Fantasy Baseball Today - Prospect Promotions, Waiver Adds, Injuries & More! (4/21 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 21, 2025

Logan Henderson flashed in his major league debut (4:15). ... Andrew Abbott is racking up whiffs (10:10). ... Cubs-Dbacks was insane on Friday (16:35). ... The Reds put up 24 runs on Sunday (20:02). ... The Brewers ran wild against the A's (24:28). ... Chandler Simpson was promoted Friday and Agustin Ramirez is coming this week (34:00). ... News (45:14): Luis Arraez had a scary collison on Sunday Night Baseball. ... Which waiver wire pitchers emerged this weekend (53:13)? ... Add Jonathan Aranda or Kyle Manardo (1:02:30)? ... What's wrong with Clase and Devin Williams (1:09:00)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (1:12:15). 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. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Wow. Just wow. What a weekend.

Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Monday, April 21st. I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White today on the show. Not only do we have crazy games. games this weekend. Prospect promotions. We'll talk about how much fad they went for in some of our league so far. What is going on with Devin Williams and Emmanuel Claese? We have a bunch of waiver wire moves, all that fun stuff. On top of all that, Scott, on top of all the baseball, there was WrestleMania this weekend for those who partake. There were NBA playoffs. We had Easter Sunday. Like, there was so much going on. Oh, man, Scott, did you get any peeps on Easter?

How you doing? I'm good. No, I didn't get any peeps on Easter, though I think there's always peeps line around the house, peeps from whatever the last peep event was, because they're not exclusive to Easter anymore. You realize this, right? They come in all sorts of various festive shapes and flavors. I feel like I only consume them around Easter, but that's just me. Yeah, I mean, that's wise. But no, I mean, the way, like, particularly when you have kids, like, you just, there's more candy than you can ever eat, you know. It's just, and you never know when to throw it out, really. I guess when the next time that same holiday rolls around,

okay, if we didn't get to this in the last year, I guess, I guess that's it for it. But anyway, no, no peeps today. Oh, man, I love my parents. They still give me an Easter basket, even though I'm, I don't know, in my mid-30s, I guess you could say, I got these peeps rice crispy treats, which sound amazing. I haven't opened them yet.

My wife requested those at the store a couple weeks. ago. So those are among the peeps we have lying around. Oh, are they good? They taste like what they claim to taste like. All right. They're not my favorite peep flavor. I didn't see my favorite peep flavor

this year. That's the hot tamales. Oh, man. Love that cinnamon candy flavor. That is a choice. All right, let's talk about baseball because, like I said, there's a lot to talk about. Oh, my goodness gracious.

All right, Scott, we will start with you, Player of the Weekend. All right. My Player of the Weekend is none other than Logan Henderson of the Milwaukee Brewers. If you haven't heard of him before, that's because he was just called up. This was his Major League debut on Sunday. And it's not like he was on anybody's top 100 prospect list. He wasn't that highly regarded. but he was dominant in the miners last year.

It's worth pointing out. Between four levels, ending at AAA where he had six starts, between four levels, 354 ERA, okay, that's not amazing, but a 0.91 whip and 11.5K per 9. And to go along with that 11.5K per 9, 1.7 walks per 9. So this is one of the best strikeout to walk ratios in all the minors last year for Logan Henderson,

clearly a guy who knows how to throw strikes. It's basically just a two-pitch arsenal that he unveiled here in his debut, the fastball threw it 53% of the time, change at 40% of the time. But Logan Henderson dominated the athletics, just like he was doing in the minors. Six innings, three hits, one run, one walk,

nine strikeouts, 13 whiffs on 83 pitches. is again, just with those two, it's a fastball that has kind of the optimal shape. Doesn't have huge velocity, but it's got a low release height, so he gets the swings and misses. And then the changeup is genuinely a plus pitch in his own right. He was beginning to work in a cutter at AAA this year through at about 12% of the time. I guess didn't feel like he needed it here in his debut or didn't feel totally comfortable with it. And, you know, the results speak for themselves. Will Logan Henderson always be this good?

Probably not. The reason the ERA ran kind of high last year is because he has some vulnerability to the long ball. And as we saw from Joe Ryan, for instance, on Sunday, there will be times when that vulnerability to the long ball does its dirty work. But Logan Henderson avoided that in this start and showed upside. And you see this a lot of times with pitchers, especially, sometimes with hitters too, but especially pitchers, I feel like. like because the qualities that make them good are a little harder to pin down. You'll see a guy dominate in the miners in an unconventional way, and so he doesn't get a lot of recognition from the prospect towns.

And then he just comes up and it keeps working. It happened with Joe Ryan, for instance, to continue with that same comparison. So maybe it'll work for Logan Henderson. And just given the state of starting pitching on the waiver wire right now, we were talking about this all last week, it's kind of been drained already with Tyler Malley being the most interesting option who might be out there in some leagues. Well, now Logan Anderson's out there and basically all the leagues.

So I wasn't throwing a ton of fab dollars at him for my leagues that run here on Sunday night. But I was throwing a couple. He was among the starting pitchers I was more interested in. The other question with Logan Henderson is, does he stick around? The Brewers have been hit especially hard by injuries, so the knee-jerk reactions like, well, if he's performing, of course. But they do have Tobias Myers coming back this week. They haven't sent Logan Henderson down yet, notably.

Maybe they send Quinn Priester down. I don't know. Quinn Priest are still on the schedule to start Monday. You got Chad Patrick, who's looked pretty good. but not as good as Henderson at this start. I don't know. I don't know.

I think with a seven-day week coming up, they're just going to plan to go six-man this time through and sort it out after that. So I would imagine Logan Henderson at least gets one more start to prove he belongs. But if he does, I think there's a chance he does stick around. And even if it doesn't happen,

then it's going to be the next injury, which is always just around the corner. Yeah. And Logan Henderson is widely available, only 13% rostered on CBS, and if he does stick around this week, it looks like he will face the Cardinals later on. I'm interested to see if this just mainly fastball change-up combination

can dominate, because, and I don't want to just generalize all, like, whatever, change-up pitchers here, but it feels like when pitching prospects dominate with a change-up mostly in the minors, doesn't always work out as well in the majors. And the first one that comes to mind is like Gavin Stone, right? And Gavin Stone had an okay season last year, but the underlying numbers never really backed it up,

and we were always kind of expecting him to live up to what he did in the minors. And, you know, it hasn't been that. So that's the first one that comes to mind, and he throws even harder than someone like Logan Henderson. So I guess I just, I might be a little bit skeptical whether or not this can actually work, Scott, or is there a legitimate third pitch that Logan Henderson can go to if, you know, his changeup is not otherworldly in a given start? Well, I would say a lot depends on the effectiveness of the fastball.

Like, if a fastball is the swing and miss offering in its own right, which we saw from Joe Ryan in his early years, then I think it'll be fine. There is no more effective weapon than a fastball that can miss bats. And like I said, with Henderson, that kind of low delivery, at least in the minors, it's made that pitch of batmisser itself, and it was a batmissor in his major league debut, too. So, I mean, look, you're right to be skeptical.

Not a lot of pedigree here and vulnerability to the long ball. But not a lot interesting on the WaverWired starting pitcher, as I said. So don't go crazy for Logan Henderson, but throw a couple bucks at him and see where it goes. Let's talk about another waiver wire pitcher that had another great start this weekend. That was Andrew Abbott, my player of the weekend at the Orioles, six innings, one run, 11 strikeouts to one walk. He had 19 whiffs on 93 pitches, nine of those on the change up, five on the fastball, four on the curve here.

And each of those three pitches were just awesome in this start. What's interesting is that the fastball is actually down 1.6 miles per hour so far this season for Andrew Abbott, but it's been so effective. Super small sample, only two starts. In fact, everything is a small sample right now, but even smaller for Andrew Abbott. but it's a 35% whiff rate and a 282 expected Wobah on that fastball.

So it has been very effective thus far. 39% rostered. I couldn't tell if he's in line to face the Marlins or the Rockies this week. And it makes a huge difference, Scott, because in Miami versus in Colorado obviously is a much different situation. Were you able to kind of hammer that? Well, yeah, the Rockies are bad. There were a couple really good starts from opposing pitchers.

Colorado this weekend. It's still Corris Field. I'd much rather use Abbott at Miami if that's the case. Were you able to kind of hammer down what the matchup is going to be this week for Andrew Abbott and who do you like more between him and Logan Henderson? I'm trying to remember. I think I put Henderson over Andrew Abbott just because he's a little more of a mystery box. Abbott. You know, he hasn't prior to this start hasn't been much of a strikeout pitcher at the major league level. The control hasn't been great either, a ton of fly balls for a pitcher who plays in the most Homer-friendly part. Just always seem like a house of cards waiting to topple. So don't get me wrong, I was putting in bids on Abbott in every league where he was available

because he is another starting pitcher who's showing signs of life, 11 strikeouts against a really good Orioles offense. And a couple extra inches of induced vertical break on the fastball. I think that's worth noting. 18 inches this year versus 16 last year. And it was, you know, he got five whiffs just on that pitch in this start. I think it's probably helping the change up play up to. I got nine whiffs against the Orioles.

So like I could see how maybe that, like if you're looking for a sign that maybe Abbott is different, that seems like the biggest one to me. There are also some changes there with the pitch selection. So I wouldn't say that's as significant as just maybe the fast. becoming more effective for Andrew Abbott. It looks like Colorado is the next start. And I don't think I'd trust him enough to start him if I was picking him up anyway. Again, the track record is, he's managed to keep the ERA respectable, but kind of in spite of

himself. Like, I did not see much in Abbott's profile to get excited about at all prior to this start. So I'm not going to trust him in my life. lineup after one good start. But yeah, I'll put in a bid for him if he's available and and see if if this fastball continues to shine like it did at the Orioles over the weekend. Yeah, masterful start there for Andrew Abbott. I think I agree with you. I'd rather take the shot on Logan Henderson. There's much more variance in the outcome here to the point where we're not exactly sure that Logan Henderson's sticking around, but you know, what he's done as a

prospect so far and the strikeout upside seems more tantalizing. I, I, I, say that even after Abbott had an 11 strikeout start. But I do think, you know, there's more of a floor here with Abbott. He's going to be in the Reds rotation. And, you know, he's been serviceable to this point in his career. You know, hasn't flashed that much upside. So I think I would take a Logan Henderson as well. But yeah, if you're a need in pitching, those are definitely two names that you should be looking at right now.

Let's take a quick break when we return. We'll do a little, oh my goodness gracious shoutouts. Other just crazy things that happened this weekend. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Some oh my goodness gracious shoutouts from the weekend. Just some notable things here. RIP to those who use Easton Lucas this week.

I am sorry because he got crushed in both of his starts. The final line for the two-star week. Six and two-thirds innings 13 hits 14 earned runs. Five homers allowed. That is an 18.9 ERA 285 whip. Still 42% rostered because most people picked him up for the two-star week. but Scott, I'm pretty confident we can drop Easton Lucas, probably for either of the pitchers we just talked about.

Yeah, I would say so. It's an opportunity to free up a roster spot, which we're always looking to do. Nobody's going to pick him up after these two starts. And he may just be bad, and maybe the Blue Jays even sent him down. Who knows? But it is a shame that Easton couldn't pull it off on Easter.

Yes, indeed. Some crazy games this weekend. The Cubs back on Friday. defeated the debacks 13 to 11. That game featured two grand slams, 21 combined runs in the seventh and eighth innings alone. It was bananas. And one of the people that contributed,

Carson Kelly, I don't know if this is a thing or not, but people seem to be buying in because he's now 58% rostered on CBS, which seems a little crazy to me. Two for five with two home runs, five RBI in this game. He's batting 371.

He's got six homers, 18 RBI. a 1502 OPS. The problem here, Scott, is you don't get those stats that he already accrued, right? You don't get those on your fantasy team if you pick them up now. They still have Miguel O'Meia,

who I think is probably going to just split time evenly, like for the foreseeable future for the Cubs at least. So 58% roster. I was a little shocked to see it that high for Carson. 58%. He came up the other day, Carson Kelly, when Carroll, which carrow,

Edgar Carrow got called up by the White Sox and I was saying yeah, there's some prospect pedigree there but the data doesn't look great and he's on the White Sox. So I don't,

I don't think I drop like a Carson Kelly form in a two-catcher league. And I think Chris said he would because he preferred the mystery box to Carson Kelly. And that's a perfectly fine take. But that's the kind of league where I think Kelly should be rostered in,

is toward the back end of two-star catcher options. Absolutely needs to be rostered there. I think at the very least, he's earned a 50-50 split with Amaya going forward. And, look, Carson Kelly was a player of some pedigree once upon a time. I believe he came over from the Cardinals in the Paul Goldschmidt deal.

Yep. So we're talking a long time ago, but like he was not a small part of that deal. And his first year in Arizona, he hit 18 home runs. since then the playing time has been very sporadic, but it's not like he's a zero offensively. The biggest change I see in his offensive profile this year

is the strikeout to walk rate, it looks upside down, frankly. He's got a 9% K rate and a 27% walk rate, which is too good to be true. And I imagine we're going to see a lot of correction there. The barrel rate is also ridiculously high, which to me, when you see it that out of sorts for a player. It just means he's hot.

And of course he's hot. You don't need the barrel rate to tell you that. So I'm fine with Carson Kelly is like the 20th catcher. But I wouldn't, I wouldn't, clearly if he's rostered in nearly 60% of leagues, he's being rostered in some one catcher leagues. And I wouldn't do that. I agree. Want to mention, 93.5 average active velocity so far for Carson Kelly with that K to

walk ratio is pretty crazy. there. So I mostly agree two catcher leagues and shout out to whoever and there has to be someone out there. Whoever has rostered Carson Kelly for all of this production just give yourself a pat on the back. I mean there has to be

an NL only league somewhere a 15 team two catcher league like a draft and hold format where somebody has reaped the benefits of all of this Carson Kelly production and if that was you give yourself a pat on the back because that is amazing. The other crazy game, the Reds defeated the

Orioles 24 to 2 on Sunday. They did beat up on some position players late, but it all counts in the record book the same. It all counts for fantasy the same as well. Want to mention Austin Hayes once again. Kind of feels like he's just a must add. Scott, three outfielder leagues, five outfielder leagues. It doesn't really matter to me.

First six games for Austin Hayes, 429 batting average, three homers, seven runs, eight RBI, OPS over 1,200, 35% rostered, and he's one of your sleeper hitters this week. Yeah, I moved away up to on the sleeper hitters list number two after this big weekend. Obviously, ending with the four hit game, already has three home runs, has yet to go hitless since coming off the IL for the Reds. And I don't think we really know what he's capable of.

Of course, he's been around for a while, but most of the time he's been around was either in Baltimore after the fences got pushed back in left field. Austin Hayes, a right-handed hitter. and that effectively destroyed him for fantasy. The year before that happened, he had 22 home runs. And then since then he hasn't contributed much of anything. Now, he did get traded to Philadelphia at the trade deadline last year. And we thought, okay, maybe this is going to be enough to unlock Austin Hay's potential.

He was terrible with the Phillies. And I don't feel like this story has circulated enough. He was going through a kidney infection all that time, didn't even know it. like a pretty serious health issue. He just, you know, he felt weak. He didn't feel good. It just felt awful the whole time and only found out later that it was a kidney infection. So we didn't, his time in Philadelphia clearly wasn't a good test of what he's capable of with normal outfield fences.

And now he's got the shortest outfield fences of all in Cincinnati. So I'm a little skeptical. will amount too much in a points league just because he walks so infrequently. But any other format, and even in a points league, if you need immediate outfield help, I think he's a fine pickup.

All right. And speaking of the Reds, want to mention Noelvi Marte, who went five for seven in that game Sunday with two doubles, a homer, seven RBI. He also started Friday as well. He went 0 for 5 in that game. He's only 13% rostered. We don't have to go back too far. Before the

suspension last year, he was being drafted as like a top 200, maybe top 150 pick. There was a lot of breakout hype around Noelvi-Marte. Will he play, Scott? That's the main question. What do you think? That is the main question. Did this big performance earn Noel V. Marte more playing time?

Still very young as top prospect pedigree. The P.E.D suspension kind of derailed him. Even in the minors last year, he wasn't very good. but four balls hit 94.9 miles per hour in this game. The five hits total, seven RBI. I will say that the home run, which was a grand slam, it was responsible for four of the seven RBI. It did come off Jorge Mateo.

Yeah. So, and it was, you know, barely squeaking inside the foul pole kind of home run for Newellvi-Marté. So I don't know if it really proved anything, this big performance. It was just his second start in six games. games. Jamer Candelario, the Reds owe them money, so maybe they want to see that through. I'd prefer them giving Oelvie Marte a shot, but I just don't know. I would save this pickup more for deeper leagues as a speculative ad. All right. And you're not picking up Austin wins, but I just

want to mention what he did. Six for seven with a home run and six RBI in this game for Austin. I know. 24 runs. And you're thinking, okay, like what kind of huge production did all my most rostered Reds have in this game. And you go and it's the 34-year-old backup catcher. You never heard of had the biggest game. And then Noelvi Marte, who nobody has either. Yeah. I guess Ellie De La Cruz had a sock in a shoe, right?

But it was a modest performance relative to them scoring 24 runs. Yeah. Marte and Austin wins the number eight and nine hitters in that game combined for 11 hits and 13 RBI. So pretty crazy stuff there for the Reds. And one more I wanted to mention the Brewers had nine steals on Sunday against Shea Languiliers and the A's. Bryce Terang had three and he is off to a tremendous start the season. Hitting over 300. He's got three homers, 23 runs, eight steals so far. South Freelich had two steals and in each of Christian Yellich, William Contreras, Reese Hoskins, and Caleb Durbin had one steal as well.

We spoke about Sal Freelick last week. He continues to impress. He's batting 3.42. He's got seven steals so far, 06 OPS, 60% rostered. And Reese Hoskins really turned his season around this week. Three for five with a sock in his shoe on Sunday. And overall on the week, he had nine hits, three homers, five runs, and eight RBI,

54% rostered. Scott, do you think either of those numbers need to be higher? Sal Freelik at 60%, Reese Hoskins, at 54%. Yeah, I think they both need to be higher. Freelick's plate discipline is so good that I think he's plenty startable even in a points league.

and, of course, the kind of stolen base production he's giving early on, makes him plenty startable in a categories league. He's not going to give much in the way of power, but I think this is what we've been waiting for from South Relic, who was a pretty good prospect back in the day. And Reese Hoskins, all it took was a few multi-hit games, and suddenly his percentages look like they should look. They look exactly like Reese Hoskins, batting average, and OPS, and all of that.

So he is living up to what you wanted him to be. The problem with him is, and I know I've been getting asked about this, not even including Reese Hoskins, but how do you make all the emergent first baseman work on a single fantasy roster? And I'm having that problem in a couple leagues myself. I know other people are, and that's before we even consider Hoskins, like I said. It's crazy.

It is just, it's crazy what has happened. with the first base position, especially when you think about there are names up top that have struggled big time, right? Like Cody Bellinger has first base eligibility. He has struggled. Christian Walker is off to a really slow star. Vinny Pasquantino off to a slow start as well.

And then just behind those guys, you have all these emergent Tyler Soderstrom who's off to this amazing star. Ben Rice, Spencer Torkelson. But now Jonathan Aranda has entered this mix and playing against two lefties this weekend. So is he just in every day player now. And then on top of that, we do still have some of these kind of retreads that,

you know, are picking things up. Michael Bush, Reese Hoskins, who we just spoke about. So there is a lot going on at the position. And I mean, to call Bush a retread is kind of unfair because yeah, it is. It totally is. Yeah. But that's, I mean, one of the biggest stories, or I guess developments of the weekend was, and you mentioned it there, Jonathan Ronda, playing against back-to-back lefties and batting third on Sunday against the lefty and by the way I think he was the only ray he didn't get a hit but I think he was the only ray

to get on base multiple times so you would think he earned the right to play even more against lefties you would think so and I've been saying if Jonathan Aranda becomes an everyday player at least close to it starts against most lefties

he's going to shoot way up my rankings is he there? Because I think skills-wise, it's a, like, I know Tyler Soderstrom has, has, has all the home runs, but just on a, if I'm evaluating these guys on how much I like them on a pure skill level, I don't know, Aronda might be at the top of the list. I know I'm not going to rank him ahead of Soderstrom, but he's, he belongs really high.

And I, and there are people just begging me to drop Vinnie Pasquantino and Tristan Casas, and I'm not ready to do either. But how proven are either is what I find me asking myself. We got half a great season from Tristan Casas. We've gotten a couple of injury shortened but decent seasons from Vinnie Pasquantino. I think neither has met his full potential yet, and that's kind of what we were drafting them for. but do they really deserve preference over some of these other guys who are also of pedigree

and they're off to great starts? It's a small sample obviously, a smaller sample than the kind of samples where we saw Casas and Pasquantino at their best. But in the kind of leagues that are shallow enough where you could actually even broach the subject of dropping Casas and Pasquantino, maybe you could live without them. If you're in a pinch and you want to see what Aranda, you want to see this through with Aranda, you want to see this through Enrice or Michael Bush.

I don't know. I'm uncomfortable saying it. But if I think it through, I don't know. How do you feel? It doesn't sound so crazy to me, given that those guys aren't, you know, it's not like we're saying drop Cody Bellinger for him

or drop Christian Walker for him, guys who have like multiple seasons of empowerment, impactful fantasy production. Yeah, I think I'm closer to dropping Kossis than I am Vinnie P. And I know it was not even a full season last year because he dealt with some injuries, but Vinny P was good last year.

And he was really serviceable. And for all the reasons we've talked about for years, like there's a lot to like with Vinny Pass Quantino still. So I can't see myself dropping him. I know Chris has kind of made this point a lot early on the season. I feel like there still has to be a worst player on your roster somewhere. I know you don't really want these guys sitting on the waiver. wire, but man, if you could find a way, just drop whatever backup hitter or whatever

pitcher on your bench that you're just never going to use whatever it might be to get one of these other first baseman and play them over a Kossis or Vinny P, I'd much rather do that. If push came to shove, if you're in a really, really shallow league, like, I'm closer to saying, yeah, you could drop Kossis for the hot hand at first base. I don't think I can do it. It's these 12 team head-to-head points leagues were in, which, I mean, that their head-to-head points leagues makes them shallow by nature but 12 teamers it's not like it's really tiny league yeah i had this exact issue in in our podcast league i have tristan cossus is my first baseman who has given me nothing and uh i have bids here on sunday trying to pick up a ronda but it's not dropping cossus it's

did you bid enough probably probably not but i think i had like jonathan india on my bench or kairn paris and in a point thing i'm like all right i'll drop one of those guys and try and pick up up a Ronda or well but drop in kairn Paris i mean i think a lot of people would shut it i know he's cooled off but still he has in a points league this week he had negative two and a half fantasy points i know he's cooled off but i think what is his where does he actually rank among second baseman to date uh and this i happen to have points league rankings pulled up here he's still been the sixth best points league play uh second baseman so far ahead of or actually tied with nico horner yeah it all good question

And I totally get why people are asking this about the first base position. I know you're working on an article tonight, Scott, right, where you're going to try and break all of this down in particular, right? I'm going to try. I don't know. I don't know that I'll have clear answers. Good luck to you, sir. It's not like there's one of them.

We haven't even mentioned Spencer Torkelson in this. It's not like there's one of them where I can point to and say, yeah, that's fake. Clearly, that's fake. Don't be fooled by this. All right, well, let's take our final break. Then we'll get into news and notes, all this prospect stuff from the weekend, and we'll try to speed through everything else. We'll do that right after this.

Welcome back in news and notes, and it is a fun time for prospects. And I realize prospects are very divisive, and they have been for the past couple years. Some people get frustrated when, oh, you guys focus on prospects so much. And Scott, I think you've done a good job of kind of laying out, like, these are lottery tickets. Let's see what happens.

But a lot of them are very fun lottery tickets as well. And that's what you could say about Chandler Simpson, who is maybe the fastest player in all baseball, and he is in Outfield Prospect for the Rays. He was promoted on Friday. He's 24 years old last season, hit 355 with 104 steals in the minors. Only one homer,

and it was an inside-the-park home run. So you are getting no speed, probably close to no RBI, but you could be getting a very good batting average, amazing steals and probably run scored as well. As we always have with Ray's prospect Scott, like, will he stick around? Will he play every day?

These are totally fair questions, but is Chandler Simpson a must add in category leagues? How much did you see him going for in Fab? Because I know he was a big name and people were spending up on Sunday. Oh, yeah. I mean, Jeff Passon was giving out fantasy advice on picking up Chandler Simpson. which he was saying pick them up everywhere. I thought that was an overstatement.

Clearly, points leagues, you're not doing that. Which isn't to say that Chandler Simpson in a best case scenario couldn't be valuable in points leagues. I think in a best case scenario, Chancellor Simpson is Xavier Edwards. That's what that's kind of the profile you're looking for here. And again, again, to stress those numbers, 355 batting average, 104 stolen bases last year. with zero power, but neither does, you know, Xavier Edwards doesn't have any power either. The problem with saying, oh, he could be Xavier Edwards,

is how many other Xavier Edwards can you remember? And even Xavier Edwards, we're not totally sure as sustainable, so far so good. But it's just, you know, before him to get back to beat, if you're thinking back to like this guy who excels in both batting average and stolen bases, with zero power, like a real standout in both. The last one I can remember before Xavier Edwards

is like Michael Bourne. And then before that you go back to like Juan Pierre. Like it's rare. It's not, and D. Gordon. Yeah, he had a couple years. He did it, Scott. For a few years, I mean, he was, he was that guy. How long ago was that?

A decade, 15 years maybe. Okay. So there you go. It was, let's see, 27. Yeah, 2017, you're right, 2014 through 2017. You had a great four-year run of that. You're right, that's an oversight. I should mention him when I'm recalling them.

But that was, you know, almost 10 years ago. It was a while ago. It's rare. And it's become increasingly rare, I think, because we've gotten so much better at defensive positioning. And pitchers are just, like pitching hasn't improved so much, just in that span of time. But pitcher can knock the bat out of a guy's hands like that. And then when he does put it in play,

we're better at having a fielder there to field. And so it just hasn't worked out for other examples of that. The reason I have some hope for Chandler Simpson is because he knows exactly who he is. He hit the ball last year when he was batting 355. He put the ball in the air just 17% of the time. He hit the ball to the opposite field 38% of the time. He does not have any interest in hitting anything close to what would be considered a home run. So he's not giving away a lot of outs on contact.

You know, he's at least giving himself a chance by not putting it in the air. So maybe it'll work. He started both games so far, bet a leadoff in one of them, bet a ninth in the other. Just the fact that they hit him lead off in the major league of you, the raise of all teams. I thought that was encouraging. But it's a relative long shot. But obviously, if it does work, he could be totally transformative in that one category. So every category's league, especially the five outfielder roto leagues, yeah, you should probably pick up Simpson.

For how much, I think that depends on how desperately you need steals, first of all. and how deep the league is. So most of my roto leagues, if I'm being honest, are 15 teamers. I am in one 12 teamer, but I'm in deeper 15 teamers for the most part. And Chandler Simpson was going for like 15 to 25% of people's season long budget in that, in those 15 teamers. It's a big chunk of change. And the 12 teamers, you know, maybe more like 10 to 15.

And if you don't need steals, you know, throw an 8% kind of bid at him and just just in case everybody's sleeping. And maybe if nothing else, you'll get trade bait out of it. That's how I think you should approach Chandler Simpson. But it is not a sure thing, not just because he plays for the raise, but because this profile so rarely works. And Simpson wasn't the only one that was promoted, or at least we learned, will be promoted this week. because the Marlins are planning to promote their catcher prospect. Augustine Ramirez, who last season came over from the Yankees in the Jazz Chisholm trade.

In the minors, he hit 267 with 25 homers, 22 steals. This season in the minors, 258, three homers, five steals. Just an interesting profile. Power speed at the catcher position is, you know, I don't want to make the lofty like J.T. Realimuto comparison, but if it all works out, it can look like J.T. Realumuto here. is he a must add in two catcher leagues got augustine ramirez yeah must add somebody asked the question on twitter drop hunter goodman for augustin ramirez and i think that's the line so i think

about 15th in my catcher rankings is where augustin ramirez is going to debut i said no uh because hunter goodman has a ton of power and he's playing virtually every day for the rockies it's it hasn't gone amazingly so far, but it's gone good enough that I want to stick with it. And Augusta Ramirez, who knows? I mean, he could just, the way prospect call-ups have gone recently, a lot of times that first stint goes very, very poorly and doesn't last very long. So I wouldn't want to throw out a true asset like Goodman for him. But would I drop Carson Kelly for him?

Yeah, if I had to do that, I would. I think you've gotten as much as you can get out of Kelly. the majority of what you're going to get out of him anyway. And Augustine Ramirez is a potential power speed threat with great on base skills too, by the way. That could be huge at catcher. I do want to emphasize, we say power speed threat because he's stolen bases in the miners. He's not very fast at all. He's just done a good job of reading pitchers and being exploitive on the base paths.

I don't know if he'll have that same kind of permission in the majors. Augustine Ramirez. I could see the stolen base is totally disappearing, but the bat is legit. Would you take him over Edgar Carrow, the White Sox prospect who got called up last week? Yeah, easily. All right.

And one of the prospect I wanted to mention was Luke Keishel, who we knew last week was getting called up. We just didn't know, all right, how much is he going to play? What would he look like? Not physically. I think we know what he looks like. We just didn't know what he would look like on the field. I actually didn't know what he.

I was kind of surprised when I saw him. I was like, wow, look at that hair. I didn't know he had so much. Two for four with a run, RBI, and a steal on Friday. He added another hit on Saturday. And Sunday, Luke Keishel, 22% roster. He's got six home games this week against the White Sox and the Angels. So that feels pretty good.

Scott, how aggressive were you on Luke Keishel? We actually wound up winning him in our NFBC 12-team Morda League that we share together. We got him for $117 out of a $1,000 fat budget. Yeah. So that was like a 12% bid there. Yeah. And that's about how aggressive I was in the leagues where I needed him most, in the leagues where I was already loaded at middle infield and probably wouldn't find a spot for him.

I was being a little more measured, 4%, 5%. I would say, and if you're in a shallower head-to-head points league, $0 bid, you know, $1 if you really need him. I don't go crazy. So that's kind of that kind of gives you an idea of how much the bidding can change depending on the league size and the scoring format because, you know, obviously those head-to-head leagues, no middle infield spot. You just don't have as much of a need for this kind of player. But I think Heschel's good. If you'll remember on Friday's show, I said, I wasn't sure if this was a coronation, if they were calling him up to play him or if they were calling him.

or if they were calling up just because they needed someone else who could fill in at middle infield while some of their guys were banged up, but started all three games over the weekend, batted second in one of them, and got on base in all three. So I think he is, I think he's created some buzz in Minnesota,

has Luke Kishol. There weren't a lot of hard hit balls over the weekend, even though he got some hits. What was the hardest hit? ball. I don't think it was much over 100 miles per hour. 1.1.5.

Averageed 88. Small sample, obviously, but we were seeing similar things from him and the miners. Not a lot of role power here for Luke Keishel, even though he hit home runs, was good at elevating to his pole side. And you can make up for low exit velocities

with that, but it may cost you in terms of batting average. That being said, great plate discipline. Great base dealer. We saw him do with that once over the weekend. pretty sure. Yes. And I could see it going really well for Luke Kishel. So in leagues like where we made the $17 bid, we've been, we've been cycling through second basement all year because we started out with Tyro Estrada and he got her right away. And we were at one point, we were forced to start,

who were we forced to start some? We started Max Muncie of the athletics this week. Yeah, really. Oh, just might be better with nobody. So that, that is definitely the high end of what a Kishel bid should be. If you have that kind of. heat. All right. Let's run through the rest of the news from the weekend. Scary scene on Sunday night baseball as Luis Arise was carted off the field after a scary collision at first base. The Padres announced that Arise was in stable condition. He's conscious. He was responsive. He was able to move all of his extremities. And he's actually apparently already been released from the hospital and has rejoined the Padres. So it sounds like thankfully we've avoided anything big here, Scott.

If you just go ahead and throw Arise back in the lineup this week? I'd be reluctant to do that because I got to figure just for prudence's sake they'd give him a day off or two, right? Yeah, that makes sense. And they haven't ruled out an aisle stint just because he's back with the team, I don't think. So I would try to, I would try not to start a rise.

Tyler Glass now left Sunday start to two cramps in his right lower leg, and before leaving he looked pretty good four shutout innings with six strikeouts at the Rangers. Do you start Tyler Glass now this week? Yeah, I think so. He's so high-end, and they make it sound like a really minor injury. If you want to play it safe, I'd get it, but I'm probably going to start Glass now.

All right, while Lankford was activated on Sunday, so make sure to get him back in your lineups this week. Blake Snell threw a bullpen on Saturday before I go any further. I'm kind of scatterbrain here, but a reminder that on Monday, it is the Patriots Day game in Boston. and that game starts at 11.10 a.m. Eastern time. So if you're listening to this live, definitely, as soon as it ends, go set your lineups because you might not get another opportunity to do so. Or if you're listening to this in the morning, just make sure to set your lineups.

And speaking of setting your lineups, we have a new function on the website where we're going to have live comments on the CBS Sports Fantasy articles, and we're going to have a live Q&A in the comments section of a post that's going to be set up from 10 a.m. to 11.000. A.m. Eastern time and Chris will be there to answer all of your questions. So again, at 10 a.m. Eastern from 10 to 11, you can go to the site, TVSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. There'll be a post. You go in there,

drop your comments and get them answered by Chris ahead of lineup lock. Let's get back into the news. And Blake Snell threw a bullpen on Saturday, his first since going on the aisle with shoulder inflammation. Afterwards, he said he feels way better throwing now than when he attempted to pitch through the injury before. He added that he'll need at least one more bullpen in a simulated game before there's a discussion about being activated. Padres manager, Mike Schultz, said on Friday that it would be a little aggressive for Jackson Merrill to be ready to return at the start of their next homestand, which begins April 25th. So perhaps we're not seeing Jackson Merrill back until May

at this point. It sounds like they are playing that one safe. Kerry Carpenter left Sunday due to right hamstring, Sornis, Scott. In the leagues where you use carry carpets are probably five outfielder leagues. Do you start or sit this week? Probably playing safe and sit him if I have a decent alternative. All right, Josh Lowe took about 20 dry swings on Saturday. He said after that his oblique feels good and added that he is hoping to start hitting off a T later this week. Grayson Rodriguez will receive a second opinion after getting MRI results back on his right shoulder.

and it feels like second opinions don't usually end very well, but I hope I'm wrong on Grace and Rodriguez. Ezekiel Tovar was placed in the aisle with a left hip contusion retroactive 2 April 16th. AJ Puck was placed in the aisle with left elbow inflammation. Obviously this sucks for AJ Puck, whoever has him in, I would imagine mostly Roto and category leagues, but man, this can be a huge arrow up for Justin Martinez.

Yep, he may have just shored up the closer role, even if it ends up being a relatively short absence for Puck, Terry Lavello might just get so comfortable using Martinez in the night that it just becomes his role. Zach Neno was reinstated by the Angels on Friday. He went two for nine with a home run this weekend. He's up to 82% rostered and 40% started. So in leagues with a middle infield spot,

I would feel pretty comfortable getting Zach Netto back in the lineup. Zach Eflin threw from 120 feet on Sunday said he feels good. He's on the aisle with a low grade right latch strain. Ben Rice left Saturday after getting hit by a pitch on his left elbow. X-rays came back negative. He was out of the lineup on Sunday.

Scott, what do we do with Ben Rice this week? You're probably okay starting him, but I know the league where I have Ben Rice, I also have Michael Bush, so this is just for me, an automatic excuse to start Michael Bush instead. Even though the Cubs have the worst matchups, five games next week.

Heston Kirstad also left Saturday after getting hit by a pitch on his elbow. X-rays came back negative there. David Bednar was recalled by the Pirates on Saturday. He appeared in the ninth inning of that game on Saturday. They were losing three zero. And he allowed two hits, but also struck out two. David Bednar, 27% rostered. Scott, do you think he's just thrown back in the closer roll right away?

He was dominant in the minors, is worth pointing out. out. So I could see that happening. I don't like that he allowed two hits in his very first outing, but, you know, we'll give him some leeway here. So he threw five scoreless innings in the minors, just one base runner allowed with seven strikeouts. So I think Bednar has earned a chance to get another look for the pirates. Do I trust him in fantasy? No, but in Leagues Svarez, I think he needs to be rostered still. Lucas Ersig left Friday after taking a 109 mile per hour a comebacker off of his left foot. X-rays came back negative there.

Jack Leiter will make your rehab start at AAA on Tuesday. He's on the aisle with a blister. Mark Viantos was out of the lineup Sunday due to groin discomfort, Scott, do you start or sit Viantos this week? I try to sit him. Jeffrey Springs left his start early on Sunday with hamstring tightness,

and he's been, he was pretty bad before leaving this start and outside of his first start of the season, he's been kind of mid. Are you okay dropping Jeffrey springs in shallower leagues. Yeah, I'm okay with it. Yeah, I'm okay with it.

Shallower leagues, you'll probably get away with it. Even if you think he's decent still and better than most starting pitching options out there, given that starting pitching is then, as I pointed out, a couple times. I think you could probably pass him through waivers and take a shot on Logan Henderson or David Festa or maybe that's an opportunity to pick up Jonathan or Ronda. I'd do that. Brian Beow will be activated to start Tuesday against the Mariners, and that could make him a two-star pitcher, right?

Brian Beow, yeah, I have him among the two-star pitchers, though he is in the no-thanks category of the two-star pitcher rankings. Other names who went to the aisle this weekend, Derek Hill with a left wrist brain, Martine Perez with left elbow inflammation, Brandon Marsh with a right hamstring strain, Blake Trininin with right forearm tightness, Victor Vodnick with right shoulder inflammation, Jason Hayward, with left knee inflammation and bow brisky with right ankle inflammation.

As you've probably figured out by now, we're going to go a little bit longer as we usually do on these weekend recaves. Even without Chris here. My gosh. What a windbag I am. No, this weekend in particular, Scott, it was just, it was a crazy weekend for fans. This was a big waiver wire weekend for sure. Yeah, yeah. And for those wondering, like, we don't love starting this late on a Sunday. I would love it if we can start at, you know, eight or nine on a Sunday. But we're also putting in our waiver wire bids ourselves on like all the teams that we have.

So it's just, Sundays are crazy, man. There's always a lot going on. And it's, it is why we have wound up starting it so late here on Sundays as well. So let's get into waiver wire pitchers, other names outside of the ones we already mentioned earlier. The first group, more so for shallower league's got Grant Holmes,

James and Tyone, David Peterson. Actually, I'm going to throw a lot of names way. Grant Holmes, Tyone, Peterson, Severino, Waka, Verlander. All of those are between 60 and 80% rostered. Are there any names in that group of six names that really, really stand out for you? Stand out as what? They need to be rostered? Yeah. Or stand out like I just have something to say about him? I guess it could be either. Either. So Grant Holmes, he was really inefficient. Again, and this is his third start in four now with four walks. The previous start he looked like maybe he turned the corner,

67% strikes, but only 55% strikes in this one. And he was teetering on the edge of disaster. I think back-to-back endings, he loaded the bases with less than two outs, but managed to just give up the one run. Got seven strikeouts, so he's still doing a decent job of missing bats. 32E.R.A. 121.21 whip. That looks fine. I'm not saying it's time to drop Grant Holmes, particularly where you can take advantage of his relief pitcher eligibility,

but I am starting to get a little nervous about these recurring walk issues for him. Looking at the other names here, he's still the one I'd want to roster most. So this isn't the most inspiring group. Justin Verlander finally had a good start. He had been pretty terrible, but gave up just two hits against an Angels lineup that's been, performing pretty well. The fastball in particular was effective in this start for Justin Verlander.

I'm pretty skeptical still, but I don't know. What is he rostered in now? He's rostered 64%. So we got dropped in a lot of leagues. The head-to-head points league where I had him, I had already dropped them. You know, if you're desperate to pick up another pitcher, you could give him another shot, I guess, on the heels of this start. I just, I think it's probably a waste of time, but you never know.

You never know given Justin Verlander's history, if maybe he figured something out there. Tyone, Severino, Michael Walker, they feel like streamer types, low ceiling kind of pitchers. David Peterson, because the ground ball rate is so high, I'm always interested when he gets strikeouts like he did against the Cardinals over the weekend nine and five in a third innings. It's like, hmm, you know, sometimes that slider gets some whiffs and maybe if he can get that strikeout rate up, then we're really on to something here for David Peterson. But it's been pretty inconsistent. This year, I think he had one other good strikeout performance. Let's see, five and six innings, three and four and two thirds,

nine and six. So he's gotten nine twice. Yeah, I think he's still pretty low end, but I do think maybe David Peterson's a little more interesting than Tyone Severino and Waka. I think so too. And this goes back to late last season as well, where David Peterson over his final 11 starts had a 241 ERA and a 114-whip.

I don't really buy it, but I mean he's done this for again, it's like, you know, the past three full months that he's pitched last two months of last season and the first month of this season where it's been pretty good production. So I do think that like Grant Holmes and Peterson are probably

the top of this list. I agree with the other names. I think they're mostly streamers. Severino gets the White Sox this week, so obviously that's a really good matchup if you do want to go with him. Weaverwire Pitchers Part 2, and I think some of these names are definitely more interesting. This is who I wanted to do. This first name is who I wanted to do for, oh my goodness gracious. I can't believe we're just now getting to him. I'm sorry, Scott. You could have brought them up if you wanted to. Well, you know, I overlooked him. There's a lot going on.

But let's talk about Landon Rup, who had a great start at the Angels seven innings two runs, nine strikeouts. We spoke about Abbott. Liberator had another strong start as well at the Mets, six and two-thirds innings, two runs, six strikeouts, 13 whiffs on 100 pitches, that slider just doing the heavy lifting right now for Liberator, and then Logan Henderson.

So again, more interesting options, could have more staying power than the names we just talked about. But Scott, how would you rank, Rup, Abbott, Logan Henderson, and Matthew Liberator? Yeah, so even though they're less roster than that previous group, I do think they're more interesting. And Rup, Rup is the guy. Rup is, to me, the breakout pitcher of the weekend, even more so than Henderson.

I would prioritize him on waivers over Henderson or David Festa or Andrew Abbott, any other pitcher you could pick up. Landon Rup is the guy. He finally brought it all together here in this start against the Angels, 18 whiffs on 96 pitches, got the nine strikeouts and seven innings. Just one walk in those seven innings. 12 of the 18 whiffs came on the curveball, which he threw 45% of the time. That curveball, the whiff rate on it rose in this start to 58%. It's his most thrown pitch, and it has a near 60% whiff rate.

I don't know that I've ever seen a pitch with a whiff rate that high, much less one thrown almost half the time. I mean, it's crazy. Like, this is a otherworldly pitch for a Landon Rup, and if he can just get, if he can just throw enough strikes, I think there's a ton of upside here. I mean, he flashed it prior to this start. It's just, like I said, it finally all came together here.

And I'm very excited for the potential. I think Rup is must add. All right, yeah, Landon Rup, 43% rostered. He's home against the Brewers this week, and he is RP eligible, eligible, For those who play in head-to-head points leagues, did you rank the group, Scott? I know you mentioned that Landau Rup is at the top,

but how would you rank Rup, Abbott, Liberator, and Logan Henderson? I ignored what you said. You probably, did you just tell me to rank him? Okay, so it's Rup, Henderson, Abbott, Liberator. Liberator is worth commenting on here because in his previous start, it was also a good one, but the velocity on all of his pitches was up in that previous start. one to two miles per hour on everything.

It was back to normal in this start. And if he has his normal velocity, I don't know. Nothing looks that different from Liberator other than the results. So I don't know. I guess he's throwing a change up more, but we're talking,

as part of a deep arsenal, he's thrown at like 11% of the time. I don't know. I don't see a lot here that's changed for Liberator, and so that makes me skeptical that he's going to be able to sustain this because he was pretty useless in fantasy

prior to this year. He has relief pitcher eligible, so I was putting in a very low dollar bid for him in points leagues, just trying to get as many sparks on my roster as I could. But I'm not investing with Libertor with a lot of confidence

where I am investing in him. All right, this last group. I would imagine mostly deep league streamers here depending on the matchups, but maybe I'm wrong, Scott, you tell me. Luis L. Ortiz, Tyler Anderson, Jake Irvin, Ben lively, Chad Patrick, Logan, T. Allen, all had good starts this weekend. Do any standout to you? I would say the most interesting are Luis Ortiz and Chad Patrick. Chad Patrick finally gave us some length for once. It was the first time we've seen him go six innings and only the second time we've seen him go five or more. And he got whiffs at a nice rate here.

16 on 94 pitches 10 came on his cutter which is kind of his primary pitch and he had pretty good minor league numbers last year did Chad Patrick sort of like Logan Henderson not a lot of attention but the minor league production was such that you know you kind of wish he got more attention I think he's just a deep league option for now I was only putting a bit on him

I got him in a 15 team league. But I'm keeping an eye on you, Chad Patrick. There might be something there. And Luis Ortiz, you know, back-to-back good starts from him. And these are two organizations that are great at developing, pitching the Brewers and Guardians. So that's part of the reason why when I see them having good multi-start runs, I start to wonder if there could be something there. I do just want to mention for Tyler Anderson. He's home against the Pirates this week.

So if you are someone looking at extreme matchups in a deeper league, I think Tyler Anderson against the, I would use almost any pitcher against the pirates right now. Their offense is just so bad. So yeah, I would be okay with Tyler Anderson against them in deeper leagues this week. Over to Waver Wire Hitter, Scott. We spoke about Jonathan Arronda, who blasted a walk-off home run on Saturday.

He played against two lefties this weekend as well. Kyle Manzardo's name we have talked about a lot early on in the season. He actually hit a home run into the Allegheny River off of Paul's Keens this weekend. The batting average is low but the power has looked good. He's now one game away from gaining

first base eligibility on CBS. Once he joins that mix, got yet another name. Would you rather have Aranda or Kyle Manzardo? Aranda. Kyle Manzardo I think would be at the back of the group so I'm putting him behind Aranda and Benzano.

and Rice and Michael Bush and Spencer Torkelson. Not that I just listed them off in the order I'd rank them, because I'm not sure, but I would put Monsardo at the end. He doesn't have the same high-end exit velocities, but he did Homer twice over the weekend after kind of snapping out of a cold spell that brought his batting average below 200 briefly, back over 200 now. One of the home runs was off Paul Skeens, as you said, and the other home run was off a lefty on Sunday.

So I think that Skeen's home run, was that his first against a righty all year? No, his second. But he's up to six now, right? Four of the six have come against lefties for Kyle Lanzardo. So at the very least, you'd think the platoon concern is out the window with him. All right. Let's talk about Dylan Moore, who had a huge week, 10 hits, three homers, three steals, six runs, and five RBI.

He is batting 316 with five homers and five steals. He has started six of the past seven games for the Mariners. 53% rostered has second, third shortstop and outfield eligibility. Scott, what size leagues and what formats

do you think Dylan Moore needs to be rostered in? Any Roto League probably because he provides speed and he's eligible at four different positions. So he's just a handy fill in that only takes up one spot on the roster, obviously. The track record's pretty bad, apart from steals.

He does elevate a lot. So you could see maybe how power could be the result there for Dillamore, but it's a big park. And mostly him elevating the ball has just translated to a bunch of fly ball outs, which is why that strikeout, which is why that batting average has been so low for Dillamore. But if you can keep the strikeout railer down like he's done in the early going this year,

I think that gives them a little more hope of fitting to 30, 40, maybe, and could be just a handy utility player for you in that case. A bunch of hitters in deeper leagues, Scott, we're looking to add any of these in those 15-team mixed or anything deeper than that. Roddy Tellez, Mickey Moniac, Trent Grisham, Alex Verdugo, Javier Sinoja, who is in outfielder with the Marlins, and Drake Baldwin, Baldwin, who had a big week here. I just hope it wasn't.

good enough where he just starts to take playing time away from Sean Murphy because this could get maybe annoying for fantasy but yeah uh do any of those names stand out in deeper league scott yeah the Drake Baldwin experience has been a little frustrating and and could remain so because now he's actually performing the underlying data look great the whole time when when Murphy was out but he baldwin wasn't getting the hits to fall then now he is so i think he's probably still in discussion as a second catcher below Carson Kelly obviously below Augustin Ramirez but probably ahead of Edgar Caro for me the outfielders here I was looking at all three Mickey Moniac let me list them in the order I was looking at them in five

outfielder leagues 15 teamers even some 12 teamers I guess with five outfielders Alex Verdugo one Homer Mickey Moniac 2, Trent Grisham 3. And the reason I order them that way is Alex Verdugo is the Braves leadoff hitter now. At least for as long as he's delivering. And he got four hits obviously on Saturday, two doubles. He seems to have kind of, his personality seems like one the Braves needed, sort of giving them that swagger

that famously is discussed when they acquired Jack Peterson in 2021 because they just seem to come to life with them there and the track record is better than it gets credit for he doesn't have much power he's never hit more than 13 home runs

in a season but he was consistently at like a dozen with the Red Sox a dozen homers a 280 batting average a 350 OBP like the kind that would, if you're batting leadoff in a five outfielder league, is not bad to fill that fifth spot. And I've gotten hit with a lot of injuries in some of those five outfielder leagues. So I think Verdugo is just a good lineup stabilizer in fantasy.

And potentially he could actually be a plus in batting average. I know last year he wasn't with the Yankees. It was a big disappointment. But for most of his career, he has been. So Mickey Moniac We kind of laughed when the Rockies acquired him Like why you're blocking Zach Veen like that But you know

He looked good for stretches with the Angels last year And maybe he'll pee Somebody who magically benefits From playing half the time in Coors Field We don't see a lot of that anymore Like in the good old days But it does happen sometimes And I think at 5 Outfielders leagues

The way he's performed so far You know good strikeout rate Good walk rate all of that, Mickey Moniac. Could be something there. Trink Grisham's, of course, been productive so far, but with the playing times, it's pretty sporadic, right?

I mean, just in terms of how much he started. And the track record does not favor Trink Grisham. I know a lot of these home runs have been of the wall scraper variety. So I don't really trust him to keep it going or the Yankees to keep running them out there. But in 15 team five outfielder leagues, he's probably worth a pickup just to see. All right, Scott, I do want to quickly talk about two of the expected top closers in baseball who are just off to these terrible starts.

On Saturday for the Yankees, Devin Williams got the ninth inning with a four-run lead. He gave up four runs on a walk and four hits. Just incredibly frustrating for him and his fantasy managers. He's got a nine ERA, a 225 whip, swinging strike rate way down, walks way up so far for Devin Williams. And for the Guardians on Sunday, Emmanuel Class A got the ninth with a three-run lead. He gave up three runs on a walk and four hits.

He took his second blown save. It's a 784 ERA, a 223 whip. I know reliever stuff can be very fluky in like these small samples. Everything we deal with relievers is, they're always small samples, but what are you seeing

here? Like what's going on with Devin Williams and Emmanuel Claisse? I mean, not a lot i don't think that i have a lot valuable to offer here these were the top two closers drafted they obviously their track records are unimpeachable so it's just a matter of like do you think track record means anything or not and you should i think you should

i think that means most of all this early in the season that is the if you're going to do single factor analysis that is the the single factor you should analyze is how good has this guy been in the past and for how long and for both of these guys they're 10 as far as that goes so I get that as frustrating

I actually do have a manual class A in one league and it's like one of the rare times over the years that I've actually invested in a high enclosure and it's been just disastrous so far yeah I mean Devin Williams Velocities down a little early in the year over a small sample.

I don't read that much into it, and I don't think it would be this transformative, even if it was an issue, looks like the movement profile on his changeup, which is the world beater pitch anyways, about the same. I know I read for a manual Class A, the Guardians were saying his cutter and slider, his two pitches basically,

we're kind of running together so he's working on separating them in terms of velocity, and we actually saw that in this most reason outing, the slider velocity was down. But comparing the separation on those two pitches to past years, it doesn't look that different for me. I don't know that that's really what's going on

with Class A. Unless they lose their job, I'm just going to stick with them. I don't think there's anything more you can do. And I'm, I'm sure this isn't, I didn't pull up examples of the past, but I can remember times in the past where Class A had a rough patch and probably Williams 2, though that one doesn't come to mind.

So it is, you know, I don't think you should freak out about it. I understand the frustration, but I think you just stick with them because it's probably going to, like the odds are it's going to turn around. All right, let's bounce around with some leftovers from the weekend and we had some really masterful outings on the mound. And two of them came against each other. Yamamoto against Jacob de Grom on Friday. Yamamoto seven shot out innings with 10 strikeouts.

DeGrom, seven innings, one run, seven strikeouts. He gave up a lead-off home run, and then that was it. But it was a tough luck loss there for Jacob de Grom. Some other names, Zach Wheeler, seven innings, two runs, 13 strikeouts against the Marlins. Logan Webb tied a career high with 12 strikeouts at the Angels. and McKenzie Gore has had a ridiculous start in Corse Field, six innings, two runs,

13 strikeouts, which tied his career high, which he set on opening day of this season. He had 28 whiffs on 104 pitches, Scott. So some really masterful starts from Gore, Logan Webb, Zach Wheeler, DeGrom, and Yamamoto. Yeah, I think the Rockies are just as good of a matchup as you'll find. home war away. I understand Corse field and the difficulties

there, but I think for a visiting pitcher coming in, maybe it'll change over the summer, but right now it's it's not like it messes them up to a degree that repeated starts there, messes up Rocky's pitchers, and

they seem to be fairing just fine because that lineup is so bad. In Gore's case, I mean, he got half the whiffs on the curveball and you would expect a breaking ball to suffer especially in that thin air environment. So Gore's looking great. Back to 64% strikes in this start.

That's the one stat that's kind of gone back and forth for him. But he looks great. Logan Webb, the change-up seems to be back in form. It was the dominant pitch for him in this start. I was never that concerned about him, but less concern, even less concern now. 11 whiff's just on the changeup for Logan Webb. Let's see, Wheeler.

Yeah, I mean, he threw a bunch of splitters in this start, which I always like to see because I think that's an effective pitch for it. I've just introduced it last year and kind of faded it over the course of the season. It was his second most thrown pitch in this one. And obviously he got great results. So no worries with Zach Wheeler. He's looking great. I did just want to mention Tyler Malley as part of that group as well.

You know, some skepticism. Will he keep this up? Well, he just did it against the Dodgers, too. Seven shutout innings, only four strikeouts in this one. Tyler Malley is up over 80% rostered on CBS. So not really talking about him from a waiver wire perspective, though. If you play on Yahoo, he's only 62% rostered. So please add Tyler Malley if you play on Yahoo.

He's at the Giants this week. Scott, based on everything that I've seen, I think you just, you have to start Malley and run with it as long as he's pitching like this. Yeah, so you said, oh, he's up to 80. All right, he just crossed the threshold. But, yeah, I have him as a start for this week, for sure. You know the most hits he's allowed in a start this year? I think it was in this one, four hits, wasn't it?

Yeah, four hits once, three hits once, two hits three times, and one hit once. Wait, he only allowed two hits in this. I wrote down, no, I didn't. Okay, there you go. Yeah, he only allowed two hits in this one. So three hits is the most of cloud. And that was in what was considered his best start because there was nine strikeouts in it. You know, it's most hits so far.

Oh, all right. The strikeouts have been that great for what it's worth, but the swinging strike rate has been good. Yeah. And missing a lot with the fastball, especially, which you know I like to see. I did have some starter sit questions. Just three names I'll throw your way. Sandy O'Connor got crushed by the Phillies this weekend. He is home against the Reds this week.

Zach Gallen got crushed by the, Cubs, six innings six runs there, and he is home against the Braves, and Roki Sasaki turned in his first career quality start, six innings, two runs, four strikeouts, and he's home against the Pirates this week. So, you know, we have not talked favorably about Sasaki. Man, I think you can use him against the Pirates this week, but what do you think about Gallin, home against the Braves and Sandy Alcansor who is home against the Reds? Sandy Alcantara hasn't looked great.

be honest with you. His velocity, it's down about a mile per hour from when we last saw him healthy. And just way too many walks. And I'd rather not have to start him this week. Who did you say he was facing the... Home against the Reds. Reds. Yeah. I understand it's a good matchup for Roki Sasaki, and I understand he's coming off his best start. he did not miss many bats in the start at all. And as much as we've talked about how 96 miles per hour on his fastball isn't good enough, you'd like to see it more at 98, he averaged 94.7. So it's continuing to trend down for Roki Sasaki. Only 62.8% strikes, even though he walked three, he walked three and didn't throw many strikes.

So there's still a lot of issues here for Sasaki. It might work out against the pirates, just because that's such a favorable matter. but he might walk himself silly. And yeah, it's, I don't know. I don't think we're to the point of talking, we're definitely not to the point of talking dropping Sasaki Ed. He just had a quality start, but I don't know that he's trending up, really, in my eyes.

Who else did you ask about here? You asked about Alcantra? Zach Allen. Zach Allen. He's been a disaster. Yeah, it's been bad the past couple starts. Like, if I have Tyler Malley, I'm starting him over Zach Allen this week. That's fair enough.

I'd come closer to starting Gallen than Alcantra, I think. But I could understand sitting gallon. All right. We had a bunch of hitting leftovers, but I really just wanted to mention one in particular because he was a very hot topic one week ago today. And it was Dylan Cruz, who, yes, went into Corse Field, a very favorable place to hit. But he had a great weekend.

He had five hits. He had two homers. He had two steals. Hopefully he can carry this into games that are not in Corse Field, Scott. But it was nice to see from Dylan Cruz. Yeah. Both of the home runs were over 102 miles per hour. He had four batted balls better than 102.5 miles per hour in that Saturday game.

So he was hitting the ball hard. Both to the opposite field too. Yeah. He was hitting it hard, hitting it more often. I think he's coming around. I think you're going to be fine with Dylan Cruz. So be glad that you held. All right, let's wrap up with to stream or not to stream.

On Monday, Scott, we have Clark Schmidt at the Guardians. Oof. Eric Fetty at the Braves, Quinn Priester at the Giants. To you, small slate, it's only eight games. Do you use any of those on Monday? If I have to use one, I don't want to, but if I have to, well, probably Clark Schmidt at Cleveland.

I was about to say Eric Fetty at Atlanta. I guess he would be number two. I don't love either, though. All right, and then on Tuesday, we have Nick Martinez. I know he's been bad, but it's at the Marlins. Mitchell Parker's been good, but he faces the Orioles. Griffin Canning against the Phillies.

Zach Lattel at the D-Bax is tough. Jose Cantana at the Giants. Jordan Hicks against the Brewers. Osvaldo Bido against the Rangers bleh I guess my favorite is Nick Martinez

at the Marlins on Tuesday those Palante at the Braves could be okay Beto against the Rangers could be okay you know you don't have to stream

anybody have the confidence in the pitching staff you drafted honestly all right we're going to wrap there for Scott

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

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