Fantasy Baseball Today - Patrick Sandoval Improvements, Willson Contreras Replacements & Hitters Picking It Up! (5/8 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 8, 2024

Cody Bellinger is back and homering for the Cubs (2:55)! ... Patrick Sandoval has made big improvements over his last few starts (5:21). ... The Rangers put up 15 runs against the A's on Tuesday (10:45). ... Willson Contreras has a fractured forearm and will miss 6-8 weeks (15:10). ... News (19:32): Gerrit Cole threw another bullpen and could be back in June. ... How do we rank Sandoval, Cristopher Sanchez and Frankie Montas (25:22)? ... Let's break down some interesting waiver wire outfielders (30:01). ... Jose Ramirez and Bryce Harper are picking things up (38:35). ... Corbin Carroll needed a big game (41:52). ... Are we looking to sell-high on these pitchers (51:00)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (55:41). 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, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your lead. Well, fantasy! Now here's Frank, Scott and Chris. Price Harper, looks like he's heating up. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Wednesday.

May 8th, I am Frank Sample, joined by Scott White. Today on the show, we've got hitters who are picking things up, some potential sell high pitchers. Wilson Contreras, unfortunate replacements, and much more. Let's jump in. Holy cow. How about that? All right, Scott, you are up.

Player of the Night. My player of the night is Cody Bellinger, who was back from the IL here on, what's today, Tuesday. He was back from the IL Tuesday. And he had a big game right away, three for four with the home run. it was his sixth home run of the year. And, you know, now he's up to an 826 OPS. Very good. Batting average is 250, but, you know, you could,

like the batting average wasn't the thing we were worried about with Cody Bellinger coming in. We were worried about his very modest exit velocities translating to the same power output we saw last year. And that really hasn't been a problem. It wasn't a problem before the end. injury and here on his first game back, it still doesn't seem like a problem.

That's six home runs he has now. In 88 at bats, 101 plate appearances, if you prefer. So an even better home run pace than we saw from him last year. Or, yeah, an even better home run pace than we saw from him last year. And meanwhile,

the strikeout rate, which was, you know, other than the top line stats, among the underlying stats, the strikeout rate was the thing that stood out as most improved for Cody Ballinger. That's carried over. He's still striking out about 16% of the time. So I don't think we got to worry so much about that batting average staying in the 250 range.

I think we should mostly just be encouraged that the power has been there for him. And now that he's healthy again, I would consider him must start. And we desperately needed Bellinger back because as we talk about a lot, outfield has not been the greatest position so far. this season. Sounds like we could get a couple other names back soon, say a Suzuki starting a rehab assignment on Wednesday. So nice to see Cody Bellinger back. Looking at his profile, he might be selling out a little bit for power this year. He had a 59% fly ball rate entering this game. It is a smaller sample size because obviously Bellinger

missed some time. A little bit weird that he hasn't attempted a stolen base so far this season as well. Stolen bases can be fickle, obviously. But would like to see Cody Bellinger running. I agree. Nice that the strikeout rate is down and that the power metrics have been there and look pretty good so far this season for Cody Bellinger. He's back. Get him back in your lineups. Don't think there's much more to add on him. My player of the night is going to be Patrick Sandoval, who's made two strong starts in a row. He was at the Pirates, which obviously is a very good matchup right now. He threw seven shutout innings, three hits, one walk, seven strikeouts with 17 swinging strikes on 103 pitches. Nine of those 17 came on the check.

changeup, four on the slider, three on the sinker, did a great job limiting the hard contact, and he has changed his pitch mix. Over the past three starts, Patrick Sandoval is completely fading his four-scene fastball, and that is a great idea, because his fastball and his sinker have been getting crushed so far this season.

We've said for years that Sandoval has a great change-up, and in fact, we would like to see him throw that change-up even more than he does, but the slider has been a solid pitch for him as well, Looks like he's starting to figure that out, Scott. Pitching backwards a little bit more, leading with those secondary pitches, and it has worked.

What has also worked for Patrick Sandvall is that he's only allowed three total walks over his last three starts. So walks could be a huge issue for him. In fact, they still have been this year. It's 3.9 walks per nine. But he's doing things differently. He's getting swinging strikes,

and he's widely available. 37% rostered. How much are you buying this recent run and change in pay? pitch mix from Patrick Sandoval. You know, I've been faked out a few times by Patrick Sandoval over the years, as we all have, because he's been good at getting swings and misses, but it hasn't been very good at much else. And, you know, even the big whiff rates he was generating weren't necessarily

necessarily translating to big strikeout rates. So it was, I don't know, I'd kind of written him off. And the way he started this season certainly didn't inspire much confidence either. But yeah, when you say he's completely faded his four seamer, like, he's completely faded his four seamer. He threw three in this game when it was his most used pitch prior to these last three starts. So, yeah, that's a stark turnaround. And even if you factor in those first starts that weren't very good, Patrick Sandoval now, his ERA estimators are shockingly good.

He has a 289 FIP and a 340 X-FIP. XERA isn't updated yet, but it was, you know, it was good too. It was below four. And that's obviously good. Now, I do think the fact that he's allowed only two home runs, that there's been some good home run luck there. I do think Patrick Sandoval is going to remain good at home run prevention because he tends to put the ball on the ground.

But that might be influencing those fit measurements specifically, that the fact that he's only allowed two home runs. But I'm definitely intrigued by this. change an approach and throwing his best pitches more and the fact that the strikeouts have been so good in his last two starts, I think he's still going to struggle to throw strikes and the starts are going to be on the shorter end, the whip's going to be on the higher end because of that. I don't, I'm not ready to say Patrick Sandoval is one of those like high priority ads off the waiver

wire. But if you're one of the few people who has a spot to play with amid all of the pitching surplus and the huge number of injuries that's probably bled onto your bench, even if you're in a league with aisle spots. If you happen to have a spot to play with, with all that going on, then I do think Zandeval is worthy of consideration. So the two most added starting pitchers on CBS are John Means and Christian Scott. I think clearly those two are ahead of Patrick Sandoval in the pecking order right now.

The number three and four most added starting pitchers, likely because of a two-star week. Cole Irvin and Colin Ray. I think we'd both take Sandoval over those two, right? Over Colin Ray and who was the first one? Cole Irvin. Yeah, yeah, I'd take Sandoval over both of them. The name that Chris and I spoke about yesterday

who had a good start was Simeon Woods Richardson. Would you take Patrick Sandoval over him? I would. I would. I didn't see a lot that really boosted my confidence in Simeon Woods, Richardson. I'm willing to keep an open mind. He's so young, and I know there has been an increase in velocity. I think compared to last season in the minors,

but it's still not great velocity. So yeah, I'm pretty skeptical of Simeon Woods Richardson and would rather take a flyer on Sandoval. As I mentioned, Sandoval, 37% rostered. It looks like he lines up for the Rangers next week. So don't think I would want to play him in that matchup, though I'm seeing now the Rangers are actually pretty bad against lefties this season.

I think it's kind of a pick-em-up, let's see where this goes. I do agree. I think the control is probably still, going to be a little bit finicky at times and a problem for Patrick Sandoval, but we should not ignore what he's doing. And we'll compare him to a couple of other waiver wire pitchers a little bit later on in the show. I want to give an honorable mention to those Texas Rangers who went off against the Oakland A's. They put up 15 runs on 19 hits. Marcus Semyon had a huge game when four for five with his sixth home run, added three runs and five RBI. Semion's off to a great start.

only one steel. Don't love that, but everything else looks good for Marcus Semyon. Jonah He went 4-4 with 2-R-B-I and 3-R-B-Scored. He is now batting over 300 for the season with a 7-76 OPS. Nate Lowe has hit well since returning. He went 2-4 with a double, two walks, and 2-R-B-I. He is now batting 3-22 with an 870 OPS in 16 games. And Leoti Tavares, 3-4-5 with a walk, three runs, and 2 RBI.

Over his last 10 games, he is batting 3-82. with one homer in a 32% line drive rate, only 15% rostered. Scott, is Leoti Tavares someone you would look into adding in five outfielder leagues? Well, I wish I had included him among my 10 sleeper hitters for this week. He did get an honorable mention on the podcast. I remember you bringing him up, yeah. He wasn't on the official list. I did say the Rangers have far and away the best matchups and recommended Nate Lowe,

so I'm glad he's come through. And I think there's a good chance Nate Lowe just turns out to be a must-star player because certainly he was two years ago. The lineup context is great. The plate discipline's very good. I really like Nate Lowe almost as much as I like somebody like Anthony Rizzo.

It's pretty close between those two. I think everybody recognizes the contributions. Rizzo is made in fantasy this year. But Liori Tavares, he's somebody. who might be might be like a 15 homer 15 steel guy without being

hugely impactful in batting average he was 14 14 last year so he wasn't far off. I just don't I don't see the upside beyond that and that's the upside. So, you know, I was kind of dismissing

or kind of downplaying some of the enthusiasm that's out there for Tommy fan. Kind of for the same reason. Like, okay, maybe he's a 15-15 guy who's not especially impactful in batting average. And I guess Tavares could be that. Obviously, much better lineup, but he's batting low in the lineup. So we're talking borderline fifth outfielder types.

And even then, like, if it's more you're forced to play him there, then you're just settled with him as your fifth outfielder. You're going to be constantly looking out for a better option. I don't think the upside is significant enough to recommend Laotie Tavares beyond that. All right, let's quickly promote a few things. Make sure to download and follow our five-minute podcast, FBT and 5 wherever you listen to this podcast. And a big thanks to everybody watching us live. Make sure like this video and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already.

That's YouTube.com slash fantasy baseball today. Let's take our first break. When we return, we'll talk about the Wilson Contreras injury right after this. Welcome back in and it looks like my fantasy season is over. No, I'm just being dramatic, but I do have lots of Wilson Contrera shares, so it is going to be tough sledding in those two catcher leagues trying to replace him. He suffered a fractured left forearm and will miss six to eight weeks, and it's a really unfortunate injury.

He got hit by J.D. Martinez's a swing right in the forearm, and he was just writhing in pain. It looked like it was a pretty bad injury as soon as it happened. And it's a pretty big blow because Contreras was playing well. He was batting 280 with six home runs, two steals, and a 949 OPS. Yvonne Herrera, my guess is that he will get as much run as he could handle moving forward and definitely make sense as an ad in two catcher leagues. Only betting 215, three homers, but the quality of contact metrics look really, really good for Yvonne Herrera.

It's got some other names that could be out there in one catcher leagues as replacements. Logan O'Hoppy is 73% rostered. Travis Darno is 63%. and then each of Alias Diaz, Bo Nailer, Tyler Stevenson, Mitch Garver, are all under 50% rostered. Do you have a preference from that group as a replacement for Wilson Contreras? I mean, the preferred would be Logan O'Hoppy, who I think has just kind of gotten squeezed out in one catcher leagues because there are more quality options than are needed. And so, yeah, Logan O'Hoppy, if he happens to be out there, he would be the first choice. I think beyond that, particularly in a one-catcher league, given how disposable catchers are,

I wouldn't mind just going with the hot hand, Lias Diaz, if the Rockies are home, he's always good there. Travis Darno, okay, he's getting regular playing time now with Sean Murphy on the IL. In the long run, I would still bet on Mitch Garver and Bo Nailer being better. I understand why the roster rates drop below 50%. They've been terrible, and those one-catcher leagues, enough that you don't have to deal with terrible for very long. But I'm not willing to abandon the upside there for either of them. And I think there will come a point this season where they're hot enough that the roster rate rises rapidly.

And I do think I would prefer both of those to Yvonne Herrera if it comes to that. Obviously, two catcher leagues, Garver and Naylor never got dropped. And Herrera would be a great choice to pick up there. but yeah, the fact Herrera hits the ball hard is, it's the most important thing a hitter can do, but we don't have a lot to go on other than that. And so I'm not willing to say he's like some slam dunk, slam dunk breakout here for the Cardinals.

Other options in two catcher leagues, my goodness, hold your nose, hold your ears, whatever you got to hold, because it's not pretty. Ivan Herrera, as we mentioned anybody else standout, Scott? I mean, one of the Yankees, there's Austin Wells, Jose Trevino, one of the pirates,

Yasmani Grandal, Joey Bart, anybody that I missed, I mean, I think either of the Blue Jays could be available too. Right. Yeah, I was going to say

Danny Jansen's been hitting well since he returned from the IL and has been getting the more regular playing time of the two. I think I wouldn't mind picking up Kirk in a two-catcher league because at least there's a chance he gives you something worthwhile

uh i would prefer like joey bart to him who is now well i don't know i don't know how that playing time is going to shake out now that yasmani grondola is back yeah i think i would prefer either the blue jays guys over either the pirates guys uh who else who else but herrera is ahead of Auerre is ahead of all of them. He's available in almost 90% of CBS leagues. Yeah. If you have to go really deep, yeah, I guess that's where you look into Joey Bart.

He's only 5% rostered. I'll throw one other name out there. This is probably 15 team, two casual leagues, but Ben Roortvet has actually hit pretty well for Tampa Bay, and they sent Renee Pinto down. So I think he's going to get the bulk of the playing time, at least against right-handed pitching. So just another name I'll throw out there.

But the big news, Wilson Contreras will be out six to eight weeks with a fractured left forearm. The other news and notes, Garrett Cole completed his second bullpen session on Tuesday and is expected to throw another this weekend. He appears on track to return at some point in June. We mentioned Cody Bellinger was activated. It was Alexander Canario, who was optioned back to AAA, not Pete Crow Armstrong. PCA actually started in center field in this game with Bellinger at D.H.

Grayson Rodriguez feels much better and hopes to be reinstated once he becomes eligible on May 15th. He's on the IL with right shoulder inflammation. Kodi Senga is scheduled to throw another bullpen later this week, and the hope is that he'll be back in late May when he becomes eligible. Sey Suzuki will begin a rehab assignment at AAA on Wednesday. Paul Seawald was activated from the IL. Kevin Ginkle is going to slide back into a setup role,

and he could be dropped, right? Kevin Ginkle. In most leagues, obviously, not holds leagues. And some of those 15 team roto leagues where anyone who emerges as a saves option goes for like a million dollars in fab, maybe a holdout just a little bit and not drop ginkled just in case CWald suffers some kind of setback with those oblique injury. Because remember, he had to start that rehab assignment twice because he felt tightness in the oblique still and waited 11 days before making another rehab appearance. So, yeah, and those deeper leagues maybe hold on to ginkle a little longer, but most people could probably drop them. Brian Beow will return from the IL Sunday against the Nationals.

Christian Javier will return from the IL this weekend to face the Tigers. Lane Thomas took batting practice on the field Tuesday, his first time doing so since he went on the IL with an MCL sprain in his left knee. T.J. Friedel was activated and hit leadoff for the Reds against righty, Zach Gallen. Freel finished 04 for 4 with a strikeout. Jason Dominguez is about two weeks away from getting a rehab assignment. He is working his way back from Tommy John surgery. 48% rostered, big prospect, lots of upside.

Just not sure that he'll get the call when he's ready, Scott, because the Yankees are healthy. I don't know that that will last, but they have a very crowded outfield. They have Verdugo, they have Judge, they have Soto. Stanton is the DH and all the batting average is low. He did hit his seventh home run of the season here on Tuesday, So 118 miles per hour. I believe it was the hardest hit home runoff Justin Verlander

and since Stackcast started recording such things. Wow. I believe that I saw that stat. Don't quote me on it. But I believe that's true. So, yeah. I don't mind stashing Jason Dominguez if you're one of the very few people with the free IEL spot right now.

But I will point out, You said he's 48% rostered and he doesn't appear to have an opening as of now. T.J. Friedel is only 56% rostered. They're close to the same there in terms of roster rate. T.J. Friedel is back. He's back hitting leadoff. It was a must-start player regardless of format last year. And, you know, he had the crazy low-exe velocities and maybe he won't be able to match last year's

home run total, or maybe he will because he plays half his games in Cincinnati. He should steal a lot of bases either way. I think given outfield is clearly the position where there isn't enough to go around. The fact that T.J. Friedel is as available as he is, is something you should take advantage of. All right. Tyler McGill will make another rehab start at AAA on Sunday. and what do you think happens with the Mets rotation, Scott? Because they have McGill coming back. They have Kodi Senga, hopefully coming back soon.

David Peterson is on a rehab assignment as well. Jose Buto wasn't great on Tuesday, five innings, three runs, three walks, three strikeouts. Still has a three ERA and a 115 whip, but how are you projecting the Mets rotation? I guess from, I don't know, the end of May on, basically. So, here I am making. another vague reference to something I may or may not have read. Okay, I can't confirm, by the way.

Not just hardest hit home run, hardest hit ball by anyone against Verlander in the stack as dear. Okay, so cover my bases there. Met's rotation, I saw something suggesting that they may go six men. I don't remember where I saw it,

but it's something they may do. It had to do with Christian Scott and why he, he would be able to stick around, even with Tyler McGill coming back and eventually Kodai Senga coming back. Six-man rotation would actually benefit Senga since that's what he was used to in Japan.

And I think that's a possibility. If that doesn't happen, I mean, Budo has more starts like this. I don't think he has a death grip on a rotation spot there. And I know Jose Cantana struggled too. He's kind of a bigger dollar guy, but I think Scott is safe as long as he continues to perform. That's, I mean, it mostly comes down to that, right? And I think that's true.

All right. And then Jack Leiter is likely to make his second career start on Wednesday against the Oakland A's in the second game of their doubleheader. Obviously, a pretty good matchup, although I think Oakland's actually been hitting the ball pretty well recently. We'll see what Jack Leiter could do there. obviously not looking to add, but rooting for the kid. Let's see what he could do. Other waiver wire pitchers who performed well on Tuesday, Christopher Sanchez had a big bounce back against the Blue Jays.

Seven innings, one run, five strikeouts, only had nine swinging strikes, but did a better job, obviously, in terms of being efficient, and it was his first quality start since April 17th. He's down to 77% rostered and could be a two-star pitcher next week against the nationals and at the Mets.

We spoke about Patrick Sandoval. Frankie Montas returned with a great start against the debacks, six innings, two runs. One of those was earned with seven strikeouts to only one walk. Still only had 10 swinging strikes, but did a great job, limiting hard contact. And his velocity was up big time across the board. Fastball was up almost two miles per hour. The sinker was up almost two miles per hour. Still want to see more whiffs on the splitter because that traditionally has been his best pitch.

But I thought this was a pretty encouraging start from Frankie Montas. Scott, how would you rank those three? Sanchez, Patrick Sandoval, and Frankie Montas. I would rank them, Sanchez, Patrick Sandoval, and Frankie Montas. But by ranking Montas third, I'm not saying I'm totally down on him, that the fact is velocity was up almost two miles per hour across the board in this one. Very encouraging sign. And, you know, obviously we've seen.

huge production from the past. In the past, I think the fact that his splitter is getting its usual whiff rate, more or less, and the fact that his velocity is where it needs to be. I could see him coming around and going on the sort of run that makes people who are dropping him now, regret, dropping him. Having said that, I understand the situation we're in in fantasy baseball right now where there are just constantly new pitchers worth picking up and you have to drop somebody. Montas might get squeezed out.

I could see that happening, but I do retain some hope for him, I guess is what I'm saying. One name in Deeper Leagues who has quietly pitched well this season, Trevor Williams. He was dominant against the Baltimore Orioles of all teams through five shot out innings, two hits, eight strikeouts to zero walks,

only seven swinging strikes in this start. He's made a pitch mix change this year, throwing his sweeper a lot more. Last year it was 3% usage. This year, it's up to 18%. And it has been a very good pitch for Trevor Williams. A 143 batting average against, 43% whiff rate.

He's got a 196 ERA, a 106 whip, 18% rostered. Any enthusiasm here, Scott, for Trevor Williams, who is doing things a little bit different this year? Yeah, it's easy to seize upon that sweeper with its near 45% whiff rate, which Trevor Williams has never had a pitch like that before, 45% whiff rate. It's easy to say, aha, that is why he has a 196 IRA and 106 whip. But I don't really buy it. The overall swinging strike rate is still terrible, like 8%.

And the strikeout rate is not very. good. The walk rate is not very good. He hasn't allowed a single home run yet. And, you know, it's not like he's some extreme ground ball pitcher. The ground ball rate is up this year, but it's not so good that he should be allowing no home runs. So I think there's a lot here to suggest, even though the ERA estimators look pretty good for Williams, the fact that he's given up no home runs is a big part of that. expect he'll come crashing back down, regressing to the mean here soon enough. Three names that I'm pretty sure can be dropped. All had pretty bad starts on Tuesday. Kenta Maeda, Logan T. Allen, and Edward Cabrera. Those guys can go, right? Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, the one that might cause me to hesitate a little bit is Edward Cabrera because that upside is so enticing, but how long? Are we going to go on with this? I mean, even with good matchups, you can't trust them to come through. So I would drop, these are three guys that I'd drop for Patrick Sandoval. Or frankly, these are three guys that I'd drop for Frankie Montas. For any of the three that we mentioned, right? Sanchez, Sandoval and Frankie Montas a little bit earlier on.

Yeah, Sanchez for sure. Yeah. Let's run through some Waverwire outfielders. And Alex Verdugo, these are names that could be out there in three outfielder leagues, more so shallower formats. Alex Verdugo has hit well with the Yankees so far. He went 3 for 5 with his fifth home run, added 4 RBI. He's batting 275, 812 OPS.

He's consistently batting cleanup versus right-handed pitching since April 27th. The quality of contact and the batted ball data doesn't really support what Verdugo is doing right now, but it's a great spot in the lineup. He's 76% rostered. Brian Dela-Cruz went 1 for 4 with his 7th home run. His stack-ass data is actually great. He's pulling the ball more this year. His expected batting average 286, expected slug 519.

Again, that's Brian Dela Cruz. It has been a struggle so far for Lars Neupar since returning, but he had a solid game here on Tuesday, one for two, with three walks and his second home run. Another one who's hitting the ball really hard, 91.8 average exit velocity, but lots of ground balls, a 50% ground ball rate so far. And Max Kepler, who has four straight multi-hit games.

He went two for four with two doubles. He's betting 323 with a 915 OPS and is 47% rostered. Scott, how would you rank those names in three outfielder leagues? Verdugo, Brian Dela Cruz, Newpar, and Max Kepler. I would rank them. Newt bar, number one. Big believer in Newt bar. I had him as a sleeper hitter this week.

So I'd rank him number one. I would rank... I think I'd have to rank Verdugo number two. De La Cruz 3, Kepler 4. Maybe swap those last two. Put Kepler ahead if it's a points league because the strikeout rate is consistently low. The fact De La Cruz is a low OBP guy

and a really bad lineup, he's got to do all the work himself. Yeah. And I'm not saying he's never going to be useful, but I don't think he can be more than useful, no matter how good his stack has page low. It's interesting that Lars Nupar has been hitting so many ground balls. He's the one I like the most remember of this group because his big emphasis this offseason.

He worked with Nolan Aeronado actually was elevating to his pole side. The thing that has been the key to Nolan Aeronado success throughout his career, he's one of the best at elevating to his pull side. And Lars Nupar worked with him this offseason to try and mimic that. Newpar being someone who hits the ball a lot harder than Aronado does. It hasn't translated. You know, he had a high ground ball rate last year, too. The poll rate is up for what it's worth.

It's a small enough sample that I could see it changing, but the fact that Newpar is such a good on-base guy and hits the ball as hard as he does, he doesn't need to be, he just needs to be a not-terrible fly ball. guy, I think, to be impactful in fantasy. And hopefully this game is the start of him picking it up, because I think there's a lot of upside here still. Yeah, I agree.

People who listen know I've been trying to make Lars Neubar a thing for the past couple of years. I really like the skill set, the eye at the plate, how hard he hits the ball. The expected numbers look really good, too. 263XBA, well, maybe not really good, but much better than his actual numbers. 263 XBA 449 X-slug. Lars Nupar is currently batting 183. I think he's a name.

That's about 70th percentile for both. It doesn't sound super important. The expected stats there, XBA, X-Lug. It's about 70th percentile for both, which sounds better probably than just rattling them off in a vacuum. I think he's a name, Newpar that I would be looking to buy in deeper leagues, too. 15-team or even 12-team-5 outfielder leagues,

if you can just get Newpar for next to nine. I think I'd be trying to acquire him via trade if I could. A couple names in deeper leagues. Johnny DeLuca, who we spoke about extensively yesterday. He was one of our players of the night. He continues to hit pretty well. So far with the race, two for three with a double and a walk. In his first five games, he's got seven hits, one homer, 10 RBI, and two steals.

He has started all five games, four of those coming against a right-handed pitcher. Lamont Wade is hitting very well, but is in a strict platoon with the Giants, one for two with three walks and two RBI. He's batting 351 with a 927 OPS. That comes with only one homer and one steel. And then we'll throw Lioti Tavares in this mix. But Scott, how would you rank those in deeper league? Johnny DeLuca, Lamont Wade, and the aforementioned Tavares.

Oh. Gamble on DeLucah, I think, as sort of the mystery box here. Tavares would have to be number two over Wade just because Wade sits so often. but yeah there's a lot to like here about uh about deluca i mean the fact that the rays like him enough to play him every day i did not see that happening i thought he was going to be a strict platoon guy and you know the lesser half of a platoon but he's not striking out much he wasn't a big strikeout guy in the miners either but so far it's a it's a 10% strikeout rate during his

time. It'll get worse than that, but it's encouraging to see a player so early into his major league career making contact at that rate. And to go with that contact, he puts the ball in the air a lot. He pulls the ball a lot. He could be, I don't know. I'm not going to say he's going to be their outfield version of Isok Perretta's, but the profile isn't dissimilar. And he might be able to chip in 15 to 20 steals too on top of that. So I think DeLuk is a really interesting player. I don't think this one matters, but it was a huge game. So I'll just mention that Andy Abagnas went four for four with a double dong, four runs, and four RBI. He's only started two of the past six games for

the Tigers, for the AL-onlyers out there. He might matter. That's Andy Abagnas. Let's take our final break when we return. We'll get into the hitters that are picking it up. We'll do that right after this. Did the same ads play on the audio that play on the video here? No, they don't. Oh, okay. Why, what were you going to say?

I enjoy Knuckles eating the grapes, the visual and especially the sound of it. I enjoy that so much. Yeah, I've actually heard great things about the show, so might have to check it out. It's Knuckles on Paramount Plus. Yeah, go watch it. Five hitters who are picking. That's the name of it, right, Knuckles? I think so now.

The Sonic the Hedgehog character. Should I play it again to find out? I don't know. Five hitters who are picking things up lately. Jose Ramirez went three for four with a double and two RBI. Over his last three games, he has five hits, two homers, and a stolen base. The batting average is low early on here, but power, speed, counting stats have all been there for Jose Ramirez. Randy or Rosarena went one for three with his sixth home run, two RBI.

And over his last five games, he's got three homers and two steals. Yes, we need more hits. He's only batting 152. and there's been some weird stuff in the batted ball profile, lots of fly balls, lots of infield fly balls. I think a Rose Arena might be trying a little bit too hard to elevate so far this season. Bryce Harper, we mentioned him up at the top. He is getting into one of those grooves right now,

three for three with his ninth home run. It was a grand slam. And over his last 18 games, Bryce Harper is batting 333 with six home runs, 21 RBI, 90.2 average exit velocity. His teammate, Bryson Stott, two for four with his eighth stolen base and over his last eight games. 360 batting average, two homers, nine runs, five steals, 93.7 average exit velocity.

It's a small sample size, but it's a good sign from Bryson Stato had a terrible April. And then Jazz Chisholm went one for four with his fifth home run. And over his last three games, he has five hits, one homer, and three steals. Anything that stands out from this group, Scott, maybe you're in college. discouraged or, I don't know, discouraged under the hood on jazz Chisholm, Bryson Stott, Bryce Harper,

Arosa Rana, and Jose Ramirez. Well, there was never a concern for Bryce Harper, of course. I've always felt Randy a Roserena was a bit overrated,

but as as streaky as he is and as ugly as his tack-house data has always been I wouldn't say I was ever concerned there either. Jose Ramirez wasn't concerned. I think the only one of these players that I really ever expressed concern about this year was Bryson Stott,

and a lot of that had to do with him sitting against left-handers. Not every left-hander, but some left-handers with the addition of Whitmerfield. But presumably, it's not going to happen as much anymore with Trey Turner out. Stott sliding over to shortstop, eventually regaining eligibility. there. And Maryfield taking over at second base. I want to confirm that was the alignment for today, because it was yesterday, I know.

Bryson Stott played second here on Tuesday. Edmundo Sosa at short with Whitmerifield in left. But you only need five games at shortstop on CBS. And as long as Trey Turner is going to be out, like six to eight weeks, I think that we probably are going to get shortstop eligibility from Bryson's Sott. It looks like Johann Rojas got the day off, which, you know, he's not doing much at the plate. So that could continue as well.

But the bottom line is Stott's playing time, I think, stands to improve with the Trey Turner injury. And him picking up at the plate only makes that more likely. All right, we've got some hitters who needed a big game and they got it. Corbyn Carroll was moved back up to the lead off spot on Tuesday. his first time that he's hit higher than 7th in the lineup since April 22nd. He went 2 for 5 with his second home run, 5 RBI. He is batting 2-11 so far this season. His average exit velocity, 84.9 miles per hour,

with a 27.5% in-field fly ball rate. The expected stats are terrible. I just want to stop there, Scott, because we haven't talked much about Corby and Carroll. How worried are you, if you are at all? I mean, he's still running. He's got the eight stolen bases on the year, but the quality of contact,

he could just be off. The fact that he has that many infield pop-ups, it seems pretty weird, but what are your thoughts? Well, I'm not, this is not as simple of a case as Bryce Harper and Jose Ramirez, who he talked about in the previous group.

There was a lot of concern, especially you, Frank. I mean, you were one of the loudest voicing this concern about that stretch in the middle of the season last year where Corby and Carroll seemed to be in agony over his formerly surgically, well, I guess surgically repair his shoulder. And it happened twice in the span of a week.

We thought, oh, geez, he's out for the year. But then he was back within a couple days. And it didn't happen again the rest of the year. and through their long playoff run, but the power production wasn't as good. And that may have just been coincidental. It's not like every player produces the same number of home runs in the first half in the second half.

But that it aligned with the shoulder issue. It raised a lot of concerns. And then he gets off to this kind of start. After also looking horrible in spring training. Okay. I overstated that. He did not hit a home run in spring training, but he didn't look horrible.

He actually hit 315. But he's been horrible, and the home runs weren't there, and the home runs haven't been there as much since those shoulder issues came to light. And it makes you wonder. It does. I've moved Corbyn Carroll down in my rankings

behind players like Aaron Judge and Jordan Alvarez, who was being drafted ahead of, obviously. And that goes for both formats, even Roto leagues, where you would think the stolen base upside would make me a little more hesitant to do that. I've seen some offers. I'm trying to think of a good example of a trade offer somebody showed me where they would be getting Corbyn Carroll in like a bi-low scenario. And I decided it wasn't enough of a by-low for me to take the chance. I'm trying to think of a good example of that, but I don't know. Maybe it was like Jose Ramirez for Corbyn Carroll.

What were you thinking? I was just looking at the outfield rankings and the next name up is Adoles Garcia. It was also a start again. I would trade Adolice Garcia for Carol myself. So I'm like, again, it's, I'm not hitting the panic button here. I'm just taking this slow start for Corby and Carol, which is more likely than not just a slow start.

But I'm taking it, I'm being a little more cautious with it because I see reason to believe it may not be a slow start. Other hitters who needed a big game and they got it. Anthony Volpe went one for five with a three-run homer. It was his fourth of the season. In 25 games since being moved to the lead-off spot, he's batting 200 with two homers, four steals. Power speed is still there,

but 49% ground ball rate, lots of infield pop-ups too. It feels like he might be pressing a little bit. It might be a little bit too much pressure for him leading off for the Yankees right now. Julio Rodriguez went one for three. with two walks and his eight stolen base. Still only has one home run on the season.

The strikeout rate is up this year. The pull rate is actually way down for Julio. I think that might explain why the power has been down so far this year. Pete Alonzo, two for five with his ninth home run added three RBI. He's only batting 212 with a 742 OPS. The quality of contact way down for Pete Alonzo, 85.9 average exit velocity. I thought that was kind of interesting.

Vinnie Pasquantino went three for five. with a double, three RBI. His previous 13 games before this one, he went 143, with only three extra base hits. Michael Bush homered for the first time since his five-game homer streak, and in the 15 games between home runs, 167 batting average with a 40% strikeout rate.

It's got anything you'd like to add on. Bush, Vinnie Pee, Pete Alonzo, J. Rod, and Volpe. Okay, well, J.Rod, Pete Alonzo, high-end players. They've been high-end players since their rookie season. And I don't think anything you could point to right now as a potential red flag I would take particularly seriously. You know, yes, Pete Alonzo's average exit velocity is down.

When you're slumping, it's going to be down. And obviously, he has not hit for the kind of batting average we expect from him. The strikeout rate is fine. It's about 21%. There's nothing to worry about there. The max exit velocity, fine. He's hit a ball almost 114 miles per hour at one point this season. I don't think there's any reason to believe Alonzo is like nursing and injury or that there's anything going on beyond just a rough patch in which he still hits nine home runs.

So it's nice when you have a player whose rough stretch can still include nine home runs. That's what it means to be a high. end player, usually. Julio Rodriguez, he's got the eight stolen bases, right? He's not being totally useless here. He's just, they haven't delivered up to expectations so far, but not in a way that I find particularly concerning. Everything regresses to the mean, right?

I've made this case over and over again. The more concerning ones from this list would be Anthony Volpe, Vinnie Pasquantino, and Michael Bush, because they had not achieved. to the level they were drafted as early not volpe and and pasquantino bush you know he went on drafted in most leagues but he got picked up basically everywhere because of that that that home run binge he went on so regressing to the mean for them we don't really know what it means they're still early enough in his career that i could say we don't really know what it means but to this point it would mean less than we valued the mass and so that's why i'd be

you know, I'm not, I'm not totally as, my opinion on them isn't as resolute as it is for Julio Rodriguez and Pete Alonzo. But overall, I still think Anthony Volpe is going to be a top 12 shortstop because he gets on base at a high rate, because he steals a lot of bases. And I think Vinny Pasquantino is going to be fine too. you look at the exit velocity readings for him coming back from shoulder surgery that would be my main area of concern they're fine they they're better than they were last year and he's striking out 10% of the time walking more than he's striking out viny pasquantino everything under the hood looks great i think he's going to be fine i'm most i perhaps even more encouraged about him than volpey i would say buy low on viny p in a points league if you could for sure i had to buy low on him anywhere yeah michael bush on the other hand if he's going to be a guy who strikes out a third of the time

and walks less than 10% of the time because he always got reached base at a high clip in the minors. But like the plate discipline is awful for Michael Bush. The plate discipline is untenable for a points league. And I think that's the sort of league where you'd be most likely to drop him anyway, the smaller roster sizes. Those are the kinds of leagues where you've got so many pitchers

you want a roster and maybe so many injured players too that you got to find a way to clear roster space. And while I think Bush, you know, I'm still high on him from a broad perspective and think we're going to like where the home run total ends up, the way the plate discipline looks for him, I think makes him somebody you can move on from Points League, if only in the short term, just to free up roster space. And he was actually one of the 24 players I featured on an article came out Tuesday,

24 over roster players, guys that are probably okay to drop in shallowly. Michael Bush was among them. So he's the one of this group that I would be most pessimistic about. All right. Would you be looking to sell high on any of these three starting pitchers? Cutter Crawford turned...

Cutter Crawford turned in a quality start at the Braves. Six innings, two runs, six strikeouts with 17 swinging strikes. He had at least four swinging strikes on four different pitches in that outing. He's got a 175 ERA and a 108 whip. There will be some regression

just because the strand rate is high right now. He's a fly ball pitcher, and the home run to fly ball rate is pretty low so far for Cutter Crawford. Ronaldo Lopez, solid on the other side of that game. Five and a third, two runs allowed. Only one of those earned. Four walks to five strikeouts, and he has allowed one earned runner fewer in five of six starts.

Same. I do think some regression will hit at some point here. Obviously, he's not going to pitch to a 153 ERA. Innings two, what's the cap going to look like for Lopez, who was a reliever last year. And Kyle Harrison has allowed one earned run total over his last restarts. This one in Cores Field,

seven shutout innings with two strikeouts. I don't get it. I don't get it with Kyle Harrison. Maybe I'm just selling him short. Doesn't really get whiffs. I don't get it. I just don't get it with Kyle Harrison. And maybe he just continues to make me look foolish here.

But Scott, would you be looking to sell high on any of these? Harrison, Ronaldo Lopez, and Cutter. Crawford. I made reference to that article 24 over-roastered players who it's okay to drop in shallower leagues. Kyle Harrison was one of them too. Because yeah, he's he doesn't really have anything but a fastball. He was like a 14K per nine guy in the minors, this huge prospect. It gets to the majors and there's not a secondary offering good enough to come anywhere close to those strikeout numbers at this highest level. And, you know, he only had two strikeouts.

in this start. Yeah, I think, look, in shallower leagues, I don't know what you could really get for Kyle Harrison because I think it's more likely you'd just drop them to clear a roster spot for somebody else. But if you're, if you're, you're, you can at least make the try and maybe in deeper leagues, you could even pull off a cell high with Kyle Harrison

now that he's allowed, uh, what a combined one run run over his last three starts. So it's a good time to try it. he has, yeah, he's not going to, the strikeouts don't look good. The arsenal isn't deep enough. I imagine there are going to be times when his innings are cut short just from the state of development that he's in. And so it's worth trying. Reinaldo Lopez, you might be able to sell high more successfully because everything, the surface level numbers basically look good.

And I'm not saying like he's going to totally crash and burn here. But I do think the odds are long that he'll be able to sustain this, given what we saw from him in the past as a starter, the fact that the control's a little shaky, the innings issues. I have no problem holding on to Reinaldo Lopez since he pitches for the Braves and it's going to get a lot of run support, you would think. But it just depends on what it means to sell high, you know? if he's like a top 70 pitcher for me.

He's not like a top 40 pitcher for me, you know? Carter Crawford, I mean, you could call him a sell high too. I think I'm most confident in him going forward. I think he's going to be pretty useful pitcher better than a streamer type. Pretty close to must start, I would say, going forward. But he's not an ace. He's a little less than a strikeout per inning this season. and so I could see a way to upgrade at starting pitcher using him.

So if that makes him a sell high, then I guess I could technically call him that, though of these three, Cutter Crawford again is the one I'm most confident in. I agree with you completely. I actually really like Cutter Crawford and look to a degree any player could be a sell high. It's, again, emphasis on that high.

If you can get top 30 starting pitcher value for Cutter Crawford, Sure, I would agree with doing that, but he is doing some really interesting things. He's getting whiffs. All five of Cutter Crawford's pitches had an ex-Woba of under 300 entering the start. He also had a 292 expected ERA entering the start. So limiting hard contact and getting lots of whiffs. I really like what we've seen from Cutter Crawford so far this season. Two names who are moving up the rankings.

I don't know exactly how far. I guess we'll let you know on tomorrow's podcast when we update the rankings. Shota Imanaga and Yoshinobu Yamamoto were both awesome here on Tuesday as Imanaga has been all season. Two earn runs are fewer in all seven of his starts. Seven innings, two runs, eight strikeouts, 20 swinging strikes. Fifteen of those on the splitter, which was just ridiculous in this start. He's allowed five earned runs on the season. He's got a 108 ERA. He has a point 82 whip. There will be a regression. There's no doubt about that. He's not going to pitch

to this level all season. But man, I like, unless you're getting like a bona fide top 15 starting pitcher in return for him and I just, I don't know that I would want to trade him right now. And then Yoshinobu Yamamoto had the longest start of his career. He was up against the Marlins, eight innings, two runs,

five strikeouts to zero walks, 17 swinging strikes for Yamamoto. And if you eliminate his first start in Korea, it's a 176 ERA and a 0.90 whip for Yamamoto. Scott, I think the arrow is pointing up for both of these guys as it has been all season. Yeah, and obviously everyone was really high

on Yamamoto coming in, but man, what did everybody miss on Shoda Imanaga? And, you know, I know, like, you were pretty high on him as a sleeper, and he was kind of a trendy sleeper, but when I say everybody, what did everybody miss? Now, I'm talking about scouting

reports I read. I'm talking about the fact that the best offer he could get was two guaranteed years at 11 million per. It's such a good contract. I think I got the contract terms right here. And then there are some team options after that. So even more team friendly. Like when Yamamoto was setting a record for free agent contract for a pitcher, over 300 million, right? And Imanaga is getting. like Kyle Gibson money. Like, what happened? Wow.

By ranking him where we ranked and we weren't exactly being contrarians, you know? If anything, we were being optimists relative to what the market said he was worth. And he just looks amazing. And I still say there will be some bad starts because the home runs will come back to bite him. But I think the good starts will be more than good enough to that nobody. will really mind. Two opposite starts, two blow-up outings here. A big regression game for Jose Barrios at the Phillies,

three and two-thirds innings, eight runs allowed, two homers allowed in this one. He did have 11 swinging strikes on 90 pitches, but I think we all kind of saw this coming, the writing on the wall. The underlying numbers, not as good for Barrios. They don't really support it.

He was allowing a lot of hard contact entering this start. So I think that one was pretty obvious. Justin Verlander got blasted at the Yankees, five innings, seven runs allowed, more walks than strikeouts. He gave up three homers in this one, lots of hard contact. Surprisingly, the velocity was up across the board, but Verlander now has three or more walks in three straight starts. He has four strikeouts or less in three of four starts, and he's 41 years old, right? Like, I guess this is part of his spring training. It could just be a slow start.

It also could just be he's 41. years old. So he has another start later this week. We could see how that one goes. But I'm thinking Verlander's a bench, Scott, until we start to see more encouraging signs from him. Yeah. I know his other starts were okay,

but even under the hood, they weren't great. He's not getting whiffs. You know, the walks are up. Well, but that, the lack of whiffs was kind of true last year, too. And, you know, if you just presented me the numbers,

the normal skill indicators we look at for starting pitchers. If you presented those to me for Justin Verlander, I'd be like, eh, this is a pretty fringy guy. If his name wasn't Justin Verlander. So, but his name is Justin Verlander. And he managed to put up pretty good results even with those issues last year. And so will he again? I would assume yes.

And again, we were pretty happy with what he was doing prior to this start. So I don't know that I'd go so far as to call him a sit. I'm definitely on edge with Justin Verlander. Like, he could topple over at any point. He's 41 years old. But you drafted him knowing. They had to know that when you drafted him. And I think you continue to write it out for now.

I do want to say for Jose Berrios, didn't necessarily see so much regression coming all at once, but the regression was inevitable. He entered the start, despite having a 144. ERA coming into the start. Jose Brilloes had a 401 FIP, 422X FIP, 487 XERA, even worse in all three than last year. So, yeah, this was inevitable. A couple of their leftovers.

The pitching department first, we have Zach Gallen, who had a strong start at the Reds, six shutout innings with six strikeouts in that one. Corbyn Burns turned in a quality start at the Nationals, six and a third, three runs, three walks, six strikeouts, 15 swinging strikes. Zach Eflin pitched very well against the White Sox. He also apparently has a really cool new mustache. So shout out to Zach Eflin.

That's the first time I've noticed it. It was seven innings, one run, three strikeouts to zero walks for him. And Luis Heel has turned in back-to-back quality starts. He was up against the Astros, six innings, one run allowed, four walks, five strikeouts. He gave up some hard contact in this one. The control has been really bad. Luis Heel has also allowed three hits or fewer in six of seven starts.

So he's pretty nasty and borderline unhittable. What do you have anything on these names? Scott, Louise Heel, Eifflin, Corbyn Burns, and Zach Allen. So I had a feeling those contract terms didn't look right for Eimanaga. It's more, it was officially called a four-year $53 million contract. So we're still talking like 13 million. Not like an amazing contract. But there are some details in there that make it more complicated that.

Anyway, getting back to these pitchers, Galin, Burns, Eflin, Heel, right? That's who we're talking about. Yep. So Burns had a career low swinging strike rate entering this start. So even though the results were so-so, I was encouraged that he got so many whiffs, because that's what's been lacking for him most this year. I want to talk about Luis Heel here because we've harped on the walk rate, which is terrible. 5.8 walks per 9 this year.

But he has now allowed just 18 hits in 37 innings. So less than 4.5 hits per inning. The hit rate is lower than the walk rate and not by a small amount, which you could maybe chalk up to bad luck, but he's got a fly ball rate near 50%. His hard hit rate is low, 92nd percentile low. We contact in the air. 229 expected ERA entering this start. And expected ERA is the one of the expected stat

that's going to account for quality of contact the most. It's a weird profile. It's a weird profile. And normally a walk rate that high would be prohibitive. But heel might just be one of the handfuls. of pitchers who's so good at hit prevention that he might just overcome it. And, you know, the starts are going to be on the shorter side because of the walks and the strikeout. So, like, it's not like he's going to be an ace and some amount of regression

is coming. But I'm not going to be totally dismissive of heel. Some hitting leftovers. Eastok Paradis is doing exactly what he did last year. He went three for four with his eighth home run. He's also batting 299 with a 904 OPS. Ryan Jeffers continues to mash. He went two for four. With his seventh home run, he is batting 299 with a 97 OPS. Willie Adomas has quietly had a great start to the season. He went one for four.

With his seventh home run, it was a go-ahead three-run shot in the ninth inning. He also has five stolen bases in 809 OPS for Adamus. Yesterday I brought up Brandon Nimmo as a buy high. And today, on Tuesday, he blasted a three-run homer. The expected stats look great for Brandon Nimmo. and Max Muncie went two for four with his ninth home run for RBI is betting 263 early on with a 940 OPS. The only problem with Muncie is that he is sitting a little bit more this year

against left-handed pitching. So I don't love that, but it might help keep the batting average up, which right now is 263. Yeah. I want to what you said about Brandon Nimmo there. You go to a stat cast page. It's all lit up in red. It is hot.

By the things that stat cast measures, there has never been a version of Brandon Nimmo than right now. And I wrote about him a couple weeks ago. He was one of eight regression candidates I thought was worth highlighting. And hopefully it's starting here because, man, expected batting average 297, expected slug 540. That's 90th and 94th percentile respectively. And it's basically all 80s and 90s.

A's and B's for Brendan M. He's in good shape. Jeffers, Ryan Jeffers, we've been getting a lot of feedback about him, people wanting us to hype him up more. And I think last time we talked about him, I said I moved him up to 13th in the catcher ranking. So he's basically in that close to being a must start, I would say, ranking among some of that second tier,

that deep second tier at catcher. And the biggest thing I think Jeffers has going for him is that a strikeout his strikeout rate is so much improved. I mean, he's playing a lot more too. Those two together could have a transformative impact on him

in fantasy. And I think that's what we're seeing. He looks like a legit breakout. Ryan Jeffers does. Yeah, those are my biggest takeaways from this group. Some bullpen updates for the Nationals. Kyle Finnegan truckout one

for his 12th save. He takes over the league lead. Hunter Harvey also picked up his 12th hold of the season. So if you play in a saves plus hold league, I do think Hunter Harvey is someone that should be rostered. For the Braves, Reisel Igles, Iglesias struck out one for his ninth save. For the Royals, James MacArthur got the ninth with a two-run lead. He gave up a three-run homer to Willie Adomas. He took his third blown save. And second loss, he is up to a 432 ERA and a 144 whip. John Shriver, who pitched in the eighth inning in this game,

has a 104 ERA and a 104 whip. I don't know. It's got to... You think James MacArthur is on the hot seat? I mean, I wouldn't think it would take much. He's not as... He's not like... He doesn't have this, like,

blow you away fastball league you'd expect a closer to have. And it's minor league track record was pretty lackluster, I have to say, too. So it's, I don't see why James MacArthur would have like a death grip on this role. I'm not saying he's losing his job tomorrow, but back-to-back blown saves isn't good. For the Brewers, Trevor McGill got the ninth with a one-run lead. He struck out one for his third save. And McGill has the last three saves for the Milwaukee Brewers.

It's a 104 ERA, a 0.81 whip. He's only 23% rostered. Scott, do you think Trevor McGill is a must add in category leagues? Yeah. I think he's the Brewer's closer. And I think he'll do fine in the role. Of course, I said the same thing about Yoel Paiomps, and I may have said the same thing about Abner Uribe.

Things change. But from what I can tell right now, I think McGill is going to be must start, basically, until Devin Williams returns. And then for the Mets, Edwin Diaz was unavailable. Adam Atovino got the ninth with a three-run lead. He gave up one run on a walk in two hits,

but picked up his first save of the season. To stream or not to stream for Wednesday. I think yesterday we gave out Reese Olson at the Guardians, Gavin Stone, home against the Marlins. And who was the other? Maybe it was Martin Perez against the Angels. I think Jose Soriano at the Pirates is pretty good, too. Paddock against...

Grand Ashcraft against the... Diamondbacks. Paddock against the Mariners, too, could work out. But I think my favorite of all of them is Gavin Stone against the Marlins. Okay. And then on Thursday, we have a shorter slate. Ugh. Yikes.

Not much. Maybe Ben lively at the White Sox is the only one I would say. Yeah. Yeah. It's bad. I'd be tempted to do Keaton win at Colorado if he wasn't so bad last time out. So better steer clear of that. Thursday is not the best day for streaming.

Yep. Get your streaming in on Wednesday while you can. We're going to wrap there for Scott. 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.