Fantasy Baseball Today - Players to Buy! Sal Stewart Looks Like A Stud! (4/9 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 9, 2026

Sal Stewart is crushing early on (2:35)! ... Framber Valdez put up a big ol stinker (11:44)! ... News (17:34): Cole Ragans left after getting hit by a comebacker. ... Buy low on Kyle Bradish and Eury Perez (29:30)? ... Buy high on MacKenzie Gore and Wilyer Abreu (36:25)? ... Another day, another Jordan Walker homer (50:48). ... 60% of the time, it works every time for Ryne Nelson (58:08). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (1:05:51). Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@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/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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. And first pitch, watching. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Hey there, welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today.

On Thursday, April 9th. I am Frank Stample. Join by Scott White. Today on the show, we have players. to buy, bye, bye, bye. That's right. Another day, another homer for Jordan Walker. I have a pitcher that you need to stash right now before it's too late. And much more. Let's jump in. Tom Hamilton is a national treasure man. Guardian's radio voice, he is, he's the man. I love that guy. Let's start off with the good player of the night, Scott. Before we get to yours, that would be my guy.

Sal Stewart. Yeah, hoo. Quite the homecoming here in Miami. Two for four with a sock and a shoe. His third home run, his third steal, has all three steals in the past four games, and he has started each game this season. He has hit cleanup in each game this season.

He is off to a roaring start, 366 batting average, three homers, three steals, an 1154 OPS. He has more walks than strikeout so far. And entering Wednesday, 93.6 average. exit velocity, 19% barrel rate, expected stats are off the charts. And with that, Scott, I have not moved him up my rankings at all because I don't really see how I could, right?

It's like, you look at the names that are just ahead of them in the first base rankings. Like, Yandy Diaz, also off to a great start and also much more proven than someone like Sal Stewart. The one name that stands out is like Tyler Soderstrom has only done it for a year, but he was really good last year and he had prospect pedigree and it's still early in the season. So as great as South Stewart is and I'm very happy in the leagues that I have him

and I am obviously buying this breakout because I was so ecstatic about him coming into the season. I haven't moved him up yet because I just, I feel like I can't move him ahead of those names just yet. Yeah, that's always the tough thing with an early season breakout, even if it's one you fully believe in. And I think we should all fully believe in Sal Stewart's breakout.

Like, none of those numbers you read off are out of character for him. You could say out of character, he's a rookie. Yeah, but you look at what he did in spring. You look what he did for that short stint he was up last year. You look at what he did throughout his minor league career. He legitimately hits the ball that hard. He legitimately has excellent plays discipline. You mentioned more walks and strikeout so far.

That was also true in spring training. Even the three stolen bases. I pointed this out toward the end of spring training, when by the way he had four stolen bases that in the minors last year, he had 17 stolen bases. That is not necessarily something I expected to continue in the majors where obviously there's a lot more risk for stealing bases. Minors are more about development.

And so players are encouraged to stretch themselves in more ways than maybe they would be in the majors. but once I saw him running in spring training with those four steals there, I was like, hey, maybe this is something he could carry over in addition to all the, all we like about South Stewart is a hitter. Maybe he could add this element of speed that's so rare at first base. But yes, it is tricky at the start of the season to know when to make the big move that's going to position this newcomer, even when we're buying.

into ahead of the established anchors at the position because you know you don't want to be so blown around by the wind that you're constantly

shifting all the top guys around just based on the way the last week looked you want to if you're going to make a move Sal Stewart into the top six or seven at first base you want it to hold you don't you want you want your word to mean something basically.

And that's what the rankings represent is our word. So personally, I would have a pretty easy time moving ahead of Yondi Diaz. In fact, I actually did. Maybe not in points leagues because Diaz has always been a standout in that format. But I don't know that Diaz is as proven as you say. He's proven that he's like a deserving major league starter. he's proven he's a good on-base guy, but the home run output has,

you know, a couple times he's gotten to 20 homers. One of them happened to be last year in a smaller park than he's used to playing in. But I've already moved South Stewart ahead of Yandi Diaz in Roto leagues, Soderstrom. Yeah, I think we could talk about that. I think we're close to talking about it with Vinny Pasquantino because he only has the one year

he can hang his hat on as a true fantasy standout, and obviously there's zero speed there. I'm not saying you need to freak out because of Pasquantino's slow start. I'm just saying the combination of that and the kind of upside, I believe South Stewart has relative to Pasquantino. And the amount of faith I have in South Stewart makes me close to making that move. I hear what you're saying. I, Pasquantino got off to a slow start last year too

and then from May on he was basically a stud. So I don't know if this is going to be a really thing for him. I'm not saying anybody needs to freak out about Pasquantino. I'm just saying Sal Stewart is, if he's as good as I think he is and as good as he's showing right now, he's probably better than Pasquantino. That's more what I'm saying. Yeah, I mean, there is definitely a chance that we can get there.

I mean, you know, we could look back at the end of the season and be like, all right, well, Sal Stewart's, you know, a top three or four round pick. You know, I brought this up earlier in the off season. What do I think his ultimate upside could be? Someone like Sal Stewart. And I mentioned Manny Machado. I mean, different positions. Sal Stewart, you know, did come up as a third baseman, but, you know, he's only playing first base now. But that's actually like his idol.

You know, he's very close with Manny Machado, too. And I just see a similar skill set. I see, you know, long term, good batting average. probably close to 30 home runs and probably chipping when he's really going 15 steal something like that so I don't know if he'll get to that upside this year but it's uh I see it

I see the vision here with Sal Stewart last question on him Scott is buying high on a player we were talking a little bit beforehand it's like well you know is a good strategy to buy high on a player I think it depends what level of buying high you do because you could be buying

while a player's value is still rising. I mean, we don't know, obviously, when it's going to hit its, you know, peak, but you could buy Sal Stewart now before people realize, oh, he is like a top 50 player in fantasy. And then it's obviously too late then. But, you know, whoever has him probably is so excited, they probably wouldn't want to deal him. But if someone's like, I don't know if I really buy all this from South Stewart, like, yeah, we do. Yeah. I mean, obviously, by high is not as kind of a part of the lingo as by low is. So even with me,

you kind of have to explain what you mean by buy high. And that is just, you're kind of hoping the person on the other end of a player who is streaking at the start of the season. The person who has the player who's streaking at the start of the season is going to be in the mindset of, I want to sell high on this guy, but you're there like, no, but he's actually this good.

Right, exactly. And so I'm going to be the one to do you the favor of, in your mind, selling high on the guy. But actually, it's a legit buy on my part. So that's the kind of idea you're talking about, I think. Yes, that's exactly it. The problem with Sal Stewart is that there was a lot of hype coming in. So it's probably not realistic. I mean, and this goes back to that article I wrote a couple years ago about how much harder it is to trade in fantasy baseball now is I think there's so much suspicion.

everywhere you look that even if somebody is skeptical of Sal Stewart, the person who drafted Sal Stewart is skeptical. And they're probably not because, yeah, he was a pretty hot commodity in drafts. So why would the person who paid up for the hot commodity, be skeptical of him? But just hypothetically, any player you want to put there in Sal Stewart's place, the person who has Sal Stewart is skeptical, the very fact somebody's going to bring an offer for Sal Stewart is going to make them less skeptical because it's like, what do you know that I don't know?

This guy is obviously performing big for me right now. I don't know. I don't know that this is a good idea. Just your level of interest makes me feel like this is not a good idea. Right. Yeah, I think that's well said. I guess another way you could look at it outside of the realm of trading,

which we'll get to some by low names later on. Is this like, if we are saying buy high on a player, basically we are giving that player our stamp of approval. Like we are buying what we're seeing early on in the season from a said player. And it's very obvious. That's how we feel about South Stewart as well. Scott, who was the player who made you say, oh my goodness gracious on Wednesday?

Well, not in a good way. It was Frumber Valdez who had a stinker against the twins. The twins have done that to Tiger's aces on back-to-back days. It's pretty crazy. Yeah. The lineup I claimed was going to be the worst. in all of baseball this year, at least for these two days, it hasn't been. That is kind of baseball for you, isn't it?

I heard this on the Yankees broadcast. Terrick Scoobel gave a four earned runs in an inning on Tuesday night. That was the first time he did that in 51 starts. That's crazy. To the twins! Yeah. So Framber Valdez gave up eight runs in five innings, 10 hits. Only struck out two.

It was pretty cold. 51 degrees. Velocity on his pitches was down kind of between half to a full mile per hour. But more than anything, I will note that average eggs of velocity against him was 84.9 miles per hour, which is very good, very low. Only two of the 10 hits were for extra bases. They were both doubles. He did give up a handful of hard hit balls.

So I'm not saying the singles were unearned, but it was a ground ball pitcher who gave up a lot of singles and, you know, maybe didn't have as good of a feel for the curveball as usual because it was so cold. So I think he deserves a pass. He looked fine in his first two starts. It's baseball. Bad starts are going to happen to good pitchers sometimes, even against bad offenses. Oh, my goodness gracious tonight, but in the long run, I think you're still going to be happy

with Framber Valdez. And if you look at his first two starts, they were very Framber Valdezian in that they were just solid, quality starts, right? it's like when he's going, that's pretty much what you should expect from Frabervald does. Again, his first two starts, not this one here, the stinker that he put up on Wednesday against the twins. And I think this is a good reminder, Scott, that this early in the season, very weird things are going to happen. I mean, the fact that so many games are being played in sub-50 degree weather right now, that's just not normal, right? Like, by the time we get to May and on, I mean, it's going to be pretty much 70.

plus degrees everywhere around the country. Some place is going to be like 80, 90 degrees. And that's the way that baseball is supposed to be played. So yes, I am making excuses for some of these guys, but I think it's excuses both ways, Scott. I think for pitchers, it's really hard to grip some of your pitches in weather like this. And also, I think it's really hard to get offense going for a lot of guys this early in the season.

Well, the ball doesn't carry as well. Pitchers in general have a harder time throwing strikes this time a year. it's you know there's such a thing as mid-season form it's not just a cliche i guess it is a cliche but it's a cliche that became a cliche because it's uh there's legitimacy to it and you know it's very recently these guys just switched into competitive mode and it's going to take a while for gosh as as dependent as baseball is on both the hitting and the pitching side to your mechanics being just in perfect synchronization, you know, everything, every part of your body, every movement operating at peak efficiency. It's understandable anytime something weird happens, but especially this

early in the year. Just a reminder before we hit our first break. If you are watching on YouTube, thank you for being here. Make sure to hit that like button, subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. And if you aren't watching on YouTube, why not? YouTube.com slash fantasy. Baseball today. Check us out. Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today before we get to the players to buy. Let's hit some news and notes. Cole Reagan's left Wednesday start in the first inning after taking a comebacker off of his left thumb. He recorded just two outs and was charged with three earned runs. Reagan said after the game that he should be good to make his next start. What a weird start to the season,

Scott, for Cole Reagan's first start, bad. Second start, bounce back, but took a tough luck loss. I believe he gave up just one unearned run in that game. And then boom, third start. You're expecting Regans to be your SP1 or SP2. And leaves in the first inning with kind of a fluke injury. It's very frustrating. Hey, he beat the twins.

He shut down the twins, okay? That's true. We've discovered that good left-handers are having a hard time against the twins, not Reagan's problem. No, I think he's looked good under the hood. the velocity was actually up a little bit and the little bit. The tiny amount he threw,

the velocity was up and that was the one thing that was maybe a little off even in that good start against the twins. But aside from that, everything has looked good for Reagan's. You know, it's the sort of thing. We're sitting here on April 9th and it's easy to wring your hands

over a high draft pick not performing well because oh man it's been a couple weeks already it's been three starts like when when am i going to get this payoff am i ever going to get this payoff this is still just a drop in the ocean of the season and you know how many times do we look back at a guy who had a horrible april and went on to have a fantastic season a horrible entire month of april and it's april ninth and i just you know unless there are obvious red flags, I would not be freaking out about a draft pick as high as Cole Reagan's or Framber Valdez or whoever you want to insert there. Connor Griffin's extension with the Pirates was officially signed nine years, $140 million,

the largest guarantee in pirate history, as well as the largest guarantee for a player in his rookie season. Zach Eflin underwent Tommy John surgery on Wednesday. he will miss the rest of the season and part of next year as well. Jorge Soler and Ronaldo Lopez have been handed seven game suspensions each for their brawl on Tuesday.

Ronaldo Lopez already got his reduced to five games. I believe I saw that Solair is appealing as well. Despite dealing with knee discomfort, Jacob de Grom is expected to make his next start Sunday against the Dodgers. Ian Hap was out of the lineup due to a bruise left heel. Marlins manager Clayton McCorm McCullough said Kyle Stowers should be ready for a rehab assignment soon.

He's working his way back from a hamstring injury. McCullough also said it's possible Kyle Stowers will play first base this season. So if you have Stowers, we could gain that extra eligibility there with him. Anthony Volpe could potentially begin a rehab assignment next week. He's working his way back from left shoulder surgery. Last year hit 212 with 19 home runs and 18 steals, 23% rostered. Scott, do you have any interest in stashing Anthony Volus? Fulpey right now.

In a deep enough Roto League, sure. I don't think he's that impactful, but he steals some bases, has usable power for somebody who steals bases. I would say if you've given

any thought to stashing Hassan Kim, you should also give thought to stashing Fulte. And frankly, I think I'd rather stash Fulpe between the two. Would you like to guess who played shortstop for the Yankees tonight, last night?

Well, I probably shouldn't have to guess, but I don't know the answer, so you tell me. Ryan McMahon played shortstop. Oh, yeah, they did talk about that in spring. Yep, he's bat in a cool 0.090 or something like that to start the year. That is interesting that they view him as the better shortstop than Ahmed Rosario,

who's playing third base because McMahon, you know, obviously Rosario came up as a shortstop. McMahon's a great defender. And I guess Rosario's, defensive skills is if eroded enough that it makes sense to do this now. Yep. Max Scherzer has been confirmed as the Blue J. Starter Sunday against

the Twins. Kirby Yates through 26 pitches to hitters on Tuesday and could begin a rehab assignment soon. Carlos Correa was out of the lineup again due to an illness. So for those who use Correa hoping to get those course field games in there, that was not great.

Christian Javier left Wednesday start due to right shoulder tightness. It's been a tough go for the Astros rotation. recently. Victor Robles was placed in the IL with a right peck strain and my guy, Connor Joe, was recalled from AAA and he proceeded to go hitless and have an error in that game that caused a run to cross the plate. So not the greatest. I still want to claim that? Not the greatest Mariners debut for my guy, Connor Joe, unfortunately. Yeah. Uh, Johan Oviedo will be shut down for six weeks with a right flexor strain.

I have some Reds updates here. Jose Trevino was placed in the aisle with a thoracic spine strain and Christian Encarnacian Strand was designated for assignment. I am interested to see if one of the low lead teams in baseball just take a flyer on Encarnacian

and just see if there's anything there. Like, Rockies, come on down. Well, although they have T.J. Rumpfiel. Five options of first base already that we would like to see get a chance and the one they've chosen is doing rather well.

Nationals, why talk? I don't know. Like one of the bad teams. Yeah. Well, the nationals are playing a second basement at first base. So why not them? I get the overall point. Yeah. But the Rockies probably aren't the team. Angels reliever, Robert Stevenson, underwent ligament and flexor

repair surgery on his right elbow and is likely to miss the remainder of the season. This one is a playing time standout. Scott, Samuel Bessio has set out three of the past five games. He's off to a slow start. And he concerned there with Samuel Bessio? I have to be concerned.

He didn't show much in his first stint in the majors last year, and now he's losing playing time. It could very suddenly change. As we saw with Carter Jensen, I removed him from the sleeper hitters for this week because he had a stretch where he wasn't playing much, and then he homersed back-to-back games to start the new week and seems fully entrenched again.

I don't think the Orioles are going to give up on Bessio in the long-term sense, but could they option them to the minors if they're not willing to play him right now, go ahead and get him some of batts instead of just having him on the bench. That seems possible. Not ready to drop Basayo yet,

certainly not in two-getcher leagues. Not saying that by any means. Things could turn around tomorrow again. Yeah. But yes, there is some concern. And speaking of catchers, Yvonne Herrera now has catcher eligibility on CBS.

So he's got the five games in anywhere that you only needed five games. Yvonne Herrera is now a catcher. I mentioned a pitcher to stash up at the top. And this is not breaking news by any means, Scott. But he has been dropped in some leagues. Didier Fuentes, 36% rostered on CBS, had the awesome spring. Everyone was excited to pick him up. We had the injury to strider.

We thought, all right, maybe Fuentes, we've got a shot here. on Wednesday night at AAA, six shutout innings with eight strikeouts for Fuentes and he got built up to 86 pitches. Velocity was up across the board here. I think you need to

add him now because I think Jose Suarez and Martine Perez stink and I think Fuentes will get a shot very soon. Maybe. We did just do my five on the verge, the five prospects to stash for the prospects

report and I did not include Fuentes in there. But maybe I should have included Fuentes in there. Hang on, let me check here. Yeah, I should have. For some reason, I wasn't thinking of him in terms of, oh, he's a prospect since we saw him last year. But he didn't pitch nearly enough to lose prospect eligibility. So, yeah, that's just a miss by me because after Bryce Eldridge,

isn't a prospect, I'd rather stash. Dan Fuentes. Having said that, Spencer Strider's throwing bullpen sessions again. He's supposed to be back. I don't think he has to go through a whole build-up process since he was fully built up at the end of spring training. His projected return is still mid-April.

So he might just need a rehab starter too. And with the way Bryce Eldridge has pitched so far, obviously Reinaldo Lopez has been effective. They may not pull the trigger on promoting Fuentes yet. They may give Martin Perez another turn, just wait for Strider to get back. Yeah. So it's not like it's a sure thing.

But yeah, it's an exciting player who you certainly see a path for Fuentes. And if you've missed out on all the interesting pitchers emerging on Waverwire so far, there's certainly appeal in stashing him. I'm doing it myself in a couple weeks. Yeah, that Strider scenario is the only one that came to mind that could, you know, kind of mess up this opportunity here for Fuentes is, you know, if they just want to wait for Strider to get back, I totally would understand them doing that.

You know, could they mess around with a six-man rotation? It's not something that they've mentioned, but I guess it's always a possibility, especially if there's a stretch of, you know, a lot of consecutive games coming up. Let's get into Elder. I think I called him Bryce Eldridge again. I think he called him Elder.

I did call him Elder. Because you mentioned Eldridge in there as like the top prospect of stash. But I think when you said Elder you said it right. Okay.

Their first names shouldn't both be Bryce. That's just that's just going to be a problem all season. I can tell. One of you guys just change your name.

We've got a position going here. Players, you might want to buy low or buy high on early on in the season. Who are they? Scott, in sync or Backstreet Boys? Who you got? Well, I haven't given this a lot of thought.

I'm just bringing it on you now. I think I find myself singing to myself on occasion. More Backstreet Boys than in sync. Now, it's interesting you bring this up because you just caught me singing Britney Spears, oops, I did it again to myself yesterday when Jordan Walker hit another home run. That's true.

So maybe Brittany beats both. I don't know. But this is like, this was... That's probably true. This was the popular music when I was in high school. So I didn't necessarily seek it out, but I was inundated with it. and yeah i think i'll give the edge to backstreet boys yeah look there was no escaping it in the 90s

no matter where you were brittany backstreet in sync i prefer uh instinct to backstreet boys and and i partially like to do that just to like uh mess with my wife because she's a big backstreet boys fan but uh i i mean they're all catchy but i do prefer in sync just a little bit let's talk about the players here scott kyle bradish what is going on he has not looked right so far at the White Sox here on Wednesday. Five innings, three runs. Nine base runners allowed in this one. Did have seven strikeouts, but only four whiffs on 96 pitches.

He has had three walks in all three outings. Just has not looked sharp so far. And really just kind of had like a mental breakdown on the mound today too. Like they threw the ball back to him and it fell out of his glove and he didn't go to like retrieve it right away. And the runner on third just ran home when he wasn't looking. It was just like a weird sequence for Kyle Bradish. And he owned up to it after the game, but it's just, it's been a weird start, Scott. What have you seen from Bradish?

Is he somebody you'd be looking to buy low on right now? Yeah, I think so. You know, three walks in each of his three starts so far. That seems out of character. He didn't give up particularly hard contact in this start and hasn't overall either. The starts have been short. the walks have been high the stuff is still it's still looked good enough that i'm not i'm not thinking wow this is this is a panic time for kyle bradish and you know what do we just get through

talking about if you believed in a guy coming into the season you don't change your opinion in early april unless it looks like the whole the carlos estavis example like the velocity's way down he just looks like he's totally physically incapable of doing what we thought he could do. And we probably would have sorted that out in spring training already. So I think Kyle Braddish, I'd be more likely to buy than sell on him. Yeah, I agree. And he's probably not maybe not the player, but one of the players I've been getting questions about the most so far.

Obviously, we were all pretty excited about him, hyping them up as a breakout candidate this year. And it has not gone the way we expected so far. 527 ERA 168 whips. So I understand people being frustrated with Kyle Bradish early on here. Velocity, I will just mention, it's been down like a half to one full mile per hour on all of his pitches.

But I mean, that's within a reasonable range of outcomes. That's not something that I would freak out over here with Kyle Bradish. So I agree. I think that we should be buying Kyle Braddock. What about Yuri Perez? He was just kind of, meh against the Reds here. Coming off a bad start against the Yankees. Five innings, six hits, four runs, two of those earned,

two walks, six strikeouts. So eight base runners here over five innings. Still got a ton of wifts. But home runs have been an issue early on here. He is allowed at least one homer in each start. He's allowed four homers total in his three outings. And the overall number is five. 506, ERA, 138 whip, and five walks per nine early on here, Scott.

What do you think about Yuri Perez? Is he somebody to look and buy on? Yeah, I think so. It was a so-so start in terms of the final line, though he did get a win, and he was, how many innings did he throw? He threw five? Yeah, five.

Okay. So, you know, it obviously wasn't inning away from getting a quality. start. But 15 whiffs on 95 pitches. Average eggs of velocity, 82 miles per hour. He threw 66% of his pitches for strikes. Like, other than the fact that he gave up a home run, there's not too much to complain about in this start. I guess he only went five innings. But like he looked like the stuff at the stuff played well. The stuff played well. And the control, he had that one start where he walked a bunch of guys, but it was really

just limited to that one start. I think there's still the upside is still palpable here and it would not surprise me if we look back and say isn't it

strange how in Yuri Perez's breakout season where he was a Cy Young contender by the end he had a stretch of a few bumpy starts at the beginning of the year. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I agree with that. And that's someone who, you know, coming in, I was a little bit, you know, less confident in Yuri Perez than everybody else was. Like, some of the things I was concerned about have come to fruition so far, but it's, it's only three starts. So there's no victory laps here. But I was a little bit worried about, like, command, and he gives up a lot of barrels and fly balls. So, like, home runs could be an issue for him at times. But the stuff has played so far. And even in this start, it was only four hard hits allowed. And 82, mile per hour average exit velocity against. So yeah, if anybody in your league was concerned about Yuri Perez, I would be looking to buy.

And with that, I know some people listening might say, oh, in my league, you could never buy low on Yuri Perez. Some of the questions that we get, Scott, it's just, you would be surprised. Like people, you know, have one or two bad stars and people start thinking about, like, dropping players, like, just, you know, established players or players with lots of upside. So we get questions like this often, and that's why we bring up scenarios like this. Yeah.

And your league, maybe nobody would dream of Yuri Perez, trade to Yuri Perez, but your league isn't every league. And yeah, most of the questions we get skew shallower than the kind of leagues we play in, the kind of leagues maybe you snooty guy are used to playing in. So, you know, not every word you hear on this podcast is going to be for you. We try to have wide appeal and you don't have to get angry about it. Just understand there are a lot of different league types out there.

There's something that Adam Azer does on the football podcast during the season when he talks waiver wire players that I think is, it's just so spot on and it's so funny because I, it happens to us sometimes. It's like, he does this voice where he's like, none of those players are available in my league. And it's just like, yeah, that does happen sometimes. I think that's, I think partly that's just people bragging about their league. Oh, my league is so much more competitive than you novices. Right. Yeah. But, you know, that's not the, I wouldn't say that's the most, I don't want to say common,

but, you know, the majority of players out there. I think this is more likely to happen in the majority of fantasy leagues than not. What about McKenzie Gore? This is a bit of a buy-high situation if we're actually buying what has happened so far. And we have been faked out by McKenzie Gore many times before. Five shutout innings, one hit, two walks, nine strikeouts here against the Mariners, 10 whiffs on 82 pitches. But what I like so far, Scott, is the fact that he is throwing his fastball a little bit less so far this year.

And that's exactly what I wanted to see because his fastball has been hit hard at times. and I think it's a pitch that is hard for him to command at times as well. So I wanted him to work those secondaries and more, and it's something that he has done. So I am actually very encouraged by what we've seen from McKenzie Gore so far. It is a slight difference. It's from like 49% to 42 or 40. But I mean, 10 percentage points.

43. He only threw it 40% in this one. Okay, so maybe it goes down to 42 now for the season. It's, I don't know. Yeah, it could be something he sticks with, but it's still like he throws his fastball a lot. And so if it creeps back up over the course of the season, it wouldn't surprise me.

I will also point out that it hasn't led to him throwing a lot more strikes. 60% strikes in this start as good as it was. I only walked two and five innings, but 60% strike rate is. not good at all. And overall, it's a 61.5% strike out or strike rate for the season, which still is not good at all. And it's a three-star sample.

I get it. But it continues the trend of McKinsey's Gore's career where, except for some brief stretches where he is throwing enough strikes and dominating, he generally hasn't thrown enough strikes. And looks good so far, but I'm still seeing. I'm still seeing the trend of not enough strikes. It still has me. Of the ones you've named so far, this is the one I would be least likely to buy on.

A buy medium. I mean, I don't even know that I'd buy. I'm not saying you have to sell because I'm not sure he's raised his stock enough that's selling, that you're going to get, that you're going to profit over the draft stock. invested in him. I'm not sure he's raised his stock enough. Yeah, it's not, it's not like we've had this, you know, monster blow-up start from McKenzie Gore yet, right? Like, he had on opening day last year, I think it was 12 or 13 strikeouts. He's capable of doing things like that, but I hear what you're

saying about the strike rate as well, but so far it hasn't reared itself in the walks. The walk rate has been okay, but if he remains around 60% strike rate, then probably will lead to more walks. I I'm just encouraged by that fastball rate so far early on in the season and want to see what he could do now that he's with a new team. Willier-A-Brayu is off to a nice start as well. Two-for-four-four with a run and RBI. He has started all 12 games for the Red Sox, including two against lefties.

It was Jaron Duran, who was out of the lineup here on Wednesday against a left-handed pitcher. Willier-A-Bray-U batting 3-83, three homers in OPS over 1100. the underlying quality of contact Scott looks awesome so far as well for Abrae. And this is a continuation of what we saw in spring training and the WBC. So I am also really, really encouraged early on here from what we've seen from Willier-A-R-Bray. Yeah, I moved them up quite a bit in my rankings just today into the top 40 in the outfield, which maybe doesn't sound like enough, but it's, it gets pretty crowded once you climb that high.

I like that we've seen him not sit out a single time. Granted, the Red Sox have faced only one left-hander so far, but here's something tangentially related here. Jaron Duran has already sat out three times. Is it three or is it just two? Hang on. I think it's just two. Yeah, it's just two.

But of Rayu Zero, Duran two, and both of the times Duran set out was actually against Dari. It has been three. Because it was the third today? Yeah. Yep. Okay. So yeah, it has been three.

So that's bad news for Duran. Not that that's who you brought up. But I don't like to see it. I don't like to see it at all. As for Williur-Abreu, I still think his swing is poorly suited for his home park. And look at that. All three of his home runs have been on the road.

Yeah, as a left-handed pole-heavy hitter, in Fenway, it's just, it's not great. It's not, like, I'd potentially love Williur Brayu if he played in a stadium with normal configuration. But he's in probably the worst, certainly one of the worst venues for maximizing left-handed power to the pole side, which is where Willi or Brayu lives. I mean, that's his main strength as a hitter. He elevates well to his pull side, not a good place for a left-handed hitter to do that.

It doesn't mean he's not going to be startable, even in three outfielder leagues. I would bet on him being that. I've got him in that range of my rankings now. It just means it is going to restrict his upside. And in my estimation, we'll probably keep him on the fringes of those three outfielder leagues rather than being a definitive must start option. I love when this happens too, Scott, is we both updated our rankings here. And we both moved Williare-Arabayu up to outfielder 39. the same exact spot, which we never talk about.

It's a lot of times it winds up that way, which is pretty funny. Last year for a Brayu, 22 homers, 69 RBI, six deals, did all of that in just 115 games. So part of this is just if he stays healthy for a full season, and he's an everyday player, which again, I feel like they value his defense so much that's going to keep him in the lineup. Just him playing that much, I mean, we could get the breakout like that. It could be, you know, 25 to 30 home runs, 10 steals.

and good counting stats in the middle of a good Red Sox lineup. So I think that's all possible here for Willier-A-Brayu. Dylan C. Scott, this is an interesting one. I couldn't tell if I am super encouraged by what he's done. Do I want to, am I buying

what he's done so far with the Blue Jays? He did bounce back against the Dodgers here. Five innings, two runs. One of those earned, eight strikeouts to four walks. You don't like the four walks. And actually, he was, he struggled early on

and then he settled down and then he threw five innings it was three hits, two walks, eight strikeouts, one unearned run, came out for the sixth, gave up a hit, walk two,

and boom, you know, blows up his whip, just, you know, coming back out for the sixth inning. But this is the most diverse pitch makes that we've ever seen

from Dylan Seas. Like he's just not relying on his slider as much anymore. I don't know if that's a good thing, but I am encouraged by the change, The changeup has looked really good for him. So there's a lot there. Where do you wind on Dylan's cease?

Wind up. Are you overall encouraged early on? Yeah, I'm kind of with you. I'm not really sure what to think yet. So he did show this expanded arsenal in the first start, got 12 strikeouts. That was against the athletics. The second start kind of went back to more typical pitch selection,

really heavy on fastball slider. The other pitches were there. but just not used that much. And it wasn't a great start. That was at the White Sox. And this third start, six pitches thrown at least 10% of the time. That is a much more diverse arsenal than we're used to seeing from Cease. But was the start actually good?

Well, you know, one and run innings against the Dodgers lineup, eight strikeouts. But he did have those four walks. So it might be the control issue, which has long been there. for Dolman Cs might be a separate one from the pitch selection issue. They just, it may be that the pitch selection being expanded is going to make them an even better strikeout pitcher than he already was. And the two starts where we've seen him do it, he's had a combined 20 strikeouts in like 10 innings.

So it may be that that is a good thing on its own, but he still has to get past the control stuff that's always been there. And he's, I don't think he's ever going to be a control artist. it's just can he limit them enough that it's not going to get in the way of his of how dominant he could be of how good his actual arsenal is man if he could just live in that three to three and a half walks per nine which is where he usually is right now it's like five and a half walks per nine but again gets that down to like three walks per nine and continues to flash like this new pitch mix and change up which has been encouraging and just getting all

these whiffs on a good team. Like, yeah, I think overall, you should be encouraged by Dylan Seas. But Chris talks about this a lot, man. It's, uh, having Dylan Seas on your fantasy team, just don't watch him, man. I made that mistake here on Wednesday. It's just, he is, uh, so frustrating because from inning to inning, it's just like, you don't know what you're going to get. He could, he could be the best pitcher in baseball.

He could just, you know, completely lose every feel of the strike zone. struggle to throw strikes. So that is Dylan Sees, who's off to, let's call it a weird start so far this season. I have a couple bonus ones here, Scott. I know we talked about Tage Bradley yesterday, but I've got the Stuff Plus number after yesterday's start.

115, which is tied for second among starting pitchers right now. And I know some people will say, well, yeah, he's had big stuff numbers in the past. It's never been that high. Like, he's peaked at 108 Stuff Plus. 115, I mean, that's among the... best in baseball. So not sure if he can maintain that, but, you know, that, that more splittery

splitter that, that Tage Bradley is throwing, I, I'm really encouraged if I have Tage Bradley on my team right now, or, you know, still could be a free agent in some leagues. So I would go out there and make sure I have Tosh Bradley on my team to see if it's legit. By low hitters, look, any of the top 100 picks that, you know, are underperforming right now, and if anyone's concerned about, like, yeah, those are just, those are the names. So the Mariners, Big Three hitters, Josh Naler, Julio Rodriguez, and Cal Raleigh, I mean, and just Boba Chet with the Mets.

All four of these names have an OPS of 505 or lower so far this season, Scott. So, and they're all really, you know, they have a track record and established track record. So if anyone is freaking out about the Mariners, Big Three or Boba Chet, sure. Those are the guys. to further demonstrate the point.

How many games of the Mariners played this year? What are they up to? I don't have that number exactly, but it's probably like 10 to 12. 10 to 12. So after nine games last year, Cal Raleigh was batting 156 with one home run. That's pretty good.

And, you know, obviously went on to have probably the greatest offensive season for a catcher ever. They have played 13, and they're actually four and nine. My gosh. after 13 games last year, 184 with two home runs.

So he did add a second home run. He only has the one right now. But the point is, it was meaningless in the grand scheme of things. And I would say Cal Raleigh, and he's just an example for all these. He's just one example among all the players you talked about. It's your opinion of them really shouldn't have changed yet.

It's weird stuff can happen over, a two-week sample and it just happens to be magnified because it's the initial two-week sample. Yep. If this happens in the middle of the season, Scott, that we would probably not even notice what's going on with these guys that we just talked about. So those are the players, too. Buy right now.

Let's take our final break when we return. We've got the rest of Wednesday's action right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Let's take a look at some Waverwire hitters here from Wednesday's action and some names in the shallowest of leagues. Jordan Walker, Scott. Another day, another homer for Jordan Walker. His fifth home run,

and he has homered in three straight. He has homers in four of his last five. We have talked about him endlessly, but he is still available in 22% of CBS leagues. Is he? Wow. That needs to change because there were great signs even before these three home runs

in his many games. The fact he is impacting the ball as hard as anyone at the time, he would let all the majors in average eggs of velocity with 98 miles per hour. And I can't imagine it's dropped too much since then, since he keeps homering.

97.5 is what it was coming into Wednesday's action. He made some changes to his swing toward the end of spring training to see the ball better. We always knew he was. capable of these kinds of exit velocities, but the fact that he's delivering them consistently now is the big change and probably tied to those swing adjustments he made would be my guess. Only 23, that's an age when a lot of top prospects are just reaching the majors.

So, you know, in a way, he's a victim of his own hype by that hype propelled him to the majors as a 20-year-old. and it's taken a while to find his footing there and everyone's given up on him, but looks like he may have figured it out. Still very early. Obviously, he could fall off, but now's the time when you take the shot on him

and hope for the best. And I'm seeing here that you moved Jordan Walker up to 40th in your outfield rankings. I moved them up to 44th. So we are pretty close there on Jordan Walker, who is, again, 78% roster on CBS, 56% on Yahoo. So I know those are three outfieler leagues, a lot of them, but also two utility spots.

So you can find a way to get Jordan Walker on your team there. Next up, Royce Lewis, two for three with a walk, two RBI, and his second still on base, only batting 219 early on, but two homers, two steals, 8.59 OPS, and he's hitting the ball hard, the barrels have been there, and a very high-pulled air rate. another shallow league name. He's 75% rostered on CBS,

44% on Yahoo. But obviously we want a better batting average got, but like some of the underlying stuff, especially plate discipline too. I've been impressed here early on from Royce Lewis, those slugging Minnesota twins. Yeah, we've, you know,

we've already seen him steal a couple bases, which I know he had 12 last year, and he talked about maybe doing it more this year. It's nice to see him backing it up. Otherwise, I don't know. He is hitting the ball a little harder on average, hasn't really delivered the real high-end exit velocities like we've seen from him in the past,

but we know he's capable of them. He's walking more. He's also striking out more, and the batting average is low. I don't know that I see a lot of reason to be encouraged here myself. So maybe you could point out exactly what you're talking about because I don't see it. but it's too early to have a firm judgment on it anyway.

Yeah, it's the 19.5% walk rate early on, and his quality of contact from 89.8 to 91.2. It's not a huge jump. Yeah. It's just the hardest tip ball is 102, which is pretty low for a hardest tip ball. Very low. Yeah, but it's, again, it's early on and it is cold and everything,

but a 17% barrel rate, It's like, yeah, that'll work. And he's always been good at playing the ball in the air, but it's actually up even more from where it was last year. So all those things combined. I like Lewis coming in. The expected stats don't like it at all. They don't like what they're seeing from Royce Lewis.

You know what, Scott? I've always said I don't buy into expected stats. I don't really care about any of that. What about some deep league names here? Troy Johnston continues to rake for the Rockies, two for four with a double, a walk, a run, and an RBI. He has started nice straight. And somebody points out, Royce Lewis hit 1,106 today.

So that's the new, that's the new max. Take that, Scott. If this person is right, I'm just taking his word for it. Troy Johnston has started nine straight games for the Rockies. And how about this? Six games next week. Three at home against the Dodgers. So, you know, they have tough pitchers.

But all righties on the schedule as of now. So if you're in one of those deeper five out of their leagues, Troy Johnston, come on down, man. I can, I'm on board with, with him for next week at least in a deeper league. Sure. Yeah, he might make the sleeper hitters toward the lower end of the list. I don't think in the long run, Troy Johnston is going to matter in most fantasy leagues. But he's hot right now.

You got those five outfield spots to fill. If there are enough righties on the schedule, they're at home for at least half the week. He's somebody you could consider. And then three names in the deepest of leagues. Anhele Martinez of the Guardians with a grand sock in a shoe that he went four for five in this game. It was his second stolen base. He has started eight of the past nine for the Guardians.

Juan Brito, who also plays for the Guardians, back-to-back multi-hit games since being recalled there. Gabriel Arias is on the aisle. He could miss up to eight weeks with a hamstring injury. And Brito has showed some power and speed in the minors. And then Dustin Harris, who is like former Rangers top process,

He's someone I've always liked, but he's like never really gotten a real opportunity. He's playing for the White Sox right now and put up some decent numbers in the minors last year. Very deep league name, Scott. But what do you think on, uh, Anhelle Martinez, Juan Brito, Dustin Harris. I mean, they called up Dustin Harris over our preferred guys, Sam Antanachi. That's true. So, why, and we shouldn't. We shouldn't be rooting for Dustin Harris here.

Oh, come on. Well, he's shun it. I'm, you know, I don't wish him ill or anything, but I want to see Sammy. Sammy will get a shot. He'll get a shot. Yeah, maybe. Anhele Martinez, three balls hit over 107 miles per hour in this game, which is notable. I don't know that it's causing me to rush out and pick them up, given what we've seen from

Anahel Martinez in the past as a major leaguer, but it was definitely throttling the ball today. I guess we'll keep an eye on it. I think he started eight games. Yeah, eight of the past, nine you row here for the guardians. I can confirm that Royce Lewis had a batted ball of 106 miles per hour on Wednesday. And another one at 102. So let's go.

That average eggs of velocity is climbing for Royce Lewis. Let's talk some waiver wire pitchers here, Scott. And you know what they say about Ryan Nell. 60% of the time it works every time. Yeah. Yeah. Shout out to the blue sky user who told me to work that in. That actually is a great call there for Roy.

Is that actually the quote from the movie? I don't remember it. Did he 60% of the time it works every time? That's Anchorman, obviously. Yeah, that's the exact quote. He happened to nail the right percentage, 60%. I remember that quote differently, like 90% of the time it works every time. Okay, 60%.

That's true. That is a reference to when Ryan Nelson throws his fastball 60% of the time, he has a good start. Virtually 100% of the time. So it is perfect. Good call by that guy. Yeah. So here against the Mets, 5 and 2 thirds, 1 run, 5 strikeouts, 11 whiffs on 86 pitches. This was with his velocity down like 2 miles per hour.

It was another cold day in New York there. So he's not out there in many leagues. But 72% rostered for Ryan Nelson, especially, you know, all points leagues, he needs to be rostered as a, as a spark, Ryan Nelson. But, you know, I think his best category is whip. And that is something that has plenty of appeal in Roto leagues. That is a difficult category to fill, particularly in the price range where you got Ryan Nelson.

Certainly if somebody dropped him after the first two starts, I'd be picking him up. The velocity was down, induced vertical break on that fastball, 21 inches. It's normally not quite that high. That is about as high as it gets. It's a great pitch. I mean, he's shown it for a year and a half now. 60% of the time it works every time. Moving on here. The next group, Grant Holmes turned in a quality start and a win at the Angel six and two thirds innings. Two runs with six strikeouts had 13 whiffs on 99 pitches. Mitch Keller, no run support here against the Padres, but a solid outing six shutout innings with four strikeouts. for him. Joey Cantillo pitched well against the Royals, five and two-thirds. Two runs, one of those earned with nine strikeouts. His strikeout upside is definitely there. It's just lots of walks and lack of command leads to inefficiency, but there is something there with Joey Cantillo. And Tyler Malley, a solid outing here against the Phillies, five and two-thirds, shutout,

three hits, four walks, six strikeouts. Scott, how would you rank those four? Mali. Kelly, Cantillo, Mitch Keller, and Grant Holmes. Holmes and Cantillo, who I think are pretty similar in terms of what you can expect from them in fantasy. Holmes has done it a bit longer, so that's why I have more confidence in him. But I think they're both going to give you nice strikeout numbers with the whip running kind of high because their control is less than stellar. And some of their outings will be on the shorter side for that reason. I don't think they're make-a-break type pitchers for your fantasy team,

but I think Grant Holmes and Cantillo are good enough to roster in 12-team leagues are deeper. Keller and Malley, I don't care about them as much. It kind of depends on how they're going. What kind of matchups they have. I think they're both highly volatile, and anytime you stream them, you could get burned badly. I don't know if I'd call them Charzards because the high-end outcome isn't that great,

but maybe they're charmilians. Charmilians that just don't obey you for some reason. Yeah, I don't know if Ash promoted or he got Charzard or Charmander to evolve into Charmielion too quickly too, if it was just a Charzard thing. I don't remember, you know, I've only seen bits and pieces of the cartoon. I don't remember what Ash's relationship with Charmilian was like.

I think Charzard was bad, obviously. Right. Did not obey Ash. They had a tumultuous relationship. Charmander, I think, was fine. I think it was a little bit rocky with Charmillion, too. There was a little rocky with Charmilian, yeah, but there wasn't quite the same upside. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Actually, if you play the video game back in the day, if you level up your Pokemon too quickly without getting the badges, then the Pokemon will, they won't obey you in battle because it's like they don't want you to progress too quickly within the game.

So. Yeah, I figured there was, I figured the cartoon was drawing from the source material there. Yeah. Look, for everyone who wonders like, wow, what does Frank do? He's never seen any movies.

He doesn't like go to museums or know anything. It's like, I have just a bunch of useless knowledge in my head about like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-o and just, I don't know, all the stuff that I grew up playing with when I was younger. So there you go. That's why we end up talking about Pokemon so much on this podcast.

I got to meet you at your level. There you go. Yeah. Or wrestling. That's another thing that I know like. I don't know anything about wrestling. It's very niche, you know. So these are my interests in case you're wondering.

Yes. So I appreciate you bringing up Pokemon, Scott. We could talk about it. Any interest in these three waiver wire pitchers, Bailey Obera solid outing against the Tigers, five and two thirds, two runs, only two strikeouts here. He averaged 88 miles per hour on his fastball. Wolf. Michael McGreevy picked up a quality start here, but no whiffs at the Nationals.

Six innings, one run, only one strikeout, only five swinging strikes. And Colin Ray was solid at the raise. He, no pun intended, is filling in here for Kate Horton. And obviously Matthew Boyd went on the aisle as well. Five innings, one run, two strikeouts for him. Scott, any deeper league interest in like a Colin Ray, McGreevy, Bailey, Bailey. I can't imagine rostering any of these guys outside of A. L or NL only. And I'm putting over in that category because that velocity just keeps getting worse and worse.

It was cold where he was pitching. And maybe that's why it was only 88.1 on the fastball versus, what, 88.6 last time? Like, it's hard to blame it on the cold. what we saw there from Ober. So I just, I, I don't think he has it anymore. I'm not saying there will never come a point where we might think about streaming McGreevy or Ray or even Ober, but I don't think you should be at that level of desperation yet.

Look at the trend here for Bailey Ober. His fastball velocity over the past three years, 91.7, 90.3, and it was 89.1 entering this start. his swinging strike rate last three years. 14.2%, 11.7%, 9.4% entering the start, and it's only going to go down. So some troubling trends there with Bailey Ober. The dropometer, not really just like I have three names,

and I think we could drop all of them, but maybe you disagree. Brady Singer is 66% roster. David Peterson is 57%, and Joe Boyle, Scott. Rough outing here against the Cubs. I believe all three of these names are dropable. What do you think? Yeah, my favorite is Boyle.

I still think there's upside there. There may come a point where I don't see him as dropable, but we're not at that point. I'm not even sure he gets another turn with Ryan Pepio on the verge of returning. Yep. Some leftovers here. The Padres were off and running

against Joey Bart and the Pirates. Ramon Luriano had two steals. Fernando Tatee Jr. still home in this game. Jackson Merrill got his second steal. he already has more than last year. Miguel Anduhar and Bryce Johnson also had a steal as well. Taylor Ward is coming alive here. Four for five with three doubles and two RBI.

He has nine doubles on the season. No homers. We'd like to get some homers from Taylor Ward, but lots of doubles early on. Hunter Goodman with a big game, one for two with two walks, a sock and a shoe. His second home run, his first deal. Big game for Rafi Devers,

two for four with his second home run for RBI. Corby and Carroll continued his nice start, three for five, with two doubles, a triple, and two RBI for him. He had four hard hits in this game, and his hardest was 108.6 miles per hour off of David Peterson. So lefty on left there for Corbyn. And Nico Horner is also off to a great start. Three for five with his first home run. He has two RBI in three straight games. It's got anything that stands out to you here.

Horner, Carol, Devers Goodman, Taylor Ward, and lots O Padre Steels. The one thing I'm looking at now, as I noticed Horner was batting leadoff, and how common has that been? It's been pretty common. It is the six time in the last seven games, Nico Horner has hit leadoff.

Mostly those games have come against lefties, but he may be positioning himself to stay there, which would help his value. Yep. Some pitching leftovers here. Part one. Brian, who was meh, at the Rangers. Did have some costly defense behind him again, my guy Connor, Joe. Five innings, three runs, one of those earned, two walks, two strikeouts. Did have 12 whiffs on 83 pitches.

Otani, the pitcher, didn't have his best stuff here. Didn't get too many whiffs, but still a quality start. He's two for two and quality starts here. And Michael King, a quality start. at the Pirates, six innings, two runs, three walks, four strikeouts. It's got anything on Michael King, Otani, the pitcher, and Brian Woo. So Otani's velocity was back up. It was down in the first start.

His pitch selection was a little closer to normal. He's been bringing back the splitter this year after not throwing it much in either 2025 or 2023. He didn't pitch it all in 2024. remember. So I wonder if that's a reflection of how his elbow is feeling that pitch can be tough on the elbow. But, you know,

bottom line, feel good about Otani the pitcher right now. And the next group includes Sunny Gray, who had a quality start against the Brewers, six and a third shutout innings, only two strikeouts there, and Aaron Nola, who took a quality start loss at the Giants, six innings, three runs, only three strikeouts for him. Anything on the old

vets. Sunny Gray and Aaron So Sunny Gray looks like a very different pitcher this year is the main thing I've noticed. He is leaning a lot more on the sinker. That wasn't true in this start, strangely enough, even though he had just two strikeouts and seven whiffs on 90 pitches. He didn't throw the sinker as much in this start,

but he threw it a lot in his first two starts. The ground ball rate is much higher than in years past. The whiff rate is much lower. So he seems to be taking on more of a pitch to contact ground ball specialist type of profile. We've seen so many different versions of Sunny Gray over the years. This is part of what made him so frustrating to analyze. Early in his career, that's more who he was than the strikeout pitcher he's been more

recently. So I don't know where this is going with Sunny Gray. He's good enough to roster and start most of the time. But how many strikeouts is he actually going to give you? Is he already going to end up lower? because he's changing his approach. We'll even stick with this for long. I have no idea.

I kind of feel like it could be a weather-related thing, like try to pitch to contact early in the season when the ball doesn't travel as well. But I haven't seen any confirmation of that. That's just me, you know, speculating. The call to the bullpen for the Guardians. Cade Smith was unavailable. Matt Festa picked up his first save.

For the Orioles, Ryan Helsley, unavailable. Rico Garcia picked up his first save. For the Rangers. Jacob Junis, unavailable, Cole Wynn, picked up his first save. For the Astros, they were down 8 to 1 in this game. Brian Abraeu was brought on in the 8th inning, try to get him back on track a little bit, build some confidence. He allowed a run on two walks and a hit and averaged 95.8 miles per hour on his fastball. Last year, 97.3.

So the velocity remains down for Abraeu, and he's just, he is off to a terrible start. has not been able to capitalize while Josh Hader has been out. For the Cardinals, Riley O'Brien got the ninth inning with a five-run lead. The Cardinals added two in the top of the ninth, or else this would have been a safe situation, but it was a clean inning for him to finish out the game, and he has finished out four of the last five, of the last five appearances there for Riley O'Brien.

For Brian, a brave who hasn't had a scoreless outing yet. Not great. Not great. For the Marlins, Pete Fairbanks is on paternity leave, and I assume both Anthony Bender and Calvin Foshae were unavailable here. Michael Peterson got the ninth inning with a three-run lead. He allowed two hits, but struck out two for his first save. For the Yankees, David Bednar got the ninth inning with the game tied.

He allowed a run on two hits. He took the loss. One thing to pay attention to, he is averaging 95.6 miles per hour on his fastball. And last year, it was 97.1. And I saw a quote that he says, like, usually he starts slow and kind of builds up. That was not the case last year or 2024, but it was the case back in 2023. So let's just pay attention to David Bednar's velocity. I know it has been really cold, obviously.

So perhaps that is another excuse. For the athletics on the other side, Joel Kunoz got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. And he pitched a clean inning. He struck out one for his first save. Justin Sterner through two innings and Mark Leiter Jr. got rocked on Tuesday night so I just assumed they weren't available. Joel Coonel

has been really bad in his career, so I don't think there's anything there. Scott, do you disagree? I don't think we need to worry about this Joel Coonel guy. That is my analysis. Do we need to worry about anyone in the Twins bullpen? I really don't think so.

Justin Topa recorded an out in the sixth inning. Cole Sands recorded an out in the seventh inning. And then it was lefty Cody Funderberg, who got the final two outs of the game for his first save. This whole bullpen just feels yucky. It does. I think after talking about the last two, I feel like I need to take a shower.

That's how yucky it is. You know what? We're almost done, Scott. So we'll get you up and out of here. To stream or not to stream on 30? We got Rhett Louder at the Marlins, Max Meyer, against the Reds, Jeffrey Springs at the Yankees, Mick Abel against the Tigers, Eduardo Rodriguez at the Mets, Randy Vasquez against the Rockies in San Diego, and Seth Lugo against the White Sox. So I like Rhett Louder at Miami.

And I think I would opt for Seth Lugo against the White Sox. That seems like a new addition. ahead of Randy Vasquez against the Rockies in San Diego. But I think they're all streamable, which I couldn't have imagined saying for Randy Vasquez coming in. I agree with that order. Lou Geo and Vasquez. I think Max Meyer is also fine against the Reds.

And then on Friday, we have Stephen Mats against the Yankees, Carmen Maginsky at the Cubs. Clay Holmes faces the athletics, Landon Rup at the Orioles, Slade Cicone at the Braves, Bryce Elder, Home Against the Guardians Chad Patrick Home Against the Nationals.

I don't like these choices as much. Agreed. Bryce Elder against the Guardians I think is my first choice. Chad Patrick against the Nationals and then Clay Holmes against the Athletics. Yep. They all feel pretty risky.

Those were the same three. And I do agree with that analysis. I would probably order them Holmes, Elder Patrick. But yeah, I do think there's a little bit of blow-up potential for each of those names there. So tread lightly on Friday. We are going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank.

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