Fantasy Baseball Today - More Prospect Promotions! Add George Lombard Jr. & Hector Rodriguez? (8/4 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 4, 2026

The Yankees are promoting George Lombard Jr. (2:47)! ... The Reds are promoting Hector Rodriguez (10:10)! ... Brandon Pfaadt had another strong start (20:15). ... Justin Wrobleski has had two stinkers in a row (25:25). ... News (27:20): James Wood left with a side injury. ... Any concern with Schlittler (41:02)? ... We had a ton of homers in NY (43:53). ... Let's rank OFs (52:44). ... Ian Seymour showed up in Coors Field (58:57). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpens and streamers (1:03:32)Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for the newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters

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. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. What's up and welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Tuesday, August 4th. I am Frank Sample joined by Chris Towers today on the show. More prospects on the way.

We had loads of home runs hit in both New York and Chicago, fire up the Worryometer for Cam Schlittler and Justin Robleski, and much more. If you're looking for any trade deadline content, you will not find it on this podcast. So if you're looking for that, we did a live stream leading up to the deadline, through the deadline, after the deadline. So make sure to check that out.

It's both on YouTube and in the audio podcast feed. But for this, we will start. with some prospects, Chris. We have more prospects on the way. Just last week, we found out that Max Clark and Quinn Matthews were getting called up. And today, I guess yesterday now, we learned that George Lombard Jr. and Hector Rodriguez

are getting called up. So let's start with George Lombard of the Yankees. They optioned Anthony Volpe, which means the expectation is Lombard will be, I believe, the everyday shortstop here for the Yankees. He started the year destroying AA. He got called up to AAA. He struggled at first.

but he's really picked things up. He recently returned from an injury, 16 games since returning, 393, 4 homers, 17 runs, 2 steals, a 507 on base, and a 1221 OPS. So he is 26% rostered. What are your thoughts on the player, George Lombard, and the immediacy.

Do you need to rush out and add George Lombard Jr.? Do you need to? Maybe not. But the thing, you know, I do the waiver wire column every week. And I do like one player who's rostered in 75% of leagues or less that I think is interesting or worth adding at every position. And then one deep league guy. And it is by far harder to do that at shortstop than any other position because you have, I don't know, 15, 17 guys who are universally rostered or basically universally rostered. then you have like the

Brooks Lee and Ernie Clement types in like the 80% range and it's really hard to find anyone who's rostered anything more than like 10% who's any good at all. And so when you look at the shortstop rankings,

I've written about Nassim Nunez a lot. I've written about Cooper Pratt a lot lately because those are the two guys in like the 40 to 50% range. You have Jesus Mades 40% roster. I don't think he's getting called. up, but that's what happens. Leo DeVries is 37% rostered. I mean, Lombard's already 26% rostered.

And so these big time short step prospects are kind of the next thing. And it's just a waiting game. And Lombard's the first of them to get the call. I have some questions about, you know, how this is going to work. And whether Yankees fans are doing it again, putting too much of their hopes on a very talented but flawed young shortstop. But I will say the thing that I find most impressive about George Lombard is the 92.7 mile per hour average

X velocity that he's running at AAA because I think the big flaw in Lombard's game is he, I think, can straddle the passive versus patient line. And, you know, sometimes it's great if you can draw a bunch of walks, but sometimes guys who let hitable pitches go a little too often because they're looking to chase or are looking to avoid chasing, major league hitters are going to eat you alive, if that's the case,

if they think you can't hurt them when they throw in the zone. And that's going to be the thing with George Lawburg. He's got to make enough contact when he swings on pitches in the zone, and he's got to do damage on them when he does. You can be selective. You're going to run up high pitch counts and get yourself in a lot of two strike counts. you've got to avoid too many strikeouts

and you've got to be able to make damage when you swing. You've got to hunt for your pitches and make damage with them. And okay, 93 mile per hour average exit velocity suggests he can do that. Now, you know, the barrel rate's only 7%. You know, there are some questions about how much he's maximizing the content he's making. But I think that kind of raw power speaks to, you know, this is not going to be a Cavendigio thing where pitchers aren't. aren't really afraid of chasing him and that walk rate's just going to start collapsing once they figure it out.

I don't think Lombard has that problem. That doesn't mean he's going to be a great player, but it's a really interesting skill set plus power, good approach at the plate. Even some speed, 14 steals and 78 games. There's just a lot that can go right here for George Lombard. So does he need to be rostered in absolutely every league or does every single team need to run out and add him? No, you might have your shortstop and middle endfield spot set. But it's a profile that one could be very productive from day one. And two, could be productive in both points and roto. So there's a lot to like here.

And he is probably the only widely available shortstop with legitimate upside. I look at him versus Cooper Pratt. And I see some similarities, very good approaches. at the plate. Pratt, much more stolen base potential, I think, at least what we're seeing so far. It's, I think nine steals and 38 games or something. That's very impressive. I don't think Lombard's

going to do that. I don't think Pratt has anywhere near the pop that Lombard does. I think it's like a six mile per hour difference in average eggs velocity. So that's an interesting one. If you need stolen bases, I think I'd prefer Pratt. Otherwise, if you don't specifically need stolen bases, I might

just roll the dice on Lombard. Yeah, he is a very interesting prospect And you broke it down to a T he hits the ball hard It's really more line drives all fields approach Like gap to gap type stuff for now Now can he learn to optimize that His pulled air rate actually is in the 79th percentile At AAA so I'm surprised he hasn't even gotten to more power

But really it is a lot of like line drives That is the approach here for George Lombard Jr. It's a good eye at the plate He does swing and miss a little bit in the zone So that's something to watch here I think it is an interesting skill You don't see a lot of prospects come up With this exact skill set

And I don't know if you've seen his player photo Chris Whenever I've seen him He reminds me so much of George Springer Like to a T, a baby George Springer Let's see I mean you think about the skill set And then you know that kind of works I know I was thinking about that too

I'm like maybe Springer with less power You know Yeah like a baby fair yeah very baby-faced George Springer because, one, it's been a long time since Springer looked quite that young, and also Lombard just is a young-looking dude. But yeah, I can see it. Yeah.

You know who he reminds me of, actually? Who's that? Former Majorly outfielder George Lombard. He looks almost identical. That's crazy, man. I think you're going out on a limb there. That's a little wild. You know, some hints of this prospect that just got drafted, too.

Jacob Lombard? I don't know if you've heard about it. Oh, yeah, I can see that one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, not quite the same, but yeah, very similar. Some, some similarities. I do think any leagues with middle infield spots, I think in anything, even in 12 team leagues with a middle infield spot,

I think in deeper leagues, obviously you want to take a shot here. I think in, these are very niche, but like a deeper head to head points league. Yeah. Just like the standard, like shallow. There's only one shortstop. Only one utility, no middle infielder. Yeah, I'm in the Tao Wars League I'm in is a roto rosters, but points. that's like the perfect place to try to add George Lombard.

And I think any categories league that uses OBP instead of batting average, I think that would make a lot of sense for Lombard as well. Next up, the Reds are calling up outfield prospect, Hector Rodriguez, who has taken a big step forward this season, 104 games at AAA, hitting 274, 27 homers in 881 OPS, 9% walk, 20% strikeout rate. The quality of contact doesn't blow you away until you see the max exit velocity, 113.7. That kind of gets you going a little bit. 96th percentile with the max EV,

79th percentile pulled air rate. That would work very well in Great American Ballpark. They just traded away Nate Lowe, and so that opens up a spot on the roster. Is he going to get everyday playing time right away? I'm not so sure of that. I think there are ways to get it done. They can move Ehuehene Oswez to third base.

They can put like J.J. Bladay or Nelvi Marte at D8, and then boom, and outfield spot opens up. So it'll be interesting to see how the playing time plays out. But what do you think of Hector Rodriguez, the prospect? Are you looking to add him anywhere? Yeah, I think the playing time concerns are, well, certainly much bigger for him than they are for Lombard. But, you know, you do look at the Reds,

and JJ Bladay got off to a really good start, but he's been pretty bad for a while, and there's not really any future there. And Dane Myers certainly isn't a long-term building block. at this point, I don't think you can call Noelvi Marte a long-term building block. And then they've got, you know,

I guess Suarez playing DH more often than not. He's not a long-term building block. I also don't think they're going to just get rid of him. So he's probably stuck in there. But any of those three outfield spots, you know, if they want to mix and match, I think Rodriguez deserves a look.

You know, he is a type of player who, can tend to get exposed at the major league level. He is a very, very aggressive swinger who makes a lot of contact. He has a 56% swing rate this season. It was 60% at AAA last season. He chases a lot. And good major league pitchers can really, really figure that out quickly.

But he also makes a lot of contact. And he doesn't strike out as much as you would think for that approach. and he hits the ball really hard. And it's a good hit tool for a guy with poor swing decisions who also hits the ball pretty well. So I don't think it's the likeliest outcome in the world to Hector Rodriguez is suddenly a difference maker. But there are real skills here.

And I was reading the baseball prospectus. They do their mid-season top 50 update, and then they do like a just missed. And he was on the just missed list. So, you know, if baseball prospectus went to 75 names, he might be on there. You know, this is a legitimate prospect. It's not an incredible one, not a can't miss one, but I'm interested to see what it might look like if and when he gets the opportunity. So yesterday we brought up a few deeper five outfielder outfielders, five outfielder league outfielders, Spencer Jones, Jake Mangum, Herberto, Heronberto,

Hernandez is someone we've been talking about. I think I would still take all three of those over Rodriguez. Oh, boy, it sounds like I'm, you guys are just putting me on an island as a Spencer Jones hater. I just have no faith in this working out. That's totally fine. Yeah. I mean, you could.

So I, I, I'm not saying I think Hacker Rodriguez, well, if both were prospect eligible, I do think Hector Rodriguez would be ranked higher than Spencer Jones at this point. Jones is just old and kind of a little bit of a known quantity in terms of what his limitations are and I think his limitations are significant. I don't think he's ever going to make enough contact to really make it work.

So I wouldn't hate the idea of rolling the dice on Hector Rodriguez. I know Jones has had a good week or so, but it's not much more than one good week. So I might have more faith in Hector Rodriguez if he gets the playing time. Yeah. And looking a little bit deeper, like names that are under 20% rostered

that are also on the most added list right now, Griffin Conine, Victor Mesa Jr., Estuary Ruiz. Yeah, Ruiz doesn't play every day. Mesa is very limited. Conine. Just a righty masher with big contact issues.

I don't think it's a guarantee Rodriguez is better than all of them, but I'm open to. it. I would take her Araboto Hernandez, who does have I think the most secure playing time of this group for now. Yeah. Of that second group, the Kodine, Mesa, and Estuary Ruiz,

I think I would roll the dice on Hector Rodriguez over those names. Ruiz is interesting because he's whenever he plays, he makes something happen, right? He's stealing bases, but he's just not playing every day. I guess they traded away Liam Hicks, so perhaps that could

open up a even with that, it's like, oh, in case he's going to play. Yeah, and Casey just came back. Yeah, I think that was why they did that move. Yeah. It's fun fantasy player. Estuary Ruiz. Ruiz has been weird because it's just, I wish he was playing more.

Right. But he's, he's appeared in 73 games. He has 149 played appearances, you know? Yeah. So again, that was Hector Rodriguez with the Reds. I think it's a deeper kind of five outfielder league play for now. But, you know, if he gets a lot of playing time this week, I could see being more aggressive on him over

the weekend and fab. So be sure to pay attention to the playing time with Hector Rodriguez. Before we hit our first break, if you enjoy the audio podcast, feel free to leave us a five-star rating and review on both Apple and Spotify. It really does help us out a lot.

What's up? Can I promote something? Yeah. Let's make sure I have, oh, I don't know what the... Go to Twitter.com or X.com slash CP Towers.

go to blueskyy.com slash CP Towers. I've got a link in there for the FFT Open. We are doing 36 leagues with a bunch of fantasy football experts and me. You can play against us. We are trying to raise $200,000 for our friends at St. Jude Children's Hospital. It's an unbelievably good. cause that we're working with. The fantasy football team has been doing this for years.

We just get bigger every year. We've already raised $53,000. And the FFT Draftathon hasn't even started yet. These FFT open spots are available. There is one spot left in the beat Chris Towers FFT Open. And I promise you, beating Chris Towers won't be hard. So if you want to put that feather in your cap, go to my Twitter.

I've been promoting it all night. There's also Chip Patterson, Alfredo Brown, Ian Hartett's, JJ Zachariason, Jake Sealy, just a bunch of great people in the industry helping us out with this. If mine is taken, join one of theirs, but there's one spot left. I would love to have an FBT person in there

to beat me down in fantasy football. So make sure you join. All right, again, the link for that is tiny URL.com slash FFT donate 2026. There you go. That's why you're the pro. You got the smart link. Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back, Fantasy at Baseball today.

Now, let's get into the players of the night. Holy cow. How about that? All right, Chris, before we started, you said that you were going to do the thing. What is the thing? Who's the player? Yeah, you know, obviously, we all know the myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus, seminal work of mid-20th century existentialism. I love that one.

Yeah, it's a great one. We've all read it. It's about the myth of Sisyphus. It was a Greek myth about, as a guy, like, stole something from the gods or something. I don't know, I can't remember. The details are unimportant. But the thing is, he was punished by the gods. And his punishment is he has to roll a boulder up a hill every day.

And then at the end of the day, the boulder rolls back to the bottom of the hill. And he's got to do it the next day again. And this is his punishment for eternity, for the rest of time. And Camus, in his wisdom, writes, one must imagine Sisyphus happy. Because that is the life that he has to live. And that is all to say that every time there's one of these objectively not very good pitchers who goes on a run where they are going, let's say six and two-thirds inning, allowing, let's say, one run, five hits, one walk while only striking out three.

Every time that happens, I feel like Sisyphus, just rolling my boulder that has. Brandon Fotz ERA on it. And then the next day, I got to do it again with, I don't know, Justin Rebleski or Edwardo Rodriguez or like, there's always one or two guys who are doing this to me specifically. And I have to find joy in them making me look like an idiot every day. Because eventually they're going to go out and give up, say, four home runs and back-to-back starts, hypothetically.

me. And that's where I'm at with Brandon Fott. It's not real. It's obviously not real. This is not going to last. This is going to end in a heartbreak at some point. And it's just a question of if you want to add him to your roster, can you get him out of your lineup before the bottom falls out? Because it's going to happen. Brandon Fott, since he got called back up, has like a 120 ERA and like 22 strikeouts in 40 earnings or something. It's just completely obviously unsustainable. And at some point, it's going to catch up. And at some point, it's going to tank your ERA. And it's just, I don't want to be there when it does because I have no faith in it continuing. I have no faith in his next start being good. I know that makes me different from a lot of people who listen.

A lot of fantasy analysts are willing to play the hot hand. I am not, maybe to my detriment as a player, but I believe Brandon Fott is not very good, and that is going to show up very, very soon. It showed up almost every time he pitched before he went down to AAA. So at some point, this is going to be really, really bad. I believe he starts against the Dodgers the next time out. It could happen as soon as then. Is that the ball rolling down the hill, the rock rolling down the hill, is him facing the Dodgers?

No, that's when Sisyphus is finally happy. Oh, so, okay. All right, I was trying to... It's not a great analogy. I was trying to put it all together. I'm like, wait, is Chris that guy who's pushing the rock? I'm Sisyphus, and the rock is Brandon Fotz's ERA. Got it, got it.

Or something. That ERA, by the way, because you were close. I'll give you the exact numbers. Seven starts since being recalled. 155 ERA, 103 whip, 23 strikeouts over 40 and two-thirds. So that is a really low strikeout rate. And the thing is he's pitching well. I guess that's the thing that I can sometimes forget to say during this is

Brandon Fott is pitching well. If you look at like the PLV cards from pitcher list, that grade stuff, execution, all that stuff. The stuff, not so good. It's like a C minus. It's like me in high school. And then the location was like an A today. Yeah.

which is like me, my senior year of high school when I was like, oh, no, I need to get into college. And like, that can work. It's not sustainable. You can't execute your way out of not missing bats and not having good stuff forever. You can do it for a while. But eventually it's going to catch up to you. It's going to catch up to Branafat. If you want to add him, that's fine, especially in a weekly or a points league,

especially with that spark eligibility. If you want to add him, that's fine. in a roto league especially, I think at some point he's going to undo all the good work he's done. And that's what I want to highlight. All right. Again, that was Brandon Fott.

And I guess I'll just keep it. I guess that was a negative breakdown, right? But let's talk about a negative performance. Positive performance. Justin Robleski, big old regression start here at the Cubs. That's two clunkers in a row now for Justin Robleski. Four and a third. Seven hits, seven runs.

three walks, four strikeouts, four homers allowed by Robleski in this one. The velocity was actually up a little bit across the board here. He allowed eight hard hits, 91.8 average exit velocity against. And that's now five plus earned runs and four homers allowed in each of his last two starts. So that is a lot of home runs to allow in a very small sample in a very close proximity here for Justin Robleski. Look, he's human. He was so good for so long. He's allowed to have bad starts.

The next question is, how much do we worry about this? Right? Like, we knew there was going to be a regression at some point, and now it's hitting a lot in just two starts. Like, eight home runs over a two-star stretch is actually, like, kind of concerning. So where would Justin Robleski be on the Worryometer, Chris? I mean, he had allowed eight home runs all season

before these two starts, if my quick math is correct. That's a lot of homers. And this is a good example. Like, Jezre Oblesky had been amazing in his seven starts prior to this. And now since the start of June, he has a 381 ERA. And since the start of May, he might have like a four ERA because he had a 413 ERA in May. So that's what I mean about it eventually coming undone. However, what's extra annoying about this is I had kind of,

Learn to stop worrying and just embrace Justin Rebleski recently because his velocity had been way up in the past couple of months. His strikeout rate had gone from one of the worst in baseball to actually pretty good over the past month or so, especially. And now he's undone all the good work he did with the last two starts. And so are we quite back at square one? I don't know. This especially was an outlier for him. He had four strikeouts to three walks. He had had at least seven strikeouts in each of his previous four starts.

Hadn't had more than two walks in any start since April. So I want to give Justin Robleski a little bit of the benefit of the doubt here. But I can't say I have a ton of faith in him. No, I never had too much faith in him. So it's, we're at the point now where I'll give him a little mulligan here. But another bad start in a row, especially with a bunch of homers. One, it makes you wonder how long the Dodgers are going to stick with him in the rotation. And two, I don't think you want him in your rotation.

So I'm putting him on warning. Yeah. And we've gone from watch to warning. And, yeah, another bad start like this. I think Robleski is definitely going to get dropped. I would probably put him at a five on the worryometer. I'm not overly worried, but I'm not not worried. And it's not completely because of him.

It's what you mentioned with the Dodgers, where with Blake Snell returning and eventually Tyler Glass now is going to be back, and oh, wait, they just traded for Terrick Scouble. Like, they just have a lot of options. And Justin Robleski didn't really throw, I believe, he didn't throw that many innings last year. So I believe he is past last year's total. I do think it's a little bit different when guys are,

healthy the full year and are pitching in relief, which I believe was the case for Robleski. He threw, yeah, 117.1 innings, 118.1 innings. So that's a pretty good amount. I thought it was low. Right. Yeah, he's almost at last year's level. But he was starting early and then he got called up and was mostly used as a multi-hning reliever after that.

I think that's a little different than when guys are just, you know, throw 90 innings, but it's because they missed a bunch of time. but yeah, I think it's possible. Robleski's running out of steam here. Sure. Want to give a shout out to Alec Berluson, who just had the first three homer game of his career, three for five,

with a triple dong six RBI here on Monday night. And he is up to 18 home runs, 77 RBI on the season. He's hitting 288, 830 OPS. He's just three homers and one RBI away from tying career highs in those categories. and we still have like almost two months left in the season. So pretty safe to say we're going to get a career year here out of Alec Berluson, who entering Monday was the 31st best hitter in Rotel leagues this year.

So shout out to Alec Burdelson, man. Just a really good season. Great season all around for him. Let's hit the news and notes. Again, no trade talk. If you want the trade talk, go back. Listen, we did a Terrick School emergency pod. Yes.

The Territ School got traded? And it wasn't to the brewers, Chris, unfortunately. Unbelievable. I got some thoughts. Oh, we know. So if you want to hear about Terrick Scoobel and everything else that's going on in baseball, you can listen to that emergency podcast. All the other trades we caught up earlier today.

Yesterday, we did a like two-hour podcast. So make sure to check that out. News and notes, James Wood left early after hurting his left side on a swing. And he is going for an MRI on Tuesday. Very scary stuff here, Chris. because obliques, especially for a guy that's that big, who swings that hard with that much ferocity, that much bat speed, that much exit velocity,

this can, hopefully not, be a season wrecker for James Wood. Yeah, I mean, they're only calling it a side injury right now. If you saw the video, he grabs his oblique. I mean, that was right where he grabbed. So it's definitely concerning. We can't say anything more than that, but it's, it's worrying. Speaking of big humans who are hurt, Brian Cashman had this to say of Aaron Judge's return.

Quote, we currently are still very optimistic that he's going to return. But there's challenges with all that too. There's a very high likelihood that he fits the timeframe to come back and join us. That's what I'm hoping. That sounds like a guy who is really, really optimistic. What?

That Aaron Judge is coming back. that was the wordiest word salad that I ever heard in my... I mean, that was, that was like me trying to explain how I feel about Brandon Fought. He didn't say anything. That's a, that's a classic Brian Cashman quote. Like, he's just got, that happens a few times a year where he gets up there and, and says something like that. And you're just kind of like, I mean, the words are English, but like, the syntax doesn't, like,

They don't add up to anything, you know? It's like when you're doing an Excel spreadsheet and you do something wrong, you just get like the red error. That's what it feels like reading that quote. Like I don't know, well, I know what he's trying to say. I have no idea when Aaron Juss is going to be back. Yeah.

But he can't say that. It's just a bunch of hoping and optimism. And if I had to guess right now, I think the Yankees right now, would sign up for if they can get judge back with like two weeks left in the regular season, they would sign up for that today. I just don't think that they don't even know

if that's a possibility. So it's concerning. And I mean, if you remember back to when he first suffered the injury, it was originally a shoulder injury. That was how they diagnosed it. And then they started looking into thoracic outlet syndrome. And then it turns out it's this fracture in his rib. stress fracture, I wanted to say.

And so, you know, it's just, it's in a weird spot that doesn't seem to heal well. And yeah, it's just, it doesn't sound great. I'm hoping that we're making a mountain out of a molehill. But that was not the most, that was not the most promising quote I've ever heard about the best player in baseball. Kyle Harrison is confirmed to return Wednesday against the pirates. Carlos Rodon through a live BP on Monday. And who did he throw to? John Carlos Stanton.

How about that? Rodon is working his way back from left elbow inflammation. Stanton working his way back from a calf strain that he suffered way back in April and just keeps re-injuring. So I don't really have much faith in Stanton. I actually think maybe Rodon could be back sometime in August if there are no set back. There was a quote from Aaron Boone.

It was something like, it was just good to see him outside. And it's like, dude, they're talking about him. Like he's like terminal. Like a hermit or something. Yeah, man. It makes me so sad. Jankarly Stan has.

I want him to get to 500 home runs too. Yeah. Like he's one of my favorite baseball players ever. At his peak, there was nobody like him. Like even Aaron Judge, Shoha Tani, they're better players. But like, there has never been a physical force. like John Carlos Stan.

And even deep into his career after all the injuries, he still hits the ball as hard as anybody. And it's just, it's, it is not surprising that his career is ending this way, but I would like to see

a healthy month from John Carlos Stan before it's over, you know? Speaking of hermits, Chris, once the baseball season is over, I have already warned my wife, there are so many interesting, interesting video games that are coming out this fall.

It is scary. I'm the opposite. As soon as the season ends, I'm just good. It's October. The weather's nice-ish for a little while. I'm hitting the trails. I'm going out. Good luck, man.

There's like Grand Theft Auto coming out. There's the new Gears of War game. I don't know if my little, I've got the little Xbox series S. I don't think that thing is going to be able to handle GTA 6. I think that, I think there might be a fire hazard in my apartment. I'm gonna have to like, I don't know, bribe someone to let me borrow a PS5 or something. There's a Hellraiser video game coming out that looks awesome too. There's a Wolverine game. I don't have a PS5. Yeah. Yeah, unfortunately.

Dalton rushing went on the aisle with a mild elbow strain and they're talking like it's not, it's not really a big deal. They're hoping he's back, you know, pretty soon. But if you are looking for a catcher replacement, There's Francisco Alvarez, 55% rostered. JT. Real Mutu has been a little bit better as of late. He's 48%. I think if you're in a two-catcher league, Joe Mack, 28%. He's basically the guy with the Marlins now.

And he's actually been pretty good over the past couple months. Yeah, he's been really solid for like two months. Andy Rodriguez. Yep, that was the next name I was bringing up. Andy Rodriguez. He's up to like five steals and five homers? I think six. I think he stole his sixth today.

He's got to go. great eye at the plate. He hits the ball pretty hard. I think Andrew Rodriguez is among players at the catcher position, probably the most under-rastered at only 20%. And then we talked about it a little bit on the longer trade deadline show, but Moises-Bosterosos is on the Angels now. I don't think he's gotten called up yet, but I would imagine it's going to happen pretty soon. And could very well play his way into top 20, maybe top 15 catcher. ranking if he hits the ground running. I'm sure he's not thinking about it this way

because he probably is just happy that he has an opportunity to play. But imagine going from the Cubs to the Angels men. Yeah. That's pretty sad. Maybe he's a beach guy, you know? Could be. I mean, I guess they got that one like concrete beach in Chicago.

I've never been to Chicago, man. I want to go. Chicago rules. I do want to go. Oh my God, Frank, you got to go. You know what they have at the Chicago Field Museum? The Science Museum? Something Adam Sandler related?

No, but very, very much up your lane. Until April of next year, they have a Pokemon exhibit. Ooh. That's like Pokemon. It's like, what if Pokemon were fossils? And it looks so cool. I'm trying to figure out how to get there. I've got like way too many trips with family and stuff coming up,

and I'm like, I need to sneak away to the Wendy City for a weekend. Oh, man. Go see the Pokemon fossil exhibit. I'd like to see that. I want to see Wrigley so bad. I want to go. I've been to Chicago five times during baseball season, and the Cubs have never been in town once.

Brutal. I don't know how my luck is that bad. But yeah. A couple of their news items here. Mitch Keller is done for the season after suffering a terrorist major strain in his right shoulder. Not only did the Rockies not trade Mickey Moniac. They gave him an extension. Two years, $16.25 million.

And he responded with his 18th home run of the season. He's actually hit very well this year, 77, 18 homers, 49 RBI, 883 OPS in 75 games there for Mickey Moniac. But where is Zach Vien going to play? Where is Charlie Condon going to play, right? We're still asking these same questions. And the Guardians option, both Kyle Manzardo and David Frye to AAA after picking up a few bats here at the deadline. Let's take our final break.

When we return, we'll fire up with the Worryometer for Cam Schlittler. We had a bunch of home runs hit in Chicago and New York. I have some waiver wire names. We'll do all that right after this. Welcome back, fantasy baseball today. Let's fire up the Worryometer here on Cam Schlittler, who just had nothing against the Cardinals. Three innings, four hits, four runs, five walks, six strikeouts,

only had eight whiffs on 83 pitches. He used his curveball more than this one, and that curve just had absolutely nothing here for Cam Schlittler. And if you look, three of his last seven starts, not great. The other four during that stretch were really good. So I don't really think there's anything to that. It's just like the way he struggled. Five walks. He had another start recently with four walks. It's like, all right, I hope the control, which was questionable in the minors, isn't starting to kind of rear its ugly head here for

Camp Schlular. Yeah, I mean, there are definitely concerning signs among, along the way. There is also arguably the two best starts of his career. Right. in that same stretch. So is Cam Schlittler suddenly terrible? No, definitely not. Is he a little more vulnerable lately? Maybe. Yeah, I mean, it certainly seems so,

although really only two of the starts are bad. I guess there was the one that was four and a third. He gave up three run runs. I don't, was there rain in that one? Or just he was just inefficient. No, there was no rain. Okay. So, yeah, but,

it's really like two, two and a half bad starts. And to a certain, it's like three and a half bad starts all season. Yeah. You know, so it's hard for me to get too worked up about that. On the other hand, I've been the guy saying I'm not worried about Paul Skeen's and now I'm starting to get worried because it keeps going. So could this be the start of the time when you should have been worried about Cam Schittler? It's possible we look back on it, but I don't really think there's,

too much to worry about there. It was disappointing that the curveball was so bad despite being used more because he had used it more in the previous start. And I think he got seven whiffs on eight swings with the curveball on his last start. Velocities way up on that pitch. Yeah, I don't have too much concern. Is it zero? Like zero out of 100?

No, it's not zero out of 100. I think it's closer to zero out of 10 on the worryometer than four. Yeah, I think it would be more like a one or two for Cam Schlittler. And yeah, in his previous start, the curve, he used the 20% of the time. The velocity was up almost three miles per hour. And he had seven whiffs on eight swings. So an 88% whiff rate on that curve ball. In the previous start for Cam Schlittler, that was not the case here against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Bombs away. We had a bunch of home runs hit in New York and Chicago, the Cardinals, and Yankees. He's combined for 10 homers in that game. Again, Alec Berlinson hit three of them. He also had 6 RBI. But Nathan Church, another one. He reached base four times. Two for three with two walks and his ninth home run also added four RBI.

It was his first home run since July 3rd. And in 26 games in between, he hit 141 with a 336 OPS. So don't think we have to do anything with Nathan Church. I think the same could be said for Jimmy Crooks, who hit his fourth home run of the season. He just hasn't done much, hasn't really been playing that much either for the Cardinals.

He's like a part to, there's no such thing as halfway crooks. Sorry. Luis Garcia Jr. Great first impression, two for four with his 24th home run. At the time, it was a go-ahead home run

and the Yankees were, they came back from being down six runs, and that capped off a seven unanswered runs, and then the Cardinals tacked on six, seven more. separate six-run leads. Yeah. That's pretty wild. This game was just all over the place. And somebody, I think it was, I don't know, maybe it was like John Boy or talking Yanks.

They kind of did a side-by-side with Robinson Kono Swing. It was very similar. I've seen that that was his like guy growing up, Luis Garcia. So that, and you can definitely see it. I will say, you know, I don't know if Luis Garcia is going to keep this up. I think if they start playing him against lefties more, I think you'll definitely see some regression. But this was a smart move, if only because he doesn't strike out very much.

And that will keep Yankees fans from being apoplectic when he slumps because they keep getting guys who strike out too much, and Yankees fans take that personally. So at the very least, if Luis Garcia slumps, it won't be that way. So it should be at least a little more, a little easier to stomach. You come to the Big Apple, Chris.

You got to perform. Joe DiMaggio didn't strike out. Never. Yogi Berra didn't strike out. You know who strikes out? Not that much. Trent Grisham. He hit his 12th home run of the season.

He had two hits in this game. But in his previous 14, he was hitting 093 with zero extra base hits. He is 64% of, roster. I was surprised. I think that number is a little bit too high here for St. Krisham. Jose Cabiero won for three with a walk and his 12th homer. That's back-to-back games with the home run for him. 71% rostered. He's had a good fantasy season. We know he's not a great hitter, but 12 homers and 27 steals obviously is very helpful for fantasy. We didn't

mention this with George Lombard. I think Caballero is a pretty big loser with this happening. Yeah. I mean, you would think Lombard's getting called up to play every day. He's supposed to be a very good defensive shortstop as well. And I think the best version of the Yankees as a real-life baseball team does not have Jose Caballero playing shortstop every single day. Agreed. The best version of this team is, you know, you pick your spots, you play your matchups, you give guys days off because of his versatility. And that was why, you know, when they recalled Anthony Volpe at first when he got healthy and he was playing over Cabellera. I know that made a lot of Yankees fans mad.

but it was like, I think you had to give him a chance because the best version of the Yankees is going to be, someone holds down shortstop and is, to be fair, better than Anthony Volpe, and hopefully George Lombard will be that. And then Caballero playing every day, but not necessarily starting every day. That's probably the right way.

But yeah, in terms of his fantasy outlook, I think he definitely takes a hit unless Lombard is hitting 100 after two weeks, in which case, I think you probably just have to go back to the status quo. Yeah. Austin Wells went two for four with his eighth home run, and in 12 games after the

All-Star break, he's hitting 259 with two homers and a 931 OPS. So in the deepest two catcher leagues, they didn't trade for catcher, so Austin Wells is going to play. Ryan McMahon hit his 10th home run. I don't think anyone really cares about that for fantasy. The Dodgers and Cubs

combined for six homers in Chicago, Kevin Alcantra is on the board. His first career home run and he actually was doing some interesting things in the minors this year. 271, 363 on base, 17 home runs, 905 OPS, also striking out 30% of the time.

But hitting the ball really hard, lots of barrels. There's just nowhere from the play, Chris. Yeah, I mean, he's the reason they traded Owen Casey in the offseason, right? Because they had to trade one of them. And, you know, maybe in 2020, they've got Ian Hap and Seas Suzuki

heading into free agency. I don't think they're going to resign both of them. So Alcantra is still a name in dynasty leagues to keep an eye on, but barring an injury, I think it's really unlikely he's going to play enough to matter the rest of the way. Sayas Suzuki won for four with his 19th home run

in 50 games since the start of June. He's hitting 298 with 12 homers, 44 RBI, and an OPS over 950. So he really only had that bad May, I believe it was, and then he's just been really good ever since then. Michael Bush,

two for four with his 14th home run. It did come off of a lefty. He's kind of the opposite. He had a great May. He's been pretty mid since June. 53 games since the start of June.

244, 8 home runs, 28 RBI, an OPS around 750. I don't know, like Michael Bush is still a universally-roastered player. Should he be? I don't, I don't know.

He's fine. He's not a terrorist. player, but I think based on what we've seen so far this season, he's, I don't think I have him. Yeah, he's 15th at first base and that's even me being a little generous, although Jonathan Aranda's been pretty bad for a while. And Josh Naylor's been bad pretty much the whole season. And yeah, um, Mutataka Murakami, I think he has not done much since coming back from the IL. Um, right. Paratus has been pretty good. You know, I think that range is pretty fungible, you know, 15 through, let's say, 22 or 23 at first base.

It's just a really deep position. I mean, even beyond that, you've got Bryce Eldridge and Kyle Stowers and some guys who are really talented. So, yeah, it's, it's a tough position. But that should also mean that it's easy to replace Michael Bush. And you should be open to that down the stretch, because he's not showing a, sign of, you know, necessarily figuring it out.

It is a deeper position for sure. We've talked about that a lot. A lot of these names are kind of slumping right now. Sure. So, we mentioned Bush. Christian Walker's been bad for a while. Ryan O'Hern's out for the season. Probably out for the season. You mentioned

Ronda's been kind of taking a step back. I think Rumsfeld's been pretty quiet. Cags has been bad for a while now too. Rice Eldridge just slowed down. It is a deep position in terms of names, but a lot of them have actually kind of slowed down a little bit.

Hey, maybe Royce Lewis should be ranked higher. Maybe, yeah. We got to move Royce Lewis up there. Carson Kelly went one for four with a walk in his seventh home run at three RBI. You know what he is, like deeper, two catcher league kind of name.

To Oscar Hernandez hit his 11th home run. He is starting to pick things back up. He has three home runs in his past five games. And so far in the second half, he's hitting 321. with a 9-10 OPS, so some good signs there from Teosker. And Tommy Edmund, one for four with his third home run, three RBI. He was hitting third in the lineup against a left-handed pitcher.

He has started 20 of the past 21 games. 63% rostered, second, third, and outfield eligibility. I feel like I've brought him up a ton over the past couple of weeks, but I think that number is probably right. Like anything more than 63%. It's like you're talking really shallow points leagues. and I don't know if Tommy Edmund needs to be rostering those. Yeah, I mean, it's good that he's playing pretty much every day now.

You know, because I think that was the biggest concern. I don't really buy him as a 300 hitter. I don't really buy him as an 836 OPS guy. But, you know, you shave off, I don't know, 10% on both, and he's still hitting 270. And, you know, I think he's useful. But I don't think he's a must-start player. Let's talk some waiver wire hitters from Monday's action.

and I have four shallow league outfield eligible players. And Jung-Hul-Lee had a massive game, three-for-four with two socks and a shoe, two homers, stolen base, plus three runs, three RBI. His first half of July was awful, but so far in the second half, 3-28, three homers, two steals, 9-71 OPS. A lot of that being carried by this one game, I realize.

72% roster for Jung-Hul-Lee. Ezekiel Duran went 4-4 with his 13th home run. He had a terrible June, but since the start of July, he's hitting 293 with seven homers, two steals, and OPS over 850. Chandler Simpson, two for four with his 28th stolen base. And over his last 35 games, he's hitting 378 with 14 steals. Again, that's Chandler Simpson. He's 73% rostered.

And Cole Carrig, two for five with a double a run in RBI. And so far in the second half, 383, one homer, three steals, and OPM. over 1,000. He has started 11 of the past 12 games, and he is 70% roster. Chris, how would you rank these four? It might change depending on the format, but it's Jung Hu Lee, Ezekiel Duron, Chandler Simpson, and Cole Carrig. I'm kind of bummed out because FanGraphs has that rolling games log thing where you can see how many home runs guys have hit in their last 15 days or whatever. And they don't offer it for stolen bases. I feel like that would be really interesting with Chandler. Simpson because it feels like as is often the case, but especially with him, they've come in

bunches, man. There was like a 30 game stretch where he barely ran it all. And it was right when he wasn't hitting either. Yeah, he was starting to get benched. He wasn't hitting at all. And it was like, oh, this guy's doing nothing. And then he gets hot again around what late June, early July, let's say. And yeah, he's hitting 374 over his last 35 games now.

That's what you said. Yeah, 378. Yeah, that was the exact thing that was looking up. 378, 14 steals over his last 35 games. So, okay, so rank them. Yeah. I think it does change depending on the format. Yeah, depending on format, you know, you might go Lee at the top in a points league.

I think you definitely go Simpson at the top in a roto league. I think no matter what, Zheel Durant's probably the bottom. Yeah. I know he's having a nice season, but I just don't have a ton of faith in it. And I think Carrig might be second in both formats. And he probably has the most upside of this group. It's just how much do we buy the playing time? 11 of the past 12 games he started.

I know he's made four starts at shortstop or four appearances at shortstop. So he's about to gain eligibility there. That won't change his outlook too much, but it's nice to see them doing that. And yeah, I think he has the highest upside of this. group. But if you're talking about starting guys, I think you'd probably rather start Simpson or Lee. Yeah. I think in a points league, it would be Lee, uh, Carrig, Simpson, Duran. And in a categories or a Roto league, it would be Simpson, Carrig. I might even take Duran

over Lee in a categories league, but it's close to me. It's really, it's really nice to have one guy on your bench who's eligible everywhere. Yeah. You know, I think if you're talking about starting all these guys, Duran's at the bottom. But the fact that he is literally eligible at everywhere except catcher, especially in your daily lineups leagues where you really want to stream pitchers, that is such a valuable player to have on your bench

because you can just, whatever injury comes up, whether it's a day-to-day or a long-term thing, you've got someone you can slide in. Two deeper names. We mentioned Andy Rodriguez. He went three for four with a run and his sixth stolen base. He has started five

of the past eight games since returning. and during that stretch he's 7 for 24 with four steals. So really starting to run a little bit. He's 20% roster, definitely a name in two catcher leagues. And Abamelik Ortiz, recalled by the Nationals. I mentioned this towards the end of that live trade deadline show that we did. He had his first career home run, and he's got legit pop. He had 18 home runs in the minors, good eggs of velocities, good barrel rate, 3% roster.

I think NL only for sure, 15 team Roto leagues with a corner infield. spot. I'm interested in Abameli-Cortez of the Nationals. This is your new Willie Calhoun. Willie Calhoun, yeah. You love a guy with the same body shape as me is really what we're learning.

He's like a medium beefy baseball boy. Yeah, you love a guy who's 510, 240. No, I mean, he's got pop. He makes a lot of contact. It's one of those ones where is it going to translate to the majors. I think scouts have a lot of concerns about that, but seeing him starting his first game back,

I think that's pretty promising. I think he hit second in this one, and they didn't immediately send him down, which was what happened the last time they called him up. I think in that one he hit second or third, and then they sent him down after the game. It was like right before the All-Star break, I'm remembering correctly.

I kind of think, like, Andres Chaparro is pretty interesting as well, and I hope they just start both of them at first base and DH. the rest of the way and see if these two guys who have hit a lot in the minors can do it in the majors. I think it's a pretty strict platoon between those two exactly. Yeah, unfortunately. Unfortunately. So Chaparro is on the short side of that platoon. For whatever reason, I know he's been okay this year, but they keep playing Jose Tena as their DH against right-handed pitching.

So, and the reason I know all of this is because of my NL-only league, I have both Tena and Chapparo. So I just like, even though they take up two roster spots, they're basically just one solid hitter. that whatever handed this is going against the nationals, I have their DH in my lineup. But yeah, they're just, I think mostly just NL only names for now. Some waiver wire pitchers and some shallow league names and ones that we've talked a lot about. Ian Seymour, a strong outing here, even in Coursfield,

six innings, two runs, nine strikeouts, zero walks. He had 18 whiffs on 90 pitches in this one. And last three outings, he's looked better again. 216 ERA 0.96 whip. Bubba Chandler, solid at the Brewers, five and two thirds, three runs, two of those earned. Five walks, still did walk,

five strikeouts, excuse me, still did walk four in this one. He is 72% rostered. Shane Bieber was decent at the Astros, five and two thirds, nine hits, six strikeouts, two walks, did allow nine hard hits in this game. His last star was awful.

He didn't get out of the first inning. The two before that were actually pretty good, for Shane Bieber and the aforementioned Brandon Fott, who he mentioned. So, Chris, how would you rank this group? Seymour, Chandler, Bieber, Brendan Fott. Seymour's obviously at the top. I want to say Brandon Fought's at the bottom, but I know I'll get yelled at. So if you want to go with Brandon Fought, you're just going to have to disagree with me.

And that's fine. Plenty of people disagree with me. Well, but Chandler has looked a little bit better lately. He's looked a little better. The four walks is still so frustrating. he had a start a couple times ago where I think he only walked one, struck out five, and I was like, okay, maybe he's starting to figure it

out, and then I think the last two starts, the walks have been back. So I think he's still second just because, man, honestly, I might put Brandon Fought ahead of Shane Bieber. Just because at least Brana Fought's pitching, getting good results right now. I don't have any faith in

it continuing, but I don't have faith in Shane Bieber. It just really feels like even the good starts for Shane Bieber. He's just trying to keep his head above water. He's not missing bats. He's getting hit really hard and getting hit to really hard has always been the problem with Bieber, but

you know, if he's got, it was a sub 10% whiff rate in this one. I think it's around that for the season. It was good to see, I think he walked six in the first inning in his previous start or something. So it was good to see like he's not totally busted, but I don't

really think Shane Bieber has a ton left as a fantasy contributor unfortunately. Yeah. I agree that Seymour is at the top of this list. I think if you need someone to actually use right now, I know that the wheels are going to fall off for Brandon Fott. The problem is comparing him to Bubba Chandler.

It's like Bubba Chandler has had a lot of really bad starts this year. You haven't been on for Bubba Chandler either. Yeah. So if you just need someone to use right now, I'd probably use Fott over Bubba Chandler. I think Chandler still could, you know, there's glimmers that maybe he could be useful down the stretch here. I do think Seymour is the only one that has like real like staying power like big upside

Thinking of the names that we spoke about yesterday Seymour or Quinn Matthews I like Quinn Matthews a lot I take Ian Seymour I think you're kind of hoping Quinn Matthews becomes what Ian Seymour's been What about Seymour versus Walbert Arania and Who am I forgetting there was somebody there was someone there was someone Shane Drohan I think I'm taking Seymour this is one of those instances where I wish Scott was on the show because I think he's been a little more skeptical of Seymour than I have and I would love to get his perspective because I just think Ian Seymour's really good. I know there have been a couple of bumps in the road, but this is one where the ERA is really much worse than the peripherals and it's honestly the only bad thing. Like his strikeout rates borderline elite. The walk rate's pretty good. The peripherals are all better than four at least. I think Ian Seymour,

I think he's good. I'm really glad I started him in a couple of leagues this week because it wasn't a sure thing. But now he just did this and gets at Seattle next time. Nice. Don't think any of these three matter, but I'll just ask anyway. I'll throw their names out there.

Aaron Nola, Christian Javier, and Andrew Alvarez. They all had quality starts. Anything here with any of them? No, I mean, good start for Christian Javier, two strikeouts in six innings. nine whiffs on 85 pitches, it's fine. You know, it was a decent two-start week for Javier.

I know I saw a lot of people in the comments talking about him as a two-start pitcher during yesterday's podcast. Looks like it's going to work out. This is a good start, but I don't have any amount of faith in any of these guys, really. All right, some pitching leftovers. Logan Webb was great at the Texas Rangers. Six shutout innings. He had a season high eight strikeouts, only one walk.

He had 16 whiffs on 96 pitches. velocity down a little bit across the board. He changed up the pitch mix as well. He doubled his cutter usage and it was solid for him. Really had just everything working in the start for Logan Webb. And when you dig into the individual pitch numbers this season, they're not really bad. I don't really understand what's gone wrong for Logan Webb.

The strikeouts being down, you know, when he gives up contact balls and play, it usually is hard contact. So I guess that explains it. But in terms of just the individual, individual pitches, they all still look pretty good, pretty normal to me for Logan Webb. It is funny that, um, I think everyone would agree this has been probably the most frustrating Logan Webb season since he became a full-time starter. I mean, the 374 ERA is his

worst since 2020. It's also his second best whip. Like that, that's legitimately surprising. He has a 1.1-1 whip. His whip is actually, it's not great, but it's pretty good. And that's usually the one thing you can't count on Logan Webb for. So it's, I don't know, my sense all along has been Logan Webb is just Logan Webb and it's just variance on one side or the other. But I think he's good. As somebody who has rostered Logan Webb a lot the previous two years, I don't have him anywhere this season. I told myself never again. Maybe not never, but not this year.

He's always frustrating to roster men. There are so many balls in play that like you just, it's like walking a tightrope with Logan Webb on your fantasy team. It's tough to watch. I think he's a guy you feel better about drafting coming off a down year. Yeah. You know, if the ADP falls, you know, a round, then it's easier if he's like a six round pick or whatever,

then I guess he was probably a fourth or fifth round pick coming into this season. Yeah. Michael King, the other name here, he struggled with the walks at the D-Backs, five innings, three runs, but four walks, had five strikeouts. You know, he's kind of been walking that tightrope all season. It's too many walks.

It's not enough strikeouts. He's managed a 345 ERA, but his FIP is 419. His ex-FIP is 445. So can he continue this? I would probably bet against it for Michael King. Yeah, he definitely feels like he's walking a tightrope for sure.

and we are not quite to the point where we start to look ahead to 2027, but in about a month, a lot of our discussions are going to be a little more 2027 focused. And that's going to be a real interesting one to try to figure out, assuming he stays healthy, because it's been a rocky season, the skill set looks like it has taken a step back for sure, and he's going to be 32 next year.

So I'm not sure Michael King's, trending towards being a top 50 starting pitcher next year for fantasy? I barely have him inside my top 50 right now. So yeah, he's, and you have to imagine there's going to be guys returning from injury and stuff that's probably going to push him down as well.

So yeah, yeah, I think probably outside the top 50 right now if I had to guess for Michael King. A couple hitting leftovers, Bryce Harper picking things back up, back-to-back games with a home run for him last eight games. He's hitting 300 with three homers, seven runs, seven RBI, and a steel.

And Junior. Camineiro. Two for five with a double don. Three runs and three RBI. There for Junior Caminero, who enjoyed his first game in Coors Field quite a bit. Call to the bullpen for the Phillies. Yawan Duran got the ninth with a three-run lead.

He struck out two for his 25th save. For the pirates, Gregory Soto entered in the sixth inning with a runner on second, a one-run lead. He hit a batter but then got a strikeout. Soto came back out for the seventh. He allowed a single in a walk, but then he got out of it. It was Mason Montgomery who got the ninth. He allowed a single, but he picked up his third save.

I really hope that it's just Luke Weaver as the closer, but Mason Montgomery has been good for a really long time and just gave them another vote of confidence, picking up a save in a one-run game against a division opponent, where he struck out two and he looked really good. So I hope it's just Luke Weaver, but that is not a guarantee in the Pirate. in the Pirates bullpen.

For the Blue Jays, Louis Varland was unavailable. Tyler Rogers got the ninth with a two-run lead, and he pitched a clean inning for his third save. And for the D-backs, Brandon Garcia got the ninth with a four-run lead. Clean inning to close it out. Again, he has looked very, very good over the past month or so with the D-backs. And I think it's worth noting the D-backs did score twice in the eighth inning of that game. So he presumably was already warming up when they were up by two.

came in when they were up by four. So I think they were treating that as a closer situation, and Brandon Garcia was going to get the save if they hadn't scored there. So I think that's very bullish for Brandon Garcia. To stream or not to stream on Tuesday, we have Sean Mania at the Guardians. J.T. Ginn is returning from the I.L.

He's at the Reds. Brady Singer, home against the athletics. Zach Lattel at the Phillies. Grant Holmes against the Marlins, Hayden Wesneski against the Blue Jays, Hunter Dobbins at the Yankees and how about this one? Grayson Rodriguez

at the Orioles revenge game. So who are the rest of the names that we want to use tomorrow? That's all I've got, man. Yeah, this isn't a great list. I know Scott, when we talked about

Grayson Rodriguez's most recent start, he was mildly encouraged. I don't want to say much more than that, but I think Grayson Rodriguez missed a bunch of bats in his most recent start. Baltimore, did lose two of their starters,

although I guess one of them hasn't been in the lineup lately. Boy, I could see a good start from Grant Holmes, but the Marlins have a lefty heavy lineup, so they could sneak up on him. J.T. Ginn, probably. It's the first game back from the I.L., but he's probably the best option at Cincinnati. It could go really poorly in that ballpark.

And then Sean Mania, I guess. I don't really have any faith in tomorrow's crop. J. T. G. G. Probably the best one. Yeah. J. T. Ginn, it's just tough coming off to I.L. And it's in Cincinnati. Brady Singer has been pitching well.

Athletics are missing a bunch of bats right now. I probably would go Singer, Mania, and then I think J.T. Ginn third. Yeah. I really wouldn't be surprised if Grace and Rodriguez has a good start, but it is so risky. So I probably would not chance it, but I'm interested to see what he does.

does. On Wednesday, we have Will Warren against the Cardinals, Eric Lauer at the Cubs, Slate Cicconi against the Mets, Rhett Lauer against the athletics, Andrew Painter against the Nationals, Bryce Elder against the Marlins, Dean Kramer against the Royals in his twins' debut, and Mitch Bratt. Bratt? Brat? Against the Padres. Not a great day either. Yeah, Will Warren is probably the best pitcher on this group. Although the Cardinals just put up 13 friends at the stadium. Andrew Painter had a decent start in his return and had some changes

was throwing a changeup instead of a splitter. Yeah, Eric Lauer's been getting good results. I don't trust it at all. Bryce Elder has looked a little bit better as of late. Yeah, and a lot of the Marlins' best hitters are lefties, so that could work out. I can't recommend anyone with confidence, but I would go Warren,

probably Elder. Outlauer, I guess. Kramer at the Royals? I think Kramer is better than he has shown lately. Let's say that. Yeah. Wednesday's a rough one.

I would say Warren. I would say Elder. The painter thing is scary. If James Wood goes on the I. I think I'd probably use Andrew Painter. If he's in the lineup, if he's healthy, Dean Kramer, I guess, on Wednesday. Let's wrap up with Team Name Tuesday. These are from Tim Likes Tacos on Apple Podcasts.

And the first one, Ashcraft versus Evil Dead. Yeah, I like that. Have you seen any of the Evil Dead movies? I have seen the original three. I have not seen any of the subsequent spinoffs. I've heard the new ones pretty good. I heard the same. I only saw the first one.

The original trilogy, well, you've only seen the original? The original movie, yeah, I haven't seen anything. That's like the one that's like totally serious.

Like they play it totally straight. The second one's a little more goofy and the third one is just like... I heard they just go off the rails. The third one is not even trying to be a horror movie. It rocks. It's so good, but it is a completely different.

I feel like that's when Sam Ramey really finds his, like signature style. That movie is yeah. Army of Darkness. That's what the third one's called. That movie, great movie. Gunner and the Henderson's. Yeah, yeah.

Harry and Anderson's. Yeah. There's no Carol. There's no Carol in HR. That appears to be an always sunny reference. I don't get the specific one though. Yeah, I don't. I'm not sure if I saw that specific episode. That's one I've seen like Sparach.

You know, I've seen like a couple, but not. I certainly haven't done every single episode. And quit playing with your dingler. Sure. These are from Nick. That's what Sheehan said. Yep. Poor Emmett Sheehan, man.

Option to the minor sign. Tanner Scott Paper Company. Yep. Bears Beater, Bader Star Galactica. That's pretty good. That's a good one. Stop looking at me, Kwan. Yeah.

And sell. I tried to sing it like the song, but. I don't even know how you... I don't think I know that one. You definitely know the song's sale. Okay. I'll check it out. We'll jam out to it after the show.

Okay. These last couple are from Matt, and they are band names. He said, I hope Chris is there. Well, he is here. I'm at. A flock of Seegers. Yeah, that's good.

Teal Tuesday. So this one I didn't know, I looked it up. Apparently it's Amy Mann's former band. That's cool. She's cool. I'm a fan of Amy Mann. 10,000 Moniacs. Yeah, that's true.

pretty good. And she and him. I have tickets to see she and him in September. So good, good call. All right. That is a, Tui is back, baby. No, it's not. We are going to wrap there for Chris

I and Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.