Fantasy Baseball Today - PCA vs. Ohtani for MVP, Most Dropped Players & Statcast Standouts! (8/18 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 18, 2026

PCA vs. Ohtani (2:30). ... CES has looked pretty good (7:20). ... Snell dominated and Imanaga keeps trending up (13:22). ... News (20:37): Max Fried is going back on the IL with that bone bruise in his elbow. ... Eugenio Suarez is picking things back up (35:37). ... Luis Castillo put up a stinker (40:17). ... Time to drop Framber Valdez (46:53)? ... Here are the 12 most dropped players this weekend (50:30). ... We wrap up with Statcast standouts, leftovers, bullpens and streamers (58.18).Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for the newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. PCA Otani, who will win the NLNVP? Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Tuesday, August 18th. I am Frank Sample joined by Scott White.

Today on the show, we've got ourselves a bit of a fantasy smorgas board. We're going to be all over the place. It was an 11 game schedule, but I don't know. Nothing really happens. So we'll talk about it. Most drop players on CBS this weekend. I've got Stackcast under and overachievers in the second half. Let's jump in.

And what I just saw, Scott, was two homers from Otani, boom, one up, P. Crow Armstrong. two homers for PCA added a steal, started the game with a homer, he ended the game with a homer, there was a stolen base in there, four hits, and this

race for NLMVP is fantastic theater. It's coming down to the wire. Who you got, Scott? PCA, Otani. You know, as of right now, I don't actually think it's that

much of a competition. I don't think. I don't think so either. I think if the season ended right now, Pete Crowe Armstrong would win it handily. He just brings so much defensive value. Of course, Otani has his pitching accomplishments, but if you add up the hitting war

and you add with the pitching war, add the two numbers together for Otani, whether you're looking at baseball reference version of war or fan graphs, it's still like a point behind Pete Crow Armstrong. Crow Armstrong has nearly as good of an OBP as Otani. Of course, he has a lot more stolen bases. He has more home runs.

The season isn't over. It's worth pointing out. They're still close to six weeks left, and Pekro Armstrong could slump. Shohay Otani could go off, and it could turn this right back around. I'm not saying it's over, but I do think Pekro Armstrong has the clear

advantage. If Otani had kept pitching, even if Crow Armstrong had a slight war lead, which I'm not confident he would because Otani was earning a lot of war via his pitching accomplishments. But even if Crow Armstrong edged him out for total war while Otani was contributing on both sides of the game, I still think it'd be pretty easy to make a case for Otani over him. But, you know, he's going to go the last two. When's the last time Otani made a start? He's going to go the last two and a half months without pitching. Yeah, that one, it's, it's probably been at least a month, probably longer than that, right? Let's see here. On the pitching side, July 3rd, so month and a half right now. Last time we've had a start from Otani.

July 3rd. So we're not expecting him to start again this year, right? That's going to be half the season then, where he doesn't, the final half of the season, he doesn't appear as a pitcher. That's how it seems to me. Yeah. They haven't declared him out as a pitcher, to be fair. But they have so many pitchers.

And obviously, it's a legit health issue he was dealing with. They'd have to build them back up to get him to start. I don't think it's going to be, I don't even know that he's capable of doing that. And even if he was, I don't know that the Dodgers would want to push it now that they have Snell back. They're about to get Tyler Glass now back. They traded for Terrick Scoobled. Of course, I have Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

I just don't know that it's in the cards. Yeah. There is an update here from Jack Harris who covers the team. Otani said that his knee felt good after last week's bullpen and is scheduled for another one on Tuesday. He is hopeful his knee injury is behind. behind him now and that there won't be any more setbacks in his ramp up as a pitcher. So. Okay.

A little bit more optimistic there. Yeah. Maybe I'm too quick to write him off. But as of now, yeah, I think it would have to go to Pete Crow Armstrong. And speaking of PCA, two homers and a steel that brings him to 30 homers, 31 steals, the first cub to record back-to-back 30-30 seasons, which is just crazy stuff when you consider like we're only three years into his career or whatever. 66 games since the start of June.

318 batting average, 23 homers, 19 steals, OPS around 1100. So PCA on fire, the updated F war for him is 8.2. And Chohay Otani, 4 for 5, double-dong, four runs, 3 RBI, last 19 games for him. 3,60, 7 homers in OPS over 1100. And the updated F-war, 4 as a hitter, 3 as a pitcher, so that brings you to 7 total. As you mentioned, still trailing PCA by over a win right now.

So we shall see, but yeah, I agree. I think if the season ended today, PCA for MVP. Let's get into some other players of the night. And Scott, speaking of three-letter acronym names, CES, Christian, and Carnaccio, Strand. He's back in pog form. Three for five with a home run for RBI here on Monday. Big game.

And he's been playing a lot again. Six straight. He has started. You look at the stack cast page. It is awfully impressive. His average exit velocity is near 93 miles per hour. And he's been productive when he's played. We kind of did this with him, I don't know, a month ago or so.

And got picked up in a bunch of roto leagues where extra corner infielders are required and then they stopped playing him so much and he got dropped again. So I don't know, maybe they're going to continue to play games with Christian An incarnations trans-playing time in Baltimore. Kobe Mayo for what it's worth also had a big

game here, two for five with a home run and a double. And his tech cast page is awfully impressive as well. Dark, dark red for both exit velocity and pull air rate. Too many strikeouts. And hasn't been as productive even recently as Incarnausian Strand has been. So I think Incarnacion Strand deserves the playing time,

but Mayo is not somebody the Orioles are entirely out on. They're giving some of their D.H. bats to Tyler O'Neill. So they aren't, I don't think it's a done deal that Christian Anacarnacian Strand is an everyday player now, just because he started six straight and is hitting well. That's why I'm bringing all of this up. But I think if you need corner infield help, certainly if you need third base help,

which many people do. I think Incarnacion Strand is back in play. Maybe you don't go crazy dumping truckloads of fab dollars for him since we did get the rug pulled out from under us once already. But I think he's back in play. Yeah, the sackass stuff is really impressive for Incarnazian Strand. The one thing as a negative that stands out is that he is, that he is crushing lefties,

but he has not been great against righties. The home run he hit in this game was actually off of a righty, so that was a good sign. But it's a 671 OPS against righties, 1161 against lefties. Really small sample. He's only played 24 games overall. But perhaps that could lend it still

towards being more of a, I guess, short side platoon. Hopefully I'm wrong about that, but he has been playing more as of late. Who do you like more between him and you mentioned his teammate Kobe Mayo, who in the second half, is hitting 274 with four homers in 874 OPS.

That also comes with a 33% strikeout rate. Right. So you don't buy the 274 batting average right off the top. I'm surprised it's only four home runs during that stretch because as I mentioned, the exit velocities and the pull air rate are dark, dark red. And so you would think Kobe Mayo would be putting up, hitting tons of home runs, but he hasn't been. And he strikes out a tonne as he.

you say. I think between the two, if I were the Orioles, I'd trust in Carnassi on Strandmoor right now, but I get why they don't want to close the book on Kobe Mayo yet for all the disappointment we've seen from him the past couple years. Like there's clearly talent there. Did you know that the Orioles entered today in a playoff spot? They were the third wildcard team. Yeah, while being under 500. Yeah. Like I, I, I, I, I counted them out long ago because under 500, right? But like, nobody in the AL wants that third wildcard spot. So suddenly the Orioles are back in play.

The Blue Jays are back in play. Almost everybody's in play. There's a few teams that aren't. But many teams that you had counted out at the trade deadline are still in it. And the Orioles are one of them. So I don't know that they can afford to, I don't know that they can afford to emphasize development over winning right now because they actually have a chance to go places.

Would you take either Orioles corner guy, CES or Mayo, over Abamelik Ortiz or Griffin-Conine, who recently gained first base eligibility, or did he always have it? No, right? I think you just gained it. So those two names have popped up recently, Abamelic Ortiz, Griffin-Conine.

Would you take either Orioles corner over to those guys? Well, now that lineups have locked for the current week, Week 22 officially, or whatever your league calls it, I would presume you don't now have the chance to slot Ortiz in for the rest of this week, maybe in certain daily lineups depending on the configuration you do. I bring it up because Ortiz was looking at a full slate of right-handers, and that's all he plays against. And I think the data is great on him.

He's obviously been productive during his short time in the majors, but he doesn't play against left-handers. So you need a schedule like that to make him worthwhile. Griffin-Conine's sort of the same way. The Marlins were in line to face two lefties this week, so I don't know that it was the best week to use him. Obviously, he's been hot, but it's a narrower path to being useful for those two,

Griffin-Conine and Abamelik Ortiz. So even though they've been hotter, even though in theory I might like them more, I think Christian and Carnaccio Strand has the best chance of all of them to be impactful down the stretch. As I've said, still a playing time question for him as well, but there's a clear opportunity here

for every day at bats than for any of those others. And Kobe Mayo, you know, you could argue that for him too, but I'd put him last to the group. All right, two pitchers that I'd like to highlight big night for both of these guys. Blake Snell went into Corr's Field, tossed a quality start, six innings, one run, five strikeouts, 17 whiffs on 90 pitches.

All of its secondary pitches were nasty in this one. The curve, the change-up, the slider. They all had five or more whiffs. The change-up was a little bit different as well. The V-Lo was down. Two miles per hour. It had five more inches of drop. He only gave up one hard hit in this game.

And in two starts since returning, 12 innings, two runs, 15 strikeouts to four walks. Blake Snell has hit the ground running since his return. And Chote Imanaga wanted to highlight him. Ten strikeouts over six innings. He allowed three runs in this one. Twenty swinging strikes on 96 pitches. Fifteen of those on the splitter,

which was just outstanding in this start. It had three more inches of horizontal break. The 15 whiffs, 79% whiff right here for Imanaga. And he is down to a 377 ERA 109 whip. It was his third start with double-digit strikeouts on the season. And, you know, IMAGA has been pitching better as of late, but the underlying numbers don't completely buy it. I think he's kind of locked in as an SP3, SP4 type.

I've left him kind of in that like SP-35 to 40 range rest of season. But Scott, where did you land on Blake Snell when updating the ranks last week? And I guess where you maybe foresee moving him this week, if you do move him at all. I got him like right back at times. top 24 SP. Yeah, I think that's reasonable now that he's followed up that first great start with the second one in Colorado, no less.

We know the story with Blake Snell. We've seen it the previous four years, right? Like, he'll have a stretch where he looks unusable, but then once he gets locked in, he's best pitcher in baseball kind of good, Cy Young Caliper good. And it looks like he's come back from the IL as that says. version of Blake Snell, the one who was just going to dominate. And obviously, past isn't, it doesn't guarantee that it's going to happen again. But after four straight years of following that pattern, I feel like Blake Snell is as bankable

as you could possibly hope for right now. After that long wait stashing of an IL spot, this is kind of the dream scenario. I'm hoping. So I consider a must start. I think you could call him top 20 rest of season. Absolutely. Yeah, it's nothing but good news. Do you have anything on Emonaga before we move on?

Well, his last 12 starts, he said he's pitched better of late just to put it in, to put actual numbers to it. Last 12 starts, 267 ERA 110 whip 8.8K per 9. So that sounds like somebody you don't want to take out of your lineup. I understand some of the starts have been on the shorter side, and because he is a fly ball pitcher who gives up, it's not the weakest contact, but it's not especially hard contact either. He is vulnerable to the long ball,

and it can be a bit combustible at times. So I'm not saying he's going to sustain that 267 ERA to the end, But I think through the ups and downs, he has shown himself to be a positive, a strong positive in fantasy. Last, oh my goodness gracious moments of Monday night, did you see these Carson Benj throws at home play, Scott? I did not. Oh, my God, dude.

So consecutive plays in the first inning, he threw runners out at the plate. The first throw 100 miles per hour, of the second throw, 103.9 from Carson Benj. Back-to-back plays, threw runners out at the plate. Obviously, Noel McLean and his fantasy manager is very thankful for that.

And then the very next inning, AJ Ewing threw someone out at the plate. So it was just three outfield assists in the first two innings for the Mets. And the throws from Carson Benj were incredible. So it's pretty crazy stuff. They were good throws. They, because they hit the ground

before they got to the plate, it kind of took a little bit of the sting out of it. You know, I don't know that it's going to be one of those throws we see replayed to the end of time, like the BoJackson throw, Igero Suzuki, Ramon Luriano, Ronald de Cunia. But yeah, that's impressive for Carson Binge. I'm binging on binge throws right now. Looks good. We do have a team name very similar to that later on.

A little spoiler alert. If you listen on the audio side of the podcast and you enjoy it, please feel free to leave us a five-star rating and review on Apple or Spotify, regardless of where you listen, it really does help us out a lot. Let's take that break, and we'll be back right after this. What is Toyota affordability? It's buying smart. Right now, your local Toyota dealer has great deals available

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Vehicles projected resale value is specific to the 2026 model year. For more information, visit Kelly Blue Books, KBB.com. Toyota brand average resale value is 53% versus the average vehicle at 45%. Toyota, let's go places. All right, Scott, I've got good. news and I have bad news for the New York Yankees. Where would you like to start? Oh, you know, I am always interested in hearing the latest Yankees news. Let's start, let's start with the good news. All right. Well, it was the biggest news of the day. That's the only reason why I'm starting

with it. I swear. The good news, Carlos Rodan is ready to return and he will start Tuesday in Baltimore. Why is he starting? Well, somebody went on the IL. The bad news. Max Friede. Back on IL with that bone bruise in his left elbow, the same injury he dealt with earlier the season. And he previously missed two months. We have not seen a timeline. They have not talked about it. Perhaps we'll get an Aaron Boone press conference on Tuesday where he kind of talks through the timeline or whatever.

But I think it's a pretty fair assumption that Max Free just misses the rest of the season. Yeah, it's certainly possible. He missed more than two months with the same injury. before. Now we don't know the severity of it. And like he was pitching okay. So that's why it kind of caught everyone by surprise.

So I don't know. I don't know. It's a complete guess. The Yankees have not revealed anything regarding timetable yet for Max Reed. I actually was putting IL stash rankings together before hopping on the pod and it was pretty frustrating not to have any kind of hint of a timeline.

I think it's reasonable. to be pessimistic, but this also isn't the sort of injury that kind of has a predetermined timeline, right? A bone bruising pitching elbow? That's not one we're that familiar with. Basically, we're just looking at how much time it cost Max Fried earlier this season. And there's not enough season left for him to make it back in time. But we'll see. I ended up having them pretty high in my IEL stash rankings because, like, well, I'd hate to not stash-free. and it turns out he's only going to miss the minimum or something like that. But it wasn't something I wanted to hear as somebody who's invested in Max Fried in a couple leagues.

And if you are looking for starting pitcher of replacements, we've talked a lot about these names recently, but Jacob Lopez is still only 38% rostered. Tyler Malley with the two starts this week, he's all the way up to 68%. Kyle Leahy, same deal, he's up to 77%. Brandon fought while we remain very skeptical coming off a start where he had a lot more whiffs he's 78% rostered Walbert-Orenia seems like he's kind of been

under-rastered for most of the season he's 69% and then someone who we think is going to be back pretty soon who we're excited about is Joe Musgrove who is 39% rostered so some potential starting pitcher replacements there if you lost out on Max Fried back to Carlos Rodon for a second I'm not sure

I think in most CBS leagues if you have not activated him you probably can't do it anymore in a weekly lineup context, but there still might be other leagues out there where you can use him. He is 8% started. Obviously, nobody

knew that Carlos Hordan was going to be activated. We just got that news Monday afternoon. Only two rehab starts. Yeah, and his latest rehab start was much better. It was four and a third shutout, inning seven strikeouts to one walk. The first one was pretty rough. And we had

velocity readings for that first start, and his VILA was down two to three miles per hour across the board. We did not have velocity readings for the second outing, so we don't really know whether velocity was at. If you have the opportunity

to start Carlos Rodon, would you? He's at the Baltimore's and home against the Blue Jays this week. I'd rather not, especially since we don't know the latest on velocity. Yeah, the second start was a lot better.

It was a double A instead of AAA, which is why we don't have the velocity. So a lower class of prospect he was facing as somebody with a storied major league career. So I don't know that we can read too much

into the final line there. It obviously, I don't know that we can assume he's fully built up here. How many pitches did he throw in that second rehab star 58? So between that and not knowing where the velocity stands,

I'd play it safe and sit rodon, but you obviously, if you have to pull him out of your aisle spot and put him out of your bench, that's obviously worth doing. he's got the potential to be much better than any pitcher you could find on the waiver wire right now. All right, keeping it moving here. The D-BACs placed Cotel Marte on the restricted list on Monday,

and this is kind of a weird situation right now. We just don't really know much. He just didn't show up to Fenway Park for the D-BACs game against the Red Sox, dealing with a personal matter, and they said that he's day-to-day. And then there was a video of Tori Lavullo talking after the game about Marte, and he was pretty emotional. Like, tears in his eyes. So I don't really know what's going on there,

but hopefully everything's all right with Cotel Marte. Hunter Goodman was originally in the Rockies lineup, and then he was a late scratch with that continued shoulder inflammation. If I had Goodman in a two-catcher league, I think I probably still would have used him just because of the six games in course field. But it is frustrating. Like, there's no guarantee he's going to be back in the next couple days.

in a one catcher league, I might have gone in a different direction with Hunter Goodman there. Trey Turner returned to the lineup after missing Sunday with a sore knee. Kyle Harrison saw his ERA drop from 347 to 299 after a scoring change from his last start resulted in five earned runs. Those have now been changed to unearned runs. So from 347 ERA to 299, we didn't discuss this beforehand, Scott. So I guess we'll talk it out right now on the podcast. podcast. Do we know if this will be changed in CBS leagues?

A scoring change would, yeah, I don't see why it wouldn't be. And it was just last week. So it's pretty recent. I think last time I, there was a situation like this that I asked about recently. I think as long as it comes in within like seven days, six or seven days, that it should be reflected in CBS leagues. So. Oh, I didn't even know that was how it worked. I thought it always got updated. Yeah. Because there was. there was another one from earlier in the season that didn't change but apparently it was like a

we get our scoring changes from I think sports info solution or something like that and it just it came in one day after the deadline and so it just didn't get updated but I will confirm that I'm going to ask around on Tuesday and see what I can find about Kyle Harrison there could be a distinction between head to head and Roto also because Roto

okay if it if it changes the standings then And, you know, obviously that's just another day. And Roto, the standings are constantly shifting around. But in head-to-head, if it changes a banked win to a banked loss, obviously that has a big impact on the standings and potentially the playoff picture with that coming up or even starting in a lot of leagues this week. Speaking of which, it is rivalry week here on fantasy baseball today.

the playoffs have started in both of our podcast listener leagues. And I didn't make it in either one, unfortunately. But you are facing Chris in the podcast points league in the first round. That's a two-week matchup. And then in the Dynasty League, in the Scott White Dynasty League, I am facing Chris in the consolation bracket. So, hmm. Rivalry week.

You're excited about that. I am. Danesby Swanson. Isn't the consolation bracket exciting? yes it is for those who don't know we have a constellation bracket in the Scott White Dynasty League

and the winner gets the first pick in the first year player draft there is a small part of me I went I went through like a mini retooling there a couple years ago was in the in the constellation bracket

bracket back to back years competing for the top pick in the draft rather than the championship for the league it's it's a way to keep everybody engaged. But even more than that, it's in a dynasty league, of course, there's always the issue of

if you're out of contention, you sell off your win now pieces for nickels on the dollar just because, well, I'm not going to get any use out of them. I might as well get something of long-term value in return. And it throws off the competitive balance

and everybody's mad. So one way I chose to combat that was with this consolation bracket, give the out-of-contention teams a little something to fight for so that they don't just give away all their win-now assets. And it's the 16 teams

that don't make the playoffs compete for the top draft pick in the minor league draft the following year, which doesn't snake. So it's the first pick in every round. And I'll say, like, the couple years where I was in the consolation bracket, It was part of me was maybe even more invested in that than the times I'm in the championship league. I really wanted to win that top pick the next year.

It's more tangible than a league championship, which is of course what it's all for. But you kind of have to convince yourself that's the more important thing rather than, oh, the top draft pick from the previous year. I could potentially add him to my dynasty team. I don't know. I like it. I think it's been a good feature for the Scott White Dynasty League. Yeah, I like it too. In my home keeper leagues as well, we also have consolation brackets. And whoever comes in first and second in those gets to choose their draft slot the next season. So it's another way to just keep people invested throughout the entire playoffs. Next up, Danes v. Swanson was officially placed on the aisle with a grade two left oblique strain.

he will miss four to six weeks, which puts him right up against the postseason. I think in most leagues you could probably safely drop Dansby Swanson, just from a redraft perspective because, you know, probably going to miss the rest of the regular season. A bunch of Pirates updates here. The Pirates reinstated O'Neill Cruz, but he was not in the lineup on Monday. He has been out since early June with a fractured left hand,

hopefully in there on Tuesday. Connor Griffin has been cleared to transition out of the splint on his left ring finger, injured ring finger. The pirates are optimistic that Griffin will be ready to return when first eligible on September 4th. All right, that's better news than I remember hearing about Connor Griffin. And he's still 79% rostered. So if he was dropped anywhere, I don't know, maybe look to re-ad Connor Griffin. Ryan O'Hern has been cleared to play catch and take some swings in the batting cage.

O'Hern has been in the IL for three weeks with a left quad train, and he was originally given a six to eight week timeline, so not entirely sure he'll make it back, and Andy Rodriguez is seeking a second opinion on his left hip injury. The Royals reinstated both Vinnie Pasquantino and Michael Garcia on Monday. Garcia went two for five with a run in RBI, and unfortunately he was caught stealing. Vinnie P.

Baby! Went one for four with a double. Will Smith will begin a rehab assignment, next week if his workouts go well this week. So positive update on him. We haven't really heard much on Will Smith. Edward Cabrero was placed back on the I.O. with a blister on his right middle finger. Javier Assad was recalled. Nolan Aronado was out of the lineup after leaving Sunday with a mild intercastle strain. The expectation is that he will avoid the IL. So good news for him. Jacob Wilson was scratched from the lineup due to shoulder soreness. Trevor's story could

rejoin the Red Sox as soon as this Friday, 36% rostered. Scott, do you have any interest in Trevor's story? I think if you lost Dansby Swanson, you should. I want to take him over Connor Griffin, even though it looks like he's going to be back a couple weeks earlier. I wouldn't even say I have a ton of confidence in Trevor's story being useful to you. I had him as a bust coming into the year,

but, you know, my bust picks aren't gospel, of course. I would say it's less than a 50% chance any of them comes through even. So a story coming off the big year he had, now healthy again. If you have a need at either shortstop or just your middle infield spot in a roto league, potential for power and speed here, highly available, I think it's worth a shot. Don't bank on him being your savior, but it's possible he could be your savior. The Giants are calling up tugboat. Matt Wilkinson,

23-year-old pitching prospect who came over from the Guardians in the Patrick Bailey trade earlier this season and in 20 starts in the miners, 340 ERA, a one-whip 9.6K per 9. Though he has struggled as he's moved up the ladder. You know, ERA over 5 at AAA. Do you have any very deep league interest

in Tugboat? Matt Wilkinson. Yeah, I have some interest. in him in deep leagues, as you say. He is not a conventionally dominant pitcher. He's more about the angles, doesn't throw very hard. So kind of Jacob Lopez-like in that way. But it could work out as it more or less has for Jacob Lopez. I guess Ian Seymour is kind of another example of that too, right?

We do see it happen from time to times, particularly a pitcher who throws left-handed like Matt Wilkinson does. the odds are against it, but particularly since he wasn't exactly dominating a AAA, but I'm not ruling out him being of some use down the stretch here. And I will point out that

we have gained some big, beefy baseball boys lately in baseball. So between Abamelik Ortiz, now we're getting tugboat, I like where this is headed, Scott. Yeah. Yeah, they're both a little on the shorter side.

I don't know, Matt Wilkinson, 6-1 officially. I feel like he looks shorter than that. So it's kind of the short and squatty types. And lastly, Scratch what I said yesterday, the nationals are not expected

to promote Seaver King this season, unfortunately. I guess things could always change, but that is the latest update there. Some waiver wire hitters. A. E. E. Hennio Suarez has looked better in August. He went three for three with a run

and an RBI in game two of their double header. And in 15 August, games, 265, four homers, 11 RBI, 968 OPS, 74% rostered. So he's been dropped in some shallow formats, Scott. Is this August enough to reconsider adding a. E. E. Oh, Hano-Swaris? I don't think it is. It's not...

Not yet. Not yet. It is the most encouraging thing we've seen from him this year. but we're talking about a stretch of two and a half weeks where he's hit four home runs. You know, it's still not. Right. If that's the hottest he's been all the year, it's not enough to move the needle for me. I'd probably be prioritizing Christian and Carnacio and Strand over him.

But he has a Johane de Juarez. He has come back from the depths a couple times before in his career, so we can't rule out the possibility. We already talked about Mayo and Encarnacion Stran. I have one other name here. That is Augustine Ramirez, who went two for four with a run scored. That's back-to-back multi-hit games. He has started five of the past eight for the Marlins.

And in 11 games since returning, he is hitting 333 with one stolen base, six runs scored, 863 OPS. No homers yet, so we haven't really seen much power. But he is hitting, if nothing else, 28% rostered. Are you looking to react? Remirez in two catcher leagues right now. Yeah, I think it's still strictly just two catcher leagues. And I had him, I think, in Memorial Magazine League, that's 12-team Roto, and I dropped him because Tyler Stevenson happened to be out there.

So I wouldn't put Augustine Ramirez high on the list of second catchers in a two-catcher league. But, you know, he's probably a top 24 catcher at this point. Would you... Would you take Augustine Ramirez? or Moises Biasteros? I mean, Biasteros has done nothing really since joining the Angels, which doesn't mean that's always going to be how it goes,

but obviously not much of a track record there to begin with. Got to give the edge to Ramirez right now. I double checking here. I believe Biasteros has started every game but one. Yeah. So that is a point in his favor, but he's got to do something with that playing time ultimately. Would you take Agosin Ramirez over Raphael Flores and Eduardo Valencia, who we mentioned yesterday?

I might gamble on Flores over him, as hot as he is, Flores. But I'd take Ramirez over Valencia. All right, let's take our final break. When we return, I've got the Waver Wire pitchers from Monday's action. Can we drop for Amber Valdez? Is that a crazy conversation? We'll do that. I have the most dropped players.

We'll talk about those right after this. Welcome back, Fantasy Baseball, today. Let's run through Waver Wire pitchers from Monday's action. Pretty weird night, so I'm just going to kind of bounce all over the place here. But Luis Castillo, someone we were very excited about his previous start when he had seven shutout innings with 10 strikeouts. Could not build off of that. Four and two thirds, eight hits, four runs, one walk, one strikeout, two homers loud in this one.

Still had 12 swinging strikes on 99 pitches. is the last start was great. There's no doubt. But his last six starts overall, not good. 579 ERA 147 whip, and he's 68% rostered. So I obviously I don't think people are looking to add him after this one.

But if you picked him up last week, Scott, would you, I don't know, maybe cut bait on Luis Castillo for Jacob Lopez? Oh yeah. I mean, I would have taken Lopez over Castillo to begin with. It became tricky because,

Castillo had two starts this week that's now just started. And obviously the first one didn't go as hoped, but provided nothing happens to disrupt the White Sox rotation the rest of this week, it's going to be a while before he has another two-star week. And so I don't know. Obviously, this was the tougher of his two matches this week at the Cubs. It was the one we were more worried about. but one strikeout in four and two-thirds innings.

I mean, it's two home runs allowed. He gave up twice as many home runs as he had strikeouts. And the thing is, he threw the change-up even more than he did in a previous start. The return of the change-up was what we were hoping would set Luis Castillo back on proper course. I will note that he didn't throw his foreseamer nearly as much. He kind of went sinker change-up instead of four-seamer change-up like last time, So I don't know if that made a difference between him being so dominant last time

and being so less than dominant this time. But it was just a sample of one, as we were saying at the time. We hoped it would grow into more, but that would not be the reasonable assumption now, given how he followed up that performance. Quinn Matthews racked up the whiffs here, but was inefficient in his spot start at the Reds. Four innings, one run, seven strikeouts to three walks. His fastball and change-up combination looked pretty good. He had six whiffs on the change-up four on the fastball, but he threw just 58% of his pitches for strikes.

29% rostered, pretty sure he's going back down to the minors after this one. So don't know that we really need to act on this, but what did you see here from Quinn Matthews? I thought he looked good. I thought he looked better than his first major league start. Seven strikeouts in four innings still walked. Too many guys, three of them. And his two AAA starts between the two major league starts, got sent down, made two starts there.

He had nine walks in seven innings between those two starts. So control is a major issue for Quinn Matthews still. It seemed like he was just. trending the right way, AAA, but it's been rough the last four starts between the majors and minors. I think there's a lot of upside there. I think if the Cardinals could guarantee him a rotation spot rest of season, then he would be somebody worth dedicating a roster spot to, but since it did seem like just a spot start with the doubleheader on Monday, you could probably leave Matthews unroastered for now. Anything to see here? Anything to see here?

with these two. Walker Bueller, a quality start at the Mets, six innings, two hits, two runs, four strikeouts, and back-to-back quality starts for him. And over his last six starts, it's a 316 ERA 124 whip, 23 strikeouts to 14 walks over 31 in the third. That is a lot of walks during that stretch. And Brian Beow pitched well in relief. Once again, he pitches very well in relief this year for whatever reason. Four and two-thirds, three hits, one run. Three strikeouts here. The updated splits. As a starter, 1035 ERA 222 whip for Brian Beo this season.

As a reliever, 0.85 ERA.85 whip. He is 14% rostered. He's also a spark for those who play in points leagues. Anything here with Beaux or Bueller. To be clear with Beahe, when you say in relief, you're not talking about an inning at a time. You're talking about as the bulk reliever following the opener, basically taking on the same workload that Ryan Bayo would take on as a starter. He's just pitching second in the game instead of first.

And that's what makes it so weird that it's been that dichotomy there. I don't know that there's much to do with it in fantasy. I don't know that I would stake anything on it. And it's not always clear going into a particular outing what Rolebe is going to have in it. So it makes it hard to predict too. I think we're going to ignore Walker Bueller. It has been a good stretch of starts here in terms of run prevention,

but nothing else looks good under the ground ball rates high, I guess, but too many walks. And I think you're playing with fire there with Walker Bueller. If you picked up Brandon Young for the two-star week, obviously this first one not great, four innings, eight hits, four runs, three homers allowed. 59% rostered. Okay, to drop Brandon Young?

It was funny because I had to, add him to my sleeper pitchers list when I updated it on Sunday, two starts Tampa Bay twice. I forget who I had to remove, but it was kind of an emergency addition there to that list. And I picked him up in the podcast league, the head to head points one, where normally you'd prioritize volume. I just kind of bring myself to stard him. I didn't buy my own recommendation, Frank. I left him on my bench and I'm glad I did. And now this is three of his last four starts have looked pretty ugly.

So the ERA is still 352 even with that stretch. But the FIP and X FIP are almost to run higher. It feels like Brandon Young's been getting away with it for a long time and it may be fine landing. Would it be crazy to drop either of these two starting pitchers? Framber Valdez was cruising and then fell apart in the sixth inning here at the Pirates. five and two-thirds, five runs, four of those earned, four walks. That's back-to-back starts with four or more walks. And again, one earned run through five innings.

Then in the sixth, it was a strikeout, a double, a ground out, walk, walk, basis clearing double, Valdez got pulled, the reliever who came in, also allowed that run to score as well. It's a 435 ERA, a 140 whip. I don't know, is this a crazy question? It's got 93% rostered. drop Valdez like 7K per 9 also

I was going to say when you were teasing this earlier I was going to say well in Roto Leagues it's probably fine he's killing your ratios he at least provides volume though and so maybe you want to keep him around at a points league where you're not so worried about

the ratios but even in points leagues he's been outscored by Tomo Yuki Sugano this year his point per game average from Vervaldez is less than 10, which I don't know if everyone out there has a great context for that,

but less than 10 is dreadful. Less than 10 is not somebody that needs to be rostered. I would say you've got to be, if you're over 11 and your points per game as a starting pitcher in CBS Sports League, if you're over 11, you're on the fringes of being rostered. Really, you want to be 12 and up.

Valdez is less than 10. So even in points leagues, it's hard to make the case to hold on to him. Yeah, I think it's fine. This late in the season, he's really given us no inkling that the old version is in there still. I think it's fine.

What about Shane O'Mac, who had a rough one in his return against the Orioles. That's Shane McClanahan, by the way. Three and a third, four hits, three runs, three strikeouts, zero walks. Just didn't have it here. through 61% of his pitches for strikes,

eight hard hits allowed. He's mostly been good when he's pitched this year, not a lot of volume, but a 325 ERA 112 whip. I think I'm fine giving him the past guy, but what do you think about potentially dropping Shane McClainton? I'd hesitate to do that. Yeah. You know, he's in,

he's having a two-star week now, so it's going to be a while for the next one, if it ever comes. And so that's frustrating, because I don't think he's the sort of, pitcher, you automatically start with a one-star week anymore. And I don't think he's been as good as his ERA this year. He's not nearly the badmissor he was prior to the latest surgery and strikeout rate

less than one per inning. Walk rate is over three per nine innings. He seems pretty mid to me, but the ERA has been low threes. and he was having a good, I guess it was July, right? It was having a good July before he went on the ILs. So I don't know that anybody was thinking of dropping McLanan at the time he went off the IL. I'm not particularly eager to do it now, but he's on a short lease for me because I don't see it in the underlying numbers that he deserves the ERA he has.

All right, let's continue on with the most dropped players on. CBS this weekend and we will start with the hitters. I did not include any of the injured players here, but Max Clark dropped down from 78% to 69%. So likely still rostered in five outfielder leagues, probably being dropped in some three outfielder leagues. He's been pretty quiet since that first weekend. Taylor Ward from 76 to 67%. It's just been a terrible season and now he's dealing with that quad injury. Elliot Ramos from 48 to 41%. He has been pretty dreadful with the Yankees so far. Hitting the ball hard, but lots of ground balls.

Hector Rodriguez of the Reds from 18% to 11%. Not playing against lefties, and he just hasn't really done much. He's 3 for 28 so far. Kaelin Colpepper, this one is kind of interesting. From 39 to 33%, he went 1 for 4 with two strikeouts here on Monday. And so far he's 7 for 28. He does have a homer. He also has a 33% K rate.

And J.J. Blood Day, who we spoke about late last week, 16 games in August. He's hitting 189 with one homer in a 589 OPS, down from 63 to 57%. Anyone stand out here, Scott, is maybe shouldn't be dropped. Do you agree with these names potentially being dropped in leagues? Again, Max Clark, Taylor Ward, Elliot Ramos, Hector Rodriguez, Kael and Colpepper, and JJ Bladay. I felt better about all of these players a week or two ago than I feel about them right now.

So I think it makes sense that they've all been dropped to, some degree. Taylor Ward, you know, I thought he was one of the biggest losers at the trade deadline, going to Seattle, a place where it's difficult to hit and his own track record there is miserable. And he wasn't having a good year anyway. So it, you know, he was among the most rostered on this list to begin with, so it's only down to 67%. He probably still needs to be rostered in five outfielder leagues, Taylor Ward, as does Max Clark, as does Ellie Ramos. As does JJ Bladay probably. They probably should be rostered in five outfielder leagues still.

But where their rates are now, I would imagine they are still rostered in five outfielder leagues. And it's just the three outfielder leagues where they've been dropped. And I think that's totally fair. Max Clark making some really weak contact so far. The hardest hit ball for him is 104. Average is less than 86. It's not very good. Hasn't stolen a single base yet.

So he probably has a bright future, and maybe that future starts over the next six weeks. But, you know, roster space is finite, and you need production right now. Clark isn't giving it to you. I think the one I have the most confidence of this group still being about what we thought he was to begin with is Elliot Ramos. I'm not sure anything has actually changed for him. I still think he's in a much better situation

than he was in in San Francisco. And, you know, his roster rate being down to 41%. That's verging on maybe being dropped in some five outfielder leagues. I would hesitate. I would advise against dropping him in that format.

The one thing with Ramos is that Cody Bellinger is due to begin a rehab assignment this week. And let's just say he's back by next week. Elliot Ramos could start to fall into a short side platoon once that happens. He could, but probably just Spencer Jones gets sent down, right?

Yeah. He hasn't done anything in a while. I don't really want to see happen, but yeah, probably is what's going to happen, unfortunately. The most dropped pitchers on CBS this weekend, Hayden Wesniewski from 54 to 39%. He's coming off a two-star week where he was not great, eight runs allowed over 11 innings.

Bryce Elder, also coming off a two-star week. The first one was awful. The second one was very good from 87 to 76%. Christian Scott from 68 to 59%. His two-star week was not very good. Not so sure that I would be quick to drop Christian Scott. He still is getting a lot of strikeouts. Relative. 11.2K per 9. It's a shocking number. And a 351 ERA, it's like, I get it doesn't go deep into start, but he's mostly been effective when he's pitched. Jake Bennett from 86 to 78% he has allowed four earned runs and back-to-back starts and over his last five. He has a 567 ERA, a 144 whip. Luke Weaver from 55 to 47%.

He does not have a save since being traded to the Pirates. And Jared Jones from 74 to 67, a mixed two-star week. The first one was awful, eight runs over three innings. The second one was a Jared Jones special. Five innings, one-run seven strikeouts for him. Scott, what do you think about these pitchers being dropped in CBS late? right now. Wesniewski, Elder, Christian Scott, Jake Bennett,

Luke Weaver, and Jared Jones. Oh, Bennett makes a lot of sense. I sense to that one coming. Got a little too high on his own supply. Fantasy baseballers, and analysts like us did. We got a little too high on the Jake Bennett supply.

And at one point, it was like, you know, he's not striking out anybody. and so I'm not sure this is going to last and that was about the time that it fell apart for him. I think there's some talent there but this current version of Jake Bennett is at best like an Andre Palante type

and obviously he hasn't even been pitching that well recently. Not that Palante had a good start Monday but you know he's been pretty good all year. Let's see the others. It was never that into West Nesky. Bryce Elder seems like a streamer type. Weaver, okay, has a big getting saves, and we're not even sure he's first in line for saves in Pittsburgh.

Jones, I dropped him in a couple leagues, though I picked him back up in a couple leagues after his latest start. So, I don't know, the roster rate, 67%. Maybe it's a little low, but it's about right. Yeah, I don't have any strong feelings about this group other than Jake Bennett. I do think the Jake Bennett streak that he was on was, some smoke and mirrors. I will point out,

I think this one has gone a little bit the other way. So last five starts, 567 ERA 144 whip. That stretch comes with a 382 FIP and a 356XERA. And it also has an 11.6% swinging strike rate during that stretch.

Oh, that's a little better. Oh, you know what? I would try to hold on to Jake Bennett, actually. But I noticed there's a tradeoff there. So we didn't talk about him after his last start. over the weekend and there's so much to comment on. Yeah, it was Friday.

Yeah. His ground ball rate prior to this rough five-star stretch was 48%. It's very good. His ground ball rate during this five-star stretch is 39%. Very low. So he's gotten a little bit more swing and miss there, but he's completely sacrificed the main strength he had to do it. And I don't think that's a worthy trade-off.

cut his sinker use in half during that time. I don't think that's the best approach for Jake Bennett. I do think, you know, what was the comparison I made before? I'm forgetting it. Andre Palante. You mentioned the FIP during that stretch. It sounds Palante like,

but he's got to get back to being that ground ball pitcher, Jake Bennett, I think, to be even that. All right. So for the statcast, under and overachievers that I have here in the second half, I have five of each. I'll just quickly read off their names and you can react if you want to, Scott.

But the five of the biggest underachievers. So low batting average, low slug, but the expected stats say that they have deserved a good amount better than what they have done so far in the second half. Gunner Henderson, I was actually pleasantly surprised to see that he is on this list, hitting 202 with a 384 slug, 257XBA 449X slug in the second half.

Julio Rodriguez, it's only a matter of time for him in the second half. Mani Machado, 237. batting average 377 slug 272XBA 454X slug for him JJ Weatherhold has slowed down considerably 189 with a 302 slug but the expected

numbers 233 with a 420 so he's been unlucky here and Ben Rice we know it's been a really rough second half 160 321 slug but it's expected stats 232 472 expected slug there so

five names here underachiever Scott Gunner Henderson, Julio Rodriguez, Mani Machado, J.J. Weatherholt, and Ben Rice. It felt like just a minute ago, Mani Machado was one of the hottest hitters in baseball. Yeah. That was my first. He's still hitting the ball really hard in the second half. Yeah. Well, he finished July strong,

so he started out the second half really strong. But it's really just been August where he's done. It looks like just one extra base hit, unless he had one on Monday. I don't think he did. Yeah, for the entire month of August, one extra base hit, a double for Machado. I had noticed that JJ Weatherholt had cooled off, and I'm not sure at one point we need to consider if there are better options.

Obviously, this was just be a shallow league take, but it's been a while now of him being not helpful at all. I still think he's good. As you point out, the expected stats during this stretch are better than the actual ones. They're still not amazing, but they're good enough, given that he's such a great plate discipline guy. No, shallow leagues, but think it points leagues especially, probably still worth it to keep playing Weatherholt. But he is a rookie and not particularly established. So a long cold stretch like this is, I think,

think something we have to factor in to our assessment of him. Gunner Henderson, yeah, I mean, he's, I still think, he's been one of the toughest to figure out. I still think it's pretty clear the talent level there. Julio Rodriguez, as he said, just waiting for him to go off in the second half like he always does. I still would bank on him doing that. Mm-hmm. And the five of the biggest overachievers by statcast here, we have Chase Midroth, Ty France. I will point out with Ty France that his average EV during the stretch is still 93.6 miles per hour. So I still do really like Thai France quite a bit. Alex Breggman, this is crazy. The unexpected stats are good. He's outperform them, but they're good. Yeah. Alex Breggman, 286 with a 545 slug in the second half, 253, 380s.

87 expected numbers there for Bregman, who typically does get away with it by pulling the ball in the air. And then two other names, Andrew Monasterio and Jared Young. So look, like those are deep league names. I have seen some people picking them up in deeper formats, but the underlying number is not really buying that at all. And then there's also Breggman, Thai, France, and Chase Midroth, anything on these five overachievers in the second half.

Well, I pointed out with France, it's a 267XBA. It's a 437X slug. So even though it's well below the 336 batting. average in 564 slug that he's actually had in the second half. It's still really good. He's said the exit velocities are great. I think I've seen no indication that Ty France is slowing down. So I would anticipate just starting him for the time being. Bregman, I mean, you probably made the most important point there, which is that his expected stats are rarely that impressive.

And so they're not impressive now. And he's managed to perform well in spite of that. I don't know that I take anything from that. I think he was due for some correction. I still think his home environment is a major obstacle for him. He's still batting 212 with a 639 OPS there. Less than a third of his home runs have come at Wrigley Field. On the road now, he's up to 291 and 853 opias,

so he's been killing it on the road. Whether he can sustain road numbers that good. It's fair to ask, but, you know, it obviously has a long track record of success. I think third base being where it is, I wouldn't second guess what he's doing now too much. I'd probably just enjoy it and hope it lasts, and it might, given who Bregman is.

All right, some leftovers here on the hitting side. Pete Alonzo, two for five with his 28th homer, and he is on fire. Last eight games, he is 17 for 30, with five homers, nine runs, and 10 RBI. Caleb Durbin will not stop. Three for four with a walk RBI, two runs, and his 15th stolen base.

Updated numbers, last 70 for Durbin. 312, 11 homers, 11 steals. His OPS is over 875. Bobby Wood Jr. had a huge game, three for four, with a sock and a shoe. his 15th home run, his 33rd steal. Jack Caglione stayed hot, three for five with a run and two RBI for him. Last 18 games, 403, six homers, 23 RBI, three steals.

Cags is back. Nico Horner, four for five with two RBI, and in the second half, he is also back. 371, three homers, 20 RBI, six steals, OPS over 850 for Horner during that stretch. And Andy Pahas also picking things back up, three for four, with two runs, two RBI, last 19, 338, four homers, 11 RBI, two steals, OPS over 900 for Andy Pahez. Scott, anything on this group, Pahez, Horner, Cags, Witt, Durbin, and Pete Alonzo. So with Caglione, you gave the numbers in his last 18 games. We can go back a lot further than that to make a compelling case for Caglione breakout.

So over his last 63 games, that's going back to June 1st, 63 games, Jack Caglione is betting 305 with 17 homers. Again, that's in 63 games, 17 homers, five steals. His K rate during that time is only 22%. It was 31% prior to that. So big increase there, big improvement in terms of strikeouts. Pull rates also higher during that stretch. Not that it was bad before, but it's very high now.

Obviously, the exit velocities are outstanding. If a guy who hits the ball that hard and pulls it that well and is striking out less than 25% of the time, he's got to be a stud. And that's what Caglione has looked like since June 1st. I think he's going to get to 30 homers. I think he's going to surge down the stretch here. He's going to be...

It took a roundabout pat there. but he's going to live up to those preseason breakout expectations that we had for him. All right. On the pitching side, Christopher Sanchez turned in a quality start against the Marlins, six innings, eight hits, one run, three walks to six strikeouts. I will point out that his whip remains very high. He has a 157 whip over his last eight starts. Noel McLean, a weird start, and then he settled in here against the Padres,

six innings, six hits, one run, four walks, three. strikeouts. He did have those three outfield assists that really helped keep runs off the board. So that makes the line look much better here for Nolan McLean. And Michael Waka, not great against the athletics, five innings, four runs. Three strikeouts, three homers allowed here. Scott, anything to point out on Waka, McLean, and Christopher Sanchez. Not really. After no walks last time for Sanchez, he walked three again. So it still doesn't seem like his command is quite there. And yet, most of his starts are still pretty good.

So, I mean, the whip's hurting you, as you point out, but otherwise, I think you're happy to have him in your lineup. I think he'll overcome this. He'll get out of this little stretch of rocky control soon enough. I want to panic. All right, the call to the bullpen for the Cardinals in game one of the doubleheader, Riley O'Brien, struck out the side for his 31st save. For the raise, Brian Baker got the final five outs for his 35th save.

Just a magical season for Brian Baker. For the Phillies, Yohan Duran got the ninth with a two-run lead. He allowed one run on two hits but picked up his 27th save. For the Mets, Kodi Sango was unavailable. It was Daniel Duarte, who got the ninth with a one-run lead. He struck out two and picked up his second save. For the Reds in game two of the double-header, Emilio Pagan got the top of the 10th with the game tied.

walked one. He struck out two to get out of it and he wound up with his fifth win. For the Royals, Lucas Erseg started the ninth with a five-run lead. Single, wild pitch, walk, walk. He was replaced by Stephen Cruz, who got a double play and then a ground out to end it and he picked up his fifth save. He is very clearly the highest leverage guy for the Royals right now and is only 13% rostered. So if you're looking for saves, Stephen Cruz is a name there for you. For the White Sox, Grant Taylor was unavailable. Jordan Hicks tried for the four-out save, but he did give up a run and he took his second blown save.

The White Sox wound up losing in extras. For the Cubs, Jacob Webb got the top of the 10th inning with the game tied. He walked two, but then he got out of it. They walked it off, and Jacob Webb picked up his fifth win. For the twins, Joendris Gomez got the ninth with a two-run lead. He gave up a walk, but picked up his 18th save. And then for the Dodgers. I understand that Dave Roberts is trying to get Edwin Diaz going.

Why this game? 11 to 2 lead. You're in Cores Field. Like, he pitched two games, I believe, on Friday and Saturday, or Thursday and Friday, whatever it was. Like, there might be actual save opportunities in the series. Why a nine-run lead in Corse Field to get Edwin Diaz in the game, who gave up three more runs on four hits.

He did close up. it out, and he now has an 1185 ERA and a 256 whip. I wonder. I don't know. Well, if he's looking to get Edwin-Diaz work in a low-pressure situation, I wonder if that opens, if that makes it more open to the possibility of using someone else in the high-leverage situation. You know, as you point out, you don't know when the next save situation is.

He had work recently enough. Why bring him into this lopsided game? And obviously he wants to get him right. He wants to get him right in a way that doesn't lead to the Dodgers losing. Yeah. So I don't know. Just honestly makes me feel like it's more likely that we see Tanner Scott or somebody else use the next time the Dodgers do have a safe chance.

And I would not blame them one bit if they go ahead and do that. To stream or not to stream here on Tuesday, we have Shane Boz against the Yankees, Kader Montero at the Pirates, Carson Wisdenhunt at the Guardians, Andrew Abbott against the Cardinals, Merrill Kelly at the Red Sox, Zach Thornton at home against the Padres,

Tyler Malley at the Twins, Zebby Matthews against the Braves, George Cawson at the Astros and Christian Javier home against the Angels. So I think Tyler Malley with the kind of runies on is the best choice, and who do we say before? I added Shane Boss to this list.

He wasn't on it yesterday. The Yankees offense, I mean, there are multiple metrics that they rank last in baseball since Aaron Judge has gone down. I would be okay using Shane Box. I think so too. His last star wasn't very good, but he's somebody who is exactly the kind of pitcher you stream when the matchups are good.

I guess Andrew Abbott would be my third choice, but not if you're looking to protect whip. And then on Wednesday we have Chris Bassett against the Yankees, Jackson Job at the Pirates, Clay Holmes against the White Sox,

Arandola against the Marlins, Matthew Libertor at the Reds, Max Scherzer at the Rays, and Walbert Arania at the Astros. I'm gonna say Arania just because I think he's been very reliable, tough matchup at Houston,

but he's a ground ball pitcher. Yeah. Uh, second choice. Maybe Aaron Nola against the Marlins. He's looked good lately. I don't have a lot of faith in it, but you're not supposed to have a lot of faith in a streamer, right? Third choice, maybe Clay Holmes against the White Sox. Yeah, I think I would say Clay Holmes second on this list.

And then I would just swap him and Nola. But yeah, I like Aurenia as number one. And then I would go Clay Holmes and then Aaron Nola. a very skeptical Aaron Nola Fender against the Marlins. Let's wrap up with Team Name Tuesday and this one is from Heath. Not Heath Cummings, a different Heath.

After years of, although that would be cool, after years of listening to the podcast, I think that I have blended the perfect balance of players and team name. Just looking for that patented Scott White, that works well and not too much. Approval while also appealing to everyone's clear love of yodeling.

So here we go. Yo-ho-le-he-woo. Yo-ho-le-he-woo. It's got three names in there, but I think it works. I think it works. You, the problem is when you have to contort to the sound of too many names to make it read clearly. I don't know, maybe it's just my brain.

Maybe it's just too lazy trying to read that and make it sound right that just kind of give up if halfway through reading it if it doesn't immediately sound right. But this does. So it works, even with the three names there. Good job, Heath, different teeth.

And it is fun to sing and or yodel if you'd like to try. So there you go. Yoho lehiwu! This one's from Bobby. As a Mets fan, I had to find the silver lining this season and therefore my fantasy team name is

Benjwatching. Which you mentioned earlier, Scott. Yeah. We didn't even know. It was coming. Elegant. There you go. Like that.

Simple. It works. And this last one's from Tim. Take the gun. Leave the Caglione. Ah. Yeah. Yeah.

I could deal with that. I have seen the first two Godfather movies. I did not watch the third because everyone told me it was bad. I think it's a little overhated. Okay. It's not as strong from beginning to end, but it has some. it has some poignant moments. I have to, yeah, I've got to do it.

I don't mind it. You got to wrap up the, you know, a trilogy that iconic, you've got to wrap it. Yeah, you've got to get it done. Yeah, I think it's a little overhated. Obviously, the first two are, you know, many people would consider one or the other, the best movie ever. So it's tough competition. I'm not saying, I'm not saying Godfather three's in that same. class, but I think it builds on the first two in a way that is fulfilling enough for Michael's

character, especially. I was actually asked to be the godfather of a baby this weekend. How about that's good? Congrats to me. Yeah. Congrats, I guess. I was at a family barbecue, and I was, after I found out, I was obnoxiously telling everyone to Kiss my ring. That was my godfather moment.

The day of my daughter's wedding. Yeah, I could see that. All right, we are 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. Oh, bye.

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