Fantasy Baseball Today - Nolan Gorman's Huge Game, Worry-O-Meter & Luis Robert's Power Outage (6/22 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 22, 2022

Nolan Gorman went off on Tuesday (1:10)! Gorman or Oneil Cruz? Should we keep trying to sell-high on Zac Gallen? Martin Perez just keeps performing. ... Isaac Paredes hit three homers in a game while Bobby Witt Jr. stayed hot (14:20). ... Let's fire up the Worry-O-Meter on Nestor Cortes, Joe Ryan and Jack Flaherty (18:14). ... News and notes (29:54): Paul Goldschmidt was held out with a back injury. ... Who can you drop for players like Jon Berti and Alex Kirilloff (37:20)? ... Where is Luis Robert's power (45:00)? ... Dylan Cease and Kevin Gausman both showed out on Tuesday (49:15). ... How do we rank the latest waiver wire pitchers (51:05)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpens and streamers (55:40). Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get 20% off Fantasy Baseball Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your lead. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. What's up and welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Wednesday, June 22nd. Frank Stamphill joined by Scott White and Chris Towers.

Today on the show, some massive games for Nolan Gorman and E Sock Parades. Pitchers who are slowing down will get the worryometer out for those. An interesting email about Luis Robert that I want to get to later on, and I will get to it today. I know I never get to emails, but I do want to talk about Luis Robert because we really haven't talked about him, and he's really not heading for power, so I do want to talk about that. But first, let's jump in. Oh, my goodness gracious. All right. Oh, my goodness gracious.

Let's see. Who do we have here? We will start with me. I am going to go first. And I'm going to bring up Nolan Gorman because I think that he is the biggest standout from Tuesday who went 4 for 4 with a double dong. He's now up to six home runs. And overall, a 14% barrel rate entering this game. He hits the ball hard. There's no doubt about that.

However, there are some other things going on that we need to talk about. He doesn't play against lefties. He had six played appearances against them entering this game. And in the month of June before this breakout, He was batting 172 with a 531 OPS, 36% strikeout rate. So this is a really weird way to talk about the standout of the night. But it's just kind of been a mixed bag so far.

Scott, where are you at on Nolan Gorman, who is now 75% rostered? He's kind of just in that in-between area right now. Yeah, I don't think I moved him up or down in my rankings since he got called up. It's basically been all the good points and all the bad points. that I was expecting from him, and I still don't know how that's going to play out ultimately here in his rookie season. He clearly has a ton of power. That's to the surprise of nobody.

He clearly strikes out too much to the surprise of nobody. It's kind of been interesting the way, okay, so he's at a 280 batting average, an 866 OPS. It's kind of been interesting the way that's broken down because he's had two four-hit games, two three-hit games, and then basically nothing in between. So he's had four great games that have driven his entire stat line. And he has like 40% of his hits in basically 10% of his games. Right, exactly. So, you know, maybe that's just, it's just going to continue with that pattern

and the numbers will end up fine. But I do worry about all those goose eggs, between. Look, I think of nothing else, as of now, he looks like he is going to be a legitimate power hitter, just based on some of the exit velocity readings, the barrel rate, hard hit, max EV. It's all very impressive, but again, we have concerns, strikeouts, platoon splits going on right now. He's a rookie. There's going to be lots of ups and downs for Nolan Gorman. I think it's obvious at this point. 75% rostered. I got this question earlier on Twitter. Chris, who would you rather have Nolan Gorman or O'Neill Cruz, who went one for four,

with his first stolen base of the season on Tuesday? I don't know. Maybe this is just me being a prisoner of the moment. And if they had gotten called up, I would, at the same time, I would feel differently. But I was more excited about O'Neill Cruz coming into the season. And nothing that I've seen from Nolan Gorman so far makes me think that I shouldn't still be more excited about O'Neill Cruz.

I agree. I agree. Cruz is going to run. At least in theory, he's going to run. today. Cruz is in theory going to play every day like Gorman isn't. And, you know, I just think the overall upside is higher too. For all the concerns, I mean, we talked about Cruz yesterday and one of the things I think Scott mentioned was, you know, there could be some strikeout issues. He didn't really strike out that much in the minors. I mean, he struck out a decent amount, but he wasn't running 30% strikeout rates. I think he was at like around 20%. in AAA. Yeah, 23% in AAA, or 23% last year at AA. Like, I think those numbers will be higher. I think it's probably like an Aaron Judge situation where he's going to strike out probably more than he did in the minors. But I don't, it doesn't seem like as much of an obvious red flag as it was for Gorman coming up and as it has been so far.

I mean, he's striking out 33% of the time. And so it's not impossible for Nolan Gorman to be a must start fantasy option moving forward with a 33% strikeout rate and maybe he won't strike out 33% of the time moving forward either but based on what we've seen right now that's a big hole in his game in addition to the fact that he's not playing every day so yeah i think i think cruz is the answer yeah i'm going to sweep the board here i agree i would go with o'neill cruz and with gorman a 75% roster might even be a little bit high because i mean specifically in points leagues strikeouts lack of every day at bats That's going to hurt you in that format where you really do need volume and you need to see the bat on the ball there. So probably better in Categories League's for now is Nolan Gorman.

But we're taking- I think 75's okay. I'll go that far for Gorman that I don't think I just from the perspective of playing the upside game. I don't think he's done anything to disqualify himself. And you're certainly not dropping him. Right. You know, after today. No. Yeah, right.

So, you know, it's possible that this is the start of. him being a must-start option, but right now I've pretty much had him in like the 17 range since he got called up. Like Scott said, I haven't moved him. I haven't like, you know, we've got this dragon drop system. I might have moved like Jake Croninworth ahead of him and maybe I had Jonathan India behind him when he was on the IL,

but for the most part he's stayed in the same spot. All right, fair enough. Oh my goodness gracious for you, Scott, who you have? I'm going to go with Zach Gallen here who, he's kind of becoming the new sunny gray for me and that I'm always either too high or too low on him and can't seem to find that sweet spot. Even just this year I started out too low

and then maybe I was too high and then I was low again and the reason I was low again is because his previous six starts he had 7.3K per 9 He had an 8% swinging strike rate, which is dreadful. In a six-start stretch, is ERA during that stretch? Not surprisingly, $4.99.

He comes out here at San Diego on Tuesday, strikes out 11 in six innings, allowing just two runs, 17 swinging strikes on 115 pitches, but still, that's a good rate. Nine on the curveball, eight on the change-up. he took a mile per hour off each, which I guess, I don't know, maybe that created more differentiation. He threw them both more, threw his fastball less. It was a really good start. It was really impressive.

And, you know, again, makes me think, oh, maybe I was too quick to cast him aside as this, you know, just this matchups play, which is kind of how I started to think of him again. And I don't really know. I don't know what's going on with Zach Allen. I don't know what's going on his elbow, his elbow, but starts like this make me think he's going to be a okay. Yeah, it's kind of tough because I'm with you. I mean, a couple of years ago, I was all in. I mean, I think most of the industry was in on Zach Allen as a breakout. And I mean, you watch this start and you see it. I mean, the stuff is just nasty. That curve is just truly an amazing pitch for Zach Allen. And now he's got the control going for him, too, something he really hasn't had at the major league level, although it was much better always in the minor. So, Lots of good coming from Zach Gallen so far this season, but we still kind of have that cloud over his head of the injury risk.

So Chris, that's the thing that I keep coming back to is like even if I think he's probably one of the 40 best pitchers in fantasy when healthy right now, I still think like every good start is probably a sell high opportunity. And that's not to say he's definitely going to get injured, but there's just a lot of red flags in the fact that he was dealing with UCL damage last season and you know it just it feels like the kind of thing that you can only stay out ahead of for so long and yeah I I think at some point there's

probably going to be well look I can't predict injury so I don't know it's possible he makes it through this entire season it's possible like Masair Tanaka like never had elbow issues again after tearing his UCL there's a river is good either well but there's also a reason he's the one example we can think of you No, there's a lot of guys. Irvin Santana. Ervin Santana was another one. He didn't have surgery? Not for, if he did, it wasn't for a very long time.

All right. One of two examples. There's a lot of Major League pitchers out there who get elbow issues. And it just, I don't know, it does feel like a situation where it's not just like, oh, he's injury prone. It feels like there's heightened risk. And so he's a hard player to rank because of that. but I do still think like it's more likely there's bad days ahead than good, I think. We spoke about a stat cast standout yesterday, and Corey Seeger was his name.

I would make that swap if you need hitting. Absolutely. I don't know how likely it is. I think it's pretty fair trade, but if you turn Zach Allen into Corey Seeger, it's something I would look to do right now. Chris, oh my goodness gracious, from one pitcher to another, who do you have? A guy who keeps making me look dumb, Martine Prey. I've got

someone on Twitter who every time Martine Perez has a good start I think they've been sending like increasingly close cropped pictures of Martin Perez's mug shot from the MLB website

which is pretty entertaining. I like that. Yeah, six shutout innings, no runs allowed, which is what six shutout innings is, six hits, three walks, six strikeouts. ERA is back under two.

He continues to be one of the best pitchers in terms of results. at least in terms of run prevention. And I continue to think that there's very little sustainable about it. And he's a obvious cell high candidate. But I don't know. Maybe he'll keep making me look dumb.

I'm sure lots of people would enjoy that who are listening. So, you know, maybe we'll get that out of it at least. You know what's so weird, Chris, that in a game where there is so much variance, especially for a pitcher who relies on, you know, soft content. and balls in play, that there have been instances, instances, can I speak?

Instances where pitchers like this can go a whole season with luck on their side. And it might just happen this year where Martine Perez is that pitcher. And, you know, next year he'll come out

and have an ERA over five and we'll be like, all right, well, that's the Martin Perez we were expecting. But these things can happen for a whole season. And it's just kind of weird when it does happen.

But it happens. happens. Yeah, I mean, like that that's the thing is like, yes, it is possible. It's not out of the realm of possibility that Martin Perez just continues to be really, really good moving forward. And if that's the case, I don't think it would necessarily be fair to just ascribe it to luck. He is doing a good job of limiting hard contact. He's doing a good job of getting a lot of ground balls, doing the kind of things that if you're not going to get strikeouts and, you know, his strike out rate is 20%, which is right around where, you know, a little higher than his league, his career high, but still pretty bad. And he's got good control, although lately it's

been, you know, more decent than good. You know, he can get away with it. It's just quality of contact metrics, especially for pitchers, take a really, really long time to stabilize. Like, you're talking, if a guy does it for one year, that's probably not enough to know that that's his skill level. It takes more. multiple seasons of being really, really good or really, really bad. A good example of this, Shane McClanhan who had really, really, really bad, and Terrick Scouble had really, really bad quality of contact metrics last season. They've both had pretty good ones so far this season.

And so that Martin Perez continuing to be good moving forward would require him to be an outlier among outliers in terms of the quality of contact he gives up. And maybe he is now. maybe the changes that he's made to throw more sinkers to get rid of the four seam fastball, et cetera, et cetera. Maybe those things will allow him to continue to be an outline.

My process is that I'm going to assume there's regression coming and that he's going to be more like a league average pitcher in terms of the results on quality of contact, in which case my assumption is he's not going to be as good moving forward. Lasting on Perez. I would probably say his ERA will be twice as high. moving forward would be my prediction.

Fair enough. A fun stat that I heard on the broadcast of that game is that Martin Perez has the same number of called strikeouts this season as Garrett Cole, which I don't know what that means. He lives on the edges, I guess, and he gets the benefit of the doubt on those calls, but I thought it was very interesting.

So, you know, he is having success without getting swinging strikes. That is Martin Perez. In honorable mention, of course, for ESOC Paredes, who hit not one, not two, but three home runs, a triple dong against my New York Yankees,

which brings him to, I believe, eight home runs for the season. And I don't know that there is much actionable with this. He's 3% of rostered. He's widely available. The minor league numbers look kind of jaggy for East Hawk Paredes. Scott, do we do anything with this?

He's been playing a lot, and he has a low strikeout rate. He also has like a 150 BAPIP. which would suggest there's room to improve that bad. It's hard for a guy who strikes out as infrequently as he doesn't seem to have some amount of power here to hit for a 200 or so batting average, which is right where you suck. Paredes is right now. I think ultimately, though, I mean, A, I don't trust the power pace. He has some power, but, you know, now he's got eight home runs and less than 100 of bats.

That's not something he's going to be able to sustain. And B, he plays for the Rays. And they just called up a pretty good guy who would, Jonathan Aranda, Jonathan Aranda, I believe it's Aranda, not Aranda, who also plays first, second, and third base like Isok Paredes does. And, you know, they're going to mix a match because that's what the Rays do. So, yeah, I think we can continue to overlook Paretas. And actually, I think Aranda is somebody I'd prefer to have.

Yeah, talk to me about him, Scott. He was batting 3-10 with 11 homers, three steals in the minors this season. He's a left-handed bat. Paradis is a right-handed bat. It seems like they have a pretty natural platoon there, if that's the route they want to go. Yeah, Aranda's one of the, I'm just going to alternate between Aranda and Aranda. I don't know for sure.

He has, yeah, he's a lot of it. one of those weird little prospects who probably should be playing first base but doesn't quite hit well enough to play first base so they try him at these other spots in the hopes of maybe getting more use out of him because he is a good hitter but kind of you know middling power and that is a particularly if you're not a defensive standout that's a difficult nut to crack in the modern game. So, you know, I think there's a chance. He's a pretty good hitter,

but again, I worry about playing time for Aranda, even if he is, on that team and with those defensive limitations. All right. Aranda, 3% rostered a name to watch in deeper leagues. Honorable mention, Part 2, Bobby Wood Jr. I just saw that he hit a second home run in that game. He went three for four, double dong,

four RBI, and really since the, I think it's like either the beginning, or middle of May, Bobby Witt has been awesome. So, yeah, he is coming around and he's been very good at a third base position where we definitely could use the help. So, yes. I mean, he's on 20, 20 pace, you know, 25, 25, something like that. So if not for expectations being as high as they were, you would be having a pretty

exciting season. And I think we probably should be excited. if not, you know, he's not living up to our wildest expectations. He's not Fernando Tatis as a rookie, but very few are. And if he ends up going 25, 25, 90 runs, 80 RBI, which is very much within the realm of possibility, he's going to be an early round pick next year. Yeah, rightfully so. That is Bobby Witt Jr.

Let's get into the Wurometer here on Wednesday. and we were just talking about Parades. He hit three homers. Two of them came off of Nesser Cortez. Uh-oh. Maybe not so nasty anymore. He gave up four runs over four in a third, and he's pitched, three strikeouts.

He had nine hard hits allowed compared to just four swinging strikes. Small sample size, but his last three starts, he's showing some vulnerabilities. He's got a 5.79 ERA, five homers allowed during that time. Only 10 strikeouts over 14 innings pitched. and look, he gives up a lot of fly balls

and his Babbup and Strand rate have been very lucky so far this season. Nestor Cortez we're talking about Chris we'll start with you, your Wuriometer level on him now that he's starting to show a few cracks. You are muted. You didn't have the button ready.

Six probably. I mean, his track record of success is very limited. And, you know, for his career at the major league level, he's got like a four ERA. Now he's been a lot better than that since the start of last season,

but history didn't start at the start of last season. And there's a lot about his profile that I've always, I've used the term gimmick, and that's meaner than I want it to be because it makes it sound like there's no skill involved. But he's such a weird pitcher. He's so unique. His approach is so strange.

He changes arm angles. He has those hesitations and all that like, I do wonder if at least to a certain extent, guys are just catching on. And now it's time for him to adjust. And the question is whether his stuff is good enough for him to have an adjustment to the adjustments. You know, that I'm unsure of.

So I think we're going to find out a lot about Nestor Cortez in the next few starts. Fair enough. Is gimmick a mean word? Yeah, like he's not like really good. You know, like if someone's good, but they're like, oh, but it's a gimmick. It's like, you know, I think it's a pejorative.

Yeah, it doesn't, I agree. It doesn't sound great. If you're using it a lot. I guess I'm a big needy. I doubt his feelings are hurt, though, so. I think he could use it in the right. Yeah, definitely is. I would imagine he has better things to do.

Probably. Scott, any quick thoughts on Nestor? I'll go four. I mean, yeah, the jury's still out as to how good he is. And to some extent, if he's even, good at all. But, you know, in addition to having some of the luck that he's had, you referred to, Frank, he's had home run luck this year too. I mean, you mentioned, yes, he gives up a lot of fly balls. He did last year, too. Last year, his home run rate was 1.4 per 9. This

year, even with this game, it's 1.1 per 9. And yeah, with that high home run rate last year, he had a 290 ERA. Now his ERA is 231. You know, so yeah, he's going to have games from time to time where he gives up multiple home runs. That's been the issue in the two bad starts he's had recently. Combined five home runs between them. But I think in the long run, you know, low 3 ZRA, more than a strikeout per inning, good offense backing him, good bullpen, all of that. He's going to be fine. The bigger question for me is the strikeouts.

you know he's been what do you have today the same basically four years in a row he had three today he's got so that gives him 22 over his last five starts which is 28 innings 29 innings so you know that's if if he's not a strikeout per inning then that's when the home runs really become a concern i think he can live with the home run rate being 1.5 per 9 if he's getting you know 28% strikeout rate like he has since the start of last season. If not, you know, if he's more of a pedestrian strikeout rate guy, then I think it's going to be really hard. So that's the thing I'll be keying on. All right. Let's move over to Joe Ryan, who posted a quality start against the Cleveland Guardians, but he has slowed down quite a bit

since the beginning of May. And obviously, he missed a big chunk of that time on the COVID-I-L. But he made a few starts before he went on that COVID-I-L, where he really wasn't as great. So his last six starts overall for Joe Ryan. 4.35 ERA, 27 strikeouts over 31 innings pitch, just a 9% swinging strike rate. And he allows a ton of fly balls, 54%. The fastball velocity was down in this one. Not that he throws it very hard, but he relies a lot on deception. And basically just uses this fastball and slider a bunch.

Mixes in a few other pitches, but really not meaningful. Scott, where are you at on Joe Ryan now that he slowed down? on him. Probably about four, like I said, for Nestor Cortez. I think the jury's still out for all the same reasons. He's kind of a gimmicky pitcher himself. There's a bit of the Spider-Man meme with these two guys. You were so mean, Scott.

I know. But I'd be more like... I'd be, especially since, you know, he had that long injury layoff and he's come back and he's not been particularly sharp. but I'd be more likely to buy on Joe Ryan than sell right now, I think. Fair enough. Chris, for you, Joe Ryan? I would say probably like a six. You know, expectations are lower than for Nestor,

but I think there's a chance. Joe Ryan's just a guy. I always thought this coming into the season two where first trip around the league, you know, all right, he kind of fools people with this deceptive fastball that he has, but eventually people are going to make adjustments. and if he's not throwing that slider more or mixing in a third pitch,

I just kind of think people are going to catch on to it eventually. So I don't know if I would buy Joe Ryan unless someone's just trying to give him away because they're worried. But yeah, he has slowed down quite a bit. The last one here I wanted to talk about Jack Flaherty has failed to go more than three innings pitched in each of his first two starts.

Of course, coming back from a pretty serious shoulder injury. And yeah, he goes three innings, two runs, five walks to just one strikeout in this start. And the fastball velocity down once again, 92.2 miles per hour. Back in his last full season, 2019, that was up over 94. So he's down quite a bit.

We could have a bit of a, you know, Zach Wheeler situation. You know, Wheeler, he needed a couple of starts to get going. That was basically a spring training. I kind of feel like that's an excuse for Jack Flarity right now. Or maybe not. Chris, what do you think? Worryometer, Flarity.

Uh, it's like a seven or eight for me just because it's coming off of the injury and the velocity's down so much. Um, you know, his fastball has, it's been an inconsistent pitch for him. There's been years where it's been good. But, you know, if he's throwing 92, it's probably going to, you know, he's probably going to have some trouble being effective with that. Um, so yeah, like, like you said with with the Zach Wheeler comp, Flaherty did have, his rehab assignment cut short. Not for any issues. He just was feeling so good. And his stuff apparently looked so good that they decided to just call him up. Which I don't know how to react to that, given what we've seen from him. Because the stuff has not looked good. And the results have been awful.

He had four swinging strikes on 71 pitches today. That's unusable for fantasy. You know, that's never going to be a viable play. So I'm pretty worried that he's just not right. Scott, we've got a lot going on here from the injury concerns, velocity being down. Performance has been an issue the past couple of seasons for Jack Flaherty. Where are you at on him, Worryometer? So basically all of my Wuriometer readings have been adjusted down to from Chris.

And the same holds true for Jack Flaherty. I'll go six on him. which I guess means I'm less of a worrier than Chris. I don't know. That's one of my friends call me whiskers. What was I going to say? So, yeah, I think the most likely explanation, slightly more rust than he's still hurt.

And then I think the distant explanation is he's just not good anymore. They're all possible, but that's how I rank the likelihood of each of them. 1.4 down on the fastball, that's exactly the same that Lance Lynn

has been down on his fastball through two starts. And I feel like you're within, I feel like a change of two is within the margin for error. Like you can, and we've seen pitchers

obviously bounce back from even more than that. I think part of it is I'm more skeptical of these three pitchers than you. You know, I've been more skeptical, Flaherty over the past

couple of years. And, you know, I just, I don't know how much margin for error he has, I guess would be the way I would put it. Right. So, yeah, I mean, if he could, if this velocity remains where it is, then it might be a problem. But I, I didn't stash him all this time to, to give up on him after two short starts following a long injury layoff and a brief rehab assignment, you know. I'll probably bench him next week.

I mean, pending the results of he's got a second start coming up. but I'm certainly not feeling good about the fact that he's got a second start coming up this week. Oh my goodness gracious, I just saw something amazing happen in that Angels game, actually quite dramatic. Of all the dramatic things I've ever seen. Shohay Otani with two runners on, one out in the ninth inning. Down by three. It's a game tying home run off of Scott Barlow. He is now three for four with two homers in that game himself, seven RBI, now has 15 home runs on the season.

and show, hello, Tony. Pretty good. He's pretty good. Before we hit the break, just a reminder, if you're listening to us on Spotify, help us out with a five-star rating there. We really do appreciate it. Helps others find the podcast,

but yes, please, if you are listening on Spotify, get that done. And let's take a break, and we'll be back right after this. The news and notes, Paul Goldschmidt was held out of the lineup Tuesday due to back tightness. And, yeah, we'll see where it goes. Obviously, he's been amazing. season. Mani Machado out of the lineup

again Tuesday as expected with that ankle injury, still not placed on the IL. Yerdon Alvarez returned to the lineup Tuesday after missing Sunday's game with a hand injury. He went one for three with his 19th home run of the season. Ketel Marte returned to the

D-Backs lineup and I will pull up their box score to see what he did. He went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in that game. He missed the previous four with a hamstring injury. He was back as the DH by the way. Yes. George Springer left Tuesday's game due to right elbow discomfort.

Hope he's all right. I think I just saw he's not going to play on Wednesday, so we'll see what happens after that. Salvador Perez was removed from his game with an apparent injury. I have not... Have either of you seen what that injury is yet? I don't know if they've removed. Well, I think it was...

I saw an aggregator put that it seemed like he had aggravated the thumb injury that, of course, he's been playing with for a while now. But I don't know how official that is. It would make sense. Yeah. That seems the likeliest explanation. Yeah.

If he does go on the IL, that might be Vinnie Pasquantino's ticket to the majors. Yeah, unfortunately for him, Carlos Santana's actually been good lately. Right. Which complicates things. Including today. Five, four hits today, yeah. Right. Because, yeah, with Melendez and Salvador Perez both in there, there's D.H. isn't an option.

So if Carlos Santana has any. is able to redeem any trade value. It makes sense for the Royals to explore that. And there's no place to put Pasquantino. It doesn't help that Pasquantino's cooled off in June, but he has like nine walks to five strikeouts for the month. So I'm not worried about is Pasquantino good. But still, it's easier to call up a guy when he's hot than when he's not.

Fair enough. Yes, he's betting 206 Vinny Pasquantino in the month of June. Better plate discipline, but yeah, the OPS at 630. We'll see when he gets called up. All right, let's move on to Wanda Franco, set to begin to move his rehab to AAA on Wednesday. Joe Musgrove will return Thursday and start against the Phillies. He is currently on the COVID aisle. Chris Sale expected to make another rehab start on Saturday at the Red Sox complex level affiliate.

He felt fine after tossing a 22-pitch inning in his first rehab appearance. Walker Bueller was moved to the 60-day IL Tuesday and makes sense because he's likely out until September with a flexor strain in his right elbow. Danny Jimenez was placed on the aisle with a right shoulder strain and I would guess it's AJ Puck or Zach Jackson as the next person up. Lutrovino is still on the roster but he's been terrible.

And it's also Oakland, so I don't know. Chris, do you have a lean here in their bullpen? I think Puck's probably just the better pitcher, so I think that's probably where I would go. All right. Two Reyes, Outfielder is placed on the IL. Mani Margoe with a right knee sprain and Kevin Kiermire with left hip inflammation.

Edward Cabrera is scheduled to make a rehab appearance Wednesday at AAA. He was placed on the IL last week with right elbow tightness. So some pretty good news there. I didn't think that he would rant back up this quickly, but some, yeah, good news. Edward Kerr.

And Max Meyer pitching tomorrow. Max Meyer, yes, he was next up. We'll be activated from AAA. Jacksonville's IL on Wednesday. He's been out since mid-May due to a sore right elbow. And Scott, I know you're probably starting to think about the next iteration of five prospects on the verge. What do we think?

I've already written about him. Max Meyer? Max Meyer back in it? Max Meyer back in. Nice. I thought about him. He's probably six. We kind of cleaned house this week because the five on the verge last week included O'Neill

Cruz, Alex. off and Riley Green. And some of those just on the outside looking in were C.J. Abrams, Joshua Lowe, and J. Jaron, Duran. So, you know, it's a struggle to fill those five spots right now, I would say. For this week, I gave the edge to D.L. Hall over Meyer, because A, I think they're going to want to see Meyer make a few starts before they seriously consider it, the Marlins bringing back up.

And B, people keep telling me D.L. Hall's about to get called up. I think they're wrong, but I felt like it's time to address it. All had a, all was bad on Tuesday, by the way. He walked five, struck out only three. That's, that's kind of been his issue all along.

It's just struggles to go deep into games because there's so many walks, but, you know, he strikes out more than 15 for nine, so you understand the enthusiasm for him, too. He's with the Orioles, by the way, in case you haven't heard of them before. All right. Scott, you might need to adjust your mic

because it sounds like you're breaking up a little bit. I don't know why that happens sometimes. I think you move around and then it just doesn't catch you the right way. Yeah. These are, is this better? Yes.

These microphones are so directional. You know, so it's a high quality microphone so it doesn't pick up the ambient noise, you know? But yeah, I'm kind of fidgety so that that's not, it's not ideal for those purposes. Mitch Garver returned from the COVID-IL Tuesday and was batting fifth in the Rangers lineup. Fran Milraeus was indeed activated on Tuesday as well.

He was batting sixth in the Guardians lineup and I believe he hit a home run. His first game back. I will confirm that. Fran Milraeus, one for five with yes, his fourth home run of the season. His other four outs? Strikeouts.

Not great. Isaiah Connor Falafa has missed three straight as he battles a sore hamstring. Rocky's third base prospect, Eli Huris Montero, was recalled, but not in the lineup on Tuesday. That was kind of the issue the last time they called them up,

so not really sure what they're doing. And this last note, not great because Ezekiel Duran was playing quite well for the Rangers. He was out of the lineup for the second time in the past three games against right-handed pitching and apparently could move into a platoon role

now that fellow rookie Josh Smith has returned from the IL. So, I don't know. I don't see the point of even having a guy up in the majors if he's going to be the short side of a platoon. Yeah. They did kind of rush him.

I guess they needed somebody. He came up from AA, but Duran's playing well, so I don't really see why they wouldn't continue to play him. It's weird. Well, I mean, second base and shortstop are already spoken for, obviously.

That's kind of one of the funny things about the Rangers signing Seeger and Simeon this offseason is they had a lot of, and they still do, have middle infield prospects coming up. And it's like, okay. I mean, they're kind of competing this year, so it's hard to complain too much.

But it was just kind of a weird choice of players to bring in. Yeah, hey, you know what? Probably not the easiest thing to get superstar players to go to the Texas Rangers. So you got to do what you got to do. Take what you can get. Let's move into some waiver-wire hitter decisions from Tuesday's action.

John Birdie, we've talked about them quite a bit recently. Ho-hum, just another stolen base, now up to 19 on the season. 53% rostered. He has second, third base, outfield, and shortstop eligibility. Would you drop any of these players for him? Luis Areas. What do you think? Yeah.

Scott? Yeah. Yeah, I could do that. How about Eduardo Escobar? Would you do it in a points league? Not in a points league, but in Roto, I would rather have Bertie at this point. Yeah, I think Bertie probably just needs to be rostered in any kind of categories league. I think this one probably comes down to need,

but would you drop Jock Peterson? He's still 78% rostered. He did hit his 15th home run on Wednesday. He still has a 9-12 OPS, but he's kind of taken a step back here in June. It probably does come down to need. I think on September 1st, Jock Peterson will be more useful than John Bertie,

but John Bertie could probably help you pick up, make up some ground and stolen bases in the meantime. I do have to say, though. I don't think he's going to keep hitting $2.80 like he is. He does have a league average woba for his career. And if you can be a league average-ish hitter and steal a bunch of bases, that's pretty valuable. Hey?

That's kind of what Miles Straw was last year, right? I mean, that's like the pre this season. Like, Tommy Edmund has been a pretty bad hitter for his. career. You guys are talking up-and-comers versus some 32-year-old that's been kicking around the Marlins organization forever. That's fair, but let's not like Tommy Edmund between 2020 and 2021 had a 692 OPS hit 259, but stole a bunch of bases. Like I'm not saying he's going to be this year's version of of Tommy Edmund, but last year's, the one who hit 262 with 11 home runs and stole 30 bases. Like I don't think that's an unreasonable expectation for Bertie moving forward like he's got to keep playing every day and I don't know if that's a guarantee that's

That's the thing. Yeah, I mean they've I've been down this road with Bertie before and I the Marlins did not come through for me in terms of how often they played him and so I don't trust them. I mean Who's he filling in for right now? Anderson all kinds of people. Ryan Anderson, Joey Wendell. Yeah. Yeah. But he's been really good.

I mean, to Chris's point. So John Birdie, known as a speed specialist. I thought he was pretty good before, too. He's always walked a lot. I mean, 11% walk rate for his career, 347 OBP. He's never run. Like, he's been, he's been a guy who projected to steal 30 plus bases if he got regular playing time. But this, this run of running that he's on right now is just unreal.

I mean, he's, he now leads to the major. and stolen bases. I believe, unless Julio Rodriguez also stole one today. He's either leading or tied for the lead in stolen bases. I don't think Julio stole one, but...

He did hit a home run. He did hit a home run as part of back-to-back-to-back home runs for the Mariners. Let's talk about Kristen Vasquez, who went two for three, hit his fourth home run, and over his last seven games,

he's betting 280, two homers, one steal. He's been very solid so far this season, hitting a lot of line drives. He's 49% rostered. would you drop any of these catchers for Vasquez? Kbert Ruiz. What do you think?

I would not drop Kbert Ruiz for Christian Vasquez. But it's possible. I think they're similar. You know, one catcher league, I think it might be okay. But, you know, that you should probably just be trying to cycle through catchers until you come up with something that works. This next one, actually these next two are kind of annoying because I really like the players. is they're just not playing enough.

William Contreras. We've talked about him quite a bit. He, you know, he's been an awesome hitter when he plays, but, you know, Darno is heating back up. Would you make that swap? Drop Contreras for Christian Vasquez. Yeah, that's fine. Vasquez really isn't going to do much for you.

So I'd rather get those. Like, catcher, I think, is even in one catcher league. It's like the one position where you can afford to start a guy who starts three times a week as if he's, if he's really productive, which William Contreras is and I think will continue to be. All right.

And the last one I had was Gabriel Moreno. He has started six of 11 games since being called up. Yeah, same thing. All right. Let's move over to Alex Kirilloff went two for three with a double, two RBI.

We've talked about him quite a bit recently. 60% rostered, so still out there in quite a bit of leagues. But let's see if I could find some highly rostered players that we would drop. How about It's not going to be hard at outfield.

Yeah, I mean, Michael Brantley is like 88% rostered And he's fine, he is what he is. Yeah, I'd rather have Kerrloff than Brantley. Kierloff did have a 106 mile per hour batted ball today, which is a good, obviously, that's not like elite exit velocity,

but it's a good sign that he's hitting the ball that hard coming off the rest's issues. Brandon Nimmo, would you make that swap? Yes. Would you do it? Maybe not in an OBP league, but probably. How about Jesse Winker?

Still 84% rostered. Yes. Yeah, I guess. Mike Estremski, 83% roster. Yes. Yeah. How about who else we have here? Lorde Scuriel, 80%.

Yes. He is heating back up, though. It's got three home runs this year, right? That sounds about right. I would prefer not to, but if that's your worst player. I assume Jack Peterson were all right dropping him. Yeah. I would hope you have a worse player.

Yeah. Gereal has four home runs. Lordus, Gouriel. Yeah, I mean, come on. Underselling him by 25%. How dare you do that? All right, so look, we're obviously, you want to add Kirilloff. We've got to find some people to drop, and those are some options for you.

In probably five outfielder leagues, this is where you know, you might be interested in some of these players. Maybe not. Stephen Kwan went four for six. Is kind of heating back up in June. He's hitting three 64. which is great. He's got two steals. That's pretty cool. Nothing else. 35% rostered there. Yeah. 364 in June. He has one extra base hit. Yeah. It's second percent on hard hit rate. Fifth percent on average Xe velocity. There's just no

pop there. All right. So we're passing on Stephen Kwan. Avisa L. Garcia, you know, what has gone wrong this year? He went two for five on Tuesday, hit his fifth home run, but down to 39 percent rostered. It's been a really rough go, his first season in Miami. He's not very good. I don't know what the enthusiasm was for him in the first place. I put him on my bus list, yay for me. I think he went from a small park to a big park, and on top of it, the hitting conditions got worse around the league. But his quality of contact has tanked. Okay. Well, that's. He's got the worst expected Wobah of his career, the second worst expected Wobo on contact,

and he's striking out 28% of the time. So, everything's gotten worse for him. All right, fair enough. That is Avicea Garcia. Probably do not want to add him anywhere. Email I wanted to get to yesterday about Luis Robert. This one's from David. He says Luis Robert has been awesome for me this year,

but I notice he only has 13 extra base hits for context. Ketel Marte has 28 extra base hits and only 12 more at bats. Teasca Hernandez has 16 extra base hits, I guess 16 more extra base hits, and 49 less at bats, and a month-long slump in May. I know Robert's ground ball rate is way up,

but his power production is close to non-existent. What are we expecting rest of season? Robert went two for five with four RBI on Tuesday. I know we hit a home run on Monday as well, so that probably is not factored in here. In here, but slugging just 432, his isolated power is 1.30. 32. It's not great. As someone who loved Luis Robert coming into the season,

from a power perspective, there's no doubt. He's been a disappointment. What do I expect from Louise Robert moving forward? Yes. Borderline first round caliber production. The only, well, I think a pretty obvious difference here, Chris, is, you know, look, someone's asking us about Wansoto. There's obviously a much longer track record there of him being a superstar. We don't have as much when it comes to Luis Robert. No, but the underlying numbers for Luis Roberts suggest he's continuing to hit the ball hard. Yes, he is hitting the ball on the ground more often,

although that's mitigated somewhat by the fact that he still does have a 26% line drive rate, which is excellent. His average eggs of velocity, max exit velocity, hard hit rate, barrel rate, are all well above average. So I think there's... What'd you say a slug was, Frank?

I had it at 432. X slug is 532. to. Geez. Yeah, he's underperforming his expected ISO by 100 points, basically. And, you know, the offensive environment this year is different. And so you would expect, expected stats to not be quite as predictive. But even then, I don't think what we're seeing is indicative of Luis Roberts' true talent level.

And I think there's going to be a stretch moving forward where he's hitting for power. It's not going to be a concern. And like, I feel pretty good about a guy who's hitting 300 with a 25 steel pace and a 765 OPS when he's underperforming. You know, that seems like a pretty good scenario for me. I know it's a cop out, basically, but the ground ball rate really seems like it's just kind of ruining everything right now. 50% ground ball rate for his career, he's 41%. And it's kind of similar to Vlad where a couple of years ago, you know, Robert is still hitting the ball extremely hard.

It's just a lot of those are on the ground. And he's not hitting the ball like to the pull side is often. He's hitting it more the opposite way or straight away more often. So like there are real reasons why he's not hitting for as much power this season. It's just I don't think though like I still think that there's enough in the underlying metrics to suggest that even if his profile doesn't change, he's going to hit for more power than he has. has been, and it's possible that he starts pulling the ball more often and just starts hitting for more power that way as well.

Yeah. Yeah, that's what I expect to happen is, like, I don't think anybody cares more about the lack of power than Luis Robert himself, and he already knows how to hit for more power. So, like, he's, he's going to figure it out. It'll be fine. Over under rest of season, 14 and a half home runs for Luis Robert. I would take the over. I think it's a good number.

It is a good number. I think I'll take the under, considering that's twice as many home runs in the second half as he had in the first half. But not by much. He'll break 20 home runs this season. Well, he'll reach 20 home runs this season. Five projection systems on fan graphs, and three of them have him hitting 15 or more home runs for the rest of the season.

There are two that have him at 13. So we are in agreement, Scott, that he will get to 20 by the end of the season. and that is Luis Robert. Let's move back over to some pitching. Quite the pitcher's duel in Chicago between Dylan Sees and Kevin Gosman. Sees was amazing. Six shutout innings. One hit, two walks,

11 strikeouts. 20 swinging strikes with 18 of those coming on the slider. It's just so frustrating because you know what he's capable of if he could just keep those walks down, but they rear their ugly head a lot. This is the, let me see if I can find the exact number. but I think it's the first major league start or first stretch in major league or an American league history where pitchers had at least five strikeouts and no earned runs allowed in five straight starts.

That's pretty impressive. It's kind of surprising because five starts with five strikeouts and no earned runs doesn't sound like that unattainable. But yeah, it's the first time that's happened since earned runs became an official stat 1913. Interesting. On the other side, Kevin Galsman bounces. back with a quality start. Six innings, two runs, seven strikeouts. He had 19 swinging strikes, and I think he was pretty fired up because his velocity

up across the board, two miles per hour up on the fastball, two and a half on the slider. And kind of change up the pitch makes a little bit here. Scott, anything you saw worth noting on Dylan Sees and or Kevin Gosman? Not really. I did notice velocity was up for several pitchers tonight. for C's velocity on his slider, which he threw 50% of the time. The velocity was up 1.4 miles per hour on that pitch. And I don't know why.

You know, it just seems suspicious that widespread there was this velocity increase. But I do think it's worth mentioning, even though I don't know what to make of it. All right. Let's talk about some of the waiver wire pitchers from Tuesday. Marco Gonzalez with a strong outing in his first of two starts this week. Seven innings, two runs up against the Oakland A's. Rwanzi Contreras gets back on track after two subpar outings, five endings of one-run ball against the Cubs.

Aaron Savali with a very solid return at the Twins. Five innings, two runs, seven strikeouts in that one. And Jose Orkidi puts together back-to-back quality starts for the first time this season, six endings of one-run ball, five strikeouts against a pretty tough, New York Mets lineup. Chris, how would you rank these four? Orkidi, Savali, Roanzi-Katreras, and Marco Gonzalez. I think I would go Rikidi, Contreras, Savale, Gonzalez.

Gonzalez, he goes through these stretches where he gets good results, and then he goes through these stretches where he looks like the worst pitcher in baseball. At the end of the season, his ERA usually ends up right around four. That's probably where he'll end up. And there's just not much upside there where there's at least theoretical upside with the rest of the pitchers. And especially contraris and Erkidi, I think you can talk yourself into the high end of the range of outcomes being pretty good. I do want to point out for Savale, who's fourth of this group for me, and I was pretty much completely out on him after the way his start to this season went. but, you know, we've seen him be an effective pitcher before,

and he completely changed up his pitch mix in this return. He threw more sinkers, fewer cutters. So that's just something to keep an eye on with him. Yeah, he threw way more sliders as well. So sliders and sinkers were up, cutters and four-seem fastballs were down for Aaron Savali. Which is weird because the cutter hasn't been bad this season. Yeah.

And the sinker has never really been that effective of a pitch. it's actually been really, really bad for him this season. So, yeah. Not necessarily a pitch mix that I look at and think this is likely to yield positive results moving forward. Oh, right. Anthony Descofani did make his return on Tuesday. He gave up five runs over three innings pitched against the Atlanta Braves. Scott, would you be okay?

I was surprised, Descofani, 60% rostered. That means people have been holding onto him all season, or maybe just everyone picked him up recently. Well, I mean, he was a quality fantasy option last year. I think in a way that was kind of suspicious, I mean, less than a strikeout per inning. But we have a lot of faith in the Giants' handling of pitchers. And so, you know, I have one league where I've held on to him all this time. I think he needs to deliver soon, I would say, to avoid getting dropped in a bunch of leagues

because the success was suspicious last year. And also there was something weird going on with his pitch selection in this start. His most used pitch was a cutter, which he's not on record of throwing the past couple years. I'm saying slider. It might have just been a classification. Okay, so maybe they fixed it now.

I think it was a class. That makes more sense. Yeah. Because I Twitter searched Descophani Cutter to see if anyone was talking about it. And I actually saw something from Enos Harris that said his cutter very closely resembles the slider. So I think there's probably some classification there for Deskovani. Some pitching leftovers, Tony Gonsland has now allowed two earned runs or fewer in all 13 starts.

This one was okay. At the Reds, five innings, two runs, four strikeouts. Did have 19 swinging strikes. Just didn't really see it show up in the strikeout total here. And then Spencer Strider kind of got knocked around a bit by the Giants. Give up six runs over three and two thirds. his fastball velocity was down 1.7 miles per hour. Don't like to see that.

He was not one who was up, yeah. That's a concern, I guess, just because he's, you know, still getting stretched out or still trying to, you know, pitch in the rotation full time, something he hadn't been doing earlier in the season. So, you know, it's a little bit concerning, but it's still only one start and not nearly enough for me to consider dropping him. Yeah, I would try my best to hold on to Strider, but let's monitor this velocity moving forward. Certainly wouldn't drop him for any of the Gonzalez-Contreras-Cavale-Architi group.

Agreed. Hitting leftovers from Tuesday's action, Javier Baez, we tried to tell you. We tried. He finished a double short of the cycle. He goes three for five with his fifth home run. Now on a six-game hitting streak, back-to-back games with multiple hits for Javier Baez. Trevor's story, when one-for-three hit his 11th homer. Ronald Lucuna went 3 for 5 with his seventh home run.

Matt Olson, 2 for 5 with a double dong. He added 6 RBI in that game. Luis Arise continues his hot hitting, 2 for 5 with his fourth home run. He's still betting 362 overall. Marcus Semyon, 3 for 4 with his 7th home run. He's been much, much better over the past month or so. Nathaniel Lowe went 2 for 4 with his 9th home run. Good to see.

Staying consistent with that launch angle, hopefully leading to more power. Pete Alonzo went three for three with his 20th home run. Willie Adomas hit his 14. mentioned Luis Robert earlier. Alejandro Kirk hit his seventh home run. The Mariners went back to back to back. Three homers in a row, Julio Rodriguez started it with a 445 foot home run. Jesse Winker then followed it up and A.

E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. O'Henio Suarez capped it off. Carlos Santana, we mentioned. Big game again on Tuesday. Three more hits hit his fourth home run. he's trying his best to keep his job and unfortunately keep Vinnie Pass Quantino down. Some bullpen updates for Tampa Bay. Colin Poshay entered with a three-run lead in the ninth inning.

He gave up a two-run homer but converted his fifth save and he does have three of the last four saves for Tampa Bay. Scott, let's say those deeper leagues, 15-team, Rodo, Colin Poshay. What do you think about adding him for saves? I'd have to call him the top option.

for the raise right now, but that doesn't mean much, especially if he's going to give up two run homers and his safe chances. Yeah. I think even with this, it just pushed his ERA over two. So it's been very good so far this season for Tampa Bay. Uh, yes, just went over 2.01. Underlying numbers, not great. Uh, all right, so we'll see where that goes. The Boston Red Sox, Tanner Halk, likely unavailable. He worked three of the last four days. Matt Strom started the ninth with a two-run lead. He recorded two outs, gave up a solo homer to Jonathan's scope, and then John Schreiber recorded the final out for his second save of the season. For the Giants, Camilo Doval entered with a four-run lead. He gave up a two-run homer to

Matt Olson, and they wound up winning that game. I think it was like 12 to 10. The Cardinals, Giovanni Gallegos, pitched in the sixth and the seventh innings with a one-run lead, and then a two-run lead after that. Ryan Helsley pitched in the eighth and the ninth with a six to two lead. So Flaherty doesn't. Why didn't Halsley get a save here? Uh, I think because when he came in in the eighth, they already had a four. It was a four run lead, but four run lead over two innings should be a save, right? Isn't that how it works? No. No, three, three innings is automatically a save no matter what the lead is. Yeah. That's where I got confused, I guess. Otherwise, it's, um, you know, it's usually a three run.

lead. It becomes less if you don't work a full inning. It gets complicated. Yeah, I thought it was like the runner, the tying run was in the hole is a save. That is the condition for a safe too. I didn't realize that. Tying run on deck, not in the hole. Yes, correct.

For the Blue Jays, Jordan Romano entered with a four to two lead. He gave up two runs on three hits, two walks, took the blown save in that game. I think they're still, no, all right. So the Padres just wrap. up. I mean, we're going pretty late here and there's still baseball going on. So I'm sure there's some wacky things with bullpens going on in these games. I did want to point out Ken Giles did appear in a game, I think, for the first time this season, right? Yeah, that would make sense. Got a strikeout, worked a clean inning. Velocity was down.

Hey, 95 miles per hour with the fastball compared to 96.9. The last time we saw him, but he pitched in the ninth. I don't think that's nothing. Eight to two game, but, you know, big league. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know if it's something, but it may not be nothing. Fair enough. To stream or not to stream, let's start with Wednesday. Ross Stripling at the White Sox. John Gray versus the Phillies.

Keegan Thompson at the Pirates. Tyler Wells versus the Nationals and Michael Walker versus the Tigers. Gimme John Gray. Chris, cool with that. That's it. I think Chris is a... I said yes, but I was muted. All right, let's do Thursday on the fly here

because I didn't write them down. Kyle Freeland at the Marlins. No. Braxton Garrett versus the Rockies? Nope. Okay. Justin Steele at the Pirates? Nope.

Jose Cantana versus the Cubs? Nope. No. Dakota Hudson at the Brewers? That's my favorite so far, but I still don't feel good about it. I got it. Johnny Quato versus the Orioles.

I don't trust Johnny. All right, well, that's all we've got for Thursday. Everyone else is more rostered. I mean, I guess Ranger Suarez at the Padres could be out there, but I don't really feel great about that either. So, yeah. It's Johnny Quato or Bust, which is honestly what you never want to hear. No, I didn't say Quedo. I'd go Dakota Hudson over Quoito, all right?

Oh, I was just giving my opinion, Scott. Okay. I would go, John. You're allowed to have an opinion. Yeah. I mean, last time I gave out a streamer, I'm pretty sure they got rocked for like, a run, so you probably shouldn't listen to me. We're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris.

I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.