Fantasy Baseball Today - REPLACING Trevor Megill & the Latest Waiver Wire Adds! | Fantasy Baseball Advice

Episode Date: August 28, 2025

Chris Towers and Scott White talk Trevor Megill injury replacements, waiver wire moves and recap all of Wednesday's action! 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 becomes reality. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Hello and welcome to Fantasy Baseball today. It is Wednesday, August 28th.

It's Thursday. August 28th, we're recapping Wednesday, and we're off to a great start without Frank's name. I'm Chris Towers here with Scott White, our first time podcasting together in about a week. Scott, good to see you. Glad to have you back. And we've got a lot to talk about because there were, there's one more pitcher who I think has firmly established himself as a must add pitcher. We got some, where are we at on pitchers? We're going to take a little look ahead at 2026. We've got some pitchers who are back to being the dominant forces we know and love. But first, oh my goodness, gracious player from Wednesday.

And there can't be another option except for Mets pitcher Nolan McLean, right? I suppose you could call him the Olive Garden breadstick and is your description of choice. And I will claim him. I will claim him with his eight shutout innings here. and his latest start. Third, terrific start that he's put together to begin his major league career.

And it seemed like every time he goes out there, Nolan McLean just gets better and better. 13 whiffs on 95 pitches in this one. And what's most interesting about that, he didn't get more than three whiffs on any one pitch. So he has six pitches total. He got multiple whiffs on five. of them. It's a very

deep kind of Spencer Schwellenbach-like arsenal here for Nolan McLean. The biggest key to his success across these three starts is that everything is going on the ground. It's a ground ball rate over 70%,

which is just absurd. I think the league leader, Jose Soriano, is like 65%. And he's up distant number one. So McLean's been outshining him there. He had a good ground ball round ball rate in the minors too, but it's been next level here in his first three major league starts.

And the other key, I think, here for McLean early on is this is his second straight start with zero walks. So he's been very efficient, much more efficient than he was in the miners. Remember his first of these three major league starts, he had four walks. So there is going to be some normalization to come in both of those areas. is like he's he's he may be spencer schwellenbach with the depth of his arsenal but he's not with the control and he's not going to be able to sustain this outlier ground ball rate uh and maybe that goes without saying that there's going to have to be some regression because his era right now is point eight nine his whip is point six nine like yeah those numbers are going to go up but i think

the overall takeaway should be enthusiasm and encouragement and if nothing else. I mean, just the fact that the Mets are letting them work so deep into games. Eight endings in this one. It was seven in the previous one. Nolan McLean is looking great and like somebody who look, this was against the Phillies.

The previous one was against the Braves' offense that's looked much better in the second half. I think he's even beyond a matchups play at this point. Yeah, I think you know, we've talked a lot the last couple of days about Jonah Tong and I'm incredibly excited about him. I think in terms of talent, he might be more talented than Nolan McLean, but Nolan McLean's already doing it at the major league level. He's 74% rostered. I think any league where he's available, he's got to be the clear top option.

And, you know, it's not 100% sure if Jonah Tong's going to stick in the rotation. I would imagine he will. But if he doesn't, Nolan McLean might be a two-star pitcher next week, which, would be huge. Yeah, they're saying they're going six-man with Tong coming up, so I wouldn't count on the two starts for Nolan McLean. I don't think he needs it. Right. Like, what's the next matchup?

At Detroit, which isn't great, but I think you got to trust him in that one. And they haven't been as good offensively either. If it just came through against the Phillies, I trust him against the Tigers. And the one comp I want to make, and I saw Jack Foley from Petcher List make a comp in this direction for Nolan McLean is actually Brandon Webb. Now, there are some key differences, mostly being the change-up usage,

Nolan McLean. He throws a change-up, but he only really throws it to lefties. Brandon Webb, it's one of his most used pitches. But it's this sinker-heavy approach that gets a lot of ground balls. He's got the four-seamer that's been a really good with pitch for him, both at AAA and the majors, but he doesn't have to rely on

it. It's more like just a put-away pitch for him. And the curve ball for McLean kind of fits what Logan Webb does with his change-up. So that's the comp

that I think I find pretty interesting for him, Logan Webb. Not a great strikeout pitcher. I'm not sure Nolan McLean's

going to be an elite strikeout pitcher, but the ground balls, if the control is good enough, I think he's going to be really, really good. And I think there's a chance that the Mets' two best pitchers

for the playoffs weren't on the raw on their 40-man roster three weeks ago, which is saying something because Nolan McLean and Jonah Tongue, Nolan McLean especially, looks really, really impressive. So I think the obvious choice for pitcher player of the day. Have you had a chance to rank Jonah Tong yet? I have not.

That's going to be a Thursday afternoon kind of job. So I had a, my initial ranking form is 40. Yeah, I was thinking around there. Which I think is pretty aggressive, but justified. I, so are you saying you prefer McLean to him now? Because I have McLean down at 64th. I mean, I'm obviously going to have to move there. I think the biggest thing is just, I think Jonah Tong's probably more talented.

Why overthink it? Like when one guy's at the major league level and dominating, we're hoping the other guy can do it. I think, you know, you probably don't have to. choose between them. But if you did, I would just go with the guy who's already doing it. Maybe that's oversimplifying it. Sounds like you gave that take under duress. They were going to lock you up if you gave the wrong one. You know what? Mets fans in New York City, at least in my experiences, they've been very nice. So I'm not too worried about that. Not too worried. But I'm very excited

for Jonah Tong. I'm going to the game on Friday. I'm watching Yuri Perez versus Jonah Tong. That is incredibly exciting. I also just want to point out, Jonah Tongue making his major league debut. He's two months younger than Yuri Perez. Yuri Perez made his major league debut like 27 months ago. Not that we're comparing them or anything, but you know, got to give my, my Marlins guy that little bump. My player of the day, Luis Morales for the athletics, who is a prospect of some renown, was a top 100 guy for fan graphs coming into the season. on their prospect list. I don't know if he was a top 100 guy on any of the other lists,

but he went seven innings, two hits, zero earned runs, two walks, seven strikeouts on Wednesday. That was against the Tigers. That comes after he went six innings with six strikeouts in his previous start, and five innings,

five strikeouts, the one before. So 18 strikeouts, over 18 innings, his last three starts. I think he's allowed two earn runs. Control's been pretty good. I don't quite get how he,

He's succeeding at the major league level, and I'm inclined to throw him in the interesting, but not worth picking up bucket, at least for most leagues right now. Just because he's very fastball heavy, but the fastball has not been a great pitch for him so far, at least in terms of swings and misses. Tonight, it was a pretty good one, seven on 28 swings. It's pretty good for a four seamer, but it's not dominant. He's got a live arm, but definitely doesn't feel like a guy who's a finished product yet. And so while he's been good so far, I lean towards Luis Morales being more of just a deep league play right now. But impressed with what we've seen so far. Yeah, you don't want to be so dismissive, you, the royal you, don't want to be so dismissive given.

how good Morales has looked in three starts in a row now. Sort of like McLean, it's been getting better and better. And this is the second straight allowing just two hits. But he's somebody who's throwing his fastball 60% of the time. It has good velocity. It doesn't have a very good shape. It hadn't been getting many whiffs. Like you said, Chris, until this particular start.

And even this one, 25% whiff rate is. good, but it's not. It's good. It's not like the kind of thing you carry an arsenal for. I don't see what secondary offering he has that's really going to put him over the top. High fly ball rate, obviously, pitching in a Homer-friendly environment there in Sacramento, I think could spell danger eventually. So I, yeah, I have a healthy skepticism here of Louise Morales, and don't think he, don't think he needs to be added in every scenario.

All right. That's going to do it for, oh, my goodness gracious. But just a quick shout out to the Giants who scored 11 runs on Wednesday night. Matt Chapman got back on the board after his injury. And then Rafael Devers, two homers. He has an OPS over 900 in the month of August in case you were starting to worry. He's looking okay.

I think we're going to have some very interesting Raphael Devers discussions for 2026, because it feels like there are like seven third basemen who are good, and that's it entering next season. So he's one of the good ones, but how good is he? That's an old, well, I guess he's not a third baseman for next year. He'll only be first base eligible. There you go. I didn't even notice.

I was going right along with it. I guess there's just six good third basement. And additional shouts to the Rangers who dropped 28 on Oswald Paras. in a third of an inning, which just feels like bullying. Corey Seeger went two for four, two, two for two for two with the home run before being lifted. Adoli Scarcia had four hits and five RBI. And this is wild. Jock Peterson had his first game all season with more than two RBI.

He had five. I believe he had 13 for the season entering today, which is pretty bad. We're going to take a break. We'll be right back. Thanks to everyone watching live. Make sure you hit that like button and subscribe on YouTube. Subscribe to the FBT newsletter. Listen to FBT on Spotify.

And we'll be back right after this. Welcome back to FBT. I'm Chris Towers here with Scott White. Let's Talk News & Notes from Wednesday. And unfortunately, we did have one pretty significant bit of news. And that was Trevor McGill just out of nowhere going on the IL with a flexor strain in his right elbow. McGill told reporters it's a grade one sprain and he hopes for a minimum length. I'll stay.

I don't know. You never can quite trust players. Players tend to be a lot more optimistic about their health than you can necessarily trust. So there's a chance. He only misses half of the rest of the season. I think if you're in a Roto League,

you probably don't drop him anywhere else. You might have to. And Adner Uribe, who I believe leads the majors in saves plus holds this season, he's been remarkable. And a good example of why I absolutely hate trying to analyze relievers because he was dominant as a rookie. Horrible last season and he's been dominant again this season.

Flamed out as a closer early on last season, any concerns about him? Or do you think he's basically a must roster pitcher now that he's the closer? Yeah, 35 holds. That is not a number you often see reached in that category. And then he's got three saves on top of it. Yeah, I would think, Abner, you're. Rebae is obviously the guy 171 ERA, 106 whip, 11.1K per 9. Those are certainly closer caliber numbers.

They do have Shelby Miller, who got some run as a closer with the Diamondbacks earlier this year, but I think Reba is the one to roster here. And he got the save with McGill unavailable on Tuesday. So that seems like a good bet. And hopefully we see McGill, but if you need saves, Abnery, Bay, an obvious ad. Brewers also moved Logan Henderson to the 60-day IL. He will miss the rest of the season with right elbow inflammation.

That's a bummer. We saw some really great stuff from him, 178 ERA and 25 in a third innings in the majors, plus a 359 ERA and 77 and two-thirds innings at AAA with 10.1K per 9. Is he a late round sleeper for 2026, or do you think he's going to get pushed up into like the mid-rounds? Where do you think you would want to rank Logan Henderson for 2026? Well, I don't have the full rundown of who's a free agent for the Brewers. It's a pretty crowded rotation. We know Priester's still going to be there.

Is Woodruff signed through next year? I believe so, yes. Miserowski. What about Peralta? I don't think he's a free agent. So, yeah, I think Henderson is going to be in a competition. I don't think he's just going to have the job handed to him. And so that probably puts him in the late round range for fantasy.

I'll certainly be interested if he goes in the late rounds because his stay in the majors was, I guess it was multiple stays, but he looked consistently good in them. And I think there's enough underlying that to suggest he may be good. So I think there will be sleeper appeal for Logan Henderson next year, but I don't think he'll for sure have a job. All right, Cole Reagan's threw a 20 pitch bull, Penn session on Wednesday. He's coming back from that shoulder injury. He's set to face hitters next week, either later this week or next week. Not a lot of time. I think you're hoping he can get a couple of starts in at the end of the season, but, you know, the Royals may not have much reason

to push him. So I could see a world where, you know, if they're out by mid-September, he comes up, makes one start looks good, and they just kind of shut it down, don't push it. So I'm not expecting much from Cole Reagan's. Jameson Tyone was placed on the aisle with a left groin strain. Javier Assad will start Saturday in Colorado, and no, you don't want to stream him in Colorado. The Orioles will move to a six-man rotation when Tyler Wells is ready to return from his Tommy John surgery rehab. It's a slight hit for Kyle Braidish and Trevor Rogers, but at this point in the season, it's probably the difference between what, five starts and six starts. I don't think it really changes how you view those guys.

Braddish obviously looked excellent. In his return, must roster player the rest of the way, right? Yeah, I actually have Bradish 37th at starting pitcher rest of season. I'm kicking where you and I are going to be doing a bold predictions for 2026,

way too early bold predictions for 2026 tomorrow, and that'll be for the Memorial Day weekend audience. Labor Day. Labor Day. Memorial Day. be a long wait. I can never get those two right. I like I am 50-50 on which one is which and I get it wrong more than 50% of the time I would say. Maybe I'm going to go the opposite. Memorial and both begin with him and so maybe that's maybe that's been on September. Don't. Don't begin with

the same letter. So that's how you keep it together. But I'm kicking around some overly optimistic Kyle Braddish predictions to bring with me tomorrow. So that'll be something to keep an eye out for because I'm very excited about him being back. Me too. Louise Robert was placed on the aisle with a left hamstring strain.

It is a grade two strain and will probably cost him the rest of the season. That's another season-ending injury for Louise Robert. I'm fascinated to see what the White Sox do with him. I think they have a team option for 20 million for 2026. I would guess they pick it up, but maybe they also tried to trade him,

although they're probably not going to get very much for him. So it's tough. he was turning things around since the All-Star break. He was. I kind of feel like they already would have traded him if they weren't planning to pick up that option. I mean, they have so little money on the books. They might as well.

Yeah, that's fair. Giancarlo Stanton got the day off Wednesday. He's basically alternating on and off days. I don't know what to, I think you just start him in Roto because I think I looked it up yesterday. His last, the Yankees last 43 games, he has started 26 of them, which is not very many. And he has like 39 RBI and 16 homers in that stretch. I think in Roto you probably just start him when he's this hot.

I think in points he's just kind of, I don't think you can trust it in a points league. Marcelo Zuna got the day off Wednesday for the first time since August 19. That is very funny because if you remember on like July 28th, it was like, well, Marcelo Zoon is not going to play every day for us. And then he got hot. And now he's playing pretty much every day and kind of ruining the two-catcher tandem for the Braves. The Reds activated Nicodolo from the IL after three weeks on the aisle with a blister on his left index finger. And it is worth noting that it was a different finger from the one that kind of derailed his season last summer.

Last summer it was the middle finger. So I don't know how. much that changes things, but I did think it was worth noting that it's not exactly the same thing as last year. He went four and two-thirds innings, five hits, four-armed runs, one walk, six strikeouts in his first start against the Dodgers. And the really good sign here, the changeup got five whiffs, the curveball got seven. And that was where things went really sideways for Lidolo last season. He just could not throw his curveball in 2025, 2024 after the finger injury. it ended up he had to change his grip and ended up leading to that ligament issue that I believe he had and he was just never the same.

Are you trusting Nick Ladolo for next week versus the Blue Jays? Tough matchup. I think they're the best team in baseball against lefties. That's interesting. I didn't know that. Am I trusting Lodolo? I mean, the results could have been better here, obviously. You pointed out that it seemed like his stuff was intact, which I was concerned about too, given the history. of blisters and the impact they have on his curveball. But it didn't seem to be an issue for Lodolo. Obviously, he was doing great before going on the IL.

I would say he's less than must start against the Blue Jays, but it's not like he's an automatic sit either. It kind of just depends what your options are. Blue Jays are the third best team in Wobah against lefties. So tough matchup. Speaking of the Blue Jays, they are pushing Jose Brieos's next start back, so he won't be a two-start pitch. this week. Instead of Saturday against the Brewers, he'll start Tuesday against the Reds.

I think he's fine to use there, but obviously not must start. Alejandro Kirk was out of the lineup Wednesday, but X-rays on his right hand came back negative, and he is day-to-day. He got hit by a foul tip on Tuesday. The Astros placed Victor Keratini on the aisle with a concussion, and Yiner Diaz has been out since Sunday due to a hit by pitch, so they were called Cesar Salazar from AAA, probably doesn't matter for fantasy. William Ibrahimineu is on track to return from his calf injury sometime next week. Quinn Priester was scratched from Wednesday's start with a wrist injury but is not expected to need a trip to the IL at this point.

And Colson Montgomery missed Wednesday's game due to left side soreness. He's been playing through that injury for a while now and could notice. Four straight games with a home run before sitting out Wednesday. So hopefully this does not derail him. And the dog of the week this week is Eric Lauer, who was one of the big surprises of the midsummer season for the Blue Jays, a big part of their big run. I think we're kind of done with that. He gave up six earned runs over four and two-thirds innings on Wednesday against the twins of all teams. They don't have a lot of major league caliber hitters in that lineup gave up 10 hits.

Zero walks, four strikeouts, four home runs, including two to Byron Bucks. who we'll talk about it shortly. Only one quality start for Eric Lauer in four August starts. Are we back to just safely ignoring Eric Lauer? This might be his last start, as a matter of fact, because he was expected to be removed from the Blue Jays rotation with Beaver coming back. They decided to give him one more turn to kind of space Bieber's first and second starts out a little more. But I think the result of this makes it all the more likely that,

is shifting to the bullpen. And it didn't seem likely he could sustain the run he was on. 30-year-old journeyman never really enjoyed much success in the majors, not a big bat misser in terms of swings and misses. And a big fly ball guy, which only works if you're giving up weak contact. His average exit velocity coming into this start, 90.3 miles per hour, which in my mind isn't weak enough to... no to to overcome that high fly ball rate so yeah i think we see the four home runs against the

twins lineup i think we're done with lauer yeah lauer is 61% rostered the good news is pitching comes in waves we had a stretch maybe three or four weeks ago where it felt like there were no interesting pitchers on the waiver wire and now there are a ton so you should have no trouble finding a replacement for Eric Lauer. Welcome back to FBT. I teased waiver wire pitchers and I probably should have gone somewhere else because we already talked about a couple pretty interesting ones and I think that's kind of it. We got Ryan Burgett of the Royals.

He went six innings, gave him one earn run, only three strikeouts against the white socks. Did have five whiffs on his sweeper and I think he is interesting. He's got this like high carry fastball. I think he's got this really above the top pitching motion, but manages to get a lot of lateral movement on his slider and sweeper. But I think he's still just interesting. I don't know if you've got any thoughts on Ryan Berger. I think Ryan Bergert is on a nice run now, obviously,

and five starts since joining the Royals, 254 ERA 102 whip, 7.9K per 9. And that's, I think that's the most important stat. Like, he's, he's not a bat misser. And, and that is something that can be overcome, but it's rare. You have to be exceptional in other ways. The control for Ryan Bergard is nothing special. He is a high fly ball guy, and that could play well in Kansas City. Interestingly, four of his five starts with the Royals have come on the road.

So it's not like that explains the success he's had since joining the Royals. but I think it's just I think it's just a nice run similar to the nice run Eric Lauer was on earlier this year and you shouldn't really put too much stock in it and how about Bubba Chandler who had another nice outing four innings one hit zero run runs no runs through his first two

outings one walk three strikeouts still being used as a bulk reliever I believe he got the win today which is a win today got a save in the first appearance He's doing a, was it Tyler Kinley last year who had like 10 wins and 10 saves? Maybe Bubba Chandler can do that in his next six appearances. Well, Tyler Kenley wasn't doing it over in four-innings spurs. No, but he got it wasn't Kenley. It wasn't Kimmel.

No, it was the guy on the Tigers whose name I can't remember. Oh, Holton. Yeah, Holton. Tyler Holton. Yeah. But Bubba Chandler got eight whiffs on 53 pitches, six of them on the the four seamer. The four seamers very good.

I'm not sure how I feel about the secondaries yet. And obviously the role is going to limit his value. It's interesting that they're just, I guess, using him every fifth day and not just piggybacking him with Ashcraft, which I thought they might. Okay. Yeah, I assumed they were doing that as well. It's this time it was Carmen Mijinsky.

Yeah, he's 61% rostered. Look, it would not take much for the pirates to just put. him in the rotation and I think they will at some point. Yeah, well, I think, I think it'll be some point soon, given how good he's looked in these first two appearances and he's made it four innings. And like, I think, really efficiently so far too. I think part of the reason why they introduced him this way is they were at a loss for what to do with them.

They knew they had to call him up, but he had been so bad for so long at AAA. They kind of wanted to ease him in a little bit. And it's gone so well that I think the easing is going to. stop. He has innings left in the tank. I don't think it's a workload preservation issue here for Bubba Chandler that has them using him out of the bullpen. And those secondaries are supposed to be great. I know he hasn't gotten many whiffs on either the slider or the changeup yet, but that's not supposed to be an issue. They're both, I mean, the fastballs, all three of the pitches, I think, Rade is plus for Bubba Chandler. strikes have been an issue throughout his minorly career certainly that was the case his last couple months at triple a this year but he threw a ton of them in this appearance and I think is ready for a start given that he's working so much in these bulk relief appearances I think he's I think he's usable in fantasy already and certainly if he moves into the rotation he's going to become very usable and could be not a two-start pitcher next week, but a two-appearance pitcher.

So you could get nine to ten innings out of him if all goes well, if the schedule works out well. So that's another thing to keep in mind. So, yeah, in Roto leagues at least, I do think if he's available, he's worth adding. And let's move on to the We're So-Back pitchers of the night. Max Fried got a nice matchup against the Nationals and his second straight good start in a row, which is how starts in a row would work if they're straight. Yeah. Seven innings, one earned run, four hits, two walks, six strikeouts,

two quality starts after he had a 681 ERA over his previous eight starts dating back to July 1st. And I'm just back to trusting him completely. I didn't really have a good explanation for why things had gotten so bad for him. I assumed it was related to the blister. that he missed some time with in early July, but the stuff never really looked bad. It never really looked like he didn't lose anything,

so I think he just wasn't pitching well. And now he's pitching well again. So I'm fully back on more with Max Fried. Yeah, I mean, this seems like one of those baseball is best viewed from a 30,000 foot view. Yes. Rather than fixating on,

oh, it's been this many bad starts in a row for Max Fried. Look at the season numbers, look at the career numbers, trust in that if for what it's worth he has faded his cutter in these last two starts it has been his most thrown pitch this year it has not been in these last two starts so maybe he noticed something was going on with that ultimately i don't really care though yeah like i i trust whatever it is i trusted he would figure it out eventually and he seems like he's figured it out now i was a little

less certain with Framber Valdez when he was going through it for the previous four or five starts just because there was very much a specific thing that had gone wrong for him and that was the curve ball. He goes as the curveball goes, right? When Frambervaldez

is good, it's because his curveball's awesome and he's throwing it a ton. He was only throwing it 24% of the time in August before this start. Well, on Wednesday night against the Rockies, yes, I know it's the Rockies. He threw it 36 times, got 10 whiffs on 17, swings, seven innings, shut out, two walks, five strikeouts.

I think we're back to starting and trusting Framber Adaldives. I think it's just guys who have to rely on like a big, slow looping curveball like that, I think there's just going to be some inherent volatility to that, you know? It's weird because, yeah, it has been over the last two years, as Framber Valdez's curve ball goes, so goes. Fromber Valdez. It wasn't always that way in his career. It's strange how he's become so reliant on that.

In a way, that's improved his ceiling, too. Yeah. Like when he throws a better pitcher, yeah. When he throws his curveball 35, 40% of the time, as was true here, he's truly an ace. He's not just an innings eater who maintains a low ERA like he was earlier in his career. But now when he doesn't have that curveball working, he's not even. that anymore. He's just bad. And so you get these,

he's a less stable pitcher as a result, but... You take the trade off. Yeah, I think so, because at times Framber Valdez legitimately looks like an ace. All right, let's look ahead to 2026 for a second.

I've got a, I don't know, eight players that I want to talk about a little look ahead here. And first one's going to be Ben Rice, who had three batted balls over 100 miles an hour. on Wednesday, he has a 418 X Wobah on the season. That is a top 10 mark in baseball. 467 over the past 100 played appearances.

And the question, Scott, is how many catchers would you really take over Ben Rice next year? Like, how many catchers would you for sure take ahead of Ben Rice next season? Is it more than one and a half over under? How many catchers would you definitely take ahead of Ben Rice next season? Well, I'm going to have a lot to say about Ben Rice and the catcher position as a whole in the bold predictions episode that we plan to record for Labor Day. So I don't want to reveal too much. I don't know. I've come up with 20 bold predictions.

I don't think we're going to get to all of them. So maybe. Well, I don't have nearly that many. So we might get to a bunch of yours. So maybe we won't get to them And I should go ahead and just reveal what I'm thinking But I would say to answer your question The only catcher

You know a lot depends on how August plays out A lot depends on whether Paul Goldschmidt has gone next year Which he's a free agent Are they just turning first base over to Ben Rice Because he has sat against the last two lefties The Yankees have faced stupidly Well they've just got That is still an issue

So many guys But to answer your question not knowing how the next month is going to play out, I can only say for sure that there is one catcher I would take ahead of Ben Rice. Now, you could probably name half a dozen catchers, and I would say, I am only for sure going to take one catcher over that guy.

But Ben Rice is in that discussion, and in theory, in theory he has the most upside of anyone, not name Cal Raleigh at the position. and are we sure yet that he's going to retain catcher eligible? Yeah, 25 appearances. He's got a lot of catcher for next year. That's a big deal.

All right, Ozzie Albee is homered for the third time in two games. He's having a nice little series against the Marlins. And he is having his best month of the season and his best best month since last July. By which I mean he's hitting 260 with a 288 on base percentage and a 450 slugging percentage. in August. Well, he has a 277 X Wobah in August. Is he a top 12 catcher for 2026? No, because he doesn't play catcher.

Sorry, second baseman. I have a bold prediction related to this, too. So I don't want to reveal it. I'm just ruining your segment here. Yes, I think he's definitely a top 12 second basement for next year. And part of that is who else would be? Sure. But I, you know, you're painting it in a more negative light than I think I would.

So in the second half, now that he's hit three home runs, driven in nine runs in his last two games, in the second half, Ozzy Albies is hitting 265, six home runs, five steals, a 762 OPS. That's basically the Ozzy Albies we all remember. So I am encouraged. He hit his first home run What's today? He hit his first home run Tuesday Then that two homer game was his first home run Off a Lefty all year.

Yeah, he's been bad As the righty this season. It's crazy. I think it's It's been That's what's Kerry his profile. Yeah, I don't think that goes all the way to explain it.

Aussie-Albee's struggles this year, but it goes further, I think, to explaining them than just the offensive environment isn't conducive to him succeeding anymore. I think he's had, I think he's been messed up from the right side. And I prefer that explanation because he has control over. He has agency with that. He can fix it. And I think he will. I mean, he's still so young. He has a great track record, obviously. He was a phenom at 17 years old. He came up and had basically no failure in his entire baseball life until, really until this year. There were a couple of injury-plagued years where the numbers were down, but really until this year, this is the first year where he's been both healthy and bad. Yeah, yeah. And we're seeing improvement in the second half. So that's

encouraging. We saw improvement from Jose Al-Tuva. I mean, Jose Al-Tuva, nobody even remembers how poorly his season started out. We saw improvement from Marcus Simeon before his recent injury, and now we're finally seeing it from Albis as well. All right, Jerks and ProFar, his teammate hit two more home runs, had two more walks on Wednesday. He was already the number six outfielder in Roto, and I believe number five in points since his return on July 2nd. Is he a top 20 outfielder for 2026? This is ProFar we're talking about. So here is the complete list of outfielders with more head-to-head points per game this season than jerks in ProFar. You ready?

The complete list. Aaron Judge. That's the list. Okay. That's the list. I would have bet on Juan Soto. No. Schwarber is actually coming into Wednesday's game, Schwerber was also ahead of ProFar.

ProFar was third, but, you know, with the two home run game, ProFar. ProFar moved ahead of Schwarber and head to head points per game. And he's over 200 at bats now. So it's a pretty good sample. He is still playing over his head. I don't think he's actually the second best outfielder in points. But I will point out his ex-Wobo over the last 100 played appearances, which probably is more than his return. Yeah, that's a little more.

But over his last 100 played appearances, 401 X-Waba, too. Yeah. He's just super locked in right now. Justice for Alex Synthopoulos, who said the Braves felt like a jerks and pro far was the second best hitter on the free agent market. And then obviously he had the PED suspension. And I think everybody kind of gave up on him. He was already, there was already so much skepticism because of his age 31 breakout. I believe he was 31 last year.

But he has. he's good. I think he's shown that he's good. I don't know how good he is. I'm not going to say he's top two or top five realistically going forward. Top 20 for next season? And points leagues? I can probably come up with 20.

I'd rather have them pro far, but it might just be some floor versus ceiling guys. Yeah, exactly. And there will still be a certain amount of trepidation because of his age. He's going to be 33 next year. And the exit velocities aren't going to be. that great. And so I think he will be a fade for a lot of people going into next year. And there's no reason to draft him in the top 20. But I'm going to draft pro far with more enthusiasm next year. I think than I even was this year. And it got to a point this year where people were fading him so

hard. I was drafting him a ton. All right. Let's throw the other side of that game. Jacob Marcy had two more hits and a steal on Wednesday. He's up to eight steals. Two caught stealing in 26 games. hitting 356 with a 422 on base, a 667 slung percentage. That's all totally unsustainable. Except he has an XBA of 324. He's earning it. That doesn't mean it's sustainable, but it's not a fluke either. How much of this could possibly be real?

And is Jacob Marcy a top 40 outfielder for 2026? Got a bold prediction for Jacob Marcy too. I think I think I'm buying in on Jacob Marcy. It's one of those where it's an unconventional profile and all of your statcast guided sensibilities are telling you no. But the production and the number of ways that Jacob Marcy can impact the game. It makes me feel like the floor is actually pretty high here. It's so weird because he was horrible last year. His numbers in 2024 are dreadful.

It was like a 600 OPS, I want to say. And then he was awesome at AAA this year. And so I don't know quite what to make of that. It was a, it was mostly batting average that made him horrible last year. He stole 51 bases. He walked 92 times. And so I don't know if he just got a little too pull conscious because that's how he gets to his power.

He's got to live down the right field line, basically, with his fly balls. And you could see how that could for a guy who doesn't impact the ball that hard, how it could drain his batting average. But that, you know, you look at the year prior to that. Hit 274 with an 840 OPS, 16 homers, 40, 16. deals. And that's basically his whole minor league career. He was down there three years.

So two of the years were great. One was bad, but with still a couple of areas where he was awesome. Still walked a ton, still stole a ton of bases. Yeah. He might just be, you know who it reminds me of? And he didn't get a lot of hype as a prospect either. Marcus Simeon, just a ton of walks. not as many steals as Marcy has gotten,

but that's all the more to Marcy's credit, because Simeon obviously has been a fantasy standout for a long time. All right. Byron Buxton had two home runs off of Eric Lauer on Wednesday. He had just a 559 OPS since coming back from the IL before this, but now one homer short of his career high, already has a career high and runs and RBI, and his most steals, 19, since 2017.

Is Byron Buxton a top third? 30 outfielder for 2026. Well, you tell me, Chris, because this was your guy, and I feel like this was the year you pushed Buxton the least. Yeah. Like you were pretty much out. Yeah. You didn't have to.

Well, did you draft him that much? Yeah, I've got him in a few spots. Yeah. He was a nice late round target, but I probably should have been more. He was not very good last year when he was healthy was the problem. Okay. And so he's, you know, 31, I think. So it was reasonable to think maybe it had run out, but he's a really awesome player.

It's just how much do you want to invest? I think, I just saw someone in the comment say Byron Buxton sucked for a decade. Objectively untrue. He's an awesome player when he's on the field. That's never been the question. It's just, I don't think you can spend a top 150 pick on a guy with his injury track record. All right. Wait a second.

Wait a second. Chris you said he was not good last year when healthy 279 batting average 859 OPS was it the year before that he wasn't good yes okay it was the year before all right that that was that was that was that was that was what I was thinking of then I just I think he's awesome if you get him like 170th and you just know that for 40 or 50 games you're gonna have to find a replacement but you still get especially in leagues with IL spots you still still get points when he's not out there. It's just, it's tough to justify much more than that because he's not going to play

anymore at this age. So, yeah, I struggle with that one. I think he's like a top 50 outfielder, but probably not too much more than that. Maybe top 40. Oh, I think I could get him higher than that. Okay. I think I could. Okay, so pro far Buxton next year.

Who are you taking? I'll give the coward's answer. Provin points, Buxton and Rhodo. I think I would agree with that. George Springer or Buxton next year. Kind of the same risk-reward calculation there, I feel like. I think I'd have to go Buxton. I have more faith in the production than Springer.

So let me... I don't mean to drag down the show with this, but... Okay. So Taylor Ward, he's my 31st ranked outfielder. I'd take Buxton over Taylor. Yeah, exactly. Brandon Nimmo. Yeah, you'd take Bucson over.

Mike Trowell. Yeah, I think Buxton's more like top 30. Okay. Interesting. Yeah. I can't come up with a good argument against it. Here's another guy I want to know is, I think he's almost certainly a top 30 outfielder. But is Wyatt Langford a top 20 outfielder for 2026?

He went two for two with two walks and four. run scored on Wednesday, hitting 301 with a 972 OPS in the month of August, so starting his turnaround a month sooner than last year. Solid underlying numbers all season, but 395X wobo over his past 100 plate appearances. He has persistently underperforms as expected stats in both seasons despite a high-pulled air rate. And despite three oblique injuries, which are really tough injuries to play through, he has 19 homers and 18 steals. Don't tell Colson, Montgomery. Yeah. 19 homers and 18 steals and 113 games. That's a 27-26 pace.

Is Wyatt Langford still top 20 outfielder for 2026? Top 20? Top 20. No, I can come up to 20. I'd rather have than him. But he's certainly top 30. And he is one who I think I would take over Buxton, I think. I think so.

We'll go real quick on these last two. Alvarez homered in his second game back from the IL. He missed over three months with that misdiagnosed hand injury. Has not been good this season, but he's barely played. He's basically played one month. Is he still locked in as a second round pick for 2026? I want to see how this last month goes. I'm going to draft so much Yordon Alvarez next season.

I can't see him dropping beyond the third round no matter how this month goes. But 24. I'm sure there are going to be a lot of contenders for those top 24 spots, and it could just be that Alvarez, if it ends up being a totally lost season, doesn't really salvage it with his final month. I could see him getting pushed out. All right. And then Shohei Otani looked very good, had a couple of rough outings before this as a pitcher,

but he went five innings for the first time this season. That's the max. He went 87 pitches. They're not going to let him throw more than five innings. They've already said that. We're not talking about 2025. I don't think he's going to have any value as a pitcher for 2025. But if you're just talking as an SP for 2026,

where re-ranking Shohei Otani? Top 40? I mean, he had value here today. You don't think he can do something like this again. He can have value, but it's not a must-start guy as a starting pitcher. Like this is the best case scenario. Yeah, of course. Of course.

but I like it was a different Otani than we've ever seen as a pitcher too I think it was pointing out through 23 curveballs he led with a curve ball he had thrown 11 all season it had never been a major part of his arsenal but it was his most thrown pitch in this one he threw seven pitches I think today yeah that is so impressive like he can just be the he can reinvent himself as a pitcher on the fly in addition to everything. else show hey otani can do um is he a top 40 starting pitcher for next year in leagues where they're separated into pitcher and hitter i think he's probably higher than that i think he's probably top 36 otani versus strider who you take him uh i mean it kind of depends how the last month goes for both as of today i would say strider but it kind of depends All right, Otani versus Sandy Alcantra. Otani versus Alcantra. Otani.

Okay, let's move on. Where are we at on these pitchers? Brian Beyo, another great start, one earned run against at Baltimore, 6.2 innings, six strikeouts, only eight wifts, decent batted ball quality, which is always the thing with Brian Beow. I can't really figure out how he's so good right now. 299 ERA. He's been one of the ERA leaders since like June. Where are you at on Brian Bayo?

I think he is a boring but highly useful pitcher. I mean, you kind of pointed out initially the game changer for him when he introduced that cutter to neutralize left-handed bats. Left-handed hitters actually have a lower batting average than right-handers against him this year. And that was something that happened. I think it was in May. I could give you the numbers, Brian Beyo's ERA, since introducing the cutter,

but since his full season ERA is down to $2.99 now, it's kind of unnecessary. His peripherals just don't back it up, though. Yeah. Like, he's probably not really as good as a $2.99 ERA. But I think if you're treating him, like,

your fifth or sixth best starting pitcher. You probably have the right idea. And like he's just somebody for being that far down the pegging order, he's just somebody you don't have to worry about that much. All right. Udarvish had shown some signs lately and then flopped at Seattle,

which is a good place to pitch, great place to pitch. Four hits, four and runs, four innings. It does seem like this one was mostly bad luck, though. He had eight whiffs on 69 pitches, which is solid. Only 82 miles per hour, average exit velocity. Only three batted balls with an XBA over 300.

I don't blame him for this one, but where are you at on Kyle Braddish? Sorry, you Darvish. Random number generator. He's alternated good and bad starts his last six. There seems to be no real. way of determining how it's going to go for him. So I could see how if you're in a tight spot and you're just looking at a bunch of crummy pitchers

who are certain to bring down your ERA and whip, you might just throw Darvish out there and hope for the best, but it's it's kind of a desperation heave. All right. Ryan Nelson, he has a 494 ERA in August, but he gets one earn run over six innings in this. one three straight starts with at least six innings pitched he's a two-start pitcher next week versus Texas versus Baltimore those are matchups they're not bad or good they're pretty good i would say

they lean bad really texas offense has been much better lately boston is pretty good but is he a must start pitcher next week baltimore or boston boston oh okay i thought you said baltimore yeah a little worse if it's Boston. Yeah, I think two starts for Ryan Nelson, he's must start. I mean, the whip is still phenomenal on the year. The RA is mid-3s now, like 3-46, I believe.

And you know what he did in this start? He threw 62% fastballs. His previous three were not in that 60 to 70% range. But if that's if that's how Ryan Nelson is using his fastball, if he's

throwing it specifically within that range, it's always a good start. It's amazing. It's amazing how consistently that's the case. You've kind of gotten away from it, but back to himself in this start. It's weird because the fastball is good, but like by the numbers, it's not like a 32% whiff rate like demon or anything. It's like a, what, 25% whiff rate usually. I don't quite trust it, but it's been going on for over a year.

Yeah, no, I get it. And then one more. Casey Meis, can we just drop him? Five earn runs in three and a third innings. He has a 581 ERA in August, a six ERA since July 1st. I never really bought Casey Meis being good even when he was good. So I'm ready and willing to drop him. I would happily drop him for Jonah Tong.

Are you dropping Casey Meis? Yeah. I think I'd rather have you Darvish than Casey Meis. and I wasn't speaking so glowingly of Darvish just a minute ago. All right, let's move on to some pitching leftovers. Brian Wu snaps his streak of six inning starts at 25, and he missed it by one out. Ah.

Was this the most unlikely statistic of the season so far? At least for a season long number. I'll throw Dalton Varshow becoming like a legit power hitter. out there. I'll throw George Springer, bouncing back to become maybe the, putting together maybe the best season of his career. But man,

Brian Wu becoming the single most dependable innings eater in baseball. Was hard to see coming, even though we did see flashes of it late last season. There are a couple of stolen base numbers. Josh Naylor becoming a 20-0-0-0. Although I feel like that was just like one crazy week. I feel like he hasn't stolen anything.

Cal Raleigh in the year he sets the record for most home runs by a catcher somehow still being separating himself more at the position by stolen bases than home runs. That's a crazy stat. But yeah, Wu being workhorse. Like we liked all the Mariners pitchers coming in. The thing we didn't like about Wu is, you know, He wasn't going to be very durable. He's going to break down or not work deep into games.

And he's the one Mariners pitcher who that, he's been the workhorse of that staff that seemed to be full of workhorses. So yeah, that's been a shocker. Josh Naylor, by the way, stole 11 bases in his first 14 games with the Mariners. He hasn't stolen one in 16 games since then. That's very funny. Drew Rasmussen, four quality starts in a row.

He remains outrageously efficient. he is up to 129 and two-thirds innings. So the question I will ask is over under 3.5 starts remaining for Drew Rasmussen. I will say, I will say over. Okay. But that's the right over under. Yeah, I think it's either three or four more starts and then you just drop him. You don't worry about it.

Just ride it. He's awesome. He rules. He's great. And I guess it is a, like, if you're, if Nolan McLean, there's 26% of CBS fantasy leagues where Nolan McLean's available, would you drop Jurassicin to add him? Just because you might get two or three more starts out of him. I mean, there's got to be somebody else you could draw. I would think so, yeah.

But if there isn't, yeah, I'm going to rank McLean ahead of Raspus in next of season, a rest of season. That's basically what you're asking me. So, yeah. All right. Cade Covelli got rocked, not unexpectedly. I think he is clearly just interesting and not useful yet. His stuff is pretty good. He's 32% roster, 15 whiffs in this game, but 96.4 mile per hour average.

He got rocked. We're not there yet with Cade Covelli. Jacob Lats pitched for the Rangers, four and a third innings, two earn runs, five strikeouts. He's got a 313 ERA, 128 whip is not great. a couple of pretty good whiff pitches. Would we have any interest in Jacob Lats if he remains in the Rangers rotation?

Maybe. There have been some interesting signs from him in the past. It's usually abbreviated starts like this. And so I haven't taken him that seriously. But it's, I'm not totally disinterested in Jacob Lats. Let's put it that way. He is a spark for those of you in head-to-head points leagues. So that's something to consider.

Slate Ciconey, he was fine today. quality start, three-run runs over six innings, four strikeouts, eight hard hit balls, including six over 100 miles per hour. There's nothing here, right? I think he's just Brandon fought, but with a worse. Earlier in the year, a couple of his secondaries had great whiff rates, but those have both dwindled down to being nowhere near great anymore. So I don't, there's not a lot from Slade Cicconi that I can get excited about.

And then that's how I feel about Carson Wisenhunt. I know some people like him. I don't really see it here. His change-ups great. He got five whiffs on 17 swings against it today. I just don't think anything else is good here, unfortunately. I agree. He was great in the minors two years ago,

and so became a prospect of note. But he's been, even in the minors, it's been pretty impressive since then. All right, the call to the bullpen. Kegan Aiken was saved for the eighth and ninth inning. Got out of a jam in the 8th, but couldn't finish it off, gave up a two-run, home run to sit down Raphael. Is there anyone else to consider here in Baltimore's bullpen?

He's been very good, Keegan-Ake, and I just don't have a ton of trust in it. So I feel like I just came out with a bullpen report on Tuesday, Wednesday. Just came out with a bullpen report Wednesday, and I wrote in the lead that the Orioles and athletics bullpins, they are last place teams, and nobody is really emerging as the front room. If I had to pick one from each, I would pick Aiken from the Orioles.

I'd pick Sean Newcomb from the athletics, but each of them has been used recently in situations where you'd never use a closer. So it just seems like on bad teams with so little time left, they're not really standing out enough to be of interest in fantasy. Would you rather have Andrew Sal Frank from the Diamondbacks? He got his third save, struck out, one on Wednesday, three out of four as a closer over two weeks.

He's only 3% rostered. Yeah, and I read about him in that bullpen report too. I think we are seeing strong indicators that they view him as the closer right now, left-hander, Andrew Sal Frank, and so I take him over Aiken and anyone in the athletics bullpen. All right. Dennis Santana got his 10th save, his fourth since they traded David Bednar. Where are we at on him?

Just trust him, 43% rostered. Bad team doesn't get a lot of strikeouts, but I feel like he's just good enough. Yeah. I have him. I'm sure I have him top 24, at least, among relievers. So it's so many teams right now are, they either have somebody really bad closing for them or they don't have a clear closer, like the athletics and Orioles. So I think even if you don't fully trust Santana the pitcher, it's mostly been good this year. But, you know, there are reasons not to trust him, even if you don't.

I think just by default, he's somebody who needs to be started in leagues where saves matter. All right. A few more. Andres Munoz a lot of run, but got his 31st save. That's a career high. Pete Fairblanks blew the save with a home run to Nolan Jones. Cade Smith got the win in the 10th in that game. And a roll of his Chapman got the save for Boston, his 26th.

To stream or not to stream on Thursday. We got Kate Povich versus Boston. We got Jose Cantana versus Arizona, Braxton Ashcraft at St. Louis, Miles Michaelis versus Pittsburgh. You like any of those? No. You skipped over Jason Alexander against the Rockies. Jason Alexander against the Rockies, sure.

That might be my favorite. All right, which speaks poorly of the rest of them. Damning with faint praise there. Yes. I forgot to write down Friday, so I'm just going to go through and throw some names at you. Matthew Liberator at the Reds. No? No.

Adrian Hauser versus at the Nationals. Not the worst probably, but not excited about it. Are you streaming Jonah Tong versus the Marlins? Absolutely. Yeah. I'm not saying he's a must start in every league, but among the streamer options you're going to recommend, I'm sure he's the best. Mike Burroughs versus the Red Sox or Dustin May versus the Pirates? May.

That's a pretty good streamer option, too. Just this is not a streamer, but are you starting, Seth Lugo? So he's facing the Tigers. Yeah, versus Tigers at home. He's been so bad lately. If I'm protecting ERA and whip, probably. not. All right.

Jack Leiter at the athletics. You could do worse. Jeffrey Springs versus the Rangers. I like that one more. But that's right behind Tong and May. And then Dean Kramer at the Giants. I kind of like that one. Yeah, it's not bad either.

I think, yeah, right behind Springs there. So there's pretty good streamer options on Friday. But still like Jonathan the best. We will. We will. Yeah, Jonathan is the best. I'll put them in the rundown tomorrow so we can actually get through it a little quicker. Now I have to go through each one. And that is going to do it for Fantasy Baseball today.

We will see you tomorrow. Bye.