Fantasy Baseball Today - Pitcher Injuries, Andrew Abbott's Promotion & Waiver Wire Moves (6/5 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 5, 2023

Mike Soroka had a rough first week back (2:05). ... Triston McKenzie looked great in his first start (6:26). ... Bryce Miller got rocked in each of his past two starts (8:45). ... Chris Sale and Nestor Cortes went on the IL this weekend (12:20). ... Andrew Abbott will be promoted by the Reds Monday (14:52). ... Logan Allen and Edward Cabrera were impressive this weekend (22:55). Reese Olson did some interesting things for the Tigers in his debut. ... Get Matt McLain while you can (35:35). Mitch Garver should gain catcher eligibility soon. ... News (44:03): Aaron Judge hurt his toe making a catch this weekend. ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (52:55). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  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/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday 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. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Injuries, prospect promotions, and everything in between. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Monday, June 5th.

I am Frank Sample, joined by Scott White. Today on the show, Chris Sale, and a few other. pitchers are headed to the IL. Andrew Abbott is being promoted by the Cincinnati Reds, all the waiver wire moves, and much more. Before we get started, please like this video and subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already.

And if you're listening on the audio side, download, follow, and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We really do appreciate it. Scott, the big reveal. How is the voice? Sounds pretty good. Yeah. Sounds pretty good. I got to watch it a little bit

If I hit certain notes in one direction or the other, it'll crack on me. Doesn't feel good to yell upstairs after my kids still. I'll tell you that much. I tested a few times today. But I think it's better. I think it'll be tolerable to listen to me, at least. I noticed, Scott, that you regained your voice, but now you've lost your sight. Ah, yes, I do have the glasses back on.

Yes. Yes, my eyes, I don't know what's going on with them. Something's a little funny there though, so I'm just being a little cautious. All right, fair enough. Happy to have you back. Happy to have that voice back as well. Let's get into it. You can put it on the board.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Scott, why do you get us started? Oh, my goodness gracious from the weekend. All right. Well, this guy didn't really make me say, oh, my goodness gracious. But I wanted to talk about him and you didn't have him on the rundown.

So we're going to kick off the weekend review with Michael Soroka, or Mike Soroka, as he's still called on CBSSports.com. And it wasn't pretty. Wasn't pretty. At Arizona, Mike Soroka allowed. Five earn runs in three and two-thirds innings. Seven hits allowed, four walks, two strikeouts, two home runs allowed. Two whiffs, two swinging strikes on 80 pitches.

And this was something I noticed even on his, his minor league rehab assignment and it was really more than a rehab assignment he was just up he was just you know he was in the minor leagues all season until recently and even in the final start he made at AAA

the whiffs just weren't near the level they were at when we last saw him in the majors not that he was a big strikeout pitcher but he still got swinging strikes at better than 11% rate which is pretty good but he is he's not missing any bad

right now and it was a game I happened to watch so they offered a lot of analysis on the Braves broadcast and so I'm just going to kind of forward it to you here so it's it's pretty obvious that the his pitches are like he's different okay he's different we haven't seen him pitch in the majors in three years his stuff doesn't look the same it doesn't work the same he has a different build physically himself. It's a much bigger guy now than when we last saw him. His stride, they were saying, is longer. So he's working on using his fastball more up in the zone.

He thinks it should play up in the zone now better than it did. And this is a guy, I mean, he was known as a sinker baller, or extreme ground ball pitcher. That was his strength. And so he's just kind of having to learn to pitch all over again. And so I think between the numbers we've seen for Mike Soroka in the, the minors, and now what we've seen from him in the majors, knowing, like, we should feel pretty comfortable concluding that we have no idea who this guy is anymore. And maybe he'll

get back to being Mike Zoroca. Maybe he'll become something different who is still good, but we haven't seen any evidence of either of those yet. So I just, I don't know that it's worth investing a roster spot in him. He's 63% rostered in CBS leagues, which isn't crazy high. It's pretty high. I think it deserves to go down from there. I don't have Mike Soroka rostered in any leagues myself. And I think we're just kind of, I think we're kind of chasing something

that we have no reason to believe is there. Again, three years is a long time. Yeah. And, you know, four years, because he barely, three years ago was the 2020 season where he made like, I don't know, three starts or something. So it was really four years ago that he got extensive work as a rookie. Yeah, I just,

you know, I'm not giving up on Soroka forever, but it doesn't look like it's there right now. It makes total sense, too, right? Like, we haven't seen him, as you mentioned, extensively for four years. He had two Achilles surgeries during that time. This is Mike Soroka. We're talking about. He's 63% rostered, as you mentioned, I guess the one thing I would point out is, if you have him on your team, and you're just kind of desperate for a pitcher this week, he's going up against Washington, so it's a pretty good matchup. But we'll get into all the prospect promotions and WaverWire pitchers in a little bit. when we do.

I mean, his first start back was Oakland. Yeah, and it wasn't great either. Well, yeah. I think he gave up, what was it, a three-run homer to like Ryan Noda, but it was, it wasn't loud contact. I think it was like 350 feet down the line. So I don't know. Look, the point is, Soroka hasn't been great through his first two starts.

So I think you're right, Scott. We probably could drop him. We'll get into a few names to add in just a little bit. I did want to point out that AJ Smith-Shawver made his Braves debut on Sunday as well. And he's kind of waiting in the wings there in case Soroka or anybody else in that rotation falters. He threw two and a third no-hit innings, three strikeouts, three swinging strikes on 39 pitches,

average 94.7 miles per hour on the fastball. And pretty much as advertised, he looked really good in his multi-enning relief appearance. Again, that is A.J. Smith Shaver. Oh my goodness gracious for me from the weekend, Tristan McKenzie, who made his return to the mound, his first start this season. We know who's coming back from a shoulder injury, and he was tremendous.

At the Twins, five shotout innings, one hit, one walk, 10 strikeouts, 15 swinging strikes on 79 pitches, seven of those on the fastball, six on the slider, two on the curve. Fastball velocity was actually up slightly from last year, half a mile per hour. Basically the same pitch, McScott, it's an opportunity to, you know, shine a light on somebody who was an amazing pitcher last year. I think with a start like this, he probably will move back up the rankings even more, probably push closer to that top 30 starting pitcher threshold for me at least.

What do you think of Tristan McKenzie in his first start back? Do you throw him out there this week up against Houston Astros? Yeah, I don't see why not. I mean, the Astros haven't been an offensive juggernaut this season. Obviously, we consider Tristan McKenzie a must-start pitcher for most of last year. And you couldn't have asked for a better return. than this from him. The only thing

like in the you know, what we normally break down with pitchers, the only thing that seemed kind of off from Tristan McKenzie in this one was his slider

was down 1.7 miles per hour. Velosity was by and large fine, but very different on that one pitch in particular. He got six whiffs on the 14 of them that he threw. So it still seemed to be an effective pitch. And it may have more of a sweeper motion now and it just got classified as a slider

in this first start back because that tends to happen. Stackcast confuses the slider and the sweeper. We all confuse the slider and the sweeper because sweeper is just something that Stackcast began to classify independently as a slider this year. So it was an effective slider

even though the velocity was a bit different from last year for McKinsey. He looked great and I would trust him moving forward. A few other shoutouts for, oh my goodness gracious, Mookie Betts had an insane game on Friday. Friday night, just worth mentioning how truly great this game was. 4 for 4 with a double dong and a stolen base. Now up to 15 homers, three steals on the season.

Also had a double dong on Thursday, so that was back-to-back games with multiple homers for Mookie Betts. And let's talk about Bryce Miller, Scott, because I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of questions following this outing on Sunday. He has been destroyed. Two starts in a row now. This one was at the Rangers.

His previous start was home against the Yankees. He allowed seven earned runs over two and a third innings in this one. Just three swinging strikes on 61 pitches. Actually, didn't allow as much hard contact as I thought he did. I was watching the start, and it actually looked a lot worse while it was happening. Yeah, so he's allowed seven plus runs in each of the past two starts.

Has not shown the ability to really get much out of his secondary pitches at all, Scott. And if that fastball's not working, I think it had a 20 or 22% CSW in this. this start. If that pitch isn't working, then there's really not much working for Bryce Miller. I know that you and Chris were kind of out ahead of this and you were telling people to like, all right, look, search around, see if you could sell high on Bryce Miller. Now the question becomes, do we start Bryce Miller this week? Because he's at the Angels and obviously just had these two terrible starts. What are your thoughts? I mean, I'd rather not.

Same. The last two starts have been about as bad as it gets. Somebody was asking me, Spoiler alert, Andrew Abbott's coming up for the Reds. We'll get into him soon. Somebody was asking me if he should drop Bryce Miller for Andrew Abbott. And I told him, no, I'm not going to give up on Bryce Miller after one start. Even though I did see him as a cell high, you know, dropping is obviously a different standard. But then the second start happened for Miller. And he was like, what about now?

And I kind of hedged then. I mean, in two starts, Bryce Miller's ERA has gone from 115 to 15. 446. So, you know, a rookie with a 446 ERA and not a great strikeout rate, he hasn't had more than a strikeout per inning since that debut, by the way, in any of his starts. Like, that never seems beyond dropping to me, rookie with a 446 ERA and less than a strikeout up per inning, as I said. That's, I don't know that you, I don't know that you have to cling to that.

So to me it goes even beyond just do we start him now is when do we think about dropping him? And I think in leagues of 12 teams or fewer, we're already there. I was going to make that distinction. I think in shaller leagues, you know, maybe you can dabble with it. It depends who's out there. Someone asked me earlier tonight, who would you rather have rest of season Bobby Miller or Bryce Miller?

You know, I know it's a much smaller sample. for Bobby Miller, but man, how he's pitched so far, one earned run in each of his first three starts and just looking dominant, throwing 100 miles per hour at his fastball. It's like, yeah, how could you not say Bobby Miller at this point over Bryce Miller? So I don't think Bobby Miller is out there in many leagues, if any, at this point, but that's an example of some, a move that I would make. Andrew Abbott, that's closer. We'll talk about him in just a little bit. I don't think I would make that one yet, but yeah, I would try and bench Bryce Miller for for now. He's at the Angels this week. They're ninth in Wobah against right-handed pitching. So obviously, uh, they are

pretty good against Ritees. And just a reminder that those first five starts that Bryce Miller made, the matchups, A's, Astros with no Altuvae, Tigers, Braves, and the eights. So, I mean, four of those were really good matchups. And then the Braves was his worst start at the time. It was like three earned runs over six innings. So, uh, yeah, we're getting closer to that point. Let's see what happens moving forward here with Bryce Miller. The big pitching news from the weekend, Scotty. We'll start with the injuries. Chris Sale placed on the I with left shoulder inflammation. Alex Cora expressed hope that it's only a minor issue.

Scott, did you see any timetables here on Chris Sale or any kind of speculation on there? I didn't even see any from the different scans he was having done. I didn't see any definitive results from that. Just that they're hoping it's not a long-term issue. So I'm hoping it's not a long-term issue either, but I don't really know. Yeah, rough one there for Chris Sale. This one came out of nowhere. During Sunday night baseball,

Nessar Cortez is likely to be placed on the IL with a shoulder injury, which, again, we didn't really have any indication. He'd throw over 100 pitches in his last outing. The hope is that he'll only miss two starts that came according to the Yankees. Justin Steele was also diagnosed with a mild left forearm strain was placed on the IL Saturday. Hayden Wesneski is likely to join the rotation.

We know Wesneski had some upside coming into the season but looked really bad early on. got sent down. His two starts in the minors were actually good. So I think in deeper leagues he could take a look at Wisniewski, but 12-teamers or anything shallow were probably not yet. It's not just the time in the minors. So his last seven appearances in the majors,

six of them starts, a 365 ERA, and even one whip. Not a great strikeout rate. And I should point out one of those appearances was really ugly. The others were good, though, at least in terms of run prevention and limiting base runners. So I have renewed interest in West Nesky, and he has two starts coming up this week. I don't have him as a recommended pitcher in this two-start week, but I could understand people wanted to take another shot at him.

I'd drop Soroka for him. I'll tell you that much. It's worth mentioning that in Wesniewski's recent relief appearance, he actually came into the game that Justin Steele left earlier in the week. he threw his sweeper, slider, 39% of the time, which was his second highest usage of the season. So I think using that pitch more might be a recipe for success for Wesneseki. Eduardo Rodriguez could miss six to eight weeks with that left finger injury,

so not looking good there. There's a Tigers pitcher that got called up this weekend that we'll talk about a little bit later on as well. But the big news, Scott, Hunter Green won't make his next start until next Sunday while he deals with hip stiffness, but I don't know if this is as a result of that, but Red's top pitching prospect, Andrew Abbott will make his major league debut on Monday, and according to Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Inquirer,

this isn't just a spot start. It appears to be a long-term move for Andrew Abbott, and in the minors this season, 10 starts between AA and AAA, a 2.5 ERA, a 0.93 whip, 90 strikeouts, 90, over 54 innings pitch. This guy's strikeout rate has been, Ridiculous was reading some scouting report, Scott. It's a low 90s fastball, but it's deceptive.

He's got a great curveball. He added a sweeper last year, too. So I'm a little torn because I love the numbers in the miners, but when I hear low 90s fastball and deceptive and obviously his team context is not great, I'm like, all right, what are your thoughts on Andrew Abbott and how aggressive are you in adding him tonight this weekend? I'm a little skeptical, too.

I mean, 15K for 9. It's very exciting. Be in another number, Frank. Since moving up to AAA, 1.9 home runs per 9 for Andrew Abbott. So you're talking about a guy who, okay, the strikeouts are great, but he doesn't dominate in a traditional way,

relies a lot on deception, and then is giving up that much hard contact to minor league hitters that exactly what that number is because you may not know how long he spent at AAA eight home runs in 38 and a third innings at AAA.

And he's going to the team who plays in the most homer-friendly park in all the baseball on top of it. So I have interest in Andrew Abbott. Don't get me wrong,

but if you're wondering why I'm hedging on dropping Bryce Miller for him, for instance, it's because, you know, I don't think he's a sure thing. My understanding

is he does kind of have a Joe Ryan thing going on with the fastball, where optimal vertical approach angle, hitter swing under it. Even though the velocity isn't there, it is legitimately a good pitch. But if he's going to be that vulnerable to the long ball, then we may be talking about an ERA over four regardless. Again, that is Andrew Abbott getting called up to make his debut on Monday. We'll compare him to other Waver Wire pitchers as we move on here. But there was another prospect called up this weekend as well.

Scott, Marco Gonzalez, placed on the IL with a left forearm train and pitching prospect Brian Wu promoted on Saturday. He made his debut at the Rangers. It's probably the worst place you can make your debut right now, the way that that offense is swinging the bat. He gave up six earned runs over two winnings pitched, six swinging strikes on 47 pitches. And looked like it was mostly a three pitch mix,

a four-scene fastball, a sinker, and a slider. He averaged 96.3 miles per hour on the fastball. The numbers in the minors of season were also dominant for Wu. All in AA, by the way, too, worth mentioning nine starts in AA. So kind of an aggressive promotion here. They, you know, they're dealing with quite a few injuries. 12% rostered. Your thoughts on Brian Wu and how he compares to someone like Andrew Abbott.

Well, it's a lot easier to pass him over when he has a debut like that, right? I mean, I'm more interested, even if they both had not appeared in a game. game yet. I would have been more interested in Abbott. But Wu, NAA this year, 12.1K per 9 and only a 0.89 whip because he

throws a lot of strikes. And that was something he did here in his debut too. He got hit hard, but he threw 70% of his pitches for strikes. And in you know, for all those

base, he threw 77 I'm sorry, he threw 70% of his pitches for strikes. Let's just leave it at that, which is a really great. I mean, look, two-thirds strikes is a really good rate. So 70%, you know, if you're doing that over the course of a full season, you're likely to lead the league. So I do think if you're going to take any silver lining from Brian Wu's debut, it's that.

Also, his stuff played well enough that he was able to get some swings and misses. But he just got hit too hard for, us to take him seriously at this point. No clue how long he'll stick around, even if he's going to do this. We'll see how his second start goes. If it's dramatically improved, maybe we can think about adding him at that point, but as of now, I'm going to say no to Brian Wu. Just going back to add it real quick, I picked him up in my Tout Wars League. It's 12-team Hed Points League with Roto-sized lineup, so it goes a little bit deeper than a standard points League and I spent $182 out of a $1,000 budget.

So 18% about the backup bid was 161. So basically needed to go that high in order to get him. But when I revealed that amount to use count before he started, you kind of made a noise like, ugh, ugh. Well, I guess that's too high. That's much higher than you'd be willing to go, right? You express skepticism in him too and you were willing to place the bid. So, so yeah, I think most people, well, most people don't use a fat budget at all,

but I think $100 is more common than $1,000. So, you know, obviously that comes out to like almost 20% of your budget for the year on a pitcher who has exciting, at least judging by the strikeout rate has exciting potential. But is he truly, you know, is he like, it's not Yuri Perez, right? It's not somebody who expect to for sure come in and just be an ace for years to come. Yeah. So he's more questionable than that, and we'll see how it goes. But it's more than I would have spent for him, yes. Darn.

All right. We'll see what happens with Andrew Abbott. Well, for what it's worth, he was already rostered in my Tau Wars League. 15 teams versus 12. Yeah. I didn't even have a chance to put in a bid on him. So also, I don't have that much money to spend in my leagues anymore. So that's part of it, too.

I did already have Andrew Abbott stashed away in an. a lonely league. So I will enjoy him there. I have a big bid in, in NL labor as well. So I mean, Scott, if I read you my pitching staff in that league right now, I lost Woodruff, I lost Ladolo, I lost Rawstripling.

Not that, you know, those last two were pitching pretty bad anyway. I think my team's overall ERA is over six. I have never seen an ERA this high on a fantasy baseball team. And it's going bad. So I'm really hoping to get myself some Andrew Abbott in NL. Labor.

We'll see what happens there. The last injury I wanted to mention here, Alex Wood went on the IL with a back strain, and immediately I started speculating about their top pitching prospect, Kyle Harrison, but it sounds like it's just going to be a short stint here for Alex Wood. And Harrison, as great as he is pitched in the minors this year, you know, the whip is high, gets a lot of strikeouts. He hasn't gotten more than four innings pitched in any of his 12 starts.

So kind of feels like the Giants are slow rolling him. He's 21 years old at AAA. maybe he makes an impact at some point this season, but probably not right now. Sounds right to me. All right, let's take our first break. And when we return, we'll get into all the waiver wire moves. The pitchers, the hitters will do all of that here on Fantasy Baseball today. Welcome back and a quick reminder to sign up for our Fantasy Baseball Today newsletter.

If you haven't already, just head on over to CBSports.com slash newsletters. You click on the FBT logo. You punch in your email. It's as easy as that. It's free. You basically get a lot of the things that are on the rundown for the podcast sent to your inbox every day, the news, the latest articles. Again, CBSports.com slash newsletters, or if you're watching us live, you can scan that QR code in the top right corner that will take you right to the website. Let's get into the waiver wire pitchers from the weekend, Scotty, and we'll start with the pitchers in shallower leagues that could be available.

Edward Cabrera reminded everybody of his upside on Friday up against the Oakland A's six shoutout innings with 10. strikeouts, 18 swinging strikes on 95 pitches. He is allowed one walk or fewer in four of his last six starts. The problem is that the other two starts, he allowed four walks in. So, you know, still kind of up and down there for Cabrera. Jack Flaredy turned in a solid start at the Pirates. Five and a third, one run allowed six strikeouts for him. And over his last four starts has a 1.88 ERA, a 1.17 whip. Logan T. Allen, another quality start at the twins, six innings, two runs, four strikeouts there. Domingo Hermann had a great start on Sunday night baseball at the Dodgers. Six and two-thirds, one-run, six strikeouts with 12 swinging strikes. And you say Kikuchi got a ton of

wifts at the Mets on Sunday, five innings, two runs, eight strikeouts with 19 swinging strikes. It's got all these names are rostered in 70% or more. So again, we're talking shallower formats here. But who are your, let's go three favorites? Cacucci, Hermon, Logan Allen, Jack Flaherty, Edward Cabrera. Well, Allen's easily number one. And I have him as one of my 10 sleeper pitches for this week, even going against Houston. Which, again, hasn't been that bad of a matchup so far this year. That could change.

I still think our offense has a lot of potential, of course. But I wouldn't be afraid to use Logan Allen against them. And I just like the way who's trending in general. Edward Cabrera, I'm going to call him number two. obviously you can never be sure from one start to the next if he has his control right but when it is right he can be really dominant

we saw it in this start against Oakland next start against Kansas City I have him as one of my sleeper pitchers as well for this upcoming scoring period and it does at least seem like he's making some progress in terms of the strike throwing

the fact that one walk or fewer and four of his last six starts interestingly only a 435 ERA during that six start span was one walk or fewer four times but a 1116 whip 11.6K per 9

there's a lot to like there from Cabrera third I'm going to say Domingo Hermann but question mark I mean So a second start back from the foreign substance suspension

You know you could look great here against the Dodgers The first start was a little no no no how is he gonna How's he gonna do without the sticky stuff But then the second start he looks like he's looked all year But I just I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know how long you can count on having to Mingo Hermon Let's just put it that way But he's been good for the year now 369

ERA.95 whip. Great swinging strike rate. And I don't know that I'd start up against Boston this upcoming week. But I think of these pitchers, I prefer Domingo Hermann to Jack Flaherty. And you say Cacucci rest of the season. Would you drop Bryce Miller for any of these? I would drop them for Allen. And that's it.

Okay. And would you rank Andrew Abbott among that group? I would rank Abbott second after Allen. one. Okay. So I guess if we're putting Bryce Miller in there too, I'll go Alan and then Bryce Miller just barely edges out. Appet. Okay. Let's get into Waverwire pitchers. Part two. In slightly deeper leagues, Aaron Savali had a successful return at the Twins. He went five shutout with four strikeouts in that one. J.P. France, another strong start up against the Angels, seven innings, one run at three strikeouts. Yeah, peak under the hood, though. Only seven

swinging strikes. He allowed some hard contact. I don't know that I'm buying it. He's at Cleveland this week, so that's the good news for JP France. Mike Clevenger, a good return up against the Tigers on Friday, five shutout innings with six strikeouts, 15 swinging strikes on 73 pitches. That is a great mark. And Dean Kramer has allowed three earned runs or fewer in six straight starts. He was at the Giants this weekend, six innings, two runs, six strikeouts with 12 swinging strikes. And his velocity is up this year. His fastball is up. point four miles per hour compared to last year, averaging nearly 95 miles per hour on the pitch. Scott, how do you rank that group? Dean Kramer, Mike Clevenger, JP France, and Aaron Savali.

Oh gosh, it's not a good group. I don't like this group nearly as much as the last one. So I don't know that I'd be dying to roster any of them. And I don't really have a strong preference. So I will say, Kramer, Clevenger, France, Savali. Okay. And again, if you're looking for streamers this week, France at Cleveland, that's a good matchup. And Kramer is at the Brewers, which is also. Kramer. Kramer, Kramer, 45% rostered at the Brewers this week. Waverwire pitchers part three. Let's see if Scott likes any of these. Probably not. Michael Lorenzen had a strong start at the White Sox. Seven innings, one run, six strikeouts for him.

He's got the ERA down to 3.21 with a point 9-9 whip. Ranger Suarez, a strong start at the National. seven innings, one run, three strikeouts there. Griffin Canning has turned in three straight quality starts at the Astros this weekend, six innings, one run, four strikeouts. And Matthew Boyd put up a season high, nine strikeouts at the White Sox. He allowed one run over five innings pitched. Overall numbers are still pretty rough for Matthew Boyd. What do you think, Scott?

You like anyone from this group? I do like this group, by and large, better than the last one, yeah. Okay. I think the one I'd most likely roster is Griffin Canning who got a ton of whiffs in his previous start not as many in this one but he's had three good starts in a row now

and I've always liked his secondary arsenal the slider's been a great pitch for him from the beginning and he's had more success with the change up now so three straight quality starts 18 strikeouts and 19 innings during that stretch almost a strikeout per inning There may be something there.

I was putting in some bids for Canning in those 15 team leagues. I also am not totally opposed to picking up Lorenzen. I know the ERA estimators say he's overachieving, and he probably is. But any time you have a stretch like he's had where, let's see how many starts is it now. Michael Lorenzen in his last six starts has a 183 ERA Five of those six starts he's gone six innings or more With one earn run a louder fewer And he's not giving up many hits either

His control has been Tremendous during this stretch So he's yeah he's probably overachieving I'm not going to put too much stock in him if I do pick him up But it's gone on long enough that I don't want to overthink it, you know? Mm-hmm. Like, just kind of enjoy it for however long it lasts.

If you have the space for it. It's not a huge priority, obviously. It's not on the level of like an Andrew Abbott or anything, but we're talking, we're talking tier three here. Yeah. The waiver wire pitchers. Again, that's Michael Lorenzen. The one downside for him is that he's facing the Diamondbacks this week.

And they've been great against right-handed pitching seventh in Wobah there. So between him and Canning, if you need a streamer again, canning is up against Seattle, which is a much better match. Are we okay dropping these names Scott? Patrick Sandoval he had another rough outing Saturday he's now up to a 4.14 ERA 1.4 whip and well below a strikeout for ending he's still 70% rostered and Anthony Desclafani has a 6.12 ERA over his last six starts and still 82% rostered what do you think about dropping those soon names? Anthony Descliffeani another one a few weeks ago I was

talking about as a cell high. I hope you listen to these yeah I I myself have dropped Sandoval already in a 12-team points league. And I would be willing to do the same for Descliffeani. You know, not necessarily for that Griffin-Cannning Michael Lorenzen group. But, you know, I drop either for Andrew Abbott, for instance, or Logan Allen. Somebody more exciting like that. All right. Sure.

Well, in deeper leagues, I've got three names here, Scotty. Tiger's pitching prospect, Reese Olson. This is who I was referring to earlier. He had a solid debut at the White Sox on Friday. Five innings, two runs, six strikeouts to one walk. He had 12 swinging strikes on 89 pitches. Six of those on the slider, six on the change-up. Mostly a four pitch makes he threw his slider 34% of the time.

That was his most used pitch. And we're talking big spin rates here. Scott, he averaged 2,946 RPM on that slider for Reese Olson. in this matchup. So I was pretty interested in that. And he averaged 96 miles per hour on his fastball. The numbers and the miners are pretty bad. He gets lots of strikeouts, but like, you know, the ERA and WIP is not good. I don't know. I was, I was kind of interested by what I saw here in this debut for Reeselson. Start on him first before I get to the other names. What do you think about Rees Olson? I kind of wish I, I don't know. He, he, he didn't come to mind when I was putting in my waiver claims in those deeper leagues, because you're

I do think he's very interesting. And you mentioned the overall minor league numbers, which aren't good. But his last two starts at AAA Toledo, he allowed to combine one run in five innings. He had 19, I'm sorry, he allowed to combine one run in 10 innings. He had 19 strikeouts in those 10 innings to just two walks. Only five hits loud in those 10nings. So I don't know what changed for him from

start 8 at AAA to start 9 and 10 but he looked dominant genuinely 18% swinging strike rate in those two starts and as you mentioned there are there are some good metrics on the individual pitch attributes look really strong for Reese Olson of the Tigers so that's somebody

you might want to look to look into too. Yeah, especially in those 15 team leagues or deeper. The name there, Reese Olson. The other two are oldies, but kind of goodies. Rich Hill, strong start up against the Cardinals, six and two-thirds, one run, six strikeouts. And Andrew, Adrian Houser, excuse me,

another great start at the Reds. Seven innings, one run, only two strikeouts for him. He's got a 3.45 ERA, Rich Hill, 441. Deeper League stuff here. Scott, any interest there? Not really. No, I mean, I could see Hauser. He's a good enough

ground ball pitcher that I could see him being useful in a deep league context, but I just, I don't have a lot of faith on him. Okay. I don't think either of these two things matter, but I'm going to bring them up rather quickly. Jordan Liles had an interesting start up against the Rockies. Five innings, one run, eight strikeouts with

14 swinging strikes, and his velocity was up across the board. The fastball was up nearly two miles per hour. The sweeper was up 1.3 miles per hour. He still has a 6.89 ERA. And Michael Grove, his velocity was up in his first start off the IL, up against the Yankees. He allowed four runs over five innings pitch, did have seven strikeouts on 13 swinging strikes. His fastball was up two miles per hour. I think he averaged 96 miles per hour on that fastball

on the start. I don't think it matters, Scott, but anything here, Jordan Lyles, Michael Grove. Yeah, I don't think it does either. I worried at one point that Michael Grove's return might keep Bobby Miller's stay short once Julio Reyes came off the aisle, but after three straight, terrific starts from Bobby Miller. I don't think that's going to happen. All right, fair enough.

Let's get into the waiver wire hitter, Scott. And for the last time, I assume this number is going to go up quite a bit on Sunday night when we're recording this into Monday morning when a lot of people have their waivers run. Matt McLean, two more multi-hit games this weekend. He's betting 3.42 early on.

He's flashed a little bit of power. I think he has one steal as well. Great OBP. He's 68% rostered. I think that number needs to be closer to 100%. It doesn't matter. A points league, a Categories league. I think Matt McLean is going to be a big contributor regardless. So the last time

we'll tell you. Go pick that guy up. Some outfielders got, how do you feel about this group? Taylor Ward, kind of getting back on track. His last six games, he's got 10 hits, including two home runs. He is down to 71% rostered. Eddie Rosario had a massive weekend. He went three for four with a

double dong on Friday. He added another multi-hit game Saturday, and then it went one for five with a go-ahead grand slam on Sunday. He's now betting 256 with eight homers and a 755 OPS. Also a huge weekend for Jake Freilly. He had two homers and four steals this weekend. And Hazu Sanchez went three for four with an opposite field home run on Friday. And we know before he went on the aisle, he was really heating up as well, Scott. He's batting 316 with a 961 OPS. how do you rank that group? Taylor Ward, Eddie Rosario, Jake Frailey, Hesu Sanchez. I'll go Ward 1, Fraley 2.

Hmm, where do I put Sanchez? Sanchez has always been a tough one for me. I guess I'll put him ahead of Rosario, so I'll go Sanchez 3, Rosario 4 because it's kind of a crowded mix there for the Braves between left field and DH, and he tends not to play against Rides. It is a good lineup,

and his RBI total looks pretty decent now after this recent hot streak, so I'm not saying he's useless, but it's hard to imagine Eddie Rosario ever breaking into the three outfield league, outfielder league threshold, you know? He's useful enough for, as your fifth outfielder, okay, you could use them.

But is he ever going to be good enough for three outfielder league use? I don't see that. When I can see it, for Ward, who, as you point out, coming around, he's back to playing every day for the Angels. For a while there, he was losing playing time, but not anymore. He started, how many straight? He started seven straight, I believe.

Six straight. So, yeah, he's back to playing every day as Taylor Ward. And Jake Frailey, it doesn't play every day. And he's so bad against lefties that I don't imagine that's going to change. but if you can play the matchups with him, the power, the speed, the on-based skills. It's a good enough mix of abilities that I find him to be a pretty useful player. You just have to be careful when you choose to use them.

Yeah, I mean, it's similar for all three of those last guys. As you pointed out, it's got Rosario, Fraley, Sanchez. Sanchez sits against left-handed pitching as well. So, you know, they're maximizing his output by playing him against righties. I get that. If you play in a daily lineup Categories League, I think these are names that you could target and just play them whenever they're in the lineup

against right-handed pitching because obviously, yeah, they don't play every day so probably lose a little bit of value in weekly lineup leagues. These hitters have good matchups this week, but does it matter? I know that the Pirates have the fourth-best hitter matchups, the Rockies have the fifth best.

You can find those on the site in Scott's sleeper hitters for this upcoming week. Brian Hayes had seven hits, including two homers this weekend. he's hitting the ball hard, as he always does, Scott. He's got a career high, 40% fly ball rate, but it just doesn't translate into power because he doesn't pull the ball enough.

He hits it up the middle, he hits it into the power alleys, and ultimately it's, I don't know, it's more like singles and doubles than it actually is like home run power for Kibbrien Hayes. J. Juan Bay went two for four with two steals on Sunday. He has multiple hits in four of his last nine games. He has started eight of the last nine games for the pirates. and Ezekiel Tovar.

He picked up four hits and a stolen base this weekend. And over his last 18 games, he's betting 323 with two homers and two steals. Any interest got this week with the good matchups? Brian Hayes, G. Juan Bay, and Ezekiel Tovar. Well, I think Hayes would be the most attractive play, the three with the good matchups. His hot streak is very recent. And it may be short-lived because they've all been short-lived up to the this point in his career. I do get a lot of questions about Cabrion Hayes. People look at his

stack cast page. They see all the reds. They see him underperforming his expected stats and say, hey, isn't this somebody we should be getting excited about? I'm to the point with Cabrion Hayes we're seeing is believing. And, you know, a stretch of six games where he's hit well is not enough seeing for me. He's still batting 242 on the year. but he does have good matchups and he is hot enough that I think if you're looking for third base help for this week, he'd be fine.

I am intrigued by Tovar, Ezekiel Tovar picking it up at the play because, of course, I liked him. A lot as a sleeper coming in, part because of where he plays his home games. But they are at home at this week, and he's been hitting better. Shortstop's a difficult position to fill.

Certainly if you have your choice between Ezekiel, Tovar and Matt McLean. It's no contest. You go with McLean with you there. I'll also point out that McLean was striking out a lot early. It's cut way down on those recently and it's continued to get the multi-hit games with or without the strikeouts. So definitely like the path McLean is on. But if you have to go deeper than that, I don't think Tovar is a bad choice for this week.

All right. And speaking of going into those deeper leagues, some names here, Scotty. Josh Donaldson went two for four with a double dong. in his first game back on Friday, and then he went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts on Saturday. Mitch Garver was activated on Saturday by the Rangers back-to-back games with multiple hits, including a home run on Saturday as well.

He's utility only to start. He's got four games at catcher, so I think he's probably going to be the backup catcher in DH most days, so maybe by next week, Mitch Garver will have catcher eligibility. Uly Guriel had six hits this weekend, and is batting 291. on the year. He's got three homers and three steals. Will Brennan over his last six games.

I didn't write it in because I was supposed to do that. But he's getting a lot of hits right now. It's a little bit of power, a little bit of speed for Will Brennan as well. Jake Bowers, two for three with a double dong on Saturday. And a gentleman named Andrew Monasterio is getting an opportunity to play for the Brewers, given all of their injuries. He had four hits, a homer, and a steal this weekend, Scott. Anything you'd like to add on that group.

Monasterio, Bowers, Brennan. Uli Guriel, Mitch Garver, and Josh Donaldson. Yeah, and some of those two catcher leagues, I was putting in small bids on Mitch Garver. He's not eligible at catcher yet in most places, but he did make an appearance of catcher over the week and didn't start there, but he moved there later in the game. And most places, it only takes five appearances.

So how many does that put him up to now? Can't be that part. He has four already, yeah. So, yeah, one more appearance behind the plate, and at least in CBS and most other places, then you can play a catcher. And if he's going to be their primary DH, then he'll be a great pickup in two catcher leagues

for as long as he's healthy, which may not be very long, but, you know, the back end of the, you go really deep at the catcher position in two catcher leagues. So you can't afford to be that choosy. All right, well, let's take our final break. return, we'll get some news, the leftovers, all that, right after this.

Welcome back and a big shout out to everyone watching us live on YouTube right now, 629 people. We do appreciate all of you being here. Make sure to hit that like button and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. The news from the weekend, Aaron Judge was not in the lineup Sunday due to a toe injury. He suffered making a catch up against the wall in Dodgers Stadium, and there is a chance that he'll have to go on the IL. Aaron Boone said they're kind of playing it day by day. they're going to see what happens over the next couple of days. Scott, what do we do in weekly leagues?

Do we bench Aaron Judge? I don't want to say yes. I know it sucks. He's so hot right now, too. But that is the more prudent course of action. I think in head-to-head leagues because, you know, obviously you bank your losses. and head-to-head leagues, and so you can't afford to risk it as much.

I'd be more likely to sit him there. Manny Machado was reinstated from the aisle on Friday. He went one for 11 in three games this weekend, picking up right where he left off. Royce Lewis took a nasty spill. Scott, did you see this collision at first base with Royce Lewis? No, I didn't actually see that one. I saw the judge one.

Go on Twitter right now and go watch it. Look, I don't mean to be laughing about it because it was nasty. It was scary. He flipped over the first basement. He landed on his face. He like scorpioned into the ground. It honestly could have been a lot worse. I thought he, you know, like severely hurt his neck or something.

It was scary stuff. So I assume he's going to miss at least a couple of days. I hope it's not longer than that. But yeah, Royce Lewis, pretty nasty spill there at first base. Carlos Chordaun was able to throw 30 pitches during a two-up session on Friday and could face live hitters in the next few days. Apparently his fastball set 90 to 93. miles per hour, which does sound a bit scary, but I guess he's just building back up.

Rodon averaged 95.6 miles per hour with his fastball last year. Obviously, something to watch moving forward. I just saw your face, Scott. You must have just watched that Royce Lewis collision. Well, it's... It looked like a very athletic flip over the first basement at first. And, like, if he had completed the... You got to tuck your head, man.

Tuck your head on that. Yeah, you can tuck the head. So instead, he landed on his face and his neck bent back. Oh, pretty... That looked pretty rough, but it seems like he's okay other than a laceration on his face. So that's... Right.

That's good. I mean, that's not a... Of course, you don't... You never want to see that for anybody, but a guy coming back from two torn ACLs. Like, that's... Yeah. Be particularly devastating.

Yeah. Yeah. crazy stuff there for Royce Lewis. Brandon Woodruff continues to throw all flat ground and remains hopeful to return from the 60 day IL around the All-Star break. Recently we heard late June so it sounds like perhaps that timetable has been pushed back a little bit for Woodruff. Jose Altuve has missed two straight with an oblique injury. Scott, same question as judge. What do we do? I mean, I think the same thing. Yeah.

It's not often that an oblique injury doesn't put a player on the IL. so it's a little surprising that they haven't put out too of A on the IL yet, but I would not feel confident starting him. Julio Arias threw a bullpen on Saturday, and the next step in his rehab will be to face live hitters on Tuesday. Garrick Cole left his start after 80 pitches Saturday due to cramping. It doesn't sound like anything serious. Tyro Estrada is expected to return from the aisle on Tuesday.

He's been out with a sore left wrist. I assume we get Tyro Estrada back in there, Scotty. Yeah. All right. Byron Buckson has missed three straight with a bruised hip. I might want to bruised rib rather, not a bruised hip. You might want to play it safe with him, but we'll see if he's in the lineup early this week. Willie Adonis began a rehab assignment at High A on Sunday and could return from the aisle this Thursday.

Zander Bogartz has missed two straight with that lingering wrist injury. Brandon Lau was scratched Sunday with a back injury, which is what ruined his season last year. So I hope it doesn't continue to linger. Michael Conforto has sat out four straight with a bruise on his left heel. Tyler O'Neill was shut down for 10 more days on Friday. So I guess eight more days now. He's been dealing with a lingering lower back injury. Wade Miley is scheduled to make a rehab start next Sunday at AA.

He's been on the IL with an injury to his rib cage. Luis Arias is expected to rejoin the Brewers on Tuesday. He's 43% rostered and has second, third, and shortstop eligibility. He's got any interest in that Luis Arias. You know, I've never been a Luis Arias guy. Yeah, that's my guy. And for the most part. You like Luis Renhifo.

It hasn't worked out very well for Luis Arias. Joey Votto began a similar. That's what I was getting at. Joey Votto began a rehab assignment at AAA on Saturday, which again, as we've pointed out multiple times, it hurts Christian Encarnassee on strands, chances of getting called up. The Cardinals promoted this kid at Lucan Baker on Sunday, who, was mashing at AAA. He was hitting 313 with 18 home runs in 54 games.

He does have some pop, but just a career, 257 hitter in the minors. Scott, is there anything here with Lucan Baker? Well, that may be his career batting average in the minors, but this year he was hitting 313. He was getting on base at a 434 clip. Mm-hmm. Was hitting for as much power as anybody in all the minors. I'm always attracted to this profile.

Because it is the path for a right-handed hitting, plotting first base, like a guy who can only play first base. He has a narrow path defensively, and he's only a right-handed hitter. The path for them getting to the majors is really difficult. That's why it didn't really happen for Christian Walker until he was almost 30, despite him putting up great numbers in the minors. Could Luke and Baker have a career like that, potentially? but I don't know that he's in a position to play all that regularly for the Cardinals either.

So most likely he's just a quadruplea guy, short side of a platoon, but definitely keep an eye on him. It reminds me of another former Cardinal in Luke Voie, right? Just kind of called up later on in his career. And for a while there, he was mashing as well. So we'll see what happens with Lucan Baker. Players that went on the IL this weekend, Lars Neupar with a lower back contusion, Joey Gallo with a strained hamstring, Alex Fayetteau, with a right middle finger injury,

T.J. Frito with a strained left hamstring. Tyrone Taylor with a right elbow sprain, Darren Ruff with a right knee laceration, Josh Fleming with left elbow soreness, and Nelson Cruz with a right hamstring strain. Some prospect, Monsortstop prospect, Ronnie Maricio, has been learning left field down in the minors,

and maybe that's something that can help him get called up sooner rather than later. Pirates catcher prospect, Henry Davis, has been promoted to, AAA. So both him and Andy Rodriguez are there. It's kind of interesting to me that they haven't called up either of those guys at this point in the season, but it's the Pirates. The Dodgers has been, yeah, he's been pretty disappointing because he put up insane numbers in the second half last year. Like hit three, hit almost 400.

And this year, AAA Indianapolis, he hasn't been completely healthy the whole time, but 247 with the 737 OPS as Indie Rodriguez. And I would say probably in terms of dynasty de-interest, Henry Davis has leapfrog to him again. Yeah. And the last one here, the Dodgers called up outfield prospect. Johnny DeL with Trace Thompson going on the IL. DeL was hitting 292 with 14 homers and 12 steals, a 952 OPS in 49 games between AA and AAA. He's 24 years old. Scott, anything here on Johnny DeLucah.

I just wrote about him in the latest prospects report. and obviously didn't realize he was about to get called up. But his destiny is probably as a weak side platoon player. But he's capable of playing center field power speed. Remember Paul Laduka? Yeah. And now there's Johnny DeLucah. It all comes full circle.

Sure does. Let's get into the leftovers here, Scottie. What do we do with these two pitchers? Do we start them this week? Kodi Isanga, we got the full experience this week. Career start in his first start. And then on Sunday, three earned runs over two and two-thirds innings,

five walks to three strikeouts. He has given up four plus walks in six of 11 starts this season. Do we start at the Pirates this week? I mean, it's not a firm, no, but it's not something I'm dying to do. Sandy Alcon for us, Scott, this was supposed to be the start to get him back on track going up against the Oakland A's. Give up five runs over seven innings pitched. it might sound a little ridiculous that I'm asking whether or not we start or sit.

Some people tweeted me asking, like, what do I do with Sandy Alcansara? They probably did that in the third inning when he gave up all five of those runs. Right. And then he pitched four shutout innings after that. So I think that kind of curbed some of the panic that was setting in. Of the six hits, Sandy Alcantra allowed in the start, five of them were singles. One of them was a double. So it seemed like he just kind of had things.

snowball on him in that third inning. And overall, he pitched really well. I average eggs of velocity against him was about 85 miles per hour. So he wasn't allowing hard contact. He was getting plenty whiffs. He didn't walk anybody. That's what we wanted, right? No walks.

He didn't walk anybody. Yeah. Yeah, I'm still fully on board with Alcantra. Yeah. Yeah, I was going to say the same. Yeah, the underlying numbers kind of looked really good there for Sandy in this one. Pitching standouts part one. We had a pitcher's duel between Chris Bassett and Justin Verlander.

this weekend. Basset at the Mets, revenge game. Seven and two-thirds shutout with eight strikeouts for him. Verlander on the other side, six innings, one run, eight strikeouts only had nine swinging strikes. John Gray has allowed one earned run or fewer in five straight. He's also gone seven plus innings in four of those starts. He went seven shutout with five strikeouts up against the, I didn't write it down, but I think it was the Mariners. That's who they played this weekend. Framber Valdez continues his breakout season, seven shutout with seven strikeouts. out against the Angels. Anything on this group, Scott? Valdez, John Gray, Verlander, Bassett. I'm pretty concerned about Verlander at this point. He has an 8.7% swinging strike rate,

which is pretty awful. And it was, it was, even though we won the Cy Young, it was a significant decline even then from his pre-Tommy John self. And now there's been an even bigger drop. he looks kind of like he's 40 you know like he's not he's a shell of his former self and he's still effective enough to use in fantasy it's not like his values totally bottomed out here but i'm quickly losing faith in him being anything close to an ace now i want to put him past him i want to put it past him obviously he's had a very storied career and has overcome difficulties in the past. He's overcome full seasons that were not very good.

But I'll tell you this much, his trade value is not holding. I was trying to trade him earlier today. The offers were not good. I decided not to trade him. Again, that is Justin Verlander. Pitching standouts part two. Merrill Kelly has continued his fine season with a strong start up against the Braves, seven innings, two runs, eight strikeouts.

and that one. Clayton Kirshaw with a great bounceback start has been scuffling a little bit recently. Up against the Yankees, seven innings, two runs, nine strikeouts for him. Dylan Sees, solid start. Five and a third, one run, six strikeouts. What I wanted to point out, 23 swinging strikes on 99 pitches. That is great stuff for Dylan Sees. Jose Burrios continues his bounce back season at the Mets, six innings, one run, six strikeouts, and that one, the ERA down to 3.66 for Jose Burrios.

Anything on this group, Scotty Perrios? Sees, Kershaw, Merrill Kelly. Yeah, the swinging strikes for Seas stood out to me, too. 23. His previous high this season was only 14. And as I've pointed out the last few times, we've talked about Dylan Seas. As many guys as he's going to walk, he needs to be an elite top-tier bat misser. So this was the first start where he looked like that.

We'll need to see more, obviously, to conclude that Dylan Sees is back. But it was a step in the last. the right direction. And I also want to point out for Jose Berrios that any concerns you may have had about him at one point in time should be pretty much done at this point. His last 10 starts, so basically the first two starts the year were bad, but last 10, 248 ERA 115 whip 8.2K per 9. Yeah. You know, that pretty much looks like prime Jose Berrios and, you know, the hard contact that he was dealing with last year is gone as well.

81.9 was the average exit velocity in this start. He looks fine. Yep. Pitching standouts part three. Garrett Cole, solid start at the Dodgers, six innings, one run, five strikeouts. Only nine swinging strikes on 80 pitches. He is down to a 10.7% swinging strike rate his lowest since 2017 when he was still on the Pittsburgh Pirates. Alex Cobb had a great start up against the Orioles revenge game. 7 and 2 3rd shutout with 7 strikeouts, 16 swinging strikes on 103 pitches.

And U. Darvish had a dominant start up against the Cubs. Seven shutout, nine strikeouts, 11 swinging strikes there. Anything on this group? Darvish, Cobb, Gary Cole. I mean, I would still consider Alex Cobb a cell high. There's not much to complain about in this particular start. Everything looked good. He's getting 14 whiffs on the splitter is always a good thing.

thing for him, but he is still well overperforming his expected stats and has a pathetic swinging strike rate overall. And pitching standouts, part four. The last group here, Michael Kopeck, another strong start up against the Tigers, seven innings, two runs, nine strikeouts with 11 swinging strikes. He has given up just four walks in his last four starts total, and he has nine plus strikeouts in each of those. The matchups have been very kind, though.

The Royals, Guardians, Angels, and Tries. Tigers during that span for Michael Kopeck. Nathan Avaldi, another stellar outing, six shutout, only one hit allowed, seven strikeouts to zero walks, and Bobby Miller has allowed one earned run or fewer in all three starts. He goes six shutout with seven strikeouts up against the Yankees, and I assume we are starting him with confidence at the Phillies this week. Yeah, I would say so. He has still been giving up hard contact, which makes me a little nervous, but He's unique for a young pitcher who throws 100 miles per hour in that he doesn't, he doesn't lean that heavily on the fastball. He makes extensive use of the secondary pitches,

and so I think that helps to mitigate the damage on the contact. And yeah, I don't think there's any reason not to trust Bobby Miller at this point. All right. Some quick hitting leftovers, Jordan Walker went one for five with a strikeout in his return Friday. did have two batted balls over 108 miles per hour. Ryan McMahon is on fire over his last 11 games. He's batting 442 with five homers and a 93.7 mile per hour average exit velocity. He's 92% rostered, which actually surprised me for Ryan McMahon.

John Carlos Stanton returned with a solo home run on Friday. Marcus Semyon on Saturday, four for six with two doubles and a home run. He had five hard hit balls in that game. Corey Seeger has multiple hits. hits in five of his last six games. Two homers during that time as well. And this is exactly what we thought Corey Seeger would be, right?

If he just didn't have that month of a hamstring injury, he's batting 3.49 with a 1028 OPS. He's been amazing. J.C. Real Muto, back-to-back games with a homer. He's now batting 258 with five home runs and seven steals. Alex Bregman went one for one with four walks and a grand slam on Saturday, joining just J.D. Martinez and Bobby Bonds,

three players to accomplish that feat since 1974. Luis Arise went 5 for 5 with three doubles and 5 RBI on Saturday. He's batting 390, but with just one homer and one steel. It's such an odd profile, but

he's a productive player in his own way. It's interesting. Fernando Tatis, 2 for 5 with a double dong on Saturday. Ronald de Cunia, 2 for 5 with a sock and a shoe on Saturday. His 12th homer and his 24th steel. I think he stole another base. on Sunday. He's up to 25 now. It's just crazy.

Kyle Swarver, two for five with a double dong on Sunday. He's now up to 15 home runs, but it's batting just 172. Jonathan India had a big weekend, a sock and a shoe on Friday, then added two more steals on Saturday. Nick Castiano's had seven hits this weekend, including a double dong on Friday. And I wrote down Corey Seeger's name twice on this list, because frankly, that's just how good he's been. Let's get into the bullpen updates here, Scott. If there's anywhere where you just want to hop in, feel free to do so. For the Nationals on Friday, Hunter Harvey entered in the seventh inning with runners on first and third.

With a three-run lead, he allowed two of those runners to score. And then Kyle Finnegan entered in the eighth. He had runners on first and second with a one-run lead. He allowed one run to score, but eventually would pick up the win. I don't know if there's any rhyme or reason, but just kind of feels like they're mixing and matching with Hunter Harvey and Kyle Finnegan at this point. For the Rangers, Will Smith picked up his 10th save on 4th. Friday, he's up to 71% rostered, and if you just need a relief pitcher or saves, probably should

be closer to 100% at this point for Will Smith. For the Rockies on Friday, Daniel Bard started the ninth inning up seven to two. He got the first two outs, and then he gave up a walk, a hit, and another walk. Justin Lawrence got the final out for his first save, and then on Saturday, Lawrence recorded the final four outs. He did give up a run, but he picked up his second save in as many days. He is just 5% rostered. And, you know, Scott, we speculated on Justin Lawrence recently,

and I think they're probably going that route. Yeah, it's pretty murky still because both of the saves he got over the weekend were unconventional. Right. And then the second of them, he looked pretty shaky himself. What would have happened if Daniel Bard got through that ninth inning cleanly on Friday? Up five at the time. I get it.

But, yeah, it's not clear exactly what they want to do. In leagues so deep that it's worth picking up Lawrence, I would still be reluctant to drop Pierce Johnson, just because it's still pretty messy to me. For the Cubs on Friday, Albert Alzlis entered in the eighth inning with runners on first and second and just a one-runn lead. He got Bogart's to hit into a double play

and then struck out Tatis. Mark Leiter Jr. pitched the ninth inning and picked up his third save of the season. For the Diamondbacks on Friday, Miguel Castro got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He allowed two hits, but did escape with his sixth save. And on Sunday, Andrew Chafin pitched in the seventh with a two-run lead. He gave up one-run. Miguel Castro got the ninth, a one-run lead at that point, and he gave up a grand slam to Eddie Rosario.

It kind of feels like they were trending more towards Castro, Scott, as the closer for the Diamondbacks. But maybe after this, you know, grand slam he gave up. Yeah. Yeah. He almost got out of it for what it with with no runs. There was two outs in the ninth when Rosario hit that grand slam, but He didn't it. So we'll see what happens next for the Phillies on Saturday. Craig Kimberl pitched a clean ninth inning for his eighth save for the Yankees on Saturday Michael King entered in the seventh with a two-run lead. He recorded the next six outs. Clay Holmes got the ninth walked one but did pick up his sixth save and I wrote that he has the Yankees last two saves but that would be lying

because then on Sunday night baseball Wandi Peralta got another save Clay Holmes pitching the 8th Peralta picked up the final four outs and yeah he picked up his fourth save of the season I don't know that there's yeah I don't know if there's much rhyme or reason

with the Yankees either Scott it feels like one of King Holmes or Wondi Peralta is the best bet for saves for them right now yeah I think I just dropped Peralta and a couple of 15 teamers Yeah. And on Sunday, Dylan Floreau struck out two for his sixth save,

but it sounds like AJ Puck will be back shortly. To stream or not to stream, let's start with Monday. And I like Brian Bayo the pitcher, but he's going up against Tampa Bay, so I don't know that I love that. Braxton Garrett up against the Royals. That sounds good to me. That's probably the best one. Yeah.

Andrew Abbott in his debut, Scott, do you do it? Up against the Brewers? I mean, no, but I hardly ever stream pitchers like this to begin with. J.P. Sears at the Pirates, I kind of like that. Yeah. Yeah, I think Braxton Garrett versus Kansas City and J.P. Sears at Pittsburgh are the best ones. You're feeling really crazy Mike Myers at Miami. He might have an opener pitch before him, but he's looked good in that role for the Royals so far. And then on Tuesday, we have Louis Varland at Tampa Bay.

It's a tough matchup, but he's pitching very well right now. Zach Granky has pitched very well recently. He's at the Marlins. I think that's fine. I prefer Tommy Henry at Washington. That one's good, too. I know the nationals are good against lefties, but yeah, Henry has mostly pitched well. Anyone else here?

I think Clark Schmidt against the White Sox is okay. Liberator, I'm kind of interested in the pitcher, but at the Rangers, I don't think I want to get involved there. Hayden Wenske, let's see what he does, but I don't think I want to stream him either. So the names that we gave you, Louis Varland, Tommy Henry, and Zach Granky on Tuesday. We're going to wrap there for Scott.

I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.