Fantasy Baseball Today - Ranking Waiver Wire Pitchers, Alvarado Suspended 80 Games & More! (5/19 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 19, 2025

Mick Abel looked awesome in his debut (2:37)! ... Ryan Weathers or Logan Henderson (8:08)? ... Let's rank all the young, exciting waiver wire pitchers (10:12). ... News (19:12): Jose Alvarado has been suspended 80 games. ... Ivan Herrera is a hitting machine (31:00)! Who are some outfield and shortstop replacements? ... Who are the other waiver wire pitchers from the weekend (42:54)? ... Is it time to drop these pitchers (49:11)? ... These hitters are coming alive in May (54:57). ... Hey real quick, SP edition (1:01:25). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (1:06:35). 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. Hello, welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Monday, May 19th. I am Frank Stamfield, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers.

Today on the show, it is time to rank a bunch. of interesting waiver wire starting pitchers. Lots of injuries from the weekend as well. Jose Alvarado, not an injury, but a suspension. 80 games and much more. Let's jump in. Oh my goodness gracious. Oh my, that's right.

The Bronx bombers taken two out of three. We'll talk about that at some point. But Scott, let's start with you. Player of the weekend. Well, I think the player of the weekend, there were a lot of players who did big things this week. but nobody more than Mick Abel, the Phillies, call up, who made his Major League debut Sunday. And what was intended to be just a spot start, and we'll get to that in a minute.

But Mick Abel against the pirates, six shutout innings, struck out nine, walked none, 18 swinging strikes on 84 pitches. He looked phenomenal. and it was kind of surprising for a number of reasons. One, I mean, Mick Abel was a high draft pick a few years ago, but he had fallen off like every major top 100 list prior to the season because his skill set just looked like it fell apart last year as he climbed the ladder.

And nobody, like he pretty much lost all his dynasty appeal. He was off the radar. Now, he had been pitching well at AAA. He had seemed to regain some of that. stock. Eight AAA starts, a 253 ERA, a 121 whip, 9.9K per 9.9. The walk rate was high, 3.7 walks per 9 at AAA. That's actually low for him. Fair enough. 64% strike rate. That's not great. 13% swinging strike rate. Pretty good, but not like, oh, this guy is as blowing the bats out of people's hands at AAA. So he was having a pretty solid AAA season, one that made Mick Abel a prospect of sorts again.

But this was beyond anyone expectations. And a big reason why is he threw 74% of his pitches for strikes. I just talked about how he had control problems this year, AAA, even more historically, as Chris pointed out. But he was just on. And don't take it from me, Sam Jalenick, who is a broadcaster for, for the Iron Pigs, the Phillies AAA affiliate, he tweeted about this. He says,

I have watched every Mick Abel start the last two years, plus the final start of 2023. I can guarantee you he has never been that locked in. Seeing him reach that level, and the biggest start of his life shows how far he's come, was always in there now he's harnessing it. So, you know, he put a positive spin on it, but the point was he had never even seen Mick Abel look like that before.

And it's possible. I mean, this is a talented player. You look at some of the data points on the pitches. I mean, there's clearly stuff there for Mick Abel. And maybe he just, he got to the highest level and he rose to the occasion. We do see that sometimes with prospects. So I'm taking this, Mick Abel very, this Mick Abel start very seriously. He is very much a pitching prospect again at this point.

In fact, when I write my next prospects report and, Probably every prospect's report until he gets called up again, he will be among my top five prospects to stash. But there's the rough, right? He's going to be in the prospects report still because as good as he looked in this start, he is getting sent back down. And apparently there's no, like that was the plan all along.

The only reason they called up Mick Abel is because Taiwan Walker appeared too recently in relief to take Aaron Nola's turn in the rotation. So we're going to have Mick Abel. for this turn and then reinsert Taiwan Walker. And apparently this start is not changing the Phillies mind. I think it should because, I mean, Taiwan Walker is the alternative, but it's not. So if you make a move for Mick Abel and there are definitely leagues where you should, understand that is with the intention of stashing him.

And that worked out great for the people who picked up Logan Henderson after a very strong major league day. I benefited from that in several leagues. I'm very glad I didn't have to throw a bunch more fab at him to get him the second time around. But that's what you're getting into with Mick Abel. There is not a second turn lined up for him. Yet.

Yeah. That for me, it just, it comes down to like, sure. They're sending him down and that's the plan and that all makes sense. It might only take one Taiwan Walker start. And Taiwan Walker is in Corres Field this week, so. Yeah. Could. Could be the one.

Could be. So if he gets knocked around there, there is a chance that we could see Mick Abel back up with the Phillies pretty soon. I mean, you know, is Aranola going to be out that long? I think it's an ankle injury, so it doesn't seem like it's anything too serious. And maybe it's more so just to get him back on track the way everything has gone with Aranola. Speaking of which, I mean, a bunch of names who went on the aisle this weekend. Nola was one. Cole Reagan's with that groin tight.

continues to be a problem. Seth Lugo with right middle finger inflammation. On the lower end, you know, someone like Eduardo Rodriguez, but we did lose some other bigger names there. So we need waiver wire replacements. Mick Abel, maybe more of a long-term answer. Obviously someone that won't help you this week,

but it gets into the conversation of ranking all these young, exciting-ish starting pitchers right now because it seems like there are a lot. So let's try and talk through this. I feel like, and you guys correct me, if I'm wrong, Ryan Weathers and Logan Henderson kind of feel like they're at the top of this list right now of the waiver wire pictures that have emerged recently. Do either feel differently about that? Among guys who are widely available right now.

I think they're clearly the top two. I would personally give Weathers a slight edge for talent, but Henderson obviously in a much better situation. So I think it's really close. And I think they're both, or at least they were earlier today, both 48% rostered. I kind of think, and I think you were presenting this also, Chris, but the way I would put it is, Weathers is kind of in his own tier at the top. Again, I think on talent, yeah, being that it's the Marlins,

you know, it's bad defense, bad run support. I think that drops him a little bit, but yeah, he would be the top one for me for sure. So then we dropped down into another group here, and Jack Leiter had himself a nice week, two quality starts in a row on Sunday, seven plus innings against the Astros. Left them in maybe a little bit too long here. He winds up three runs over seven innings, four strikeouts.

He's at the White Sox this week, so obviously if you're looking for a short-term fix, that's a great matchup. Noah Cameron returned to the Royals, and he pitched very well, six and a third, one run allowed, three strikeouts to zero walks, has some pretty good minor league numbers. And then Zebby Matthews made his season debut for the twins. Obviously didn't work out very well last year. has put up some nice numbers in the miners. Velocity was up, but the final line, this start was not good at the Brewers,

which is a good matchup right now. Three innings, four runs allowed, three walks, five strikeouts. So if we put those next three names in the mix... Well, wait a second, Frank. I think there's one big name you're missing. Is it Hayden Birdsong? That's right.

So yeah, he was like the next name that I was going to get to. So let's just throw him in this mix as well, this next group before. I think it would be next for me. I think he would be after Weathers and Henderson. And I totally get it because Hayden Birdsong returning to the Giants rotation and has pitched very well out of the bullpen this year. 231 ERA, 129 whip over a strikeout per inning.

Walks are higher than you'd like, but good amount of whiffs there for Birdsong. So if we're ranking that next group of four, Birdsong, Zebby, Noah Cameron, Jack Leiter. How do you rank that group? So like I said, Weathers, I understand we're moving past him. but he's a tier at the top on his own. Then you got Henderson and Birdsong for me as the next tier. And I would say those three, those first two tiers, pick them up anywhere they're available.

They need to be rostered. Beyond that, it's kind of... Sorry, you put Birdsong in that tier? I put Birdsong in that tier. Yeah. I think this stuff is terrific. And we could get into that more. It'll take me a second to pull in my notes.

But, yeah, he's... So his fastball has a 24% whiff rate, 19 inches of induced vertical break. The slider has a 32% width rate. The changeup has an almost 50% whiff rate. He's got a 13% swinging strike rate on the season, very high fly ball rate, which is great for the Giants venue. And I think Bird's song, he has really picture eligibility too, and leagues where that matters.

I think he's going to be a really nice find. And I know in a lot of like 15 team roto leagues, he's been stashed this whole time because everybody's been waiting for this moment when he finally took his place in the Giants rotation. So I'm excited about Birdsong. And I would say must add for him. Go ahead. I would, I'm a little less optimistic about Birdsong. Partially just because we saw him as a starter last year. And look, he was 22 years old.

it was his first time starting, but he was pretty bad. Obviously, he's been awesome in a relief role so far, but it's a 231 ERA, a 415XERA. He's getting hit pretty hard. He gives up a lot of fly balls. Yeah, I was presenting the fly balls as a good thing. Well, for limiting hits, yeah, but obviously it's still a problem for home runs. And then it's just the whiff rates, like if, a 50% whiff rate on the changeup is real.

That's phenomenal. But, you know, we're dealing with very small sample sizes. So I have a little more faith in, in Weathers, and Wethers and Henderson for me would all be ahead of Burt's song. I do wish the control was a little better for Birdsong. And I think it started out that way. I know that was one of the big talking points for him this spring is like walking nobody. And part of the reason he struggled in the rotation last year is he had nearly

six walks per nine, which no pitcher can get away with. But yeah, there have been some more walks recently. He has, he does have a different pitch mix overall from last year, though. Last year he was leaning a lot more on, yeah, on a, on a curveball. And this year, it's more sliders and, and that change up. And relying on the fastball less, which I think it's a good fastball. But if when you have good secondaries like that, it's probably, you don't want to rely on the fastball too much. So I think there's definitely a lot of talent there for Hayden Burns song.

And I'm excited about him. The other names here, I think, again, I want to go as far as to call any of these must add. If Zebby Matthews had had a better outing here, maybe he would have been. But, you know, there isn't a lot here to, I guess he didn't give up hard contact. That would be the main thing. But like, and the velocity was up last year from where we saw it. I know that was the storyline with Zebby Matthews this spring, up 1.6 miles per hour on the fastball in this start. So we did see that.

But kind of the issues I was worrying about with him leading up to this promotion, his last three starts at AAA where the whiff rate collapsed. And he was not showing his, the elite control that had come to define Zebby Matthews as a prospect. both of those came back to bite him in this start. And he threw just, I think it was just 59% of his pitches for strikes, which is a bad strike percentage. So if Zebby Matthews is not going to be, like if control isn't going to be the defining characteristic for Zebby Matthews, I'm not sure there's enough here to get excited about.

We'll give him a pass. Like I'm not declaring a final verdict on Zeb Matthews or anything. But in shallow leagues, where roster space is limited. I don't think he's a hot ticket item based on the way this first start went. And I forgot what my other point was. Go ahead.

I think in terms of talent, he's not far off from Henderson or Weathers. And the main thing for me would be just, I'm fine deprioritizing him relative to those other guys just because his first start was so underwhelming that if he had gone out and struck out seven over six shutouts, out innings, he's a, you know, $100 plus dollar fab player.

And because he was underwhelming, I think people are going to overlook him. And I'm trying to sneak in a few lower dollar bids on him because I do still want him on my team. And I'm still trying to add him. And I do still think even though this wasn't an overwhelming performance, I still think there's a lot to like about Zabby Matthews moving forward. He's got to throw strikes, though. I mean, that's the thing.

Oh, yeah, absolutely. He looked great in the first inning. He struck out the side. Second inning was a little more if he gave up a run, and then the third inning kind of imploded on him there. But he got off to a great start. I think he just kind of lost the feel for it as the start went on. So he does have to prove that he can do it at the Major League level.

We've seen some of these other guys, you know, look a little bit better. Yeah, Zevi Matthews got a good chunk of time in the majors last year and had a 669 ERA. So that's another reason for skepticism. Yeah. Last two names here we haven't really talked about. Noah Cameron and Jack Clyder. Are they just the bottom of the list?

Bottom of this list, I guess. Yeah, I think lighter is more interesting than Cameron, but that is not necessarily a reflection on lighter doing a lot right right now. It's more just, I don't think there's much of anything there with Noah Cameron. I know he was pitching well at AAA, and he's only allowed three hits and one earned run in his first two major league starts, and that's very impressive. But it's a 91 mile an hour fastball. none of the secondaries really look like great pitches.

It just, I think this is going to catch up to him in a big way. This feels like a total fluke. All right. Well, those are most of the interesting starting pitchers, I would say for now. We'll bring up a few more a little bit later on, but we do have to keep things moving here, Chris.

I know you wanted to talk about Miguel Vargas. We'll also get to him in just a little bit. Wanted to give a couple shoutouts from the weekend. Wilmer Flores, not that we're looking to add him, but just an awesome game on Friday, one of the best of his career. Three for five with a truck. Triple Dong and eight RBI in that game.

But like I said, I just don't think there is enough there to go out and rush and must-add player if he's available. And shout out to Jackson Trio, who robbed a game-tying home run in the eighth inning of that game on Sunday. That was an awesome catch for him. Let's take our first break. And when we return, we'll get into the news. And we'll do all of that right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. News and notes, a lot from the weekend.

Jose Alvarado has been suspended. 80 games for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug. What happens next in the Phillies bullpen? Well, we got a taste on Sunday right away. Matt Strom was used in the eighth inning to face 9-1-2 in the Pirates lineup. Then Jordan Romano closed it out for his fifth save. And Romano, despite having bad overall numbers, has looked much better in May.

Seven shot-out innings with 10 strikeouts to one walk. Has been picking up saves recently as well. do you guys think Romano gets the majority of the saves and maybe they mix in a match drum? What is your feel for the Phillies bullpen right now? Yeah, that's it. I mean, exactly. As long as Jordan Romano keeps pitching like this

and it's a very small sample, but you're always working with very small samples from relievers. It was a very small sample where he struggled so badly. So clearly he's regained the trust of Rob Thompson. That became clear even before the suspension for Alvarado. it looked like at least a 50-50 split between the two of them. And now that Alvarado's out, just given the way we've seen Rob Thompson manages bullpen with the Phillies, I would imagine he will play matchups to some degree with Matt Strom, who I think already has a couple saves this season.

And I suspect we'll get 8 to 12 the rest of the way. And look, if Romano collapses, it might be more than that. But that's how I see the split right now, is Romano getting like two-thirds of the saves. And I wouldn't be surprised if the Phillies go out and make a trade at some point. Obviously, they're trying to compete and they have a pretty good farm system too. I know they have some names that have popped up in the minors this year and obviously Mick Abel. And they have all this, I don't know, seemingly it looks like they have all this pitching depth all of a sudden with, you know, Andrew Painter is coming at some point.

Not that they'll trade him, but, you know, maybe a Mick Abel or something like that. So we'll see if they go out and trade for a bullpen piece at some point, but I do think, yeah, Jordan Romano, the guy for now, maybe Matt Strom gets mixed in there as well. Some other Jose Alvarado replacements in shallower leagues, names like Emilio Pagan, three saves this weekend, 68% rostered, Kenley Jansen, 64%. Will Vest, kind of, I just feel famous last words maybe,

but I feel pretty confident Will Vest is like mostly the guy for the Tigers right now just because they've really been using Tommy Canley in seventh and eighth in eighth and then Will Vest in the ninth. Some names in much deeper leagues if you're just desperate for saves, like a Jesus Tinocho or Seth Halverson who picked up a save for the Rockies this weekend. Not that we're excited about that, but, you know,

in leagues deep enough, you are desperate for anyone that you can get. A bunch of names went on the aisle this weekend. I mentioned a lot of the pitchers already, but also Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton went on the seven-day concussion aisle after that nasty collision on Thursday. Tyler O'Neill went back on the aisle with left shoulder discomfort,

and Xavier Edwards was placed in the aisle due to a left mid-back strain retroactive to May 15th. I'll have some outfield and shortstop replacements in just a little bit. Spencer Strider appears set to return on Tuesday against the Nationals. Start or sit?

I mean, the fact that it's on Tuesday, meaning he's going to line up for two starts right away. I know I was saying on Thursday's show or Friday's show before it was clear when he was coming back. I was like, I'd really prefer to give him a start given that his velocity was down so much in that sim game. But when he lines up for two starts right away, I just can't imagine sitting Spencer Strider for that. Yordon Alvarez is still feeling the muscle strain in his right hand that landed him on the IL. The Astros will not activate him until the issue is completely gone. George Kirby said Sunday that he's ready to rejoin the Mariners

after making his third rehab start on Friday though a decision has not been yet has not been made yet for George Kirby Hayden was next to be talked about Jared Jones apparently will meet with doctors on Tuesday and surgery is an option season ending surgery though nothing has been decided yet apparently he had a setback while he was throwing.

Jazz Chisholed fielded grounders on Friday He's been out all month with a right oblique strain. The hope is for him to return at some point in June. I would imagine probably later June, mid to late June, something like that. Christian Campbell was seen taking reps at first base on Friday. He's never played the position in professional ball, but obviously they have a need there, and it would create an opening for someone like Marcelo Meyer or Roman Anthony

if Christian Campbell can play first base. That didn't last very long. Evan Carter also went on the IL due to a right quad train retroactive to May 17th, and it was a grade two strain, which means he'll miss more than the minimum time there for Evan Carter. Justin Martinez is scheduled to throw an inning at AAA on Tuesday as part of his rehab and saw him available in a few leagues. He could be back soon, and my guess is he would probably just take over the closer roll, right? I would imagine so. Kevin Ginkles obviously taking himself out of the running with his performance, and Shelby Miller's been pretty shaky too.

So as long as Justin Martinez, they're not going to hack him. It's not healthy. Yeah, as long as he's healthy. He's the closer. And it might be as soon as Wednesday. Like a lot of times relievers will go on a rehab assignment, especially he's only missed like two or three weeks.

Might just need one inning. Yeah. Chandler Simpson was out of the lineup Sunday with right hand soreness. Also suffered some facial injuries after a hard slide on Saturday. Do you guys start or sit Chandler Simpson this week? Stern Rota, non-points. That feels pretty easy. All right.

Brandon Woodruff threw multiple simulated innings during a bullpen on Sunday and is expected to begin a new rehab assignment on Wednesday. Speaking of the Brewers, they have to figure out what to do with Jacob Miziarowski because he threw seven innings of one-run ball at AAA on Thursday. He's hitting like 103 miles per hour on his fastball.

And, you know, the walks had been down, which was just a huge issue for him in the past. and he's looked really, really good. So I don't know what the Brewers are going to do between, you know, Woodruff and Henderson and Mizzy Rousey, but I don't. It's still a pretty mediocre looking bullpillar rotation, you know? Yeah, I mean, that's the thing.

I keep seeing this idea, some chatter about which starting pitcher to add, and, oh, not Henderson, because the Brewers have all these injured pitchers coming back. And, well, when are they coming back? It's not like there's a clear timeline for any of them. And Chad Patrick is in the rotation. Yeah, like that.

I don't think those guys are as good as Logan Henderson. Like, I look at the Brewers rotation. I'm like, man, they're in dire straits. Why are they not calling up Jacob Mizorowski now? Yeah. Much less keeping Logan Henderson around. Yeah. And Jose Cantana is on the aisle with a shoulder injury,

and he's going for a second opinion. So it could turn out to be a long-term injury for him as well. So even if Woodruff returns, you know, Mizierowski, if he keeps pitching like this, is probably going to get an opportunity sometime soon, or at least he should. And, and I don't think Brandon Woodruff is going to be Brandon Woodruff when he gets back. Also my assumption, yeah. Him and Clayton Kirshall, unfortunately.

I understand him getting the chance. He's a franchise icon, but it's, I don't think it's going to end well. And I'm not going to foreclose the possibility that he could be useful. I just, sure, not expecting it. Yeah. Tommy Edmund was activated and in the lineup on Sunday, so he's good to be thrown back into fantasy lineups this week. Speaking of prospects, Royals prospect, Jack Caglione was promoted to AAA on Sunday. And in 38 games at AA, he hit 32 with nine home runs and 43 RBI. If he continues to hit, would not be surprised if we see him in June, July with the Royals.

I would be surprised if we saw him before June. Like, if he gets off to it, if he has a good first. first week there. Like, the royals need bats, you know, they- especially in the outfield.

Yeah, like they just sent, uh, oh, I'm completely blanking on his name. Converted catcher. They just sent him back down. MJ Melendez.

M.J. Melendez, that's the one. Like trying, they're running Drew Waters out there again. Kevin Vigio's playing a lot for them. Like, there is opportunity for Jack Hagley,

Caglione to, to play. Now, I don't know if people listening to the full-length podcast here don't listen to Fantasy Baseball Express. You should. You should, but I understand if you don't, every Thursday we release the audio version of the prospects report, Frank and I. And Caglione and Jacob Misarowski actually were two new additions to the five on the verge, meaning the five prospects most deserving of stashing and fantasy. so I'd say the trend lines are headed even more of that direction for both.

All right. The Pirates reinstated Spencer Horowitz from the IL on Saturday. He's 11% rostered, first and second base eligibility. Any interest in Spencer Horowitz? Very limited. Deeper leagues. The fact that he's multi-eligible helps, I guess, but my expectations are not super high. I don't like.

I didn't understand why the pirates made him there. quote unquote big offseason acquisition. I didn't really see the what they what they see in him. So I think he's just a platoon bat. Yeah. I mean, it's certainly I need to see him get hot before I'm having any interest. The Rockies promoted one of their pitching prospect Carson Palmquist this weekend, but he pitches for the Rockies. So we're probably not interested. That is not exactly what I would have said. Yes. Lots of strikeouts in the minors. But yeah, it's a rough debut on Friday as well. And unfortunately, we saw this one coming. The Orioles fired Brandon Hyde this weekend and named Tony Manzalino, their interim manager.

And, I mean, you feel bad for Brandon Hyde, who started with that team when they were kind of down in the dumps and brought them back, you know, to relevance and kind of coached them up and made the postseason a few times here. And it's not really his fault that they have the worst pitching in baseball. But I guess there has to be a fall guy. So it's Brandon Hyde. front office covering its own behind with this. Can I very quickly share my favorite detail about this Orioles season? Sure. Sure.

They gave out a bobblehead of their owner in April. That is like, what are you doing? Why are you doing? Like, he's been the owner for like 12 months too. Like it's not even like they haven't accomplished anything under him. he's the owner who wants a bobblehead of their teams of the rich guy who owns their team and then like famous i don't even know who the orio's owner i have i have no i just some rubenstein i think is his name that sounds that sounds right i mean you can understand if it was

like a mark cuban situation yeah like if it was like a celebrity but uh that one just and then the fact that it's yeah david rubinstein the fact that it's uh you know in the midst of an absolutely disastrous season. It's just also very funny. Well, let's get it to some Waverwire names from the weekend and start on the hitter side of things and some shallower league names. Just wanted to mention here again.

Yvonne Herrera, I mean, the guy is a hitting machine. Three for four with four RBI on Friday, eight games since returning. He's hitting 464 with one home run, a 1229 OPS. He's also been deaching quite a bit since returning. So pretty much just playing every day right now. 75% rostered. Look, there's a quarter of

one catcher leagues out there. Yvonne Herrera has to be rostered. It's just, if you have a, if you have a Sean Murphy on your team or someone else, like, the back end, Hunter Goodman, as much as I like him, like I would drop those guys for her.

Absolutely. Yeah. I feel like Chris has never been writer about a player than Ivan Herrera. He's been right plenty, but this is like... It feels good. He was very loudly banging the drum. for Ivan Herrera.

And Herrera looks like a total stud. It feels good to get one right. Let's talk about Josh Young, who's really picked things up as well. Two for four with his seventh home run on Friday. Then he stole a base on Sunday. Actually, has three seals already. Last 15 games hitting 302, five homers, 11 RBI, a 943 OPS, 75% rostered.

Saw him out there in a few shallower points leagues here. I mean, is this another situation where it's just a must roster player, Josh Young is really picking things up lately. In points, I think it's hard to get him to that place. But in any Roto League with a corner infield spot, any league with a corner infield spot, I think Josh Young has to be, has to be roster. And he probably is pretty close to that at this point. He is among the 10 sleeper hitters for this upcoming week.

Some outfield replacements. We had a big game for Austin Hayes on Friday, two for four with a sock into shoe. I know it's a really small sample size what he's done with the Reds this year, but he's been really good so far. Jordan Beck had a huge game on Saturday, three for five with a double dong in that one. And Taylor Ward is on a bit of a home run binge.

Two more home runs this weekend. Last seven games, he's hitting 3.10 with four homers and nine RBI. How would you guys rank those three? Austin Hayes, Jordan Beck, and Taylor Ward. Well, I'll point out that Ward and Beck are both sleeper hitters for this upcoming week. but I do rank Hayes rest like rest of season

I rank Hayes at the top of list followed followed I guess by Beck and then Ward it's it's one of those ones where like I feel like Jordan Beck has had like four good days all year and he because like he's got the three home he had a three homer game

that sounds right or maybe it was three homers across a double header something like that he's got the two homer game here I feel like he has like he has another two homer game like he's just like it's just been a handful of good games there is theoretically more upside there for him than with taylor ward just because we have a very good idea of what taylor ward is and it's it's a guy who ranks as like the 37th best outfielder at the end of the season if he stays healthy and plays the whole year but you never feel great about yeah the actual numbers

aren't that good he hits 260 he hits 24 to 26 home runs like not great running rbi i production. He's the kind of guy who's fine to have around, but he's not a, he's not someone you shouldn't be trying to improve on. Shortstop replacements. We lost out on Xavier Edwards this weekend. Welcome back to Ezekiel Tohar, who had a big game on Saturday, five for six with a home run. And last season, he hit 269, 26 home runs and six steals. 58% rostered, seven home games this week, all in Corse Field, but some tough pitchers there on the schedule. Do you guys see Ezekiel Tovar as an okay shortstop replacement?

Yeah, man. Yeah, he's okay. And we've been discontented, I guess, with the shortstop replacements, even though it's a deep position, most of the good ones are rostered already. But we were talking just last week,

how there's like 25 shortstops worth rostering. And I guess he's among them. he's at the lower end of that group. So bad plate discipline, it probably eliminates Tovar from points league consideration, except as an emergency. Like, this is the best I could do off the waiver wire situation. How would you guys rank Tovar, Javi Baez, and Mason Wynn? Mason Win.

Yeah, Gap. I'd go Tovar ahead of Baez. I don't buy it with Baez. I don't know. I hope I'm wrong on that one, but I don't see much reason. buy it. All right. In two catcher leagues.

Look, Drake Baldwin, we brought his name up a lot recently. The guy just won't stop hitting. One for four with a home run on Saturday. Two more hits with an RBI on Sunday. Last six games, he's got 10 hits, two homerersers, five runs, six RBI. Has started five of the past eight games. I mean, it's really eating into the playing time of Sean Murphy as well now. He's 28% rostered.

I know I asked you guys last week, but maybe it's changed by now. How do you rank Drake Baldwin, Dalton, Rushing, and Moises by Astero's in two catcher leagues. You could throw Edgar Caro in that mix, too. Yeah, I mean, I had Baldwin at the top even then. So he's still at the top. And in fact, probably had a Sean Murphy at this point. Might be, yeah.

I was making that exchange in a couple leagues where I had Murphy and Baldwin was available, or at least trying to make that exchange. Not throwing like a ton of fab dollars in it. But, yeah. So Baldwin won. I'm going to go rushing to. And then, yeah, I'm going to sell out for upside by Astero's over Caro. But Caro is the safer bet of between the non-Baldwin catchers there.

Yeah, I would go Baldwin, Carrow, by Astero's rushing. I just, I just don't like, unless Will Smith gets hurt, it's just really hard to see a path for rushing. Whereas like, by Astero's, I think he started four of the first five. He hasn't done anything. Yeah, he hasn't done anything. He's in the lineup at DH. Like, they like the bat. and I think it's a short-term absence for Ian Hap, right?

That's what it's supposed to be, yeah. So if I'm kind of just thinking Biasteros is going to be back in the minor soon, could be wrong, but I mean, rushing, he started two games and they were both huge games. So hopefully he forces the Dodgers hand at some point. And that's the hope. I'm pretty sure Baldwin is lower rostered

than both rushing and Biostaris. So just go. I think so. Just go at him. Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't. He's,

He's low enough that it doesn't matter. Rushing is up to 43% rostered, and Drake Baldwin's only 28%. Yeah, I'd much rather have Baldwin. Pretty big difference there. And it's not like rushing's obviously a better prospect. Baldwin was a really good prospect of his own. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, the data for him at AAA, especially after the All-Star break, was incredible. The rushing thing, too, it's just like, not only is Will Smith there, but Will Smith has been awesome this year. He's hitting like 360 so far. He's been really good, too. So, yeah, it's an embarrassment of riches like it always is for the Dodgers right now. Some names in deeper leagues, big weekend for Chase Midroth, who had a steal on Friday, a sock and a shoe on Saturday. And he's picking things up.

Miguel Vargas, Chris, who I know you wanted to talk about, he had himself a huge weekend, double dong on Friday. Another home run on Saturday. He's having a big May overall. Will Benson of the Reds has five home runs in his past four games. Matthew Lugo with the Angels. He's hitting 360 with three home runs in nine games since being called up. And DJ LaMayhew is going to get a chance to play here. Lots of injuries for the Yankees.

Hit a home run on Saturday. He started three or four games. And he's about to have first, second, and third base eligibility. So maybe that can help in a deeper league. But do any of these names stand out? Vargas is kind of interesting. I mean, he's always put up good numbers at the minors. And then whenever he's gotten a chance to play at the major league level,

he's been terrible. and he is up to like, I think, like close to 600 played appearances. So it's not an especially small sample size for Vargas at the major league level. So the likeliest outcome is that this is just a random hot streak. But we do have that minor league track record. We do have like pretty good quality of contact metrics here. And he has all six of his homers in the past. For the first time.

Yeah, he has all six of his homers in the past 22 games. More walks than strikeouts in that range, in that stretch for Miguel Vargas. So could be nothing, could be a late bloomer for a guy who has shown talent in the past. So I think he's moderately interesting, certainly more so than like Will Benson or any of the guys that you mentioned with him. So just to put a finer point on the numbers, last 22 games, if you were including Sunday's game in there, last 22, 350 batting average, six home runs. you said more walks than strikeouts. It's nine walks, eight strikeouts in those 22 games, which was supposed to be a big part of his skill set

when he was being hyped up to debut is just tons of contact. And we're seeing it now. You know, he's 25. Sometimes it just takes a while. I say that as somebody who was banging the drop pretty hard for Miguel Vargas prior to his rookie season and, you know, obviously regretted it in the year's sense.

But he's getting an extended look with the White Sox because what other choice do they have? He's triple eligible. And it's all looking good all of a sudden. So I think in standard roto leagues, it's time to take a shot on Vargas again. I agree with that. Interesting eligibility, too.

First, third, and outfield for Miguel Vargas. I didn't even realize he had the first base, but I guess he picked that up recently. So yeah, definitely an aim to be looking at in deeper leagues for now. Let's take our final break, and when we return, we'll take a look at some Waverwire pitchers and the rest of this weekend's action right after this quick commercial break. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today,

taking a look at WaverWire pitchers from the weekend. We spoke a lot about the most interesting names that are emerging lately, but there were a lot of injuries, so we'll take a look at Scott's Sleeper pitchers. I just wanted to remind people who those names. names were Logan Henderson up at the top, AJ Smith Chauver, Drew Rasmussen, Gavin Williams, Jose Soriano,

Yusei Kikuchi, Nick Martinez, Mitch Keller, Will Warren, and Jameson Tyone. Some names a little bit lower down the list. Rasmussen, who I just mentioned, had a great start this weekend, six shutout innings, five strikeouts. He gets to Blue Jays. Clark Schmidt, a quality start against the Mets,

although he did walk five here, had some issues throwing strikes, but six innings, two runs for him, and he is at the Rockies, you know, Rockies are bad, but I guess it's still Corse Field. Severino and Landon Rup, I don't think those guys are very good, but they had good starts this weekend, and

they have good matchups this week. Severino against the Angels, and Rup is at the Nationals. So, I guess if we're just ranking them for this week, how would you guys rank Rasmussen against the Blue Jays, Clark Schmidt at Colorado, Severino, home against the Angels, and Landon Rup at the Nationals? I think that's my rank.

ranking Rasmussen definitely number one because he's on my sleeper pitchers list. Schmidt would be number two. He didn't miss it by much at Colorado, but it's Colorado. I'm just not, I'm not that scared for road pitchers in Colorado, at least right now. Severina or a Rup, I could go either way. They both feel like huge gambols. So no strong opinion on those last two. I would put Severino ahead of Clarkshire.

just because I don't think there's a ton of upside in the long term with Clark Schmidt anyway. So if we're just talking about this week, I prefer the matchup versus the angels who are striking out a ton compared to, yeah, it's the Rockies. I know they're terrible. I know the talent level especially is really bad. They are still like a middle of the pack offense at home. They have the 17th best home Wobah. Now, when you do that by way to run to create it plus, this is by far the worst lineup in baseball at home.

But because course field is course field, even a bad lineup is still decent. And you just, you never know how certain guys stuff is going to play. Oh, yeah. I mean, it could come back to buy me at some point. Maybe we see a rash of 11. to 12 games.

No. Like that's the score. Like 12 to 11. Yeah. Rockies lose. Maybe we see a rash of those midseason and starting pitchers at Coorsfield comes back to buy me. It hasn't come back to bite me yet.

Like in all the years I've been picking out streamer pitchers, sleeper pitchers for the upcoming week, I've pretty much treated ones at Coors Field like they're radioactive. Yeah. But I've done away with that this year and so far so good. I don't think these starting pitchers. are very good either, but they had strong starts this weekend, so figured I would give them a mention. Jeffrey Springs, six and two-thirds innings, one run, five strikeouts. He's allowed two earned runs or four straight. Andre Palante had a great start at the Royal's seven innings, two runs, four

strikeouts, back-to-back seven-inning quality starts for him, and Kate Povich, five and two-thirds, two runs, a season high, nine strikeouts. Anything to see here with Povich, Pallante, or Jeffrey Springs? Povich has these flashes where he looks kind of interesting and then

even just when you look under the hood on this one eight whiffs on 99 pitches he just he doesn't get enough swings on chases he just doesn't generate chases and he doesn't generate whiffs in the strike zone

so it's really hard to be a consistently high strikeout pitcher if that's the case and I don't know I think there's some interesting tools there with Kade Povich. I don't really have a lot of faith in the Orioles to be the one to figure it out. So, yeah, that's also part of it. Clayton Kershaw made his season debut this weekend,

and it was a pretty rough one, four innings, five runs, three walks to two strikeouts here. Ten whiffs on 83 pitches is okay. The velocity actually was up quite a bit from where he was at in the rehab outings. Like he wasn't throwing 87 miles per hour with his fastball anymore. But it's still just down from, you know, where he typically has been in his career. Yeah, I mean, it felt like he was overthrowing to get to 89. Like the command wasn't good.

I, it was very discouraging. Not that my expectations were particularly high, but it's Clayton Kershaw. I'm always going, I'm never going to root against him. But yeah, I didn't see much to be optimistic about in this one. if you picked him up I mean he's 55% rostered so a decent amount of people did pick him up are you holding Kirshah it's only one start

or would you drop him for any of the names we brought up earlier I mean weather's Henderson Birdsong bird song Birdsong yeah I might cut it off there yeah I would take said Matthews over him Clark Schmidt is

there's probably some leagues where Clark Schmidt is available I just said I'm not that interested in him I think I'd rather have him than Clayton Kershaw. Will Warren, another guy I'm not like super interested in, but I think is around the same roster rate. I'd rather have him to clean. This is mostly. You're going a lot deeper than me. Mostly a reflection of my lack of faith in Clayton Kershaw, which makes me very sad.

I think there are some interesting things about Will Warren. I just don't think there's much priority in rostering. He has a sleeper pitcher for this week, but you know, that's, I don't think many people are actually going to take me. up on that recommendation. So I'd give Kershaw a little more time over before I resorted to that kind of move.

But that is not meant to reflect like confidence in Kershaw either. I think most likely he ends up being useless. Let's fire up the Dropometer for these four names and been getting a lot of questions

about a lot of them and I totally get why. Tage Bradley, a rough start at the Marlins, four innings, five runs, three walks, six strikeouts. It's a 480 ERA. It's a 134 whip. He's still 78% rostered. Drop o meter 1 to 10 on Tage Bradley. Oh, it's, I mean, eight and a half.

Is that too high? It's hard to just throw a number out there without comparing it to other pitchers. No, I think that's, he's fringy. Yeah. What about Sandy Alcansor, another bad one against Tampa? a bay, five innings, four runs, two walks, three strikeouts, a 799 ERA and a 161 whip for Sandy, who I know we've said this a lot this season. I think he's going to be better. I think he's going to wind up on a better team at some point this year, but it's, you know, how long do we

have to wait until that happens? I don't know. If you are stashing him, you have to think of it as a stash. There's no way I'm starting him right now. So it's just a, I think at some point he will pay off and I'd rather it be on my team than on someone else's. But like it's the it's kind of the same argument I'm you're using for like stashing Bubba Chandler or Jacob Mizorowski right where it's just you just hope they they get called up and are good. I just hope Sandy Alcounter figures it out. The stuff was better I thought in this one like he he averaged I think 98 miles an hour in it with his fastball hit a hundred. the changeup looked really good

and then you look up and it's another bad start. So what does it matter? I mean, he's not throwing enough strikes as a big part of it. And I'm seeing that consistently with pitchers who are underperforming this year. It's a 62% strike rate for Alcantra this year when at his best he's 68 to 69. And I know that may not sound like much

to people who don't have a frame of reference for that. That's 62 versus 68, 69. that's like opposite ends of the spectrum, almost. So that's a big part of Alcantra's struggles. You know, Miserowski's not worth rostering in every... You were comparing Alcantra stashing into like Miserowski or Mick Abel. I want to say Abel and Miserowski are worth rostering in every league. Oh, sure, sure, yeah.

So does that mean we're at that point with Alcantra? Because I kind of think we are. I'm going to go like seven here on the... It's one of those... It's one of these ones where, like, people ask, can I drop? Yeah, you can drop him. You just hope you wouldn't have to. Yeah, I would hope I have someone who's less interesting.

But like, there are plenty of leagues where I'm legitimately, like, it, I was looking at the Memorial Magazine, the, the, the roto league that we do. And I've got like five hitters on my bench, which is way too many hitters for my bench. But I don't want to drop Francisco Alvarez or Anthony. Santander or Kyle Manzardo, even though I don't have a place to play them. So, like, there will be situations where, yeah, you probably have to drop Sandy Alcantra.

I'm going to try really hard not to. But, yeah, you absolutely can. What about Lucas Gilito? Four inning, six runs. He allowed three home runs in this one, and through four starts, a 708 ERA and a 152 whip. So remember his velocity picked up in his previous start,

which was a good one. it got back to where it was in 2021 before all the elbow troubles it carried over to this start but the result was horrible and now this is two out of three starts have been horrible and so it's

it's probably fine like I'm not totally without hope for Lucas Golito but I'm going to go if I went eight and a half on Tosh Bradley I'll go nine on Golito all right drop meter and I've got to ask Shane Buz couldn't even get get it done at the Marlins, six innings, nine hits, five runs, two homers loud in this one,

all the way up to a 533 ERA and a 141 whip. Wolf, Shane Boss. This is the lowest on the dropometer for me. How much lower than Alcantara 7? I'm going to go an even five for Baz. Would you drop him for any of the names earlier? I think I would rather have Weathers. Yeah.

And probably, I think Henderson's really close. I said Weathers was in a tier on his own. I think that's the only one I'd drop Boz for. They're still, they're still good in him. I'm like Luke Skywalker talking about Darth Vader. That's how I feel about Shane Boz. It's just, like watching this, is it's like Shane boss pitching right now is the definition of the difference between command and

control because like he throws the ball in the strike zone he's not really walking people it's just there is no intent with where he throws the ball in the strike zone it's all like four seamers that are up but not up enough you know it's like curveballs that are down but not down enough um he just he's not far off but it's not there right now right now. now for him. All right, let's move on to hitters coming alive in May. Jackson Holiday, three for five on Friday, and then he homered on both Saturday and Sunday. 14 games in May.

He's hitting 316 with four home runs and a 940 OPS. Cody Bellinger had himself a big Subway series. Three hits on Friday. He homered on Saturday. And then what are you laughing at Scott? Every time I hear Subway series, I hear that Subway Series. I hear that subway and I think sandwich is coming

and you said a big before it so I was thinking he had a big subway sandwich long yeah but then it little Italian urban cheese but the image was already in my head of him just chowing down on this giant

I watched the Tim Robinson movie friendship I'm not recovered from it sorry sorry there's a subway that features somewhat prominently and also not at all prominently into the plot because there is barely a plot to this movie. It's one of the most insane theatrical experiences I've ever had. Sorry, that just reminded me of it. Also, do you recommend this movie? I called my wife after the movie and she was like, was it good? This movie is not,

it's not operating on the plane of good versus bad. This is, they're going for something. I'm not I'm not even saying this as a compliment or a detriment to this movie. It is just not trying to be a good or a bad movie. It is sorry. Anyway, I feel like referring to the random interleague regular seasons as a subway series kind of cheapens it. You know, like to me, the subway series was 2000, right? Like that was the sub that that was special when we call every we call everything a subway series. It feels like you know, I heard the term before that world series though, just when interleague play started and the Yankees and Mets would face each other.

So it was already in my vernacular. But I hear what you're saying. Just just feels like it should be more special. It just reminds me of a subway sandwich. Cody Bellinger, by the way, I don't know if he had a subway sandwich, but he did have a huge weekend. And he's on a 13-game hitting streak, and during that stretch, hitting 3-77, with four home runs, 11 runs, and 12 RBI.

Dansby Swanson stayed hot, two-for-three, with a sock and two shoes on Saturday, and then another steal on Sunday. He got moved down in the lineup on April 29th. 18 games since, he's hitting 387 with six home runs, 15-runs scored, and three seals. And then Raphael Devers is just so back. In May, he's hitting 4-17 with four-home runs, 19 RBI,

and an 1190 OPS. Anything to add on hitters coming alive. Jackson Holiday. Cody Bellinger. Danes Bonson. Rafi Divers. It is extremely funny

that Raphael Devers is now having his best season ever. Like by basically any measure the underlying metrics are as better than they've ever been. The actual numbers. It's higher WRC plus than he's ever had. I think that's extremely funny.

Like, it just turns out that he had five bad games at the start of the season. And that really seems to just be it. Yeah. And like, it wasn't unreasonable to be concerned. But yeah,

that's going to go down as an all-time overreaction, I think. Yeah, Bellinger, he's looking good. He's looking like Cody Ballinger. He's looking like the guy you invested in him being. So that's good.

Obviously, Grisham has crowded things there. Dominguez, because he had that three home game he's still in the mix. I believe Ben Rice did not start any of the games this weekend. Oh man. He started Saturday. He started Saturday.

But he has basically he has sat out two, four, six, eight, four of the past eight games. That's annoying. It's not good. Yeah, man, that's annoying. Because Goldschmidt's been great. Yeah, no, it's, you know,

there was. I think Ben Rice is better than Belliger on a skill level. As a hitter, yeah, I think so. Yeah. If he could play the outfield. Yeah. If he could play catcher. Don't think they're going to do that, though.

There was like a, there was like one report. I think he did get an appearance in a blueout. He's got like a blowout. Oh, really? Yeah, is it three? All right. Was it like six innings? You don't have to look it up.

It's fine. It was three total innings. In those three appearances. Wow. Oh. Interesting. I don't know. Maybe he becomes the backup catcher when Stanton's back. I have no idea.

I mean, yeah, no, it's going to become a real concern with Ben Rice. You know, obviously, I think the chance of Stan getting and then staying healthy for a long time are pretty slim. But it's already, he's already getting squeezed. And that's without Stan who was still a good hitter last year. Jackson Holiday his numbers his overall numbers at this point look pretty good for a second baseman

275 batting average 787 OPS and with a strikeout rate low enough that you can believe in the eggs of velocities are middling they're slightly above average and he's not like amazing with the plate discipline but it's all it's all good enough and if you factor in a little

untapped up side I think I think holidays he probably is roster to most leagues but he deserves to be yeah the quality of contact stuff is above average

it's not amazing but it's not it's not like mediocre it's pretty good all the way around 60th percent of yeah with the improved play discipline I think it it all works out I would like to see him be more efficient

as a base runner he is a good athlete but he's only two for six and that could help unlock even more upside. But yeah, it looks good for Jackson Holiday right now. Hey, real quick. Starting pitcher edition, a quick question on each of these pitchers. Corbyn Burns dominated the Rockies in Arizona. Six shutout innings with 10 strikeouts. He had 19 whiffs in that game. And two starts after that shoulder scare. It's 13 shutout with 15 strikeouts here for Corbyn Burns. Is he back? I think so. So apparently that shoulder inflammation was preventing him from working on his mechanics.

And once he got the injection that got him past that inflammation and was able to work with the pitching coach on fixing that cutter, we said two, what is two best starts of the season. So it all hinges on the cutter, as we've seen saw last year too. But I think I'm leaning towards Burns being back. The movement profile on the cutter isn't quite back. It was still more like 11 inches of induced vertical break that we're looking for more like eight, which means he gets more drop. He did get like three inches more drop on his slider in this one, which I thought was interesting.

And, you know, maybe that's something that can help the cutter play up a little more. But that was one thing I noticed with him. Hey, real quick, Zach Gallen, a terrible start against that same Rocky's team in Arizona. Five innings, six runs allowed, four homers allowed in this one, 12 hard hits against. He has four plus earned runs in five of ten starts this season. Do you start Zach Allen at the Cardinals this week? I'm trying not to. It's not a blanket yes or no.

Yeah, try not to, I guess is fine. So he's been throwing only 60% of his pitches for strikes this year, which is horrible. And he's a fly ball pitcher for the first time, which I don't know how to explain that. But that's a more home runs, more walks. That's a bad combination. Yeah.

Zach Eflin got clobbered by the national. five in a third, 10 hits, eight earned runs, four homers in this one. He's at the Red Sox this week. Do you try and bench that get fun? Yeah, his first start back from the aisle wasn't nearly as bad as this one.

I would like to sit him, but you may not have that luxury. Merrill kill. Go ahead. I think he belongs on the dropometer as much as some of those other pitchers we talked about there. Not because I think

this start condemns him to a terrible season the rest of the way, but just because I don't think the upside is enough, but you should, you need to cling that tightly to your Zach Eflin. Merrill Kelly, an awesome start against the Rocky, seven shutout innings with 11 strikeout, 16 whiffs on 109 pitches,

11 of those on the change-up. And what if Merrill Kelly is just back? What if he's just back to being a dude? Hmm. Sure. Yeah, like a mid to high three ZRA useful-ish pitcher, sure. I don't really know how to answer the question. I feel better about him than Zach Allen right now,

which is more an indictment of Zach Allen than an endorsement of Merrill Kelly. But yeah, Merrill Kelly's looked really good. This is what you're supposed to do against the Rockies away from Coorsfield. Yeah. So he did it. Yeah, I mean, I could harp on some of the underlying data points as I did after Merrill Kelly's previous start, which was also great. But he's had one start where he's allowed more than three earned runs.

And only two starts where he's allowed more than two earned runs. Yeah, there's been a lot of good starts for Merrill Kelly. So you've got to write that for however long it lasts. Yeah, he allowed nine earned runs to the Yankees in his second start of the season. Eight starts since, it's a 202 ERA and a 0.80 whip. And right at a strikeout per inning for Merrill. That one ugly star. It's just one bad start.

Yeah. And these two names, I don't know, they just kind of look like breakouts this season. Matthew Libertor and other quality start this weekend. And then Reese Olson, six shutout inning, six strikeouts. Are you buying it, buying the breakout? Matthew Libertor and Reese Olson. I'm buying it on Reese Olson for sure. Of course, I liked them a lot coming in.

But that's how that works. You're going to believe harder in the guy you believed in in the first place. We love confirmation bias, don't we folks? I mean, that makes it sound like it's flawed reasoning, but like there was something you saw. Yeah. There was something you saw, and he's living up to it. So, of course, you're going to buy it harder.

Libertor has had immaculate control so far. I think unless a pitcher has a history of that, it's right to be skeptical of it. I think it'll be good as long as that continues. I'm just, I'm just, that that's a hard thing. to sustain. Yeah, it's eight walks and nine starts for Libertor, which is insane.

It's just, last year it was 2.9 walks per nine for Libertor the year before that, 3.7. So maybe he's just, you know, he's found a new level and he's able to throw strikes. So we'll see if you can keep it up. Some pitching leftovers here, part one, Paul Skeen, Zach Wheeler, Chris Sale,

Garrow, Crochet, all awesome starts. Anything to add to those for what you saw this weekend? Um, so skeins, there's just been a lot of talk lately about like the lack of strikeouts and whether that's a conscious decision. I think he's talked a little bit about that. Um, there's a really good piece on baseball prospectus going into why he's struggled. It's mostly against righties, actually, which is you would think the six foot six, two hundred and sixty pound guy who throws 101 mile an hour fastballs would dominate same handed. hitters, but his strikeout rates way down against Wrighties. Even when things

have been weird for him, I don't know about you guys. My faith in him has not been shaken at all. It's just like, because I didn't think he was the best pitcher in baseball already. So like, yeah, okay, he's not as good as Terrick Scoobble. Okay, well, I'm not going to hold that against him. He's really good.

I never thought about moving Paul Skeens down from the number three spot for me. If the underwhelming strikeout rate goes on for six more weeks. Maybe I would, but I don't think that's going to happen. Next group includes Joe Ryan, Logan Webb, and Tyler Malley here.

All great starts this weekend. Anything that stood out from those three? I have no faith in Tyler Malley keeping this up. This seems like the single most obvious sell high candidate in baseball. That's not to say he won't be bad, but it's like a 19% strikeout rate and a 377 expected the ERA. A 377 expected ERA is not bad, but if it's coming with well below average strikeouts, it's also pretty boring. So I think if you can trade Tyler Malley right now for basically anything, I would do that. Yeah, another way of putting it, it's because it's not just the lack

of strikeouts for Malley. It's, uh, the K rate is 29th percentile. and the walk rate is 50th percent. I'm actually surprised the walk rate is that high. It's not a good walk rate. It's a very average walk. Yeah, it's average. Yeah. And then the final group, Pablo Lopez, Nick Povetta, and Brian Wu,

all strong starts as well. Anything to add on those three? Lopez has a new change-up. He also has his old change-up, but he has a new one in addition to. So last season, he threw one change-up all season. with an RPM below 1,500. This season, he's already thrown 40.

So he's got one of these new kick changeups. The whole goal is you throw it exactly as hard as you throw your normal change up, but you kill the spin on it. And Lopez has always had a very high spin curveball. It's more of a more or a, sorry, high spin changeup. So this gives him another look. pitch has been playing a little better than it did last year. His four seamers remained very good.

It's nice to get the hot start from Pablo Lopez. Hopefully he can avoid the month and a half, two months with like a 550 ERA where everybody yells about him. I would love to see like one whole good season from Pablo Lopez. Yeah, he's a lot of two runs or fewer in seven of eight starts. And the velocity was up a little bit in the start as well for Pablo Lopez. Some hitting leftovers. Pete Crow Armstrong took full advantage of facing the White Sox.

Eight hits, one homer, eight RBI, one steal this weekend. James Wood continues his breakout. He had a home run, two steals this weekend. Cal Raleigh, two more home runs, massive season, 15 home runs so far for Cal Rale. Wyatt Langford, two for four with a sock in his shoe on Saturday, added another steal on Sunday. Matt Olson looks like he's coming alive. He had seven hits, two home runs this weekend, and then C.J. Abrams. quietly having his best start yet

three for five with a double dong he's got eight home runs nine seals 312 batting average anything to add on those those names I do think maybe people are a little gun shy on Abrams like buying into it being a breakout

because we kind of saw something similar last year hot start didn't sustain it was really bad in the second half but one he's just been better for longer than he was last year the quality of contact metrics have taken another step forward. It might be another step forward

or C.J. Abrams and everyone's just kind of a little bit afraid to talk about it because we don't want to get burned like we did last year. Yeah, his expected stats and quality of contact are all amazing. Yeah, no. Legitimately looks like one of the best hitters in baseball right now. And his pull air rate

is up. It's gone up every single year. But it is at its highest now. And so obviously he's maximizing that power unlike he ever has in addition to it just being more power. So I definitely like what I'm seeing there. Incidentally, Matt Olson's pull air rate is way down. Curious. And I know at least one of those home runs this weekend was over the Green Monster.

It was not one that would have left most venues. So, yeah. I mean, hopefully he's, hopefully he's getting right. That the quality of contact is still incredible. Like, it's always been for Matt Olson. So I have faith in him. But it would be nice to see him pull more balls in the air. All right.

The call to the bullpen for the Reds. I mentioned this earlier. Emilio Pagan picked up a save each day this weekend. Still just 69% roster. I mean, he's the guy, you know, ride it until the wheels fall off type thing. For the Yankees on Friday, Devin Williams got the eighth inning with a five-run lead. he struck out the side, including Pete Alonzo. So trying to exercise those demons from the playoffs last year when Pete tagged him.

Jerry DeLas Santos then started the ninth inning, and he allowed a run on a hit and two walks. He was relieved by Luke Weaver, who got the final out for his fifth save. And then on Sunday, Devin Williams got the eighth inning with the game tied. Clean inning, he struck out one. He's looking better recently. The Yankees tacked on, I think, like six runs in the bottom of the eight, so then it wasn't a save opportunity anymore after that.

For the Tigers on Friday, Tommy Canley got the eighth inning with a two-run lead facing the top of the Blue Jays lineup. He gave up a solo home run and then struck out two. I guess Will Vest was not available for this one because Bo Briskey picked up the save. Then on Saturday, Will Vest entered in the eighth inning with a runner on second. He gave up an RBI single to tie the game.

Then on Sunday, Canley pitched in the eighth inning facing the heart of the... Who were they facing? Blue Jays, maybe? I'm not sure. Hard of the lineup, but then he gave up a hit. That was it. Will Vest got the ninth inning and picked up his fifth save.

So don't want to jinx it. Final last, famous last words, but it kind of feels like Will Vest has been the ninth inning guy for quite some time now, right? The last time Tommy Kaneley pitched the ninth was April 26th. It's a pretty long time. It's a while. Yeah, that was, let me count them up, nine appearances ago. Or eight appearances ago, excuse me. Can I go back for one moment?

Let's go ahead. Sure. We mentioned Brian Wu. His last 20 starts since the beginning of last August. He has gone at least six innings 17 times in that span. That is wild. Yeah. When you don't walk anybody, I mean, yeah, you have that ability to be efficient, you know.

If he can just stay healthy, I really think that's the only thing standing in Brian Wu's way. And he is currently very healthy, or at least looks it. I feel like I might have just jinxed him. Oh, no, Chris. What did you do? For the Rockies on Saturday, Zach Agnos pitched in the seventh inning with a two-run lead. He struck out two.

It was Seth Halverson, who later got the ninth. With the two-run lead, he allowed a walk but picked up his second save. I believe this was the first Rocky save with their new manager. So I wonder if maybe Halverson's going to be the guy for their new manager? But I don't know. I mean, maybe it doesn't matter. I don't know. We'll talk about it every two weeks when they win a game.

Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, like what's what's he going to get? 18 saves. Yeah. At best. I'm trying to be optimistic here. I'm guessing no Rockies reliever will get double-digit saves. Bold prediction here on May 19th.

Very bold. For the Marlins on Sunday, four-run lead, Tonoco pitched in the seventh inning, facing 6, 7 and 8 in the lineup. Then Calvin Fosier pitched in the 8th. Anthony Bender pitching the ninth, I don't know. Just when you think you haven't figured out. Marlins bullpen, yeah, I just...

I mean, if you got to pick anybody, I'm still picking Tenoco, but not with much confidence at all. It's not much better than the Rocky situation. For the Giants... Better team, but still a bad situation. For the Giants on Sunday, Ryan Walker struck out one for his eighth save. He also pitched a clean inning on Saturday. And then for the debacks on Sunday,

Kevin Ginkle pitched in the eighth. Shelby Miller got the ninth. He did allow three base runners, but did pick up his fourth save of the season. Again, we're watching to see if Justin Martinez could be back soon. To stream, we're not to stream on Monday. We have Ben Brown at the Marlins. We have Hunter Dobbins is facing the Mets.

Dean Kramer, you know, I wrote at Baltimore. That doesn't make sense. Dean Kramer at Milwaukee. Jose Soriano at the Athletics. Yeah. Yeah, I don't love these options. I think Ben Brown at Miami is probably the best. I could see that one going well.

Yeah, that's my first choice. I'll give you a second, Jose Sorriott. Yeah, that would be the second one. Yeah. The Brewer's offense has been ice cold. I don't think Dean Kramer is very good, but... The Brewers actually do have the worst WRC plus at home of any team in baseball. That's actually, when I was looking that up for the Rockies,

that was pretty surprising. They've been horrible. at home so far the Brewers. And then on Tuesday we have Will Warren facing the Rangers. Nick Martinez is at the Pirates. We have James and Tyone at the Marlins. Ryan Weathers faces the Cubs. Zach Lutel

home against the Astros. Logan Henderson against the Orioles. Hayden Birdsong against the Royals. Gunner Hoagland against the Angels. So lots of options on Tuesday. Yeah, this is interesting. Who do we go to first? I guess

I guess, oh man, I guess I'm going to say Henderson, Logan Henderson against the Orioles, who have been bad offensively. I don't think that'll continue, but it has been true to this point. My second choice would probably be Nick Martinez at the Pirates, worst offensive baseball, and his control has been a lot better in his last three starts. Overall results have. They have scored three or fewer runs in like 65% of their games so far, the Pirates. Woof.

And then, I'm just trying to figure out how high to put Ryan Weathers since he's facing the Cubs. I like Hoagland. I like Hoagland against the Angels, man. I don't dislike Hoagland. I think James and Tyone at Miami's going to be good. There's...

Will Warren against the Rangers? Yeah, no, there's some decent ones here. I think there's like six decent streamers on Tuesday. Yeah. Which means the two-start options should have been pretty good. Yeah. They were. They were.

I like my sleeper pitchers this week. I will just say with Birdsong, he's not stretched out too much yet. So he'll probably only go four, maybe five innings. So probably don't want to use him in that one. But all those other names, I do like quite a bit. All right, we're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today.

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