Fantasy Baseball Today - Nola & deGrom Dominate, Week 22 Sleepers & Two-Start Pitchers (8/26 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 26, 2022

Lance Lynn is back on track in August (1:00)! ... Aaron Nola and Jacob deGrom were both awesome on Thursday (2:30). ... Can Goldschmdit pull off the NL Triple Crown (10:15)? ... Is it time to add Shea Langeliers (14:40)? ... How do we feel about Patrick Sandoval (22:06)? ... News (30:40): Zack Wheeler went to the IL. ... What does the Week 22 schedule look like (38:05)? Which two-start pitcher should you start? ... Which sleeper hitters can you target (44:40)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpens and streamers (49:00). Want a 2023 Fantasy Baseball pre-draft Zoom call with Scott White? You can bid here with all proceeds going to St. Jude's Children's Hospital: https://www.ebay.com/itm/374227992145 Want a 2023 Fantasy Baseball pre-draft Zoom call with Frank Stampfl? You can bid here with all proceeds going to St. Jude's Children's Hospital: https://www.ebay.com/itm/374227991188 Do you want to join the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast as a guest? You can bid on it with all proceeds going to St. Jude's Children's Hospital here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/374225470953 Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get 20% off Fantasy Baseball Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Come in to fantasy baseball today on August 26th. Frank Staple joined by Scott White. Today on the show, we had a couple NLE East studs on the mound, and they did not disappoint. We've got Week 22 sleepers, two-star pitchers, and it's been a while since we've done fantasy justice for all. So let's fire that back up. But first, let's jump in.

Oh, my goodness gracious. Oh, my goodness gracious. Scott White is here, and he is ready. to reveal his standout right now. Yeah. Lance Lynn. Lance Lynn, what did I tell you, suckers, about Lance Lynn? Told you he was going to be fine, didn't I?

Well, wow. He looks fine in August. So this latest start at Baltimore, Thursday, one run and six innings, three hits aloud, eight strikeouts, 15 swinging strikes on 100 pitches. That's obviously a really good rate. and that brings his August line across five starts to 273 ERA.91 whip 10.3 strikeouts per nine innings. I think Lance Lynn is fine. All right.

And he was kind of in a weird group of the rankings, at least for me, where like pitchers you didn't really know what to do with like Jose Burrios, Pablo Lopez, who, you know, been up and down all season long. and I would say based on how he's pitched in the month of August, Lance Lynn has definitely earned the right to move back up the rankings at least a little bit, distance himself from some of those inconsistent pitchers. So he looked good again here at the Orioles on Thursday, and I think he's working his way back into the circle of trust. Speaking of pitching, Scott, we had two NLE studs on the mound, and look, there's nothing I'm going to tell you about Aranola or Jacob de Grom

that you didn't already know, but they were amazing. Aeronola throws a five-hit shutout up against the Cincinnati Reds, did not walk a single batter, had 11 strikeouts, 16 swinging strikes. I didn't really see anything in the pitch mix. You know, he threw a few more curveballs and sinkers in this start, but I think a large majority of it was just going up against the Cincinnati Reds. That brings his season-long ERA to 308. The FIP, X-FIP, much better than that.

He's got 185 strikeouts over 166 and two-thirds innings pitched, just 22 walks in 25 starts for Aaronola and an 11.7% swinging strike rate. He is now, if my math is correct, the SP8 in Head to Ed Points Leagues after this start. Anything that you saw from Aeronola here, Scott, or whether, even if you'd just like to gloat about Aaronola, go ahead.

No, it's fine. I mean, I'm not much of a gloater. I don't think despite what I just said about Lansley. and calling everybody suckers. But I do think the attitude toward Aaron Nola is still kind of weird. Like I see what he's done this year. I have him in a few leagues and I feel great about it. I do feel like he's been more or less an ace.

Nothing really to complain about except that he has a 9 and 10 record even after winning today. So I don't know if it's all attached to that win-loss record. I mean, the fact, like you said, he's the eighth best pitcher in points leagues, which is the format where win-loss record would probably matter the most. And he's still eighth. I'm just not sure what anybody has to complain about with Aaron Nola at this point. He's at a great year. He's, I mean, he's not going to be in Sa Young.

He might get a Cy Young vote or two, but he's not going to be a serious contender for that award. But, like, he's an ace. He's an ace. He's pitched like one. he's good. The only thing that I notice about Aranola, and I don't have him anywhere, so if anyone listening or watching

feels differently about Aranola, please let me know. It just feels like he gets not blown up, but touched up a little bit more than your typical ace in fantasy baseball. So I just counted his game log. He is giving up four plus runs eight different times this season.

That just seems a little bit high for an SP1. You know, Scott, like, I know Garrett Cole, he's been touched up a little bit this year too. He's clearly not the pitcher that he was once either. But it just feels like that number is a little bit high for Aaronoa. Four plus runs and eight starts. Yeah, that may have something to do with attitude.

That's fair. I mean, when it comes out to a 308 ERA and a 0.94 whip, that means he has a lot of starts like this one, where he goes very deep and doesn't allow anything. And so I think the highs would make up for the lows. But, you know, that kind of gets into psychology, I guess, of just how things are interpreted. But, yeah, no, I have nothing to complain about with Aaron Nola. Top 12 pitcher, rest of season, top 12 pitcher for next year.

All right. And then the other NLE stud, I mean, Jacob de Grom, just doing Jacob to goat things, nine plus strikeouts in four straight starts now. He's only made five starts. It's returning. the other one he had six strikeouts, but he was up against the Rockies in City Field, not in course field.

Six innings, one run, nine strikeouts for him, 17 swinging strikes on 87 pitches, 12 of those coming on the slider, five on the fastball. He threw that slider a season high, 51% in this start, and on the season, he's got a 53% whiff rate on his slider. That means that more than half of the swings that he gets on that pitch are swings and misses.

which is just insane. It is absolutely insane. Jacob de Grom now has a 2.15 ERA and his swinging strike rate for the season, Scott, is 23%. So to put that in perspective, Shane McClanahan leads all qualified starting pitchers with a 16.3% swinging strike rate.

The difference between Jacob de Grom and Shane McClanahan is the same difference between Shane McClan and Cole Irvin. Think about that for a second. You got that? Did it process? I mean, it seems pretty crazy.

Cole Irvin's had a really good year, so I don't know. I'm just talking about from a swinging strike perspective. You know what I'm saying? I get it. I just wonder if it's going to land with the audience the way it should. Because, yeah, Cole Irvin is not any kind of badness. He's very good. It's not when he's facing the Marlins.

Of course. Like, Cole Irvin, it's not a knock against Cole Irvin. Like, he's a really good pitcher, but he pitches to contact. He just, he doesn't get many strikeouts. So it's just to show that disparity between, like, Jacob de Grom is that far ahead of the actual qualified leader in swinging strike rate, which, you know, how many times can we say the same thing? It's, you know, as long as Jacob de Grom is healthy.

And, you know, Scott, I'm starting to think anything could happen, right? Start to start, but he's entering, this is a contract year for him. Going down the stretch here, I wouldn't be surprised if, even if he gets nicked up a little bit, he's going to try and pitch through it. I mean, this guy is, he's about to get another contract, right? Like, if he can leave the lasting memory

for teams, you know, who are going to be in on the bidding for him, of him just, like, shutting down every team down the stretch in a pennon race, that's going to matter. I think that's going to matter. Like, teams seeing him healthy for the final two months, and he's going to get some, you know,

short contract with, like, massive AAV, something similar to, like, what Max Schurzer got. But I wouldn't be surprised if at this point DeGrom finds a way to stay healthy for the rest of the season. Yeah, if he gets nicked up a bit, if it gets more than nicked up, I mean, only so much you can do. I have moved him up to eighth in my rest of season rankings now at starting pitcher. So my rank, you know, when we had these, you know, trading Jacob de Grom discussions, what would it take to for you? to part with Jacob de Grom, given the level of concern.

I always set a very high bar. So now I think my ranking matches up with that high bar that I've set. For instance, he's ahead of Aeronola, and I know that was one that came up. Oh, would you trade DeGrom for Aeronola? No, I don't think I would, but I have Nola ranked ahead, yada, yada. I mean, with every start, he exits healthy. It seems all the more likely he's going to remain healthy. And this is three in a row where he's gone six plus an eight.

and yeah, he looks like Jacob de Grom. I mean, this is third straight year, 22% strikeout rate. Technically a little higher this year than the last two. But he's been an outlier in that regard for a long time and a lot of regards for a long time. It's absolutely absurd. Look, it's nothing we haven't said before. As long as he's healthy, he is the best pitcher on a per inning, on a per start basis. It's just ranking a pitcher like Jacob de Grom is so hard.

So Scott has him inside of his top 10. I'm kind of being stubborn and holding firm, you know, in that 15 to 20 range. He's better than that. I know that, but I still do think that there is quite a risk, quite a lot of risk involved with having Jacob de Grom. It doesn't really matter at this point because I'd imagine most people's trade deadlines are gone and passed anyway. Let's talk about a hitter, Scott.

The NL Triple Crown is actually within reach. And I saw a tweet about it recently and I was like, man, is Paul Goldschmidt really that close? And yeah, he is. and he got a little bit closer here on Thursday. He went three for four with a double dong. He's now up to 33 homers. And he's first in the National League in batting average, 339. I believe Freddie Freeman's at like 326.

He's first in the league in RBI, tied for first, rather, 105 with Pete Alonzo. That one's going to be closed because obviously, Pete Alonzo's been amazing and the Mets have a pretty good lineup ahead of him as well. And Paul Goldschmidt is second in home runs in the national league. He's got 33. Kyle Schwerber hit another one here on Thursday,

and now he's at 35, but man, this is well within reach. So it's been a ridiculous season for Goldschmidt, and I think he's going to be a really interesting one to talk about the offseason and going into next year because it's just like, how much do you trust it in his mid-30s? Well, I think it's a lot easier to trust, considering he did, like the rebound season came last year, and I think we had a lot of skepticism coming into this year

because, you know, a guy deep into his 30s who looked like he was on the decline and then he rebounds what was going on there. Is it something he can sustain? Well, he has and then some for a second straight season. But 35 is what he's going to be next year, and that's old. It's old.

It's, you know, we've seen plenty of, well, not plenty of, But Nelson Cruz obviously sustained basically the same level of his of production until about 40. David Ortiz, same thing. It can happen. And particularly, I mean, is this going to be Paul Goldschmidt's the best year of his career? So I'm looking at it right now. It's the highest OPS of his career.

Yeah. And OPS plus, would it be the highest OPS plus? I'm looking at Fangraphs. I customize it myself, and I don't have OPS Plus as like one of my readily available stats. I'm sorry, Scott. Oh, I could check on it real quick. So it would also be, ooh, yeah, the highest OPS plus of his career by a lot. Yeah, even like weighted runs created plus, he's at 195.

His previous high was 163. And this is for a guy who's probably going to the Hall of Fame. He's doing this at H35. I was just thinking that too. I was like, he's probably a Hall of Famer, Paul Gold, Yeah. No, I agree. It's going to be really interesting.

When we did the last version of redrafting the first two rounds, rest of season, which was around the All-Star Break, I went into that process thinking he'd be a first rounder, and I couldn't really find anybody who was doing anything similar who agreed with me, so I chickened out and put him in round two. But we're drafting for next year, you know, he's going to have had another six months of aging. I don't know. It's going to be really hard, I think, not to take him in round one. I don't think he's going to be a first,

I don't think he's going to be a first round pick, Scott. Okay. No. I mean, I could be wrong about that. No, you're probably right because of everything I just said. But, like, I feel like he should be. I feel like he should be a first round pick. I feel like he should be the top first baseman drafted in a first round pick.

I wonder how much this is going to matter. he has the biggest difference in batting average versus expecting batting average in all of baseball and in a bad way, obviously. So he's hitting

335, his XBA is 265. And then he has the second biggest difference in slugging percentage minus X slug, only behind Jose Ramirez, which is also kind of interesting. But his batted ball data is not as good as it was last year,

yet he's having a way better season. So I think that's something people are going to look into too. Like, I think Goldsmith's going to be worthy of probably a second. He might like slip into the third round pick. Yeah, he can't, he can't slip past round two. I think it's going to surprise you, Scotty. I guess I'm going to have a lot of Goldsmith if it happens. Yeah, I hope so.

Yeah, he's going to be a fun one to look at in the offseason. Let's take a look at some waiver wire hitters here on Thursday. And the biggest one that stands out to me who can actually make an impact for your team? Like, there's a few other names here, but Shay Langalears, more so for two catcher leagues. If you're starting him in a one catcher league,

you've probably had a pretty bad catcher all season long, but he went two for three and hit his second home run. The strikeout rate is massive sky. I mean, it's 40%. Eventually, that's going to catch up to him. Like, he's got to make adjustments on that regard. And he's not hitting the ball all that hard.

Like, 86 mile per hour average exit velocity, but his barrel rate is good, which tells me he hits the ball hard when he puts it in the air, which is what matters. So he's 29% rostered. How high did you get him up the rankings this week when you were updating them? Not that high. I mean, enough for him to be rostered in two catcher leagues.

Actually, I think he just picked up another, yeah, he picked up another hit just now. So three hits on the day, a home run, and two RBI. Yeah, I'm still skeptical, given the strikeout rate, given the average exit of a lot. velocity, probably going to be a pretty good source of power. Could he be Cal Raleigh? Maybe.

How much should we get excited about that? Certainly in two-catcher leagues, that's somebody worth having. But I'm still pretty skeptical of Langaleers making, being a real impact player in fantasy. Not that he can't be useful in the right situation, but being an impact player. So I moved him up to my 17th ranked catcher, which is just ahead of Joey Bart, Jose Trevino, Christian Vasquez, Gary Sanchez, which I think that's... Right behind Cal Raleigh. Yeah, I have Raleigh up at 14th.

I mean, he strikes out a lot, but he's actually been pretty consistent this season. Cal Raleigh has, so there's similar players, but Raleigh has done it for longer, obviously, this year. So, yeah, I would rather have Raleigh than Langellors. But yeah, definitely in any two catcher leagues where he's available, I think Shea Langalearious should be rostered. Where should you add these names? If anywhere,

Manny Margot went four for five with a double, a triple, two runs, and two RBI. I brought his name up the other day, Scott. And whenever he's played this year, he's been pretty good. It's, you know, he doesn't have tremendous power or tremendous speed, but does a little bit of everything.

He's 29% rostered. The problem for next week is he only has five games. So where should Manny Margoe be rostered? Probably deserves to be rostered. rostered in five outfielder leagues. Even 12-teamers? Yeah. I imagine somebody in a 12-team five outfielder league could use Manuel Margo. Now, is that somebody you who's been listening to the podcast all year

and probably been more active on the waiver wire and probably has a pretty full bench? Maybe it's not you. But somebody, if everybody in your league is like that, and so there's an honest competition for players emerging on the waiver. wire, then yeah, he probably deserves to be rostered in that format. All right. Next up, we have Christian Arroyo who went two for four with two steals, and in the month of August he's betting 3.42 with

one homer, six doubles, and those two steals, which he just picked up. He's 9% rostered and he is eligible everywhere on CBS except first base and catcher. The Red Sox are one of, I believe, four teams that have seven games next week, so that does help Arroyo.

Where should he be rostered, Scott? If anywhere. Have to be a really, really deep league, I think. Like AL only. Yeah, not even in 15 teamers. I'm starting a 15 team league, but I'm pretty desperate, so. I mean, if you have to, you have to, I guess. Yeah.

But no, I would not. I would not be enthusiastic about doing that with Christian Arroyo. Like, I'd go for Donovan Salano over him if I had to. All right. And the last one is Kyle Stowers, the Orioles outfield prospect, who hit his first career home run here in a very clutch moment. Two outs, two strikes, down by one run. He's going up against Liam Hendricks, right?

One of the best closers in the game. And then hits a hanging curbstle slider or something like that to straightaway center field. It was actually a crazy play Scott because earlier in the at-bat, their right-fielder, I think Adam Engel, he dropped a fly ball in foul territory, which should have ended the game. I mean, it was a play that he could have made. and then later in the at-bat, Kyle Stowers actually hits a game-tying home run. So it's a pretty rough feeling for poor Adam Engel,

but Kyle Stowers, what do you think about him? I don't think much of him. I think strikeouts are going to be a major issue. He's powerful enough to pop home runs from time to time. But I don't think he has quite the upside we're looking for in fantasy. I do love the hair. Have you seen the hair, Scott? I mean, this is like, very blonde.

Bleach blonde, you know, the first thing that came to mind, I was like, if there was a baseball version of young Madonna, like, that's what it would look like. It would look like Kyle Stowers. It looks like a Targaryen. You're not wrong. Speaking of which, neither of us have started House of the Dragon. Slacking. And you're probably not going to start it for the next five years at least.

No, no, not that, you know, I'm not somebody. the way I consume TV, I think, is really how everybody should consume TV, but I can't convince anybody by myself to consume TV this way. Every show ends up so rewarding. I wait until it's almost over, or sometimes I don't get around to it until it's completely over. And I just binge it all at once. Ideally, I'll time it so that I finish the series with everybody else. If it doesn't happen, that's fine.

I'm a little late to finish it. No big deal. and you know every every i feel totally immersed by the show i don't miss anything that happened early on i'm not i'm not like waiting months and sometimes years sometimes it's years between seasons now and like coming up with all these crazy ideas on my own that the reality isn't going to live up to i just finish an episode i don't think that much about it i move on to the next one and then you know it doesn't create these unrealistic expectations that i think a lot of lot of times ruin shows for people.

And that's just, you know, there are many benefits to it. That's one, though. Yeah, I agree with you. I think it's the optimal way to watch TV shows. But, I mean, there is also a fomo factor, Scott, where it's this, you know, breaking bad. I caught it in the middle while it was airing, right? And then I caught up. And then I had to watch the final two seasons on, like, live television, which was brutal,

like, waiting every single week. Yeah, it was absolutely brutal. So I agree with you. But there's also, like, this fomo factor. where, you know, everyone else is talking about how good it is. You're like, man, I got to, I want to watch this. I want to catch up. I want to know what the hype is all about.

Yeah. No, that, you do lose the social element. Yeah. I just don't care that much about that. Like, I'm usually, if I am caught up and I can discuss it with people, their opinions usually just annoy me. So I'd rather just enjoy it on my own anyway. Yeah, I don't think your kids are asking you about the latest episode of House of the Dragon.

Anyway, Scott. No. I think you'll be right. Waver Wire pitchers from Thursday. Slim Pickens out here, not much going on. Patrick Sandoval, you know, what do you do with a start like this? Right? So he's following up his complete game.

His previous start was amazing, right? It was against the Detroit Tigers, but it was against the Tigers. He's at Tampa Bay. He gives up five runs. Only one of them was earned. So some questionable defense behind him. He goes six innings, five strikeouts. Technically, it's a quality start, but it's like, is it really?

He still gave up five runs. So personally, I don't. don't know what to do with a start like this. He's given up just one walk over his last two starts. I think that part is very promising for Patrick Sandoval, who has struggled mightily with his control. He's 67% rostered, up against the Yankees next week. Don't love it with Stanton back in the lineup. What do you think about Sandoval? I mean, overall, positive feelings about this. You know, it's always weird when you give up that many unearned runs. There was only one error committed.

I didn't see it. I don't really know how the inning played out. did allow just six base runners in six innings, so that suggests to me, you know, maybe he's, you know, because, you know, sometimes you get those unearned runs, and it's like, yeah, but the pitcher really does deserve blame for letting that many in, you know. I don't know how it played out for Sandoval on this start, but I think overall I was encouraged by it's 10 swinging strikes on 90 pitches.

I mean, that still doesn't seem like what Sandoval should be with that amazing change-up and that really good slider as well. And coming off that start against the Tigers where he had how many swinging strikes? I mean, I understand it was the Tigers, 26 swinging strikes to regress to 10. Not totally unexpected, but that's the one disappointing part of the stateline.

I agree. If he can keep the walks down like he's done these past two starts, then it's a game changer for Sandoval. Probably deserves to be a little more roster than he is, but I'm not dying to pick him up either. Would you rather add him or Matt Manning, who we spoke about yesterday? Well, Matt Manning is in line for two starts next week, and they're against Seattle and Kansas City. It's pretty good.

So certainly if you're looking to stream somebody, I think Manning is the better choice. I agree. A couple other pitchers here, and these are all kind of in the same category, pitch to contact, not overly exciting, but I don't know, Scott. Maybe you saw something that I didn't. Dakota Hudson had his first quality start since July 9th. He was at the Cubs. Seven innings, two runs, four strikeouts in this one. Marco Gonzalez, a strong start against the Guardians.

Six innings, one run, four strikeouts for him. Jordan Liles, seven innings, two runs allowed. One of those earned only two strikeouts. Did give up nine hits, so not great. And then Justin Dunn, who you might remember from last year, he was with the Mariners. He had some okay moments down the stretch. He actually turned it into a streamable pitcher.

He's now with the Reds, so it's not a great park to pitch in. But he was good in this start, if nothing else. Six innings, two runs, five strikeouts. Scott, why are you laughing at me? Okay moments. Yeah. If you can't manage an okay moment every now and then, boy, you are. I mean, it is Justin Dunn, so I'm just, I've tried to give him a little credit.

Here's the thing about Justin Dunn. He is an extreme fly ball pitcher with control issues. In Cincinnati. In Cincinnati. Yeah, I'll be surprised if he ever amounts to anything. If he ever has more than just those okay moments, I'll be surprised. Okay. Anything else on Hudson, Marco G. and Lyles?

So Marco Gonzalez's start for this upcoming week is against the Tigers. Oh, yes. And I wasn't planning to have him as one of my 10 sleeper pitchers because he entered this start. did Gonzalez with a 669 ERA in his previous six. And obviously the strikeout rate's terrible, but it's the Tigers. So I may not, I may be able to get him in the 10 sleeper pitchers. I may not, but know that if he's not in there, then he's number 11. All right.

Last one I want to ask you about is Marcus Strowman's guy. I know you've kind of defended Marcus Strowman over the past month or so. I know the underlying numbers look pretty good, but he's knocked around against the Cardinals in this one. Five innings, 11 hits. five runs allowed, 11 hard hits in this one. And over his last five starts, he now has a 4.35 ERA. His overall ERA is up to 4.10.

He's 70% rostered still, at the Blue Jays next week. Personally, I don't love that one. Would you be okay dropping Stroman for Matt Manning or Patrick Sandoval or like a Nicola Dolo, for example? Yeah, I'd probably drop Stroman for all three at this point. Yeah, I mean,

there was a while when the X-FIP was down at 3.2 and really his only bad start was a really, really bad start right before going on the IL. But now he's, three of his past four have been bad. And the X-FIP's up to 3.42, which may not sound like a big difference, but, you know,

the thing about X-FIP is everybody's is basically between, you know, 2.9 and 4.2, you know. So a difference of 2-2, tenths of a point is is not insignificant. All right. I know I've mentioned a lot recently that the fantasy football today draftathon is coming up. And well, it is Wednesday, August 31st.

This upcoming Wednesday, of course, supporting St. Jude's Children's Hospital. And as I've mentioned, we've been auctioning off a bunch of different things to help with the cause. And recently, we auctioned off a spot in the FBT Listener League for next year. We currently have one open to make a guest appearance on this very podcast. And we do have two more special offers for you. So we are auctioning off a 2023 pre-draft, pre- Fantasy Baseball draft Zoom Call with Scotty and myself. Not together. We're doing this separately.

So there's going to be two different listings on eBay. Both links are in the podcast and the YouTube description. If you want a private Zoom call with Scott White next year to help you. with your draft, then this is exactly what you're bidding on. Or you can bid on the one with me, but we'll probably just wind up talking about Adam Sandler movies or something soon. Yeah. I mean, that's the thing. Since they're separate entries, now it's like, who's going to go for more? Is this going to create a situation between us? Is this going to cause envy? I have a pretty good feeling I know who's going to go for more. And it's not me. No. Come on. Nobody wants to talk to me.

I'm a total misanthrope. You know what I mean? We can't talk about House of the Dragon. You know how many YouTube comments there are about like how much people love you and your analysis? It happens all the time, dude. Don't say yourself short, Scotty. Anyway, if you want a private Zoom call with either one of us to help you with your baseball draft next year, then you can bid on that. We'll take down whoever wins.

We'll take down your contact info and then we'll hit you up in March and we'll figure it all out. But yes, those things are all live right now. and it's for a great cause. Again, all of the winnings, the proceeds are going to go towards St. Jude's Children's Hospital as part of the Fantasy Football Today Draftathon. Let's take a quick break and we'll be back right after this. The news and notes.

Unfortunately, Scott, we had a few pretty big players going to IL seemingly out of nowhere on Thursday. So let's get to it. Zach Wheeler placed in the aisle with Wright Forearm Tendonitis retroactive to August 22nd. And Bailey Falter is expected to start Friday against the pirates in his place. It's a big loss.

I mean, we're talking about a top five, top 10 pitcher in fantasy baseball. And then we also lost Nestor Cortez, who placed in the IL with a left groin strain retroactive to August 22nd as well. I did see some rumblings that this could be the Yankees trying to manage his workload and his ending. So, you know, maybe. And by L. Stent. Perhaps that is the case. I don't know who's going to start in his place.

Maybe it's Clark Schmidt. They called him up recently. Yeah, it is Clark Schmidt. Okay. I did see that. And Clark Schmidt, you know, he's made appearances in the majors before. Yeah. Nothing to write home about.

But in eight starts at AAA this year, 327 ERA 106 whip, 12.5K per 9. I mean, there's some talent there for Clark Schmidt, something to keep an eye on. And honestly, he's been in and out of the Phillies rotation a lot this year. He's kind of been their designated spot starter. But Bailey Falter might. might be somewhat decent as well. His AAA numbers this year and 9 starts a 191 ERA. 0.66 whip.

And the K-per-9.4. And last year he had an ERA below 2 at AAA as well. Now, he hasn't looked anything like that in the majors, and I suspect he won't. but in his two most recent, it's two most recent starts in the majors where quality starts. One against the Mets,

one run is six, one against the pirates, two and runs in six with eight strikeouts. So, you know, if you're looking for, I believe he's RP eligible as well. So if you're looking for an extra SPARP

and you have some extra roster space, don't sleep on Bailey Falter. Yeah, you're right, Scott. He has RP eligibility. So for those who play in maybe some deeper points leagues. Bailey Falter could be a spark. And if you play in daily lineup leagues, he gets the Pirates this Friday, which personally

I would be okay streaming him there. And then his next start is at the Arizona Diamondbacks. So I don't think that's a terrible matchup either. Ryan Presley was the other name. He also went to the IL with neck stiffness. And I was going to give you all these different scenarios, Scott, about how Raphael Montero pitched yesterday and Hector Neris pitched a day before and maybe it's a committee. And then on Thursday, there was a save opportunity.

and it went to Raphael Montero. So I kind of... He's up to eight saves now. He replaced Ryan Presley earlier in the year when Presley was out. So I suspect that's going to happen again. By the way, just a quick comment on Wheeler and Cortez. Maybe it will be a minimal stay for Cortez just managing the innings. I think that's less likely for Wheeler.

No reason they would be managing his innings. And, you know, we're less than six weeks to go. less than six weeks to go in the season. So every injury has the potential to be a season ender. Unfortunately, hopefully that's not the case for Wheeler, but it doesn't have to be that serious of an injury to be an injury that ends his season. Now, the Phillies are very much in the postseason picture.

I mean, I kind of feel like the postseason teams in the NL are basically set. It's just jockeying for position at this point. And the Phillies are among them. So, you know, they have. have every motivation to get Wheeler

back as soon as possible. But I'm not, I'm not so cheery about him making a significant fantasy impact here down the stretch.

You know, I pull up the standing, Scott, just to see what the National League looks like. The only team that might, I mean,

they're very much in the mix is the Milwaukee Brewers, so they're one and a half out of the wild card. They're one of the seven. I feel like there's basically who is going to break into the top seven

who isn't already in the top seven. Is it seven teams that make the playoffs? Yeah. Yeah, three wild cards now. Oh, wait. Oh, it's just six. Yeah, yeah. I was looking at it because they have this big line

that's like a cutoff and Milwaukee's below it. So I'm like, I don't know, Scott. It's only six. They did just change it and I'm sorry. That's my bad. No, no, it's all good. Yeah. So only three wild cards.

Okay. So Phillies aren't. necessarily and they still have to hold off the brewers. But the Phillies actually have a better record than the Padres now too. So one of those three teams isn't going to make it. Yep, that is correct. Speaking of the Phillies, Bryce Harper will be reinstated on Friday. You love to see it.

Wander Franco will not resume his rehab assignment until next week at the earliest. He's been experiencing soreness in his surgically repaired right wrist. John Carlos Steyn returned and hit third in the Yankees lineup here. And I was going to pull up what he did. I think he did something. He had a single at least at least one hit of 117 miles per hour which is just prime stanton.

He went one for four with three RBI and a walk, so solid game for him. Tyler Malley has resumed throwing and is expected to toss a bullpen session on Friday. He went to the IL last weekend with right shoulder inflammation. Kyle Tucker was not in the lineup on Thursday due to a foot injury.

He is day to day. Shane Boz has been cleared to resume a throwing program on Monday and remains. hopeful that he will return this season. I'm not so sure. Yasmati Grandal will report to AAA to begin a rehab assignment on Friday. Christian Javier will not make his scheduled turn through the rotation this weekend against the Orioles,

but will be available out of the bullpen. And this is the time of year, Scott. I think we're going to see a lot of this, which is very frustrating for weekly lineup lock leagues because we might not get this news until halfway through the week, something like this. And you have Javier in your lineup, and the next thing, you know, he's not starting. So it's pretty frustrating, but I don't know how you can avoid it. Well, yeah, I mean, it probably would have helped to look ahead and see the Astros have only five games coming up in week 22. And with two off days, why would you stick with six men?

Right. Now, it didn't, I didn't think to check that. So easier said than done. But that is something you could do if you want to, you know, it wasn't necessarily, I wouldn't say it was so obvious, Javier would have been the one skipped, even knowing it was five games. So you're right, but looking a week ahead isn't necessarily a bad idea either.

Ty France left Thursday's game with a right calf bruise. David Peterson will rejoin the Mets rotation Saturday and start against the Rockies. So another name there in Daily lineup leagues, if you want to stream him against the Rockies this weekend, I have absolutely no issue with that. Jared Walsh is officially done for the season after going to the 60-day IL

with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, which is... It's obviously very bad for pitchers. I don't really know how much it affects hitters, but it's not a good thing, obviously. Let's show up into Week 22, and we'll start with the schedule, which is pretty straightforward.

We don't have any teams with eight games or anything crazy like that. We do have two teams with five games, the Astros and the Rays. we have 24 teams with six games, and then we have four teams with seven games next week, the D-backs, the Cubs, the Dodgers, and the Brewers. Starters sit these fringe two-star pitchers for next week.

We've got Frankie Montas at the Angels and at the Rays. Frankie Montas, Angels and Rays. I lean yes. I lean yes because those matchups are so good. The Rays really, I understand their play. playoff-bound team in all likelihood. It's a close competition between them, the Jays and the Orioles, I guess.

But they're currently in a playoff position. But, yeah, their offense hasn't been very good. So I'm a little nervous about Montas, not having the splitter. Doesn't seem like that's been working for him since joining the Yankees, but the matchups are good enough that I'd roll the dice. Taiwan Walker versus the Dodgers and versus the nationals.

Lean yes on him also. Rather that Dodgers matchup not be in there. All right. We've got Ranger Suarez at the Diamondbacks and at the Giants. I'm going to leave him for points leagues. Now, if he had two favorable matchups, it might be different, but the Giants matchup is pretty tough.

And he's coming off a shakiest start. All right. We've got Lucas Gialito. Good luck. Versus the Royals and versus the twins. What do we think? Wasn't he in line to be a two-star pitcher this week? It's always...

I think so. When it happens two weeks in a row, it's like, what happened? I don't even know. Leaving him for points, leaks. And then we have Mike Clevenger at the Giants and at the Dodgers. He's been a little bit more inconsistent recently. Yeah, and those are two tough matchups. So I'm leaving him for points leagues too.

Last one, Pablo Lopez versus the Dodgers and at the Braves. Really tough matchups. Also leaving Lopez for points leagues. Yeah, I think I'm. Obviously, I'm going to play him in the Scott White Dynasty League's gap, but don't really feel great about it. You don't really have an option in a 24 team league. I did misspeak, by the way. I said the Cubs have seven games next week.

They do not. That is the Red Sox instead of the Cubs. So it's the D-Backs, the Red Sox, the Dodgers, and the Brewers that have seven games next week. Two-star pitchers to add and stream for Week 22. Who do you have here, Scottie? Not many. I have Cole Irvin, who barely... Makes the cut, already 78% rostered.

But he is at Washington, at Baltimore. Normally we prefer him at home. The road numbers aren't great for Irvin, but those are two good places to pitch and two favorable matchups, especially at Baltimore. That might be the best venue for Cole Irvin. I also have Matt Manning.

He's much more available, only 38% rostered. I mentioned earlier against the Mariners, against the Royals, coming off the best two starts of his career, and four straight with double-digit swinging strikes. And then a bit deeper, you know, I wouldn't be eager to do this in every league, but Spencer Watkins,

he has Cleveland and Oakland on the schedule this week, only 15% rostered. You know, you can only set your expectations so high, but I think he'll be able to minimize damage, at least, with those two match-ups. All right. Fortune favors the brave, and you know what,

calling this period right now, Scott, in crypto history, this is known as the crypto winter. Did you know that? I did not. You know, I wish that Matt Damon would have told us that winter was coming instead of, you know, fortune favors the brave. Hey, pour all your money into Bitcoin. This is a great idea. Not that I did that or anything.

And I hope no one else did it either because obviously it's a very rough time. Anyway, fortune favors the brave. Scott, who do you have here? Someone that you don't want to start this person. In fact, you really shouldn't. But maybe you're desperate and you need some volume. Yeah, I'd like to say Spencer Watkins, but I've already used him. So, I will say.

I'll give you the name just below him, Scott. Hopefully you weren't going to take him. Well, I saw in the rundown that you had already chosen this guy. So go ahead and take him. So I think someone will be able to talk themselves into Brian Beio because he's got the prospect pedigree. There was a lot of excitement when he got called up. And he's coming off a really good start.

But next week, at the Twins versus the Rangers. Okay, not the toughest matchups, but he hasn't shown me enough yet, Scott. So I could see someone kind of talking themselves into it, but it's not going to be me. Yeah, I'll go with his teammate who has those same two matchups, Minnesota and Texas, and that is Cutter Crawford.

Oh, gosh. Definitely the luster. has been lost on him. Oh, yeah. But, you know, we're not picking from the best and brightest and the fortune favors the brave segment. Hey, that's the whole point. So stay away from those Red Sox pitchers next week.

We didn't have many two-start pitchers, but we do have quite a few single-star streamers. Scotty, who are they? Yeah, some good ones. We've got Johnny Coato against the Royals, Josiah Gray against the athletics. I think we'll see more of the strikeout Josiah Gray than the home run Josiah Gray with that matchup.

David Peterson gets the Nationals. Hopefully he features the slider more than he did in his last turn. Ross Tripling at the Pirates coming off back-to-back six-inning starts. Jake Oterizzi against the Marlins. That's a good matchup, and he obviously has a good lineup backing him. Jose Cantana at Cincinnati, you know, scary venue, but he's not so prone to home runs. And rounding out the list, you know what?

I am going to put Marco Gonzalez in here coming off this start. He faces the Tigers next time. But if it wasn't him, it would have been Eduardo Rodriguez against Seattle. Maybe they're going head to head. In fact, I'm not sure. Yeah. Marco Gonzalez, famous last words. Just remember where you heard them first.

Fantasy baseball today. Let's move over to the hitters. We've got the best hitter matchups for next week. the Red Sox, the Brewers, the Blue Jays, the Cardinals, and the A's, the worst hitter matchups, Marlins, Padres, Astros, Rays, and Pirates. With that being said, your sleeper hitters for Week 22. So this is one of those weeks where it was tough to find 10 names that I could get behind. Just not a lot of teams with good hitter matchups, it seemed like.

But one of them is the Cardinals, as you mentioned, they have the fourth best. So Lars Neupar, I mean, he's the Gimmy. He's the free space on the bingo card. Still only 53% rostered. And he's been on fire. And I think he's pretty good. His teammate, Dylan Carlson, isn't a bad play this week. His other teammate, Albert Pujols, I managed to fit on here.

Now, there's a good chance he starts only four games, you know, of the six the Cardinals have. But he would, I presume he would start the three against the lefties and Albert Poole's numbers. against lefties are Redonk. It's like a 1300 OPS. So this might actually be a week to use him if you could justify

rostering him in the first place. I also like cheating getting Hunter Renfro on here. He's already 80% rostered. But I like those Brewers' matchups against the Pirates for three and at Arizona for four.

His teammate, Andrew McCutcheon, you think is a good play this week. Alec Bome, so you didn't mention the Phillies among the teams with the best matchups, but their matchups are okay. And more to the point, they have three left-handers on the schedule in their six games. This year, Alec Bome against left-handers is batting 355 with a 970 OPS. And he's hot right now.

So I think he's a pretty good play. Let's see. Other name I'll mention here is Franchi Cordero, just because we haven't talked about him. He's 2% rostered. And he appears to be the Red Sox First Baseman now that Eric Cosmer has heard. They didn't call up Tristan Casas.

They instead called up Franchi Cordero. And since coming back up, Franchi Cordero has Homer twice already. and I believe it's just three or four games. Prior to the call-up, he was in his last five minor league games, he was nine for 20 with three home runs. So that's what, five home runs now in his last eight, nine games, something like that. And he's a guy who's always stood out for how hard he hits the ball.

So like I don't, it may not be a total fluke that he's suddenly hitting these home runs. Obviously, I wouldn't be recommending him if the Red Sox didn't have the most favorable matchups of any team. And six are against right-handers. Cordial is a left-handed hitter. So, you know, this is more of a deeper league recommendation. He's 10th on the 10 sleeper hitters here. But, you know, maybe it'll go pretty well. Hey, while we're talking Red Sox, Scottie, I got a few write-in votes myself.

Tommy Fam is still just 68% rostered. So based on seven games, he's been pretty good with the team. I kind of like that. Yeah, he just got back from injury. I don't know. I just wasn't feeling it, but sure. I thought about him. If we're going as deep as Franchi Cordero,

I mean, my guy, Christian Arroyo, he's got to be in the mix here in deeper leagues, right? Like, come on. Yeah, I guess so. Scott does not want to give his stamp of approval on Christian Arroyo. Did you see the other day, by the way, for the Red Sox, Bobby Dalbeck started at shortstop for them?

I did not see that. No, that's interesting. That is wild. It's just, I mean, I get it. It's, you know, dog days of summer. It's a game of attrition, but really? We're putting Bobby Dahlbeck at shortstop. It's wild stuff.

Anyway, all right, those are the best hitter matchups for next week, and of course some hitters you can target. Let's get into some leftovers from Thursday. Tommy Edmund, he's heating back up a little bit. He went three for five with his 25th steel of the season. Mitch Hanigar, who was almost one of our, oh, my goodness, gracious players, went two for four with his seat.

seventh home run, and since returning 17 games, he's betting 313 with four homers in 885 OPS, crushing the ball right now, 92.5 mile per hour, average exit velocity during that time. And he is also in a contract year, so I think he might be pretty hot here down the stretch. That is Mitch Hanager. Kyle Sorber went one for four with his 35th homer. He leads the National League in home runs and in strikeouts, which I thought was interesting. Pete Alonzo went two for four with his 31st homer. Andrew Vaughn went two for four with his 14th. He is batting 295 overall with an 812 OPS.

And I did want to point out an email that we received, Scott, from a White Sox fan named Alan. And he sent me a Twitter thread, and he pointed out that based on the White Sox hitting coach, Frank, I'm not going to say this name correctly, Menachino. whatever, that he has prioritized contact over power this year. So that's why you might see some suppressed power from guys like Jose Abraeu.

And Andrew Vaughn has had a very good season, but I mean not a ton of power. Same thing with Luis Robert, right? Like he's technically been a letdown. But he says that the hitting coach really prioritizes contact over power. And that could explain, you know, why we haven't seen as much power from those guys. Maybe he should stop doing that. I agree. let's get a few more strikeouts in there

and let's get some power going. Yeah, I mean, the White Sox have had a pretty disappointing season. I don't know if that was the, I don't know if that was the right approach. Why is a hitting coach messing with Jose Abraeu at all? Come on. I don't know.

I still think Abraeu could be part of like the in this environment that's going on. But anyway, I thought it was interesting. Anthony Santander went two for five with his 22nd homer. Bobichette went two for four with his eighth stolen base and he does have multiple hits in three of his last four games. And Vlad Jr. also went two for four with two RBI. And in the second half, he's hitting the ball extremely hard. 94 mile per hour

exit velocity. However, the launch angle remains down, Scott. 3.4 average launch angle, 51% ground ball rate. For perspective, last year, that was 9.4 and 45% ground ball rate. So he's hitting the ball hard, really, really hard, but a lot of it is on the ground. So that's, you know, That's why we've seen a suppressed power output from Vlad Jr. this season as well. Yeah, I mean, it's certainly been worse than last year. It's still the second best season of his career. Yeah, I mean, it's a very good seat. I think he's hitting 285, 26 homers. It's a good year. It's just not a first round caliber year. Right. Yeah, I imagine he'll be a second round pick next year. Yeah, I think so. You have to answer right now, Scott, on August 26th. You're taking Paul

Goldschmidt or Vlad Jr. next year? I mean, as of right now, I want to say Paul Goldschmidt. I do predict that I'll be on a limb out on a limb with that though and I'll chicken out and end up ringing Vladimir Guerrero ahead like everybody else. That's my bold prediction

here on August 26th. Doesn't get much more bold than that. And then Goldschmidt'll be amazing and I'll probably regret it. That's my prediction for next August 26 is me talking about me referring back to this, moment and talking about how I regret chickening out.

Should I put it on my calendar for next year? Like a little alert? Yeah, sure. Ask Scott about Paul Goldschmidt versus Vlad Jr. Do that. Yeah. Some pitching leftovers. Jameson Tyone had a solid start at the Oakland A's.

Does it count? It's against the Oakland A's. Six innings, one run, two strikeouts in this one. However, over his last 15 starts, including this one, he's got a 506 ERA. But Drew Rasmussen tied a career high with nine strikeouts up against the Angels, five and a third, one run, nine strikeouts to just one walk.

Tristan McKenzie gave up a three-run homer in the first inning, but then settled down quite nicely. He went six innings, three runs, four strikeouts at the Mariners. And that is all I have for these three. Anything you'd like to add on Tyone, Rasmussen, and McKenzie? What's interesting about Rasmussen's performance recently, and hopefully you didn't already say this, is that as well as he's pitched,

so 159 ERA and 5 August starts. Only two of them have been quality, though. This one wasn't either. Like, that's kind of the annoying thing about Rasmus and in most raised pitchers, frankly. Yeah. I think Jeffrey Springs kind of falls in that same bucket too. So I think they're good pitchers,

but yeah, they don't really go that deep that often. I did get an email from Aaron asking about Tristan McKenzie, who would you rather have rest of season? Him or Dustin May? I think it's pretty close in the rankings. Let me check. Yeah, I think it's really close in my rankings. Let me see who I actually have ahead.

I thought I was already on. SP. I didn't look at your rankings when I updated mine. We have Trista McKenzie exactly at SP 42. Is that in points leagues? Yeah, in points leagues. Okay, because I'm looking at a rhodo. Yeah, I have Dustin May ahead. And that was my impulse.

now to say Dustin May, but I can confirm that my rankings show that as well. I think it's a fair question. I have Dustin May just behind Tristan McKenzie. I can't really fall to, but I'll take McKenzie personally. I want to ask you about Kevin Gossman, Scott. I don't know if there's any reason for this or why this has happened so frequently for him, but he goes five innings at the Red Sox. He gives up nine hits, four runs allowed, six strikeouts. Fastball velocity was down 1.5 miles per hour, so that's not great. Let's monitor that. But his BAB this season is now 373. It leads all qualified starting pitchers,

and it's not close. The next closest pitcher is J.T. Brewbaker at 334. That's like 40 points difference between Kevin Gosman and J.T. Brubaker should not be the case. Like nearly impossible, Scott. Do you have any theories as to why this is happening? I mean, the first playside point is defense, but I don't think that's the issue.

There's probably a definitive stat that could say one way or the other, but I mean, they got Matt Chapman at third base, you know? It doesn't seem like that should be the issue. I don't know what the best all-encompassing defensive statistic is, but based on defensive runs saved, the Blue Jays are fifth best in baseball. That sounds good to me, so. Same.

Yeah, I don't know. and it might just be a fluky, bad luck sort of thing. Now, his line drive rate is really high. And you get, you know, that's the sort of batted ball that yields the highest batpet. But does he deserve to have a line drive rate that high? That's, you know, you could go, you could go down the well

thinking through these you know chicken chicken and egg scenarios I guess yeah I don't know I mean I just I just keep running

Kevin Gosman out there and not think about it too much but it does seem it does seem at least to some degree to be just a bad luck sort of thing if he's that far ahead of the second highest in terms of babb it

you know I know UZR is also a big defensive metric and the Blue Jays are fourth worst in that. So I don't know how we get that kind of disparity between two different defensive metrics, but I'm sure there's a reason. And I don't know, maybe that's it for Kevin Gosman's high Babbap. The call to the bullpen. Some updates here for the Mariners. Andris Munoz recorded the final four outs, including three strikeouts for his third save. Paul Seawald worked back-to-back days before this,

and he did take the loss on Wednesday. So I think he was probably just unavailable. We mentioned earlier, but for the White Sox, Liam Hendricks came in in a one-run game, and he gave up a game-tying home run to Kyle Stowers. On the other side, for the Orioles, Felix Batista tossed two perfect in extra innings,

and he wound up with the win in that one. He is just a massive human beings, got. Like, have you ever seen Felix Batista against, like, next to other human beings? It's pretty crazy. Okay. I'll look into that.

He's, He's just a hulking human being. It's, what is it? He's, his fan graph says 6.5190. There is no chance that this man is 190 pounds. Like, zero percent chance. And he's not, like, he's not fat or anything. He's just big.

He's like, there's just a big human being. For the Astros, we already mentioned it, but Raphael Montero picked up the save. And if you are looking to replace Ryan Presley, he is probably the one to add. To stream or not to stream for Friday. We've got K. Cavali versus the Reds, Bailey Fultzer versus the Pirates, Mitch White versus the Angels,

Michael Waka versus the Rays, Glenn Otto versus the Tigers, Justin Steele at the Brewers, Jose Cantana versus the Braves, and J.P. Sears versus the Yankees. So Justin Steele would be the top choice here. It's been on a nice run. Brewers are bad against left-handers. If I had to pick a second one, it might actually be Bailey Falter going against the Pirates. I mean, that was who was last start. it was against and it went very well. Actually, I think it was two turns ago, but it went very well. Definitely keeping an eye on Cade Cavali, but not going to run them out there for his major league debut. I think Michael Walker is fine too. On Saturday, we have Kyle Gibson versus the pirates,

Eduardo Rodriguez at the Rangers, Drew Smiley at the Brewers, and David Peterson versus the Rockies. I think they're all kind of okay. Yeah, they are. My favorite is David Peterson, followed by Kyle Gibson, but Rodriguez against the Ranger, Smiley, at the Brewers, those would both be okay too. Those would be my second choice if they were on Friday. Either of those guys would be.

All right, and then on Sunday, we have Nick Ladolo at the Nationals, Rwanzi Contreras at the Phillies, Ross Stripling versus the Angels, Jacob Junis at the Twins, Domingo Hermann at the A's, and Aaron Savali at the Mariners. Let me go, Nick Ladolo

at Washington, as the best choice. Stripling against the angels is right there with them. And I don't really care for any of the others. All righty. Let's wrap up with a fantasy justice question. It's been a long time since we've done this.

And back in the day, when Adam Mazer used to host, you guys used to do the regulator segment, but due to copyright reasons, we can't play the regulators anymore. So I came up with the fantasy justice. I got some guitar riff. It kind of reminds me of Metallica. So that's what I'm going for.

fantasy justice for all. If you have a question that's not fantasy related, it's kind of commissioner or some kind of weird thing that's going on in your league related, then send it in and put fantasy justice in the subject line. But let's get into it. This one's from Ryan in St. Louis. This is the ninth year of our Roto Keeper League. There are three brothers in the league, the oldest brother being the commissioner. It's always been thought that the commission might give advice to his younger brother, but nothing egregious. Commish has won the league five times. One younger bro has never gotten higher than fifth.

What caused me to send this email. As our trade deadline approached, the commission made a deal with one of his younger bros. The commission received Aranola and Josh Bell. Both had to be dropped after this year. For Freddie Peralta, Michael Massey, and Ryseli Glacius. Not horrible, so nobody said anything. Younger bro proceeded to drop Michael Massey a couple of weeks later,

and the commission picked him back up then the commission does another deal and he gets starling marty would not have to be dropped at the end of the year so he can be a keeper and he got marty for edward cabrera and michael massy for the second time what do you think uh so he dropped so the the brother dropped michael massey and the commissioner picked up massy and he traded Massey again. Did he trade him to the brother who just dropped him? No, so he originally had Massey. He traded him to his younger brother. That brother dropped Michael Massey. And then the commissioner who originally traded him, picked him back up and used him in another trade. Frankly, I don't, I don't have a huge issue with this guy. No, that, like,

it's understandable somebody dropping Michael Massey. It's not like he's, yeah, he's like 25% rostered CBS or something like that. He's somebody who you could definitely see being dropped for legitimate reasons. But you could also in a league that with keepers, you could also see somebody valuing him enough to acquire him in a trade. Now, I don't, nothing really strikes me as suspicious here. I think you're being a bit conspiratorial. Ooh, it's a good word there.

Unless the only thing I could think of, but there's no mention of this, is if, the older brother told the younger brother to drop Michael Massey so that he can get him back. Yeah, I mean, that, that seems like what the assumption being made here is. But I mean, I don't, you're right. Like, Michael Massey could have just been dropped. He hasn't, you know, he hasn't done much so far. I mean, we still like him, but, you know, yeah, he hasn't really done much. So, yeah, unless that's the case and you can confirm that that has happened, then I think it's fine. And maybe you should have just picked up Michael Massey and

made this straight instead. I don't, I don't know. But that is my answer, and I know you probably won't like it, but I feel like justice has been served. We're going to wrap there. For Scott, I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball. Today we'll be back again on Monday. Bye-bye.