Fantasy Baseball Today - Nats Promote Dylan Crews! Bowden Francis Hype & Start or Sit Decisions (8/26 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

Episode Date: August 26, 2024

Bowden Francis took a no-hitter into the 9th inning this weekend (3:00)! ... Bobby Miller had his best start in a while (9:18). ... Junior Caminero is starting to flash (13:43). ... The Nationals are promoting Dylan Crews on Monday (20:52)! ... News (25:10): Willson Contreras and Joey Bart are both going on the IL. ... In addition to Francis and Miller, Cody Bradford and DJ Herz are waiver wire options (35:06). ... Eugenio Suarez has been on fire since the start of July (44:34). ... Start or sit these pitchers (53:14)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (1:02:36). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. What's up and welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Monday, August 26th. I am Frank Stample, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. For those watching on YouTube, if it looks like I'm in a weird place, that is because I am.

to New Jersey over the weekend. That is why Chris is got covered. That's not a nice thing to say about New Jersey. All right. I don't think New Jersey is a weird place at all. I just want to go on the record that that is not the official position of anyone else on this podcast. That's just Frank that thinks that the garden state is weird.

Well, yeah, I guess we're about to find out. It looks like I'm in a room where I'm being held captive. I haven't had time to hang stuff up yet. But can you hold up a newspaper? A newspaper? We can make sure you're okay. Uh, let's see. Here's something that I'm going to hang up eventually.

it's pretty cool. Some New York captains. Aaron Judge. We'll talk about Aaron Judge, my goodness. Today on the show, we've got WaverWire moves from the weekend. Start or Sit Decisions. The Nationals are promoting Dylan Cruz and much more. But let's jump in.

In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened. Well, neither of these guys wanted to talk about Bauden Francis, so I will take the olive card and breadstick of the weekend because he took a no-hitter into the ninth inning up against the Angels, where he allowed a solo home run to Taylor Ward to lead off the inning, and that was the only blemish against Francis,

where he had 12 strikeouts, 15 whiffs on 117 pitches, and in four starts since being moved back into the rotation, it's a 133 ERA, a 0.44 whip, 11.3K per 9, barely walking anybody. I don't know that, like, look, obviously he's not going to continue to do this. The underlying pitch characteristics, I don't know that it lines up with him getting away with starts these good, but they are happening right now. And he's only 55% rostered.

So, Scott, I will throw it to you. What do you think about this recent run from Bowden, Bowden? Excuse me, Bowden, Francis. He's at the Red Sox this week. Bowden down to Bowden. That's my new mnemonic device, so I don't accidentally call him Bowden like you just did. And it's fitting right now with the way that he's pitching. that comes, I know you gave the whip, that comes out to five hits in 22 innings since he returned,

which is, of course, unsustainable, but he is good at hit prevention. And I gave his numbers between the majors and minors last year, Bowden, Francis, 204ERA, 0.98 whip 10.9 K per 9. Of course, part of what makes him good at hit prevention is that he tends to put the ball in the air. But it's interesting because what's, at least the last. two of these three starts for Bowden Francis. He's been emphasizing a splitter. He's thrown it about twice as often,

about 34% of the time in each of those last two starts. And that's helped to elevate his ground ball rate a little. Not enough that he's like a ground ball pitcher now that it's changed his whole profile. I don't know that we'd want it to. I do wonder if pairing that pitch with the fastball, so 15 of his, I'm sorry, 10 of his 15. whiffs in this lateh to start against the Angels

over the week and came on the fastball. So he was he was racking up with the fastball and if maybe the splitter helps to make that pitch more effective, just the contrast it creates with it movement-wise. I don't know. But what I've been saying about Bowden Francis all along is clearly he has dominated at times in the miners.

So this, if he were to find success, in the majors, it wouldn't be the most surprising thing. I can't totally explain it. I don't think it's totally legit because how could it be? But I do think it's to a point where bound for instance has to be added, of course. Yeah, I mean, you look at his AAA numbers for his career and it's 256 and a third innings, a 460 ERA, that's pretty bad, 121.26 whip, not as bad as the ERA, relatively speaking. and it's most because his biggest issue is 1.7 home runs per 9.

This is at AAA. And I think that Splitter, you know, that's a brand new pitch for him this season. It wasn't something he threw before this. And that could just be the answer that, you know, this is a guy who had decent strikeout skills, had pretty good control, but just got clobbered on contact. And all of a sudden, he has a pitch that has been really good at. suppressing hard contact and has been really good at creating ground balls, something that he didn't have before this. So I don't know. We're talking about a 28 year old with a career

460 ERA at AAA, so I don't want to like paint this picture that Bowden Francis is a burgeoning ace or anything. But I think he's about as interesting as any pitcher on the waiver wire right now. I think it's funny because we're having trouble like explaining Bowden, Francis, and I feel like our analysis just contradicted each other's. Like, you know, so like we have, we have different explanations for what could be going on. Mm-hmm. But it's not even really, like to the point that you emphasized his career minor league stats, which are very bad, and I emphasized this one year in the minors that was very good.

I like to think we're, we're, they're concentric circles. that nestle in with one another. Yeah. But yeah, look, I think being skeptical of Boundin Francis is probably the right move, but when you look at like, I think I wrote about six pitchers on the waiver wire column on Sunday afternoon and like,

I would rather have Spencer Argetti. He's more widely rostered than Boutin Francis. So that doesn't really help anyone. I mean, if you need a pitcher for the next two weeks, I'd rather have Bouten Francis than Jacob de Grom. like if you're in a head-to-head points league and you might not make it to when Jacob de Grom is healthy, I'd rather have Bowden Francis.

I think I'd rather have Francis than Ryan Nelson, who I'm sure we'll talk about later. Yeah. I think I'd rather have Bowden Francis than Andrew Heaney, although he does have a good to start week coming up, so that's a little tougher. So, like, I think Bowden Francis is probably as interesting as anyone on the waiver war.

Bauden's Francis next, Bauden Francis's next start. I have trouble saying his name as a possessive. Twins? Or is it the Red Sox? It looks like at Boston, yeah. Which is really tough. Neither is great.

I think I'd rather roll the dice on Bowden Francis than Bobby Miller. Yeah. And we'll get to Bobby Miller in just a second. I think the bigger point here is that we've kind of been starved of WaverWyer pitchers for a while now. I think Aragetti, you're right, Chris, to kind of put him at the top of that list. But after that, I think Bouten Francis is the most interesting one that's come along in a while. So obviously, just gone at him. I don't know that you want to throw him right out there

at Boston in a head-to-points league. He's a SPARP too, so that obviously helps in that format. But yeah, he should be more than, he's up to 57% roster now. Again, that's Bouten Francis. Chris, you just mentioned the name Bobby Miller. He is your player of the weekend. Yeah, this was Bobby Miller's first quality start since his first start of the season. back in May. He was still getting hit really hard, but it was, look, we'll start with the good. Six innings, nine strikeout, zero walks. That's phenomenal.

Got a decent amount of whiffs, 18 whiffs, had the curveball and changeup working really well for him. Three earned runs on seven hits, 96.9 mile per hour average exit velocity. It's not a sign that Bobby Miller is all the way back. but we have literally had like zero good starts between the majors and minors from Bobby Miller basically since that first one. Now we have a second pretty good start. And so if you were looking for a reason to be optimistic, he gave you one. And if you were looking for a reason to not drop Bobby Miller, he gave you one.

Is this enough to go out and add him? He's 51% rostered right now, I think. I like I said I think I'd take Francis over him after that if Arrogatti's available I'd rather have him but putting Bobby Miller against like Ryan Nelson and DJ Hers and Zebby Matthews and some of the other Matthew Boyd some of the other waiver wire pitchers if I didn't need to start one this week I think I'd rather have Miller for the upside because I'm pretty sure the other guys are just streamers. One more nine strikeout outing for Bobby Miller might be enough to convince me he's more

than just a streamer. Well, I remember, too, what stood out about Bobby Miller last year other than performance. And that was that even as a rookie pitcher, hard throwing rookie pitcher, he had a really diverse arsenal and threw his fastball only 29% of the time last year. Well, he had been throwing it 41% of the time this year, got it back down to third. So very close to that 29% in this start over the weekend. Here's what he had to say about it. Leading up to the start, I was focusing a lot on curveball, change up, mixing in a little bit of sliders.

But, you know, focusing on getting my strengths back. That's what I showed tonight. I was really able to focus in after those mistake pitches referring to a couple of bad hits early on. But he was stressing there that, yeah, he was trying to get back to leaning more on that secondary arsenal. and stuff on a fastball that while it has good velocity isn't that effective. And I think, I don't know that that explains entirely the bounce back here for Bobby Miller

because ERA previously, but it can only help. Yeah, and I don't want to downplay this start, but it was against Tampa Bay. And they do swing and miss a lot. So the 18 whiffs on 96 pitches are fantastic. He also allowed 10 hard hits and a 96.9 average exit velocity in this start. Tell that to Taj Bradley.

Who also has been giving up lots of hard contact recently. I do agree with your analysis, Chris. I think it's all about utility. If you need a pitcher for this week, I am not putting Bobby Miller near the top of that list. But if you want to play, I guess, how do we say the long game now? Yeah, I mean, I think it's more just like a roto versus head to head, right? Like it's like, well, almost every head to head points league now is you win this week or your season's done.

So it's like, it doesn't really matter if Bobby Miller might have more upside in, three weeks, you know? But I think you're right in saying if he has another really good start against the Orioles next time out, I think I might feel good about starting him after that. Yeah, that's exactly what I was going to say is it probably only takes another start like this given our, our expectations for Bobby Miller coming in. Who would you guys rather add just in a vacuum right now, Bobby Miller or Bowdo in Francis? Probably Francis.

I agree, Francis. Yeah. But like it's much more likely if you're in a roto league with what five weeks left. that like if you were going to regret not adding one of them, Miller feels more likely to be the one you regret, right? I think that makes sense. It's the upside play, but I'm not sure the way I worded. It made sense.

Yeah. A lot of double negatives in there, you know. All right, Scott, let's go to you, your player, the weekend. All right, I'm going to go with another upside play here, junior commonero, who is, I think, think having the breakout. I think it's come. I think it's happening.

This weekend, three-game series against the Dodgers, he went six for 13 with two home runs and two doubles. But it wasn't just the production that stood out for Junior Commonero. He had seven of the nine hardest hit balls in that series. Seven of them belong to this rookie Junior Commonero. So a series that Shohei Otani was playing in, mind you, and had a couple home runs himself. So, I mean, that's what we always heard about Junior Commonero on the minors. He hits the ball harder than any minor leaguer.

And unlike some of those guys that have come up in recent years, O'Neill Cruz, Ellie Dela Cruz, it's not like there are strikeout issues here for Junior Commonero. I just think, I just think he's has so much upside as a hitter and is closer to me. meeting it than anybody is giving him credit for just because we got a glimpse of him last year. And it's never as exciting the second time around when the prospect comes up. But Junior Cominero needs to be rostered everywhere. And he might just be a must-star player down the stretch. How, Scott, give me a percent chance that we are drafting Junior Camerreiro ahead of these players next year. Jackson Holiday.

50 percent? I was going to say like 75%. He's slowed down quite a bit himself. Well, Jackson Churio. I'm going to say like 20%. Jackson Merrill. 15%.

Okay. James Wood. I am going to say 15 also for James Wood. I would think just because of the speed factor, there's no chance that Caminara would go ahead of those other three would, Chorio and Merrill, there's still a month left to go.

I feel pretty good saying, I think Caminero will be drafted ahead of holiday next year. I think so, yeah. Yeah, there's a long way to go, but I don't know. I think you guys are maybe fading holiday a little too fast there. I'm not even saying that's how I would rank it. I just, you know, if Camerro plays to his potential and holiday continues to be a bit more all or nothing, than expected. I think it'll be easy for folks

to talk themselves into Caminero ahead of him. Okay. I'm doing a little psychoanalyzing. Yeah. And I should specify those percentages were for roto leagues. I think it'll be closer in points leagues where you don't have to weigh the factor in the steals disparity as much.

Yeah. Before we hit the break, I mean, obviously we just have to mention what Aaron Judge and Otani are doing right now, it's just, it is not human. They are so amazing. These guys, like we are privileged to be able to watch them right now. Judge, three more home runs this weekend, including two on Sunday. That brings him to 51 on the season.

And my condolences to anyone who faced Judge in a head-to-head league this week, like I did in the Scott White Dynasty League. He put up like 55 fantasy points, so great. Oh, man. Would have been great if he put up 99. Well, you know what? It's a two-week period, right, Scott? So there's a chance he could get to 99 by the end of it.

Otani, two for five with a sock in his shoe on Friday, added another home run on Saturday. he's already at 40-40 with a month left to play. And just to be clear, because I'm sure a lot of our listeners don't quite have a context for what points are worth. 55 in one week, if you score 550 points over the course of a full season as a hitter,

you're probably close to a first rounder. That's basically two hitters in one, 55. Like, if you have a 20... That's two good hitter weeks. A 27, 28 point week, that's like a really good week for. a hitter. So 55 is pretty insane. I have a couple things I want to mention here. So Shohei Otani,

earliest in the season anybody's gotten to 40-40. And it's not close. He could get to 50-50. I mentioned two weeks ago that Aaron Judge had hit 375 since the end of April. It's actually gone up since then. Aaron Judge is hitting 376 since the end of April. So it's not just power. And I also want to say, I think both MVP races are already decided.

Like, if these guys get injured tomorrow, and I'm certainly not hoping for that, but if they do, I still don't think anybody could overtake them for MVP. Got to mention, of course, with Otani, he left Sunday after getting hit by a pitch in his left wrist slash forearm area. X-rays were negative. Before we hit the break,

reminder to support our fantasy football counterpart, the FFT podcast, as their usual, their annual, excuse me, draft-a-thon is this Wednesday, August 28th. They'll be live all evening. on this Wednesday, getting you ready for your fantasy football drafts while raising money for St. Jude Children's Hospital. They're currently auctioning off some cool experiences at tiny URL.com slash draftathon 2024.

If you're watching on YouTube, you can scan the QR code and that will take you right to the website where you could find some of those items. All the money from the auction items and the donations will obviously be going to St. Jude. So it's a great cause. It's lots of fun. Make sure to support those guys as well. Let's take our first break when we return. Dylan Cruz is getting called up. We'll talk about that right after this. Welcome back in news and notes. The Nationals are expected to promote Dylan Cruz on Monday against the Yankees.

And this season in the minors, he was batting 270 with 13 homers, 25 steals, a 793 OPS. But he was heating up. Last 15 games at AAA, 313, four homers, five steals, 939 OPS. He is 54% rostered. Chris, do you think Dylan Cruz is a must add across the board, not just five out? Every single. Yeah. Okay.

It's not a 100% guaranteed that he will be worth starting even in a five outfield league. But this is, as Scott and I talked about on Friday's episode, this was one of the most productive college hitters ever who has held his own. He hasn't been James Wood or Wyatt Langford or, but he hasn't been bad in the minors. and there's a lot of reason to think that this is still a potentially impactful fantasy player in all formats. So, yeah. So I just said five outfielder leagues he was must add. I only got him up to 46th in my outfield rankings, I think, which would put him out of the three outfielder range. Not that he's unrustrable there.

And obviously there's a case to be made for taking a shot on upside in any format. But I don't know, somebody asked me on Twitter, would you drop Elliott Ramos? for him and I was like no yeah I wouldn't do that no yeah so so what do you did you did you did you have a chance to re-rank Dylan Cruz yet I'm I'm I'm looking at it right now and I think 40 to 45 makes sense so somebody asked me Lawrence Butler I said that was that was about a coin flip and I might lean Cruz just because Butler's sometimes sitting against lefties but that's the range of outfielders where I think you could talk about chasing the upside of crews. Just given all the struggles that first time prospect call-ups have had this year and really

over the last few years, you just got to be, I'm trying to be a little more discerning when these guys get called up, but not just for anybody. And I agree. But like your specific team talking to every individual listener. here. Your specific team, maybe there's no room for Dylan Cruz. That's possible. There are 10, 12, 14, 15 teams in every league. One of them's got a crappy outfielder that you could drop on the chance that Dylan Cruz is one of the guys. Like, if you're in a head to head, like, Starling Marte is probably rostered in most head to head points leagues. Cedric Mullins, like, even like a guy who's, like Michael Toglia,

in a points league, I think I'd be fine dropping him for Dylan Cruz. He's only 50% rostered or thereabouts. So, seven games and cores this week too. Yeah, seven games and cores. Yeah.

Yeah. I'd rather take, I mean, it also might depend on your situation. Again, yeah. Every single person out there, this may not be applicable to your team.

it's applicable to somebody's team. Okay. I can go along with that. I just wanted to contextualize it a bit more so that. Yeah, look, but nobody did drop Elliott Ramos for. The likeliest outcome might be that Dylan Cruz isn't very good. That's certainly been the track record for these types of prospects. But I'd, it's just mostly, I'd rather take the chance on these unproven guys than the guys who are likely available in your league.

Here are some names that are. are rostered in more than 80% of leagues, would you drop any of them for Dylan Cruz? Here's a fun one. Drafted right next to each other. Wyatt Langford. Yeah. So I do have Wyatt Langford a few spots ahead of Cruz in my rankings

still, but I think that's basically a coin flip rest of season. Who's better, too? And Chris, you mentioned Cedric Mullins. He's 81%. Would you guys be alright with that? Yeah, I'd drop Mullins for Cruz. Sure. Lane Tom, it's still 80%. Yep.

Yeah, I'd be fine with that. Yeah, I'd be good with that move as well. Rough weekend for catcher injuries, and it's been a bad luck season just overall for Wilson Contreras. I know you could point to his career and say he's missed a decent amount of time, but he suffered a fractured forearm earlier in the year on a batter swing, and this weekend he suffered a fractured middle finger on his right hand because of a hit by pitch. Also, Joey Bart is expected to be placed in the aisle with a left hamstring injury.

So we do have some catchers that are dropping over the weekend, the Cardinals are expected to recall Yvonne Herrera on Sunday. Could be an option in a deeper two catcher leagues. But if you play in a one catcher league, it feels like these names are probably the most exciting. Shea Langaleers is 68%, Austin Wells is 43%, and Adrian Del Castillo is 35%. Scott, how would you rank Langaliers, Wells, and Del Castillo?

I believe in my rankings, they're ranked Langalears, Wells, and Del Castillo. but of course, as we've often said when we've talked about catchers for one catcher leagues, they're very interchangeable at a certain point and just go after whoever you think is the hottest

or has the best matchups for the upcoming week. If you wanted to go Wells over Langaleers, I'd have no problem with that. Let me see. That one might just depend on what the upcoming schedule looks like because Wells has been

sitting against a lot of lefties and it seems like he's not going to catch Garrett Cole. Yeah, I think for this week, the best choice is Langaliers, and I haven't ranked best rest of season anyway. I will say, Yvonne Herrera has some really interesting skills. He's been really good at AAA over the past two seasons. It's an OPS near 900, if not a little above, actually. He's been very good down there.

This season hits the ball really hard. I don't know if he's going to play more than Pedro Pahas with Contreras out. but I remain very intrigued by Herrera, and it wouldn't take many good performances here to move him up my rankings. In deeper two catcher leagues, Alejandro Kirk has been hitting well. He's 16% rostered.

Miguel Amaya had a big weekend as well. Chris, would you take Yvonne Herrera ahead of Kirk and Amaya? I think I'd probably still take Kirk and Amaya. I just don't know how much Herrera is going to play given that they sent him down. Yeah. I think I would agree with that.

as well. If you play in like 15 team two catcher leagues where you know guys like Kirk and Amaya are not even available. I was trying to add like Nick Fortez and the Rockies guys just because they have games and cores this week. So Jacob Stallings is only like 2% rostered if I remember correctly. So like that may be that one. Yeah it could be. Yordaun Alvarez has missed three straight due to neck discomfort. What are you guys doing with Alvarez this week? Probably starting him. Okay. Just because he's Jordan Alvarez. Yeah, I would hope so. Astro's GM, Dana Brown, said Friday that he hopes Kyle Tucker will be able to return in early September. While Tucker has been upping his baseball activities, he still feels soreness in his right leg. Tyler

Glassnow played catch from 60 feet, but Dave Roberts admitted Glass Now will be out longer than expected. They still expect Glass Now to pitch again during the regular season. Yoshinobu Yamamoto We'll begin a rehab assignment this Wednesday with an eye to return in mid-September. Pirates GM Ben Sherrington acknowledged Sunday that there is a range of innings that the pirates do not want Paul Skeens to surpass this season, which could lead to more abbreviated starts over the final month. And we spoke about this last week. It kind of feels like we're headed down a Garrett Crochet path here for Paul Skeens. I wouldn't say that dramatic.

But yeah, I wouldn't expect 100 pitches every time. but like he's only thrown. He's two innings over. Yeah. Right what he did last year between college and the, you know, handful of appearances he made.

So like, yeah, maybe if he's 80 pitches in through five innings, they probably say, okay, that's the day. But I would be surprised if it was like four innings and done

unless he was really inefficient. I think he's going to get to around 90 pitches most times out. Okay. So you guys are good starting skeins this week, against the Cubs. Yeah. Yes. All right.

Jazz Chishol returned from the IL on Friday, and he started all three games for the Yankees. Hunter Green is confirmed to be dealing with inflammation in his right elbow after an MRI revealed no UCL damage. Michael Harris left Sunday with hand soreness after, you guessed it, another hit by pitch, which those are just not going away. Again, it happened to Otani.

It happened to Wilson Contreras. Michael Harris on Sunday as well. Robbie Ray exited his start on Sunday due to left hamstring tightness. Jacob de Grom will make his next rehab start at AAA on Tuesday. He made his first rehab start last Thursday. He allowed one run over two innings with three strikeouts. DeGrom is 71% rostered if you want to stash him for the final couple weeks of the season. Tori Lovulo said Friday that he wants to get Paul Cewald back to being the team's closer.

Lvulo also added that he's pleased with what Justin Martinez has been able to do. Martinez also picked up a save on Sunday. I don't know. I mean, how are you guys handicapping the D-backs bullpen right now? I think Justin Martinez is the closer right now. Yeah, I just, I don't know. There's six weeks left. I think Justin Martinez is pretty good.

I think Paul Sewell is probably better when he's right. So like, given a long enough time, I do expect Paul Seawald to return to the closer role for the Diamondbacks. Is there enough time for that this season? There might be, but I don't think it's a guarantee. Oh, it's not a guarantee. And just because that's what Tori Lavulo would like to do in an ideal scenario, doesn't even mean it's going to happen.

See, Walt hasn't been locked down since he moved out of the closer role. And the longer Martinez succeeds in that role, the harder it's going to be to remove him. Carlos Correa, who's been out since July 20th due to Wright Planter fasciitis, will not return before the end of August. his return keeps getting pushed back due to soreness after running. Shane Boz was scratched from his start Sunday due to the flu. Xavier Edwards left early on Friday due to lower back discomfort.

He underwent imaging, which came back negative. Edwards is considered day-to-day. And this is a tough situation because Edwards has been awesome for the past month. The Marlins have games in Corse Field this week, but we don't really know when he's going to return. So what do you guys think about Edwards? It wouldn't surprise me if he wound up on the, I'll. I'm not saying he will, but this is a sore back. That's the kind of thing that can linger.

So I would try not to start him this week, even though you love the series at Corsefield. And yeah, he's been must start since he got called up, basically. I try to avoid it, though. U. Darvish was activated from the restricted list Friday after dealing with a personal issue, but was then shifted to the 15-day IL. Darvish said he's feeling good, and his placement on the IL was just a matter of rampant. up. The D-backs have moved Jordan Montgomery to the bullpen, opting to keep Ryan Nelson in the rotation. Instead, Nelson had another strong start this weekend. We'll talk about him with waiver wire pitchers. Joey Bart, as we mentioned, is likely to go on the IL. Jack Lighter could be called up to start Wednesday against the White Sox, and Leiter's last nine starts at AAA, a 257 ERA,

124 whip, 13.5K per nine. With all that said, he made three starts in the majors this season, and they were pretty awful. 21% rostered. Any interest in Jack Leiter? I have some interest. I can't say in like a 12 team points league that I look to add him anywhere. But yeah,

I think he's clearly at least pretty talented. And it might be, you know, Scott, I think we were talking about it in Thursday's podcast. Like he might still be too fastball dependent. And, you know, when you look at some of the underlying numbers,

that seems to be the case. and if the fastball is not really, really working for him, he tends to get hit pretty hard. So, yeah, it can go wrong, as we've seen. But I think there's some upside here, sure. I'm seeing he was less Homer prone during that nine-start stretch. Still a lot of walks.

Yeah, there's definitely talent for Jack Leiter. I just, you know, there's talent for Joe Boyle, too. Yeah. So I think it, I'm to a point with Leiter where I got to see it actually begin to take shape before I get excited about him in fantasy. Agreed. The only thing I'll add is if you are desperate in deeper league,

he gets the White Sox. So anybody could look good against the White Sox. So even Jack Leiter, I think that's a possibility. Somewhat related to this with Jack Leiter likely getting called up to the majors, Kumar Rocker has been promoted to AAA. And he has been awesome in his return

from Tommy John surgery. It's a 203 ERA, a 0.90 whip, 37 strikeouts over 26 and 2 thirds. It's a really small sample. He hasn't completed five innings in a start yet. But this is a former, you know, top pitching prospect in all of college baseball before he got drafted. So I think there still could be some talent here.

And, you know, if you held on in a Dynasty League, there might be something there. Yeah, kind of screwed up that they didn't let them be teammates again. Yeah, right. As soon as one gets called up, the other one takes his place on the team. Other players who went on the aisle this weekend, Andrew Abbott with a left shoulder. strain, Alex Call with a partial tear of the plant's heart fascia in his left foot, Javier Baez, due to lumbar spine and hip inflammation, and Paul Blackburn, due to a right-hand contusion.

Let's get back into Waverwire pitchers, and again, I think we're mostly going to focus on matchups from here on out, but the first group included Bout and Francis, who we spoke a lot about, Bobby Miller as well. Bobby Miller gets the Orioles this week. Two other names that are pretty highly rostered at this point. Ben Lively turned in another quality start this weekend, and he gets the Pirates this week. That's a great matchup.

And Cody Bradford continues to pitch well. His last four starts is a 263 ERA, a 104 whip, and he gets the Oakland A's this week. Scott, how would you be ranking? I guess if we're just going based on matchups, Bradford, Ben Lively, Bobby Miller, and Bowden, Francis. Well, I don't know that I'm ready to go just based on matchups. How do you just rank the group?

Okay. Yeah, no, Francis and Bobby Miller clearly one and two here, the most exciting. I don't know that I'm ready to start either of them next week, but there are weeks beyond this week unless your league just happens to end early. If you need somebody for this week, Cody Bradford is at the top of the list. And I'm starting to come around to him as being a respectable, not much roster type in fantasy, but he has strengths. He has strengths. His fly ball rate is close to 50%. His walk per 9 is 1.5.

So he is on two fronts, really good at preventing base runners and has been pitching deep into games. I believe this was his third straight start of six innings or more over the weekend, Cody Bradford. And yeah, a pretty good matchup upcoming against the athletics. And Cody Bradford is a spark. So if you play in a points league, you can use him in a relief pitcher spot.

The next group includes Ryan Nelson, who turned in another strong start up against the Red Sox, six innings, two runs, seven strikeouts, last nine starts for Nelson, 276 ERA, a point 95 whip. David Peterson also continues to pitch well. He was at the Padres,

seven and a third innings, one run with two strikeouts, five starts in August. It's a 171 ERA and 107 whip. Javier Assad turned in a quality start at the Marlins, and Zebby Matthews, a solid outing up against the card.

Cardinals, five innings, one run, seven strikeouts. I'll just quickly mention the matchups. Matthews gets the Blue Jays, Assad at the Nats, David Peterson at the White Sox. That's great. And Ryan Nelson gets the Mets. Chris, how would you rank this next group? Probably Nelson, Matthews, Peterson, Assad.

But if you wanted to give Peterson the edge over Matthews, because I would rather start him this week, I think that's perfectly fine, but I think Nelson is the most interesting of this group. It just, it doesn't feel very sustainable to me. Like, he's got a pretty good fastball. Like, it gets good results on balls and play. But even in this stretch where he's,

it's not just throwing the fastball more. He's throwing high in the zone with the fastball more. His whiff rate since the start of July is about 20% with the four seamer, which is pretty run of the mill. So I don't think he's suddenly, you know, the 276 ERA since the start of July, I think it's pretty unlikely he sustains that. But, you know, I'm fine rolling with the hot hand for Ryan Nelson.

All right. Let's move on to the next group, which includes DJ Hers, who had another solid start at the Braves, five shutout innings with eight strikeouts, 18 whiffs on 92 pitches. Last seven starts for hers. It's a 262 ERA and a 117 whip.

Albert Suarez has been pitching well lately. He was up against the Astros. Five and two-thirds innings, two runs with three strikeouts. Last four starts for him, it's a 0.77 ERA and a 0.94 whip. Luis Ortiz had a strong start up against the red, six shutout innings with five strikeouts. And Jose Cantana has had a quality start at the Padre, six and a third shutout innings, zero strikeouts.

Why am I talking about Jose Cantana? He faces the White Sox this week, so I wanted to mention that. Ortiz is at the Guardians. Albert Suarez is in course field, and DJ Hers is home against the Cubs. Scott, how would you rank that group? Well, this is a group where I might just look at the upcoming week, who has the best matchup, and it's Kentana. He's the only one of these pitchers who is among my sleeper pitchers for next week.

And, yeah, I guess I'd put him number one. I do think DJ Hers and Albert Suarez. There's something there with Hers. I think so too. He has started to mix it up more, not relying so much on the fastball. Hers has, which could be a good thing. It could be a bad thing. But the last two, well, clearly more than just the last two starts have been good.

But even more recently, he's begun to mix in more changeups and sliders. and had 18 swinging strikes in the start against the Braves. I think he's going to be the kind of pitcher where when it goes wrong, it goes really wrong. And so you're always going to feel like you're playing with fire with DJ Hers. I'll also mention that of the 14 starts he's made in the majors this year, only two have gone six innings. So he's not giving you a lot of volume, and that makes it extra scary. Suarez I'm mostly just interested in because his supporting cast and I have even less explanation for why he's pitched well when he's pitched well.

But I do think he's back in the discussion at least. But again, of these, I think Kentana I'd prioritize just because of the matchup next week against the White Sox. If you are a believer in the revenge game, DJ Hers was drafted by the Chicago Cubs and he gets to face them this week. so I had to dig a little bit deeper for that one. I almost said revenge game for Jose Cantana, but he'd have to harbor, he'd have been harboring that ill will for like a decade at this point. Yeah, that's true.

Some names in deeper leagues, Andre Palante had a great start at the twin seven innings, one run with five strikeouts. He gets the Padres this week. Julian Aguilar of the Reds had a strong start at the Pirates, six innings, two runs with four strikeouts. He gets the Brewers this week. Joey Estes turned in a,

near quality start up against the Brewers, five and two-thirds, two runs, five strikeouts. The numbers in the second half have looked pretty good, but does not look sustainable at all. The underlying statistics do not buy it. He's at the Rangers this week, and Matthew Boyd, a quality start up against the Rangers. Six innings, one run, four strikeouts.

He gets the Pirates this week. Chris, these are pretty deep league names, but any interest in Boyd, Estes, Julian Aguilar, and Andre Palante. No, not really. If I had to be interested in one, I guess it would be Matthew Boyd. Yes.

Who looked good in his AAA rehab assignment has gotten good results. I don't think he's been particularly impressive so far. And obviously we know Matthew Boyd, not a pitcher you have wanted in the past to rely on for too long because eventually there's a three home. game lurking somewhere. Maybe DJERS is the new Matthew Boyd. But I like the slider hasn't really been there yet. I don't I don't have much excitement for any of those guys. All right, fair enough. Let's take our final break. And when we return, we'll hit the waiver wire hitters

right after this. Welcome back in waiver wire hitters. And we are taking a look at some third baseman. Junior Camerro probably not out there. Maybe 10 team leagues. He's 70. 28% rostered, but it's not 100%. So just check to make sure. Eh, E. E. E. E. E. Hino-Swarres had himself a huge weekend in Boston, three-for-five with his 19th home run on Friday, then four-for-four with his 20th home run on Sunday. Last 42 games for Suarez, he is betting 309 with 45 home runs. So he has been awesome for the past two months, basically.

Colt Keith is picking things back up as well. He had a big weekend, six hits, one homer, seven RBI, and one steel. Scott, how would you rank Camerro, Suarez, and Colt Keith? I would rank them Camerro, Suarez, and Colt Keith. I think that's pretty straightforward. Yeah, though I do think Suarez, 68% rostered is way too low at this point for as long as he's been performing like he has two months, basically at this point of an OPS near 1,000. Batting over 300, people are sleeping on Suarez a bit, I think. Yeah, I think so as well.

Some names in five outfieler leagues. Two more homers this weekend for Jean-Kenzie Noel, who has started 10 of the past 12 games for the Guardians. He's now up to a 965 OPS in 41 games played. And Pete Crow Armstrong has quietly turned things up lately. Last 25 games, he's betting 289, with four home runs, 12 runs scored, 14 RBI, 5 steals, and an OPS over 900.

He also is playing every single day. Chris, who do you do? like more in five outfield of leagues. John Kenzie Noel or Pete Crow Armstrong. You said you didn't specify points versus Rodo, right? Well, you can specify that in your analysis. It doesn't matter. This is tough because, like, Noel is starting to play pretty much every day,

including against Ritey's, which he wasn't doing early on. And he's not been good against Ritees. 687 OPS, 26 strikeouts, and 75 plate appearances. he has eight home runs in 49 plate appearances or seven home runs in 44 played appearances against lefties so far the season. He has a 12-16 OPS against lefties. So Noel seems to have some pretty obvious limitations,

but I think the power is legitimate, and I do like adding him quite a bit. Pekar Armstrong is probably the better roto option, though. The speed is legitimate. And he's one of those guys that, like, if he can just be a decent hitter, he might be an all-star caliber player. And maybe he just never gets to much more than decent.

Maybe he's just Kevin Kiermeyer. And he maxes out as like a 15-15 guy. I think the speed's a little better. But the last 100 plate appearances for P. Kro Armstrong, X Wobah is up to 344. League average is 315. If he could be even a slightly above average hitter, I think he's a star caliber player in real life and a really good fantasy option because the speed is truly elite and he's running a lot.

So I'll give Pete Crow Armstrong the edge there. So Crow Armstrong, I hadn't noticed until this big weekend how much less he was striking out this year, only 22% when last year he was striking out a ridiculous clip. That's part of the reason I was down on him. in the majors, I mean, it wasn't so bad in the minors. There are some underlying plate discipline issues there. If you want to look at the zone contact rate and that sort of thing, there are reasons beyond strikeout rate to wonder if Pete Crow Armstrong is a, is a, what's the word I'm looking for?

A stable enough hitter, maybe to find consistent success in the major. but the arrow is pointing up for sure, especially since he's playing every day. And just to underscore the point about Noel, you think the power for John Kinsey, Noel is legit. Only 17 major leaguers have hit a ball harder than him this year. And that's, you know, Noel hasn't been in the majors that long. Only 17 players have hit a ball harder than him. And that does not include Juan Soto and Kyle Schwerber. They're right behind him in terms of hardest hit ball.

So yeah, that is legit power for Noel. He's hot right now. I think they're both probably must add in five outfielder leagues. Pick up Dylan Cruz before them, of course. But they're definitely making waves for sure. When he got called up, my first thought looking at his stats and looking at him is this was Frame Airius 2.0. Yeah. It's kind of looking like it.

Yeah. So far. We'll see. Again, that was Jean-Kenzie Noel that we were talking about. two names if you need a middle infielder. Connor Norby has been raking since being called back up. He had two home runs and a steal this weekend. Six games since being recalled,

he's got nine hits total, two homers, one steal. He has let off two games in a row with Xavier Edwards Hurt. And Norby, 18% rostered. He's got seven games this week, four of those in Cores Field. The other name here is Geraldo Perdomo, who's having a big August, 325 batting average, three home runs, four steals, a 925 OPS. Scott, if you're just looking for a middle infielder, you know, 12-team,

roto or deeper, who do you like more Connor Norby or Geraldo Perdomo? Norby. Norby, there's, I understand Perdomo's had a big August. I don't think there's a lot of offensive upside there. And Norby, I'm not sure there is either, but he was very productive in the minors. He has a swing that's geared for home runs that I didn't think would work in Baltimore, but there's a chance it'll work in Miami. and after the big weekend he just had, I think Norby is deserving of some looks in deeper leagues.

Yes, and he gained third base eligibility on CBS. So I had a league where I hadn't had a good Austin Riley replacement yet, and I think I'm just going to throw Connor Norby in there, especially with those matchups this upcoming week. Two names in much deeper leagues. Addison Barger is making some noise for the Blue Jays lately. He's got two home runs this weekend. He started eight of the past nine games.

He is a player that formerly had some big prospect pedigree as well. He's only 3% rostered. And Jose Tana, who plays for the Nationals, he actually came over in the Lane Thomas trade. He went three for four with his first career home run on Saturday. And in 11 games so far with the Nats, 3.59, one homer, one steel, 852 OPS. Chris, anything here, 15-team Roto Leagues are deeper, Addison Barger and Jose Tena. Jose Tainas kind of interesting, maybe. I like him a lot.

He's played 120 games at AAA in his career. He's at 298. Decent amount of strikeouts, so I don't think the batting averages is all that projectable. But 23 homers, 15 steals in that stretch, 865 OPS. I think there could be a useful player here. And I've said it a few times, but one thing that I think the nationals deserve some credit for is during the midst of this. tear down. They have done a good job of like mixing and matching these guys who in other organizations might be viewed as kind of quad A type talents. And they're just giving them opportunities.

And sometimes they flop, but they've gotten decent, you know, partial seasons or full seasons out of like Joey Manessus. They, you know, Lane Thomas is someone they turned into a little bit of a prospect hall. So I like the way they've handled this. And Jose Tena, I think, is a pretty interesting name in a deeper roto league. So at least during his time with Cleveland, which was 90% of his games, his AAA games this year, Jose Tena, average eggs have lost the 91.5 miles per hour and max of 112.1. That is legit. And you wouldn't know it by looking at him because he's kind of smallish.

But I think there's legit talent there with Tena. And I'm glad he's getting a chance with the nationals that he didn't get with the Guardians. I did just want to mention for Barger. I had some bids in on him in deeper leagues. Just because the Blue Jays have seven games this week, they're all against right-handed pitching. So I do think maybe he sits out one game, but it plays the majority, if not all of those games,

that's Addison Barger with the Blue Jays. Starters sit these pitchers this upcoming week, and these are names that are kind of fringy. They've had some ups and downs. We'll start with Carlos Rodan, who had a great start against the Rockies, six shot-out innings with five strikeouts, and over his last six.

Six starts. He has a 267 ERA and a 107 whip. 79% started and at the nationals this week, Chris, what do you think? Start or sit Carlos Rodon. So I think we have seen enough from Carlos Rodan this season to not endlessly chase whatever the most recent stretch of X number of games that's good or bad. It clearly has not been very predictive. and the overall production, low fours, ERA, you know, maybe he's more like a high threes, but I think you probably just leave him in there and you stop worrying about it, especially against a matchup like Washington.

That feels like a fairly easy call to me. Having said that, if he struggles, don't blame it on me. Blame it on him. Again, that was Carl Swardan. How about Joe Musgrove, who was awesome up against the Mets, seven shutout innings, one hit, nine strikeouts, had 12 whiffs on. 75 pitches. And in three starts since returning from the IL, it's a 0.57 ERA, a 0.57 whip.

And he is at the Cardinals this week. Only 41% started. Scott, how do you feel about Joe Musgrove? Yeah, might be willing to start him. He's been, so this was the first start of extended length, seven innings, but he's been great. You mentioned the numbers there. Great since returning.

He's thrown 70% of his pitches for strikes. he's at a 13% swinging strike rate. I was concerned since he's still pitching with this bone spur that put him on the aisle, and there was some talk of him tweaking his delivery before coming back to be able to pitch through that injury. And I don't know if he did or not. It was months ago that we heard those reports, but Joe Musgrove looks like the best version of Joe Musgrove. And so a matchup like the Cardinals, I'd be fine starting him. What about Zach Gowan who bounced back with a strong start at the Red Sox?

Six shutout innings with nine strikeouts. He had 12 whiffs on 99 pitches. And he finally got that great curveball working again. It was dominant in this outing. His previous nine starts before this, he was pretty bad. 524 ERA and 166 whip. 65% started. He gets the Dodgers this week.

What do you think, Chris? I was really hoping you wouldn't go to me on this one. Because I think starting Gowan versus the Dodgers is legitimately a coin flip. I think I'd rather start Musgrove and Rodan this week than Gallen. It's been such a weird stretch since coming back from the hamstring injury, a lot of walks, even in this one, four walks in six innings. So if he goes out and dominates the Dodgers, I would not be surprised. I can't say I'm expecting it.

I'll put it this way. You have a good excuse to sit, Zach Gallen, if you're looking to get another, If there's some pitcher you're trying to fit in your lineup and you're like, I can't figure out how to do it, it's justifiable to sick Zach Gallen. But I was encouraged by this return to form over the weekend. He still walked four in six innings, so it wasn't great. But the strikeouts were back up, and the movement profile in his curveball was different specifically.

He was looking to get it a little less vertical and a little more horizontal. And the vertical movement was improved by it. So and he got better results. So it seems like he might have a grasp on what's gone wrong for him, which is encouraging. But yeah, it's the Dodgers. So, yeah. Would you start someone like Andrew Heaney who has those two great matchups, the A's and the White Sox over Zach Allen? I think I wouldn't points.

Yeah, I guess that's fair. But that's like a coin flip, which goes to show. what my sleeper's pitcher list actually means. Because Andrew Heaney's pretty high on it. And I'm not sure I want to sit Zach Gallen against the Dodgers for him. All right, let's move over to Sunny Gray, who continues to struggle over his last 10 starts,

a 586 ERA and a 139 whip. The biggest difference between this year and last year is home runs. He was the best pitcher in baseball at suppressing home runs last year, and this year he has been quite the opposite. opposite. He is home against the Padres this week. What do you guys think about Sunny Gray? So that's tough because the Padres are the least strikeout pro team in baseball. And the one thing you

expect from Sunny Gray is strikeouts. So I think I lean towards starting him, but I can certainly understand if you don't want to. What about Rangers? Ranger Suarez was solid in his return from the IL at the Royals five innings, one run, six strikeouts. And he is home against the Blue Jays this week. I would start him. Okay. What about Taj Bradley, who had another rough outing this time at the Dodgers? You almost want to give anybody a pass against the Dodgers lineup when they're completely healthy. It's Freeman and Betts and Otani and Monty's hitting again. But Taj Bradley has been bad over his last five starts, a 796 ERA and a 162 whip. He is home against the Padres.

Again, that's a tough matchup. I think you have to sit him. What about dropping him? Can you drop Taj Bradley? I want to go that far because he was so good for so long, and I think the upside's pretty clear. But he does seem to have unraveled here for whatever reason, and until he shows signs of pulling out of that, I think you need to sit him. Clayton Kirshaw had a rough outing on the other side of that start. Five innings, five runs, five strikeouts, still had 15 whiffs in that one,

but he is at the D-backs this week. They are second in Wobah against lefties. That's it. All right. What about Ronaldo Lopez, who has looked good in two starts off the IL? He was home against the Nats on Sunday. Six innings, one run, seven strikeouts. And he is at the Phillies this week.

A team that is seemingly gone ice cold. So we're good with that, Ronaldo Lopez? They did have, what, two games in a row of 11 runs for the Phillies this weekend? So maybe starting to back to figure it out. But yeah, I start Renalda. He did. Reinaldo Lopez did just see the Phillies earlier this week. So two weeks in a row that generally favors the offense. But I'd be more likely to start Reinaldo Lopez than Zach Allen, I think.

Yeah, I think so too. Kevin Gosman had a dominant start up against the Angels, seven innings, one run, 10 strikeouts, 20 whiffs on 94 pitches. And he changed up the pitch mix in this one. He actually threw more sinkers and sliders, which is not something we normally. see from Kevin Gosman. He is at the twins this week. What do you think about Gosman?

I mean, I guess it's good that he's trying something different. Even the good starts he's had recently, the strikeouts have been there. So that he got away from his bread and butter, and that's when the strikeouts ticked up again, 10 of them in seven innings, is a head scratcher. And I don't know that it's going to be,

revitalize him long term. I think he's startable, but I'm not, I'm not eager to start Gosman. Yeah. Okay. What about Seth Luga, who looks like he's getting hit with some regression right now. Five and a third innings, 11 hits, six runs

this weekend, and last eight starts. He has a 558 ERA and a 132 whip. He's at the Astros this week. Yeah, you said him. I think I don't know. I don't know if, If Lugo's used up his startability for this year. I think if the matchup was good enough, I'd do it.

But it seems like he's... Seems like all the regression is coming right now. And this last name on the list is not a pitcher, but he's someone we mentioned earlier on. Jackson Holiday is slumping once again. His first 15 games after being recalled, he hit 286 with five home runs, 14 RBI, a 940 OPS and a 27% strikeout rate.

His last nine games, he's batting 0.74 with a 34% strikeout rate. Are you guys okay benching Jackson Holiday this week? He does have three games in course field. Yeah, I'm starting him with the three games in course field, even as bad as he's been. Yeah. It's a rhodo versus head-de-head thing.

And more specifically, it's a does your league have a middle-in field spot or not, because if it does, then I think you have to go deep enough into the middle infield pool to that you have to go so deep that it turns holiday into a starter. But if you don't have those middle end field spots in your league, it's not even 100% rosterable, I would say.

Let's get into the rest of the leftovers from the weekend and just want to highlight Brian Wu continues this awesome run. Seven innings, two runs, seven strikeouts to zero walks. He had 16 whiffs on 94 pitches. Five starts in August, a 159 ERA, 0.68 whip. he has gone at least six and a third innings in five straight. He's thrown 85 plus pitches in each of those. It's wild because the first through the end of July,

he was averaging 70 pitches per start and fewer than five innings per start. He had like a 19% strikeout rate and he had like a two something ERA. And I was like completely out on Brian Wu. He was getting hurt every other start. It just didn't seem like there was anything sustainable there. And then all of a sudden, August rolls around. He's averaging like 90 plus pitches per start. He's going deep in his games consistently.

He's going less fastball heavy and finding success. It's not a question of talent. The fastball's elite. But he's throwing other pitches and still finding that success. He's finding more success. He's pitching deep in the games. Seems to be healthy. Yeah, I think Brian Wu looks like a must start pitcher as long as he's healthy right now.

All right. Some other pitching leftovers, Hunter Brown continues to rack up quality starts. He was at the Orioles, six innings, two runs, six strikeouts there. Shoto Imanaga turned in a strong start up against the Marlins, seven innings two runs with three strikeouts. Pablo Lopez was great against the Cardinals, seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts. He had 21 whiffs on 96 pitches, and over his last 11 starts, a 265 ERA and a 101 whip. Gavin Stone had himself a monster two-start week. He faced Tampa Bay this weekend seven innings one run with seven strikeouts. And in those two starts, 14 innings, one run, 17 strikeouts for Gavin Stone.

Scott, anything to add on Stone, Lopez, Imanaga, and Hunter Brown. Man, I wish I had Gavin Stone higher in the two-star pitcher rankings for this past week. Would have been nice to get credit for that. But he was so bad prior to these two starts. And they both were good matches. But I mean, his third start. prior to these last two was pretty good. Okay, yeah, it was decent.

The very last one, but it was like... Pretty horrible before that. I don't think he had gone six innings and a start since that complete game he had at the end of June. And I'm not really seeing what's changed for the him. Obviously, the results are a lot better.

His changeup has been up a little in velocity. He's starting to slide a little bit, isn't he? A little bit more? He did in the first of the two starts, but it was kind of back to normal in this one. And it's not like it was a huge difference even in the one where he threw it more. He mentioned something about crediting Mark Pryor and the Dodgers coaching staff for helping him fine-tune his delivery. And so maybe there's some kind of small mechanical tweak that helped set Gavin Stone back on the right path. I don't really know.

but it was really good these last two starts what's his matchup upcoming I can search that up real quick looks like the diamond backs so I'm not sure I'm ready to plug Gavin Stone back in except in deeper leagues but I was I would have been dropping him prior to this

two star week frankly and now that's obviously not the case yep and one bad outing worth highlighting. He's prone to a clunker. I think that's all right because he's been so good for so long. But Blake Snell at the Mariners,

obviously we were looking for a great start and a great matchup. He did throw three no-hit innings, but he also had six walks in this one. Objectively the funniest pitcher in baseball. Like, I just, I love this. He goes on like a historic run of dominance after a historic run of futility.

And then is the only pitcher so far this season to have a game where he started, gave up multiple earned runs without giving up a hit. He's just, he's hilarious. I think Blake Snell is just a marvel. And I love that for him.

Some hitting leftovers from the weekend. Brent Rooker continues his breakout three for four with his 30th home run. Sayas Suzuki had himself a huge game on Saturday, three for five with a double dong for RBI. He was slumping a little bit before that. So nice to see him get back on track. J.T. Real Muto had himself a big, a huge game.

Three for five with a double dong, seven RBI on Saturday. Overall, it's been a down season for Real Muto. He missed some time earlier this year to have surgery on his meniscus. He also has just one steal on the season. Wouldn't surprise me if that is due to the knee injury that he had earlier on. Francisco Lindor continues his great season as well, two for four with a double dong five RBI on Saturday. And Elliot Ramos is picking things back up last seven games.

346 with three home runs. Anything to add here. Ramos, Lendora, Real Muto, Suzuki, and Brent Rooker. All right, two things. One, really rooting for Elliott Ramos

to get 10 more home runs because the Giants have not had a 30 home run season since Barry Bonds and that is one of the wildest stats in professional sports right now. Especially when you consider they won three world series

during that time. It's crazy. And Scott did say Shohei Otani's running away with National League MVP. Just want to point out, Francisco Lindor now leads the National League in wins above replacement, according to Fangraphs. So I hope we all agree to not have the memory of a goldfish

next April if he starts out hitting 170 for two weeks. And people stop freaking out about it. Well, Chris, the people that need to hear that don't listen to the podcast anymore at this time in the year. That's why they're always freaking out. They stop paying attention to baseball too early. That's exactly right. I will also mention Joe Hottani well ahead of Francisco Lendor in baseball reference.

No, that's that's fake numbers. Fake numbers. Watch a game. Get your head out of the spreadsheets. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know the difference between the two, but I do use. No, I think O'M a lot.

He's clearly the MVP. Yeah, I think we could all agree on that. Some bullpen updates for the Pirates on Friday. David Bednar got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He gave up a hit and a walk, but he picked up his 23rd save. For the Orioles on Friday, Craig Kimberl got the eighth inning with the Orioles down five to two.

He gave up two hits, but got out of it. And then the Orioles scored five runs to take a two-run lead. Sir Anthony Dominguez picked up his fifth save. And then on Saturday, they went back to Dominguez. With a one-run lead, he struck out one for his sixth save of the. the season. I think at least for the time being, we are still looking at Sir Anthony Dominguez being the closer for the Orioles. For the Angels on Friday, Ben Joyce got the eighth inning with a

one-run lead facing three, four, and five in the Blue Jays lineup. He pitched a clean inning, and then Rwanzi Contreras got the ninth with a one-run lead. He gave up back-to-back home runs, took his second blown save and second loss. The obvious thing is, hey, use Ben Joyce in the ninth inning to get saves, but he was technically used in the highest leverage spot. in this game. He has not gotten a save while working a ninth inning, right? Like just a ninth inning. I think both of his saves have been multi-inning, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Five and four out. So then use him that way. Let him throw two innings. I don't, the usage of him has been weird, but it's clearly not just closer usage.

You know, it seems more like fireman usage, but maybe after this, it leads to more, traditional closure usage, I would hope so. Yep. For the Cubs on Friday, Porter Hodge entered with two outs in the seventh. The game tied runners on first and second.

He struck out Derek Hill. The Cubs took a one-run lead. Hodge stayed out for the eighth. He struck out two more. And then Jorge Lopez then got the ninth inning with a three-run lead. He struck out two for his fourth save. Who do you guys think it's the next save for the Cubs? Is it Lopez or Porter Hodge?

I think Lopez. I was dropping more fab dollars on him then on Hodge, though I was putting in some bids on Hodge, too. It was a revenge game. They had to get Lopez to save. Is that true? He was on the Marlins for like three weeks last year. I did not remember that at all. For the E Royals on Friday, Lucas Ersig pitched a clean ninth inning for his seventh save for the Tigers on Friday. Jason Foley picked up his 17th save for the Giants on Saturday, even with Camilo DeVal back with the team. Ryan Walker got the ninth. Got the ninth.

with a one-run lead, he struck out two for his third save. For the Dodgers on Saturday, Michael Kopeck got the eighth inning with a two-run lead facing seven, eight, and nine in the raised lineup. He gave up a run on a walk and two hits. And then Evan Phillips got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He gave up a solo home run, took his third blown save, and the Dodgers would eventually lose an extra innings. And then on Sunday, Kopec and Phillips were both unavailable,

and it was lefty Anthony Bonda, who pitched a clean ninth inning for his first. his second save. Seems like Daniel Hudson is completely out of the mix because he hadn't pitched since Tuesday and they didn't even give him a look on Sunday. Yeah. So. Yep. Yep.

Yep. Yep. Yeah. I still think Kopec's the one to have here, but it's pretty messy. And then for the debacks on Sunday, as we mentioned, Justin Martinez picked up his sixth save of the season. To stream or not to stream on Monday, some options. James and Tyone is at the Pirates.

Kyle Gibson gets the Padres. I don't like any of these guys. Ty Madden was kind of a pitching prospect for the Tigers. He's had a terrible season. He's making his major league debut. It's at the White Sox. I think we've just reached a point where it's really hard to justify anyone

in this roster ship range unless you're just desperate. Yeah. Which is what I keep saying for the weekly stream. too. So for the desperate, I will suggest Kyle Gibson

against the Padres. No, no, no, no, no. I'll suggest James and Tyone at the Pirates. Okay. Sure. Worth mentioning the schedule on Monday, I should have mentioned this earlier during the news and notes, but there is an early game. There's a doubleheader at 1 p.m. It's the Royals and the Guardians. And then there's a suspended game, which starts at 2 o'clock, I believe.

I need to clarify something here. The suspended game is going to be close to a full game because it was suspended in the second inning. That's between the Blue Jays and the Red Sox. And I saw Nick Povetta is pitching in that game. So Nick Povetta is not going to be a two-star pitcher because you're not going to get credit for that suspended game in head-to-head leagues.

Roto leagues, you'll get credit for it, but only for how your lineup was set way back in June when the game started. And to highlight the more important news, I believe Danny Jansen will be taking over at Catcher in a played appearance that he began on the opposite side of the game

back in April or May or whatever it was. It's so crazy, man. First time that's ever happened in Major League history. It's phenomenal. I love that baseball has existed for 8,000 years and they play 4 million games per season and there are still things that have never happened before.

It's crazy. Crazy stuff. To stream or not to stream on Tuesday, we have Jeffrey Springs at the Mariners. Eduardo Rodriguez gets the Mets. Andrew Heaney at the White Sox. Tobias Myers gets the Giants. Woods Richardson gets the Braves.

I think it's Springs. Heaney Rodriguez. Gavin Williams and Lorenzen are facing each other. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. top sleeper pitcher for the week, even with just this one start Tuesday, is against the Mariners. But since we talked up Kyle Harrison as a two-star sleeper for this week and show, I need to mention also he's no longer a two-star pitcher. For the second straight week, he looked like he was going to be a two-star pitcher, but he is not a two-star pitcher. Just one start for Kyle Harrison this week against the Brewers. So consider that when setting your line of us.

But back to the segment at hand, daily streamers, Tuesday. Yeah, Springs at Seattle, Heaney, at the White Sox. And who's the third one you said, Chris? Tobias Myers against the Giants. I think I said that Robert Rodriguez. I like Tobias Myers more. All right, we are going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank.

Thanks as always for tuning in some 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.