Fantasy Baseball Today - Paul Skenes Is Unstoppable & Rankings Risers/Fallers! (7/12 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 12, 2024

Paul Skenes threw seven no-hit innings and looks unstoppable (4:00)! ... Hunter Greene is in the midst of a breakout (10:15). ... Let's spotlight Cubs prospect Moises Ballesteros (15:10)! ... News (23:03): Yordan Alvarez was out of the lineup with a hip injury. ... How has the Home Run Derby changed and who will win (26:50)? ... Ben Rice and Ryan McMahon are climbing the rankings while Anthony Volpe and Carlos Rodon are falling (29:57). ... Brandon Pfaadt continues to go deep into starts (40:30). ... Add J.D. Martinez or Mark Vientos (43:39)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and weekend streamers (53:52). 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 in tough fantasy baseball today on July 12th. I am Frank Stanfield, joined by Chris Towers. Today on the show, Paul Skeens is unstoppable. We have our latest prospect spotlight, rankings, risers, and fallers, and much more. But let's kick things off with the players of the night. You better call your mama right now, sir. That call comes courtesy of Bally Sports North on the Twins TV broadcast. The other night they had Marnie Gelner called The Game,

the first woman's call play-by-play in Twins history, and she did a great job. That was her home run call for Trevor Larnick. So I did want to highlight that. A listener sent that into me, so I was very happy to call that. First off, Chris, nice hat. We did not plan this at all. I don't know what the kids are calling.

Is it the Philly Massacre of the Dodgers? I don't know what's going on, but here we are. Yeah, we're big Phillies fans here, you know, famously. Actually, my Miami friends give my wife a lot of crap because since moving to New York, she adopted the Mets as her second team. But then with the Phillies making these deep postseason runs the last two years, she's really fallen in love with that lovable bunch of dudes. And so like now she has three favorite NL East teams, I guess. She just loves the NL East. That's fine.

Yeah, it's great. You know, it's like all the people who chant SEC, except we're chanting NL East in our home. There you go. Well, there's only one place to start, and that would be with Paul Skeens, who is unstoppable. He was at the Brewers. He threw seven no-hit innings

with 11 strikeouts to just one walk in this one. His second start of at least six no-hit innings, his second start with 11 strikeouts this season. How about this? The list of starting pitchers in the modern era to record multiple starts of at least 11 strikeouts and zero hits in a single season. Paul Skeens,

and Nolan Ryan. There you go. If you lower it to 10 strikeouts and no hits, only Max Scherzer joins the group. So it's not like it's much less impressive if you lower the bar there. He is 11 starts into his career. What is going on? Paul Skeen's has gone seven innings

in three of his last four outings. He's allowed three earned runs or fewer in all 11 of his starts. He has seven plus strikeouts in 10 of 11 starts so far. And Chris, among starting pitchers, with 60 innings so far. Skeens is first in K-minus walk rate,

first in X-FIP, first in Sierra, and he drops all the way down to fifth in FIPP. So I'll throw it your way. You can react to the start, obviously an amazing one. I think there is a case to be made that Paul Skeen should be ranked as the SP1 rest of season. Not that we do that yet,

but there is a case to be made for it. I mean, look, he's SP5 for me, so it's not, like there's that much room to grow there. The interesting thing about Skeens is like if you think of the counterfactual of like, what would it look like if he hadn't added the splitter? And I'm just going to like, I know we're doing like splinker.

It's a splitter. He just throws it hard. I understand. Like it. And it sounds way cooler, Chris. Come on. I think slinker sounds silly. Oh, come on.

That's my hot take. But like that has become. I mean, it's a pitch that he wasn't throwing before this spring. And it's become not just his best pitch, but one of the best pitches in baseball. It's the whiff rate is only okay, like 28 to 30%. It was 28% in this one. But guys just cannot get on top of this pitch. It has a negative 5 degree average launch angle for the season.

And it's interesting to think of the counterfactual of what does. Paul Skeens look like without that splitter because, you know, he's awesome. But like, the whiff rate on all the other pitches isn't all that impressive. It's just the quality of contact and the command especially have just been outrageously good for Paul Skeens. And so, I don't know if I'm ready to say he should be the number one SP, but like the gap between him and Chris Sale, my number four SP, is not very big. rest of season. I just, I wonder if there's going to be some innings limitations at some point, if they're going to pull back on him, especially if they're not in the playoff race.

So, you know, I would take Chris Sale. I would take Terrick Scoob, I would take Corbyn Burns, I would take Zach Wheeler. But like, it's been a meteoric rise for Skeens. And if he keeps this up, I think he's absolutely in the SP1 conversation for next season. And on, Honestly, at this point, I think he's probably pretty likely to be drafted as the SP1 for next season. Yeah, just if you look at talent level trajectory, right, people get so excited about prospects and young players who are ascending and no one has ascended more, right? Like he was picked up as either drafted really late. Some people might have picked him up as a waiver wire pitcher and just kind of sat on him all season. And obviously what he's done has been nothing short of amazing. The pirates are two and a half games out of the wildcard. it's bought, so they are still competing.

And I've read some rumors that they could actually add to the team, which is, I feel like something they haven't done in forever. So if they're actually going for it, that obviously helps the chances of poll schemes sticking around for the rest of the season. But speaking of limitations here, Chris, did you have any thoughts? Because obviously a huge talking point today was him actually getting pulled after seven no hit innings after 99 pitches. Yeah.

Given that he, I think the seventh, he only threw six pitches, or maybe it was the sixth inning. No, it was a seventh. Yep. I probably would have let him go back out there, but it's easy for me to say, sitting here. You know, actually having to make that decision when, you know, it's not just what Paul Skeen's wants, but it's what the organization wants for him on his developmental path. That's an excruciatingly tough decision to make because I would assume he hadn't thrown.

Has he reached 100 pitches in a start before this? I will look it up. If he has, it's been by a slim margin. Obviously, last year with LSU, he was throwing, you know, 100 plus, I think 13 out of his 24 starts or something is what the number I saw. But his last start before this, 107 pitches. Okay. So, like, I don't know. I can see both sides of it, right?

Like, he was not super efficient early on. I think it was like 67 pitches in the first four innings or something. And then he, you know, really put it together the last three. So I don't know. I can see both sides. I don't really have a strong take. I don't, it didn't seem like an obvious one to me either way. I probably would have let him stay out there, but I certainly understand.

Yeah, I'm going to talk out of both sides of my mouth as well because I commend the pirates, and I know a lot of people won't want to hear this, but if you have a process for a young pitcher, stick to it and be rigid. And that's exactly what they did. So they're sticking to their process and that's it. And they've done that with Jared Jones, limiting him in certain starts. as well. So I commend them for sticking to that here. The baseball fan in me absolutely hates it. Right? Like you want to see a young kid go out and try and make history. So I see both sides,

but I do commend the pirates for having a plan and sticking to that plan in this start. All right, Paul Skeens is amazing. Chris. Who else was amazing here on Thursday? Hunter Green, who, look, he had, you know, arguably the easiest matchup in the game with the Rockies on the road. And he absolutely dominated. 10 strikeouts, six innings, one earned run. two hits allowed, two walks. The fastball and slider combo for Green was outstanding. Four whiffs on the four seamer. 13 with the slider.

He barely threw the curveball and splitter in this one, only three total. But, you know, it's been a really, really interesting season for Hunter Green because I feel like a lot of people aren't buying into the gains that he's made. And maybe that makes sense, right? We've seen a dip in the store. strikeout rate after today, it's 27.6%. Last year, it was 30.5%. Walk rate, basically identical to where it's been the first two seasons, but the ERA, more than a run lower than it had been either of his

first two seasons, because he's taken what was the biggest liability in his game and turned it into not just like something you can get by with, but actually a strength. His expected Wobon contact entering today was 317. That's an elite mark. for a starting pitcher. The average 369. Last year, 384. If that's real, then this is not just like a

oh, Hunter Green's gotten lucky on balls and play or his home run rate is, his home run per five ball rate is half of what it was last year. That's going to regress. If this is real, this would represent legitimate growth in Hunter Green as a pitcher. The problem is it's hard to know

if that's real, right? Like, that's the biggest thing. He hasn't, he's changed the pitch mix up a little bit, but it's going from throwing has changed up 5% of the time last year to the splitter and curveball 10% overall, which that's not nothing. And maybe that explains some of it, but mostly he's still a two pitch pitcher.

And the four seamer is just working much, much better. His expected Wobah on the four seamer last year, 345. This year, 280. When you look at like the zone, plots and how often he throws it in the middle of the zone versus past years. It doesn't seem that different. But hey, maybe it's just the threat of that splitter is making the foreseamer play up a little more. I'm not sure exactly what it is.

And I think skepticism is warranted given how noisy pitcher quality of contact is. But to say that if this is real, I think Hunter Green is a legitimately much better pitcher than he was last season. And the thing that's been really interesting is he's going deep into games pretty consistently. It was a little rough in June, a couple starts with five innings or less, but it's been a lot of six, six and a third, six and two thirds, seven inning starts this season in a way that I don't think we really expected from Green. He's sort of turning into a little bit of a workhorse. And so, again, if the quality of contact is real and there are reasons to be skeptical, but if it is, is. Hunter Green might just be super underrated for fantasy and a frankly a borderline ace.

I wonder if there's something the Reds have done organizationally to get this quality of contact out of guys like Hunter Green and Andrew Abbott. Yeah. Not that look, green is better than Abbott, right? Just in terms of like pure stuff and obviously like you watch them pitch, green is better. But you know, we've kind of poo-poot Abbott all season long and the one thing that we do come back to and say he's done a really good job of is limiting barrels and limiting hard contact this season. And the same thing with Hunter Green. So it feels like there has been whatever they've done, some kind of conscious change or just little tweak to maybe help those guys limit or get away from the barrel because that was a problem for both of them last year. The one thing

that still kind of gives me pause is just the command because the walks could be a problem. I mean, it's 3.7 walks per nine. So obviously that number is really high. I mean, if we can get to a point where that's around three, then that's when I think we start talking about, okay, we can have like a top 24-type starting pitcher here with Hunter Green. A few shoutouts. Oh my goodness gracious shoutouts here from Thursday. Cow Raleigh is having a monster week.

Three for four with a double-dong, three RBI, three runs for RBI. He has multiple homers in two of his last three games. It does help facing the Angels, of course. He's already up to 36 fantasy points on the week. 19 home runs on the season, 59 RBI, 5 steals. Cal Raleigh has chipped in five steals. How about that? And of course, I know my goodness gracious shout out to the Phillies.

Our beloved Phillies. The Phillies who just swept the Dodgers. They're doing a great job. It's Friday. You know what that means? Another prospect spotlight. Let's talk about Cubs prospect Moises Bayesteros, who is a 20-year-old catcher built in a similar fashion to Alejandro Kirk.

I don't know you're going to say me. No, I would not say that. Come on, Chris. But if you haven't seen highlights of this guy, go check it out because very eerily similar potty types to Alejandro Kirk. This season in the minor is 300 batting average with 10 home runs, 14 doubles, and 840 OPS between AA and AAA and when you consider the age to level production, a 20-year-old catcher who is hitting this well at both AA and AAA.

It's very impressive stuff. Chris, what do you think of the skill set and when we might see Biasteros here in the majors? Yeah, it's honestly not just a similar body plan to Alejandro Kirk, but the profile, like the statistical profile is very similar. You're talking about a very contact-oriented catcher, hitter who honestly from everything I've read is like a better defensive catcher than you would think. not great certainly, but someone who might be able to stick and actually has enough functional athleticism to not be like a total zero

back there. He's stolen, he stole seven bases last season. But the bat is the primary draw here. It's 15-ish percent strikeout rates at most levels. Decent but not great power. It all sounds honestly very similar to Alejandro Kirk. And I think the question is, as we've seen with Kirk,

is how sustainable can this be? One thing when you read scouting reports by Asteroos and when you go back and read Alejandro Kirk's, the one thing that a lot of people said was, it's going to take maintenance to last as a major leaguer and hold up especially to the toil of catching. And I don't know if that's specifically been the issue for Kirk, but when you look at that comp,

Kirk came out really, really good at the major league level, but it just proved unsustainable. And so that's the concern with By Astero's. But you know, you asked me who we should talk about. And I looked up, you know,

some minor league leaderboards and realized he's already at AAA. As a, he has not turned 20. He doesn't turn 21 until after the season. So moving that quickly as a catcher says something about how advanced the bat is. He's holding his own at AAA again as a 20-year-old. one of the youngest players at that level.

And you look at the Cubs in catchers a weak spot on the roster. I mean, they're playing Tomas Nito there. Miguel Amaya is the backup. So I wouldn't be totally shocked if we saw Bay Osteros at the major league level this season. Yeah, it could be one of those situations where he comes up in September, just gets a cup of tea, and then maybe he's on the opening day roster for next season, just to get him, you know, a couple of hours. bat's and see what he can do. But yeah, it's very impressive what he's done again at his age of

20, already getting the call up to AAA. Again, that was Moises by Esteros of the Chicago Cubs. If you want to read more about prospects, make sure to check out Scott's latest prospect report, which is live on the site, cbsports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. Quick reminders to make sure to download and follow our five-minute podcast, Fantasy Baseball Today in Five, wherever you listen to podcasts, and that we will have a bonus prospect episode coming out every Saturday of the season. Also, just wanted to give people a heads-up on the programming schedule for the next week because obviously the All-Star break is coming, so we don't have any live games to talk about, but we will still have a daily podcast for you coming next week.

We'll do things a little bit differently. Sunday night, that will actually be normal. Weekend recap will be live here on YouTube. On Monday, I will record an MLB draft recap with our buddy, The Welsh. That's right. It's been a while. Happy to get them back in the mix and some very early first year player draft rankings just to get your mind thinking about dynasty for for next season on Tuesday. Although, think back to last year, Wyatt Langford. Paul Skeens made the, yeah, I mean, two of the top three picks made the majors. And this year, I mean, I don't know if you've seen what Charlie Condon has done at Georgia. He might not be the number one pick, but 37 homers and 60 games with like, I, this is an extremely fun

draft class if you haven't been following. Jack Castiglione, I think is how you pronounce his name. I've heard of that guy. Two-way player for the for the Gators who hit a bunch of homers and throws like 98 from the left side of the mound. The kid from Oregon State, I think, I can't, Kazano. This is a pretty fun draft class. A lot of really interesting college players.

So could be guys who make an impact at the majors very, very soon. How about this? I've seen these Wake Forest names. They have like three dudes that can be drafted in the first round, right? Yeah, I think one of the starting pitchers might be a top five pick, right? Yeah, they have, I'm looking at the latest mock draft from MLB.com. Two Wake Forest players going in the top four picks. Wow.

That is insane. So I hope Wake Forest did well this year. I know nothing about it. I do not have the wherewithal to follow college baseball. So I have no idea what has happened. But that will be on Monday. The Welsh and I will be recording that. That will come out on Tuesday as a podcast.

Speaking of Tuesday, we will be live on CBS Sports Network with an All-Star Games special. That will be at noon Eastern Time. And again, you can watch that on the CBS Sports app or on your cable provider. On Wednesday, we will record a redraft of the first two rounds. And on Thursday, we will preview the following week of action. And then boom, Friday, live games are back. And the second half of the season is here. You know, when you make, when you put it that way, I thought the break was going to be longer. There is no break for us, Chris. I know.

Let's take our, we'll take a break right now. Take our first break when we return. We'll get into the news and notes right after this. Welcome back in news and notes. Yoron Alvarez was not in the lineup Thursday due to right hip tightness. And it sounds like they're just playing it safe. Obviously, just ahead of the All-Star break here. Kyle Tucker played catch on the field before Thursday's game.

The first time he's done any sort of work on field since going on the IEL in early June. Chris, I know that they have listed this as a shin contusion. There had to be some kind of stress fracture. I don't know. Hairline fracture. Something. The fact that this happened in early June and it's mid-July and Kyle Tucker's just getting back on the field now. I mean, you remember back to it. This was originally like, yeah, he's not going to go on the aisle. He's just going to miss a few days and it's a month later. Yeah. It's weird. I remember watching it when it happened. And he, was in some serious pain. I think I remember hearing that he had done a similar thing earlier in

the week where he fouled a ball off his shin and they did the same thing a couple of days later. So yeah, wouldn't surprise me if there's a little bit more something else going on there with Kyle Tucker. Zach Wheeler will not start Sunday against the A's. His MRI came back clean, but the Phillies have opted to play it safe, which obviously makes a ton of sense. Bryce Harper was back in the lineup after missing Wednesday with a bruised left hand. Cody Bellinger was placed in the aisle with a fracture in his left middle finger. Chris, did you see anything on a timeline here because I did not. I have not seen.

I would expect it's going to be at least a couple of weeks. And, you know, one thing that I've seen a couple of reporters talking about is just this really complicates the Cubs trade deadline plans. Because he was, I don't think he was likely to move, but it was certainly possible given the Cubs seemingly going nowhere fast and him holding an opt out for next season. And I have frankly no idea if he would even take that opt out at this point. Because I think he still has two years and 50 million left on the deal. But yeah, I would guess we don't see him until August. The Cubs are currently three games out of the wild card spot. I'm telling you, this NL wild card is going to be crazy down to the end.

There are one, two, three, four, five, six. It's everyone but the Rockies and Marlins, right? That's in it. And the Nationals, I guess. The Nationals are six games out. Yeah, they're out of it. They're starting to fade. But yeah, you have six teams that are within three games of the wild card.

And then obviously the three teams that are in the wild card. Right now, the Braves, the Cardinals, and the Mets. The power of grimace, man. The season was over back in June. And now they're in a wildcard spot. It's crazy. Devin Williams will be in a rehab assignment with high A on Saturday. He's 67% rostered again.

Reminder, go out and pick Devin Williams up if you do have a roster spot available. Jose Altuve announced that he will not participate in the All-Star game in order to rest a sore left hand. Bo Bichette was diagnosed with a fascia strain in his right calf and was out of the lineup on Thursday. This is the same calf that forced him on the aisle last month. And it sounds like it might this time as well. They haven't made that decision yet.

It just feels like every year, Chris, there are a few players that just injury just takes away the entire season. And I don't know if it's been that case, but it sure seems like it. It wouldn't surprise me if he's been playing through this for for some time. O'Neill Cruz was back in the lineup after sitting out two games with hamstring soreness. Tommy Edmund was scratched from Thursday's rehab start with, quote, general soreness, hopefully not in his wrist.

Tyler Soderstrom was placed on the aisle with a left wrist bone bruise. Jordan Montgomery could be back ready to return from the aisle immediately following the All-Star break. D-Bax manager, Tori Lvulo, confirmed that prospect Yilbert Diaz will make another turn in the rotation Saturday following his quality start earlier in the week. And I did want to quickly run through the home run derby, Chris, and there are some new rules this year, and we'll talk about, you know, the field, and we'll get your guess on who you think could win this thing.

But yeah, they're changing it up. Instead of a head-to-head format in the first round of the home-run derby, it's free play, meaning all eight of the hitters, get their chance to hit home runs with the four best scores moving on to the semi-final round. And then in the semifinals, it will be a head-to-head format based on, how many home runs were hit in the first round.

So whoever hit the most home runs, we'll face whoever hit the fourth most, so on and so forth. Each round is still timed. However, you have three minutes with a max of 40 pitches. So they wanted to slow the pace down a little bit. They wanted to have pitchers and hitters

focus more on efficiency here. I think that timer drops down to two minutes with 27 total pitches in the final round of the home run derby. and after three minutes or 40 pitches, a hitter gets a bonus round in previous years. The bonus was 30 seconds with a chance at another 30 seconds. This year, the bonus round is three outs,

so anything hit that's not a home run, and you can earn a fourth out if you hit a home run of at least 425 feet in the bonus round. So some different changes here. I think overall I like them, and it'll work out here. The home run derby is obviously a ton of fun and looking forward to it. The participants, Gunner Henderson, Pete Alonzo, Alec Bohm,

Bobby Witt Jr. Marcel Ozuna, Jose Ramirez, Teasca Hernandez, and representing the home field, home ballpark. Adolias Garcia. Chris, who are you taking in the home run derby? I mean, you got to go with one of the greatest home run derby contestants of all time, right? I know it's the boring pick. And like, people don't like Pete Alonzo for some reason. I don't really understand it. He seems to be relatively unpopular among a lot of baseball fans. I don't really get it. But like, he's proven he has this event locked in. So I'm going to go with him.

Alec Bohm, I think, is going to lead the competition in doubles off the right field wall. Wow, I thought we were Phillies homers, Chris. Come on. And I will say Jose Ramirez, Dark Horse, I love the bat control guys. I just wonder if like, one, is he going to hit a 425 foot home run? That might be asking a lot. He's not a guy who really crushes him. But he's so consistent with that stroke to the right field that I could see Jose Ramirez making a run here.

I am, Scott, by the way, I texted him asking for a pick. He also said Pete Alonzo. So I wanted to get that out there on record. I'm going with Marcel Ozuna Man. I think he is built for something like this. He's having a monster year. The barrels, he hits the ball hard, no problem getting to the 425 foot home run.

I think Adolos Garcia could perform well also. But yeah, I'm going to go with Marcelo Zona. I think he gets done. Let's talk rankings, risers, and fallers. We each updated our rankings earlier in the week. And Chris, I'll throw it over to you. I know you just released your newsletter with a bunch of these risers and fallers.

So who you got? Yeah. I put a bunch of them in the notes, but I'll focus on one, Ben Rice, I moved him up to my number 11 catcher. And, you know,

when you look at like the overall rankings, it's still like in the 190 range. So I'm not, if you look at where he is at first base, it looks pretty underwhelming. But the catcher position is just, it's still not great, even though I actually do feel like

there are a decent number of useful options. But in terms of difference, difference makers, it's still very light. So it was fairly easy to move Ben Rice up. And yeah, you and I have him 11th, or no, Scott and I have him 11th. You hate the Yankees, obviously, so you've got him 13th. And I just, I think that swing

and that approach is really well suited to Yankee Stadium. I think there's a decent chance that Anthony Rizzo just got Wally Pipped. And I love that he's moving up in the lineup. He's batted lead off a few times. He's bad to clean up a few times. That seems like a good sign for Ben Rice,

if not such a good sign for the New York Yankees. I do wonder one thing, if Anthony Rizzo comes back and shows any signs of life, if they can even find a way to get him in the lineup, do they give Ben Rice a shot at catcher? Because I think that's possible. He's played one inning? Yeah, he hasn't really played there yet.

I mean, that was his main position in the minors. The Yankees clearly have not gotten much from their catchers this year with Austin Wells and Jose Trevino. Trevino defensively, I mean, everybody is running against them this season. So I won't rule it out. I think it's a possibility. And I actually think that would be better because then we could have Ben Rice with Catcher eligibility for next season.

For next year, yeah. Yeah. So I kind of just hope that happens. But I will say, like, there's at least a chance that this is just one of those late bloomers that slip through the cracks in the prospect, you know, industrial complex. And ends up being, even if he's just a first. Baseman ends up being a Jake Croninworth type, which would be still useful if he's only first base next season. But obviously, we would love to see him get nine more appearances

as a catcher. 100%. Any other names you want to highlight from the risers and fathers? Yeah. We talked a little bit about Mark Vientos and I moved him up to 17 at third base, which at least last time we talked about it yesterday. Yep. That was the highest. Among Us. Yeah, you and Scott have him outside of the top 20, but with Renhifo's injury and Morel struggling and a lot of guys just, I think Joey Ortiz is hurt right now. I do think what Mark Vientos has shown is worth ranking as a top 20 third baseman.

It's not the best position in fantasy anyway. So I'll be a little aggressive with him. And then Anthony Volpe down to shortstop 16. He was also in the bus column for the second half that I wrote today that will be up on CBS Sports.com on Friday afternoon or Friday morning, hopefully. I think there's a decent chance now that he's pretty firmly out of the leadoff spot. I think there's a decent chance we end up dropping Anthony Volpey in a lot of leagues. He's just been, I mean, the OPS I think is down below 700 now for the season.

He's been bad. There's no doubt. He's been bad. like almost the whole season. I think the Yankees don't have a stolen base in their last 20 games or something crazy like that. That's wild. But like at least when he was hitting leadoff consistently,

there was still volume. He was still getting runs. But he's been moved out of that spot. I don't think he's batted leadoff in like eight or nine games, right? Yeah, it's consistently six or seventh. And he had the first two weeks that were awesome. He's been like a 620 OPS bat since then. I just don't think he makes enough contact to be as punchless as he is right now.

And I don't know what the answer is moving forward. So, yeah, Anthony Volpe, I think there's a decent chance that he's dropped in a lot of leagues. I did want to highlight one that you had on here. Zander Bogart, who is getting ready to return, maybe as soon as this weekend or right after the All-Star break. You moved him up to your 12th ranked second baseman. He does have second base and shortstop eligibility. You know, I moved him up. I moved him up to like 27.

I guess I need to get him higher. It says, well, part of it is there are, like, the second base position, we thought was pretty deep coming into the season, but a lot of that depth has been really disappointing so far this season. So, like, I moved Nolan Gorman down. I moved Jose Caballero down. His playing time has really taken a hit. Audraeimenez, I finally moved way down.

Bryson Stott moved down a little bit, although he's still a little bit ahead of Zander Bogart's. But yeah, it was just as much me moving Zander Bogart's up as moving everyone else down. And the big thing with Zander Bogart's is I know a lot of people are down on him. This is a guy who throughout his career has pretty consistently been one of the biggest overperformers of his expected stats. That was true in Boston, obviously, which we know for, good reason why, but it was also true last year in San Diego. He, you know, he had a 790 OPS. He hit

285. He stole 19 bases, hit 19 homers. I just think he's a rock solid fantasy option who he's back tomorrow, right? Or today as we're talking. Yeah, I believe so. So yeah, I just, I don't think he's a superstar anymore, but I think Xander Burroughs is going to be a rock solid must start fantasy option moving forward. All right, a few that I'm going to highlight here. Ryan McMahon. I moved up to my 13th ranked second baseman, my 14th ranked third baseman. And it's not, it's not that he's had a huge breakout season. It's just in a year where offense has been down and hard to come by. He has just been rock solid. Kind of in that way that you were just talking about with Xander Bogart's. McMahon 76th overall on Roto, 274 batting average, 14 home runs, counting stats have been good. He's chipped in

three steals, the expected stats are solid. The stat cast data for Ryan McMahon, 94 mile per hour average exit velocity. That is in the 97th percentile and a 12.4% barrel rate. That is in the 85th percentile. So I think at the end of season, we're looking at 25 to 30 home runs,

a handful of steals, good counting stats with a solid batting average. That's a really useful player. So just thought I would give Ryan McMahon some credit here for what he's done. Christian Yelich and Jaron. I have followed suit with you, Chris. I know that you moved Yelich up.

I moved both Yelich and Duran ahead of Corbyn Carol and Julio Rodriguez. Now, I might regret saying that, but it's not even so much that I think Julio is just going to be like, this is Julio, this is who he is now, like whatever. It's just giving credit to those guys for being otherworldly and having these, you know, Yelich we've seen do this before, but Darren, I mean, a true breakout season. So, yeah, getting those guys inside my top 10 outfields. Byron Buxton has been on fire over the past month. I moved them back inside of my top 50 outfielders in both formats,

both Roto head to head points. Tage Bradley has been really good for quite some time now. And we talk about that SP 30 to 60 range is very fluid. I've moved Tage Bradley up to SP 43 and the opposite, Carlos Rodon all the way down to SP 61. So just basically what he's done. I didn't move Rodon down enough in my most recent update. And I'm realizing, like, we're talking about several hundred players here.

So, you know, well, I'll get comments that are like, how could you have this player? And it's just like, yeah, I overlooked it. And so I think Rodon, I'm not going to move him quite as far down because I still don't understand why his fastball has been so bad. And I still think there's a fairly obvious path back to decent fantasy production. But both him and Kevin Gossman. I think are in a very similar spot. And I've grouped them together the last couple of weeks before, where it's just I think they'll be better than they have been.

I don't think those guys are getting back to it. Fair enough. Let's get back into Thursday's action. And the Waver Wire pitchers that stood out, Brandon Fott was great up against the Braves. He threw six shutout innings with four strikeouts. Velocity was up across the board between 1.2 and 1.9 miles per hour on each of the fastball sink.

and sweeper. David Peterson was great up against the nationals. He threw six shutout innings with five strikeouts. He had 12 whiffs on 102 pitches. And Aaron Savali pitched well up against the pirates, six and a third, one run aloud, six strikeouts. I saw Lance Brasdowski tweeting about this earlier. The fact that Savali has changed his pitch mix since joining the Brewers. He's ditched his four-scene fastball. He's throwing more sinkers. He's throwing more sweepers. And it looks like that could be a recipe for success. What does success look like for Savali, we're probably talking about him in the same light as like James and Tyone and Jose de Kana, the way those guys have pitched, maybe a little bit more upside because

I think there's a little bit more strikeout, you know, potential there with someone like Savali. But Chris, any enthusiasm, are you looking to add any of Fott Peterson or Savali where they could be available? Enthusiasm is not the word I would use for any of these guys. Like I write a waiver wire section of the newsletter. and Savale and Fott are in there, but I, Savala or Fought a 72% roster,

that feels right for a guy who, in a Roto League or a Categories League, especially, but any season long format, really, I think is the way to think about it. There are still going to be those blow-up starts that I think are going to keep the ratios inflated. But when you look at it from a weekly or points league perspective,

how deep he's pitching into his games consistently this season, that that's a real boon for his value in those head-to-head points leagues especially. So if there are any head-to-head points leagues where Brandon Fotz's available, I think that's a worthwhile ad. I have very little interest in David Peterson. I kind of, I added him to the waiver wire section of the newsletter as I was planning it out.

And then I was just like, I can't actually make an affirmative case for this. He faced the nationals who I think are bottom three in Wobah against less. We expected him to have a good start. We're happy he did. I'm not going to chase that one. How would you rank these four young pitchers that we have varying levels of excitement for? Shane Boz, Gavin Williams, Reese Olson, Brandon Fott.

Rank those four, right? Okay. It's Boz. Sorry, who was the second one? Gavin Williams. Boz Williams I Rees Olson and Brendan fought

Boz Williams Olson fought That's the order that you presented them in That's the order that I would go with That is the same order that I would say as well Let's take our final break And when we return We will get into the Waver Wire hitters

Right after this Welcome back in, let's talk WaverWire Hitters And in the shallowest of leagues J.D. Martinez could still be out there. He's 76% rostered, three for three with a double and two runs. He is up to a 274 batting average. He has 10 homers and 832 OPS in 63 games this week. Chris, which Mett hitter would you rather have?

J.D. Martinez or Mark Vientos? Hmm. I think they're probably pretty similar. I think Martinez probably has a little less volatility. But the fact that he's only DH eligible, I think, is enough to give Viantos the edge, but in a vacuum, I think it's very close. I think Martinez is probably the better hitter. But Viantos probably has a little more upside.

Yeah, I think it's just the mystery box, right? Is there a chance that Viantos could be better than J.D. Martinez? Of course, there's a chance. I think I would lean with the consistency of J.D. Martinez. It is very close, but yeah, just if you're looking for a hitter, you know, that will contribute right away. I think both of those will, but I lean ever so slightly with J.D. Martinez. Some names that we've talked about all week, they continue to hit. They've all had good weeks. Masataka Yoshita, three for four with his fourth home run, four RBI. Last ten games,

he's batting three-fifty with two homers and eleven RBI. Brandon Marsh, two for four with a triple and his ninth home run in those three games against the Dodgers. Five hits, two homers, six runs scored, one steel for Brandon Marsh. Michael Bush continues to hit as well, two for four with two doubles, a walk, three runs, and two RBI. His last four games, he has nine hits, two home runs, seven runs, and six RBI. So all three of these are hot. Let's say you don't have a position of need. Chris, how would you rank just the priority of adding any of Bush, Yoshita, Brandon Marsh?

It would be Bush, Yoshita, and Marsh for me, I think. But I do think there's a drop off after Bush, because Mars, questionable if he's useful, you know, outside of like, I mean, he's useful, but like, I think the better format for him is daily. I still don't buy him against lefties. Yoshita, you know, it's interesting. We talk about like inconsistent or streaky hitters. And we tend to talk about these big free swingers. But like, you think about the beginning of last season to now, Masataki Yoshita and Alex Verdugo have incredibly similar profiles and have been like as streaky. as anyone.

Yoshida gets really, really hot and gets ice cold just as quickly. I think that's very interesting. I'm not sure exactly what to make of it. But, you know, when he's doing well, I think it's worth looking at Masataki Yoshita

in, you know, deeper categories leagues, some points leagues. What's interesting about today, his hardest hit ball was his only out. He had a 108 mile an hour line drive that had a 630 expected batting average.

That was an out. his home run had an XBA of about 2.30. So always love when that happens. But yeah, I would go with Bush, who I think his consistency is going to be a big problem with how much he strikes out. But man, when he gets hot, he apparently gets really, really hot

because his OPS has gone up 90 points in the past 10 games for the season. Wow. Yeah, he got down to 766. Now, he got down to 790, 11 days ago, 11 games ago, he's up to 8.53, so it's gone up 63 points in the past 11 games. Yeah, that's pretty impressive. Who would you rather have between Viantos and Michael Bush? Viantos, I think. I think so, too. Some other potential ads, Tyler Stevenson has been slugging lately.

Two for five with a double dong, five RBI. He has four home runs over his last three games. And Chris, in a one-catcher league, would you drop a slumping David Fry or a slumping Ryan Jeffers? to grab the hot hand of Tyler Stevenson. Yeah, I think unless you have one of the sure things, and I don't know how many sure things we would say there are. Does Francisco Alvarez count as a sure thing? I think. I think there are probably eight sure things.

I would go down to Yiner Diaz in my rankings, who's been super hot himself, which helps. Anyone outside of that, I think it's okay. Maybe Wilson Contreras counts, I don't know. anyone outside of that, I think I'd be fine streaming when they're hot or when they're not. So yeah, I think it's fine to go with Tyler Stevenson. Let's talk about Spencer Horwitz, who continues to hit.

He went two for five with his fourth home run. He is batting 322 with a 435 on base percentage. Four homers, 935 OPS. He has 14 walks to 15 strikeouts through 29 games. This skill set, Chris, is just made in a lab before I head to head points league. It is perfect. The problem is,

yeah, I was going to say he's sitting out here there. He has started, it looks like, 12 of the past 13 games. So the playing time is trending up. He just seems like a perfect fit in a points league. Yeah,

points or obviously an OBP league. If he's out there in any of those, I think he's a very useful option, especially like having that positional versatility, you're going to use him more often as a second baseman than a first. basement, but it's nice to have a guy you can move into different spots in your lineup based on injuries or matchups. So, yeah. This is one that I've struggled with. And they have very similar

position eligibility. Spencer Horowitz or I was Colt Keith. Yeah. So Keith is second and third. Horowitz is first and second. Obviously third is a little harder to fill than for yeah, a little easier. Sorry, a little harder to fill than first base. So if there's any. kind of gap there, but I think that one might actually just come down to league type in a traditional roto. I think Colt Keith's a better bet for power

and speed, but Spencer Horowitz has an edge in any OBP league. Last name I wanted to highlight was Brandon Lau who has low key been solid since returning from the IL back in May in 38 games since returning a 260 batting average, seven homers, 21 runs,

22 RBI. He's 60% rostered. I think that's right. I don't know that that needs to be higher. He still sits here and there, which is annoying. He's played seven of the past 10 games. And I don't think that's just, I don't know how much value has on points league. That's the problem. I don't think that's going away either. He started against a lefty here on Thursday against Nestor Cortez. I think it's almost more of like a maintenance thing, like trying to keep him healthy and on the field. So I do wonder if there's like, you know, if the raise continue to slip, you know, would they consider

moving him. I mean, anyone making more than, what's the major league minimum, 700,000 now? Anyone making a penny more than that is always a candidate to be traded by the raise. So, you know, that might be a situation where he's better off getting traded. I was shocked to see his OPS is up to 814 for the season. I didn't realize that he was up there. So that's a good sign. But yeah, I think 60% rostered, that's probably close to the ceiling unless he starts playing every day. All right. Some names in deeper leagues.

Michael Tolia has been hitting for power since he got recalled. 33 games, only a 219 batting average, but eight home runs, 21 RBI, and three steals. He's hitting the ball hard, lots of barrels as well. Austin Wells has been hitting better as of late. Last 10 games, batting 286 with three home runs. And the legend of Reese Hind continues. Two for four with a double and his second stolen base. First four career games, he is eight for 16 with two homers, two steals.

He also has five strikeouts to zero walk. So we'll see, I mean, look, see where it goes. It's 16 plate appearances. If he could strike out five times every 16 plate appearances, I'm going to do a little top of the head math. That sounds like right around 39%, 30%, okay. 30%.

30% yeah, something around there. Like that, he might have the kind of power where if he strikes out 30% of the time, he's fantasy relevant. It's just kind of, similar Matt Walner where historically like Reese Heinz was striking out 38%

of the time at AAA. I'm stunned he got called up. I looked into the trends. It's not like the strikeout rate was trending down. I think they're just desperate for bodies right now. That's what it is. So it feels like let's see if I can get this one right. Aristae's a quino. I did the same thing

that Scott did the other day and said our Estetes Camerre. Not different guy. you know, remember he had, you know, I don't know, eight homers in his first 20 games or whatever it was. He was one of the biggest flashes of that season and, you know, basically hasn't done anything since then. So I think that's the likeliest outcome.

But Reese Hines does have an outlier skill in power. And so if he can just be bad at making contact, he might matter for fantasy. Yeah. Instead of an atrocity, like 40. Like, that's the thing is 31% versus 36%. One might be playable. One is a trip back to AAA.

I mean, that's what we used to say about Joey Gallo, right? I mean, he was in the mid-30s in strikeout rate. And, you know, at the time when he was still playing and still good, that was when Aaron Judge got called up. And Judge was right around 30%. And you're looking at it and you're saying, well, hey, this is the difference, man. Five, six percentage points in strikeout rate. Yeah.

Once you're approaching the mid-30s or even 40%, it just becomes untenable. You look at a frame of Reyes is similar. Joey Gallo, like you mentioned, like that margin for error is real slip. Yeah. But if he can be on the right side, I do think in five outfielder leagues,

Reese Heinz can matter. So I think it's fine to go out and add him just in case. Let's get into some of the leftovers from Thursday. And are you buying into the last two outings from these two pitchers? Kevin Gosman makes it two strong starts in a row following those mechanical tweaks. He was at the Giants, seven innings, two runs, only three strikeouts. Only seven whiffs on 98 pitches. I still would like to see the splitter work.

It doesn't seem like it's been working, but the last two starts, the results are there. And Luis Castillo, a great start at the Angels. He threw six shutout innings, five strikeouts. And I noticed his slider is completely different. The velocity is down 3.4 miles per hour. It had eight more inches of vertical break. And after his last start, Luis Castillo acknowledged that this is a new slider grip that he's working with. Here was the quote after his previous start, quote,

it gives me three different varieties of speed to play with the batter. But I think with this new one and the old one that I have, we can do a little mix and match on it. So a new look for Castillo. He's been very good over his last two starts. Chris, are you buying back in, Gosman or Castillo? Not that you've ever been out, but what do you think? I'm mostly out on Gosman in terms of do I expect him to be an ace?

I don't. I would be very, very surprised that Kevin Gosman went on a run the next three months where he looks like an ace. I don't think that's there. The splitter just has not been there at any point this season, really, and that's the biggest thing for him because he relies on that pitch so much.

Maybe he'll get there, but at this point, I'm viewing him and Carlos Radon very similarly, like I said earlier, where there will be good starts. There will be bad starts. On the whole, I think they'll be useful. But you can sit Kevin Gosman against bad matchups. That's not something I would have said before.

And it's notably not something I would say about Luis Castillo. I do want to make that point that, you know, Castillo getting the nine whiffs with the four seam fastball. I think that's a great sign because he's one of those guys that really relies on the four seamer for whiffs. He got, it was a 33% whiff rate with it last season. can get back to that. Yeah, I do expect Luis Castillo to be a must-start pitcher moving forward.

How do you rank these four pitchers? I think they're all in a similar range and they all pitched really well here on Thursday. We already spoke about Hunter Green. Jack Flaherty looked great in his return to the mound up against the Guardians. Six innings, one run, four strikeouts. He had 11 whiffs on 83 pitches. Justin Steele continues his hot stretch this time at the Orioles. He threw seven shutout innings with four strikeouts.

kind of interesting that he only threw 70 pitches. I mean, he was incredibly efficient. It feels like he could have gone longer in the start if they wanted him to. And Tanner Hauk bounced back with a great start up against Oakland, six shutout innings with six strikeouts, 11 whiffs on 103 pitches. You can touch on any, all these pitchers, Chris,

but your thoughts? And how do you rank those four? Ooh, okay, how do I rank them? I think it's green, sorry, steel green flarity I think how it's fourth but I like all of them I think they're all top 36 pitchers for me if I'm remembering correctly

um Flaherty I think obviously it was just good to see him bounce back from that back injury and look good the four strikeouts a little disappointing until you remember it's Cleveland that's that's fine against a team that strikes out a little bit more I think you'd expect more but the stuff looked good after the back injury

hopefully that put He puts that behind him, but obviously I think there is some risk moving forward. If you wanted to view Jack Flaherty as a cell high candidate, I think that's reasonable coming out of this given the back injury. But other than that, I think he'll be good. The interesting thing here was how few sinkers he threw. And he's been, like every Red Sox pitcher, he's been fading his fastballs. He threw it 22% of the time in this one. And the one thing I will say is while he got 11 whiffs with the slider.

splitter. He's a slider guy, not a sweeper guy. I do wonder if there is a point of diminishing returns there with, you know, with the three walks. Like can he consistently pitch deep into games, generate weak contact, and avoid walks without throwing the sinker that much? I would guess not. And he probably needs to be more in the, you know, 30 plus percent range. But I still mostly buy everything that we've seen from Tanner Halk. Not a sub three or not necessarily, but very, very solid low threes. That being said, already a career high

innings at the major league level. So it is, you know, fair to wonder how he's going to hold up in the second half. That's the only question I have, really. And again, that was Tanner Halk. Let's get into the rest of the pitching leftovers. Aaron Nola turned in a quality start up against the Dodgers. Six innings, one run, nine strikeouts,

16 whiffs on 101 pitches. He was awesome in this start. Max Fried, a quality start at the debacks. Six innings, one run, had seven strikeouts, 12 whiffs on 108 pitches. And Shane Boz was not great in his second start. Up against the Yankees, four and a third, three runs allowed, five strikeouts, two homers allowed. I was watching this game. He gave up some really loud contact.

Nine hard hits, 93.6 average exit velocity. I think it's fair. It's going to take a little bit of time. He hasn't pitched in the major since 2022. Again, that is Shane Baez. But Chris, any thoughts on him, Fried and Aaron Nola? Nola, the strikeouts are coming back as the season has gone on. Remember early in the season, we were talking about how weird it's been,

that he's been so good while the strikeout rate was a career low. It's getting back closer to where it was last season. And notably not struggling like he did last season. So I think that's a good sign. Feel great about him moving forward. Feel great about Max Fried. Even year, Chris. Even year, Noah.

Even year and Noah? Aaron Nola, don't draft him next year. I don't really believe that, but yeah, it's the trend. Shane Boz, the curveball's not there. He threw it, I think, six times or maybe eight times, something like that and didn't get a whiff with it or maybe got one whiff. It's just he's not quite there. The slider only generated two whiffs today.

And so I just think he's still figuring it out. And that's fine. Shane Boss was one of my second half breakouts. I feel very good about him moving forward, but the curveball has not really been there, even in the minor league rehab assignment, and I think he's going to keep searching for it until he finds it. Once he does, I think he could really take off,

but just patience. There's a lot of upside with Shane Boss. I would hang on to him, even coming off of a pretty disappointing start. Yeah, and I agree with that completely. Some hitting leftovers, Elliot Ramos continues to hit, one for four with his 14th home run 2 RBI. Tray Turner has been

on fire since returning 2 for 4 with a sock and a shoe his 9th home run, his 12th steel. Good to see him running because while he's been great, he's hitting for batting average, he's hitting for power. He hasn't run much since coming back from a hamstring injury, so obviously we'd like

to see him run and make sure that hamstring is actually healthy, but obviously he's done everything else. He looks great. Sayas Suzuki has been racking up the power and speed. lately. Three for five with two doubles, a triple three RBI. Over his last 18 games, he has four homers, three steals, 15 RBI. Again, that was Say Suzuki. One Soto, looking to get back on track, two for three with two walks and his 22nd home run. And over his last 14 games, Soto is only

batting 250, but he also has four home runs. 93.6 average exit velocity, an 18% barrel rate. Some people have tweeted and emailed him, oh, Juan Succo is back. He's, He's also playing through a hand injury, which they have acknowledged multiple times now. I will say, I saw someone tweeted at us. It was something about like, he's been struggling since the hand injury. Yeah, it was the hand injury. It was a forearm before which we all got scared about. But then now he's also kind of dealing with a hand injury on top of that.

The struggling since the hand injury or the forearm injury was like an 840 OPS with a 240 Babbup. He's still hitting for power. he's still walking, he's not striking out very much. Like, I, players just, their production fluctuates. And we don't need to panic every time a guy fluctuates. We don't need to freak out every time the fluctuation happens on the positive side. Slow and steady wins the race, or at least gets you to the end without, you know, coronary. And someone who might be on that upswing, starting to pick things up,

Randy and Rosarena has looked much better over the last month. Last 22 games, he's batting 291 with four homers, 11 runs, 11 RBI, five steals, hitting the ball hard, lots of barrels during that stretch. Some bullpen updates for the Pirates. Aroldus Chapman got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He struck out one for his fourth save. For the Blue Jays, Chad Green, got the ninth with a three-run lead. He gave up a solo homer but picked up his fifth save.

For the Phillies, Jeff Hoffman entered in the eighth inning with a three-run lead. So they were going back to Hoffman in the 8th, Alvarado in the 9th. He was facing the heart of the Dodgers lineup. So maybe that's telling here with Hoffman. Maybe he's climbed to the top of the ladder in terms of facing the toughest parts of an opposing lineup. Alvarado faced three, four, five,

literally the night before. So I don't know how much I want to take from that. I think it's just... Is there any rhyme or reason? Like, I don't know. So the only thing I would say is, is yesterday he faced Alvarod. They had two lefties coming up.

I think it was Freeman and Pahas. All right. We're three and five. It could be as simple as that. Yeah. Yeah. Today I think it was the first three batters. Two of them were righties.

So, but look, what we said, I think on yesterday's podcast was that we don't think Offman's just running away with it, that it's probably 50-50 moving forward. And that would lead to some nights like this. Yeah. By the way, the Phillies tacked on another run in the bottom of the eighth, and then Alvarado came in.

He pitched the ninth inning, but it wasn't a save opportunity at that point. For the raise, Pete Fairbanks got the ninth inning with a two-run lead. He gave up one run on two walks and a hit, but picked up his 16th save. For the Astros, Josh Hader struck out two for his 17 save and for the debacks, Paul Seawald got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He gave up a hit, but picked up his 13th save. That was real close, though. Kind of fortunate because he gave up a very long fly ball to Matt Olson.

I don't know if it was going out. It was right at the top of the wall. They didn't really give a good angle on the replay, but yeah, it was real close to a home run to tie the game. Yeah, caught by Jake McCarthy. Shout out to Jake McCarthy. His walk-up song is Kurt Engels theme song from wrestling back of the day. Every time I tune into a D-Backs game, I find it hilarious. So I love it.

To stream or not to stream on Friday, some options here. have Sean Mania facing the Rockies in New York, Carson Spires facing the Marlins, Spencer Schwellenbach at the Padres, Yari el Rodriguez at the D-backs, and I think those are the main four. Yeah, I wish Schwellenbach had a better matchup. The Padres are the, I believe, least strikeout prone team in the majors. Ahini, another one I wish had a better matchup. So I would probably if I had to pick lean Mania and I think Mania is probably my favorite. I think so too. I would go Mania, Shwellenbach and inspires in that way.

Yeah, that's fine. On Saturday, there are a few options here. Luis Ortiz has actually pitched well for the Pirates. He's at the White Sox. That is a great matchup. We have Christian Scott who's facing the Rockies in New York. Mitchell Parker at the Brewers. He's looked pretty good recently.

And, you know, Kyle Gibson up against the. Cubs is fine. Jose Soriano up against the Mariners, good matchup. Who are your two or three favorites from Saturday? Christian Scott versus Colorado. I know he's been a little disappointing, but I still have pretty high expectations for him, or at least high hopes, maybe is the better way to put it. And that's a great matchup. Ortiz, I don't mind against the white socks. I don't mind Soriano versus Seattle as well. Yeah, I think I would probably go Scott Ortiz and

I'll go with Mitchell Parker. I like what we've seen from him. On Sunday, we have bail up against the whales. Yeah, Dean Kramer up against the Yankees. We have Jose Kintana who gets the Rockies. Kintana against the Rockies at home. In New York, that's fine. Colin Ray gets the nationals.

It's okay. Jameson Tion has pitched well. He's at the Cardinals. Tyone against the Cardinals is fine. Michaelis on the other side. Michaelis versus the Cubs is okay. I think Kitana and Tyone are my favorites. Yeah, I think so.

All right. Well, that's it for us in the first half of the season. We will see you here on Sunday to recap the weekend and then we go into the All-Star break. But we are going to wrap there for Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify.

And we will be back again next week. Bye-bye. podcasts.