Fantasy Baseball Today - Potential League Winners, Waiver Wire Adds & Start or Sit Questions! (8/11 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

Edward Cabrera and Brandon Woodruff look like potential league winners right now (3:00)! ... Are Luke Keaschall and Jakob Marsee must-add players (7:05)? ...News (15:30): Aaron Judge is progressing. ... The Dog of the weekend goes to Quinn Priester (23:15). ... Carlos Correa and Jurickson Profar had big weekends (25:18). ... Bailey Ober had one of his better starts of the season (36:52). ... Start or sit these pitchers (44:38)? ... These hitters are having big second halves (51:57)! ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (56:52). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow FBT on TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@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/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Hey there. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Monday, August 11th.

I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White. Today on the show, all the waiver wire names from The Weekend, some starter sit decisions, two pitchers who look like they might be league winners, and much more. But before we jump in, Scott, I went down to Baltimore this weekend, went to the Orioles game, awesome ballpark, great food out there, also went to the Bay Ruth Museum. Highly recommend checking that out. I also drove home earlier today, like a four-hour drive, so I'm pretty beat, man. Gonna need you to carry this one.

I will do my best. I will do my best. I like that you're already lowering the audience's expectations from the beginning. That's always... Just for me. I mean, the expectations are always low anyway. For me, we'll see. You'll carry you.

I think you'll do fine. We'll be all right. All right, let's jump in. Oh, my goodness gracious! All right, players of the weekend, no Chris on the show, but guess what? We have a bunch of Marlins to talk about. Scott, you're up first. Yeah, all they did was lose four of their five games to the beach.

Braves, but apparently the Marlins were the real standouts of the series. That was certainly true. On Friday, Edward Cabrera turned in his best start yet. Eight innings, two hits allowed. Second straight start allowing two hits, by the way. Eleven strikeouts, which was also a season high. He got 19 swinging strikes on 109 pitches. You love that.

Six each on. the change-up and actually the slider. But, you know, a lot of his success, I feel like, has been driven by him fading his fastballs, both version of the fastball, the four-seamer, and the two-seamer. And that was the case, again, in this start, his most thrown pitches were the change-up and the curveball.

And that seems like a really good plan for Edward Cabrera, because now all of a sudden, I mean, obviously we talk about him every time he pitches because it seems to go well. But the actual numbers, when you line them up, last seven starts, 206 ERA, 0.78 whip. Wow.

9.3K per 9. Yeah, how about that low whip for Cabrera? And this is what I like most of all. So this was an eight-inning start against the Braves on Friday. Five of his last seven starts have been six innings or more. So he is, you know,

my complaint earlier in the season, one of my complaints was that, okay, it's a lot of success over five, five and two-thirds innings. Well, he is, Edward Cabrera is giving us legitimate innings now, like a true ace workload. On top of the ace performance,

and I'm not saying he's an ace, but I'm saying the breakthrough is legitimate. And you can anticipate starting him basically every time out moving forward, I think. There you go. Must start Edward Cabrera. And at the top, I mentioned two pitchers who could be league winners.

Edward Cabrera was one. The other one I wanted to bring up, Brandon Woodruff, man. Another strong start. This one against the Mets. Seven innings, two runs, eight strikeouts, had 16 whiffs on 79 pitches. He's allowed to earn runs or fewer in all six starts. He has eight plus strikeouts in four of six outings. And so far, it's a 229 ERA, a 0.65 whip. 11.5K per nine here for Brandon Woodruff. What do you think about that possibility, Scott, that both he and Cabrera could potentially be league winners?

I mean, it's hard to second guess it right now. Brandon Woodruff, I mean, I guess in a way it's surprising for both of them, just in Edward Cabrera's case because he had had so many opportunities and had let us down for so many years. It was easy to just assume it would always be so. And then Woodruff's case coming back from a major soldier surgery that cost him two and a half miles per hour. were on his fastball. I mean, not, we'd worry about a one mile per hour drop in fastball velocity coming back from shoulder surgery.

Two and a half miles per hour, particularly for someone so dependent on the fastball, I just, I'm not sure I can think of a comp for that historically. But there's nothing fake about what Woodruff is doing. It's 11.5K per 9. The swinging strike rate is, pretty much what it's been throughout his career.

And, yeah, I mean, even though that fastball, again, down two and a half miles per hour, it was responsible for nine of his 16 whiffs on Friday. Like, it's still playing like a great pitch on its own. And so I don't know how Woodruff is able to overcome that, but it's been every start, basically, since he came back. So I'm disinclined to bet against it.

All right. I'm going to cheat a little bit here. Players of the weekend, two names who I think are bordering on must roster, must add players regardless of what size league that they're in, what size league you're in. Luke Kishel, we talk about him a lot. He just keeps on hitting three for five with a walkoff homer on Sunday.

He had two hits on Friday as well. In five games since returning, he's got 10 hits, two homers, 10 RBI. He's 57% rostered, so still out there in a bunch of leagues. And Jacob Marcy had three steals in a game on Saturday. And through 11 games, he is hitting 419 with one homer, five steals, eight walks to eight strikeouts, and a 1280 OPS, 37% rostered. So even more widely available than Keishel, Scott.

What do you, do you think these two are both must add, must roster players in a small sample? Well, across the board, I don't know that I could go as far as to call the must add. Certainly the standard roto lineup with the extra middle infield spot, the five outfielder spots. You probably need to add in there because it just goes so much deeper into the hitter pool in those formats. The head-to-head lineups that were only nine hitters are started normally, you know, it depends what else you have there. Certainly, if you're hurting at second base, if you're hurting in the outfield, it wouldn't hurt to add these players, if only as a hot hand play. I think what could potentially give them legs, even in like a head-to-head points context, for instance, is that plate discipline is one of their biggest strengths. It was throughout their minor league career.

it's always tricky that profile graduating to the majors are our major league pitchers if they're not if the batter doesn't have a lot of raw power the kind that actually scares pitchers are they going to work around them as much as a minor league pitcher would minor league pitcher who's scared of his own shadow like our major league pitcher is going to be as fearful and we've seen some high OBP guys in the miners immediately lose that ability just because there's not enough punch in the bat. And I was especially worried about that in Marcy's case. I mean, neither of these guys hit the ball that hard. But Keishel has, I think, a little harder and, you know, the swing more clearly optimized for power.

But so far it hasn't been an issue. They've been getting on base plenty. Marcy's been running wild. He had a three-stealed game. one of the double header games, right? It was three steals. Yep. Yeah.

So, and that helps too. I mean, certainly CBS sports points leagues with stolen bases worth two points apiece. That helps to pad any of the concerns you have about the bat and power development and everything. But mainly it's those on base skills that make it so these players, no, even if we're unsure of the upside, the fact that they're performing now, you can at least see it. You can at least see a path to them sustaining relevant. So I know in one head-to-head points league, I was starting Luis Arise, who's fine, but he's merely fine. You know, so I'm swapping him out for Keishel for this upcoming week

just to see if Keishel can sustain this because it's been very impressive so far. All right, would you take... And Marcy, you could argue even more so, but I have a little less confidence in Marcy's upside. Would you take Keishel over any of these names? They're all rostered in more than. leagues than Keishel is right now. Otto Lopez. Yeah, I'd take Keishel. Bryson Stott. Kishel. Luis Garcia Jr.

Keeshal. Jorge Polanco. Keesel. Matt McLean? We're getting closer. It depends how shallow the league is. Shallow league, I'd take Keishel. Like the same scenario I laid out, a rise versus Keishel. I mean, if it's the kind of league where you could even think about dropping McLean, sure. Take a little. Take the shot on Keishol. And Xavier Edwards.

I'm going to say Edwards there, who's been pretty spectacular for a few months now. He's finally gotten the stolen bases going, has Xavier Edwards with, and this is how it works sometimes with stolen bases. It's not like it's evenly distributed over the course of the season. So Sunday he got his fifth stolen base in six games, so he's running. Nice. And that means now in 59 games, dating back to June 1st, he's batting 336 with 11 steals. So his summer is going much like his summer did last year. That's Xavier Edwards.

And back to Marcy for a second. Would you, in five outfielder leagues, add him or Isaac Collins, who continues to hit the ball well in the second half? and he had a big walk-off home run here on Sunday as well. Isaac Collins hitting 387 with three homers, 17 RBI, three steals, 1077 OPS here. So far in the second half, who do you like more, Collins or Jacob Marcy? I think Collins is safer.

I think Marcy is higher upside. Okay. And certainly if you need steals especially, I think Marcy's the way to go because he could give you a lot. If it all works out. But he's the one who's at greater risk of, oh, he goes, you know, one for his next 18 and he's back in the minors. I think Collins has earned the right to stick around beyond that.

But, yeah, like Collins just came out of nowhere, a 28-year-old rookie. It's apparently in the Rockies organization previously. His production in the miners, pretty similar to what we're seeing now, just kind of, you know, good on base skills. not huge power speed numbers, but useful power speed numbers. It's just kind of all translated. And I mean, the main thing I see with him,

Isaac Collins, is a very high line drive rate, according to Fangraph's 27%. That's very high. And that'll yield a good batting average as he's delivered so far. It's not the stickiest measurement, but you look through Isaac Collins,

my early track record. He ran high line drive rates down there, too. So it may be, just a natural part of his skill set. All right. Let's take our first break. When we return, we will get to the news and notes. But big thanks to those watching live. We do appreciate you being here.

Make sure to hit that light button and subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already. Let's take that break. We'll be back right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Let's run through the news and notes. Aaron Boone said that Aaron Judge is, quote, moving in a pretty good direction with his starting program and their optimistic he'll return to the outfield soon. Speaking of which we did get a game with John Carlos Stanton in the outfield

this weekend, but the sooner judge can get back into the outfield, the sooner we get regular playing time back for Stanton, who's been pretty hot over the past month or so. Bobby Witt Jr. was out of the lineup Sunday with back stiffness. Scott, have you seen any updates here? Do you plan to start Bobby Witt Jr. this week? Unless I hear something a little more conclusive than that, I think you'd have to start Bobby Witt given the caliber of production you risk losing by not doing that. Back stiffness sounds like a day-to-day injury. Next up, Ronald de Cunia has progressed to sprinting and doing some outfield drills.

He is currently on the aisle with a calf injury. Chris Sale will make his first rehab start at AAA on Tuesday. He's been out since mid-June with a rib injury. Kyle Tucker has been dealing with a finger injury since early June, but he says now that the finger feels fine. you know, worth pointing out that in 56 games since June 1st, I was supposed to calculate this for a batting average,

but he's 50 for 193, which doesn't sound too great. I think it was like around, I guess that would be right around 250, probably 259, something like that. 259, exactly. Boom, let's go. Who is that?

Who's the 259 batting average? Kyle Tucker, that's since June 1st. So I think this finger thing has kind of, it's probably been a little bit annoying for him. It's an OPS around 800, so hopefully if the finger feels better now, he's going to start to turn things back on. Hunter Green is expected to return this Wednesday against the Phillies. He built up to 79 pitches last time out in the minors.

Do you start or sit Hunter Green first game back? Last I looked, he was killing it on his rehab assignment and obviously was performing like an ace before this twice-in-jured growing. right like the same injury put him on the aisle twice if I remember that right sounds right yeah yeah I think I'd lean towards starting him obviously depends who else you have his last minor league start wasn't the greatest but yeah I'd still lean toward starting him as good as he is again that was Hunter Green Byron Buxton is expected to be activated at some point in the Twins upcoming series

against the Yankees do you start or sit Byron Bucson in this week? Probably in five outfielder leagues. Three outfielder leagues, you know, they're being kind of vague about when he's going to be activated, and it is a, that's a seven-game week for the twins. So if at some point in the Yankees series, he's going to play at least five games. Yeah, that's probably enough that most people should activate him. Logan Henderson went on the aisle with a right flexor strain, and thankfully there is no

damage to the UCL in his elbow, but obviously, Obviously, always a scary injury for a pitcher. And unfortunate, because if you picked him up and used them in the lineup last week, you didn't get anything. He just went on the IL. So pretty scary stuff there for Logan Henderson. Some good Brewer's news as Jacob Mizziarowski completed three innings on Saturday in a simulated game. And he built up to 60 pitches in that one. I don't even know that that's what he was most excited about this weekend.

You see that video of him pulling a Charzard card in the locker room? I'm like, if anybody needs a Charazard card, it's, you know, a rich athlete. I don't like, my kids have some Charazard cards. They're not all the same, right? Like, they're not all that valuable. No, I guess this was a particular. That's the old school one right there that I think is worth a lot of money. Okay.

Yeah. I was excited. That was a cool video, though. That was pretty cool. You think you just signed like a multi-million dollar contract. Yeah, that is pretty awesome. Go check it out if you haven't already. It's on the MLB official Twitter account.

Aaron Ola will make another rehab start at AAA on Tuesday and could be activated after that. Bryce Miller is scheduled to make his third rehab start at AAA on Wednesday. He's expected to build up to 80 to 85 pitches and his velocity was up again in this most recent start, but bad results allowed three home runs there for Bryce Miller. Alec Bowen began a rehab assignment at AAA on Sunday. Roki Sasaki will begin a. rehab assignment at AAA on Thursday. He's been out since mid-May with a right-shoulder impingement.

Tommy Edmund, who's on the aisle with a right ankle sprain, will likely remain out until September. The Phillies called up David Robertson on Sunday. He'll work as a set-up man for Yohan Duran and is a name worth adding in leagues that use holds as a category, or if you get points for holes in your league. The athletics called up pitching prospect Luis Morales to start on Sunday. He only went two-and-two-thirds innings. He did not allow a hit, but he walked five with four strikeouts.

Scott, any deep league interest in A's pitching prospect, Luis Morales? Not a lot of interest. I think he goes in the wait and see bucket as far as prospect call-ups go. Let's see. Good strikeout numbers in the minors, but short outings, a lot of walks. fact he had mostly been, well, I guess he was pitching in relief in this one too. Yeah, I mean, the fact he's going to work in relief, that kind of makes the case, doesn't it? The Giants called up outfield prospect, Drew Gilbert on Friday.

He came over from the Mets in the Tyler Rogers trade at the deadline. In 93 games in the minors this season, he hit 262 with 14 home runs, six deals, an 835 OPS. Any deep league interest in Drew Gilbert of the Giants? He used to be like a consistent. census top 100 prospect a couple years ago. The year he got traded from the Astros to the Mets. Forget what deal that was. But struggled with injuries after that really fell off.

But picked it up again just before the Mets dealt up to the Giants. I mean, you have the full season numbers there. But if you go back to just, let me see what the good date is here. Yeah, since June 24th. So his last 32 games in the miners, Drew Gilbert, hit 325, 8 homers, 4 steals, a 1060 OPS, very low strikeout rate. So I guess it's not that surprising. He found his way out to the Major League club so quickly.

And I would say he bears watching. I mean, we've just seen prospects like Jacob Marcy and warming Bernabelle. and Luke Keishel. Luke Keishel. But yeah, I mean, he's, Luke Keishel was a higher prospect, so I was reluctant to lump him in Colson Montgomery. And they are bigger named prospects than the others.

But my point is, like, we've seen some, some not very high-end hitting prospects coming to make an immediate impact recently, which doesn't mean that's how it's going to go for Drew Gilbert, but it does mean you should keep an eye on it. And some names that went on the aisle this weekend, Colton Couser with a concussion, Tyler O'Neill with right wrist inflammation. Luis Severino with a left oblique strain and Matt Veerling with a left oblique strain as well.

Let's get into the dog of the weekend. And the dog of the weekend goes to Quinn Priester, even though I don't want to say a bad word about the Brewers, the way that they're playing right now. They just swept the Mets and, again, look like one of, if not the best team in all baseball right now. But I thought this was worth talking about Scott because Quinn Prester had been so good before this. previous five games, a 199 ERA, a 0.98 whip,

roughed up by the Mets here on Sunday, four in a third innings, 10 hits, six earned runs. Two homers allowed in this one. What happened here? What happened to Quinn Priester? What happened to Quinn Priester? I think is he just finally, just finally some regression.

He had been so good for so long. You gave his numbers in his last five games, But, I mean, really, this was his first big missteps since all the way back May 2nd. He had been, like, we tend to, when we give his numbers, you know, you have the last five starts, 245, ERA and his last 10. We tend to reduce it because there was a point when Quinn Priest's strikeout rate took off and we had to take him more seriously. But like run prevention, he's been a standout at that for the majority of the season. And even in this one, average exit velocity against the Mets, 86.4 miles per hour. So on average, it wasn't a lot of hard contact.

He is a pitch-to-contact guy, even though his strikeout rate has trended up. He's still not a strikeout pitcher per se. So there are going to be times when all that contact gets him in trouble. But I think we've seen from Quinn Priester that, It's going to be rare, and as much of an outliers, this start is for him. I'm not really concerned about it. I don't see any major red flags here. So you're keeping him in the lineup at the Reds this week, Quinn Preacher.

Yes, I would anticipate doing that, yes. Let's get it to waiver wire hitters from The Weekend, some names outside of Jacob Marcy and Luke Keishel. Two names in shallower leagues. Also ones that we have brought up recently, Carlos Correa had himself a nice weekend. He had multiple hits in each game. He homered on Sunday.

It was a bomb. And since joining the Astros, he's hitting 405 with two homers and a 1098 OPS. He's 72% rostered. He's got third base and shortstop eligibility on CBS. And Jerkson ProFar had himself a big game on Friday and a ridiculous catch. I mean, maybe the catch of the year up there with like Denzel Clark's home run robbery. It was one of the sickest catches I ever saw. Jerkson ProFar.

Wow. It was a good catch. Oh, you didn't see it until now? No, I saw several times, the Jerks and ProFar catch. But you said it was one of the greatest catches you've ever seen. Yeah, it was amazing. Oh. Was it not?

It was robbed a home run. Like, it was a legit home run robbery. It wasn't one of those where, you know, he jumped up. Half his body was on the other side of the face. Yeah. It was awesome. It was a good catch. It was at best the third.

best catch I've seen this year, this year, much less all time. All right, all right, all right. One for three with the socket to shoe here. Enjoying August so far, hitting 257, three homers, one steal a 1035 OPS. What about these names, Scott, in shallow leagues? Are these two names that should also be like must rostered at this point? Correa and ProFar. No.

All right. In fact, I've been close to dropping ProFar and I have been dropping ProFar and I have been dropping pro far in a number of five outfielder leagues. So no, I would not. I would not say because he's batting 257 in August. It's an OPS over 1,000.

Yeah, a lot of that's a lot of that's walks. No. You can't roster everybody. Like, would you rather roster pro far or Marcy at this point? I think in a points league, I'd probably go pro far, but in any categories league for the speed,

I'd go Marcy. And I like Marcy a lot. I would still take pro for it. I mean, he is walking a ton, so it's obviously good for points league. Yeah. And the Correa thing, man, I could just look, last, just as recently as last year, he was a 900 OPS bat. And I don't know, maybe it's just getting back to Houston and, you know, the gangs back together. I don't know if it just kind of feels like maybe he might find something here rest of season.

So we can hope. We can hope. But it feels it feels like just a hope at this point. All right. What's your interest? level in these three names. Matt Shaw keeps on hitting. Two more home runs this weekend. He has started seven of nine games since Willie Castro came over in that trade. We didn't know how much Matt Shaw would still play, but he's playing quite a bit. Kyle Manzardo hitting better over the

past month, two for four with the double dong on Sunday. And a nice weekend for Brenton Doyle, who went one for three with a steal on Friday. Then he homered on both Saturday and Sunday. That series was on the road. So nice to see that from Brenton Doyle, who is hitting well in the second half so far, 412 batting average, three homers, two steals, 1042 OPS. Scott, what's your interest level in Brenton Doyle, Kyle Manzardo, and Matt Shaw? I mean, I know I picked up Manzardo in one league to serve as my corner infielder. Shaw, I guess you could do it. Like, beyond filling a need

it hasn't been a high priority for me if I'm being honest like the Rockies have my the best hitter matchups this week but I didn't even list Doyle among the sleeper hitters you know I came up with four Rockies hitters that I wanted to tout over him so I don't know maybe I'm being not short-sighted enough maybe I maybe I'm I don't know I mean look they have the numbers you listed off for good. I just

haven't had a lot of interest. I don't know what to tell you. Hey, you don't have to explain it to me. Just got to apologize to poor Brenton Doyle made. What level of interest in these guys? Doyle, five outfielder leagues. Obviously, we know he does have massive upside. We just saw it last year. So I don't think that would shock anybody if he goes out and has a big second

half here and gets those numbers back to respectability. But if I'm ranking him with like, Marcy and Collins, I think I would take those other two over, Brendan Doyle. Right. Yeah. I mean, that's what I'm getting at is like we're comparing them to guys who are 30% rostered. Yeah. Like, how enthusiastic am I supposed to be?

It's all good. I mean, you don't have to feign enthusiasm for, for Brenton Doyle. Well, okay. Then I won't. So, I won't. Thank you for the permission not to feign enthusiasm. Three names in deeper leagues. to Ryan Moucastle who homered in his first game back on Friday.

He did start all three games this weekend. C.J. Kaffis is making some noise here with the Guardians. Two for four with three RBI on Friday. Then hit his first career home run on Saturday. He has started seven of eight since getting called up. And a nice weekend for Blaze Alexander of the D-backs, multiple hits in all three games. Two for three with a home run and four RBI on Friday.

He has started 11 straight. I do think that once Jordan Lawler gets caught. up that probably throws a wrench in playing time for Blaze Alexander but yeah and he had done nothing they have this weekend they have great matches this week which you know something we pointed out on Friday so in deeper leagues I was trying to add Blaze Alexander in a few spots on Sunday sounds like sounds like you're in a bad spot Frank ah come on 15 15 teamers like yeah I'll I'll stream someone has to us four games in course field sure Okay.

You don't seem excited about these guys either. No, I mean, look, I'm excited about Ryan Mountcastle in a general sense. Sorry, I covered my mouth. You can't hear me when I covered my mouth, probably. I'm excited about Ryan Mountcastle in a general sense because I think he is good. I mean, when he was healthy, he was hitting the ball very hard, didn't have much to show for it, but it comes back and hits a monster home run. and okay, that's a good way to kick things off.

But practically speaking, outside of AL only, there's not a league I'd start Mountcastle in now. It's more of a stashom if you have the room. If you don't, probably you can wait and see what happens. I did put in a bid for KFIS in a 15-team league, a modest bid. Somebody beat me for. for him and my heart was not broken.

But, you know, he's off to a pretty good start and is playing a fair amount. I think I saw the CJ KFIS even started against a couple lefties, though he sat against some lefties too. So it's still to be determined. I think it's going to be largely driven by how he performs. He started against one lefty. Yeah, I mean, you know, you get to a certain league depth and it's like anybody who does something, you just put in a bid and hope for the best, you know, it's like there's,

it's not like you can afford to be that picky, you know? You can either afford to be super picky because your league is shallow are not at all picky because your league is deep. And so I think KFIS, I think most of these guys fall into that category, frankly. And this is a name who is not available in many leagues, but we spoke about him last week, and maybe you shouldn't drop Marcel Ozone just yet.

If you held on to him this long, two for four with two more home runs on Saturday, hit another home run on Sunday. He has six home runs in his past 10 games, has started five of the past six. And I don't know, maybe, maybe Marcel O'Zuna isn't done yet, Scott. Yeah, yeah, I'm getting that feeling.

I mean, we kind of keep hearing from the Braves. Oh, now we're going to start playing both catchers every day, alternating D.H and catcher. But then O'Zuna gets in the lineup, and he does something big, and, okay, I guess we're going to give O'Zuna more at Bats. That seems to be how it's playing out again. But, you know, it's been,

you already gave some numbers. I had 12 games written down. Whatever. He's been producing for about two weeks now when he's been in the lineup. And I think, obviously, given his track record, we have to take that seriously.

It's hard to keep a DH-only player around that you don't trust to put in your lineup. So I'm not saying he's must roster. But he's not any less enticing than like a Ryan Mow Castle. I mean, there's, you could see a path to success for both of them. And right now, Azuna's delivering on more of it. All right.

Let's take our final break. When we return, I've got some waiver wire pitchers to talk about, starter sit decisions, and much more. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. WaiverWire pitchers from the weekend. And Clayton Kershaw outduled Max Scherzer. Very cool to see those two go head to head one more time.

future first ballot hall of famers, both of them. Six innings, one run, four strikeouts for Kirshaw. He has back-to-back quality starts, has allowed just one earned run total in those. He also has four strikeouts or fewer in six straight, so obviously not giving you many strikeouts, but he's performed well. And Billy Ober had one of his better starts of the season against the Royals, six innings of one-run ball with four strikeouts here. Gets the Tigers this week.

I don't love the matchup, but obviously it's a step in the right direction. is a step in the right direction. And, you know, I was encouraged after Ober's first start back from the aisle, even though the result wasn't good. I noted his velocity was basically back. And that was true. And this start against the Royals, too. Fastball up 0.8 for the season.

91.3 is what he averaged on it. That's about the same as the previous three years. So I think the time off dealing with the hip may be addressing the mechanical issues. It may have fixed Ober. Now, he did have only six swinging strikes on 89 pitches, and he was facing the Royals. So too early to say, I don't know that he'd be eager to start him against the Tigers either. But let's see, what's his roster rate over? I think he needs to be rostered again.

67%. Yeah, I think he needs to be rostered again. Because we all know the upside. You know, he was drafted top 36 starting pitcher this year. Yeah. he would you take Bailey Ober over Jacob Lopez

Zebby Matthews those kind of feel like the names we've talked a lot about lately on the pitching side and they're both sleeper pitchers for this week Zebby Matthews lines up for two starts tough matchups Tigers and Yankees

Yankees and Tigers some order of those two I think I'd prioritize Zebby over over over just because of the the two-start status, but there's plenty of

upside there too. I would definitely take over Lopez, unless it was a desperate fill your lineup this week's situation. All right, four names in medium sized leagues here. Walker Bueller, Tomoyuki Sugano, Nick Martinez, and Colin Ray. They all had

strong starts this weekend. Scott, do any of those names matter? Bueller, Sugano, Martinez, and Colin Ray. No, they don't really matter. Martinez, I think, might be going back to the bullpen to make room for Hunter Green returning from the I.L. Wednesday. It's possible they keep them in for one turn, go six man this time through, but Green's turn lines up. Green's return lines up with Martinez's turn. So

it may just be that Martinez is done. All right. And then a bunch of names in deeper leagues. Do any of these matter? Michael McGreevy, Brad Lord, Hurston Waldrup, Jack Perkins, Ryan Bergert? I don't know why I thought his name was Bergett, but there's another R in there. So Bergert. Cade Povich, Jason Alexander. A bunch of names here, Scott.

Any of those stand out in deeper leagues? I think the most interesting upside-wise is Jack Perkins, who we've talked about before, seemed like he might be one of the big winners from the trade that sent Mason Miller

and J.P. Sears to the Padres. We weren't sure whether Perkins might line up in the closer spot of rotation. Athletics have decided rotation for now. And this start against the Orioles, which was a quality start, walked only 1 through 67% strikes encouraging because Perkins in his first start had some control issues. But mainly what my takeaway for this start for him and this start is that, he threw, so he got 14 whiffs.

He got at least three on all four of his pitches. And he threw those four pitches pretty evenly, which meant more cutters and changeups. And the changeup especially has been his best swing and miss pitch. He was hardly throwing at all. He was mostly going just a two pitch guy, but sprinkling in those other two. So he has a full enough arsenal,

seeing as he got at least three whiffs on all four of those pitches, He has a full enough arsenal for this starting role, I feel like. And I think we saw Perkins maybe in his fullest form so far against the Orioles. And it was pretty impressive. So I think if you're hurting for pitching help, you want to take a shot on some upside. Jack Perkins, not a bad choice. I'm curious to see what happens to Hurston Waldrop after this because he was kind of of an extra starter they kept around for this double header.

You know, the reins have filled out the rotation with guys like Carlos Carasco, Carlos Carasco and Joey Wentz and Eric Fetty and just a lot of space fillers. So I don't know that they're ready to let any of those guys go because they still have to get through these last two months. They did say that Walderup is sticking around, by the way, Scott. In the rotation. Okay. Okay.

So I don't know if they're going to go. six-man or what, but but yeah, I mean, he's had two impressive starts, the first in Bristol and then the second here against the Marlins. You know, I've got a very good splitter, if nothing else. It's had some issues in the miners,

but seem to come around late at AAA. I don't think there's a ton of strikeout upside here, but Hurston Waldrop is somebody to monitor as impressive. His first two starts have been. Did I want to mention with Michael McGreevy. He's someone that pitches more to contact, but I was looking to add him in some deeper leagues this week

because he faces the Rockies in St. Louis. So obviously that's a good match up there, getting them outside of course field. And Ryan Bergert, another deep league potential streamer here. He gets the White Sox this week, and he's pitched pretty well. In 13 games, he has a 287 ERA and a 109 whip there for Ryan Bergert. The dropometer, Scott.

One name here I want to bring up quickly is Joe Boyle, who had a very rough outing at the Mariners. Six earned runs over three and a third. He walked five, had five strikeouts, three homers allowed. I think that there's talent here, but the past two starts have been really bad. Are you okay dropping Joe Boyle? Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay dropping him.

There's definitely talent, and we had hoped that, given his dominance in the miners, the improved strike throwing especially, that the raise had tapped into that talent. but he hasn't really given us anything aside from that spot start back in May against the Braves where he no-hit them for five-and-a-third innings or whatever it was. But through only 57% strikes in this start over the weekend at Seattle, in seven starts since returning from the Miner, so we're leaving out the no-hit effort against the Braves. Seven starts since returning just a 59% strike rate.

That's terrible. That's like you would have expected to, see from Boyle before he joined the race. And so I don't know that he's made much progress really and got to start to see some results to justify roster. I mean, seven starts. We've

given him plenty of time. Yeah. Starters, these pitchers this upcoming week, Chase Burns had a great start at the Pirates, six innings, one run, 10 strikeouts to one walk, 16 whiffs on 97 pitches. He had everything working. And I understand

surface level numbers, 524, 134 whip. But man, the skills underneath the hood here look really, really enticing for Chase Burns, who was only 46% started, gets to Phillies this week. I kind of get it. It's a tough matchup. What are you doing with Chase Burns? I'm not necessarily sitting him.

I think you got to consider how deep your pitching staff is. But he's good enough that in deeper leagues, like, if you're not in the sort of league where you have a bunch of pitching options on your bench that you can kind of juggle based on matchups if it's like oh I got to start these guys

or turn to the waiver while like I'd be fine starting burns every week in such a league I know the ERA's run hot but strikeouts have been great and I think the ERA is going to come down I think this was

big step in that direction so I'd be fine starting against the Phillies but you know opposite side of the coin if you got a star study staff, like, I could see leaving them out too. All right. Next up, we have Zach Gallen, a strong outing against the Rockies. This was their first game out of Corse Field, so obviously a really good matchup here. Six innings, one run,

six strikeouts to three walks. Velocity was up here for Zach Gallen. I was pretty shocked to see that he's still 91% rostered, but only 58% started at the Rangers this week. Any thoughts on Zach Gowlin. I'd rather not. I agree. He has, he did work in his sinker more in this one

and the four seamer less. I mean, the sinker, he had only been throwing it 2% of the time. So I don't know if to say he worked it in more, it'd be more like he introduced it, you know? So that might explain partly the success he had here, just less relying on the four seamer.

But I don't know that that's, I don't know that that's something we need to really buy into yet. Like, let's see it, let's see it for a few turns from Gallen. Drew Raspisand had a strong start at the Mariners, six shutout innings, four hits allowed, four strikeout, zero walks. And he has gone five plus innings in three straight. This was his first time completing six since June 8th. And last four starts, he's between 73 and 81 pitches. So that seems like a pretty tight window, fair expectation for Juraspicin.

He's only 57% started. He's at the athletics this week. What do you think about Drew Raspson? It's okay if you need your RIP help, if you need a spark. I think that's just a permanent answer for Rasmussen going forward. I was kind of surprised how deep he worked into this start going six innings. But that's his first six innings start in two months. And as you said, 79 pitches.

He's not always going to be that efficient. So I think it's limited. ERA, whip help if you need that in a Categories league. He's a spark if you need that in a points league. Otherwise, you could probably do better. Luis Heel looked much better in his second start with the Yankees. He was facing the Astros, five and a third inning. Two runs loud, seven strikeouts to one walk.

He had 15 whiffs on 91 pitches through 66% of his pitches for strikes here. And he is at the Cardinals this week. What do you think of Louise Heel? I thought he looked good. And he was out there in a couple of my 15 teamers. I believe I got out bid for him. But I was putting in bids and I've been pretty big detractor on heel. Not that like all my concerns are out the window now,

but he threw 66% of his pitches for strikes. That was versus 57% in his first start. So kind of a night and day difference there. Controls the big issue here. I mean, we know he has the stuff, but it's been a longstanding issue. So, you know, step in the right direction. Hopefully he can build off of it worth pursuing in deeper leagues.

I would say we're pitching is scarce. but I still have like he still has questions to answer obviously next up McKenzie Gore back from the dead I've got to get like a sound drop of like the Undertaker gong when he comes out because for whatever we have guys that we've just written off and then they come back with a big start

we can play it and McKenzie Gore obviously was strong here at Giants six shutout innings with 10 strikeouts 21 whiffs on 90s six pitches and obviously he was struggling mightily before this are you using McKenzie Gore this week against the Phillies? Not if I

felt like I had good alternatives. Hopefully he's fixed. I mean, this was a great start. The 21 swings and misses tied for the fifth most in his career. This was his first double-digit strikeout ever since April 19th. So

for as good as he's been this year, it had been a while since he got such a big strikeout total. I'm looking at the recap now on the National's official site because they didn't have the quotes in when I was looking at it earlier today. It seems like he credited some adjustments paying off, but he didn't go into specifics, so that's really helpful. I would appreciate some insights.

He threw a lot of strikes. He threw 70% strikes, and we know that's been a longstanding issue for Gore, like I was saying, for Louis Heel. but his previous two starts, he had a good strike rate too. So we know that wasn't the only thing going on with Gore. That wasn't the only contributor to his struggles. And yeah, he remains a bit of an enigma. But hopefully back on track.

And the last name here, Michael King, who had a short outing in his return against the Red Sox, only two innings, four hits, two runs, two walks to one strikeout, his first start since May. Obviously, he's still getting built up. He's 21% started. He's at the Dodgers this week. Just wanted to bring him up and mention that he's back.

Hope he's good. But obviously not looking to start him this week. Me personally. No, no. He's got to build up his pitch count. He only had the one rehab start than Michael King. And so let's see. How many pitches did he throw in that one?

It was, I think it was actually a little less than he threw in this two inning outing. So two innings, he had 57 pitches, his one rehab start he had, it was about the same, 61. So still some buildup ahead for King, I would say. But otherwise, I mean, the velocity looked fine. So that's encouraging. All right. Hitters having big second half so far.

I've got a, looks like six names here on the list. Jose Altuve, a huge weekend against the Yankees, multiple hits in each game, two homers, one steel, In the second half, he's hitting 329. Four homers, two steals, 933 OPS. William Contreras might be happening. Might be picking it up finally. He homered on Saturday, then two more home runs on Sunday.

So far, after the break, he's hitting 294, six homers, 15 RBI, 918 OPS. Zander Bogarts is on a tear right now, two for four with a sock in the shoe on Saturday. He stole another bag on Sunday. Has five homers and four steals here in the second half. Michael Harris continues to rake. He went 4 for 8 with a home run and a steel in a doubleheader on Saturday, then 2 for 4 with another home run on Sunday. Freddie Freeman is waking back up as well.

He homered on Sunday, and he is hitting 342 with a 982 OPS in the second half, and I'm going to cheat a little bit for this one. But Julio Rodriguez, over his last 26 games, is hitting 296 with 12 homers, 7 steals, and an OPS over a thousand. during that time, Scott, anything that stands out here, anyone you'd like to opine on, Altuve, William Contreras, Zander Bogartz,

Michael Harris, Freddie Freeman, and Julio Rodriguez. So one thing we haven't mentioned with Michael Harris, or at least I don't remember mentioning it, is that he changed his stance. It's kind of coincided with this turnaround. He's held his hands up by his ear again,

which was what he did throughout his minor league career. he dropped it to in front of his chest, sort of like Ronald de Cunia does. When he got off to a slow start after being called off, took off after that. Clearly it was working for him then. But I'm guessing it, I'm guessing pitchers learned to exploit something.

Something about him positioning his hands that way. So now he's moved him back up by his ear and he's found renewed success. So it sounds like Harris is going to stick with that for a while. Not that you need to know all that for the test or anything, but I'm just bringing it up to to inform you that there was a change in process here, coinciding with the turnaround that might make it more viable.

The Xander Bogart's thing is weird because, and I don't mean to, well, so you said second half numbers, yeah, basically the same, we basically have the same time period. here. I hate when you give the numbers for one time period and I give the numbers for a slightly different time period because it's like how can anybody keep those numbers in their head at the same time, people listening, you know? But let's say I have July 11th, since July 11th,

which is about when the streak started just before the All-Star break. Zander Bogartz has been hitting great. His average eggs of velocity and line drive rate are both actually lower during that time. Average exit velocity is like 86 miles per hour. Not great. Yeah. You'd think, you know, normally you see aggressive velocity line drive rate go up when a hitter is

performing, but they're both down. I don't know what to make of that. I don't think Xander Bogartz has near the talent, the pure ability that he had in his Red Sox days. He's managed to be reasonably productive in spite of that with the Padres. but I think for standard 12 team head-to-head context without the middle infield spots, he's not somebody you want to get too attached. You could start him as a hot hand play.

I'd rather gamble on Luke Keishel, I think, in such formats. But I don't think you can put a lot of stock in what Bogart's is doing at the moment. I think what makes it a little bit tougher in points leagues is just because his skill set is so, good for that format, right? Like, the strikeout rate is so low for Bogart's. If it's not home run, power that he's hitting for, it's going to be doubles and obviously things like that play well in a points league.

And if we haven't confused people enough, Scott, with jumping around with timelines and, you know, date ranges and everything, it actually goes back a lot further. I didn't realize since June 10th, he's hitting 315 with like an 860 OPS. And Bogart's average negative velocity in that stretch from June 10th on is 89.3 miles per hour.

So, I mean, it's not amazing, but it's much better than what we just brought up. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Zander Bogartz. Let's go. Welcome back, man. Some hitting leftover is Trey Turner had a huge game on Friday, 2 for 4 with a sock and a shoe.

5 RBI, his first home run since June 27th. So it was scuffling a bit. Nice to see Trey Turner back on track. Huge weekend for Bryce to rang. one for three with a sock and a shoe on Friday and then hit another home run on Saturday. Two more home runs for Junior Caminero this weekend. It is August 11th, and Camerro has 32 home runs and 80 RBI,

so that's pretty cool. That'll play. Raphael Devers starting to pick things up. Two home runs this weekend. He's got an OPS over 1100 so far in August. Juan Soto is picking things up as well. Last four games, three homers, and a steal. He also has 18.

stolen bases, Juan Soto. His previous high was 12, so he's going to smash that. I saw he and Francisco Lundor got their 18th steal in the same game. I was marveling at that this weekend.

The Mets have done a really good job running the bases this year. I saw some kind of stat about how they're not a fast team, but they also just don't get caught stealing. They're just, they're aggressive and they pick the right spots, and obviously it's worked with someone like

Juan Soto this season, so good for him. Big weekend for Shoheyotani the hitter. Seven hits, two homers, and a steal. He is up to 41 homers and 111 runs scored already. Again, it's August 11th, so that's kind of crazy. Cow Raleigh won't stop hitting home runs.

He had three more home runs this weekend. He's up to 45. He had a little bit of a lull there. A little bit of a lull, but he's obviously breaking out of it. And Josh Naylor missed Friday with that sore shoulder, but then he played on Saturday and Sunday. And what do you know?

He stole another base on Saturday and hit another home run on Sunday. So just power speed for days, I guess. Josh Naylor. Anything you want to touch on here, Scott? Hitting leftovers? I think I touched on it already. All right. Cool.

Some pitching leftovers. Part one. Christopher Sanchez continues to pitch well this time at the Rangers. six innings of one-run ball with six strikeouts there. Luis Castillo pitched well against Tampa Bay, seven innings, two runs with five strikeouts. Jesus Lazzardo, solid start at the Rangers. Six innings, one-run, four strikeouts.

That's three quality starts in a row for Lazzardo. And Blake Snell looked great against the Blue Jays. Five shutout innings with 10 strikeouts. He's only 60% started and he gets to Padres this week. So you should get Blake Snell back in your life. Yeah, I think. think he's just going to be must start going forward. He looks like the good Blake Snell.

And when he kind of locks in for the year, I mean, we've seen it four years in a row now. He's close to untouchable after that. And so hopefully that'll play out again this year. You know, Jesus Lazzardo, feel like he's becoming reliable again. I don't think I was ever really deterred from using him except during that two-start stretch with the pitch tipping. That was just awful and kind of ruined his season-long numbers.

But I think he's going to be pretty reliable going forward. Pitching leftovers part two, Dylan C's performed well against the Red Sox, six innings, two runs, seven strikeouts. And so far in the second half, he's got a 312 ERA and a 112 whip. Sunny Gray, a great start on Sunday night baseball, seven innings, two runs with seven strikeouts. Terrick Scoobel just wanted to mention that he had a rough outing against the

Angels, four and two-thirds innings. Four runs allowed, and he'll have his next start pushed back to Thursday against the twins, and apparently he's fine physically. The Tigers just said that they want to give Terrick Scoobal an extra day of rest, so hopefully that's all it is,

and I did want to collectively apologize for Aaron Savali getting crushed by the Guardians, because I think we gave him out of the streamer. nine earned runs over three and a third so my bad oh there were a lot of streamers that just got destroyed this weekend like rough go players that somewhere along the line on podcast or an article or somewhere we said yeah you could probably stream this guy there's like three savale was one i can't remember the other two

but it was it was rough it was a rough time so i just uh you know Want to let everybody know. I am. I'm not oblivious. I'm not... I don't have all the answers, but I'm not oblivious when it goes wrong. All right. And then the call to the bullpen for the Pirates on Friday.

Dennis Santana bounced back with a clean ninth inning for his seventh save. For the Orioles on Friday, Keegan Aiken got the ninth with a one-run lead. Clean inning for his second save. And then on Sunday, Aiken got the ninth with a one-run lead again. And he gave up two runs. He took his fourth blown save and second loss of the season, but Aiken kind of looks like the guy, I guess, right now for the Orioles. For the Yankees on Friday, Devin Williams was brought into the 10th inning with the game tied. He gave up three runs and took his fifth loss of the season.

Then on Saturday, David Bednar entered with one out in the eighth. Bases loaded, one run lead. He walked in the tying run. The Yankees retook the lead in the bottom of the eighth, and then Bednar did close out the game. and on Sunday, Devin Williams pitched in the sixth inning down 4 to 1. So kind of looks like he's back to lower leverage. Bednar is 67% roster. Devin Williams is 79%.

I think those numbers need to be drastically different, Scott. Devin Williams could be dropped, I think. And David Bednar, it looks like a must roster reliever. Yeah, it's not super conclusive. but so I don't know that I don't know that I'd be as extreme in my responses you're being but I do think like I in a broad sense agree like that the arrow is pointing more toward Bednar than Williams right now I just think if Bednar gets bombed one day they could very quickly change or they could work in Camillo Duval or something so but yeah Bednar was out there in a couple of those deep roto leagues amazingly. and as you imagine, he went for quite a number of fab dollars. For the Tigers on Friday, Kyle Finningtoningham that got the ninth with a one-run lead. He struck out two for his 23rd save.

And Will Vest last pitched on Wednesday. So he should have been available for that game on Friday. I know he pitched on Sunday. He got the final four outs in a game that they run. They won with a four-run lead. But I don't know. Like, I'm not. just going to say Kyle Finnegan is the guy, but he has the last three saves for the Tigers.

Yeah, I mean, the arrows pointed toward him, I think pretty strongly as well. And it's surprising because, like, he's not as good as Will Vest, or at least he hasn't been historically. I don't curious if he's continued to fade his fastball since joining the Tigers, because I know that was the case in his first start. And maybe, let's see here. He threw 60% in his most recent outing, 54% before that. Yeah, he seems to be using his normal pitch selection still.

So we know who Finnegan is with that pitch selection is. He's not that good. So it seems like, strangely, A.J. Hinch is going with the proven closer here rather than the most talented guy, which seems out of character for him. maybe it's more of a leverage situation than we realize just the times vest has come into the game and I know he's had some longer outings recently that's required some rest all of which is to say I'm not getting too comfortable with Finnegan yet

but he looks like the front runner at the moment it is an extremely small sample size obviously but his Kyle Finnegan swinging strike rate with nationals was 9.2% and so far with the Tigers, it's 12.2%. So I don't know. Maybe they did unlock something for Kyle Finigan. For the nationals on Saturday, Jose Ferrer got the final five outs for his first save of the season, 13% rostered.

For the Padres on Saturday, Robert Suarez got the ninth with a one-run lead. He gave up a run on a walk and two hits. He took his fifth bone save, but the Padres won that game in extra innings, I just wanted to mention that because if we get a few more blown saves out of Robert Suarez, then maybe Mason Miller gets a chance to pick up some saves for the Padres. For the Dodgers on Sunday, Blake Trinan got the eighth inning with a one-run lead, facing the heart of the Blue Jays lineup. He gave up back-to-back solo homers.

The Dodgers then tied it up, and Alex Vescia got the ninth, and he gave up a solo home run, and he took a loss. So Dodgers bullpen kind of a mess right now. Yep. But Tanner Scott's supposed to be back soon. So that might clear things up. Not that it was super clear when he was around before. Clear than this, though, I would say.

And then for the Cardinals on Sunday, Riley O'Brien got the eighth inning with a one-run lead. He got two outs. He walked one. Jojo Romero then got the final four outs for his third save. He did allow four base runners in the process. So that's not great. But kind of feels like those. two names are sharing the role in some sense

between Riley O'Brien and Jojo Romero. To stream or not to stream on Monday, we have Zebby Matthews at the Yankees. Will Warren gets the twins. Cade Cavali is at the Royals. Chris Paddock at the White Sox. Jose Katana gets the Pirates. And those are probably it. Yeah, not terrible.

Yeah, not terrible. Just double checking that Kentana one. Did he get moved up? Yeah, he got moved up and Paralta got moved back a day. Okay. I need to update my two-star pitcher rankings then because I added Kintana to sleeper pitchers and removed somebody who got throttled this weekend.

I can't remember who. But anyway, yeah, I'll need to move him up further if he's in line for two starts. So I think Enta is fine against the Pirates. He might only go five innings, but the result should be good. Zebby Matthews is a lot of upside. But, you know, frightening matchup there against the Yankees. So you've got to weigh the risk rewards,

but I don't think it's a terrible choice. If you're having to really dig deep, maybe falter, I'm sorry, maybe Paddock against the White Sox, but also falter against the national. you can consider. Those are obviously deeper scenarios, though. I think Will Warren against the Twins is fine. It's okay.

It's okay. All right. And then on Tuesday, we have Dean Kramer against the Mariners, Brady Singer against the Phillies. Jansen Junk is at the Guardians. Logan Allen faces the Marlins. Matthew Libertor gets the Rockies in St. Louis. Jack Leiter gets the D-backs. Tyler Anderson, the Dodgers.

Jacob Lopez, the Ray. So the Ray's struggle against lefties, which Jacob Lopez is, but he was also with the Ray's last season, and they hit him pretty hard when he faced them earlier. I believe it was June 30th. So could see that going well, could see it going poorly. He's obviously coming off a really good start. And I don't see anyone here that I'm liking more than Jacob Lopez. Um, Logan. No, not Logan Allen against the Marlins.

I know Libertor has been kind of bad lately, but... I'm done with Libertor. The Rockies on the road, I pitch almost anybody. Well, they have been hitting better lately, and I'm trying to remember who it was who got crushed by them this weekend. It's like, oh, if they can't even beat the Rockies on the road. I think it was E-Rod. Yeah. Yeah, Eduardo Rodriguez.

that was somebody we talked up as a streamer and he got crushed against the road rockies so i mean libertar's just shown us nothing for so long i i it might go okay but i don't i couldn't i couldn't bring myself to make that gamble all right we're going to wrap there for scott i am frank thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on apple or spotify and we will be back again tomorrow Paramount Podcasts.