Fantasy Baseball Today - Nolan Jones Breakout? Week 12 Sleepers & Two-Start Pitchers (6/9 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 9, 2023

Reese Olson looks really intriguing for the Tigers (2:00)! ... Could Nolan Jones be on the verge of a breakout (5:20)? ... Jo Adell hit a monster homer in his first game (9:46). ... The Mets-Braves game was insane (11:40). ... What's next for Lance Lynn and Luis Severino (23:48)? ... Will Brennan is a name to pay attention to in deeper leagues (32:00). ... Reid Detmers finally had a good start (35:55). ... News (38:25): Yordan Alvarez is dealing with an oblique injury. ... Let's get into our Week 12 preview (42:45). Which two-start pitchers and sleeper hitters should you target? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (53:34). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ 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 Tough Fantasy Baseball today on June 9th. I am Frank Sample, joined by Scott White, and today on the show, Nolan Jones is doing some fun things. I know we spoke about him yesterday, but he did even more fun things. So I want to talk about him again. We can talk about him every day. He does fun things. That's fine. Let's do it until he stops doing fun things. This might be it for Lance Lynn, a wild Mets Braves game,

and our week 12 preview. Before we get started, please like this video and subscribe on YouTube. and subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already. And if you're listening on the audio side, download, follow, and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. Let's jump in. Oh, my goodness gracious.

Oh, my goodness gracious. Don't worry, Scott. We're going to get to that Mets Braves game. I don't know why your Braves had to do that. That was messed up, man. Literally, insult to injury, man. You guys take out Pete Alonzo yesterday.

and their crazy wins today. It was, I just feel bad. That's a weird tone to Frank, to take Frank. You acted like they started a brawl or something. Like they just played and won the game. They did. Why did they have to do that? That's exactly what they're supposed to do.

I know, I know. It's just, ah, those poor Mets, they just can't catch a break right now. We'll get to that in just a little bit. Scott, your, oh my goodness gracious player of the night. Okay. So I am going to talk about a player who is only 7% rostered.

So everybody, literally everybody, listen up. I'm going to talk about Reese Olson, Tiger's starting pitcher. Technically worked in relief today, followed an opener. But it was his second start, quote unquote. And it went really well, as the first start did. This was at Philadelphia. He allowed one run in five innings. three hits allowed, one walk, just three strikeouts in those five innings,

but he had 10 swinging strikes on 75 pitches. Weak contact, 85.6 was the average exit velocity. And as I pointed out after that first start of his, which let me see if I can remind you of what those numbers were, Ries Olson in his first start at the White Sox, also five innings, two runs on two hits with six strikeouts. So very similar stat line. As I pointed out then, you might be inclined to ignore him

because he had an ERA over six at AAA prior to his promotion. But his final two starts there, everything turned on a dime. His last two starts at AAA, Toledo. He allowed one and a run over 10 innings, five hits allowed, 19 strikeouts in those 10 innings. He looked like a world beater, and lo and behold, has come up to the majors,

has looked very good. What I didn't mention after that first start, and I only noticed it this time, his most thrown pitch is the slider, but in both of those starts, over 30% of the time, has a pretty full arsenal, but the slider is the one he throws the most.

RPM on that pitch is over 3,000, which is very high for a current, curveball. You know, I talk, I refer to that 3,000 RPM number all the time when I'm talking about Charlie Morton's curveball because it's very impressive to see on that pitch. But for a slider, it's even rare. So this is a pitch with some special metrics that Reese Olson has. And you add it all up.

And he's looking like a pretty attractive pickup to me. Everybody's looking for starting pitchers to pick up, even in fairly shallow leagues. I'm gonna put his name out there. Resoles and only 7% rostered. I noticed the same thing with the spin rate. Scott, I wrote down elite level stuff there on the slider. He's got a four pitch mix, a fastball sinker, change up,

and of course that slider. And I was watching some of that game, and it just looked good. He looked like he was confident on the mound going up against what should be a strong Phillies lineup, although I know they've mostly disappointed so far this season. I'm with you, man. I'm very interested in what we've seen so far from Reese Olson.

He's allowed three earned runs over his first two appearances, 7% rostered, and it looks like he'll either be a two start pitcher or a two bulk reliever pitcher for next week. We'll talk about him when we get to the week 12 preview as well. Oh my goodness gracious for me, Scott. I alluded to the name already. Nolan Jones, who in this game on Thursday,

he went three for three with a walk, two RBI, and his third stolen base. He had two hard hit balls, including a double that was 113.2 miles per hour off the bat. 415 feet. Actually, it would have been a home run in 27 out of 30 ballparks. Corsfield was one of the three, I guess, that it was not a home run.

And we spoke about him yesterday, but this is now two days in a row where he's making some big noise, loud contact. We know he has power and speed, and he was doing some really great things in the minors this year as well. And this is a former top prospect

with the Guardians at the time. Now he got traded to the Rockies this off season. And something you said yesterday, Scott, is that we need to monitor his playing time, right? If we had assurance that he'd stick around for a while, that we'd be even more excited about him.

Well, there was a report on Thursday that C.J. Cron is still experiencing pain in his lower back and has no timetable for a return, which sounds to me like Nolan Jones is going to stick around for the foreseeable future. So I think that does change things a little bit. Now, I'm going to paint the other side as well here

because we saw Nolan Jones last season with the Guardians. His first four games, he had seven hits, a home run, eight RBI. We were all getting excited about him. After that, he hit 192 with a 36% strikeout rate. So I don't want to get too excited yet, but obviously, if you're in a. an everyday player in Coresfield with power and speed.

I think that there is upside. What are your latest thoughts got here with the update to C.J. Crona as well, helping the playing time. Yeah, I agree that changes things. Chris Bryan is also out. True. And he's begun baseball activities. So there is still going to be a bit of a roster crunch.

And we'll see how Jones performs between now and then. But I think the fact that he is playing as regularly as he is right now is encouraging, like the Rockies are giving him an honest chance. He started 11 of 13, sat against one left-hander, sat against one right-hander, but also started against the left-hander, so it's not like they're doing a strict lefty-righty thing with Nolan Jones. They're just giving him a chance, and he's delivering on it so far. The plate discipline has been horrible. Yes.

His strikeout rate over 30%. I believe this was, he had a walk in this game, but it was his second walk. So two walks versus 14 strikeouts in those 13 games. And it's hard to imagine if that's going to continue that he'll remain productive. But we are talking a very small sample there. And hopefully he gets that straightened out. You mentioned that double was 113 miles per hour. He's actually hit a ball 114 miles per hour too.

So his max exit velocity is 94th percentile, high quality contact, and of course all the advantages of playing at Coors Field. I'm intrigued by Nolan Jones. I'm not going to go as far as to say he must add, but in five outfielder leagues, if you've had trouble filling all five of those spots, it's something to consider.

I think, you know, we talked about Joey Weamer yesterday, that big game he had. I would say they're on close to equal footing in terms of my interest level in them. Yep, yep. I would say so as well. It really just comes down to the contact again for Nolan Jones. I want to point out what he was doing in the minors this year. 39 games at AAA.

Nolan Jones was betting 356 with 12 homers, five steals, a 17.6% walk rate and a 23% strikeout rate, which is better than numbers he's put up in the minors in the past. So hopefully that's a sign of things to come. If he can get that strikeout rate below 30%, start walking a little bit more. I think really good things could be coming for John Jones. He walked a lot throughout his minor league career. That wasn't an issue, but hasn't translated to the majors yet. All right.

And just for next week, in terms of the Rocky schedule, they do have seven games, but unfortunately, all seven of them are coming on the road. So keep that in mind if you're picking up Nolan Jones, but I agree, Scott. I think five outfielder leagues. He's definitely in play at this point. Want to give an oh, my goodness gracious shout out to Joe Adele, who in his first start back with the Angels

went one for three with a mammoth home run. 117.2 exit velocity 451 feet. I mean, it doesn't get much more impressive than that, Scott. I mean, that's like John Carlos Stanton, Aaron Judge territory right there.

And it was like right down the left field line too. It's, it's, you don't see, you don't often see a ball go that far hit at quite that angle, you know? That was something. somebody pointed out on Twitter and it was a thought I had too when I was seeing the highlight. It was just kind of an interesting looking home run and the sound it made it was the sound it made. The sound it made was very satisfying if you get a chance to look at the clip.

The guy has some impressive tools. He just has some pretty big holes in his swing that have kept him from having any success at the major league level so far. and I expect that to remain the case despite this impressive home run but hopefully he proves me wrong I'd love to see his talent come through this season in the minors Joe Adele was batting 278

with 18 home runs four steals but again a 29% strikeout rate and you know if you see 29% in the minors you figure how does that translate to the majors you're probably looking at like mid 30s or even higher than that so well and specifically it's it's a big

strikeout rate, it's not frequent because of over passivity. It's not because of him chasing. It's because he just misses on hitable balls, which is an especially bad way to come about that strikeout rate. Yep. So that is Joe Adele. We'll monitor. I think he'll only be around for a short while until Hunter Renfro is back from the paternity leave, but worth highlighting that home run. Let's get into that crazy game, Scott. Oh my goodness gracious, game of the night. So back and forth, the Braves go up three. Zip in the first inning. The Mets stormback with five runs in the second. Back and forth we go. The Mets are up 10-7 in the eighth. They gave up a two-run homer to Travis Darno. Makes it a one-run game

going into the ninth inning where Orlando Rcia hits a game-tying home run off of David Robertson. And then we head to the 10th. The Mets don't score any runs in the top of the 10th. And at that point, you're thinking Tommy Hunter is coming into this game. Doesn't look too good for those Mets. He does get two outs. But Ozzy Albies blasts a three-run walk-off homer. Just one of the craziest games I've seen so far this season. Let's start with the Mets side of things, Scott.

Stalling Marte, I wanted to highlight him real quick. He went three for five, and over his last 11 games, he's betting 333 with one homer and three steals. So good things are starting to happen for Marte. We just need it to kind of carry over for longer than just 11 games. So it's a good sign for him. Then we get to Francisco Alvarez, who actually got the start at DH. We haven't really seen that much from him this season.

Omar Narvaez was a catcher and Alvarez went two for five with a double dong. He now has 11 homers which trails just Sean Murphy and Salvador Perez by one. Those guys have 12. Francisco Alvarez has 11 and he's done it in a lot

less playing time too. So he is looked incredibly impressive. I know there's been some he's been very up and down like he goes through these stretches where he hits a bunch of home runs and then I think he was like 0 for 14 recently but he's a rookie. But I'll also point out this was his first start at DH.

Yep, yep. I mentioned that. Oh, sorry. All good. I'll elaborate on it because if they've now, if they've now value Francisco Alvarez's bat to the point that they're willing to play him there. You know, they just got Omar Narvaez back. He was starting this game at Catcher.

Dan Vogelbach is who's been occupying the DH spot for most of the year and not doing much of anything there. then even more reason to be encouraged. They had him at DH, they had him batting second, he had a two homer game. I think Francisco Alvarez is here to stay. I think he's in my top eight catchers now, the rest of season. And yeah, I would feel pretty confident in him if you have him. And if you don't, go get him.

And it's worth pointing out that this start, it wasn't against a lefty. It was against arguably the best pitcher in baseball and Spencer Shrider. So they wanted Alvarez in there. And obviously he made the money. Most of it. Yeah, you've got Alvarez at, it looks like, ninth in your catcher rankings. I have them ninth as well, just behind Wilson Guthreris and Jonah Heim.

Alvarez, 75% rostered. So in shallower leagues, if you've been holding on to William Contreras, M.J. Melendez, Tyler Stevenson, Alejandro Kirk, any of those guys, go ahead, make that swap for Alvarez. Let's talk about Justin Verlander. He allowed five runs, four earned over three innings pitched. He had more walk. and strikeouts in this one, four walks to three Ks. He did have 11 swinging strikes on 82 pitches,

but allowed a ton of hard contact. Obviously a lineup that generates a lot of that hard contact. But now through seven starts, Verlander has a 4.85 ERA, a 133 whip, less than a strikeout per inning, and he entered this start with an 8.7% swinging strike rate and allowing a ton of hard contact. I don't know if it's just because he's coming back

from the shoulder strain, Scott, and maybe he needs a little bit more time to get going, but Justin Furlander looks a lot more like a 40-year-old starting pitcher than he did last year. Yeah, he does. A lot of the dominance metrics are way down in terms of missed bats, and he's allowing much harder contact.

And interestingly, the expected ERAs is pretty decent. It's high threes. but all the other expected, all the other ERA estimators are very high. And there's not much your banking on at this point except that he's Justin Verlander until figure it out. Let me see here in terms of velocity. The velocity's down a little bit from last year,

but not that different. Like that gives me hope. Like if he's still throwing generally as hard as we expect Justin Verlander to throw, So, you know, he's gone through some rough stretches in his career before and, and bounce back from them. But, you know, I'm not, I can't confidently call him like a buy low candidate. I think it's a fine idea if somebody's really just had enough. But it's, you know, he is 40 years old.

And as you point out, he's kind of looking like it, at least in terms of the results. So this may be the end for him. but I do think the velocity is reason to think, okay, maybe he'll figure it out still. I realize that what I said now was probably not the smartest thing because this year he looks more like a 40 year old than he did last year.

Well, guess what? He wasn't 40 last year. Close enough. The point remains, he's old. He looks older this year. He looks like, yes, a less effective version of Justin Verlander. By the way, like he was allowing a lot of hard contact in this game.

As you mentioned, everybody was. there were 14 batted balls between the two teams. 14 hit over 105 miles per hour. And that's not counting a Austin Riley single that was hit 104.9. So yeah, I don't know that I've ever seen, like when you sort by exit velocity, all the batted balls, I don't know that I've ever seen this much red at the top of the page.

Balls were just getting crushed. Let's go over to that brave side. mentioned Austin Riley. He had a huge game. He went four for six with his 11th home run. He had four hard hit balls. All of a sudden, the batting average back up over 280 on the season. We spoke about Michael Harris yesterday. Some promising signs. Once again, two for four with a double and a walk. He had two hard hit balls over 108 miles per hour. Orlando Arcia, which we spoke about earlier, went three for five with his fifth home run, 43% rostered. If you need a middle infielder, Travis Darno had arguably the biggest game of all.

Four for six with his second home run. He's only 48% rostered Scott, but I don't know if we could advocate for him as a WaverWire ad because he's just not playing as much since he came off to I.L. Yeah, this was only his fourth start in 11 games. Travis Darnow. And, you know, he seems to be a pretty valuable present in the lineup when he's in there.

So I'd like to say, oh, maybe this is a person. performance will get him in the lineup more. But you got Marcelo Zuna, who's turned things around occupying the DH spot. Eddie Rosario, same thing in left field. And Sean Murphy's one of the best catchers in baseball. So Darno is not going to bump him to the bench. So there's just no place for him, except as, you know, a fill in two or three times a week at either D.H. or catcher.

So I'm not sure that's going to change for Travis Darnow. I want to say that Orlando Arcia, who remains widely available, he's now batting on the year, 326 with an 868 OPS. And we're getting pretty deep into the season for him to still have numbers like that as a dual eligible up-the-middle player

and still be as available as he is. He does bat low in the lineup. But the numbers are not regressing, I think to the extent people thought they would. I'm not saying he's going to end the year with numbers that high. But I do think there are legitimate bat skills here that are getting a chance to come out in a way they didn't back when Orlando Arceo was an up-and-coming shortstop for the Brewers.

He's in the prime of his career now. A lot of the data on his stat-cast page looks good, the expected stats, the eggs of velocity, are respectable. And I think he deserves more attention than he's gotten. Orlando Arcia, by the way, just an 18% strikeout rate. So he's improved in that way. He's not chasing as many pitches as he used to.

I guess the only problem is that it's a little bit empty. He's only got five home runs and now 41 games played. But if you want cheap exposure to one of the best lineups in baseball, Orlando Arcea is one way to do exactly that. As you know by now, no pitcher in baseball. is prone to getting rocked. And the latest example is Spencer Strider in this one. He went four innings.

He allowed eight earned runs. He still had eight strikeouts. 17 swinging strikes on 87 pitches. So only the way that Spencer Strider knows how. He gave up some hard contact. The fastball velocity was down 1.2 miles per hour. This hasn't been an issue all season. So let's just keep an eye on it, watch, and make sure this isn't an issue moving forward.

So much happened after his exit that I'm not really sure. there were too many reporters focusing on Spencer Strider's bad start after the game, the fact his velocity was down. But that can happen just a one-game blip, and so I wouldn't freak out about it. He's a two-star pitcher next week with very good matchups. So, you know, you're obviously not going to want to remove Strider from your lineup or anything like that.

One more thing about this game before we move on, It was such a fascinating game to watch, not only because it was a good game, as you pointed out, Frank, the actual on-the-field play. But they did kind of a stunt with the broadcast booth. It just so happened to be this game that they did it, where they took out the play-by-play guy, they had their normal color commentary tater,

Jeff Frankor, in there, along with John Smoltz, Tom Glavin, Chipper Jones, the four of them in the booth together. And it made for like a wild viewing experience because there was no play-by-play guy there and there was nobody attempting to do play-by-play, really. They were just swapping story. Like when the inning was over, nobody like sent it to commercial. They just stopped talking and it went to commercials.

It was kind of a Manning cast thing going on. but it was fun listening to them their camaraderie all the swapping of stories but like even like the play would be unfolding like somebody would get a hit and the runner who was on second would be rounding third

heading home and nobody would be talking nobody would be providing play by play they'd react to what they were seeing I don't know it was just it was just an interesting like I'm sure some producer was pulling out his hair over it but it was it was not like it was problem really. It was an entertaining broadcast. Yeah, when I tuned into the game, I think it was either the ninth or tenth inning,

I saw that they tied it. I was like, whoa, let me turn this on. And I heard the broadcast. I'm like, this isn't the normal voice that I hear. So I knew something was up. I just didn't know it was exactly that. But it does sound pretty awesome, especially for those diehard Braves fans out there. Let's take our first break, Scott. And when we return, let's get into the old Lance Lynn. We'll do that here on Fantasy Baseball today. Welcome back. And this Saturday on CBS, one of the most celebrated soccer tournaments in the world is down to two clubs. Manchester City meets Inter in the UEFA Champions League final. Our world class team will be on the pitch with live coverage beginning Saturday at 1.30 Eastern on CBS. All right, Scottie,

let's talk about a few pitchers that got hit hard here on Thursday. And Lance Lynn, is this it? I feel like we're in a similar range as Alec Manoa. I don't think the White Sox are going to send down Lance Lynn at this point in his career, whatever it might be. He was at the Yankees against a, I've got to point out, a pretty bad Yankees lineup with no Aaron judging it. Still gives up five runs over five innings pitched, three walks, four strikeouts, 11 hard hits allowed, 93.8 mile per hour, average exit velocity. his Velo on his pitches was actually up in this start. So I guess that's the one positive. But I watched the start, Scott, just nibbling, not throwing strikes.

And then when he had to come into the zone, he would get hit hard. He gave up, I think, at least one homer in this game. The ERA is now up to 6.72 with a 156 whip. Lance Lynn's got latest thoughts. Everyone's asking, do you just, is it time? Can we just drop them for anybody who's out there? No, I wouldn't say that. I mean, I'm not totally dead set on holding on to him.

You know, in a 10-team league, you're probably past that point already, just because there are only so many roster spots. But I will, like, what distinguishes it from the Alec Manoa, a couple things distinguish it from the Alec Manoa situation. One, Alec Manoa was walking everybody in sight and had been for a long time. Two, he never really had anything. that you could point to to say, oh, that's reason to be encouraged.

I mean, for Lance Lynn, you know, the overall season line, the strikeouts have been there, the swinging strikes have been there. And just two starts ago, the converse, like just two starts ago, we were basically done worrying about Lance Lynn.

He was coming off three good starts. I don't know about you, but I was just totally comfortable treating him like the Lance Lynn. I drafted him to be at that point. I figured, oh, he's back. Nothing to worry about here. Then the last two starts have gone poorly again.

I understand. but he's shown us enough that I still think it's more likely than not that he gets on track here. And in fact, he's lined up for two starts this upcoming week. I do the two-star pitcher rankings every week. I don't have him in the very bottom tier, the no-thanks section. I have him in the only in points leagues, would you consider using this guy section? So, of course, in categories, leagues to preserve your ER and whip, there's too much risk there. don't do it. And I'm not saying Lance Lin is a must start in points leagues for the two-star week.

But I'm saying I could see it if you're really motivated to give volume in there, just hoping he bounces back to what he was doing during that three-start stretch before the way these last two starts have gone. He is getting strikeouts. He's getting swinging strikes, but 3.6 walks per nine. That's Lance Lynn's highest since 2018. His BABIP is 340. His home run to fly ball ratio, also a career high 20. 25% is just like the combination of getting hit that hard and putting that many batters on via the walk. It's a disaster right now. I'm not saying he's getting unlucky. He's pitching poorly, but he's not, it's not like Manoa in that, wow, everything is gone horribly wrong here.

And I don't know what it's going to take for him to go right. Okay. Some of the most added starting pitchers right now, Andrew Abbott, I would make the swap. I would drop Lance Lynn for Abbott. Yeah, I mean, if you had to, I, and most of my leagues, I'd have somebody I could drop before Lynn, but sure, I would rank Abbott ahead of Lynn at this point. I assume the same for James Paxson. I know you like him quite a bit. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And the other name here is A.J. Smith Chauver, who will make his first start on Friday against the Nationals.

Yeah, I mean, it's always tough with that sort of move because you might want to undo it right after you see him start, depending on how it goes. Yeah, I guess if that's the only way to get Smith Schaver on your roster, it's worth doing. But, you know, maybe Smith Schaver gets rocked and gets sent down after the game. That's very much a possibility. He's going up against Washington, so hopefully that's not the case. Who got rocked against Washington two turns ago? Who pitched today? A really good pitcher, trying to remember who it was.

Zach Wheeler got rocked against Washington two turns ago. So, you know, it's baseball. Yeah. That's baseball, Susan. You're right, Scott. Let's talk about Luis Severino. He was on the other side of this game. Now has two clunkers in a row.

He was up against the White Sox. He allowed four runs over five innings pitched. Did have six strikeouts. Give up three homers in this game. Ten hard hits. Velocity was down across the board. Fastball was down one mile per hour. The slider was down 2.4 miles per hour.

Something I noticed about these last two starts, Scott, is Severino has been throwing his cutter more. And that's something he did when he first returned last year. And then he slowly got away from it. And he started trusting his slider and his fastball. And eventually he got back on track. But I just thought it's weird because clearly whenever he's used this cutter, it doesn't really seem to work well with his other pitches.

And the overall numbers haven't looked very good for him. Now four starts in. Severino has a 5.76 ERA your latest. thoughts. Yeah, the Cutter is a frustrating pitch as an analyst because it generally, not always, it has its uses, but it often takes away a pitcher's best characteristics. And I don't know why some become fascinated with it in a way that seems self-defeating. And that may be what's going on here with Severino too.

Has it been at the expense of the slider? Do you know if that's the case for... I know that he threw his slider a lot less in this start. Yeah, 16%. The velocity was way down on the slider. Yes. But he had a 50% whiff rate on those 14 pitches that he threw. So coming back from Tommy John's surgery,

you could understand why he was fading the slider because it's a pitch that it puts a big, strain on the elbow. And it was a bit worrisome like, oh, that's supposed to be Severino's best pitch wise. Why isn't he throwing it more? Is he favoring his elbow? Is he feel like he can't throw it as much as he used to? I would

think now a year later, he'd be past that. And, you know, maybe not. This cutter, he's throwing it, he's given up a lot of home runs all of a sudden two, I'm sorry, seven home runs in his last two starts.

That's obviously no way to live. So, you know, I don't want to freak out and abandon Luis Severino because he's had a couple bad starts, but he's doing some things that you don't want to see him doing. And so hopefully that stops. He's also a two-star pitcher for this upcoming scoring period. I have him a tier ahead of Lance Lynn. I have him in the questionable but advisable in most circumstances. this tier. Okay. Well, those guys were going to be in my fringe two-star pitcher questions for later on, but yeah, I'll bring him back up anyway. Alex Cobb has slowed down

recently, obviously a tough spot in Corse Field on Thursday. He allowed four runs over five innings pitched, did have seven strikeouts and 13 swinging strikes. I'll give up some hard contact in this one, and over Alex Cobb's last five starts, he's a 5.33 ERA and a 156 whip. the walks have been a big issue for him during that time, which can happen because Cobb gives up a lot of contact and a lot of hard contact at that too. So I know Scott you had him as a cell high about a month ago. Hopefully people listened.

I do want to move on to some waiver wire hitters. We spoke about Nolan Jones, and along the same lines, this is a deeper league play, five outfielders. I think more of a high floor play than the ceiling kind of play that Nolan Jones is. But Will Brennan went two for four with his fourth home run. And this dude is low key on fire right now. I only know because I picked him up in a 15

team league last week. And over his last nine games, Will Brennan has 16 hits, two homers, and a steal. And last year in the minors, he hit 314 with 13 home runs, 107 RBI, 20 steals, and an 850 OPS. And it just feels like maybe we've written them off too soon or just kind of forgot about him. He reminds me a lot of like a Stephen Kwan type on the same team and frankly, maybe even offers a little bit more power and the same amount of speed. He's 6% rostered. I think in those deeper five outfielder leagues got Will Brennan is someone that should be on your radar as well. Yeah, we've made that Stephen Kwan comparison with him before. And maybe he does have a little more power. You know, the contact skills aren't quite as good as

Kwan. I mean, Kwan himself hasn't been who he was last year and that made. No. What he did as a rookie may be at the high end of what Stephen Kwan is capable of. So we are talking about a low ceiling player here in Will Brennan, but he is getting consistent playing time for the Guardians. You know, could he, just talking a five-by-five context, taking his plate discipline out of it, could he put together a blanket on the name, the Nationals leadoff hitter Lane Thomas, could he put together those kind of numbers?

Potentially. Potentially. He's got a long way to go, I think, to earn that same level of trust. And I'd rather invest in like a Weamer or Nolan Jones over Will Brennan. But I at least have a curiosity about Will Brennan. If I'm intrigued about Nolan Jones, I'm curious. about Will Brennan.

How does that sound? I think that sounds just fair. Some deep league players that we haven't talked about recently. Ramon Arias went three for four with his sock and his shoe, his second home run, his third steal,

but it was just his third start in the past seven games. And I buried the lead, Scott. I do apologize. Willie Calhoun, my guy, across the double header. Three for eight with his fourth home run.

He added two runs and three RBI. I, look, I'm actually not joking. He let off both games. And I think as long as Aaron judges out, maybe Willie Calhoun could be sneaky in those deeper five outfielder leagues. I don't know. What do you think he's got?

Willie Calhoun, Ramone Arias. I don't know. You can have them. All right. Well, that's fair. I'm actively rooting against Ramon Arias, who has not been good overall. No, he isn't.

The Orioles need to get Jordan Westberg up already. They need to get Colton Kouser up already, too. but, you know, Aureus is more standing in Westberg's way as a fellow infielder. So I don't know what they're doing. I mean, obviously they've got a 613 winning percentage. They're having a good season. You'd think they'd want to put all the chips on the table, so to speak. But those guys continue to waste away a AAA.

They're not wasting away, but they're there. I assume they're leading the wild card, right? They are, yeah. I believe so. They have the first spot in the wild card. You know, the Yankees and Astros are pretty close behind them as well. Maybe it'll take a few losses for things to tighten up and then they'll say, all right, let's get these kids up, but I agree with you wholeheartedly.

Let the kids play out in Baltimore. Some waiver wire pitchers here, Scottie. Reed Detmer's finally had a solid start up against the Cubs, five and two thirds, one run aloud with eight strikeouts and 12. swinging strikes. Aaron Savali was solid up against the Red Sox, five and two thirds innings, two runs allowed with three strikeouts in that one. Kyle Bradish got off to a slow start and then turned it up at the Brewers. He allowed three runs over five innings, had 10 strikeouts with 15 swinging strikes. The problem for him

is his secondaries, his slider and his curb ball are awesome. His four seam fastball and his sinker get hit really hard. They, uh, entering the start, his four seam had a 395 batting average against his sinker 333. So Braddish has those breaking pitches, but in terms of the fastball is not very good for him. Scott, how would you rank that that group? And are you actually interested in any Bradish Savali, Detmer's. So Savali's definitely third. I just don't think he has the same upside of the other two. And certainly doesn't have the same sort of offense backing him up. I think Detmer's has the most upside, but he's been pretty much unusable this year, just not going deep enough into

stars, allowing too many base runners. The strikeouts are nice, and that's normally the first place you look when you're talking about upside. So I guess I'm going to put Bradish number one. I think he's the most usable, a little inconsistent, like you said, the fastball isn't great, but when he's going well, he can get strikeouts, he can work deep into games, and the Orioles offense is really good. So Braddish 1, Detmer's 2, Savale 3.

And if you were just speculating, would you go with Reese Olson over that entire group? Yeah, yeah, I think so. I mean, obviously he has the lowest floor of the four. So if you're in a deep league, you're probably not dropping Kyle Bradish for Reese Olson, but you're probably not dropping Kyle Bradish at all. So I think if you're in a shallower league, you can speculate on the upside of, Olson over these three. And just a heads up.

I don't want to start any of these names next week. Kyle Bradish is going up against the Blue Jays. Reed Detmer's is at Texas. We know they have been a buzzsaw. And Savali two-star pitcher looks like at the Padres and at the Diamondbacks, but I don't know that I have much confidence in

that either. Let's hit some news and notes. Yordon Alvarez exited Thursday with right oblique discomfort and after the game Dusty Baker suggested Alvarez will likely miss time. obviously Scott, this is a huge blow to fantasy teams. Alvarez, first round pick, basically living up to his draft cost. And yeah, I'd imagine, I can't speculate on a timetable,

but at least a couple of weeks, maybe a month. Six weeks. Obliques are pretty tricky, so. Four to six weeks. That's the default time table for an injury that we don't know the timetable for. I like to say that everything is 15 minutes away. like if I have to drive somewhere. It's 15 minutes away.

And it's amazing how often that ends up being true. So I think I think this four to six weeks rule for injuries is in that same category. Yeah, Jordan Alvarez, I guess I should have taken Freddie Freeman fourth in that draft for the rest of the season, huh? Yeah. Should have known this was going to happen. How dare you, Scott? How dare I? Well, you know, we spoke about some outfielder already. So if you play in a five outfielder league, Nolan Jones, Will Brennan, I see Jose Siri is still just 29% rostered.

He's done some very interesting things this year as well. The aforementioned Joey Weamer. And if you play in a shallower league, you know, the Lane Thomases of the world who we regularly talk about, those are some outfield replacements there for Yurdon Alvarez. Pete Alonzo underwent, both a CT scan and MRI on his left wrist. Of course, he was hit by a pitch on Wednesday. Buckshaw Walter added he's hopeful Alonzo will be ready to play Friday against the Pirates

Seems a little bit hopeful for me But we'll see Elo Jimenez left the second game of the double header With an apparent leg injury I can't anymore I'm so defeated when it comes to Elo Jimenez I think there's a talented player somewhere in there But the dude just cannot stay on the field

Nestor Cortez was officially placed on the aisle With a left rotator cuff strain Retroactive to June 5th Jorge Palanco was pulled with left hamstring tightness. The same hammy he recently went on the IL for Twins manager Rocco Baldelli expressed optimism

that Polanco will avoid the IL but I highly doubt that. Perhaps this means Edward Julian will be back once again. Cody Bellinger is expected to participate in live batting practice and engage in other controlled exercises. He's been on the IL since the middle of May with a knee injury.

Hunter Green's hip felt great during his bullpen session, and he's on track to start Sunday in St. Louis. Alec Manoa will miss at least two turns through the rotation, though I bet on him missing much more time than that. Mention earlier, C.J. Crohn, still dealing with some, with this experiencing pain in his lower back, which again helps Nolan Jones stay in the lineup.

Yandi Diaz was out of the lineup Thursday due to a minor hip issue. Noah Cindergarde was placed on the I.L. with a blister on his right index finger. And all of a sudden, Scott, I start thinking about Emmett Sheehan or maybe even Nick Frasso, who's pitching well in the minors for them. And then I was reminded that Julio Arias is going to be back soon. So probably no on either of those names, right? Saturday, I think, is when Arias is supposed to be back.

All right. Christopher Morel has now sat out three straight, and he is one for 25 since May 25th. quite the fall from grace there. This is why it's hard to get excited about Joe Adele's 450 foot home run. Christopher Morel did that nine times and still is looking like a quadruple A player.

Kevin Kiermeyer left after getting hit by a pitch in his left wrist. X-rays came back negative. Hunter Renfro is expected to return from the paternity list Saturday and Michael Brantley hit in a cage, ran the bases, and made throws Thursday as he continues to rehab his,

his surgically repaired right shoulder. He could begin a rehab assignment soon and a name to pay attention to in deeper leagues. Let's take our final break and when we return our week 12 preview here on fantasy baseball today. Welcome back and a big thank you to everyone watching us live. 485 people here.

We do appreciate you. Please like this video and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. Let's get into the week 12 schedule Scotty and three teams have five games next week. The Brewers, Yankees, and Mets, 18 teams have six games, and nine teams have seven games next week. The Rangers, Phillies, Rays, Angels, A's, D-Backs, Braves, Rockies, and Tigers.

Mentioned this earlier for the Rockies, but they have seven games next week, and all seven are unfortunately on the road. Start or sit these fringe two-star pitchers. This is where we get back to those names we were talking about. Luis Semarino. There aren't a lot of fringe two-star pitchers this week, I should point out. I have 13 must-start two-star pitchers for this week. Normally, it's like half that.

So that leaves few to choose from if you're looking for a streamable two-star pitchers. So I took greater liberties, which is kind of why I have Lance Lynn here as somebody you could start in a points league. Because, you know, I want to give people options, but the options this week aren't great. All right. Luis Severino. We spoke about him earlier at the Mets and at the Red Sox for next week. Yeah, I would lean yes on him, as I said earlier. It's easier to say yes in a points league. That's always true with the two-star pitcher. And if ERA is your primary concern in a categories league, maybe you play it safe, especially with those matchups. But I lean yes.

Lance Lynn at the Dodgers and at Seattle, you said points league only, correct? Yeah, and again, it's not like he's a must for a points league. I'm just, I'm not, I'm not for sure going to say no to Lance Lynn in a points league. Tommy Henry up against the Phillies and Guardians. Yeah, I'm going to lean no on him. He came crashing pretty hard back down to Earth in his last start. And, yeah, I recommended him as a two-start pitcher for this past week. The fact he's a two-star pitcher for next week means he's not going to be a two-start pitcher for this.

current week. So that was a pretty bad recommendation all the way around. Speaking of crashing down to Earth, Scott, Matthew Liberator, up against the Giants and at the Mets. I've pretty much lost any enthusiasm I had for him because like the velocity, after that first start, you know, it was up all season in the minors, but after that first start, it just hasn't been there. He's looked like the Liberator from last year. So now, I'm not going to use him in a two-star week. All right. So who are you using, Scotty? Two-star pitchers to add and stream for week 12. All right, so James Paxton barely makes the cutoff here.

79% rostered. The cutoff is 80 for me in these streamer hitter and pitcher columns. So James Paxton, two starts against Colorado, against the Yankees, presumably without Aaron Judge. That looks really strong. It's amazing. He's as available as he is. Rees Olson. other end of the spectrum in terms of roster ship 7%.

He is facing the Braves in his first start, at Minnesota and his second start. So the matchups could be better, but he's making two starts, and I think this stuff is good. At least in points leagues, I might be willing to roll the dice. Dane Dunning gets the Angels and the Blue Jays.

Again, I wish those matchups were better, but beggars can't be choosers with the two-start streamers this week. and then Dean Kramer has the Blue Jays and is at the Cubs. Some one-star pitchers who I like more than most of those two-star guys include Bailey Ober. Also just barely makes the cut,

79% rostered. He looked again here in his start Thursday. It wasn't a quality start, but Lottes-Wa-Strakes. I think technically it was, Scott, because it was four runs, but three were earned. Did he go six innings?

Oh, maybe you're right. Maybe he did go five and two-thirds. Okay, continue. Yeah, so Bailey-over is facing the Brewers in his next start. That's a good matchup. Logan Allen is at San Diego. That's been a good matchup amazingly this year and he's on a nice run, Logan Allen. Louis Varlane's coming off a rare bad start, but he faces the Tigers this week, the worst offense in baseball. So that's clear. Yes, I would say, Pablo Sandoval, also coming off a bad start, but he's at Kansas City.

Did you hear what you just said, Scott? No, what I say. You said Pablo Sandoval. And that's actually what you emailed me as well. That is what I wrote. that's a different guy you're right oh that's great man I'm getting old Patrick Sandoval is who I meant to say

I didn't even catch the mistake it'd be great if Pablo sandoval is pitching or playing in any capacity all right Patrick Sandoval at Kansas City good matchup worth considering him at least

and then I also have AJ Smith Schallver on here at Detroit worst offense and baseball that obviously depends on how Smith Schavers first major league start goes Friday, if it doesn't go well, then I may not have him on the sleeper pitcher list anymore, but for now I have him there and ahead of Resolson even, just to put it in perspective, the two-star Resolson.

With the bad matchup, the one-start AJ Smith-Shawver with the good matchup, I take the one-start Smith-Shawver as things stand now. Did you see in this start for Bailey Ober on Thursday, Scott, that the umpire made him go wash his hands, kind of similar to like a Domingo Hermann situation? earlier in the year? I did not, that happened with Scherzer too. Yeah. So they did not see that now.

He didn't get ejected or anything. The umpire just suggested that he goes, wash his hands. And this is a quote that I see after the game. We didn't observe anything that was sticky and suspicious. But like I said, out of an abundance of caution, it's better to make it a non-issue by cleaning it up. That's kind of weird. I don't know. He must have had his mom's voice echoing in his head.

Sounds like something a mom would say. Yeah. I see some dirt under your fingernails there, Billy Ober. Why don't you go wash your hands? It's never a bad idea to wash your hands. It prevents disease from spreading. Yeah, it's a good idea. Good idea.

All right, let's slide over to the hitter side of things. The best hitter matchups for next week. The Braves, Phillies, Rays, Royals, and twins. And let me tell you, Scott, on my most important team this year, I've got both T.T. Real Muto. So I really could use those fillies to come through for next week because I am tired of looking at over's man.

It is tough. The worst hitter matchups for next week, the Yankees, Nationals, Brewers, Padres, and Guardians, which I guess throws some cold water on my Willie Calhoun love. With that being said, Scott, your sleeper hitters for next week. So my top two play for the Reds, the Reds weren't among the teams with the five best hitter matchups, but their matchups are still good.

They're facing the Royals for their first three. games and then they get J.P. France and Brandon Bialick in the Astros series. So the fact they didn't make the five best hitter matchups shows you, there's a lot of teams with good hitter matches. There's a lot of teams with good hitter matchups and bad hitter matchups this week and not a lot of in-between. So anyway, the Reds matchups are good. Matt McLean still

qualifies. He's my number one sleeper hitter for this week. Jake Fraley, who's dealing with a bruised wrist and was out of the line of Thursday. but I think they're facing Kirshall. He generally doesn't start against lefties. I think they're facing a lefty on Friday as well. So we may not see him until this weekend. He'll be good and rested up.

He's been on fire for the last month or so has Jake Fraley. And there's only one lefty on the schedule in addition to the Reds having good matchups. So I like him for this week. From the Braves, who you mentioned have the best matchups of all, at Detroit for three against Colorado for four. I got Marcelo Zuna on here. of course. Eddie Rosario, who's been playing a lot better lately,

had that big home run in Arizona that won the game. And then Orlando Arcia, who we talked about batting 326 now. Those are the three Braves represented here. And they all seem like fine plays. Rosario, part of the reason I have them on here just one, I'm sorry, two lefties scheduled in those seven games. So he should start at least five of those games for the Braves this week. I also have Kibbrien Hayes who's been hot, and the Pirates matchups are good.

Where they're facing? At Chicago for three, at Milwaukee for three. Mostly bad pitchers lined up there. The twins have the fifth best matchups, so Royce Lewis is on here. And I thought I had another twin, don't I? Yeah, Willie Castro. Not only are the twins' matchups favorable, but three of the six are, against left-handed pitchers in Castro's numbers.

And he's playing pretty much every day anyway, providing power at speed, but he's especially good against left-handers. Versatile player, only 35% rostered. He's 10th on these 10th sleeper hitters, but if you really have to dig deep, Willie Castro is a fine play this week. Adam Duvall, who's supposed to be back this weekend.

Red Sox have good matchups, so I'd be happy to get him back in the lineup. And the last one, this is a sneaky piece. play Nick Prado with the Royals having the fourth best hitter matchups. Now they are facing three lefties. Nick Prado is a left-handed hitter, but against lefties so far, he's batting 308 with a 987 OPS. And his numbers don't make a lot of sense to begin with.

He's just kind of been hitting everybody well, but let's take advantage for as long as it lasts. I wouldn't be scared away by all those lefties on the schedule for Nick Prado. I feel it, Scott. This is the week. With this sleeper hitter planner, Matt McLean is going to jump all the way up. I feel it. We won't have to talk about him anymore.

Let's do it. And we can stop talking about him forever. Yes. Yes. Everyone, go get Matt McLean on your teams if you haven't already. What do we do with Otani next week as a hitter? He's got seven road games against Dane Dunning, John Gray,

Andrew Heaney, Nathan Avaldi, Brady Singer, Zach Ranky, and a pitcher to be determined. And as a pitcher, he's at Texas. So I think I pretty confidently want to use him as a hitter next week, Scott. Yeah. Yeah, it's been a close call most weeks. But he's been hitting well and has that tough matchup. So I agree. Which means, of course, he'll probably throw seven shutout with 12 strikeouts next week at the Texas Rangers.

Let's wrap up with some leftovers, Scotty and some. pitching standouts, Clayton Kirshall with a vintage performance. At the Reds, he went seven shutout with nine strikeouts and 17 swinging strikes. Zach Wheeler took a no-hitter into the eighth inning up against the Tigers, seven and a third, one hit, one unearned run, eight strikeouts with 16 swinging strikes. Velocity was up a little bit in the start for Zach Wheeler as well. And to a much lesser extent, Jose Burrios had a quality start up against the Astros, six innings of two-run ball with two strikeouts there.

anything you'd like to add on Berrios, Wheeler, and Kirshaw. Like I said, it was nice to see Wheeler bounce back from that bad start against the Nationals. He's been trending a positive direction overall. And Jose Berrios continues to be reliable. I don't think he's anything close to an ace, but I think he's a fine, you know, sort of back into the rotation guy in fantasy. All right, let's get into the hitting left. Over's, Ellie Dela Cruz is human.

After all, notice we didn't lead the show with him today. He went one for four with his first deal of his career, but also struck out three times. Did have some trouble there with Clayton Kirshaw. Max Muncie's batting average has gone down the toilet. I don't know. I guess there were supposed to be some other context here. But over his last 29 games, he is batting 170 with a 30% strikeout rate, Scott. So obviously the power has been great.

18 homers, 44 RBI. but the batting average, you know, it has been kind of a letdown recently for Max Muncie. Yeah, he'll get hot again. I'm not worried about it. It's never been a great source of batting average, of course. Right. But I think he's making impactful contact, and he'll be fun. Carlos Correa went two for four with his sixth home run, and that was his first homer since May 13th. Gunner Henderson went one for three with his seventh homer. He's showing. signs here and there, but just not enough consistency, unfortunately. Michael Conforto went two for three with a walk and his 12th home run. And in 30 games since the start of May,

Kenfordo is betting 287 with eight home runs. And I think he's close to 80% rostered. So that's why I didn't mention him as a waiver wire hitter. Welcome back to Tyro Estrada, his first week back. And in this game, he went one for four with a sock and a shoe, his seventh home run and 14th steal of the season. Luis Robert in game one of the double header went three for five with a sock in the shoe. His 14th home run, his third steal of the season. He had three hard hit balls all over 107 exit velocity. Jose Ramirez, who frankly we could have led the show with Scott,

went three for five with a triple dong. Love to see it. Need to get him on track. He's betting 267 with nine home runs and five steals. hopefully this is the start of first round Jose Ramirez for the rest of the season. Andres Jimenez went two for four with a double and two RBI. He has multiple hits in four of his last nine games.

So it seems like he's kind of coming around. Let's pay attention there to Andres Jimenez. A few bullpen updates for Tampa Bay. Just Jason Adam pitched a clean ninth inning for his 10th save. For the Orioles, Felix Bautista struck out two for his 16th. And Yaneer Canoe picked up his 13th hold. He's been one of the better relievers in saves plus hold

leagues this season. For the Giants, Camillo DeVall pitched another clean inning for his 16th save and for the Rockies. It all comes crashing down, Scotty. Pierce Johnson entered in the ninth with a one-run lead. He proceeded to give up three runs on two hits and two walks.

He was relieved by Daniel Bard and after the game, Rockies manager Bud Black said Johnson's status as the primary closer will be addressed and My best guess is still Justin Lawrence or Daniel Bard, though Brad Hand has closing experience too. So who knows? Yeah, pretty messy and not the sort of bullpen that is necessarily, it's not necessarily worth waiting out the mess in this bullpen unless you're in the sort of league where saves are always scarce.

For the White Sox in game one of the double header, Kendall Graveman got the ninth inning with a one run lead. he allowed two base runners but did pick up his sixth save and Liam Hendricks got the save on Tuesday night my guess is they're still kind of easing him in they don't want to use him too frequently but I do think it will be Liam Hendricks's role sooner rather than later. For the Phillies, Craig Kemberl entered in the ninth inning with the game tied he gave up a run

but wound up with the win because on the other side Tiger's closer Alex Lang gave up two runs on a walk and three hits that was his second blown save and second loss Lang has now allowed six earned runs over his last two appearances. And let's just pay attention, Scott. But if we're speculating on anybody, I think Jason Foley is the next name to watch in the Tigers bullpen.

Okay. Yeah, I don't have a name immediately in mind. So that works for me. But Lang's been surprisingly good this year. He's been better than I thought he'd be, frankly. Yeah. So hopefully, hopefully they stick. with him. He's been great up until these last two appearances. So, you know, need to see him bounce back

there. For the Yankees in the doubleheader, game one, Michael King entered in the seventh with a one-run lead. He gave up a two-run homer to Eloy Jimenez and took the loss in that game. And then in game two, Clay Holmes got the ninth inning with a three-run lead. He picked up his seventh save. And as much as I like Michael King, and I do believe he is the best reliever in the Yankees bullpen, on a nightly basis, if we're just ranking it for who is most likely to get saves, I would say at this point, Scott, it's Clay Holmes, then Wandi Peralta,

and then Michael King in that order. They like to use King as the fireman, the biggest, the highest leverage role in the bullpen. And Holmes has gotten three of their last four saves. Yeah. So I think he's probably back to being the Yankees reliever to prioritize here.

By the way, did you happen? So the Yankees were facing the white, Sox today. Did you happen to see that matchup, that pitcher, that pitcher batter matchup in that Yankees White Sox game? Which one? The the Burger King matchup. It happened. Oh, that's great. Yeah, I didn't even put that together. Yeah, I kind of had it on in the background, so I wasn't paying too much attention. But yeah, that is, that is great. For the Blue Jays, Jordan Romano struck out one for his 17th save and for the Angels. Carlos Estevez continues a fantastic season, his 16th save of the year. Let's wrap up with to stream or not to stream. And on

Friday, Scotty, who did we say yesterday? I know it's his first start. I kind of like A.J. Smith-Shaw for up against the nationals. I'm willing to do it. I'm rolling the dice, Scotty. I mean, it's probably the best choice here. But this is why I don't like streaming pitchers. Josiah Gray has mostly pitched well this year. but at the Braves, he got hit hard by them on opening day. It's, I don't think so. No. Michael Lorenzen up against Arizona.

Oh yeah, we did talk about him. He's been pretty good. I would take Lorenzen over Smith-Shawber myself. Okay, I'll take Smith-Shawver and then Lorenzen. And if I need to choose one more, I'll say, ah, it's a toss-up between Tyler McGill at the Pirates and Adrian Houser versus the A's. On Saturday, Andrew Abbott at the Cardinals.

I think that's fine. Cardinals have, their offense hasn't been great. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's fine. You could try, you could try to bank on the Julio Tehran magic again. I think that magic will run out, but hopefully not against Oakland on Saturday. And, um,

J.P. France at Cleveland? I think it's okay. I'd prefer Tanner Halk at New York, the Yankees, without judge. I think both of those guys are in a similar range here, so take your pick. And then on Sunday, Louis Varland is at Toronto. That's pretty tough. I don't know. You know, I mean, it's better than most of the streaming options we've talked about.

There's actually some pretty good ones here on Sunday. Brian Beow at the Yankees. That's okay. Griffin Canning versus the Mariners. Yeah, that's okay. J.P. Sears at the Brewers, they've been bad against lefties. Mm-hmm. Brandon Beelack at the Guardians.

Maybe. Yeah, there are... Maybe Braxton Garrett at the White Soxs, too. Those are all, like, they're at least doable. Yeah. I think if I'm choosing one from Sunday, it's still Louis Varland at Toronto, but there are some other doable ones. And I'll throw out one more.

Carlos Carrasco at the Pirates. You know, he's been up and down, but that Pirates' offense has gone pretty cold. So I'll take a shot on Carlos Carrasco. We're going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify.

We'll be back again next week. Bye-bye.