Fantasy Baseball Today - Offensive Outbursts & Is Devin Williams Out As Closer?? (8/5 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

Devin Williams might be out as Yankees closer (2:43). ... Bo Bichette launched two homers (6:21). ... The Blue Jays crushed the Rockies (9:25). ... The Phillies launched six homers against the Orioles (12:25). ... News (17:03): Aaron Judge is set to return on Tuesday. ... Jurickson Profar hasn't been that great since returning from the suspension (27:34). ... Any interest in Slade Cecconi or Justin Verlander (34:51). ... These three pitchers are on a roll right now (38:50). ... Sean Manaea's velo was down again (43:04). ... Sonny Gray vs. Tyler Glasnow was great (47:18). ... Let's take a look at leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (53:18). ... We wrap up with Team Name Tuesday (1:04:50)! Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow FBT on TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CBSScottWhite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Roto_Frank⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Hey there. Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Tuesday, August 5th.

I am Frank Stample joined by Chris Towers today on the show. We had some huge offensive games from the Blue Jays and Phillies, a pitching duel between Sunny Gray and Tyler Glass now, both with bounce back starts, they needed it, and could Devin Williams be out as the closer? Let's discuss. Swahy-God!

Shout out to Guardians Radio broadcaster, Tom Hamilton, who was the recipient of the Ford Frick Award this year. I always loved his energy, enthusiasm, so happy to work that into the rotation again. Tom Hamilton, shout out. He's one of the best. Chris, over to you, Player of the Night.

Who you got? I swear I'm not doing this just to troll you. That's just a, it's just a nice side effect of the discussion that we have to have about yet another Yankees implosion on Monday night where, hey, all the, all the other relievers that they acquired at the deadline were great. Camilla Duvall, David Bednar, both through scoreless innings. And then David Byrd comes out. Yeah, that was later. Devin Williams comes out for the ninth, close out the game. The, I don't know if you were watching the game, but the Yankees broadcast was being pretty rude to our guy, Jock Peterson.

They were being pretty mean and nasty about the poor season he's having. And I didn't appreciate that. Apparently, neither he did he, because he homered off to Evan Williams. It is, I think you said, the fifth time in the last seven games, appearances for Devin Williams, that he's given up a run. the ERA back up to 510 now after getting close to like the low the mid fours after that terrible start and I think they've got to drop him out of the closers role I know they they gave him the vote of confidence coming out of the deadline this was his first appearance so it's not like he's been bad since then outside of this one but given how poorly his season's gone given how much

the Yankee season has kind of fallen apart lately they are only two games up on the final wildcard spot right now i believe i just don't think they have the margin for error to keep throwing devon williams out there in the highest levered situations possible i i think they're going to have to turn to david bednar who's been the best of the three uh or four i guess closers on their roster by far this season um and yeah i think they've got to just see if he can get the job done because the Yankees cannot afford to keep giving away games like this. Yeah, and we haven't got any confirmation or any indication from Aaron Boone that this is what he's thinking of doing, but you guys said it the other day after our trade deadline recap.

I mean, the margin for error here for Devin Williams is just so thin. Yeah, it's pay percent. Because the Yankees need to wake up. They've got to get back on track. And again, they have three other closer worthy relievers that's set up for him in this game. and I understand ERA is not everything. But if you just look at that column here in the box score,

it's Weaver 295, Doval 319, Bednar 266, Devin Williams 510. So I think something needs to happen here. It feels like it's mental, and I know, you know, that could be a thing for Devin Williams. His main pitch is one that's really hard to command. I totally get that. But yeah, I hope, I feel like this is necessary for him to kind of be put in lower leverage situations. And look, I wouldn't drop Devin Williams yet

just because maybe they just keep rolling them out there. But, you know, if David Bednar was dropped in your league, I don't know, maybe. And there's a decent chance he was. He's down to 60% rostered. I do think at the very least, any league where saves matter, you've got to go out and speculate on David Bednar, I think. Yeah, and it could be some of the other guys, too.

Like, Doval worked the ninth inning in that save opportunity against the Marlins last Friday. So it could be one of those guys. But considering that Bednar pitched the eighth inning, in this one, yeah. If they do make a change, my guess is they would probably go to him before any of the other names there. So we'll see what happens.

For me, Player the Night is going to be Bo Bichette, who had a huge game in Coresfield, three for six with a double tongue, six RBI, and he is crushing it in the second half here, hitting 385 with three homers. I realize two of those came today here on Monday, but 21 RBI in the second half so far with an OPS over a thousand here for Bichette, who on the season total, 299, 15 homers, 75 RBI, four steals, 809 OPS. You know, it's not the Bo Bichet of old, but it is undoubtedly a big bounceback season for Bichet, who's in a contract year and obviously looking to get paid this all season.

But credit to him, Chris, because there were, you know, a pretty decent amount of people who kind of thought Boba Bichet might have just been done. entering this season. Yeah. And the biggest difference between this and the great versions of Bobesh out we saw in the past is just stolen bases. And he hasn't really been a stolen base guy since 2022 has maxed out at five. He has four this season. So I think he'll beat five.

But clearly not a big stolen base threat. But everything else looks basically like it did when he was a first or second round pick. Now, because of the stolen bases have gone. down. Boba Shed is not a stolen base threat or a, you know, first or second rounder right now. But really, other than that, he's bounced back in a huge way. It's, you know, what do you want to call that? 22 homer pace, probably that he's on. Well, his career highs 29. He had 24. One other season, he's on 100 plus RBI pace, probably like an 80 run pace, which is a little disappointing. It's more run rbi than runs but yeah bobbashet having the bounce back season that um you know the three

of us on this podcast especially hoped he would have and you know you looked at the the underlying data all season was better than what he was actually producing and then then this hot streak over the past month or so is sort of getting him back to where he was supposed to be so i buy it i i don't see much reason to doubt that Boba Chet is, when healthy, back to being a 300 hitter, back to being a decent source of power, just an all-around four-category contributor for fantasy. Yeah, and the OPS now is up to 809. You mentioned he's basically the player he was before. His OPS three seasons from 21 to 23, 828, 802, 814. And again, now it's 809. He's right there. He's pretty much right on.

pace with where he's been with the exception of last year when he clearly was not himself and he was battling lots of injuries and leg injuries and things like that so he's managed to stay healthy so far and obviously huge bounce back season here for bobbashet want to mention a few other blue jays here 15 runs on 25 hits man they uh they just went in and clobbered the rockies here dalton varsho two for five with his ninth home run and four rbi he had five hard hits in this game, three over 106 miles per hour. Just his third game since returning from the IL. He has nine home runs in 27 games this season. And Varsho has never been a big exit velocity guy. He was always, you know, really had to maximize pulling the ball in the air and doing that trick.

But he is hitting the ball harder this year with a much higher barrel rate than ever before. So I think the batting average is still going to be low, but I don't know, rest of season, it could still be a pretty good home run pace here for Dalton Varsho, who's 30% rostered, just a name for five outfielder leagues, and Ernie Clement, who went five for six with three runs scored. In the second half, he's in 293, but, you know, there's just not much else. It's pretty empty stats here for Clement, who has just five home runs and three steals on the season. 42% rostered. I think he's a name in deeper rhodo leagues that you can have around just to kind of fill in when players are hurting,

and things like that, but there's not much upside there. Chris, anything to add on Dalton Varsho? Big game here. I don't quite understand how this guy who is like 30, right? 29 and who's had to kind of sell out to hit for pretty middling power in the past. I guess he had the one 27 Homer season, but the previous couple of season before this one, 20 and 18 in, Not quite everyday plate appearances, but 500 plus each. I don't quite understand how he's become a legitimate power header,

but everything backs it up, right? His average exit velocities are way up. His barrel rates are way up. You said three batted balls over 105 miles per hour today? Yeah, that's bonkers. His swing speed is up. He seems to be swinging much harder. Not much else about,

his swing has changed, but maybe that's enough to explain this. I remain very skeptical, and I think the batting average is going to be legitimately harmful. And so Dalton Varsho is probably just if he's a power threat, probably just that at this point. Don't think he's going to steal many bases. He's lost some foot speed. Actually, while watching this game, I don't remember him being, like, he looks like he has bulked up. He looks like thicker, not in a bad way, just looks bigger than I remember him being. And so maybe there's just a little bit of a tradeoff there.

But yeah, I think it's probably just empty power, but, you know, empty power still means home runs in RBI. And those are, you know, their own categories. What to quickly talk about the Philly Slug Fest here? The Phillies put up 13 runs, including six homers on Monday night. Kyle Schwaber, three for five with a double dong and six RBI. Last 27 games. He is hitting 280 with 15 homers, 37 RBI over a 27 game stretch.

OPS over 1100. His average exit velocity is 98.5 miles per hour for nearly a month of the season. He has been ridiculous and we're talking beforehand, Chris. I kind of feel like Schwarber has to be in the conversation for NLMVP, right? if, you know, it's probably PCA, Otani, and Chorber. Those three? Am I missing anybody? Yeah, I think those would probably be the primary ones. Like, Will Smith's having an awesome season, but the playing time's not there.

Kyle Tucker, I could see Kyle Tucker going on a run and pushing himself into that discussion, but seems like a long shot. It's probably those three guys. I wanted to look up win probability added, which is takes into a case. account game situation is basically just a way to account for wins above replacement that takes into account situations because cow shwarber in addition to just being an awesome hitter is a you know clutch hitter in as much as that exists and he is fourth in wins when probability added in the national league show he a tani's first freddie freeman second

and pita lonso third um piker armstrong 15th not quite coming up in in the big moments quite as well as those guys, but that also doesn't take into account defense, which is a big part of PCA's argument. I think Kyle Schorber, the season he's having has got to be in the MVP discussion, even if he's not necessarily going to get there. Bryce Harper went one for four with his 17th home run,

and I remember, what, three, four weeks ago maybe, we got an email that someone asked, is Bryce Harper washed? Basically since that email, last 20 games, Harper is hitting 333 with eight homers and an OPS over 1,200. So I just kind of think he was dealing with injuries for a lot of the season, and now he's just getting his legs underneath him now. And welcome to Philly for Harrison Bader, who went one for four with his 13th home run,

obviously his first with the Phillies. And he's up to 13 homers, 10 steals on the season. The problem with his fantasy value in Philadelphia is he's only started two of four games since the trade, and I think his playing time is going to be a little sporadic here. So I do think he's behind someone like Dalton Varsha, who we spoke about a little bit earlier on. Just a reminder to sign up for the FBT newsletter, if you haven't already.

If you're watching on YouTube, you can scan that QR code. It will take you right to the website where you can sign up for free, and you'll get a newsletter delivered right to your inbox every day for the rest of the season, or at least the days that, you know, Chris is around. He's got some stuff going on.

We all got some stuff going on. Big thanks to those watching live. Make sure to hit the like button and subscribe on YouTube as well. Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Let's hit the news and notes. And Aaron Judge will make his return on Tuesday,

which is bad news for John Carlos Stanton, who is swinging a hot bat right now. He hit another home run on Monday. He now has nine homers in his last 20 games with an OPS over 1,000 during that time. He's up to 63% rostered. I think maybe they'll give him. I just don't know how much higher that can climb.

They'll give him a day or two in the outfield. They'll probably play things safe with Judge. You know, maybe give him a day off every third or fourth game. So, you know, Staten will DH in those games. I think Staten will probably wind up playing like three times a week, three or four times a week, but it's just hard to justify. At least until... Until Judge can throw or play the field.

And they need to, you know, really play that cautious, obviously. So, yeah, it's just bad news for Stanton. Staten can play first base, right? First base isn't hard, right wash? Tell them wash. Oh my gosh, man. If you watch the throws that they give Goldsmith on a daily basis, man, like he,

they already have a lot of errors. They would have a lot more of Goldsmith was not their first baseman. I will say it's just very cool to see still in 2025 after everything John Carlos Stanton's been through. You look at, you know, Statcast has these leaderboards at the top of the page every day of like, hardest tip ball, furthest tip ball, top pitch velocity. swing and miss all these things.

And it's like, I rolled as Chapman. Still the hardest starting pitcher of the day on Monday. Giancarlo Stan still had the hardest hit ball on Monday. I think that's cool. The more things change, the more they stay the same, Chris.

We do have some Braves updates. Austin Riley was placed back on the aisle with a strained lower abdominal muscle. Nacho Alvarez was recalled. And if you are looking for replacements in shallower leagues, Royce Lewis and Nelvi Marte, right around 77, 78% rostered on CBS.

Some names that are more widely available. Warming Bernabel, Colson Montgomery, Josh Young, who hit another home run here on Monday, and in deeper leagues, Kobe Mayo, Brooks Lee, and Luis Renhifo, a few Austin Riley replacements there. Chris Sale recently threw a bullpen and is expected to face hitters soon. He's on the IL with a fractured left ribcage.

Spencer Schwellenbach has yet to resume throwing, and it appears unlikely that he'll return this season. Grant Holmes has elected to treat his elbow injury with rest and rehab rather than undergoing surgery. This one, I actually, I often think that's a mistake. You're going to have to have surgery eventually, probably. There aren't a lot of times that this works out. In Grant Holmes's case, it makes a lot of sense just because if he has surgery now, next season's done.

He's older. He's just too. Yeah, like, no, that's what I'm saying, is that if he has surgery, surgery now, he's not going to be healthy until his age 31 season. Like this might be his only chance to, you know, lock himself in as a, as a starter if this works out. It probably won't, but this, this makes a lot of sense. Hunter Green will make another rehab start at AAA on Friday. Roman Anthony was scratched from the lineup due to mid-back tightness. He will not go for an MRI and the hope is that he will

return on Wednesday. Nick Lodolo left Monday start with a blister, which is... This is concerning. Yeah. It's because... It's pretty much derailed Max Fried season. Well, I mean, we don't even have to talk about other players. Nick Lodolo last season, I think he only ended up missing about two weeks with a blister, but he talked a lot about the fact that trying to handle the blister, trying to pitch through it, he changed his grip on his curveball, and that led to the finger injury that cost him much more time and made him much less effective. So I'm not saying the same thing's going to happen here, but the fact that that's what derailed

what was looking like a really good season for him last June is very, very concerning for Nick Lodolo. Next up here, Michael Soroko left his Cubs debut earlier with shoulder discomfort, and we learned afterwards that he will go on the IL. So just pretty unfortunate news all around there. He had an MRI on his shoulder before the trade. He talked about this after the game because his velocity had been down. So he wanted to get himself checked out.

He had an MRI, went to the doctor. Everything looked fine. So I don't know. That was weird. Max Muncie was activated by the Dodgers and Tommy Edmund was placed in the IL after re-injuring his ankle. Esauk Paredes received a PRP injection in his hamstring. and will treat the injury through rest and rehab instead of surgery.

Jordan Lawler will take live batting practice Tuesday. He's working his way back from a hamstring injury. And once he's healthy and gets a few games under his belt at AAA, my guess is he will be back up with the debacks and hopefully just gets an opportunity to play every day for the rest of the season. Grayson Rodriguez is scheduled to undergo a right elbow de Brideman surgery early next week and will miss the rest of the season. He has a chance to be ready for the start of the 2026 season.

but at this point, Chris, I mean, there are real questions as to whether or not Grayson Rodriguez's arm could just hold up for a baseball season. Yeah, I mean, the good news is this is a relatively minor procedure. There's no such thing as a minor elbow surgery, but debridement usually refers to, or it does refer to removing a piece of something. I assume it's a bone spur or bone chip, something like that in his elbow. It doesn't sound like there's anything structural. I believe it's a fairly non-invasive procedure as far as these things go as well.

So hopefully he's fully ready to go by the start of next season. If he's healthy, is he a top 100 pick? No way. Top 200 pick? Yeah, I think right around 200 will be where it's worth taking the flyer on Grace and Rodriguez, assuming he's healthy at the start of spring training. Yeah, I can see him being on the fringe there. That's usually an area like around 200 where we see kind of a lot of these sleeper breakout type pitchers go in drafts.

So people will find ways to talk themselves into Grayson Rodriguez if he's healthy, but right now that is a big if. Luke Keishel is likely to be activated from the 60-day IL on Tuesday. He is 37% rostered and in seven games earlier this season, he hit 368 with five walks and five steps. steals. So, look, if you need a second baseman, middle infielder, I am very interested in the skill set that Luke Keishel has to offer. Also seven steals in 14 games on his rehab assignment as well. He's just continued to run. Love to see that. Spencer Arrogati will be activated to start on Wednesday in Miami. He is 76% rostered. Chris, would you call Arrogati a priority in shallower leagues if he's available? Yeah, I think so. And part of that is just,

we'll get a look at him Wednesday in Miami and then he should be a two-star pitcher next week. And so if he looks good on Wednesday, then we're probably going to be talking about him as a 100% rostered player for the fall, week 21, I guess. Would you take Spencer Arrogate over either Trevor Rogers or Edward Cabrera?

I would not. Would you take him over where did Bieber get up to? Let's see what his rock. So did you see Bieber? 80%. Did you see the update on Bieber today? No.

He's going to make two more starts on his rehab assignment. Oh, wow, really? Yeah. That was surprising. And that kind of puts him on like probably a fairly similar timetable to like Kyle Braddish. Yeah. Who I think is similarly talented. Obviously, he's less further removed from his injury.

But that does make Shane Bieber less of a. priority, I think, because now it's probably more like mid-August. Yeah. So you would take Aragutti over Beaver? Yeah, I think so, just because he's closer. I think Beaver is probably a higher probability of being good. But yeah, the quote from John Schneider, right now it probably looks like two more starts. He's going to start Saturday at AAA.

So you're probably looking at week 22 before we see Shane Bieber in the majors, which, yeah, that's not a lot of opportunities for him. him to make an impact, unfortunately. Ryan Mountcastle will not be activated by the Orioles until Friday at least. Rocky's interim manager, go ahead. It's just weird. The Ryan Mountcastle thing is weird. I don't know if he, like, suffered a setback. He didn't play like three days in a row at AAA, but I haven't seen any sign of a setback,

but they're being weird about promoting him. I don't understand what's going on there. The vibes are very weird around this Ryan Mountcastle thing. Rocky's interim manager, Warren Schaefer, said that Victor Vodnick and Juan Mejia will share the closer job while Seth Halverson is on the IL. Probably doesn't matter outside of NL only leagues. And Kevin Ginkle was placed on the IL with a right shoulder sprain. Who is next up, in your opinion, Chris? Kyle Bacchus got the save on Monday.

It was the triumph of Bacchus. That's a dumb joke that nobody will get. It's a reference to a 500-year-old painting. I think Kendall Graveman is more likely to be the closer. He's been, last I checked, really terrible in his limited sample size. Yeah, he's got fewer strikeouts than walks. He has seven strikeouts to nine walks and 15 and third innings. But Graveman has been a very good reliever the previous three seasons in some high-leverage situations,

has gotten a decent number of saves. So if he's okay, I think they're more likely to give him a look. But he probably wasn't available. He had pitched the previous two days on Monday. Yeah, I think they, yeah, I think they'll probably go with Graveman next. But maybe Kyle Backus in some lefty situations in the ninth inning. Let's take a look at some waiver wire hitters here. And Jerksson Profar, who we've talked a lot about.

He went one for two with two walks and its fourth home run. I just wanted to point out that in two, 27 games since returning from the suspension. He's hitting 241 with four homers, two steals, and an OPS around 750. So he hasn't exactly been lighting the world on fire here and his expected stats look pretty terrible. So where are you at on jerks and pro far? It's still too early to say definitively, but he looks a lot like the guy he was before last season. That's not true across the board.

He is, the barrel rate is higher, the hard hit rate is not where it was last year, but it's higher than it had ever been before last year. So it's probably more accurate to say he looks somewhere between last year and the previous years. But yeah, he hasn't been what we hoped he would be, certainly. Next step, we have Tyler O'Neill, who has been mashing since his return from the IL, 18 games since coming back. He is only hitting 246, but six home runs and an OPS around. 900, hitting the ball extremely hard during that time. He did miss some time recently.

It wasn't injury related. It was an illness that he was dealing with. 47% rostered. I think that sounds about right. I don't think he needs to be in points leagues, but, you know, roto leagues for power for short, you know, head-ted categories leagues. If you specifically any power, that's five outfielder leagues. Yeah.

Yeah. That's where we're looking at Tyler O'Neill. Josh Young missed the last four games with a calf injury, then returned with a bang here on Monday, two for four, with his 11th home run, a walk-off home run against those Yankees. Ten games since returning from the Miners. He is hitting 382 with three home runs and a 1094 OPS, 41% rostered. Chris, would you take Josh Young over either Bernabelle or Colson Montgomery, who we talked a lot about yesterday?

Yes on Burnabelle, no on Montgomery. So I would rank the Montgomery Young Burnabelle. I think. Now, it is worth pointing out Young's. It's a very small sample size, but his average X velocity since coming back is like 94 miles per hour. Expected Woba, still only 325. There's been some strikeouts. But, yeah, I think he's an interesting player.

And if Montgomery's not available in your league, I think it's worth seeing if Josh Young is there, if you need a third baseman. All right. I think I would take those other two just because it's like a mystery box thing and like, you know, we've kind of done this with Josh Young. But, you know, he could be hot rest of season. And we've seen him have success in the past. Some deep league names here. Tyler Locklear hit his first home run with the debacks. 107.7. Exvelocity 393 feet. 20% rostered for Locklear, who is, I think, a fine deep league corner infielder right now. A couple other deep league names. Isok. Isaac Collins. God, I was going with the Paredes pronunciation. Just call him Ike. Yeah, Isaac Collins, one for two with his seventh home run, and he is having a pretty good second half here with the Brewers. Matt Walner, also heating up, has four home runs in his past eight games,

has started 16 straight. Wenzel Perez, last six games. He's got 10 hits, two homers, eight runs scored, and two steals for the Tigers. Chris, any deep league interest in Collins, Walner, or Wenzel Perez? I mean, Walner, you know what he is. It's a terrible batting average and a ton of power. He's like a career 800 LPS bat. It's just, it's always a really low batting average.

And you just have to figure out if your team can live with that. Collins, the Brewers, have they invented cloning? I feel like they've got like 27 of these guys who are like all five foot eight. And don't really have power, but have a great. great approach at the plate and like aren't great athletes, but they make it work. I don't really understand what, what they're doing there or how they keep making this work. But I was looking at their lineup today. And it's like everyone's got like an 805 OPS, like right on the dot.

Everything. It's uncanny how they keep doing this. I don't have a strong read on, on Collins. I tend to just think this is a hot streak and he's waiver wire fodder. you want to play the hot hand with him, that's fine. Perez, I don't really think there's much here at all. But, you know, he's having an okay season, I guess. So would you take Varsho over all three of those, Collins, Walner, and Perez?

Yeah, I think so. Varsho and Walner seem very, very similar to me. All right. For my N.O. onlyers out there, Jack Swinsky is back with the Pirates and had himself a big game, one for three with a sock and a shoe. and just two years ago, we know he had a great season, 26 home runs, 13 steals, and he has performed well in the minors this year. 280, 12 homers, six steals, 926 OPS, hitting the ball very hard down at AAA.

So perhaps Jack Swinsky could get a little bit of playing time here with the Pirates down the stretch. Again, that's only NL only leagues out there. Let's take our final break. When we return, a couple of Waver Wire pitchers. I've got a pitchers duel I want to talk about. Sean Minow's velocity was down once again. I don't know. We'll talk about all that right after this.

Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today. I've got two Waverwire pitchers here. Slade Cicone, who turned in a quality start at the Mets, six innings, two earned runs with six strikeouts, had 15 whiffs on 99 pitches. He remains confusing for me. I think his breaking balls are really good, but he allows a lot of hard contact.

So he's kind of always walking a fine line here, Slate Cicone. Justin Verlander, another solid start. This one at the Pirates, five innings, one unearned run with four strikeouts. And over his last three starts, it's 15 innings, just one earned run with 14 strikeouts to seven walks during that stretch. Scott, Scott, you are not Scott. Chris, do you have any interest in Slade Cicconi or Justin Verlander? Sikoni is a 70% rostered pitcher on a two-star week, who has a matchup against the White Sucon.

sucks later this week. I don't think you really need to add him if you didn't for this week. Kind of feel the same way about Justin Verlander, who had excellent matchups this week at Pittsburgh, and then he gets the nationals later in the week. But I mean, grading on a curve, he's like the best 49-year-old pitcher in baseball or whatever Justin Verlander is. I think he's only like 42. Max Scherzer would like a word.

But I don't, Charlie Morton might like a word. Yeah, that's true. But I, in a vacuum outside of, you know, grading on a curve for his age, I don't think Justin Verlander's very interesting at this point. How do you rank the 40-plus-year-old pitchers? Scher, Morton, and Verlander. I think that's probably the order I would rank them. If I had one start, yes, Scher, Morton, Verlander.

Morton weirdly seems less likely to fall apart than Max Scherzer at this point. You remember those like little dolls that were like little sticks and then they had a rope and then you hit the button and they like, well, fall apart. That's kind of what Max Scher is at this point. It feels like. I always think of the scene from Jingle All the Way, the Christmas movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger. But he pulls out the Turbo Man doll and it just falls. apart. He gets like a bootleg version of it and yeah, that's kind of

how Max Scherzer feels at this point of which, look, he's 43 years old. Like most pitchers retired eight years ago. Yeah. So what the fact that he's capable, much more than capable of pitching at the Major League level at this point is phenomenal. It's just

it never feels sustainable at this point. Yeah. I mean, Scherzer still has a 27% strikeout rate to his credit. He's, he's, he's, he's, He looks good. He's doing some things, so we'll see. Two names here. Who are they?

Deep League stuff. Do you know anything about these guys, Chris? Travis Adams, a solid start at the Tigers. Five innings, two runs, seven strikeouts. Did have 16 whiffs on 63 pitches. That is a fantastic ratio. And Jason Alexander had a quality start at the Marlins' six shutout with six strikeouts.

Who are they? Do they matter? Well, I believe Jason. Alexander used to work for the Yankees, and he got caught sleeping under his desk, if I'm remembering that storyline. Is that a Seinfeld joke? That is a Seinfeld reference, yes. I don't think either of these guys matters at all for fantasy. Jason Alexander is 32 years old, does not have any major league track record to speak of, and his minor league track record is not very good.

And Travis Adams not quite as old. He's only 25, but he's got a 441 career ERA, less than the strikeout per inning at the minor league level. I don't think there's much here for either of them.

All right, well, moving on. Let's take a look at some pitchers who continue to pitch well. Quinn Prester, great again, at the Braves. Seven innings, one run with four strikeouts there. Last five games, it's a $199 ERA and a 0.98 whip for Quinn Priester. Brian Beow, six innings one unerned run with five strikeouts.

Last 10 games for Beio, 226 ERA here. And I didn't write down the whip for some reason, but I'm sure it's okay. Eric Lauer had a strong outing at the Rocky, six innings, one run, four strikeouts, 13 whiffs on 97 pitches. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in nine of 10 starts since joining the Blue Jays rotation back in June. Chris, any thoughts here? What is the sustainability for Eric Lauer,

Brian Beow, and Quinn Prester? Well, we've got to calibrate what we mean by sustainable. Is a 315 ERA sustainable for Quinn Prester? Is a 303 ERA for Brian Beow? Is a 259 ERA for Eric Lauer? Is any of that sustainable? No. No, I do not think Quinn Prester, Brian Beaux,

and Eric Lauer are all, I don't know, top 15 starting pitchers in Major League Baseball, which is what their current numbers would suggest. That's unreasonable. Do I believe they can all be like a 380, 390 pitcher, ERA pitcher? Yeah, I think that's reasonable. And that's super valuable for all three of these teams, that they've, you know, especially with Priester and Lauer, like, for nothing, basically, to, you know, especially Lauer.

Priester actually, I think they gave up a competitive balance pick, which is like a top 40 pick in next year's draft or this year's draft, whichever they gave up. So like, that's not nothing, but great fines for all of them. Bayo taken a nice little step forward, although the underlying skill set doesn't really back that up. I actually have less faith in Bayo, I think, than Priester. And then I'd put Lauer third. but they all seem like ride the hot hand eventually they're going to be

just decent I think not not must start pitchers to Beyo's credit what he's done better this season is he's getting a lot of ground balls he's not giving up his much hard contact but the K to walk stuff for Beio is still pretty bad there

Quinn Prester it's similar you know he doesn't get a lot of strikeouts but a lot of ground balls good command yeah I mean he does have an elite skill there with the ground ball rate like bayo is good at getting ground balls 49% Quinn Priester is at 58% I mean that is like top of the league level stuff there for Priester it's just he's not going to miss a lot of bats strike rate's going to be low he's got not great control but not terrible control and so I think what you're likely to see with Quinn Preaster is what we're seeing right now where 315 ERA that's awesome 119 whip

that's awesome I think the whip is probably going to lag behind whatever the ERA is. So when the ERA, you know, stabilizes and the BABIP goes up and he's like a 370 ERA guy or whatever you want to peg it at, you're probably looking at closer like a 130 whip. And that's where it's like, is he really a must start pitcher? I would think not. And Lauer is an extreme fly ball pitcher, but has done a good job avoiding barrels this season. And his XERA entering this start was 303, which is pretty awesome stuff there for Lauer.

I mean, credit to him, dude. He was out of baseball. He was pitching in the KBO last year where he wasn't good. He had a- I think he left. A 493-E-R-A and a 136 whip in the KBO last year. Yeah. And has come back to the majors and is dominating. So credit to him, man.

He's doing it. And yeah, I agree. It was non-tendered in the KBO. Yeah. ride the hot hand with all those guys for now. But obviously we're not expecting them to remain this good. What's going on with Sean Mania here? Man, he's been kind of a confusing one for me since coming back here.

A rough outing here against Cleveland of all teams. Supposed to be a good matchup at this point. Five and two thirds innings, five runs, only three strikeouts here. Tough team to get strikeouts against. But his velocity was down again in this one. His fastball down around one mile per hour. His sweeper was down almost. almost two miles per hour.

His fastball velocity by outing this season. 93 miles per hour, 91.9, 90.4, 91.4, and 90.8. So, you know, he had that first outing where it was 93. Last year he averaged 92.2. So for four of five outings, he's been below that by, you know, and some of those by quite a bit. And he's only been a two-pitched pitcher this season, too, which I also find kind of weird.

So maybe I'm over-complicating this, Chris, like, you know, the actual numbers and the underlying numbers are all fine for Mania, but just like the velocity and only being a two-pitch pitcher stuff, I don't know, it just kind of strikes me as weird for him. Yeah, I mean, it's also the strikeouts were good in the first two appearances, 13 strikeouts in seven and a third innings. That's awesome. Since then, it's 12 in 15 and two-thirds innings.

So it's not, like, he's getting results because he's not allowing a lot of runs. before Monday's start, but the strikeout rate that was carrying him last year has not been there so far. So, yeah, I think it's reasonable to be a little bit worried about Shamaniah. It's all relative. You know, we're talking about worried because you thought he might be a breakout, like, star pitcher like he was in the second half. Well, I don't feel super confident about that, given the lack of swinging strikes. it was nine whiffs on 85 pitches today, which is fine, but not what he was doing last year. I think it's okay to be a little worried about him.

Now, at the cost you paid for him, who cares, right? Like, even if you end up dropping Shamanai, it's very unlikely that you paid a particularly high price for him, so it's fine. But I, I'm definitely leaning towards him not living up to what he was last. season. And, I mean, to be fair, he was very good before this game. It was, you know, one earned run in each of his first four outings. So he was very good before this start. And, you know, he made one bad pitch.

It's like he finally started throwing his change up a little bit more in this one. And the three-run homer he gave up was off of his change-up. So maybe that's why he's only going fastball and sweeper. Maybe, you know, that's all he wants to use right now. Look, he very conspicuously modeled his approach. and his changed arm slot after Chris Sale. Yeah. Go look at what Chris Sale does.

It's syncer and slider and then the very occasional change up. So it worked for him last year. It's not like that's a huge distinction from what he was doing in the second half of last season. But with the velocity down, and I think part of it could be, you change your arm slot dramatically in the middle of the season. You change your approach dramatically in the middle of the season.

what's the old saying pitching hitting is timing pitching is disrupting timing and if you dramatically change your approach in the middle of the season that can just be fuddle hitters in a way that doesn't necessarily prove sustainable hitters tend to do better the more they see of a pitcher and when you're effectively a brand new pitcher like shamania was in the second half of last season. You know, it could be a while before the scouting reports get out. Maybe it's starting to catch up to him. Plus, the stuff being a little diminished.

I'm not writing him off, certainly. I'm not saying you should drop him. But I'm, I certainly don't view Mania as a must-start pitcher. Or a can't miss, I guess, the rest of the way. All right, we did have a pitcher's duel out in L.A. It's time to do. Sunny Gray up against Tyler Glassdown. Sunny Gray, man.

Going into this start, you did not know what to expect. And I guess that's pretty much Sunny Gray's entire career. But his previous three starts before this, it was 1148 ERA and a 233 whip. So he marches into L.A. And you're like, ah, gosh, what's going to happen here? Great matchup. Seven innings. One hit.

Yeah, that's true. One hit, one run, eight strikeouts to one walk. He had 12 whiffs on 90 pitches. He was awesome in this one. And on the other side, a great start for Tyler Glass now. Seven innings, one run, seven strikeouts for him. Did allow some hard contacts here, but nice bounce back after he walked five in his last start,

and it was clearly his worst outing of the season. So I think there is clearly a level of volatility with both of these pitchers, but on this specific day, both of them were very good. Yeah, I had next to note. concerns about Tyler Glass now. And even with Gray, it's, you know, sort of relatively speaking. Like, this is kind of just who Sonny Gray is throughout his career. Just when you think you figured him out, he goes and does something that makes you

question whether you know who he is at all. And, you know, it's kind of, I was looking yesterday. because it, it, it has felt like Kevin Gosman over the past two seasons. Every time he has a good start and we're like, oh, is Kevin Gosman starting to figure it out? This blitter looks where he just has a terrible start. And that was what I think he had eight strikeouts. Two starts ago, gave a five runs yesterday or over the weekend, whatever it was. And I looked it up and he has like a 440 ERA in the 10 starts after the 10 starts where he has at least eight strikeouts this season.

Or over the past two seasons, excuse me. And it's kind of like there's just no getting hot with Kevin Gosman. There's no building on anything. And I kind of feel the same way about Sunny Gray where he's like a 385 ERA guy with a bunch of strikeouts. He's never going to, any given five game stretch is never going to be a 385 ERA. Any given three game stretch. It's going to be three brilliant starts in a row with nine strikeouts and then three horrible starts. just he's a random number generator and the end result should be pretty good and I think you just

kind of have to ride it because when you start trying to play the trends game with Sean with sunny gray you just you're going to miss out on the good starts if you say oh he doesn't have it right now we got a we got to sit him I I think you probably just want to start him I can't guarantee that's what I was saying the last time he pitched though to be clear. I'm trying to remember and that sounds like something I would say, but I might have said, yeah, sit Sunny Gray as next star, sure. Yeah. And I totally, from a logical, rational perspective, I totally get that. Oh, it doesn't feel good to actually do that, yeah. But as someone who is invested in Sunny Gray in multiple locations, it's just, wow. Oh, it stinks. I want to rip my hair out,

you know, and it's like, doesn't it feel worse if you bench him? And then he does this, right? And then he does this. And then you start him when he has, you know, seven runs allowed. So, oh gosh, yeah, it is, man, I don't know, we have to find a way, I, it's kind of the same thing as Hazers-Lisardo. I don't know if this is out there. It might be somewhere, but like, a consistency metric for starting pitchers,

I feel like, especially if you play in, well, really any format, it's just like, I would much rather have a pitcher who gives me six innings of two or three-run ball every time out versus someone, who gives me like eight innings of no runs and then the next time out it's four innings of six runs or something like that.

It's, I don't know how to quantify or look that up rather than just like going game by game for every single pitcher. But if it's out there, someone let me know. I think we need a consistency metric for starting pitchers. Yeah, I'm trying to think of who the first guy is though. Because like my thought was like Jose Brrios, except he has those huge blowout, blowup games.

I don't know. I mean, obviously, my first thought was Zach Wheeler, but okay, it's like, the best pitchers are always the most consistent, right? The guys who allow three earned runs or fewer consistently are, like, winning Cy Youngs. You know, there aren't a lot of guys who have the ability to only give up three earned runs every start, you know? True. Yes. I'm scrolling up and down the rankings right now and looking for pitchers who, I think, most clearly kind of meet this consistency idea, and it's like Ranger Swartz. Mawres, Nathan Ovaldi.

I mean, those are top 25 pitchers. A little bit further down, you get like, Seth Lugo feels like he's pretty consistent. Yeah, I guess Seth Lugo, yeah. Merrill Kelly, someone like that. Like, he feels kind of six innings, two runs, seven innings, three runs kind of consistently. Yeah, those guys.

But you talk yourself into, it's like these other names, the ones that I guess have inherent like volatility. And, yeah, okay, Sunny Gray is one of them. but even, you know, Mackenzie Gore and Robbie Ray. Like, these are kind of the hype guys that you talk yourself into, that we talk ourselves into every year. It's like they have all this strikeout potential, but, you know, they can get in trouble with walks and things.

So, I don't know, I think it's just a lot of these pitchers are going to have the numbers you want from them by the end of season. It's just the way that they get there is really, really frustrating. So I totally empathize with people who don't like that because I don't either. Some other pitching leftovers here. The good, Jesus Lazzardo, turned in a quality start against the Orioles, six innings, three runs, seven strikeouts here, 15 whiffs on 91 pitches.

The velocity was back up, which is a good sign for Lazzardo. Casey Mize, quality start against the twins, six innings, three runs, four strikeouts to zero walks. Limited to just 67 pitches here, which feels like maybe they're going to start limiting the workload a little bit here for Casey Mize. and you say Kikuchi, a strong outing against Tampa Bay. Six innings, one run, seven strikeouts. His first quality starts since June 25th.

Six starts in between a 488 ERA and a 160 whip. So, man, Kukuchi, he's managed a low ERA, but his whip is 140 on the year. That's just, blah. Any thoughts on Kikuchi, Kasey, Kais, and Jesus Lazzardo? I think, well, one, a lot of what we're talking about, about. I think our buddy Nick Pollock has a term for the sunny grain, Hazers, Los Ardos of the world. He calls them Cherry Bonds. And I think that's like, yeah, that's probably the best way to think about it is like, if you're too close, you can get blown up. But they're cool if you keep your

distance. Casey Meis actually, it could be a workload thing, but then you look at the innings and it was Solo Home Run in the first. Okay, that's no worries. Cellarmer run in the fifth, Solihom run in the I think that's probably the explanation for why he was pulled, even though it was only 67 pitches. He did give up three home runs in this start. So I think he was probably lucky to not get hit harder in this one, and I continue to have zero faith in Casey Meijs being a must-start pitcher. And you say Kikuchi, it's that whip, man.

Yeah, the 140 whip for the season is just so hard to stomach. Even like when the ERA and the strikeouts are good, it's, um, there's somebody else like this. Oh, David Peterson, kind of. Or like, even when he's doing well, the whip is still frustrating. Jose Soriano. Soriano is like the perfect. Holds the value back even if they do some good things. And those are, those guys can kind of in a Roto League be secret killers.

Because you look at, you say Kikuchi, and like he's going to end up with 180, 100, 90 strikeouts this season probably and he's got he's got a 322 whip and you're like he's having a great season and then he's just killing your whip and that is the that is the easiest category to forget about i will say that is that is the easiest category to just like we think about era we talk so much about erie we talk so much about strikeouts and then you can look up and you're like i'm third in era and i'm eighth and whip how did this happen yeah you say kukuchi happened yeah no that's exactly right Two bad outings here on Monday.

Max Fried continues to struggle this time at the Rangers. Five innings, four runs, three walks, seven strikeouts. The whiffs were good here. Last six starts since the beginning of July. It's a 581 ERA and a 152 whip for Max Fried. The walks have been an issue. I think perhaps that could be attributed to the blister and stuff, maybe not being able to grip the ball the way he does.

Maybe it's just regression. He was never going to be as good as he was. was in the first three months of the season. And Sandy Alcansara, I'll just mention because he had two good starts before this. Another rough one against the Astros. Seven innings, six runs allowed, five strikeouts here, 12 hard hits in this one. It's just so weird.

The stuff is still there. But in the starts that he throws more strikes, he's just so hitable. His swinging strike rate is way down this season, 8.6%. it was up over 12% each of the previous three seasons before this one. So he is giving up more contacts, and when it's put in play, a lot of it is hard contact. And that, along with the walks earlier in the season, has this kind of been the death knell here for Sandy Alcantara. Yeah, I think Freed, it's the, I can't say for sure, but the fact that the control slipping coincides with the blister on his finger. that's a that's a that seems like a pretty good explanation for why things have gone wrong for him

I just don't know what the answer to that is because I think he's going to put him on the I L you have to start him right yeah I think you just kind of have to start him and then hope he figures it out um you know I I was thinking today like there's so much talk about like oh the Aaron judge doesn't hold these guys or sorry Aaron Boone doesn't hold these guys accountable and you know they make so many dumb mistakes and their base and I like That's all true, I suppose. But if you're looking for like the best explanation for why things have gone so poorly for the Yankees over the past month and a half, it's probably just that for half the season, Carlos Rodon and Max Fried looked like they might be top three in A. L. Sy Young. And now they both have an ERA north of five, I think, since the start of July.

And like, that's your problem right there, folks. There's not much you can do about that. If your two aces all of a sudden stink and can't throw strikes, which has been the big. problem for both of them. That's concerning for them, but I think you got to just ride freed. And then Alcantra, my guess, and I don't have the numbers in front, I know there are like some some metrics that, you know, have to do with how far a pitcher throws from the heart of the zone. And my guess is he's just catching way too much of the zone right now, even though the like overall zone rate in 2023 and 2025 isn't that different. I would guess it's just a lot.

fewer pitches on the edge of the strike zone and a lot more in the heart, which is, yeah, there you go. Edge rate 46% in 2022, 46% in 2022, 42% 2023, 42% this season. So I feel like he's just, he's either missing by a lot off the plate or missing by a lot on the plate. And that's not where you want to be. I think Sandy's going to be a really fun by low for 2026, but there's just no sense. sign of him figuring it out. So I'm hitting leftovers here. Carrie Carpenter two for four with his 19th homer seven games since returning from the IL. He is hitting 400 with three home runs.

Jordan Westberg continues to hit his 13th home run. 38 games since coming off the IL back in early June. It is a 306 batting average nine homers and OPS around 900 there for Jordan Westberg. Michael Garcia is picking things back up after a down July, two for five with his 11th home run. Jaron Duran has been raking, hit his 12th homer. Last 24 games, he's hitting 302, 6 home runs, 3 seals, an OPS near 1,100 for Duran. Huge game for Pete Alonzo, 4-4-5 with his 25th homer and 4 RBI. He's trying to climb out of this funk that he's been in for a while.

Last four games for Alonzo, 7 hits, 3 homers, 9 RBI. And Freddie Freeman is turning things up in the second half, where he's hitting 340 with 3 home runs, 12 RBI, and a 993 OPS. Call to the bullpen for the Tigers. Kyle Finnegan got the ninth inning with a three-run lead. He allowed a hit, but struck out two

for his 22nd save. Very interesting. Two saves in a row here for Finnegan with the Tigers. Will Vest last pitch on Saturday, but he didn't pitch in this one. So it feels kind of fluid right now. Both Vest and Finnegan

could get saves here in Detroit. Yeah, I think I would hesitate to say Kyle Finnegan is just the closer here because I don't believe that, but I also don't believe Will Vest is just the closer now. I think it's probably more like what we saw early on in the season when it was Tommy Kainley and Will Vest alternating. I think that's more like what we're going to see with Finnegan and Vest, but it's possible Finningan runs away with it. He does have the experience despite not being a great pitcher himself. So if you're speculating on saves and Bednar is not available and presumably,

Randy Rodriguez and Kate Smith aren't available. I think you can give Kyle Finnegan a look. For the Brewers, Trevor McGill pitched a clean ninth for his 25th save. For the Giants, Randy. Oh, Randy. How could you do this to us? Randy Rodriguez entered with two outs in the eighth inning,

a one-run lead runner on first. He got out of it, then came back out for the ninth, where he allowed two runs on a hit-by-pitch, a walk, and a hit. Took his third blown save, and third loss of the season. And I just want to point out, as much as we love what Randy Rodriguez has done this season, as good as he has been, it's 45 innings, 46 innings.

That is a tiny sample size. And this is what's so frustrating about relievers is not only do we have to try to look into Bob Melvin's brain and see how much trust he has in Randy Rodriguez, but we also have. a tiny sample size on which to say, yeah, this guy's awesome. And I think he is, but I also remember the first, like, 40 innings of last season, I think Reid Garrett was, like, the best pitcher in baseball.

And then he fell apart. Like, these things happen fairly regularly with relievers. I don't think that's what's happening with Randy Rodriguez, but it just highlights the inherent volatility and why I hate ranking relievers for fantasy. All right.

Next up for the, The Red Sox, I rolled his Chapman, struck out one for his 21st save. For the Guardians, Cade Smith entered with two outs in the eighth. Runners on second and third tie game, he got out of it, and then came back out for the ninth. He allowed three base runners, but he also got out of that. And he wound up with the win. Guardians won this game in extra innings, but, you know, Cade Smith, playing with fire a little bit here against the Mets. For the Reds, Emilio Pagan got the ninth with a one-run lead.

He struck out two for his 24th save. and for the Cardinals, Jojo Romero got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He allowed two base runners but picked up his second save of the season and just kind of looks like the guy for now, but hopefully that doesn't change. To stream or not to stream for Tuesday,

we have Mike Burroughs up against the Giants, Zetty Matthews at the Tigers, Chris Paddock against the twins, Luis Severino at the Nationals, Dean Kramer at the Phillies, Logan Allen at the Macs, Joey Wentz against the Brewers, Will Warren at the Tigers, Darvish at the Debacks, and Emmachian against the Cardinals.

Do we dare say Darvish at the Debacks coming off his first good start? I can't do it yet. Their lineup is still good, yeah. I think Severino is the best choice here, and then there's a bunch of mediocre options. I could see Paddock having a good start. That Twins lineup is pretty bad right now, but it's not...

A revenge game. Yeah, I don't think it's like a bottom five lineup, though. There's still talent there, so I don't have a ton of faith in that. I think Severino at Washington is probably my favorite, though. Yeah, I agree with that. His home road splits. He's much better on the road this season. I'm good with Severino.

I think Paddock is fine. Joey Wentz is pitching well right now. I know the Brewers lineup is good, but I kind of like what he's doing. This kind of new Joey Wentz throwing this cutter a lot, so I'll throw him out. there is a third option. And then on Wednesday we have Andrew Heaney against the Giants. Cade Horton gets the Reds. Jack Leiter against the Yankees. Jeffrey Springs at the Nationals. Dustin Mays, Red Sox's debut against the Royals. Jose Cantana at the Braves and Nessor

Cortez in his Padres debut at the DeBacks. I could see a good star from Horton. I could see a good star from Heaney. I could see a good start from Springs. If I have to pick one, it's probably Springs, but I don't love any of them. Yeah, I, yeah, Springs is kind of a quality start machine. That's fine. Yeah, probably him and Kate Horton. I think I would lean with those two. Let's wrap up with some team name Tuesday from Frank on the Jersey Shore. And I swear, this isn't me for Frank. Yeah. And I am not near the Jersey shore. They don't get any shores on that in the part of Jersey you're at? No, North Jersey. They got a river. I mean, yeah, it's right next to the river, but it's got some swamp. I don't think you want to go swimming in there.

Best use of Cam Schlittler's name. All right. Schlett just hit the cam. Okay, I got to be careful with these. I just cam to watch the Schlett show. My team is Schlitt. And holy Schlitt. Yep, yep.

These are from Jimmy, Bill and Ted's Flexillent Flexandland Adventure. Okay. Sure. Won't surprise you that I've seen, I think, all the Bill and Ted movies, obviously. Honey, I shunk. Honey, I shunk the kids. You could also go honey, I junk the kids. Ooh, that's kind of a deep cut, right?

Like, shunk? Wasn't that like a... I'm not picking that one up. Wasn't that like a random Rockies reserve? Yeah. I'm blanking on that one. 50 career games with a 230 batting average and a 565 OPS.

That's a deep pool. Yeah. A couple other ones here. Brisky Business. Yeah. Vladyshack. Yep. Bowmalone.

Yep. Bone Malone 2, Blossed in New Torque. Yeah, I like that. That is a lot going on. From Trevor, it burns a Latel when I ginkle. Sure. And from Sammy, are you a Pahez Tucker? Are you a Pahez Tucker?

I get the, yeah. Now that I see the reference, I get the record. Apparently from Meet the Parents, but I cannot. I guess I can, but I'm not going to repeat the actual line from the movie. You have to say it with like the Robertineer like face. Yeah, I don't think that was the face and all that. It's much better than anything I would try right now. Mizzi Arowski loves Kumpiniowski.

I like that. It's dumb. I like that. The Agnos of defeat. Sure. And the new Palante. I don't know where this is. Yeah, I don't get that one.

Listeners of a certain age who get this obscure Married with Children reference will give the show mad props. Okay. I watched a little bit of Married with Children, but not a ton. Certainly not enough to get references. Yeah, I was never. Never into Married with Children there. We are going to wrap there for Chris.

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