Fantasy Baseball Today - Pirates Promoting Paul Skenes! Latest Rankings Risers & Fallers! (5/9 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 9, 2024

The Pirates are promoting the top pitching prospect in all of baseball, PAUL SKENES (2:55)! ... How are we ranking Skenes (8:10)? ... Add Shea Langeliers and/or Brent Rooker (18:15)? ... Juan Soto has been awesome and Aaron Judge is coming around (25:20). ... News (28:07): Christian Yelich is back. ... Dylan Cease and Chris Sale look like studs again (38:47). ... Ryan Jeffers, Riley Greene and Kyle Bradish are moving up the rankings (41:45). ... Paul Goldschmidt and Reid Detmers have fallen down the ranks (47:30). ... Reese Olson and Chris Paddack are pitching well (51:53). ... Add either of Willi Castro or Eugenio Suarez (55:30)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (58:12). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question, email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your lead. We're fantasy! Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Finally, the Pirates have promoted Paul Skeen. Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Thursday, May 9th. I am Frank Stanfield, joined by Scott White.

Today on the show, we've got rankings, risers, and fallers, two pitchers who may have rediscovered their stud status. A bunch of waiver wire options. Honestly, there was way too much going on today, but there's only one place to start, and that is with Paul Skeens. Who is the top pitching prospect in all of baseball, arguably the best pitching prospect since Stephen Strassberg, the Pirates plan to promote Paul Skeens this weekend. He was the first overall pick in last year's draft. He's 21 years old. A huge right-hander, six-foot-six in seven starts at AAA this year.

A point-99 ERA, a point-91 whip, 45 strikeouts over 27 in the third innings. He throws five different pitches, but it's mainly a fastball, which averages 99 miles per hour, a wipeout slider, and a splinker. You heard that right. It is a 94-95-mile-per-hour spree. Glitter, Sinker, hybrid. It's, I think not far off from the one that, like, Yohan Duran throws, even though Duran throws a lot. It's kind of just like some tacked on to his arsenal.

It's really the fastball slider, right? Yeah. Mostly the fastball and slider. What are your expectations for Paul Skeens? What does the workload look like? And where did you rank him? Who, okay. So, you said this is maybe the most highly anticipated pitching prospects

since Stephen Strasbourg, and that is my gut feeling as well. However, I will point out that at the time of his promotion, Paul Skeens was already rostered in 90% of CBS sports leagues, which by that metric probably makes him the most highly anticipated pitching prospect, because rarely do you see any minor leaguer rostered that widely across fantasy baseball. So everybody on board with this guy. and they have been for a long time, whether or not to Adam is not even into discussion.

So we have to go a step further here when talking about Paul Skeens. Realistically, what kind of impact can he make in fantasy is the question? Because right now, there's all the hype, all the fanfare. His value is already at a very high point, which makes for potentially a selling opportunity. I know that's sacrilegious or whatever to have waited this long for this guy and then before he even throws a pitch for your team, you think about selling him. But let's consider what he's actually worth right now because it may surprise you. So Paul Skeens is really good, as we saw in the miners.

But it's important to keep in mind. his outings were all very short. There was one six-inning outing two turns ago, and then he went back to four-and-a-third in his latest turn. In that six-inning outing, he threw 75 pitches. So his arsenal hasn't been tested over what we would consider a full-starters workload. And I think what happened to him in his latest start

when he went four-and-a-third innings, there's some reason for concern there, because Paul Skeens, his appeal is so much built on heat. You know, like he is maybe trending toward being the hardest throwing starting pitcher ever, at least in terms of consistency hitting triple digits. He threw, he had 98 pitches of 100 miles per hour or more at AAA. That is more than any major league starting pitcher, any major league pitcher of any kind, but any major league starting pitcher has had this year, triple-digit fastballs.

And remember, Skeens is doing this in very short outings, relatively speaking. So he's in a category of his own as far as velocity goes, and that's the key to his success. What happened in his last start when he went four in a third innings, it was his first time starting on four days' rest, which is typical if you're on a five-man rotation. He was doing it for the first time. the velocity was a little bit down. It was a little lower than we had been seeing it previously, and he got into a little bit of trouble for the first time.

He ended up allowing two runs in those four and a third inning. He allowed his first home run of the season. It was on his second slowest fastball of the season. So I wonder if he's really been properly built up to take this on. I guess the way I phrased it in the article I wrote, But my concerns for Skeens are twofold. Is he truly ready to handle a major league workload? And to what extent will be, will he be allowed to try?

I think the skills, you know, just the pure stuff for Paul Skeens is so good that on an inning for inning basis, I think, you know, it'll be high quality. But if he's not going six innings consistently or even five innings necessary for a win, and again, he only reached that once during his. entire time in the minors, how impactful can he possibly be in fantasy? So it's not like my concerns are zero for Skeens. Again, a very talented high upside pitcher. Having said that, I'm ranking him 25th to start out. Scott, I don't know how you just did the breakdown you did and you ended it with, but I ranked Paul Skeen's SP 25.

All right, well, here's my rationale for that. There are a lot of interesting starting, like starting pitcher feels deep right now. We talked about this a lot because of how many interesting options have emerged this year. But how many of those interesting options are like stable, worry free, no question marks kind of guys? Not that many. The starting pitcher position is full of interesting pitchers with question marks. So if the question marks are going to be there anyway, why not shoot for maximum upside, which Skeens provides? I mean, Skins could be a top 10 pitcher the rest of the way.

I don't think that's out of the realm of possibility. He certainly has the stuff for it. So 25th, you know, I was looking at my rankings. I didn't want to rank him as high as 25th, but you get to 25th in the starting pitcher rankings, at least for me. 26th is Joe Ryan. And behind him, you know, maybe Joe Ryan. isn't the best test case because he's kind of just a weird pitcher that's hard to evaluate for a number of reasons. And you're going to see a wide variety of opinions on him.

But after Joe Ryan, you get into the injured group of Jesus, Lazzardo, Grayson Rodriguez, and Bobby Miller. So that's kind of a cutoff for me where I tend to slot a bunch of injured guys. And then behind them, I have Tanner Bybee. I have Nicola Dolo. I have Bailey Ober. I think I'd pretty easily take Paul Skeen's, over them. Like if somebody offered me Paul Skeens for Bailey Ober right now, you want to take that? I'd take that. Joe Ryan again, maybe that's, I put, I have them just ahead of Joe Ryan and maybe

that's a little more questionable. But you don't have to go that far behind Joe Ryan to run into pitchers who have their own issues like Paul Skeens does and not quite the same upside because who has quite the same upside. Do you get what I'm saying? Does that seem disagreeable to you? Because a lot of people had a lot of problems with my ranking Paul Skeen's 25th. I agree with the logic completely. I disagree with the ranking also completely

because I have Paul Skeens at SP 49. And I think I had him around 70th or 75th. He gets called up. I'm like, okay, I'm going to move him into my top 50. I thought that was pretty aggressive. Clearly, you are ranking more with the mindset of his season. ceiling, which I totally get. Me, I am ranking more with an eye on what the floor could be here

for some of the reasons that you brought up. The fact that his first start pitching on normal rest, he wasn't as dominant in that outing. And the fact that we have already seen the pirates limit Jared Jones in a few starts already this season as well. A few starts, but he's, he's mostly been allowed to go. And I think there's a chance that we could see that from Paul Skeens as well. And then on top of that, he is a rookie. And I think there is a chance. that he could struggle. There's a chance. There's also a chance

that he could be amazing. I put him at SP 49 and I have him just behind names. I mean, guys that have done it for a while. Look, I'm not going to doubt that Paul Skeen says higher upside than these guys. But like, I have Berrios at 42, Bassett at 43.

Cacucci has been really good for like almost a year now. Hunter Green has turned it on recently. Garrett Crochet. He's had some hiccups. But by all of the metrics that we like to use, Kada Walker. underlying ERA estimators.

He's been really good as well. So that was kind of a range where I thought we were starting to get into pitchers with lots of question marks. And that's why I put Paul Skeens where I did. But I'm looking at some of the pitchers you have ranked ahead of Paul Skeens by as many as 10 spots.

You're telling me you would not trade Justin Verlander for Paul Skeens right now. You would not trade Jose Burrios for Paul Skeens right now. I have a hard time believing you on that, Frank. Yeah, there's an argument for it. I mean, I was thinking, like, realistically, how high could I get him? And I looked at that, like, mid-30s range. You brought up Bailey over.

Tanner Bybee, who we'll talk about, has this been, like, very unreliable so far this season. I have Ranger Suarez at 34 that might be too high. I put Kyle, I think Kyle Braddice is a really hard pitcher to rank right now. I put him 35th. I could make the argument of moving Paul Skeins as high as there. But I also want to make it very known that, like, if he comes out and he pitches really well, I have no problem moving him up further from here as well.

Yeah, okay. You may have missed your chance to buy on him, but to get back to the buy or sell question here, well, first let me say, I think part of the disconnect is that your evaluation of skeins relative to a Bailey Ober or Justin Verlander type, I think it can depend largely on the kind of league you play in.

And in the deep 15-team roto leagues that are very popular within the fantasy baseball commentariat, you can't afford to sacrifice a Bailey Ober. You're going to be ruined if that trade doesn't work out. But in a shallower league, which our rankings are built on because far more people play in those leagues, you'll probably be able to replace them decently enough on the waiver wire, if not with a starting pitcher on your bench.

The loss is far more manageable. So you can afford to take a big risk for upside. And, you know, we build our rankings for 12 team leagues. We don't build them for 15 team leagues. So that's part of the reason I'm putting him that high. But to get back, I'm still with us, right? Yeah, it was a little laggy there, but you're here. To get back to the question of whether you sell on him or not.

So I put this to the test on Twitter. I put out a poll. Paul Skeens or Joe Ryan rest of season. So my 25th ranked pitcher Skeens 26th, Joe Ryan, 60% people took Skeens over Ryan. So the main reason I'm ranking Skeens where I do is because I'm trying to properly assess his value so that people can make trade determinations off of that. If you don't think Skeens deserves to be in the top 25, 60% of people who responded in my poll disagree with you. And that presents you with a tremendous cell opportunity that I wouldn't necessarily discourage you to take advantage of. Myself, Paul Skeens, the hype where it is with him just being called up.

You know, if I could combine Paul Skeens with a lesser piece and turn them into Kevin Gosman or turn them into Pablo Lopez, I'd take advantage of that myself because there's, there is a good chance, as you talk about, Frank, that Skeins loses value. from here. That he goes three in a third innings in his first start and gives up four and runs. And then people are kind of squeamish at that point. So, you know, his value could change significantly after one start. I think me slotting him in the top 25 accurately represents his value now. And you'll have to decide if the reward is worth the risk. It's a good time to make a decision right now because,

Yeah, he could end up losing a lot of value after that first start. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe I'm in the minority of your Twitter audience, Scott. But if that's the way people are actually valuing Paul Skeens, I would absolutely be looking to sell and get top 25 starting pitcher value in return. Obviously for redraft. Like, I don't want to talk about this. Like, I'm a Paul Skeens hater.

I'm very excited to watch him pitch. But I think we do have to be realistic from a redraft perspective. Dynasty, obviously, Keeper Leagues, we're much more excited about him. Again, he's the top pitching prospect in baseball, and maybe one of the top pitching prospects of all time. That is Paul Skeen's. We do have to keep the show moving, but yeah, let us know in the comments or tweet at us.

Who do you agree more with? Should he be closer to SP 25 or closer to SP 50? I would be interested to know what the people think. Let's take our first break when we return. We'll get into everything else that happened here on Wednesday. There's a lot going on. We'll talk about it right after this. Welcome back in and let's find

finally get into the players of the night. Holy Toledo. The element of surprise, Brains Supreme. Holy Toledo. A call from the Oakland A's, because Scott, both of our players of the night

play for the Oakland A's. Hopefully people don't shut off the podcast. Yeah. Okay, so I'm going to go first, I guess. I'm going to go with Shay Langaleers, who came within a single of the cycle on Wednesday. he went

sorry I lost his name here in my notes he went three for four with his eight home run his second triple his fourth double and he's been hitting pretty well lately especially with those power numbers like I said eight home runs that's an impressive number for a catcher

to this point. Shea Langleyers obviously plays a lot and it caused me to take a second look at how this season is going there's a lot to like. We were just talking yesterday about potential replacements for Wilson Contreras. I don't think Langalear's name even came up. He's only 30% rostered.

He's out there in a lot of leagues. He's actually underperformed his expected stats so far. His expected batting averages 247, which for a power hitting catcher is, you know, you'd take a batting average around 250 for sure. And his ex-slug is 530. And I think the most encouraging change from one year to the next, he was striking out 29% of the time last year. A strikeout rate that I would say is difficult to overcome

unless you're just a massive exit velocity guy. So 29% last year is down to 22% this year. It's improvement, notable improvement for a hitter in his second full season now. And it's the kind of growth that we shouldn't, it find terribly shocking. His top prospect back in the day was the key piece in the Matt Olson deal. And if nothing else, he's delivering big power numbers. So I'm not saying Shay Langaleers is a top 12 catcher in fantasy, but he deserves to be rostered in more than 30%

of leagues. And I think is in a broad sense. Good. You mentioned the roster rate 30%. Seven games next week all on the road for Shea Langaleers. And we are looking for catcher replacements with the injury to Wilson Contreras. We had some other big games too. Elias Diaz went two for four with his third home run. He's batting over 300. So far this season, Mitch Garver, starting to wake up a little bit. He went two for three with his fourth home run over his last 11 games. He's batting 263 with three of those four home runs. Scott, if you are, I guess just planning for next week, who would you take between Diaz, Garver, and Langaleers? Diaz is on the road, so probably not him.

Yeah, probably not him. I obviously haven't looked at the matchups yet because I will do that tomorrow. But I would say, I would lean Langalears, I think, between him and Garver. Now, rest of season, I'm going to rank Garver higher, but unless you're in a two-catcher league, you can go week to week with catchers pretty easily. All right, my player of the night is going to be Brent Rooker,

who, you know, he gets in these zones. You can say this about a lot of power hitters, and he is just rocking the ball right now. Five for nine across the doubleheader with his ninth home run, added four runs, three RBI, since returning to the A's. I believe he was on the aisle before that. On April 19th, his last 18 games, Brent Rooker is batting 313 with seven homers, 16 runs,

and 19 RBI. Again, he's done that in only 18 games, and his past 18 games. So 56% rostered, seven road games next week. He popped 30 home runs with the Oakland A's last year. And again, there were times

where you ride the hot streak and then I think, you know, there were other times where he was droppable in child lower leagues just because, you know, that's the kind of player who Brent Rooker is.

But, Scott, would you be looking to add Rooker in three outfielder leagues? That was a question I was getting here on Wednesday. I mean, I wouldn't trust him to be a fixture in my three outfielder league lineup. But if you've been, like, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's the thinnest position.

And if you've been struggling to fill that third spot, I don't see why Rooker wouldn't be a candidate for you right now. I mean, the guy has a nine, 992 OPS for the season. And, you know, I don't think it's going to end up there. He just happens to be really hot right now. But he had third. Homer's last season. The power is legitimate.

I think he's a fixture in that lineup at this point. And he'll have his cold stretches, I'm sure. But I wouldn't mind using him in a three outfielder league right now if I thought he was as good as I was going to do. I'm looking at the matchups for Oakland next week since we already talked about Languiliers. Astros for four games, Royals for three. So a nice full seven game week. A mixture of good pitchers and bad pitchers, but overall it doesn't look like an imposing slate there for the athletics lineup.

So, yeah, I think Rooker would be a fine choice to use. I gave you four outfielders yesterday that we spoke about off the waiver wire. Verdugo, Brian Dela Cruz, who actually hit another home run here on Wednesday. He's up to eight homers now. Lars Nupar and Max Kepler. Would you take Rooker over all of those names? Again, it was Kepler, Neupar, Dela Cruz, and Verdugo. I would take Nupar.

tops of that group, regardless of format. I would take Rooker second in a Roto League. I would take Verdugo second in a points league. I would take T.J. Friedel over all of them. That was my next question. Two other names who performed well here on Wednesday. T.J. Friedel went two for four with an RBI and his first steel. And Joe Adel went two for four with his fifth home run.

It sounds like you would take Friedel ahead. What about Brent Rooker versus Joe Adel? I'd rather start Rooker right now but it's kind of an upside versus it's kind of a ceiling play versus a floor play notice how carefully I said floor and Adele is the obviously the ceiling play

so if it's for a bench spot I'd probably take him though he had been he had fallen into a deep dark slump prior to this performance Wednesday. He had begun the month of May. This is Joe Adele we're talking about. One for 20 prior to this two performance Wednesday. So, you know, hardly an open-and-shot case.

Yeah, I think I would take Rooker ahead of Joe Adel. I move Rooker up in the rankings inside of my top 60, I believe. So he absolutely needs to be rostered in all five outfielder leagues. And based on his roster range, that he probably already is. Want to give an honorable mention to the Bronx Bombers, because they are doing exactly that right now. Juan Soto is off to an awesome start with the Yankees.

He went three for five with his ninth home run, added five RBI. He's batting 338 with a 437 on base percentage. Aaron Judge is coming around. He went three for five with his eighth home run. And over his last 11 games, he's batting 385 with four home runs, 11 RBI, and one steal. and John Carlos Stanton in the past two days

has hit two of the three hardest hit balls in all of baseball. His eighth home run here on Wednesday, the hardest hit baseball this season. 119 miles per hour, and then yesterday it was 118.18.8 exit velocity. He is up to eight home runs. He's got 20 RBI.

It's something like a 35 home run pace. I think he's kind of a similar player to Brent Rooker. he's probably in that range. I think you wrote him up as like someone who doesn't need to be rostered right now, Scott. Are you sticking with that with Stanton? Yeah, I mean, in three outfielder points, Lee Stanton doesn't need to be rostered.

He's going to strike out too much. He hits balls very hard. This has been going on for this, I think, the fourth year of this with very high quality of contact, but just terrible numbers apart from the home runs, which are, you know, it's not like he's delivering league leading home run totals. It's just fine. Okay, so it's the fourth season of him doing this. I'm sorry, the third season of him doing this, not the fourth.

Yeah, it was the fifth hardest hit home run in Stackass history, too. Wow. I will point out. So it was a serious poke. If there's one thing that Stanton is still good at it is hitting the ball extremely hard. Yeah. We just need him to stay on the field. long enough to continue doing that.

Not just that. He doesn't get enough hits apart from home runs. Like he's, he wastes, it's kind of funny because these balls, both of the balls you were talking about, two of the three hardest hit of the season were home runs. But it's hard to hit a home run as hard as 11,

118, 119 miles per hour. So he kind of like wastes his exit velocity on home runs, if that makes sense. Yeah, I mean, both of them didn't, you know, they weren't like high majestic home runs.

They were frozen ropes to the outfield and they just kept traveling. And that was that. I don't know. It's been hard to fit. I mean, the strikeouts are an issue, but usually you hit the ball that hard you can overcome a high strikeout rate. So I don't know why Stanton has fallen into this three-year rut,

but at this point, I don't really expect him to come out of it. All right. Let's run through the news and notes. Christian Yelich was activated out of nowhere and was in the lineup as the D.H. batting third for the Brewers. Tyler Black was optioned back to AAA. Scott, if you added Tyler Black this past weekend,

is he someone you need to hold on to or drop now that he was demoted? I guess it depends on the format if it's one of those 15-team Roto leagues where you probably dropped a pretty penny into him in the hopes of getting a nice speed contribution. I'd be reluctant to drop him. I think he'll be back sooner than later. but if you're in something shallower than that, if you're in the sort of league where Brent Roker is available, for instance,

I don't think you need to cling tightly to Tyler Black. Pirates Director of Sports Medicine, Todd Tomchick said that, said ankle concerns will likely be something O'Neill Cruz has to deal with throughout the season. He suffered a fractured left ankle in April of last year, and it might explain why Cruz has struggled so far this season, didn't really sound like this is something that's going to go away, at least not this year.

Worth mentioning that Cruz went two for four with a double and three RBI on Wednesday. And shout out to Malik Armstrong, tagged me on Twitter that over the past 15 games, O'Neill Cruz is betting 327 with a 510 slug. So he's been coming around, but it was just interesting timing to reveal this report about the ankle. Are you concerned, Scott, long term, with O'Neill Cruz?

Well, I don't think the ankle is causing him to strike out 35% of the time. And that's my biggest gripe with what Cruz is doing so far. Have you ever tried to swing a bat with a bad ankle, Scott? Come on. I mean, no. But given that 35% strikeout rate isn't exactly outside the norm for Cruz, I don't know. If you told me coming into the season

that he was going to strike out 35% of the time, I would say he's doing about what I thought he'd do. And I say that, I guess, with him having a sub-700 OPS right now, or maybe it just got over 700 with his performance today. And okay, so technically he could, I would expect him to do a little better than that. But I don't think he's,

I've kind of written off the possibility of him performing like a top, five shortstop this year. Top 10. Still think that's possible and even likely, but not top five. Again, that is O'Neill Cruz.

Let's keep it moving. Blake Snell will throw a bullpen Thursday and begin a rehab assignment at Singley on Sunday. Grace Rodriguez threw 15 pitches off the mound on Wednesday, his first time doing so since landing on the IL with right shoulder inflammation. Christian Encarnacion Strand was placed in the IL after tests revealed a fracture in his right wrist,

and he's expected to miss four to six. weeks so I think I jinxed him I thought I saw six to eight four to six it might be it yeah let's say four to eight I guess but I got worse I think I have jinxed incarnation trend I gave him a bold prediction that he would per he'd be this year's Austin Riley that has not worked out he had an opportunity to seize with noel v. Marte suspended and now by the time he's ready to return noelvi Marte is getting ready to return as well so it's it hasn't worked out for Encarnacian trend the red started Jamer Kenner

Candelario at first with Santiago Espinall at third. Who's been terrible. Candelario himself has been terrible. I think Noel V. Marte is going to have an easy time regaining a job, one way or another. Yeah. And I think he's eligible to return early June, right? I think it's like June 21st. Okay.

But I will say the article I'm looking at here is it does say four to six for incarnacient Strand, not six to eight. Okay. So you had that right. Maybe you're right about the Marte thing, too. And maybe I'm just wrong about everything. Maybe you're right about Paul's schemes and maybe. No.

80 games probably is closer to like mid to late June, though. That makes more sense. I mean, the thing is, Incarnausian Strand was playing with this injury for like the last week because they thought it, they thought it wasn't a fracture and it missed just a few days and was back in the lineup. So that's kind of the weird part of this story. In any case, we're not going to see him for a while. He was also on that article, those 24 players, that you're okay to drop in a shallow league in Kronosian Strand was, it's a gimmie now that you're not going to see him for close to two months.

Obviously, in those 15-team Roto Leagues, you have to hold on. All right, Max Scherzer will remain shut down from throwing for the next few days due to a right thumb and a forearm issue. I believe this is the first time we're hearing of a forearm. And I've got to say, for a pitcher as old as Max Scherzer, don't love it. Don't love a forearm. Don't love hearing that. Boba Chet was moved down to sixth in the Blue Jays lineup.

He finished one for four with an RBI and run scored. He is batting 191 on the season with a 1.9% barrel rate. He's been very bad. Brian Wu is expected to rejoin the Mariners during their upcoming homestand. Emerson Hancock was optioned back to AAA. Zach Gelloff has been cleared. for a rehab assignment at AAA this weekend. Sean Murphy has progressed to hitting in the batting cage.

He's already missed nearly six weeks with a left oblique strain. Ryan Pepio was placed in the aisle with a left lower leg contusion retroactive to May 6th. It doesn't sound like it's going to be a long stay on the aisle. Edward Cabrero was placed in the aisle with that recurring right shoulder impingement. The Marlins also reinstated Braxton Garrett, who is set to make his season debut Sunday against the Phillies. Shane Baz will make his. his second rehab start at AAA on Friday. He only threw 39 pitches in his first rehab outing.

And Shane Boz is 47% rostered. I'd like to say Boz is a mustache, Scott, but there are already so many injuries. I don't know if that's possible. He's not a mustache. He's a person. Ah. And I think he, yeah, I mean, all the injuries,

it would be hard to say, I doubt there are many people out there with an open IL spot. That just makes it an easy decision. But I did, and we're going to get to this segment soon, I did move Shane Boz up in my rankings into the top 80, which puts them between Brady Singer and Eric Fetty. So it's time to be on alert for Shane Boz, who a couple years ago was the,

closest thing to Paul Skeens that a couple years ago had to offer. And yeah, a lot of upside. All right. Dane Dunning was placing the aisle with a right rotator cuff strain retroactive to May 5th. Chas McCormick could begin a rehab assignment this weekend. He's on the aisle with hamstring sorness. Jorge Salero was placed on the aisle with a right shoulder strain. Elliot Ramos was recalled from AAA.

Taz Bradley is slated to make his season debut Friday. He is 53% rostered. Scott, what's your interest? level in Taj Bradley. Less than boss. Okay. Tyler Sotersrom was recalled by the A's and started the second game of their double header at first base. He went

two for five with his first home run added to RBI. He did have seven home runs at AAA the season. And I think again, we need catchers in deeper two catcher leagues. Sotersram is a name that could matter. So he's... Fortunately, he's eligible

at catcher in CBS Sports League. Uncle Uncle Scott looking out for you on that one because he's D-H-only on a lot of other sites. And I could walk you through the methodology, but it's probably not worth the time investment. I do wonder, is this going to impact Shea Langalears playing time after I talked up Langalears?

You would think the A's would want as much offense as they could get in the lineup, and Langalears presents more than a lot of their choices. But I doubt they brought up Soderstrum to sit. he could play mostly first base, I guess. Yeah, the fact that he played first base in his first game up, it's not a great lineup. I'm sure he could play DH as well,

so I wouldn't worry too much about it affecting Langalears, but I could be wrong. I've been wrong many times before. Let's take our final break when we return. Two pitchers that look like they've discovered their stud status, and that will lead us into our rankings, risers, and followers. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in, and two stud pitchers, I think.

They're back. Dylan Cease was ridiculous. At the Cubs, he threw seven shutout innings, one hit, two walks, 12 strikeouts with 24 swinging strikes on 113 pitches. His fastball velocity is up so far this year, 97.3 miles per hour in this start. Last year it was 95.6. So the fastball is closer to where it was in 2022,

and that might just make all the difference. The fact that he isn't walking as many batters obviously helps as well. And Chris Sale has a little. great. He got his revenge. Although, I don't really think there's revenge here. I think he should be happy that the Red Sox traded him to the Atlanta Braves. But, you know, just for the

we'll do it, for the storytelling. Six shot out innings, six hits, one walk, ten strikeouts for sale, 20 swinging strikes on 103 pitches. He has been awesome so far this season. That slider specifically had 13 whiffs in this start

and it has been really, really good so far. Chris Sale, a two-night ERA, a 0.98 whip. Scott, I moved Chris Sale up to, he's inside of my top 20 starting pitchers, and Dylan Sees is now inside of my top 15. What do you think? Boom.

I'm higher on both than you are. Oh. Aha. Darn it. Yeah, I moved Sees up to 14th in Roto, 16th in points, because in points leagues, I have Logan Webb and Aaronola ahead of him,

because strikeouts aren't as important. in points leagues, and that's what CIS is best at. So, you know, I'm buying to a certain extent. I certainly think he has ace potential. We saw it two years ago. I'm not really sure why he's so much better. The walks are down. The walks are the lowest they've ever been,

but he's still throwing just 61% of his pitches for strikes. That's not good. It's not any better than last year. He's just making the strikes count, I guess. could it continue? I think it could continue, or you could start walking more guys and maybe drop outside of the top 15.

But there's enough reason for hope here that I'm with you and putting them in the top 15. And Sale's been in my top 20 for a while. I talk about those pitchers who show a lot of potential, a lot of reason for optimism, but have question marks that hold us back. Performance-wise,

I don't feel like Sale has any question. The question marks are, is he just going to get hurt again? But it was such a, the sort of injuries he was suffering the last few years were just kind of all over the place. So it, there was a degree of randomness there that makes me less concerned about that question mark for him than whatever question mark we have for Bailey Ober, for instance. All right. Let's get into the rest of our rankings, RISers and Foller, Scott. We'll start with the Rizers. Feel free to mention all the names. but if you're going to go in depth,

maybe just focus on like one or two of those. All righty. So some of the risers that I sent to you include Ryan Jeffers. Let's start with that one because people have been clamoring for us to move them up in the rankings. Got them in the top 13

last week. Here's where I have Ryan Jeffers now. You ready for this? Eighth then Roto, seventh and points at the catcher position. I mean, I moved them up to ninth in both. Yeah, they're, Say I got you beat again. Beating you on everybody.

So that puts him ahead of Jonah Heim and Luis Camposano and Logan O'Hoppy. And frankly, that seems like a pretty easy call. I also have Jeffers ahead of Cal Raleigh in points leagues where the strikeouts hold back Raleigh a bit. Jeffers has been great with the strikeouts. Jordan Westberg, who I famously, question mark, said I didn't think would have the potential to be a top 12 second base. early this season?

Well, I now have him seventh at second base. Yeah. Yeah, I've moved him ahead of Xander Bogartz and Glaber Torres and a lot of those struggling second baseman who I don't feel like have stud upside anyway. I think Jordan Westberg might have them beaten the upside department. And yeah, it's not like you're feeling too good about Bogarts and Torres right now anyway. So he's had of them, he's had Nico Horner, Andres Menez, etc. Let's see here.

Terrick Scouble, Chris brought up after Terrick Schuble's last start that maybe he should just be the number one pitcher in fantasy. Well, I made him number two. I went almost all the way there. Zach Wheeler, I have number one because, you know, he's just such a workhorse. And with the additions to his arsenal this season, he looks like the best version of Zach Wheeler we've ever seen. and just seems like an ace among aces. So I had to keep Zach Wheeler at the top, but Terrick Scoobles is number two now.

I mentioned earlier, I moved Shane Boz into my top 80. I moved Brian Wu into my top 65. I moved Braxton Garrett into my top 85, just getting ready to, like anticipating the return of these I.L players who are, Wu and Garrett especially,

they're going to start next time through for their respective teams. I move Christian Scott into the top 50. Let me see if I can provide you with a little context for that, who he's ahead of. So I moved him ahead of Nick Povetta, who did not look so great in his return today. Mitch Keller, how about that? I got Christian Scott ahead of Keller. Somebody offered me that in the podcast league, Keller for Scott straight up.

I thought about it, but I said no. Three spots different in my rankings. I got him ahead of Carlos Rodon who looked good today. We'll talk about him later. I got him ahead of Walker Bueller. So Christian Scott, I have a bout where you have Paul Skeens, Frank. or Christian Scott? I actually thought about that today.

And yeah, I got Skeens at 49. I think I have Scott at 56, so he's just behind. I would prefer Paul Skeens, yeah. Sure. Okay. Those are my risers. Okay.

Some risers for me, I moved Christopher Morel inside of my top 16, third basement and inside the top 30 outfielders. Willie Adamas is now my number 13 shortstop in both formats. I moved them ahead of both Anthony Volpe and Willie Adon. of Willie Adomis, that is who I'm talking about. I moved him ahead of Zander Bogart. So Bogart's off to a rough start.

Volpe's come back down to Earth. Adomis is playing for a contract. He's someone we really liked last year as well. So I really like what I've seen from him so far. Three outfielders. My 19, 20th, and 21st ranked outfielers in head to head points. Tyler O'Neill, Riley Green, and Brendan Nemo. Scott, I just saw that you have Riley Green

40th in your outfield rankings. Yeah. That needs to change. I haven't, I haven't, I've updated everything but out of relief pitcher. I ran out of time. You should have told me beforehand. I wouldn't have called you out. I should have, you're right.

No, I still need to update outfield. But yeah, Riley Green needs to get up into the top 30. I would imagine, where did you say you put him? I moved them up to 20th and headtight points. I don't know that I'll have them quite that high, but needs to be higher than 40th for sure. And then another riser for me was Kyle Bracken. He's a name I mentioned earlier. I think he's a little bit difficult to rank right now

because as we mentioned after his season debut last week, he was a pitcher I really liked coming into the season before we knew about the injury. I think I had him ranked as a top 24 starting pitcher. The idea of this torte, like slightly torn or sprained UCL is still in the back of my mind, and I think it presents a lot of risk. But so far, he's pitched really well.

And he's a pitch well again here on Wednesday. He threw five innings, one run, nine strikeouts with 12 swinging strikes on 90 pitches. Velocity has been fine so far in each of his first two starts. I moved Braddish up to SP35. I can see the argument for him being lower based on the risk, but he's a guy that I liked a lot, and he's healthy for now. So I moved him up that high.

Yeah, I don't mind it. I have him 49th, which sounds like a big difference, 14 spots difference. But it's a really... Really elastic group. Yes, certainly is. You know, I could have Paul Skeens in that group after his first start this weekend. Who knows?

Let's get into some of the followers, Scott, who were some of the players sliding down? Your rankings. Sliding down for me. Okay, so probably the most notable... I guess let's start with Trey Turner, who's sliding for obvious reasons. He's out for the next six weeks. How does that impact his value in a practical sense? I moved him to eighth in my rest of season shortstop rankings,

which drops him behind some obvious names like Gunner Henderson and Corey Seeger and Francisco Lindor, but also C.J. Abrams. Somebody came to me today offering C.J. Abrams for Trey Turner. I am buying into C.J. Abrams enough that I think I'd do it. Obviously depends somewhat on. Who else I have? in for Turner, blah, blah, blah. But generally speaking, I'm going to take Abrams over Turner right now.

Paul Goldschmidt might be the struggling stud bat, who I'm most worried about. And I'm pretty close to just saying, Finito. Uh-oh. So, yeah, I got him down to 11th and roto, 13th, and head-to-head. I could go lower. So that moves him. The reason he's lower and head to head

is because I moved him behind Yanti Diaz and Vinny Pass Quantino. They got the great plate discipline. And so, you know, I value them more in points leagues. I have Goldschmidt ahead of them still. It gets tricky with guys like Alec Bohm and Isok Perettas who have been great so far, obviously.

But I don't think have close to the upside of Goldschmidt. Am I ready to move Goldschmidt behind them? Not yet. But boy, if somebody offered me a Paul Goldschmidt for Isak Perettis right now, I'd really have a hard time with that. I don't think I would take it either. Goldfinite was one of those names,

and there were a few of these when I was doing the rankings where I thought about lowering them. I couldn't do it yet, but I am close to that point. Nolan Aronado was another one like that. Alex Bregman was another one I thought about moving down, but ultimately I did not lower any of those names.

Claver Torres was another one, but I said, let me give them a few more weeks and see what happens. I'm totally cool with Bregman. I think he's going to be fine. Kind of worried about Nolan Aeronado, but very worried about Goldschmidt, obviously. Okay, so Michael Bush, I've had to come back to reality with him,

and I've moved him behind Alec Bohm and Isok Periddes, which may seem obvious. I also moved him behind Christopher Morel at third base. I moved him behind Jake Croninworth at second, or I'm sorry, at first base. And Croninworth continues to climb the rankings for me. At second, he's now 13th, and it looks like you have him there, too. And then finally, Eric Fetty, I referenced him earlier. He's back outside of the top 75 for me,

which puts him in very dropable territory. You know, it was a disappointing follow-up to those two great starts. And there's just not much margin for error when you're pitching for the White Sox. I think on a good team, Eric Fetty might be a top 60 pitcher for me, but on the White Sox, he's outside of the top 75. All right, some followers for me in the ranking, I moved, my 17th, 18th, and 19th ranked first baseman right now are Yandy Diaz, Spencer Torkelson, and Michael Bush. I have lowered all of them down in Just Ahead. I have

Esock Paredes at 13, Jake Cronoworth at 14, Reese Hoskins at 15, and Nate Lowe at 16. So those are the names just ahead. They're guys that have performed well. It's pretty much backed up by the Stackcast data as well. So yeah, I'm starting to move some of those names down like the Andy Diaz's of the world. Nolan Gorman, he is outside of my top 20 at second base. It's been a struggle. He's not playing against left-handed pitching. I move Verlander outside of my top 40.

He's, I think, SP-41. And Detmer's, who has struggled recently, I moved outside of the top 50 starting pitchers. He's right behind Paul Skeen's. He is my SP-52. Some of the underlying stuff is still good for Detmer, so I don't want to just bury him yet. I think there's a chance he could bounce back.

But the obvious, you know, the surface-level numbers have not been there recently for Red Demers. Let's get into the rest of Wednesday's action, and we got to zoom on by, Scottie. Waiverwire pitchers. We had three names perform exceptionally well here. Reese Olson turned in a quality start at the Guardian.

Six innings, two runs. Only one of those was earned with four strikeouts. He is down to a 252 ERA and a 112 whip. Chris Paddock continues to have these interesting starts. I want to say good because he had 10 strike. but I can't really figure Chris Paddock out right now. Five and a third innings, one run, ten strikeouts, 19 swinging strikes on 99 pitches.

And in four starts since giving up nine earned runs, Paddock has a 1993 ERA and a 116 whip. So it's doing something right. And Gavin Stone has been turning it up recently. Seven innings, one run, four strikeouts against the Marlins. He's down to a 355 ERA, a 126 whip. But the only problem is when I look into the pitch mix and the data, the changeup is great. And that's kind of it.

That's where it ends for Gavin Stone. I just don't know that he has much else outside of that change up. Scott, what is your interest level in Stone, Paddock, and Reese Olson? Well, I was pretty optimistic about Stone because the swinging strike rate, you know, was 14.4% last year. And it was about that early on this year. that's a Lee. But it's been sinking like a stone, even as he's performed well in his last couple

outings. And yeah, he's right around the Eric Fetty range of my rankings is Gavin Stone. So I wouldn't say he's part of that really interesting group of starting pitchers that I keep referring to. Olson is, though he's on the lower end of that group, getting a lot of whiffs on both the slider and change up still. I wish there were more strikeouts to go with it. But for the most part, Olson is performing well. He's my favorite of this group. Paddock is my least favorite, but Paddock is obviously trending the right direction. I just wish I knew what was going on with him because, okay, two amazing starts in a row. Thirty-five percent sliders in the first.

That was a significant change in pitch usage and might explain why he was so good. in the previous outing, but it was back down to normal in this one. He mostly got the whiffs with the fastball, which is different. We'll see if it continues. I'm mostly just confused about Paddock right now, but there's obviously reason to be encouraged.

Would you take any of these names over Patrick Sandoval, who we spoke glowingly about yesterday? I would take Olson over him. The others are based, they're all basically in the same category. where I see the potential for them to be good, but I'm not especially convinced they're going to get there. I'm trying to see who I have ranked the highest of them.

I have Gavin Stone ranked the highest. So the only one I would take Sandoval over is Paddock. Okay. And we'll mention just the matchups quickly. Reese Olson gets the Marlins next week. Obviously, that is fantastic. Chris Paddock looks like he might line up for two against the Yankees and at the Guardians.

He also is a spark, which helps in points leagues. And Gavin Stone looks like he has the Reds and at the Giants next week in a two-star week. But we'll talk more about two-star pitchers on tomorrow's podcast. Let's get into the Waver Wire hitters. We spoke about the outfielers earlier with Rooker, Dela Cruz, Friedel, and Joe Adele.

Two corner infielers that could be of interest. Willie Castro has really stepped up recently. Two for three with a triple and his third home run. A. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. Hesneo Suarez had a big game. Two, three, with a sock and a shoe. His third home run, his first stolen base. He is only batting 226 with a 641 OPS. Castro's 61% rostered. Suarez, 54%.

Do either of those numbers need to be higher? Swarres might need to be lower than 54%. Yeah. I'd have to see how it compares to other third basemen. But outside of those really deep roto leagues, I don't think Suarez needs to be roster. Castro maybe could go up a little from 61%. But I think his main contribution is going to be as a versatile steel specialist in standard roto leagues. So maybe 61's about right. I don't know. I do want to quickly look up. Yeah, Castro is 64% rostered on Yahoo, which most of their leagues are daily head-to-head categories. I think that is a great format for Willie Castro. So if you're playing a

format like that whenever he's in the lineup. He's been playing a lot recently. Obviously, does have a lot of stolen base upside. That is Willie Castro. Some names in deeper leagues. Leody Tavaris, we spoke about yesterday. He had a big day across the double header. Went two for eight with his second home run. Three runs, two RBI. Last 12 games batting 357 with two homers and 13 runs scored. I missed this one over the weekend, but the White Sox promoted one of their prospects, Brian Ramos, who is a 22-year-old third baseman. He went. two for four with a double, a run, and an RBI. And just interesting timing that they called him up after 24 games in AA, where he was not hitting well.

He had a 182 batting average and a 572 OPS. But he's going to play a lot for a bad team with the White Sox. That is Brian Ramos. And Eddie Rosario is coming around. Two for four with his third home run. Last four games, he has two homers and two steals. Very deep league stuff, Scott. But any interest in Rosario, Ramos, and Tavares.

who we spoke about yesterday. Yeah, I mean, Tavares is the most interesting of them. And I don't think he's all that interesting as we talked about yesterday. So that's really just a comment on how uninteresting Brian Ramos and Eddie Rosario are. Ramos, I think the White Sox's hand. I forget who went down, but they lost somebody. And they just had to call up Brian Ramos out of desperation. Yeah, I don't think he was ready to be promoted or is going to really do much with it.

I think he's pretty safely ignored. Let's get into the leftovers and famous last word, Scott. I'm starting to believe in Carlos Rodan. Quality start against the Astros, six in a third innings, two runs, seven strikeouts to zero walks. He had 16 swinging strikes in this outing. Eight of those came on the slider. He now has seven plus swinging strikes on the slider specifically in three straight starts.

He's leaned on that pitch more. I haven't read this, but I kind of think the Yankees told Rodan, hey, let's try out the cutter and the change up early in the season. And if it doesn't work, go back to the slider. And that's what he's done. And the slider has, the effectiveness has slowly crept up this season. I really like what I'm seeing. The control has improved as well.

Just three walks total over his last four starts. It's a 356 ERA, a 126 web. I'm not saying this is the Carlos Rodon of old. But I really like what I'm seeing, Scott. think? Yeah, I think I'm going to eat my words. Anyone who actually listened to me when I said, I dropped Carlos Rodon a couple weeks ago because things have turned on a dime since then. And his slider is the whiff rate on, I think after this start, the whiff rate on the slider for the year is going to be about where it was in 2021 and 2022, which were the Syung contending

seasons for Carlos Rodon. That doesn't mean he's going to be contending for a Cy Young. this year, but it does mean he's probably going to be pretty good if his slider is playing that well and he's kind of paired down his arsenal to what we know is most effective for him. Let's get to Tanner Bybee. We mentioned him earlier. He's been pretty unreliable so far this season. He continues to struggle. He was up against the Tigers. He led four runs over four innings, did have five strikeouts to zero walks, gave up a good amount of hard contact, 91.5 average. exit velocity against, and the fastball continues to get crushed. It had a 105 exit velocity in this start and a 441 expected Wobah entering this start. So it might actually get worse.

He's only completed six innings once in eight starts. He's got a 491 ERA, a 136 whip. Looks like he's in line for two starts next week against the Marlins and at the Rangers. I guess he got to throw him out there, but I really, do not like what I've been seeing, Scott. Well, it's it's kind of a good news, bad situation good news, bad news situation for Tanner Bybee,

who has walked one batter over his last three starts and that's more what we were promised when he's coming up through the miners and elite control pitcher. And it seemed like the walks were the main thing holding him back coming into this year.

But yeah, he's just throwing the fastball too much. To use a stat, everybody's hurt. heard of. Batters are hitting over 400 against the fastball, and he's throwing it 45% of the time. So probably needs to stop doing that. And it's like, he's in a good organization to figure things out.

The guardians are about as good as any at maximizing pitcher outcomes, and this is as talented of a pitcher as they've developed. And I don't know. I guess Gavin Williams is on the same level in terms of talent level, but it's a really, really talented pitcher. I think they're going to figure it out. I mentioned earlier, he was still pretty high in my rankings, Tanner Bybee. And I would consider him a buy low.

I heard that dig in there, Scott. I heard what you said. I'm not sure I know what I said. Because I said he has a 441 ex-Wobon his fastball, and you're like, to use a stat everyone has heard of. Oh, yeah. I mean, I just said, I heard it. I heard it.

It makes the same case in a way that's very familiar to people. Not that, you know, people listening to this podcast probably know ex-wobe well enough, but everybody knows batting average. Yeah, the point is the fastball has been bad for Tanner Bybee. That is a, that's the bigger point. Hitters that are quietly getting it done, Bobby Witt has been ridiculous. He went two for three with a walk and his fifth home run. He is betting 327, five homers, 13 steals, 36 run scored in 38 games.

He is on a near 160 run pace this season. Bobby Witt has been awesome. to Oscar Hernandez. Also, quietly been great. Two for three with his 10th home run. He's got 26 runs, 29 RBI. He entered the day as the sixth best outfielder in Roto, the ninth best outfielder in Head-Tead Points Leagues.

Marcelo Zuna, two for three with a double dong, four RBI. He's up to 12 home runs on the season. I believe that leads all of baseball. 38 RBI. Did I say that? 12 home runs 38 RBI and a 1042 OPS. Jeremy Payne, three for four, with his fourth home run. Bryce Terang continues to impress three for four with three doubles, a walk, a run, and an RBI.

His first time leading off this season, I think I got Terang inside of my top 15 or 16 at second base. So he's slowly been moving up and I'm starting to buy in a little bit more. Anything else on this group, Scott? I don't think I've moved to rank quite that high, but it's getting harder to justify keeping him out. I mean, there's still isn't a lot that's impressive there under the hood. His strikeout rate is considerably improved from his rookie season, and he's putting the ball on the ground more, which we normally don't like,

but when you don't have much raw power, which is true in Terang's case, it's probably better to put the ball on the ground when your main tool is speed, you know. So between the lack of strikeouts and putting the ball in the air less, and yeah, the eggs of velocity, readings are improved some. They're still not great.

Maybe. Maybe he's just good now in a Nico Horner sort of way and is actually running like we thought Nico Horner would. And that would be good news for his fantasy outcomes. Pena, Jeremy Pena, I love what he's doing. I think this is a true breakout for him. I've struggled to get him into the. top 15 at shortstop, but I basically value him like a top 15 shortstop.

Ozuna, my gosh, one of my biggest regrets. I was drafting, like our earliest mock drafts, I was getting Ozuna in like every single one. And then I didn't get him in a single league that mattered. Just because I don't know, I got distracted by other things at that point. I thought he was a great value, but I also thought, well, Oloi Jimenez looks like a great value and J.D. Martinez and Byron Buckston to an extent. And I'll just wait for them. And you know what? I shouldn't have because Ozone is the one of them who's actually good.

Not that I've lost hope for J.D. Martinez. But it's not going to do what Ozone is doing. And I think more or less we'll continue to do. Not that he's going to sustain these exact paces, but he's going to be a stud just like he was last year. Let's run through the bullpen updates because there was a lot of bullpen happenings here. For the Angels, Estevez got the ninth with a one-run lead. He struck out two for his sixth save. For the Blue Jays, Jordan Romano got the ninth with a three-run lead.

He gave up one run on three hits, but picked up his fifth save of the season. For the Tigers. Uh-oh, what's going on here? Jason Foley got the seventh inning with a two-run lead. He got two outs. He gave up a hit, and he was relieved by Joey Wentz. It was then Andrew Chaffin, who started the ninth with a one-run lead. He gave up a solo homer to David Fry.

Alex Lang then came in to get the final out of the ninth. He started the 10th where he gave up a walk-off single. This was Jason Foley's first appearance since blowing a save against the Yankees last Friday. I'm not ready to make any declaration, Scott, but this kind of feels like a mess in the Tigers bullpen. I mean, if you've seen his whip. It's bad.

It's bad. Too many walks, too many hits. Like, this is not a closer caliber performance for Jason Foley. and, you know, Andrew, not Andrew Lang, that's a former Hawks Center, but Alex Lang, he's walking too many guys still, but he's been effective overall. And he was the presumed closer going in. He was the closer last year. He's not the only option that AJ Hinch could turn to, but AJ Hinch has options. And I'm a little worried about Foley. So I agree with you on that one. Yeah, let's keep going. Royals, Tyler Duffy started the ninth with a four-run lead. He gave up a run on two walks and a double.

He was relieved by James MacArthur, who got the final two outs for his eighth save, and that is one day after James MacArthur blew a save. So they went right back to him. He had thrown 60 pitches the previous three days. Wow. So good for him. Good for you, James MacArthur. All right. Well, he got it done. For the Padres, Robert Torres struck out one for his 12th save. He is tied for the league lead. For the Dodgers, Daniel Hudson got the ninth with a two-run lead. He struck out one for his second save. It was Alex Vescia who got a save the other day.

I still think it'll be Daniel Hudson more often than not, as long as Evan Phillips is out, but wouldn't surprise me if they mix and match. For the debacks, Kevin Ginkle got the ninth with a two-run lead. They didn't want to use Paul Seawall two nights in a row, fresh off the IL. Ginkle gave up a run on two hits. He only recorded one out. and then Joe Mantiply got the final two outs for his first save of the season.

For the White Sox, Michael Copac got the ninth with a three-run lead. He gave up a hit, but picked up his third save. For the Orioles, Craig Kimbril got the ninth with a two-run lead. He got two quick outs and then gave up a solo homer followed by two walks. He was relieved by Keegan Aiken,

who gave up a game-time single to C.J. Abrams. The Orioles eventually won in 12 innings, and all of a sudden, Craig Kimbril has been a little shaky recent, A little shaky. I don't know if it's due to the injury or whatnot, but... It's a full-blown... Like, he's blown three of his last four save chances, and it should be four of five.

He got bailed out in one of those, replaced mid-inning, or it would have been four of five. That's rough. Like, you'd... So that's like half a blown save season total in the span of five appearances. Here's what Brandon Hyde had to say after the game. We're going to stick with him.

This guy's got a big-time track record. He's a Hall of Famer, and we need to get him right. He's big for us. It's important that we get him right. So pretty strong vote of confidence there from Brandon Hyde. And we've seen in recent years Kimbril have stretches like this where he just can't do anything. And then he gets past it. It's like these control lapses that he has that really started late in this time with the Red Sox.

So if Hyde's committed to sticking to him, I think we should be too. If you have the option to bench him, that's fine. But I think at the long run, he's still going to get a lot of saves for the Orioles. For the twins, Yohan Duran got the ninth with a three-run lead. He struck out one for his third save. And for the Rangers,

Owen White started the ninth with a four-run lead. He gave up three straight singles. He was relieved by Kirby Yates, who allowed three runs in. Only one was charged to him, but picked up his seventh save of the season. To stream or not to stream on Thursday, we mentioned yesterday, not a great slate.

I do believe Eric Fetty has been added to this list. So we could do Fetty against the Guardians, Ben Lively at the White Sox, Michael Waka against the Angels. I don't know. I'd more likely do Keaton win at Colorado than Waka, probably, though I'm not so keen on either. I'm not keen on any of those guys,

but Fetty Lively win would be my top three. On Friday, we have Jameson Tion at the Pirates, there is, who else? Christian Scott, 70% rostered. Look, he should be just rostered. He's not a streamer. I don't know that I want to play him against the Atlanta Braves, if I'm being honest.

But I'd pick him over anyone on this list. Yeah, I think so. I would go Scott, then Tyone, and then I think Blackburn at the Mariners. Blackburn's pitched well. Yeah, okay, fine. You'd rather not have to resort to streamers, I will.

Point out again. Probably not for the last time. Certainly not for the first time. Why do we even do this? You're forced me to do this segment and I don't like it. I got to give the people what they want, Scott. And they want streamers. We're going to wrap there.

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