would have to be really, really cheap. I wouldn't want to give up anything that I'm counting on for next season for him. Just because it's been two full seasons since we've seen him throw a pitch.

There have been concerns about his conditioning in that time. There have been concerns about his arm strength. You know, when he's the rare times, he's been healthy. so I just, my expectations are very, very muted for 6thos Sanchez right now, unfortunately. Mike Lusakis went on the aisle with a calf train, and I do have some prospect Updict updates. Rocky's outfielder, Zach Veen was promoted to AA. Rangers third base prospect, Josh Young was promoted. I guess not promoted. He joined AAA on Tuesday, making his season debut at that affiliate.

He recently was in the Arizona Complex League. A's catcher prospect, Shea Langalears, who came over in the match. at Olson trade should see a late season promotion, though I'm not sure what that means for Sean Murphy. Maybe he just moves over to DH or plays a little first base for them. And Tigers outfield prospect, Kerry Carpenter, will be promoted on Wednesday. This season in the minors, he was betting 313 with 30 homers, a 1025 OPS. He is only 2% rostered.

Scott, do you have any takes here on these last two items? Shea Langalears, maybe getting the call later on in the season. and Kerry Carpenter joining the Tigers on Wednesday. I think the expectation, especially for a catcher, and Shane Langleyers offensively, you know, he's not near on the level, like an Adley Rushman or anything, though he has had a strong season in the minors this year.

I think the expectation is that he'll struggle. And, yeah, with Sean Murphy there, you wonder exactly what the playing time distribution would be anyway, if it's just kind of a chance to get his feet wet and maybe they look to trade Murphy in the offseason, something like that. I wouldn't have especially high hopes for Langaleers making a fantasy impact.

Kerry Carpenter is interesting. He made changes to his swing this offseason and it seemed to pay big dividends just in the month of August at AAA, 417 with three home runs in seven games. So they're bringing him up when he's red hot. but, you know, the home run total has been huge from the beginning. Season started at AA.

He hasn't gotten a lot of prospect hype, 24-year-old, pretty much limited to a corner spot. So it's kind of the profile that you could understand getting passed over, kind of like I've been saying for Michael Massey. And sometimes I feel like it kind of, for these guys who kind of jump, spring up of nowhere. It takes an off-season for these prospect evaluators to kind of recalibrate their thinking and open up to the idea that, yeah, maybe he is a real asset now. So in some of those deeper five outfielder leagues, I'd probably be, you know, making a claim

for Carpenter already. That's Kerry Carpenter, just to see, just to see what happens. And everyone else should have him on the scout team to see if he can, continue this massive home run production or something close to it in the majors. And hopefully it could serve as a shot in the arm for the Tigers, too, because their lineup has just been brutal all season long. So we'll see if Kerry Carpenter could help get them back on track. Let's get back into Tuesday's action. I mentioned we have a lot of pitching duds here to talk about. And I'll just kind of run through the list. And we'll start with you, Chris.

And you could kind of tell me if there's anyone on this list that you're actually worried about. But we'll start with Braxton Garrett, who did not pass his first test of the week. We know recently he had four starts come against the Pirates and the Reds, respectively. So some good matchups there. But he was at the Phillies where he gave up four runs. Three of those were earned over four and two-thirds. Endings pitched. Jose Ricades' nine-game quality start streak came to an end.

He was up against the Rangers. He gave up five runs, including three homers, over five innings pitched. Martin Perez was hit with a regression start on the other side. of that game at the Houston Astros. He gave up seven runs over five innings pitched. Charlie Morton, I understand if you look at the larger picture, I guess, the past two months. Morton has still been very good, but he's alternating good and bad starts. His last five outings, it's just frustrating, frankly.

He gave up five runs over six innings pitched, three homers allowed in this outing. Lance Lynn has yet to put together back-to-back quality starts. He was at the Royals. He gave up four runs over six innings. and then Joe Ryan hit hard at the Dodgers. He gave up six runs, five of those earned over five innings pitch. So lots of names here, Chris. Ryan, Lynn, Morton, Perez, or Kiti, Garrett.

Anyone that you are particularly worried about from this group? Garrett, just because it's hard to know who he is. You know, he's been very good against some very good matchups. He's been, you know, a little iffy against some other matches. There have been some very, very good signs. But all in all, like, I still, you look at the, the overall picture, and it's like, pretty good strikeout rate, pretty good walk rate, pretty good ground ball rate. It doesn't really stand out anywhere except slider swinging strike rate.

Slider whiff rate is very, very good. It gets a lot of whiffs with that pitch. But everything else, like he's added velocity with his fastball, but even then, it's still below average even for a left knee. So my sense is that he's pretty good but not great, which would make him an SP5 or SP6 in the parlance of our game. But I don't know. It's a squishy projection from me.

I'm not sure I trust it one way or the other. I think Braxon Garrett is kind of based on where we have him ranked, like borderline top 70s, top 75 starting pitcher. That's kind of who he is. He's a streamer right now. You want to use him in the right matchups, but he was at the Phillies in this one. They are hot right now.

And then he gets to Braves this weekend, a team that absolutely crushes lefties. So frankly, I don't really have a lot of faith for Braxton Garrett in that matchup. You know, sometimes we refer to streamers. We refer, we're referring to somebody. I don't know, who's one of those guys we were talking about yesterday. Like a Keegan Thompson.

for example. Yeah, sometimes we, like, Braxton Garrett's better than that. He's not must start. So in that sense, I guess he's a streamer, but like he deserves to be rostered. And this is, you know, we've said all along, this is a big test for him this week

after back-to-back starts against the pirates, followed by back-to-back starts against the Reds. What will happen against two good lineups this week? And so far, it was, the first one was a dud. I will point out that, obviously you shouldn't abandon him after the first misstep, A, B, his slider velocity in this start was down a mile per hour and a half. And part of the explanation for Braxton Garrett's improvement this year is that the velocity had gone up on everything, including on that slider. So I don't know if he just didn't have it today.

and maybe that's another reason he deserves a pass. But, yeah, maintain a healthy skepticism on Braxton-Garrett, but don't pack it in just yet. Okay. Anything else we'd like to add, Scott, on these other names, Jose Riquiti, Martin Perez, our good old friend, Charlie Morton, Lance Lynn. He's good. You know, he's not an ace.

That's the way I look at Charlie Morton. He's not an ace anymore, which means that, like, you know, five good starts, one bad start. Like, that's not necessarily, I don't know if that's exactly the ratio, but like that happens. You know, I think that's,

it's kind of coming to reality, coming to grips with the reality that he's not the guy. We thought he would be, but he's not a disaster. Yeah. I think at this point, I don't know that like Charlie Martin will even be back next year,

but I think the expectation for me at least is that he's, he's closer to like a high three's ERA at this point with a really good tri-trout rate, which is a serviceable probably SP3, but you just kind of have to recalibrate what we expected coming into the season, obviously, which makes sense. It's August. But anything else you'd like to add?

It's got Lance Lynn, Joe Ryan, where the other names are too. Yeah, I'm kind of just in a holding pattern. I think with all of these guys, it's been kind of an on-again, off-again situation for Joe Ryan too. He had, what, I think, in his previous start five shutout innings

with nine strikeouts against a bad lineup, maybe the Tigers, I want to say. and then that's sandwiched in between to miserable starts against great offenses. And because he's a flyball pitcher, I think he's always going to be susceptible to these blowups. You don't want them to be too often, obviously, like we've seen with Josiah Gray.

But I don't, I'm not ready to say Joe Ryan is going down that path. And I still have a little more hope Charlie Morton's going to go on a run, sort of like he did last year. It looked like it was beginning, and then there's been a couple missteps recently, but, you know, there's still, there's still a lot to like in that profile. And I think Lance Lynn is probably fine, not an ace or a borderline ace, you know, kind of like Charlie Morton, not as many strikeouts, obviously different type of pitcher, but he's probably good, he's probably not great.

He's getting hit hard this year. That's the biggest difference I've seen is Lance Lynn is giving up a lot of hard. hard contact this year. He's in the 18th percentile in terms of the hard-hury. Which is something he's been very good at in the past. Yeah. So that has been a big difference there for Lanslin this season. A few struggling hitters I wanted to ask you guys about really over the last 30 games

for each of these hitters, J.D. Martinez during that stretch, 1-88 batting average with one home run. I was watching the Red Sox game, which was also a Charlie Morton start. So sorry, everybody. But J.D. Martinez, he has nine homers on the year. I was like, when did this happen? I didn't realize he slowed down this much, but he really has. A couple other names, Marcel Ozuna, in that same game as last 30 games, he's batting

179. Does have five home runs, so helps out a little bit, but batting average has been brutal for him. And Jeremy Pena, who got off to a blistering start this year, his last 30, he still has six homers, which helps but a 210 batting average. If you limit that to his last 15, he's down to a 169 batting average during that time. So, Scott, I don't think we're dropping. any of these maybe Pena in like a points league or a really shallow league but what do you think I think I think Pena is pretty fringy in a points league or any league that doesn't have a middle

end field spot to fill yeah this is the way he's performed recently is more like I thought his rookie season would go with J.D. Martinez like I in like a three outfielder league I don't think he's undropable either I think I think gosh, the guy's 34 now. His, you know, all his quality of contact numbers are down this year. I get, it may just, and remember, he had a bad second half last year, too. We may be seeing the beginning of the end for him. And I think, I think there's a chance in a 12-team-3 outfielded league.

You might be able to, you might fare better, just kind of, streaming a third outfielder off the waiver wire. Let's move back over to pitching here and wanted to just evaluate Freddie Peralta. His second start back from the IL. He goes five innings against the Tampa Bay raise. He gives up two hits, two runs, four strikeouts to zero walks, had 10 swinging strikes on 65 pitches, which is a good ratio. But a few things here, Scott.

That's now two starts since coming back. Maybe they're just building him up, Freddie Peralta this is. But 67 and 65 pitches, respectively in each of those starts. And his fastball velocity was down 1.1 miles per hour in this start. And it's down almost two miles per hour compared to last year. So how are you handling Freddie Peralta right now? Yeah, I don't know what to make of the velocity.

Because remember, this was a second start back. Velocity was down. First start back, velocity was way up. So, you know, I, that kind of scratches off the possibility. that, oh, he's still dealing with the injury and, you know, is he going to regain his velocity? I think he's shown he can throw that hard still and maybe just isn't for whatever reason,

maybe so that he can go deeper into the game. I don't know. I feel pretty good about Freddie Peralta still. I'm glad he made it back as early as he did so that he still has time to build up and make an impact for my fantasy team, I still trust him to do that, even though the velocity was down a little in this start. All right.

Now, let's get into some of the studs from Tuesday's action. Quite the pitching duel between Garrett Cole and Luis Castillo. That game is actually still going on. They're in the bottom of the 11th. If anything drastic happens, I'll let you know. But Garrett Cole, obviously, at the Mariners, seventh shutout, nice little bounce back for him after a rough outing last time. He gave up four hits, zero walks, eight strikeouts, only nine swinging strikes.

I thought that was interesting. And Luis Castillo on the other side. Now his first two starts with the Mariners have both come against the Yankees, and he was awesome in this one. Eight shutout, three hits, two walks, seven strikeouts, 20 swinging strikes for Luis Castillo

on 110 pitches. The one thing that set out to me, Scott, he did throw more sinkers than four seam fastballs, two starts in a row. And I really liked that he was throwing his four seam more over the past really like month, two months. But it's hard to argue

when the results are this good. So I don't really know if it matters. Yeah, I agree with every word. All right. Just enjoy the ride, I think. For sure. Some other pitching studs, part one. Zach Wheeler with a strong start up against the Marlin. Six innings, one run, eight strikeouts, 20 swinging strikes in that start. Shane Bieber, now with three strong starts in a row. He was at the Tigers.

Seven innings, seven shutout, actually. Seven shutout endings. Four hits, one walk. Eight strikeouts for him. and then Joe Musgrove gets back on track. It's been a bit of a rough go recently. He goes seven innings, one run, four strikeouts, up against the Giants. Scott, anything on these three. Musgrove, Bieber, Zach Wheeler.

Not really. Not really. We did point out after Musgrove's last start that it seemed like maybe he was encountering some regression that he really is a low three ZRA pitcher and not what he's been for most of the season. But it's good to see the trend reverse itself. and maybe his productional level off from this point forward,

keeping him a must-star pitcher for sure, but maybe not like a clear-cut ace. I really wish Zach Wheeler didn't have that shoulder thing in spring training, Scott, because I was all in. I wanted to draft as much Zach Wheeler as I possibly could, and then I kind of shied away. Yep. But, man.

I got him for some discounts. He's been incredible. Zach Wheeler has this season. And I'm excited to kind of carry this into next year. And I think he'll probably be something like a second round. pick and Zach Wheeler is well worth it. Pitching studs part two. Shohei Otani with another quality start at the Oakland A's. He went six shutout with five strikeouts in this one. Just incredible numbers. 2.68 ERA 105 WIP, 157 strikeouts over 111101.

Ennings pitched for Shoah Otani. Carlos Carrasco, yeah, I'm including him in the studs the way he's pitching right now because he was at the, he was up against the red six and two thirds, two runs allowed nine strikeouts in this one. Last seven starts for Carasco, 171 ERA, about a strikeout per inning, 50% ground ball rate, and a near 15% swinging strike rate. He has been awesome. And Julio Arias, another just really strong outing against the Minnesota twins, seven innings, one run, eight strikeouts to zero walks for him. Anything you'd like to add here, Scott Otani, Carrasco, and Arias. Yeah, I think Carasco has emerged as a must-star pitcher. At least for now.

It's been kind of a rocky ride getting to this point, but through it all, the two stats I would say I trust the most, two of the stats I trust the most. The swinging strike rate and the ex-fep have remained strong for him, and that seems to be bearing fruit now.

Maybe this gentleman is not a stud, but he is pitching very well. Brady Singer got back on track after a subpar outing last week. He was up against the White Sox, 7 and a 3rd. one run, six strikeouts to zero walks. He lowers his season ERA to 3.49, and he could be still out there in some shallower leagues. He's 79% rostered. That is Brady Singer.

Anything here with these two, Scott. Tyler Alexander has allowed exactly two earned runs in three straight starts. He was up against the Guardians. He went seven innings, two runs, only two strikeouts, and he is SPARP eligible, only two percent rostered, is Tyler Alexander. And then Tommy Henry had a strong starty pitch. for the diving backs. Up against the pirates,

seven innings, one run, only three strikeouts. And in the minors this season, a 383 ERA, 134 whip, less than a strikeout per inning. Anything with these two, Tommy Henry,

Tyler Alexander. I don't think there is. Nope. All right, fair enough. Some hitting leftovers, Austin Riley, went three for six,

finished a double short of the cycle, hit his 30th home run. He added five RBI. Now up to 74 RBI on the season. Just incredible stuff for Austin Riley the 11th overall player

in Roto entering Tuesday and the eighth best hitter in points leagues also entering Tuesday so I imagine he'll just move up I'm surprised it's better in points because the one knock on him is like the walk rate is on the low side

the strikeout rates a little on the high side you'd think it hurt him in that format it might just be a lack of steals I guess for Roto bringing him down in Roto yeah I guess that could be it Corey Seeger and Marcus Semyon both homered in the same game. It was Seger's 25th. It was Marcus Semyon 16th.

Boba Chet had a double dong that brings them to 17 homers for the season. Ronald Acuna went three for five with his 24th steel and three runs scored. Post-all-star break for Acuna, he's betting 302 with four steals, but still just one homer. So we're waiting patiently for that power, which obviously we do need from Ronald de Cunia. Shohei Otani went two for three with his 25th home run to go along with his great pitching performance.

And Scott, I know you had a stat on Max Muncie, who hit his, I believe, 12th home run, and he's been coming around the last two weeks or so. Yeah, it's a small sample, but last 13 games, 276 with three home runs. I mean, it's telling that we're celebrating a guy hitting 276 over a 13-game stretch is this big turnaround.

But I think the more notable stat during that 13-game stretch is that Muncie's average exit velocity he's close to 95 miles per hour, which would be very, very high end if that is something he sustained over a full season. So maybe he's getting, starting to get a little bit of that strength back in the elbow. And we're starting to see him get back to being the Max Muncie we know and love.

It's, you know, it's still early to conclude that, obviously. But there are at least some, some early signs that that may be happening. I'm sorry, the Yankees are caught in like a crazy rundown right now, and I got so distracted. I apologize, Scott, but man, that is just really, really bad base running. Anyway, yes, Max Muncie could be coming back here. He's still 91% rostered, so people have held on throughout the aches and pains when it comes to...

Like the Dodgers and just keep running them out there. Gosh, I failed epically on today's podcast, Scott, because I made JT. Real Muto, the YouTube thumbnail, and I'm not getting it to him until like the final minutes of the podcast. I just wanted to point out he's been incredible over his last 31 games.

Two hits, including his 13th home run here on Tuesday. His last 31 games, I was supposed to add Tuesday's action here, but that would bring him to, I think he went two for four. That would make 36 for 11. He's batten well over 300.

That's all you need to know over his last 31 games. 10 homers during that time for Real Muto, 30 RBI, 5 steals, crushing the ball, 92.8 mile per hour, average exit velocity, 16% barrel rate. You told me, you know, a month or two ago, Scott, I would say Real Muto has been a bust

and that he's declining in the power department. And since then... I don't know that I use the B word, but yeah, as I said he clearly seems to be in decline now. And I guess he heard me say that and is trying to prove he's not. So, yeah, I mean, it'll be interesting to see how he finishes out the season if he can get back to being one of the top three catchers drafted next year. I'm still skeptical that's going to happen.

But it's nice to see that he still has, he can still find that extra gear every now and then. Francisco Lindor went one for four with his 20th home run. And post-all-star break, he is hitting 373 with four homers and a 1076. OPS. The call to the bullpen. We'll start with the Royals in game one of their doubleheader. Scott Barlow entered in the eighth inning with a three-run lead. Runners on first and second. He got both Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez out. And then Jose Quas recorded the final two outs for his first save of the season. In game two, Liam Hendricks gave up a run but picked up his 23rd save. For the Guardians, Emmanuel Class A recorded the final out for his 25th save. For the Phillies, three-run lead,

David Robertson pitched in the eighth inning facing the heart of the Marlins lineup 4, 5, and 6, and then Sir Anthony Dominguez pitched in the 9th picked up his 7th save. There have been two saves since Robertson came over. Robertson has one,

Sir Anthony Dominguez has the other. And I don't know, Scott, I kind of just thought Robertson was going to be the guy. You know, based on how that first game, that first save went, but maybe not. Yeah, maybe not. And, you know, there hasn't, So the Phillies interim manager, Rob Thompson, right?

I think that's his name. I think so, yeah. I didn't see a direct quote from him, but according to the Phillies MLB.com beatwriter, Thompson said that he would continue to work Dominguez and Brad Hand in the ninth inning. And then, you know, later that day, Robertson worked the ninth inning.

or maybe it was the next day. Worked the ninth inning and got the save. And I think Dominguez set up for him in that game, right? Yeah. That same beat rider in the write-up of that game reiterated that you normally Dominguez in hand are going to work the ninth. So again, I don't, he didn't include direct quotes from Rob Thompson. And that's always a dicey situation because you're relying on someone to interpret what was said for you.

reporters generally do good job. And so I think Advantage Dominguez here, but I wouldn't be so quick to drop Robertson. For the Brewers, Taylor Rogers apparently was sidelined with a knee injury, and I suppose Devin Williams was unavailable because he did not pitch in this game. He last pitched on Sunday. They had a day off on Monday, but Devin Williams has pitched a lot recently, so I think they're probably just giving them a day off.

Matt Bush was the one who pitched in the ninth inning, and he picked up the save here for the Brewers. For the Nationals, Kyle Finnegan entered in the seventh with a four to two lead, runners on first and third. He gave up four hits. The Cubs took a five to four lead.

The Nationals then retook the lead in the eighth inning of that game. Carl Edwards recorded the final four outs for his first save. And I believe this is now two appearances in a row, Scott, where Kyle Finnegan is just coming in the biggest situation

and not necessarily pitching the ninth inning. So I don't feel great about it. I'm not pitching well this time. I actually picked up Carl Edwards in a couple of those 15-team Roto leagues where saves are always in high demand. And I'm feeling pretty good about that right now. I think he's better than Kyle Finnegan. And now that he's gotten their last two saves, right?

The National's last two saves, I think he's. I know that previous game he pitched a ninth inning, but it wasn't a save opportunity. Carl Edwards. Oh, he didn't actually get the save in that one? No, I think it might have been a four-run lead. Okay. But yes.

Well, anyway, I think he's like a low-key pickup for saves right now. For the Astros, Ryan Presley picked up his 22nd save. For the Orioles, Felix Bautista picked up his sixth save. And, man, just shout out to the Orioles. They are 58 and 52. Depending on what happens to the Mariners in this game, they could be tied for a wild card spot. and they're over under,

their betting win total coming into the season, was 62 and a half for the Orioles. They are at 58 wins. Incredible stuff. They've been awesome. It's been really fun to watch. Last one I wanted to mention

the Diamondbacks, Mark Melanson, was back in there. Ian Kennedy pitched yesterday, and Melanson picked up his 16th safe. To stream or not to stream for Wednesday, we have Jeffrey Springs at the Brewers, Justin Steele versus the Nationals, Jacob Junis at the Padres, Aaron Savali at the Tigers,

Johnny Quato at the Royals, Chris Bubbage versus the White Sox, Mitch Keller at the Diamondbacks, Madison Bumgarner versus the Pirates, and Paul Blackburn versus the Angels. Do I trust Paul Blackburn against the Angels? It's hard to trust him right now, but it's against the Angels. I thank Johnny Quo at Kansas City's the clear favorite here, but others like Mitch Keller at Arizona, Justin Steele versus Washington,

Jeffrey Springs at Milwaukee, and maybe even Blackburn against the Angels. You could at least think about it if you're dead set on maximizing volume. On Thursday, Edward Cabrera at the Phillies, Kyle Gibson versus the Marlins, Zach Pleseck at the Tigers, Zach Rankie versus the White Sox,

J.T. Brubaker at the Diamondbacks, Drew Smiley at the Reds, and Nick Lidolo versus the Cubs. So I'm most confident recommending Nicolodolo even coming off a bad start and Kyle Gibson against the Marlins If you're feeling lucky You could roll the dice on Edward Cabrera potentially

As well as Zach Plesack with that very favorable matchup against the Tigers I would probably steer clear of them myself But you know just you got to consider your needs I guess Fortune favors the brave on Edward Cabrera and Zach Plesec. But the last time we said that, we all got Yusei Kikuchi, so just keep that in mind.

We're going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball. Today, we'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.