Fantasy Baseball Today - Ranking Closer Adds! Weekend Waiver Adds! (4/20 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)
Episode Date: April 20, 2026Jhoan Duran and Daniel Palencia both went on the IL this weekend! How do we rank closer options? Dean Kremer is spamming his splitter and looks interesting. Is Dalton Rushing an option in two-catcher ...leagues? Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CPTowers @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ 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/ 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
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Bullpens have been a disaster.
Let's talk Waverwire.
Up next on Fantasy Baseball Today Express.
Welcome into FBT Express on Monday, 420.
I am Frank Sample, joined by Scott White,
and let's talk some Waver Wire from the weekend.
The closer season from hell continued.
We got a bunch of injuries, a disaster all around.
Yon DeRon, Duran went on the IL with an oblique strain.
Daniel Palencia went on the IL, also with an oblique strain.
Jeff Hoffman served up a grand slam in a tie game.
He has an ERA over seven.
Edwin Diaz had another rough outing on Sunday.
And the Astros moved Josh Hader to the 60-day IL.
The earliest we will see him is in late May.
So lots of save opportunities available here, Scott off the waiver wire.
How are you ranking the players in these situations?
So let's say anybody on the Phillies, anybody on the Cubs, anybody on even?
Astros, anybody on the Blue Jays, anybody on the Dodgers?
Who do you like from those teams?
Well, if you don't have to resort to those teams, don't.
Let me put that out there first.
But in deeper rotissory leagues, in any leagues where saves are scarce,
then these guys are going to be high interest because saves are scarce, right?
So I would rank them Brad Keller, number one,
I do think there's a chance
Jose Alvarado could form
a lefty-righty
tandem there while they're filling in
for Yoh and Duran, but hopefully Brad
Keller gets the majority. For the
Cubs, Caleb Thielbar,
I think, who is a lefty,
but their bullpen is lefty loaded.
And
a lot of their high leverage guys are hurt.
So I think it's by default
it falls on Caleb Thielbar.
My third
choice,
would be Louis Varland from the Blue Jays bullpen,
who is off to a great start.
They also have Tyler Rogers there in Toronto.
And to be clear,
Jeff Hoffman hasn't lost his job yet as far as we know,
but he's having the same issues he had last year,
and it just seems like it's trending that way.
So I think Louis Varland over Tyler Rogers,
because Rogers is kind of a submarine type,
is just a little more of a Swiss Army knife in that bullpen.
Then I think I would gamble on Tanner Scott,
just in case things continue to go poorly for Edwin Diaz,
though I think he's going to get every chance,
given the Dodgers level of investment in it, given his track record.
And then finally from the Astros bullpen,
Enel de Los Santos is a righty you could consider.
But I do think the lefty, Brian King,
is the better reliever there.
And in the long run, I have more faith than him.
I think my camera is tilting.
on us. So we'll adjust that.
All right. Yeah. So let me go through it again real quickly. Brad Keller of the Phillies,
Caleb Thielbar of the Cubs, Louis Barland of the Blue Jays, Tanner Scott of the Dodgers, and
finally, Brian King of the Astros. All right, let's take a look at a few starting pitchers
from the weekend. Noah Schultz look much better in his second start at the athletics, five
innings, one hit, one run, six strikeouts to one walk in this one. He is,
74% rostered, so it could be out there in some shallower leagues.
I know he just became available in NFBC leagues this weekend.
Scott, what did you think of Noah Schultz's second start?
And where would you rank him amongst that Aragutti McAbel-Detmer's group?
Well, it was a lot better than the first.
I think we saw some good signs here from Noah Schultz.
I think enough to stay in the majors and not think enough to keep him on fantasy rosters after kind of shaky with the control the first time out.
the sweeper which is supposed to be his best pitch
and it's a visually impressive pitch
but it may be
it may be the sort of pitch
that is so impressive to look at
that hitters are happy to just watch it sail by him
because they did not swing it
they swung at only three of the sweepers
and so got zero whiffs on it
and so it hasn't played
yet like we hoped it would
obviously after two starts hard to say
but the fastball itself is getting a lot of whiz
for Noah Schultz with his long
arm length
and unconventional delivery
that
might be enough to make
him effective even if the
sweeper is a little slower to come around than we thought
so I think
Schultz
I would prioritize him after
McAbel
red Demer Spencer Araggetty
well they're in line
for two starts this week.
So if you are wanting them to pick them up to start them right away,
and they have enough upside themselves that maybe you just keep them after that.
So I think if you're picking up Araggeti and Detmer's to start them right away,
you prioritize them over Schultz.
But otherwise, if you're just looking to stash upside,
I think I'd go Schultz over them.
All right, let's take a quick break.
We'll be back right after this.
Welcome back in FBT Express.
I do have one other starting pitcher I wanted to ask you about Scott.
Dean Kramer took a time.
tough loss this weekend, six innings, three runs, but had seven strikeouts, 14 whiffs.
He is spamming that splitter and getting a ton of whiffs on that pitch.
Only 19% rostered.
Any interest here in Dean Kramer?
Sure.
Yeah, I'm interested in Dean Kramer.
Now, not anywhere near the previous group we were just talking about, but if they're
already gone, if you're in a league where Daemers and Abel and Schultz and Erigetty,
they're long gone, Kramer's kind of interesting.
I don't think there's a ton of upside here.
I think in the long run, he's going to be more of a streamer type.
But if you're itching to pick up a pitcher, the way he's using his splitter,
he's getting more whiffs than we're used to seeing from him.
He's worth pursuing for a modest bit.
All right, let's take a look at some waiver wire hitters.
Josh Young is picking things up.
Last four games, eight hits, two homers, five RBI.
His strikeout rate is down so far this year.
Scott, any interest in Josh Young as a,
corner infield type right now?
If you have a need, sure.
I don't think Josh Young
is going to be
any more worthwhile
than he's been in the past.
Obviously, there have been a lot of injuries
in the past, and he hasn't been useless.
I just don't think the upside is significant enough
that, for example, if Kazumo,
Kazumo Okamoto was your third baseman
or Alec Bone was your third baseman
and you're frustrated by their slow start.
I don't think dropping them for Josh Young
is the answer.
maybe you could start young as a hot hand over them, maybe.
But in the long run, I think young is going to be the least of those three.
Dalton rushing did it again.
He homered on Saturday.
He has five home runs in 23 played appearances.
Do you think Dalton rushing should be rostered in two catcher leagues?
So I did pick him up in a 15 team two catcher league over Miguelamaya.
That was the alternative I was working with there.
I think, and most 12-teamers, maybe there's somebody whose last catcher is just so uninteresting
that, sure, take the shot on rushing instead.
But I don't think it's a high priority because there just isn't, there aren't enough
at-bats available to him, given the Dodgers' current alignment.
They mostly just have him back up Bull-Smith.
They did start him over show-8.
Otani wants to DH, but that's obviously not going to have been all.
Often, to me, the game changer would be if Dave Roberts is willing to use rushing in left field,
which happened in the minors, but so far Robert hasn't been willing to do it in the majors.
So I'm just, it's worked out because rushing's hitting like Ted Williams,
but he's not always going to be that good.
I think he's good, but I don't think he's Ted Williams good.
And so with his current at battle lot, man, I don't think even in most two catcher leagues,
rushing's going to be worthwhile unless somebody gets hurt.
And then I have a bunch of deep names here.
on the hitter side of things.
They're all performing well lately.
I'll just list off the name.
Scott, if anyone stands out, let me know.
Marcel Ozuna, Daniel Schneeman, Casey Schmidt, M.J. Melendez, Drew Gilbert.
So like 15th team roto leagues are deeper, some AL-only, NL-only stuff.
But any of those names stand out to you so far?
I think the most interesting is Casey Schmidt.
And I liked Casey Schmidt in the past, too, because he's always had pretty good exit
velocities, pretty good pull air rate,
strikeout rate isn't so bad.
It seemed like he should be
performing beyond
what he was actually doing, and now he has actually
performing for the Giants.
And so far
as keeping Bryce Eldridge in the miners
because of it, can play him anywhere
but shortstop along the infield, first, second,
third base. So I think
for deep leagues, Casey Schmidt is the most interesting.
Yeah, I did put a few
Deep League bids in
on like Schneeman and MJ Melendon
I'm just struggling in the outfield in some of those leagues.
Don't have too much confidence in them.
I feel like Daniel Schneeman pops up this time every year
and hasn't really amounted to much.
But he does have three different positions,
second, third, and outfield.
So one of the hot hand approach,
one of the hot hand names there is Daniel Schneeman.
They have six games this week and only one, no,
not even one lefty.
It's five righties and one TBD.
So it might be a full righty week here for the Guardians.
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