Fantasy Baseball Today - Parker Messick BREAKOUT! Time to Drop These Players? (4/17 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 17, 2026

Parker Messick took a no-hitter into the ninth inning (3:35)! ... Oswald Peraza had the ultimate revenge series (10:30). ... Dillon Dingler is off to a great start (13:41). ... News (19:27): Tatsuya Imai played catch on Thursday. ... It's been an annoying week for bullpens (26:11). ... Let's fire up the DROP-O-METER (37:22). ... Any interest in add Landen Roupp or Steven Matz (50:53)? ... Which players have we wrestled with most in the rankings (55:20)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (1:09:00). Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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

and top fantasy baseball today on April 17th. I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, Parker Messick had a near no-hitter. We will fire up the drop o meter. And for my wrestling nerds out there, I know it's WrestleMania weekend. Who are the players we've wrestled with most in our rankings so far?

Conceptually, I thought about this. You told me there was a connection to WrestleMania. I wasn't sure where you're going with that, who we've wrestled with personally. Yes, yes. Conceptually, thinking further about this, if we wrestled with any players, we would just get destroyed.

Oh, yeah. I was thinking, is there a single player that we can wrestle with? I mean, I'm thinking like... I think even Adam Frazier would, like, body-slam me. Yeah, my thought, my first thought was like, oh, like, Javier Sinoja is like a little dude. He's like five, six, pretty light,

but, like, I'm 5-10, and he's probably a lot stronger than me anyway. So, like, yeah, no, they all, I think your best bet is like a manager. Yeah, I can't even take my own kids. Javier Sunohai's got a mean drop kick. All right, let's jump in with our players of the night. Oh, my goodness gracious. Somebody tweeted at me and they missed Susan on the call, so there you go.

Welcome back. There are dozens of them. Chris, you get the breadstick tonight. Who is it? Well, we know who is. Yeah, I'll take the breadstick and a tiny little victory lap on Parker Messick. And look, at this point in the season, I'm cautioning, uh, overreacting on O'Neill Cruz and James Wood and guys that I wasn't exactly in on coming into the season. So I don't want to be a hypocrite and say that Parker Messick's hot start means that he is suddenly an ace.

Because I'm not sure. I believe that. But man, I just love it. love watching this dude pitch. Like just, there are tangible things about Parker Messick that you can point to about why I think he is a very good pitcher. The combination of the four seamer and the change up, the really good command that he has of those two pitches, the wide arsenal that he can throw to pitchers, both lefty and righty. The combination of a high arm angle and a relatively low release slot, which reminds me a lot of Shoddy Minaga in a lot of ways.

Like he's a shorter pitcher. He pitches from a high slot, but he gets down the mound in a way that makes it a weird angle for hitters. But a big part of it is just like, I just watch him pitch and like this dude's just a pitcher. Like he's got it. I don't know how else to put it. I really love watching him pitch. He flirted with a no hitter today. You know, he started the ninth inning with 106 pitches.

And my thought was, I don't know if it's worth bringing him back out there. but I'm glad they gave him a chance. He gave up two hits. Ended up giving up two runs, but nine strikeouts over eight innings, two walks. I think he's down to like a 204 ERA over the course of the first 11 starts of his major league career. He's not that good.

You know, this is not a Nolan McLean situation where 12 starts into his career. I'm pretty much ready to be like, yeah, this guy's a top 15 starting pitcher the rest of the way. But I can't really imagine, a matchup where I'm sitting, Parker Messick. I mean, he went into LA last week against the Dodgers and pitched really well. I think he's probably a top 50 starting pitcher moving forward at least. I think there's limitations on the upside that he has because I don't think he's going to be a high-end

strikeout pitcher. And I think you can look at like Matthew Boyd and Shoddy Minaga and the way things kind of came apart for them in the second half and last season and say, this type of pitcher probably has a relatively slim margin for error, and things could fall apart with relatively little changing, but I really have a lot of faith in him. I think he's really good. I have a couple observations here. One, watching Parker Messick, you know who I see?

I shared this on X, and it seemed like a number of people. I see Junjun Riu. It's a similar, like, similar body shape, similar like short legs yeah yeah and i actually looked it up similar arm angles similar pitch selection messick has a more aggressive finish like the way his back leg whips around uh ryu seemed a little more in control with his delivery but it's just i i just the image of hianjuru throwing a pitch in my brain like matches up with messick what i see with mesik um mesik throws a couple miles per hour harder

so that can't be a bad thing. I mean, Junjid Riu was a very good pitcher. Do you know Junjun Riu had two top three Sy Young finishes? I forgot all about that. One of them was 2020, right? One was 2020. Still counts.

Yeah. The other thing, you mentioned the strikeouts for Parker Messick. And that had been the one reason I was holding back a little. I mean, obviously, he was must roster all that. But in terms of, do I think he is the real deal or not?

because the bat missing was actually this year it had been below average. He entered this start with 16 strikeouts and 17 and 2 thirds innings, obviously less than one per inning. That's not great. It's not terrible 16 and 17 and 2 thirds. But the swinging strike rate was only 9%, which is actually really bad. And so I wasn't sure what to make of that.

He did get 18 whiffs on his 112 pitches. in this start. And I think there was a reason for. He basically ditched his sinker in this start, which had been the worst of his six pitches by far. Goes away from it. Gets a lot more whiffs, more strikeouts. Like the four seamer itself is a good bat missing offering.

Like it doesn't throw up particularly hard, but it's got a whiff rate near 30%. So like it's just from that alone, it seems like Messick should be a good strikeout. pitcher. I wonder if that sinker is not doing him any favors. The fact, he dropped it in this start and had his best one yet. I don't know. Maybe, maybe, uh, maybe that's a positive development for Messick.

We'll continue to monitor it. But at any case, yeah, anyone who rosters him at this point should have a lot of confidence in him. Yeah, I don't wild that even after he was confirmed to be in the rotation, his ADP was like 275 coming into the season. People just, people just slept on this guy. Yeah, for sure. I don't think there's anything else we could do on CBS.

He's up to 89% rostered. 71% on Yahoo. So again, if you play on Yahoo, I know there's a lot of streaming involved and ads and drops and constant movement on teams, but Parker Messick is just someone that should be on your roster and should stay there and should be in your lineups. And as Chris mentioned, probably a must-start pitcher at this point

the way that he's pitching. And I think something else that raises his floor, not sure how sustainable it is for him, but so far a 50% ground ball rate, this year. Last year in a small sample, it was like 48%. In the miners, it wasn't as high. It was like 45-ish percent, but he's been doing a good job getting ground balls to go along with solid control and enough whiffs. Obviously, didn't have a lot of whiffs coming into this one, but 18 whiffs on 112 pitches in this start, as Scott mentioned there. So looks like one of, you know,

along with Jose Soriano, the two biggest kind of just breakout rankings risers so far this season. And I agree. I got a third one who also pitched here on Thursday. I've got them back to back in my rankings, by the way. Soriano and Messick. I think that Scott, you're talking about Braxton Ashcraft. He's a little behind those guys, but he's, I think, in the top 60 for me now. All right. Well, we'll talk about Jose Soriano a little bit later on.

He's one that I have wrestled with and actually wound up moving him way up my rankings, much higher than you guys as well. I don't know if it's the right call, but we'll talk about it a little bit later on. Over to you for your player of the night. So I am going with Oswald Cobblepot. No, Oswald Parraza. Revenge. Revenge.

He did take revenge on the Yankees with a sock and a shoe. And also a double. It's a big game for Oswald Paraza. And now, lo and behold, he is up to four home run. and three stolen bases already this season. A really good start. I'm reluctant to put much faith in Paraza. I thought he was a pretty fringy prospect to begin with

when he was first coming up in the Yankees organization. And, you know, he's been around for a few years now, never really delivered much. Just last year hit 164, and that was the most playing time he got. But he is heading the ball. a little bit harder. He is striking out, a little bit less.

He is doing, he is putting the ball in the air more. He's doing a lot of things that on their own, it's not like, oh, that's a good number. I could see how this could be a good player. But when you get that wholesale improvement in all of those areas, sometimes the results can be surprising. We saw it last year with Geraldo Pardomo. We saw it the year before with jerks and pro far.

And so while I'm not really telling anybody to pick up Oswald Parraza anywhere except the sort of deep leagues where it should be obvious. I am saying let's keep an eye on this. He is dual eligible. He does bring that speed element which always helps to elevate fringy profiles. Let's keep an eye on it. Yeah, Oswald Parazza is still just 25 years old. former top prospect in the Yankees organization and flashed power and lots of speed at times in the miners.

85th percentile sprint speed so far this season. So he's really fast and looks like he should be, should have an opportunity with the Angels. I mean, they're kind of outside of their studs, right? Like Trout and Adele and Netto. The rest of their team is kind of like the island of misfit toys here. So they're giving lots of opportunities. And Oswald Paraza, if he plays well,

he's going to continue to earn more opportunities. So only 4% rostered, a very deep league name there, but just a huge series. He started three or four games at the Yankees, five hits, two homers, two steals there for Oswald Praza. Speaking of which, I said this yesterday, thank God this series is over. I mean, Mike Trout just went in and obliterated the Yankees, man. Here again, on Thursday, I was in attendance to see, which was actually pretty cool. Like seeing Judge and Trout just go back and forth all series was really cool. but another home run

he in this series Trout a four game series six hits five homers eight runs nine RBI the first time in baseball history and opposing player homered four consecutive days at Yankee Stadium so awesome stuff from Mike Trout

my player of the night here is Dylan Dingler who is off to a very nice start two for five with his fourth home run he had four hard hits in this game the home run that he hit 107.5 exit velocity 411 feet. And so far he's batting 283. He's got those four homers, 14 RBI, a 933 OPS, and has lowered the strikeout rate so far. It's down to 16%, 23.5% last year. And entering Thursday, quality of

contact, expected stats all looked really good. 92.8 average EV 306 XBA, 605 X-Lug. He is just crushing the ball. And he was really good last year. And, The expected stats were even better. Had a very productive season in the minors in 2024. 56% rostered. Wondering if maybe we, the collective we, just kind of slapped on Dylan Dingler a little bit this year. What do you guys think?

I mean, catcher was so loaded was part of the issue that he could only rank so high. And then he had elbow surgery in January so that further dumped cold water on the situation. It wasn't even clear he would be ready because of that. But you're right. I mean, he did hit the ball hard last year. His expected batting average last year was in the red, 97th percentile, 290.

Doesn't walk at all. So this is not somebody who in the long run, particularly given the state of catcher right now, is going to pay off in points leagues. I think he's kind of a poor man's yiner Diaz, Dylan Dinkler. But certainly in two catcher leagues, you're happy to have him. And look, you know, one catcher league, if you have Yiner Diaz and you want to drop Dylan Dingler because Dingler's hot, I don't think that's unthinkable. And there have been a lot of, kind of fringe top 12 injuries too, right? Adley Ruchman, Gabriel Moreno.

So if you're missing out on a catcher in a one catcher league and, you know, want to ride the hot hand, I don't know that this is just a hot hand, though. That's what I'm saying. I think Dylan Dinger might just be really good for a catcher, obviously. Like when we look up at the end of the season, if he's hitting, if he hits 270 with 20 home runs, I don't know that I'd be that surprised. I mean, I think. I'd be a great season for him. I think Alejandro Kirk has rostered in a fairly similar number of leagues. Obviously, he's on the IL, so there's the stash element of that.

But I don't, I don't think I would blink if you said Dylan Dengler should be better than Alejandro Kirk the rest of the way, even if Alejandro Kirk was healthy. So, I think that's fine. Yeah. Kirk better in points leagues because the strikeouts are better. Obviously, he's hurt, so it's kind of, we don't need to dig that too deep into Kirk. But I think even when he was healthy, he and Dingler, especially in categories, leagues, were same tier. Presuming good health for both, Dingler didn't have good health at the start. Kirk doesn't have good health now.

So, but if they were of equal health, I would have ranked them similarly. Kirk, I thought was overrated, though, so that partly factors into that, that calculation as well. All right, before we hit our first break, just a reminder that Scott's Sleeper, Hitters, and Two Star Pitchers will be live on the website this weekend, CBSSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. So make sure to check out both of those articles. And we will have an FBT Express episode that comes out on Saturday that will be both on YouTube and in the audio feed where we talk about those exact things. Two star pitchers for next week and the Sleeper Hitters that you want to target. So make sure to check that out. 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. Not too much going on here on Thursday. We learned that Tatsuya IMA played catch and he is on the aisle with right arm fatigue. Imaging came back clean. So I guess a positive first step here for Imi. We'll see how he responds. Angels manager Kurt Suzuki was non-committal when asked whether Jordan Romano was still his closer.

Jeff Fletcher, who covers the Angels, thinks that. Chase Silseth might be next in line. I was at the game, as I mentioned, on Thursday here. I saw Romano warming up in, like, the third or fourth inning of this game. He never came into the game, but I just found it very interesting that he was warming up that early in the game. And the Angels had like a one-run lead at the time. But Chase Silseth actually closed the game out with a seven-run lead. So he pitched the ninth inning.

He allowed a hit, but he struck out one to finish it. This all could wind up being a short-term play because, you know, Kirby Yates could be back, you know, within the next couple weeks. But any deep league saves interest in Chase Silseth? I mean, he's walked a bunch of guys. And I don't,

I don't think I would trust him over Romano. I'm not saying Romano is, is, you know, king closer or anything. he was looking good at first, but the velocity was down a couple miles per hour from where it was in his prime. So I get why you might decide he's not the one,

but I don't really see Chase Silseth as the one either. I still think I might put money on Kirby Yates leading this team saves. Yeah. And Romano, look, as long as he hasn't pitched against the Yankees, he's been good this year. And then, you know, the blown save that he has, on Wednesday night was a pop-up that should have been caught in the infield and then everything kind of like, you know, imploded after that. But, you know, that would have been the second out of the inning. He very easily could have closed that game out. You know, earlier in the week, you know, he got hit pretty hard, but that one was just pretty unfortunate. So we'll see who actually gets the next save opportunity, but that's the latest in the Angels bullpen.

Josh Hater through 20 pitches in a live BP Tuesday and is perhaps about a month away from returning. So it could be mid-May. surprising that it was that far away given he's already facing hitters. The way he phrased it is he was kind of viewing this as his first bullpen in spring training. So I guess he just needs a spring training to get ready, which I feel like relievers probably don't need that much time usually, but maybe he does. Some Blue Jays update. George Springer resumed hitting off a T on Wednesday. He is on the I.O. with a fractured toe. Addison Barger resumed baseball activity and is expected to begin swinging the bat on. on Friday or Saturday.

He is on the I-I-L with a, I thought it was just a sprained ankle, but the report that I read said both ankles are sprained for Addison Barger. Carlos Rodon will likely begin a rehab assignment following Saturday's live BP and is expected to need three rehab starts. So probably early mid-May there for Carlos Rodan, assuming no setbacks. Jared Jones threw a live BP on Wednesday.

He's expected to throw a few more before starting up a rehab assignment of his own. Matthew Boyd made a rehab start at AAA on Thursday. I was supposed to look up what he did, so I will do that in a few seconds. Kyle Teal will start a rehab assignment next week, and we had some very minor trades in baseball. The Dodgers acquired pitcher Chase McDermott from the Orioles in exchange for pitcher Axel Perez,

and the Brewers acquired pitcher Junior Fernandez from the debacks in exchange for cash. So I got the Matthew Boyd box score, by the way. He went, 64 pitches, gave up three runs and three and two-thirds inning, struck out six. Velocity was fine. Okay. Seems fine. Yeah.

Seems like he'll make, I think the plan is his next start's going to be in the majors. Yeah, it sounds like he will return early next week. So I have mentioned already too many times today that I was at the Yankee game, but maybe I should stop going. They are 0 for two in the games that I've gone to so far. I did take a picture of this and post it up on Twitter. wanted to get your guys thoughts on it. So I'll pull it up for those watching on YouTube. One of their scoreboards had statcast percentile rankings for their hitters.

I mean, I could be mistaken. I haven't seen this in any other ballparks. Not that I've been to a bunch. I haven't seen it on like Twitter or social media anywhere. What do you guys think of this, man? It's stat cast percentile rankings for hitters during the game. So I have two thoughts. One is they included the player's name in the,

the stat cast screenshot, which means they are already doing better than like, I don't know, 90% of posts that I see on baseball Twitter nowadays, which just, it seems like the only thing anyone posts now is just the baseball savant lollipops, but with no name attached and it's just and often with the blue ones cut out. Yeah, vague, vague posting, because that's all anyone does on Twitter now. And too, are they doing this for like everyone? Like, are they like posting like a bunch of blue lollipops for Jose Caballero because that feels kind of mean. So that is a great question, Chris.

One thing I notice is they only put that up. That's what I figured. They only put those up for the really good hitters. Yeah, like Ben Rice is Tregress and Aaron Judge. They're getting them up there. But yeah, I'm guessing like J.C. Ascara is not getting the stackass Lollipop treatment from the Yankees game ops. They did not.

I had some people respond asking about Ryan McMahon's percentile rank. But obviously they don't hesitate to put up the 103 batting average. Why would this be construed as unkind in a way that wouldn't be? It's just information, right? Because it's extra information. Well, you know, they don't have to put the batting average, do they? I mean, yeah. It feels kind of necessary at a baseball game, I think.

Only by tradition, not by, I don't think there's a law. I'm just saying the tradition would be to not, you know, not hurt Ryan McMahon's feelings. I thought it was pretty cool, but yeah, it's the first time that I saw it at the stadium. And obviously, you know, we're nerds about this stuff and we talk about it all the time. So I thought it was pretty cool, but I'm sure there are a bunch of traditionalists' heads that are exploding right now because that was up in the stadium. What an annoying week for bullpins. And of course, it continued on Thursday. So wanted to get some of these out of the way and get your thoughts.

But the Giants, Ryan Walker, entered in the seventh inning. No, he did not relieve Robbie Ray. With a three-run lead, he was facing the heart of the Reds lineup. He threw a clean inning. It was Keaton win in the eighth. And then lefty Eric Miller got the ninth. With a three-run lead, he walked one, struck out three for his first save. Also started shouting profanities at the other team,

and there was like a benching, like benches. Clearing afterwards. Did you see this whole kerfuffle? I didn't see all of it. I just saw him yelling at people. So yesterday there was something with Spencer Steer where the pitcher like called time at the last minute or something. And Spencer Steer cursed him out and then hit a single. And then he said something like throw the effing ball and then scorched a single to the left field.

And then I think Spencer Steers first played appearance today. He got hit by a pitch. Oh, all right. So a little back and forth. Yeah, they were going back. I think someone on the Reds or the Giants got hit later and again, Willie Adamas got hit, which is, that's one of those ones where it's like, if you're really Adonis, like, you know that 50 cent meme?

Like, why say F me for? You know? What did I do? Yeah. William Domes wasn't pitching or anything like that. Yeah, he's not even their best player. Back to the Giants. They have three saves this season.

All three are by different relievers. It feels like a headache. Do you guys have any idea what's going on in the Giants bullpen? So I did see a video clip of Tony Vitello. That's his name, right? The Giants manager. And he did specifically name Ryan Walker, Keaton Wynn, and Eric Miller as guys he could go to for a save. So it sounds like he's treating it like a committee.

And this Eric Miller save, I think, kind of validates. that video clip that I saw. So it is messy for now. I mean, I still think it's pretty rare that true committees last for long. For one thing, all the guys have to continue pitching well. All of them have to stay healthy.

And, you know, the manager needs to continue having success with it. And it's just hard for all of those things to keep happening long enough for the committee to last. But right now, Yeah, it's I think Ryan Walker would still be the top one to own

and I would put Keaton win second. Eric Miller to me would be third. He's the left-hander and he walks a bunch of guys too. I was giving Chase Silseth grief for it. Miller has four walks in six innings this year. He had 20 and 30 innings last year. That doesn't seem like closer material.

Career 5.4 walks per nine for Eric Miller. So messy bullpen, I guess if you're in a deeper league where anybody who can get a save gets added. We're looking at three names in the Giants bullpen. For the Royals, Lucas Erseg got the ninth inning with a two-run lead. He gave up three runs on a walk and three hits. He took his first blown save.

All of a sudden, he's got a 614 ERA and a 150 whip. He still has five saves on the season. He's been really good before this. Any concern at all with Lucas Erseg and this blown save? I'm not sure he's closer material either, to be honest. his strikeout rate was very low last year. He managed to have a low ERA in spite of it. And this isn't a guy who has always been like that,

always delivered low ERAs despite low strikeout rates. He always, prior to last year, he was a big strikeout guy, but only 7K per 9 last year. It's even lower than that this year. I'm not sure he's going to hold up in this role. And I would put him among the riskier closers. right now, like certainly behind Riley O'Brien,

certainly behind Paul Seawald, even. Would you put them behind Abner, Arribe? I think Arriba's better. Yeah, I think Arribes better, but you know, we just had a different we just had a different Brewer's reliever get a save here, which I'm sure we'll get to in a minute. A rebate was unavailable on Thursday for what that's worth, but yeah.

But Trevor McGill pitched a perfect date, I think, with a one-rud lead, and then he was followed by Anthony Zerpa, the left-hander for the save. And Pat Murphy specifically said, like, McGill's not out of the closer role. He's just going to mix in more options for saves. I think ultimately he still wants McGill in the role. We'll see if one perfect inning is enough to put him back there.

But, yeah, I think if Abner Eribe was for sure the guy in Milwaukee, He would definitely be out of first egg. Yeah, I do think, you know, this does open the door for Carlos Estabas to get his job back, but. On Hell Zerpa, I said Anthony. Sorry, on Hellserpa. The thing about what, on Hell Zerpa might be a closer caliber reliever in his own right. The Bruce bullpen's really good. Royals could use him.

But that was who he do traded him, right? Yep. The garrameter trade. But the thing about Carlos Estabas to get back to that. The Isaac, uh, Isaac Collins. Isaac Collins, that's what. Who I almost called ESOC. Yeah, those guys are kind of the same thing in my mind.

Isaac Collins and Gary Mitchell. Very similar. But back to Carlos Estevez, I think the door is open for him to get his job back. He's got to look so much better than he has since the end of last season. So don't, don't just assume that's going to happen, but keep an eye on it at AAA. I think a name to watch there is this match drum to just in case Ersegg struggles more. in the short term. I use the best pitcher in that bullpen.

For the White Sox, Sir Anthony Dominguez got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He allowed three runs on a walk and two hits, including a home run to Junior Camerro. And Dominguez all of a sudden, 750 ERA 183 whip. I am not sure how long the leash is, but I think Grant Taylor is really good. And that scares me just a little bit. But there was that the kerfuffle earlier this week. about them. I think as the pitching coach said something about how they'd like to use Grant Taylor. It wasn't like as a traditional starter, but they do want to stretch him out a little more,

if I remember their, they've been using him as an opener for some of the games. And, but, but then I think their GM said that he won't make traditional starts this season. Yeah, but I think that would make it less likely that they would use him as a closer. I thought that too, but then Grant Taylor, I think, pitched the seventh inning of this game in like a high leverage situation. So I don't know. There is a little bit of fun with sample sizes here. Dominguez has had two bad appearances. One was in March.

One was here now in mid-April, and he's looked pretty good in between them. They're also paying him like a closer. They signed him to two-year deal, paying him $10 million each. Yeah, they'd like to trade him in July as a closer. Yeah, sure. Maybe it is just as trade, babe.

But like, it's an unusual investment in a reliever for a club at this stage of, contention or non-contention. So I think even if they did back off him, the idea would be to get him back in the roll as soon as possible. And then the Rangers. So you thought Jacob Junus was the closer. He entered with one out in the seventh.

Two runners on, a two-runner lead. He got Jacob Wilson and Carlos Cortez out. Obviously a very high-leverage situation, probably the highest in the game, and that's why he was used. Then he started the- But it doesn't, like once that guy gets his feet in the closer roll, once he gets in his head, he's the closer.

you put him in any other situation, and he melts down. It's amazing how that seems to happen. He started the 8th inning. He got two outs. He also gave up a walk and two hits. He was replaced by Jacob Latz to face Nick Kurtz. I don't know if you guys have seen this, but it was a basis clearing double that was completely wind-aided. It was like a routine fly-out that just kept blowing back in towards the infield,

and all the runs were charged to Jacob Junis. So pretty weird. usage and annoying outing for him. And it looked like Junis was settling in as the closer. So now this adds question to the Rangers bullpen. Yeah, it may have bit just been the leverage game. Though that's not really Skip Schumacher's MO. He was very consistent with his bullpen rolls the year he managed it.

It was just one year in Miami, right? Or was it two. I think two or three. His time in Miami, he was very committed to traditional bullpen rolls. And so it's a little surprising to see this from him. I would say in leagues where saves are scarce, Cole win should probably also be rostered. So I'm talking about the deeper rotissory leagues.

I would prefer him to Keaton Win, Cole win over Keaton win. And, you know, maybe if it doesn't work out for Junis and it may not, win might be the next stop. Cole win. I still think Junis will get the next save opportunity, but yeah, I think Cole win. I think Jacob Latt is the name to watch her as well.

They seem to like him a lot as well. Let's take our final break. When we return, we'll fire up the dropometer here on Fantasy Baseball today. Welcome back in. Let's fire up the dropometer. 10, you could drop this player in all leagues 1.0.1. You should not drop this player anywhere. Did we get duped by Jack Leiter?

5 and 2 thirds innings, 7 hits, 3 runs, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts, his last 2 starts. 9 in 1 3rd innings, 12 hits, 8 runs. seven walks to seven strikeouts. Obviously, his first two starts were great, but now the control is rearing its ugly head once again. What do you guys think about Jack Leiter on the dropometer? Three, two and a half. I agree for what it's worth.

I just thought I'd bring his name. No, it's fine. It's reasonable. His last two starts weren't very good. But his first two were great, and he's just, I think he's still just kind of erratic with the walks. I just, I'm not saying it's a high number on the dropometer. I also don't think he's very good.

Really? I always thought you were a jack lighter guy. So here's the thing that's tough about him. And I'm sure is Shane Boz in this segment? Yeah, let's throw Shane Boz in here. They're live arms. They're talented. But neither of these guys is refined at all.

And we've never seen more than what a month at a time from either Baaz or lighter where they've actually been good. I just kind of think at some point you are what you are. And I understand that there's, they're constantly tweaking and lighter has, you know, tweaked a lot about his arsenal over the last year.

Yeah, I mean, lighter. Lighter got a lot better last year. He's just also. And he entered this, he entered this start with a 17% swinging strike rate. Yeah. Again, I think he's talented. I just,

I think there's a gap between talented and good. and I think Lighter lives in that gap. I'm not saying you should drop him, but I am not viewing Jack Leiter as someone the way I am Parker Messick, where I'm just, yeah, I'm starting this guy every time out. I'm a long way from that with Jack Leiter and Shane Boss. Yeah, so Jack Leiter, he's 91% rostered, he's 59% started.

He's home against the pirates next week. I think I'd still be all right using him in that situation. What about Luis Castillo? get to Shane Bos in just a second. But Luis Castillo, not great at the Padres, five in a third inning, seven hits, four runs, one of those earned, three walks to three strikeouts. And he has been much better at home than on the road over the past couple of years, but even his last start was at home, and he allowed seven earned runs against the Asheras in that one. His first start against the Yankees was great. His next three have been pretty awful here. What do you guys think

about Luis Castillo on the dropometer? I'm getting pretty close. to declaring this one a total loss. So I think I'll go five, maybe even five and a half. Obviously, there's a lot of history there that's mostly good. And even last year, he was good. It's, you know, he's been, he's been on the decline for a while now, and it may have just hit the breaking point this year. I think the distinction here would be that I still feel pretty good about Luis Castillo at home.

And so I think, I think, at least there. I'm like he gets the athletics at home next week. I'm going to start him there. You know, maybe maybe it just he's, I think Luis Castillo is raging against the dying of the light at this point in his career, right? Like we we've seen some tweaks. He's raised the arm angle this season. He's he's had some starts where he, I think he had one start where he didn't throw a single change up, right? And so the first start was the best and he pretty much just went four seamer slider. And mixing in that sinker and changeup hasn't gone well for him. But, but I, I do still think given the track record, I would expect him to be good at home.

So I have at least that faith in him. Whereas with Leiter and Shane Boz, I have no idea when they're going to be good, you know? Yeah. And since Boz became part of this discussion, I'm with you on Boz. I'm not sure what more there is to see there. But the distinction with Leiter is I feel like we have seen steady upward progress from him. while Boz is pretty much flatlined since having Tommy John surgery. Last point on Castillo, for whatever this is worth, it's a 550 ERA, 332 FIPP, 407 X-FIP,

which is pretty close to where he's been the past couple of years. So perhaps some bad luck involved, but he has been gradually declining over the past couple of seasons. Let's talk about ChainBaz. Not great for the Orioles so far. He was at the Guardian's six innings, four runs, six strikeouts here, nine whiffs on 99 pitches. He is 0 for 4 in quality starts so far this season. And I was digging into his pitch mix and his whiff rates and stuff.

And it just kind of made my head spin. I have no idea what to make of Shane Boz. Where is he on the drop-o meter? He gives, Frank, I don't know if this is a movie reference you'll get, but it's one of those, the bobs in office space. Like, what would you say it is that you do here? I love that, me. Exactly. Like he, okay.

Frank's seen that one. I'm just going to say that about every movie now. Okay. I mean, I could see you having seen that movie. It's a great movie. I've heard great things. I probably should see you. I have seen you seeing that movie.

Deidre Bader in that movie. All time. Performance. He's so funny. Anyway, Shane Boz is just like, what can you point to with Shane Boz that he does well? I can't say that he, like. He throws hard. Yeah, he throws hard, but not even like special.

Pedigree, I don't know. He's averaging 96.3 or whatever, which is good, but not. He used to have a great slider. That's what made him a big prospect, but he lost it with the surgery. I think that the, the thing is, shame boss, nothing's terrible. Like, none of his pitches on their own are awful. It's just nothing special here. And I, I just think it's a, the sum is less.

than the whole of the parts kind of pitcher. Seven and a half. Yeah. To answer your question, Frank. I go seven and a half. The reason it's not higher is like, you're not dropping him at a 15-team league. But anything shallower than that,

I'd be fine, dropping boss. He is facing the Royals next week, but this kind of tells you where things are with boss. He's facing the Royals next week, and yet I didn't include him among my 10 sleeper pitchers. He qualifies. He's available enough in CBS. leagues, but he didn't make the cut.

Would you drop any of Boz, lighter, or Castillo for any of Able, Detmer, or Aragutti? I think I'd drop Boss for Able. I think I would drop Boz for any of them. I would drop Boz for any of them, too. You said Able, Detmer's, and Aragutti?

Yeah. Yeah, I would drop Boz for any of them. Castillo In a shallow enough league, I would drop him for probably Able or Dettmers, I don't know that it goes far as Araggeti. If it's a shallow like 10-team league

where it's like, there are constantly new, interesting options emerging on the waiver wires and you can just cycle through all your fringy pitchers. I think Castillo deserves to be swept up in that group now. But anything deeper, I think you need to play it a little safer with them because it's very likely you're not getting it back

if you drop him. And I have two hitters here on the drop-o meter. They got off to strong starts, but they have slowed down. T.J. Rumpfield, last seven days, he's hitting 143 with zero extra base hits. The Rockies have been on the road this week. 46% rostered,

where is T.J. Rumfield on the dropometer. How many games do they play a course field next week? Four out of seven. I didn't see how many lefties are on schedule, though. Okay, so four out of seven would be like a 6.4 on the dropometer, I think, because I have zero inch. Like, T.J. Rumfield is such a fringy hitter that I have zero interest in him away from course field. But when they're at course field, I think he'll probably be decently productive.

They have two lefties. I think that triples their season total. Yeah, he got off to a hot start. He had a good spring. He'd been the top sleeper hitter each of the last two weeks. And yet it hadn't gone well, despite them having good matchups, a lot of righties. You're not dropping them a 15 team league, Rumfield, but you almost certainly are in anything shallower. I would put it at like an 8.5 or 9. What about Cole Young?

We were excited about him coming off his spring training. Last seven days, he's hitting 130 with zero extra base hits. On the season, he is hitting 217 with a 670 OPS, whereas Cole Young on the dropometer. Yeah, I don't see enough improvement there in the underlying, data for me to be quite as enthusiastic as I was this spring. He is a sleeper hitter for me this upcoming week because the Maritors have the top matchups,

the top hitter matchups. But, you know, obviously I'm very limited in my selection of players I can choose for that and most of them aren't that exciting. So I think just from a pure, do you have to roster this guy or not standpoint, not necessarily. Are you looking for a streamer?

middle infielder, but just does this guy need to be rostered? I would put Cole Young at about an eight, eight and a half. We're going to see Colt Emerson before the end of April, I think. Well, Jerry DePoto recently said that he's as close to getting called up as you possibly could be. So whatever that's worth. Yeah. I mean, like Young was a pretty good prospect himself. Yeah.

And I don't know, has Colt Emerson actually been performing? well, AAA, he hasn't. So I don't know. I don't know that I buy that, but maybe. That is the end of the segment. I didn't want you to think that Chris Bubich is part of the drop-o meter because obviously he isn't. But what the heck happened to Chris Bubich here at the Tigers, man?

Coming off an awesome start. He allowed five runs over four and two-thirds innings, three walks, three strikeouts. Chris, what happened to Chris Bubich? It's been real hot and cold for him so far. It's like great first start, mediocre second start. amazing third start, terrible fourth start. I don't really think there's anything to worry about here. I think you just kind of look at the, I looked it up earlier.

I think since the start of 2023, it's like 185 innings of a 260 ERA and a 290 XERA. I think he's good. I think your season numbers can look a lot worse or better, depending on how one start goes at this point in the season. But the only concerns I have with Chris Bubich are about his ability to stay healthy. I think he's going to perform when he's on the mound. I think part of him returning from injury is that his command has been off so far, three walks and three of four starts.

And look, he's not the best command pitcher, but it was better than this in previous years. He's up around like four walks per nine right now. So I think the walks have been a pretty consistent issue here for Bubich, and I think they will get better over time. Continuing on, waiver wire pitchers from Thursday, Landon Roop took a no-hitter into the sixth inning at the Reds. He threw six shutout, one hit allowed, six strikeouts.

He gets the Dodgers next week, so don't love that matchup. And Stephen Mats was okay at the White Sox, five and a third, two runs allowed, four strikeouts. That is three straight starts with two earn runs or fewer. I think the race have done some interesting things here with Mats, but obviously this wasn't the best start. He is home against the Reds next week, and he is a SPARP on CBS. Any interest in Landon Rup or Stephen Mats? I'm more interested in Mats than Rup because Mats has a better matchup in his next start

and I can't really imagine caring about either of these guys beyond that kind of timetable. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm undervaluing them, but I think these are strictly streamer types and Lander Rup has the worst possible matchup and Stephen Mets has a pretty decent one. Reds away from Cincinnati, so I'll give them edge to Mats.

Yeah, I do like Matt's more too, even beyond just the next start. Not that I think he's most roster or anything. The race haven't thrown a lot more change-ups. It's his best pitch. It's going well. I don't really see much to get excited about there with Rup. He keeps doing different things every start with the pitch selection. And three of the four have been great.

And so, you know, people, I know he's one of the most viewed players on CBS boards right now. I wish I had something to offer you, but I don't really get it. And when I say that, I mean, I don't trust it because I don't see anything here to get excited about, given, you know, what we've seen from Landon Root previously. I think his first start was kind of interesting because he was using that change up a little bit more. good, but in this start, he really went back to just leaning on that curveball and didn't really have anything else that performed well. That curve ball is really good, but in starts where he can't command it, I don't really know that he has much else that he can go to. So that's the issue there with Landon Rup. Some deeper names, Chase Dolander look great in bulk relief at the Astros. Five and a

third shutout innings, one hit, two walks, nine strikeouts, 14 whiffs, seven of those on the fastball. His last four outings, Chase Dolander, 15 innings. three runs allowed, 18 strikeouts to four walks. He's looked pretty good. Brandon Sprote pitched very well against the Blue Jays, six and two thirds. Innings, one run, six strikeouts there. Walker Bueller, solid against the Mariners. Five plus innings, two runs, seven strikeouts to one walk.

I was surprised to see that the underlying numbers look kind of good for Bueller. I don't trust it, but it's something. Also, he's at course field next week. Yeah, so you're not using him next to. There's no way I'm using a wrong. roster spot on Walker Bueller to stash him for a week when I'm not using him at course field. So no, I'm not adding him.

I think Spurton Doolander are both pretty interesting. The problem with Doolander obviously is the course field of it all. And his next start is supposed to be a course field. I just don't think we're going to certainly we're not at the point yet where we can trust him against at course field. But his velocity's up. The stuff looks really good. He's pitching really well in this hybrid role.

role. He hasn't started a game, but he's gone four and a third innings, I think, in four out of five appearances, and then weirdly one inning in the other one. That was weird. Yeah. I want to see them trust him to go deeper more. I kind of just want to see them just stop this opener thing and just use him as a normal starter, but that doesn't really matter if he can go five or six innings. The problem is it's going to take a lot to get him worth trusting at course field. So as a streamer, with good matchups on the road, I think Dahlinder is pretty interesting. I think in 15 teamers, 15 teamers, like add him and maybe pitch him on the road. I think that could be viable. So we'll see. And I think Sprote is moderately interesting. I've never been a huge fan of his.

But if he can command like he did tonight, I think there's a future for him. It's just that's the big question. When, you know, he nearly fell out of prospect relevance altogether in the first half last season because he just couldn't throw strikes. And his stuff is good, but he doesn't have the great fastballs or anything like that.

So he really needs to throw strikes consistently he did today. And he was really good. If he can, I think Sproat is pretty interesting. So I think he's probably better than Rope. Sprote, I mean, there's more of a mystery box with him, I guess. Yeah. I think the overall stuff profile is better. So if I'm, you know, grabbing someone to stash and to, you know,

and see what they can develop into. I think I'd rather do that with Sprote than Land and Roop. Sure. Moving on here, I have two deep league waiver wire hitters. And it's Josh Young, who went three for five with his first home run. I noticed his strikeout rate is way down this year, but also his power metrics are also down before this game. And then Marcel Ozuna, he's finally on the board with the pirates.

He has been brutal so far. Very deep league name, 14% rostered. Anything here, Josh Young, Marcel. Ozuna. It's going to take a lot more than this to get us interested in Ozuna. Again, it all looks pretty awful. And the

fast swing percentage that cratered last year hasn't improved so far this year. So even in the deeper underlying numbers, not seeing a lot of reason for encouragement. Josh Young, you know, if you need a third baseman, I think he's still viable. The strikeout rate is down. The expected batting average is over 300.

So far, the actual batting average is only 250, but, you know, Stackcast thinks he deserves better than he's gotten. And of course, he's been useful in the past. I don't think the ceiling is high enough that anybody should be tripping over themselves to go pick up Josh Young. But, you know, the needs great enough at third base. He's at least, at least as interesting as Oswald Paraza. in honor of

WrestleMania weekend the players that we have wrestled with in our rankings so far so we each have a hitter and a pitcher and Chris we will start with you

the hitter you struggled with O'Neill Cruz who had two more steals here on Thursday he's hitting 316 5 homers nine steals so far and the pitcher

is Brandon Woodruff so what have you wrestled with with these two listen to here brother the thing about O'Neal Cruz is this guy can hit the ball out of the freaking stadium like nobody's business and he's red hot right now and I know you're all listening to the podcast and you're screaming these are elite outfielder he's got to be a top 20 guy what are you doing I don't really

I don't really buy it brought to you by Stone Cold Chris Towers just like all right so let's like dive into what he's doing. One, in 24 plate appearances, he's hitting lefties really well. Okay, that's awesome. We have 400 plate appearances where he was one of the worst hitters in baseball against lefties.

So you'll forgive me if I remain skeptical about that. My cat is trying to, I think I scared her, and she's trying to check in on me, so I had to move her. You'll forgive me if I'm skeptical that O'Neill Cruz has suddenly figured out how to hit lefties

based on 24 plate appearances. He's hitting the ball really, really hard. His plate discipline metrics are arguably worse than they've ever been. And they've never been good, as you may know. His chase rates up. His whiff rates up. His zone contact rate, I think, is down about one percentage point. I don't think O'Neill Cruz has fixed the problems that have plagued O'Neill Cruz.

I think he's been really hot, and maybe he'll continue to be hot. discounting the possibility that O'Neill Cruz has figured it out, but I am conservative with my rankings movers. That's just who I am. If you don't like it, I'm sorry, but that is who I am. I can't be anybody but myself to everyone's chagrin. And so I am going to be more consistent with this, and I'm going to be more conservative with O'No Cruz. So I don't know. I'm willing to take an L if he really is making. elite but i need more than 18 games and then brayne woodruff i i think the stuff's taken a step back

again um if you look at the various stuff plus metrics out there um the pitching bot version on fan graphs he's gone from a 57 last last year which is above average to a 48 slightly below average the stuff plus on fan graphs has actually held more steady but still right around average but the locations been worse. I don't know how long he can keep getting away with it, you know, and then you have the injury risk and all this stuff. I want to move Brandon Woodruff down. I just, he made me look so dumb last year coming back from the injury that I'm, I'm a little gun shy about it, but I'm not, I'm not as optimistic as I wish I could be about Brandon Woodruff because look, when he's on, he's so much fun to watch.

I think he's awesome. It's just, I just don't buy it right now. Brandon Woodruff. You can't keep getting away with it. That is how I feel. You can't keep getting away with it. He won't. The one thing that I will, I guess, push back on with Woodruff,

I do agree. Like, the velocity's down even more than it was last year. I did see some quotes about his one bad start came in Boston when it was like 40 degrees. And he said he basically, couldn't throw any breaking pitches because he just couldn't grip the ball. His other two starts, it's been six innings, one run, six strikeouts, five innings, two run, six strikeouts.

So he was very good in those two starts. And then the one bad one was when it was really cold. But obviously we would like to see the velocity get back to at least where it was last year. I think I gave myself a headache from all that screaming. I could see that. When you say his velocity is down, it's down like half a mile per hour, which this early in the season might be nothing

might be nothing yeah it's not it's not like multiple miles per hour it's half a mile per hour and just to give people a reference point here and if you ever want to see our rankings they are live on the website our positional rankings cbsports.com slash fantasy slash baseball

slash rankings slash slash and they're also on the app too if you want to look at them there Chris has O'Neill Cruz as his outfieler 28 Scott and I have him as our outfield are 20 and then Chris you have Woodruff at SP 35 I also have him at SP 35 Scott has him at SP 33 so we're actually pretty close there on Brandon Woodruff

Chris just wants to move him down further that's the that's struggling with it he's right yeah exactly that's the point Scott's the point the two players you have been wrestling Andy Paez and Sunny Gray what do we have at sunny gray I'm sunny gray I've been wrestling with him for 15 years or whatever it's been. That's a long match. It just keeps, yeah. But this year especially.

I quit match. This year especially because gosh, he's 36. I didn't like the way things were trending for him already. I ranked him much lower than the consensus. And the way he's looked through four starts, you know, he's gotten

a couple wins. But strikeouts are way down. Which seems like it might be by design because he's changed his pitch selection quite a bit and is leaning on the sinker more. It's just the sort of stat line that if I did not know anything else about, not just the sort of stat line, but all the data, present all the data from Sunny Gray to me this year. And if I did not know anything about this pitcher, I would say, I don't want a part of this guy. And I was already down on him, right? So it's like, I'm already below the consensus.

How much further can I move him down? 13 spots at least. Plus he's Sunny Gray. And how many times has he reinvented himself on the fly and suddenly looks like a Cy Young contender again? I don't want to make any sudden movements with Sunny Gray. It's like handling a live grenade. Like you're just frozen.

And that's how I feel with Sunny Gray. I look at where he is in my rankings and I'm like, ah, he should be below these other guys that I'm excited about. Do it. But also, oh, he's sunny gray. He shouldn't be that low. And so I just, I don't know how to square that circle. He has kind of become my like, every year, there's a guy who represents like the fall off a cliff.

And he's kind of like, when I was moving Jose Soriano up, I was like, yeah, sunny gray. That's, I'll move him above sunny gray. Parker Messick, I'll move him above sunny gray. There was another one. I'm a move just ahead of Sunnihry line. It's the Mendoza line, but it's the Sunny Gray line. Yeah, that's kind of where I'm at with him, where it's like, I'm not dropping him,

but I'm, anyone who I'm excited about, it's pretty easy to move ahead of Sunny Gray. Yep. You say that now. Yeah, maybe he figures it out, but I don't know. He might be a top five Cy Young guy. Scott, join us.

You have an SP 41. I have him 48. Chris has him 54, so join us. I commend you guys for being so decisive with that line. grenade, but I've blown up a few times making too drastic moves out of too drastic with Sunny Gray many times. That's just where I ranked him before the season, by the way. I just haven't moved them at all. Yeah, I've mostly just moved guys ahead of him.

I was just out on Sunny Gray, but tell us about Andy Paez. Yeah, Andy Paez is the other one. Andy Paez is batting over 400 and he's hitting home runs. The first hitter to 20 RBI this season. He's stealing bases driving in tons of runs. And yet, you know, the plate discipline's still terrible. He's striking out a lot more than he was a year ago. There are some good signs, too.

Average X velocity is harder, pull air rates higher. But he started out hot last year, too, and then was really a liability down the stretch. And I regretted moving up too suddenly then. I'm just not sure. I'm not convinced that there's actual growth here. There may be. I think it's just too early to say.

And specifically that range of the outfield rankings. So I have Pahas 30th in outfield rankings. And part of me is like, I got to get him in the top 15. I mean, look, he was pretty good last year. He's looking even better now. But then the guys I have right ahead of him, Joe Adele, who's strikeout rate is way down.

Louise Robert, whose strikeout rate is way down. And I think there was more reason to be optimistic about those two coming in, and we're actually seeing potential growth from both of them. It hasn't translated to production yet like it has for Pahas, but obviously I'm predicting rest of season. I'm not just saying who's done the best so far. And so I'm still inclined to give the edge to Adele and Robert there ahead of him. You got Jose Altuve, who's off to a pretty good star,

has second base eligibility, can't drop him too much. Mike Trout, who's been amazing. And then you get into the real, like, stalwarts at the position, like Riley Green and say Suzuki,

who haven't done much yet, but they're stalwarts. And you don't send them down the rankings after a couple bad weeks. So I feel kind of paralyzed there with Pahas around 30th, and I know probably bugs people who have them, and want that validation that I think he's good. I think he's good.

I'm just not as sure as I am about those others ahead of him. I hear you on the strikeout rate with Pahas, Scott, but man, his quality of contact really has taken a huge step. His hard hit rate is up 21 percentage points from 37% to 58%. And the expected stats, while he's overperformed them, they're really good. 310XBA, 510x log. Those are great marks for Pahas.

If he keeps doing that, then he'll deserve to rank higher than 30th. I'm just not sure we will. So two names that I will quickly mention the ones that I have wrestled with. They are the cream of the crop. My favorite macho man promo, please check it out. Jordan Walker and Jose Soriano, the biggest breakouts. These are the ones that I struggle with

because I don't know how far to move them up. And I texted you guys the other day. I moved Soriano inside my top 40, and then I'm like, oh, maybe I've got to take a little bit of step back here. I settled in at SP 41 on Jose Soriano because I really do like the changes that he's made to his pitch mix. And look, he's Jose Soriano and things can go very sideways very quickly. But like the other names I moved them ahead of, you know, are also guys that have struggled quite a bit this season. Like Bubba Chandler and Emmett She and we have question marks with those guys too.

So that kind of felt like the right range to move them up to. But again, I might be wrong. I might have been too aggressive with that. And Jordan Walker, I moved him up to outfielder 38. It's just how high do we move him, right? Like, he's looked amazing so far. He's, I think, tied for the league lead in home runs. He's basically hitting a home run every day.

And he has that prospect pedigree, and he might just be figuring it out now. But I just don't know, like, where do I stop? How high do I go with these names? So that is what I have wrestled with, with Jordan Walker and Jose Soriano. Yeah, that's fair. I actually don't mind your ranking of Soriano,

know, so I have them about 10 spots lower, but it's this glut of injured pitchers in between. It's all the injured guys. It's Carlos Rodon, Spencer's right. So I moved him ahead of that group, just because they're hurt right now. Yeah, that's perfectly reasonable. It's never that clear where you should put the injured guys.

It's always a matter of risk tolerance and what your own league setup is with IL spots and bench space and all of that. And it's just kind of, it feels more hunchy than ranking a healthy player. So if you wanted to put Soriano, ahead of those guys, I think that would make sense. So I'm about with you on Soriano, even though it looks like we're further apart. Just for some reference, again, I have Jordan Walker at Outfielder 38. Chris has him at 41, and Scott has him at 33.

So I guess I'm kind of splitting the difference here between you two so far there on Jordan Walker. And the names I have just ahead of him, like Chandler Simpson off to a great start, Mike Trout off to a great start. And then some other guys that don't have as high of upside, but like proven commodities, Ian Hap, Stephen Kwan, I mean, these are guys that have done it for a while. Like, yeah, if Jordan Walker is still doing this by May 1st, then I probably just need to admit, like, his upside is higher than some of those names I just mentioned.

So he has the ability to keep climbing, but that is where I have settled for now on Jordan Walker. Let's wrap up with some leftovers, hitters who are picking things up and the studs that we knew we would come around eventually. Aaron Judge hit his eighth home run. He has five homers in his past five games. Jose Soriano, Jose Ramirez, excuse me.

Last six games, nine hits, three homers, six steals. So doing J-RAM things. And Junior, Kamenero. Camerreiro. The first time I've been able to play that in season so far. So thank you, Jr. Has homered in back-to-back games,

including a game-tying home run in the ninth. One quick thing I wanted to mention on him, his walk rate is way up to 15% so far. His swing percentage is just way down. And his pulled air rate so far is up from 22% to 32%, which could be very scary in a good way for Junior Camdenaro. Because, yeah, I mean, he's got some of the best raw power in all baseball. So you couple that with pulled fly balls.

And, I mean, I don't know if there's another step that he can get to power-wise, but it's scary to think about. Other names who are heating up, Joe Adele, two for four with a grand slam. His last five games, he's got eight hits, two homers, seven RBI. Hunter Goodman has three home runs in his past three games. And Jose Caballero, four games set against the Angels. He had six hits, a homer, and three steals. The problem with him is that Anthony Volpe could be back by the end of April.

And I feel like Caboero would become a part-time player at that point. One thing with Hunter Goodman, just something to watch. Small sample size early on. 41% strikeout rate, that is massive for Hunter Goodman. So just something to watch there. Yeah, I mean, it's the kind of thing that's like at this point in the season, that probably means he struck out seven more times than you would otherwise expect, which very well could just be two bad games.

Yeah. You know, so I'm not, I'm not concerned there. Some other hitting leftovers, Vinnie Pee. Baby. He's on the board. One for five with his first home run. We need more of that because it is. has been a brutal start for him.

It's been a rough start for Salvi Perez as well, but he went two for four with his third home run. And Ben Rice, take that, Aaron Boone. He homered off of a lefty. Play him every day, please. Some pitching leftovers, Chase Burns, bounced back against the giant six shutout innings with four strikeouts.

Mixed outing here for Braxton Ashcraft, but you mentioned him much earlier. I guess we should have got to him sooner, Scott. But five and two-thirds innings, five runs allowed, only two of them are earned. there was a rough error on Connor Griffin where three runs came into score seven strikeouts, 17 whiffs

for Braxton Ashcraft. So what do you think in here? Scotty, Ashcraft, Chase Burns. I think I like Ashcraft more than Soriano even. Curb ball is outstanding. He's a great ground ball pitcher like Soriano is. The whiffs have run consistently high. He's given a surprising amount of ball.

That was my main concern about Ashcraft coming in, why I had him is on the fringes of being drafted, is I'm not sure they're going to let him be more than kind of a swing man type, but they've treated him like a conventional starter. He's given them the volume. And yeah, the unearned runs make this stat line look worse, but we call them unearned runs. If you ignore them, then it's a great stateline. Yeah. One thing I noticed with Chase Burns, it looked like he didn't have his best control in this one.

his fastball, just a 44% zone rate, slider, just 33% in the zone. So it feels like didn't have his best command. And even with that, it was six shutout innings for Chase Burns. So three of his four starts have been very, very good. Some other bullpen updates here from Thursday for the Nationals. Clayton Beater finally got a save opportunity. And he blew it. He gave up a run, but wound up getting the win because, on the other side for the pirates,

Dennis Santana, got the 10th inning in a tie game. He allowed a walk-off single to James Wood, took his first loss. And again, I hate that the pitcher is given a loss when they lose an extra innings because of the Manfred Man. It should just be like a team loss or something. It shouldn't go to the picture. He really was blinded by the light. Manford Man's Earth Band. Oh, it's, I don't know the song, but I didn't, yeah, of course.

For the Brewers, Abner Rebbe was unavailable. We mentioned this earlier. Trevor McGill pitched the eighth inning. He struck out two, picked up the hold. Anhele Serpa got the ninth. He picked up his second save. For the raise, Brian Baker got the ninth with a two-run lead. He walked one, but picked up his fourth save.

30% rostered. That might be a little bit low for Brian Baker, who, famous last words, feels like the raise closer right now. Yeah, I mean, if the raise have a closer, it's Brian Baker. I'm not sure the race have a closer, but if they do. Yeah. I am sure that the athletics do not have a closer.

It was Justin Sterner who got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He gave up four runs. Three of those earned. He took his first blown save and second loss. For the Guardians, Cade Smith relieved Parker Messick in the ninth inning. With two runners on, no outs. He allowed two hits, two runs charged to Messick. But Cade Smith picked up his fourth save.

Smith has not been locked down so far. I still think he's really talented. But outside of Mason Miller, I mean, who can we say has been locked down this? year. It's, well, Yoan Duran has been really good, but it's been kind of, kind of shaky for a lot of closer so far. For the Rockies, Victor Vodnick picked up his second save, and I just mentioned the name, but Mason Miller, he is incredible. He struck out the side for his sixth save, 30 and two-thirds consecutive scoreless innings dating back to last year. I believe he is three innings shy of breaking the Padres record for consecutive scoreless innings all time.

So he's really good. He's only allowed two runs as the Padre. Period. He is disgusting. To stream or not to stream on Friday. We have not great options. Nick Martinez at the Pirates, Zach Lattel against the Giants, Jansen Junk against the Brewers,

Aaron Savali against the White Sox. anybody else on this list you might like I mean the Giants offense is pretty bad right now I could see a good Zach Lattel start

yeah Janzen Junk has done some really interesting stuff his stuff has looked really good I would not be shocked if he had a good start I would not be shocked if we got and this this is a revenge game for Aaron Savali right he's the White Sox are one of like five teams he's been Yes, it is.

So, yeah, I don't, maybe. I don't want to say any of these guys are good, though. Someone in the chat is suggesting Chris Bassett, who has a 236 whip so far. So, you know, it would take, it would take more guts than I have. That's all. More brass. I agree. I'm just throwing it out there.

Like, you know, if you're, if you're a streamaholic and you don't like that we don't, highlight more options. Someone in the chat is saying Chris Bassett at Cleveland. The buck stops with that guy. On Saturday, we have not great options. James and Tyone against the Mets, Adrian Houser at the Nationals, Cade Cavali against the Giants, Louis Severino against the White Sox, Dean Kramer at the Guardians, Lance McCullors against the Cardinals, Hermann Marquez at the Angels.

One thing I just want to point out, I know the Angels have been a team we stream against in the past. I don't know. They will strike out a lot. Yeah. But they hit a lot of home runs, man. Right. So just proceed in caution. It's a high upside play, but there's some downside risk, sure.

Yeah. I mean, I'm not there with Marquez. Dean Kramer at Cleveland coming off a good start with the splitter. Yeah, nine strike. Yeah, I don't mind that one. Lance McCullors has mostly been bad outside of that one start, but I don't think the Cardinals' offense is very good. Otherwise, we got better options on Sunday.

All right, so Dean Kramer and Lance McCullors on Saturday. And then on Sunday, Matthew Liberator at the Astros, Mike Burroughs against the Cardinals, Brady Singer at the Twins, Bailey Ober against the Reds, Reed Detmer's against the Padres, Grant Holmes at the Phillies. You know, Holmes and Detmer's match. could be better. And Burroughs hasn't given us a good start yet,

but there's still some interesting stuff underneath. He has the best match over the three against the Cardinals. Yeah. Those might be the best three streamers of the weekend for all their unfavorable circumstances. I agree. Agreed, all across the board, Holmes, Detmer, Burroughs on Sunday. We are gonna wrap there for Scott and Chris.

I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in some fantasy baseball today. please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again next week. Bye-bye. Mount Podcasts.