Fantasy Baseball Today - Ronald Acuña IS BACK! Week 10 Sleepers & Two-Start Pitchers (5/23 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 23, 2025

Ronald Acuña will return on Friday (2:30)! ... Christian Yelich is providing power and speed but not hitting for batting average (8:00). ... Logan O'Hoppe and Taylor Ward are both on fire (12:30). ... News (20:42): Julio Rodriguez was scratched with a back injury. ... George Kirby wasn't great in his debut (29:36). ... Is Tanner Bibee back (33:08)? ... Nathan Eovaldi vs. Carlos Rodon lived up to the hype (35:50). ... Addison Barger is doing some things (42:20). ... Luis Severino has been solid (45:23). ... Let's preview Week 10, taking a look at the schedule, two-start pitchers and sleeper hitters (46:45). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (57:13). 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

Happy Kokomo Friday and welcome in tough fantasy baseball today on May 23rd. I am Frank Sanfield joined by Scott White. Today on the show, George Kirby made his season debut. We got big games from Christian Yelich and Jose Altuve, which were definitely needed. Plus, we'll preview week 10. But Scott, even before we get to the players of the night. Oh boy. There is a reason for celebration.

Because it is official. Ronald Ocunia. is back. Let's go. Yeah. Yeah. So, he will be making his season debut on Friday against the Padres. Nearly a year to the date that he suffered that torn ACL, May 26th of last year. He's back this year on May 23rd.

And, of course, baseball is better with Ronald Acuna. So you'll love to see the return. Scott, what are your immediate expectations for Acuna? He's seventh in my outfield ranking. So I think there's an obvious top six, and yes, I include Juan Soto in it. I know Mets fans will sneer at that, but it's going to be okay. Juan Succo? It's going to be okay, guys.

I promise it's going to be okay. So I think there's a clear top six, and then there are the first round types that have kind of disappointed us to this point, like Julio Rodriguez, Jackson Churio, Yorne Alvarez, of course, on the IL. And so I slot Ronald de Kuhnihuneer right in between, right in the middle of those two. Because, you know, obviously he has number one at the position kind of upside. Or let's say number two at the position because I don't think there's any surpassing Aaron Judge at this point. But you want to be a little cautious coming off a torn ACL the last time he came back from a torn ACL in the other knee, the opposite knee, mind you.

But his production wasn't quite up to snuff. He was still like a must-star caliber player, but the power production especially was way down. That was in 2022, 19 games, 15 homers, 29 steals, only a 764 OPS. Like good enough numbers to have him in the lineup, but clearly like he was a little off. You know, he didn't quite seem like himself.

And he was playing through some pain and he was in and out of the lineup sometimes. So it was a disappointment. But then he followed that up with the first, and still only 40 Homer 70 steel season in history. So he eventually got over that hump. I feel like the Braves have been extra careful and bringing him along this time

so that they avoid those issues that happened in the 2022 season. And he has looked great on his minor league rehab assignment. I heard on the Braves broadcast here Thursday that he had actually, if you count up all the plate appearances he got and extended spring training, which obviously we don't have stats for,

but that's where he'd been prior to his minor league rehab assignment. If you add those up, he's seen more live pitching than any player actually playing during the season this year. So it's like Rust, obviously it was a major league caliber pitching, but I don't think Rust is going to be a major factor here for Acuna. So I'm expecting him to pretty much hit the ground running.

Maybe he'll need the occasional off day early on, but I think he'll perform like a stud from the get-go. It's just a question of, will he immediately be back to that 40-home or 70-steel guy? You know, I'd temper my expectations there, but a 30-30 pace the rest of the way, I will, I'll put a CUNYA down for that. So, for some perspective here, rest of season projections on fan graphs have him for between, They haven't for 89 games, rest of season, Ronald de Cunia. Between a 287 and 305 batting average.

That's great. Between 15 and 20 home runs and between 25 and 31 stolen bases. I mean, they're even more aggressive with that projection than I am, which... And projections are usually, you know, pretty even keel. Medium projections, but... I just wonder if because that 40-home or 70-steal season was so recent, if it's... kind of building the projection around that. Yeah.

Instead of maybe, instead of what maybe a reasonable Ronald de Kuna season looks like. But in any case, yeah, I think it'll be good. One thing I thought about was maybe to try and buy low on other Braves hitters before they take off here. If they take off, it's not a guarantee, obviously. Too late on Matt Olson. Yeah, right?

I was going to mention big games here for Matt Olson and Ozuna. Olson 3 for 5 with his 11th home run. Ozuna 3 for 4 with his ninth home run. So I don't know if you could buy low on those guys. Austin Riley's been a little up and down. I think, you know, mostly underwhelming thus far. So maybe you could try him. Ozzy Albies and Michael Harris definitely have been off to slow start.

So just some names there, Scott, if you want to try and buy low before. Like, if Acuna is back and I don't know, anywhere close to he was, like this lineup could just take off altogether. So. Yeah. Yeah, I could. I'm kind of expecting it to. Granted, I have this little Braves logo on my polo here that we'll talk about later. But yeah, it's, look, it was a record-setting lineup with everybody healthy two years ago.

And everybody's going to be healthy again. So that is it. Welcome back to Ronald Acuna. Very excited to have him back in the mix. Let's get into our players of the night. Oh, my goodness gracious. All right, Scott, kick us off. Your play of the night is...

It's Christian Yellich. Christian Yellich of Milwaukee Brewer's fame. He had two home runs here. That puts him at nine for the season. A pretty healthy total. He also has eight steals on the season. Not bad. That, when you consider the Brewers have played...

I think I looked it up just a minute ago. was it, 150 games, a little less than a third of a season, basically. So you project out those numbers for Christian Yellich. That's like basically a 30-homer, 25 steel pace, which, of course, nobody would complain about those specific numbers. But people have been complaining about Christian Yelich anyway, because there's some other stuff going on with him. For instance, even after this big game, he's batting 192.

on the year. His strikeout rate is up, the highest we've seen him have. Well, I guess we'll throw out 2020. So the highest we've seen him have, period. 27% strikeout rate, 28 really. And more to the point, the ground ball rate is through the roof over 60%. And I think that the combination of those two factors, but especially the ground balls. The fact that the fact he has, the, the fact he as a negative launch angle, I think is responsible for the low batting average and the overall feeling of disappointment you have with Christian Yelich. But a lot can change, even at this point in the season, even as we near the one-third point of the season, a lot can change very quickly.

And so to demonstrate this, I will point out that head-to-head points leagues, Christian Yelich entered today with exactly the same number of points as Miguel Vargas. Not what you want to see. Not that Miguel Vargas has been terrible, but we want Christian Yelich to be surpassing him. He scored 16 points in this game, which vaults him all the way to Andy Pahas in terms of overall fantasy production. So that's a very quick move up the latter. And again, like I said, 30 Homer 25 steel pace. I think he's doing enough. I think he's doing enough that you shouldn't sweat it so much. Now, can I promise that he'll salvage this batting average between now and the end of the season?

I can't. He's coming back from back surgery, and back surgery is not the most reliable. I was most worried that it would sap his power and his willingness to run. And clearly that's not the case. again, 30 homer 25 steel pays. But could it be contributing to him hitting the ball on the ground so much? It could be. It could be.

I can't rule it out. I don't really know. But it's a fine hypothesis. That will need to approve. He'll have to get that ground ball rate down some, I think, to live up to our expectations entirely. But in the meantime, he's doing enough that I think you just waited out. I think from a head-to-head points, perspective, the way that you laid it out, like you can live with the bad batting average if

he's getting on base and obviously the power and speed and everything. But from a Roto League perspective, man, entering Thursday, 175th overall player for Christian Yelich. And obviously a lot of that is just the batting average pulling him down because I agree with you like even the counting stats, the power to the speed, everything is fine. It's just the batting average. The OPS is terrible right now for Yelich. So he's got some work to do previous nine games before this one. He was batting 086, one extra base hit, a 29% strikeout rate, and a 71% ground ball rate. So both of those things need to get lower. Will they?

I'm not sure. Maybe he's compromised because of the back, which you mentioned, and I think that's fair. Obviously, it's not completely sappy him because he's managed to hit nine home runs at this point. But yeah, we just need more consistency, more line drives, I guess, you know, just let's get that batting average up for Christian Yelich. But I totally understand why people have been before this game. pretty frustrated with Yelich. My player or players of the Knights, Scott, I'm going to cheat a little bit here.

The Angels. How about just all the Angels? They've won seven in a row. Didn't even realize. Looked at the standings. All right, seven in a row for the Angels. They are now tied with the Rangers. They are only four games back in the AL West. But in particular, Taylor Ward and Logan O'Hoppy are on fire. Logan O'Hoppy, two for five with his 14th home run. He has multiple hits in five of his last.

six games. He has five home runs in his last six games and overall up to a 275 batting average, 14 homers, 29 RBI, and an 865 OPS. Obviously the strikeouts are too high. Probably expect the batting average to come down a little bit, but as we just said yesterday, he hits the ball really hard, he optimizes it for power. And so I think maybe Chris made this comp the other day like a poor man's cow rally for Logan Ohio. Like, I don't think that's crazy. I mean, he's not going to walk as much as Raleigh, but just to be able to get, I don't know,

25-ish home runs. I mean, he's on a better pace in that right now. I mean, maybe he approaches 30 home runs. So, yeah, I mean, he's a poor man's cow Ralee if you're looking at three categories, mainly home runs at batting average. Possibly RBI as well. But the walks are kind of a big deal.

Like, they're on opposite ends of the spectrum as far. as how much they walk. So that impacts runs. It has a huge impact on points league value, apart from that. I don't think he's going to hit 45 home runs this year. That's the kind of pace he's on. So I would guess he's gotten close to half this season total already. And so just by definition, then, that makes him sell high, Logan O'Hoppy we're talking about.

And given the state of catcher this year, where there have been so many emerging options at the position from, I can't remember the Cardinals, Goera, Havana Herrera, to Drake Baldwin, to Augustine Ramirez, to Hunter Goodman. I think if you happened into one of them while originally investing in O'Hopi, O'Hopi is the one I would rather trade right now. So I don't know. From a practical standpoint, that's the only conversation I feel is worth having. If O'Hopi's the only good catcher you have,

obviously you're going to start them and you're not going to trade them. But if you happen to have an extra catcher, and it's one of those I just listed off, I like their upside more than O Hoppies. The other name here is Taylor Ward who went three for five with a grand slam, his 14th home run of the season.

Last 16 games for Taylor Ward, a 313 batting average. Eight home runs, 24 RBI, an OPS over 1100, 93 mile per hour average eggs of velocity. He is crushing it. The overall batting average is still a little bit lower just because he got off to such a bad start.

It's 225, but everything else, the power of the counting stats, you know, OPS creeping up around 800 now. 60% rostered Scott, as hot as Taylor Ward is, that number's got to be higher. Yeah, it does. It does. And he's on my sleeper hitters for this week.

We'll get to that later in the show. Also, when we talk about my polo. He was on your sleeper hitters for this current week, right? Yeah, the current week. So chalk that one up for the big guy, which I guess is me. I don't know why I'm the big guy. But here's the thing, though, about Taylor Ward is we've been down this road a few times with him.

I mean, it's sort of like with Logan O'Hoppy. He's at 14 already. Is he going to hit 45? No. What's Taylor Ward's career high in home runs? It's 20 something. 20, 25 is his career high. He'll probably set a career high.

I am willing to say that much for him because he's. banked so many already. But again, we've been down this road enough times to know how it goes with Taylor Ward. The overall numbers end up being decent with 20 to 25 homers and OPS around 750, a batting average. That isn't great, but won't kill you. They end up being decent. But it's because there are a couple of massive hot searches during the season, usually confined to the very beginning and end of the season, usually like an April-September thing. Go look at the career splits if you don't believe me. A couple of just like enormous hot streaks that allow him to finish with numbers like that. And then it's a desert the rest of the time, which doesn't mean it'll always be so, I guess.

But the fact that he's having one of those patented Taylor Ward hot streaks right now makes me feel like I'm watching the same movie, you know? So I don't know when the right time is to pawn him off. When he's 60% rostered, that ain't it. But if he does get up to like 90% rostered and hasn't fallen into a massive funk yet, I think you look to shop Taylor Ward at that point. Yeah, I mean, just hope to kind of catch lightning in a bottle here and keep riding this out as long as he's, you know,

that's the advice when he's 60% rostered. Yeah, for sure. All right, wanted to give a shout out to Jose Al-Tuvae, who also woke up two-for-four with a double-dong, four RBI. These were his first home runs and first RBI of May on May 22nd. So he was kind of, he was in a deep little funk himself there. Jose Al-Tu-Vay is. And Chris and I spoke about him on an upcoming podcast,

because we will not be live on Sunday night due to Memorial Day weekend. We have a podcast coming out on. Monday morning breaking down 10 struggling hitters and whether or not we expect them to bounce back. Well, you know, Jose Altuvae, I guess not struggling anymore. So scratch off anything we said about him. But we will be live again on Monday night to break down the long weekend. So if you're looking for a Sunday, we won't be here. There will still be a podcast that comes out.

10 struggling hitters, Altuve and Michael Harris and I don't know, a whole bunch of Nader Henderson and Brian Reynolds. So look forward to that. Big thanks to those watching us live. Make sure to hit the like button and subscribe on the YouTube channel if you have it already. Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. The news and notes, Julio Rodriguez was a late scratch due to back tightness. Manager Dan Wilson said J-Rod is day-to-day, which is rough timing with a division series against the Astros right now.

So pay attention if you're playing in any NFBC leagues where you set up. the lineup for the weekend as well. I'm not sure that Julio Rodriguez will be available for that. The Astros placed Renel Blanco on the aisle due to right elbow inflammation and he is seeking a second opinion, Scott, which

is always pretty ominous. Yeah, it is. It doesn't necessarily mean anything. Like I have my guard up. I think that's fair. But we don't know anything. other than he has elbow inflammation yet.

Going for a second opinion would suggest that either they can't see through the inflammation well enough to know if there's more going on or that some doctor told them something they didn't like and they're hoping to get a better answer from the other doctor. So yeah, we just got to wait to find out Rono Blanco has followed up his unexpected breakout Yeah, last year with a pretty solid start to this year and has looked especially good lately. So it would be a disappointment, obviously, if it turns out to be a longer-term issue. As we saw it with Hayden West Nesky from the same rotation. We're out with Tommy John's surgery now.

Brian Wu was struck by a foul ball in the dugout and was seen walking around gingerly. And it's not like this, anything but this. I mean, he's managed to stay healthy, nothing arm related, and boom, the guy gets hit by a foul ball. What is going on? After the game, the team did say that Brian Wu is expected to make his scheduled start on Saturday, which sounds like he's okay, hopefully. Mike Trout said that he had no soreness after jogging on the field Monday. We're still waiting for him to return.

Bruce Bochie said it will be another seven to ten days before Corey Seeger is activated from the IL. He is out for a second time with that hamstring strain. Glaber Torres left Thursday's game due to lower right leg discomfort. Monitor that, obviously having a nice bounce back season thus far. Bryce Miller said he will throw a simulated game Friday and will operate on a six-day routine moving forward. He believes if all goes well, he will avoid a rehab assignment. Justin Martinez has a good chance to return this weekend. He is 61% rostered, and assuming he's good to go, Scott,

it seems like Justin Martinez would just step right into the closer rule. Yeah, I mean, maybe they get him, give him an appearance or two in a lower leverage spot just to make sure all systems are go. But, yeah, it's been rough without him, so I'm sure they're anxious to have him back at the end of games. Carlos Correa is expected to return from the concussion IL on Friday. the Guardians reinstated Elaine Thomas from the IL. He's been out the past month with a bone bruise in his right wrist.

42% roster has got any interest in Lane Thomas. Very low-level roto interest. It kind of depends how much he plays because he wasn't playing that regularly early this season. And I mean, the Guardians offense needs help, but I don't know that he is help. I don't know that they think he's help at this point with the bat. But if he plays regularly, there's obviously 30 steal upside and at least 15 to 20 homer upside.

So depending how badly you need steals in a 5 outfield or roto league, you might take a flyer on lane, Thomas. And to your point about their offense not being great and needing help, I think I saw Chase DeLotter recently made his AAA debut. He's dealt with so many injuries, had another one this year. but if De Lauder hits well at AAA, he's someone we could see up with the Guardians soon, maybe, I don't know, summer months. Yeah, hopefully. Been weighing a long time for him.

Oh yeah. Reese Olson threw on flat ground on Thursday, his first time since going on the aisle with inflammation in his right ring finger. Chase Dolander was placing the aisle with right forearm tightness. Doesn't sound great. It appears that Sean Murphy

might be falling into a short side platoon, Scott. Gosh, the way this has evolved just so quickly, Drake Baldwin has started five games in a row versus a right-handed pitcher. Now, things change. Maybe it's just riding the hot hand, but I mean, the fact that Baldwin has prospect pedigree, and he's a left-handed bat, and Sean Murphy is a right-handed bat.

I don't think that they're just going to settle for Sean Murphy in a short-side platoon, but maybe I'm wrong. Well, Brian Snicker has said that he's taking it series to C, So, you know, I think a lot of it depends on who's hitting the best at the moment. But they're not going to bury Murphy, obviously. He's a very good defensive catcher. They're paying him a healthy sum of money. It's just, you know, if a lot of it's about writing the hot hand,

it's hard to get much hotter than Drake Baldwin has been since the start of April. because remember he was one for 15 to begin his major league career. So that was March, basically. But since the start of April, he entered this game Thursday, betting 420 with five home runs, Drake Baldwin. Like, you don't get any hotter than that. Yeah. No, I get why it's happening.

It's just, as somebody who has Sean Murphy and a few two-catcher leagues, God, it doesn't feel great right now. I think you'll hold on to him in two-catcher leagues, but he's probably not a one-catcher option as long as Baldwin remains healthy and producing. Christian Encarnacion Strand began a rehab assignment in the Arizona Complex League on Thursday. He's been out since April 17th with lower back inflammation.

36% rostered any interest in Christian Encarnacion Strand. There's upside, but there have been so many emerging upside plays at first base that it would have to be a pretty deep league, I think, or it'd have to be in a pretty desperate spot at first base to justify the roster spot for him. I think in most leagues, it's wait and see how it goes for incarnacion Strand. All right, Tyro Estrada was sent to AAA to begin a rehab assignment. He's 13% rostered, and we mentioned him the other day.

If you need a middle infielder in a roto league, a deeper league, I think he is a name you can look at. The A's are promoting outfield prospect, Denzel Clark, who is 25 years old, a fourth round pick in 2021. 31 games of AAA this year. He hit 286 with a 436 on base, zero home runs, seven steals. Some interesting exit velocities. Last year it was 13 homers, 36 steals. So clearly there are tools here, Scott. There's a little bit of power, a lot of speed, great fielder,

major questions about the hit tool. I don't even, I don't know that he's gonna like just be an everyday player for the athletics, but anything to know about Denzel Clark, any interesting here. Yeah, I'm interested. Not sure he's worth outing in fantasy outside of AL only at this point, but like the profile is interesting because he walks a ton and he hits the ball plenty hard. Max EV at AAA was 115. Few players are capable of that. Average was about 90, which is fine. But he hits the ball hard. He had zero home runs there because he's been putting the ball on the ground at

about a 70% rate. So he has adopted this kind of slash and burn style of hitting Denzel Clark has this year. And with the high walk rate, like, I don't know. I don't know if he wants to be a lead-off man or what. But a lot of the eggs of velocity is being wasted right now. In previous years, the ground ball rate wasn't nearly as high. So I have hoped that Denzel, Watton, Tenzel Clark. Tenzel Washington.

Let's go, Scott. Pick him up. Woo. Yeah, I have hoped that Denzel Clark figures this out, but nobody's listening to me anymore because they're just laughing at my Freudian slip there. And the Angels traded. Ryan noted to the Red Sox in exchange for cash. Perhaps he'll get some run at first base. Welcome back to George Kirby. Not a great return here at the Astros, three and two thirds, six hits, five runs, one walk, four. strikeouts, had nine whiffs on 72 pitches. I think even more than the results, we just want to see him get through a couple starts healthy, make sure the velocity's there, and everything looks okay.

I will mention Scott, the pitch mix was completely different here. So what do you think about George Kirby's return? Well, I don't know what to think. Like the velocity was good, it was fine, the control was good, it was fine, he thought. through 68% strikes. That's so much looked fine that I'm scratching my head over why the result was so bad.

You just said the pitch mix was vastly different. I think part of that is Stackcast was calling his slider a cutter in this one. It has the characteristics of the slider velocity spin rate movement. I think it just got it wrong.

And he hasn't suddenly introduced to cutter. that he barely threw last year. It was just his normal breaking ball or his main breaking ball. What was different about this start for George Kirby is he really leaned on the sinker. He threw it 53% of the time

and only 6% for seamers. Could there be some kind of classification issue going on there? I guess it's possible, but it's not as obvious looking at the other pitch characteristics. It seems to me like Kirby just was fading his foreseamer for some reason. And that's his best pitch.

It was most thrown last year It had his best whiff rate Which you hardly ever see the four seamer be a pitcher's best with pitch So I don't know what was going on with that The usage was normal On his rehab assignment There wasn't any weird things going on with sinker four seamer usage there So I don't know why it happened here in his first start back from the IL

Or how legitimate it is like I said But I don't like it I hope it goes away next time, George Kirby, you got too good of a form seamer to shelf it like that. And he also... Sheld it. Not shelf it. According to Statcast, through 13% changeups and no splitters.

It is a possibility. That's also a classification thing. But if that's accurate, George Kirby did not throw a change up at all last season. And his splitter has actually been a really good pitch for him the past couple of years. He doesn't throw it that much, usually 10% of the time. But yeah, through a different change-up it looks like here as well. So it just looked like a very different pitcher, George Kirby in his first outing out. Let's see, you know, we got a few starts under our belt here and kind of see how the pitch mix evolves.

But it was a curious one for George Kirby. He is 32% started right now on CBS Scott. Would you use him next week against the Nationals? It is in T-Mobile, which obviously is a great place, great place to pitch. I would hope I didn't have to, but I would be okay with it if it was obviously the best option. If I was, if it was Kirby or some scrub who I halfway expected to have a blow-up start, I'd just stick with Kirby. All right, let's talk about Tanner, Bibi. Is he back? Seven shutout innings, three hits, one walk, eight strikeouts, a season high there.

14 whiffs on 96 pitches. It was his first time over five strikeouts all season and threw more sweepers and curves, really noticed that he just completely mixed it up. I mean, he threw six different pitches between 10% and 34% usage. Last year, Bobby really just leaned on three main pitches, the fastball, the cutter change-up.

So I wonder if this is part of his evolution as a pitcher or he's just trying to figure how to get his whiffs back. What'd you think? I was not sure what to make of this one either. I'm a lot of help tonight, aren't I? Because there wasn't a lot. So which pitch are you saying is new? No new pitches, but he just mixed everything up more.

Between 10% and 30. Like he would throw pitches very sparingly, these four, fifth, six options last year. But now he's just, you know, six different pitches between 10 and 34%. It's just, he's really mixing it up. He's doing kind of like a Seth Lugo thing. Okay.

Yeah, I hadn't compared this year's usage to last year when I was looking at Tanya Piby's start to figure out what was different. I was comparing this year's usage to today's usage, if that makes sense. And what I saw there was fewer cutters, more sweepers, but not dramatically. So, and not in a way that you look at the characteristics of the pitches and you're like, oh, that makes perfect sense. Bybee should just keep doing that and he'll be fine. It was a good start, and I think he's a good pitcher, and he should have been having good starts all along. I don't know.

I don't know what to make of it. I think you should be encouraged if you have Tanner Bybee. I know nobody's dropped him, at least I should hope not. But I don't think, I can't say anything conclusively here. Like, he's fixed it, and here's why. I don't know for sure. I would just bet on him fixing it, given the caliber of pitcher he is. Yeah.

Last six starts, by the way, for Tanner Bybee, including this one, 237 ERA and a 105 whip. So he quietly has been okay, but this was clearly his best start of the season. Only 28 strikeouts over 38 innings during that stretch as well. So we do need more strikeouts. His swinging strike rate just 8% this year, 12% last year. 14 swinging strikes in this start. Let's hope that this kind of propels him.

towards more whiffs in the future. Let's stick with the pitchers, and there was a duel out in New York. It's time to do. Nathan Avaldi up against Carlos Rodon, and Avaldi, six innings, one run, six strikeouts here. Only nine whiffs on 105 pitches. He has just been money all season. Three earned runs or fewer in all 11 starts. One earned runner fewer in six straight for Nathan Avaldi.

and Carlos Rodan, six shutout innings, eight strikeouts, 16 whiffs on 105 pitches. And overall, the slider and change-up have just been awesome for him this season. And he's throwing his fastball with less velocity. I wonder if he's able to locate it better as a result. But because it's not getting hit nearly as hard. I mean, this is just the best that the overall pitch mix and package of pitches has looked for Carlos Rodan since joining the end.

Thank you, Scott. Anything else to add on him and Nathan Avaldi? Yeah. What's also curious about Rodan is you say maybe he's locating his pitches better. Well, his strike rate is the lowest it's been since 2019 before he was really a fantasy asset, if any kind. That doesn't mean he's not locating better. Like he could be staying out of the strike zone more on purpose, you know? Like he's doing exactly what he wants to do. Clearly, it's working for him. And there are some underlying changes here.

And there's enough of a track record of success for Carlos Redon that I'm taking it seriously. He's inside my top 30 pitchers for the rest of the season. He might have top 15 type of upside. I'm being a little cautious, but, you know, top 30 is nothing to sneeze at. So is Avaldi. Avaldi is in my top 30 pitchers as well. And that might surprise some people. that I'm giving

I don't know maybe it's shown it because obviously here almost a third of the way into the season of Aldi still sporting an ERA it's below two right still

160 yeah it's been great and it's great that long like you kind of look like an idiot if you if you don't budge in your rankings on him but I like to have actual reasons for it beyond that

and even though Nathan Avaldi's 35, even though he's never had an ERA below 363. He did have a 339 ERA in 2013 with the Marlins, but that was so long. Like nobody even remembers Avaldi pitch for the Marlins, you know? So that doesn't count. He's never had an ERA below 363. And, you know, you wouldn't expect a 35-year-old to have a breakout. Like, he's doing different things.

He has this curveball that's been, it's been his best pitch. this year and it has a different shape and it's it just looks like it's different form and it seems like it's brought his whole arsenal together and I think that might explain why Avaldi's having so much success even as the velocity's lower you know that that had always been kind of the problem for Avaldi is he dominate for stretches and then he lose velocity for a while and just get pounded but he's he's operated at that lower velocity this year and and had more success than he's ever had. So it may be the very rare age 35 breakout here for Avaldi.

I think that's a realistic possibility. And I do wonder if this was something that they wanted to do with not just Jacob de Gras, but also Nathan Avaldi, is lower that fastball velocity. And, you know, look, typically we don't want less velocity, but how can you argue with the results, right? I mean, it's, you know, he's down 1.4 miles per hour on the fastball this season, but, you know, he's throwing that pitch less.

He's mixing in those secondaries more, that curveball, which you mentioned has been so great for Nathan Avaldi. So, yeah, he looks very clearly a top 30 pitcher. I have him in that range as well. And, I mean, there is an argument for him to be ranked even higher. It's just, can he make it through a full season? That is one of the biggest questions. I'm looking and I'm seeing now his arm angles lower.

this year too. This is kind of a newer stat available on stat cast that I don't have a lot of familiarity with but it had been 32, 33 degrees the past three years. It's down to 30. Earlier in his career was way up. So it's been trending down over the course of his career, but it's at a low point here at 30 degrees. And you know, that might have something to do with the success too. All right. Let's take our final break. And when we return, we'll talk a little way

options and week 10 preview we'll do all of that right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Let's take a look at some waiver wire hitters from Thursday's action and mostly deep league names here, Scott. We had Gavin Sheets with a big game, three for five with a double dung and five RBI. He continues his breakout season, mid-career breakout with the Padres as well. Addison Barger continues to impress three for four with two walks and in his last 12 games. with the Blue Jays, 3.56 batting average, two homers,

eight RBI, one steel, an OPS near 1,000. Spencer Horwitz, a nice game here with the Pirates, two for five with his first home run. Solid season with the Blue Jays last year. Good eye at the plate makes a lot of contact, and a nice debut for Robert Hassel of the Nationals, two for five with two runs and his first stolen base. He had two hard hits in that game as well,

11% rostered. Scott, are you rushing out to add any of these names, I think more so in deeper leagues? Yeah, there are platoon issues here for most of them, certainly for Gavin Sheets. Addison Barger, it's been a long stretch of the Blue Jays facing only righties, so who knows, maybe by the time they face a lefty again,

he'll be, you didn't face a lefty today, did they? Because that'll make me feel dumb. No, they didn't. So, yeah, maybe he's done enough that by the time they finally face the lefty, the last one was May 7th. They'll want to put Barger in the lineup. But to this point, that hasn't been something they're willing to do. So that kind of limits his appeal to those very deep leagues. But he's hitting the ball extremely hard, whether you're talking average or max exit velocity,

the strikeout rate is respectable, the expected batting average, and the expected slug, 286 and 507. So he, like, he, he looks like, he looks like a real hitter, Addison Barter.

Sheets, I don't think he's going to overcome the platoon situation in San Diego, so that limits his appeal quite a bit. Hassel, we still don't really know the playing time situation for him. They have Alex Call, who they've liked to give playing, starts too from time to time and he was out of the lineup to the Hassel in.

But he looks fast. I watch that game. He can motor. That is something Hassel does well. And Horowitz, I don't really know that he has the power upside we're looking for at first base. He is also eligible at second base, at least for the rest of this year.

I doubt that'll be something that carries over to next year. And so maybe Horwitz can turn into, I guess kind of a Jake Croninworth type between first and second base with 15 to 20 Homer upside. But if that's what he's aspiring to and we don't think he's

like a lock for that kind of production yet. Yeah, there's just not that much interest there. All right, on the pitching side of things, got just two names and I don't think there's much interest, but I'll ask anyway. Luis Severino, quality start against the Angels, six innings, two runs, five strikeouts to zero walks. Severino kind of feels like a matchups play at this point.

He's at the Astros next week, so I don't... I don't know. I don't hate the matchup, but I don't love it either. Aaron Savali was okay in his return to the Brewer's rotation. He was at the Pirates, four innings, two runs, three strikeouts. Velocity was up between one and 1.5 miles per hour on almost all of his pitches, so that was nice to see, but another name that kind of just feels like a streamer type here, Savali. Yeah.

I'm not even willing to say, go ahead and stream him for Zavali yet. And it was against the Pirates and he didn't go five innings. And yeah, I need to see more from Savale to even call him a streamer. Severino is a streamer, sure. And the matchups are right. Not a bad choice to use. Not really a strikeout pitcher anymore. And doesn't get ground balls at a particularly high rate,

which could be a problem pitching, half his games in Sacramento. but he can be efficient. He can work deep into games. It could be another James and Tyone situation. And, you know, pay attention what his matchups are. All right, let's get into the week 10 preview. Now it's time for our weekly preview brought to you by Travis Matthew, apparel designed for confidence and comfort,

no matter where the day takes you. And let's take a look at the schedule for next week. Lots of games, 28 teams with six games, two teams, with seven. We have the Rays and Blue Jays. You know, I did not check out the Rockies, Scott. Do you have that? They're on the road.

On the road. Rocky Road action. Yeah. Well, use your pitchers against them, that's for sure. But definitely not looking for any of their hitters. We usually aren't anyway. Start or sit these two-star pitchers and Spencer Strider.

Did he lose his second start for this week, Scott? He did because of that rain on Wednesday. Gosh. So we're obligated to use them again. Another two starts coming up. At the Phillies, home against the Red Sox?

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you're playing them? I mean, you'd hate to give up 20 strikeouts there. Yeah. Not that that's guaranteed by any means.

It's a gamble. I don't have Spencer Strider in the must-start tier of the two-star pitcher rankings, but he is at the next tier, which is advisable in most cases. I wish it wasn't the case that he was making two starts this week. I wish that game hadn't got rained out. We could have seen a second start before he made a decision on Strider in week 10,

and it would have only been for one start. Yeah. But, you know, if some butts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas. Gavin Williams is home against the Dodgers and Angels. Yeah, I will lean yes on that, especially since the Angels are the second most strikeout-prone lineup in baseball, and Williams has been getting a bunch of those lately.

Dodgers matchup is scary, though. Yeah. What about Taj Bradley, who faces the Twins and at the Astros? That one I'm probably leaving for points leagues. I think there's too much downside risk for Roto. Nick Martinez, at the Royals and at the Cubs. Again, one good matchup, one bad. He is RP eligible, so that gives Nick Martinez an advantage in points leagues.

And I think that's the only sort of league I'd want to start him in. I know his previous start against was the Pirates or the White Sox, a really good matchup. And he turned in a good outing, but the strike rate was back down to like 58%, which is just not going to work for Nick Martinez. So I'm a little skeptical of the good work he's done recently. What about J.P. Sears at the Astros and at the Blue Jays? Yeah, the fly ball rate giveth and the fly ball rate taketh the way. And lately it tooketh away from Sears.

Some bad outings recently, which is why I think you leave him for points at least. All right, who are some two-star pitchers that you are looking to add and stream for next week? I am looking to add and stream not just for next week, But forevermore, the top two on the list, Hayden Bird's Song and Ryan Weathers, both about 60% rostered, way too low, way too low given the upside. And what they've shown in their brief time in the rotation this year, so Hayden Birdsong has the better matchups this week at Detroit, and they've technically scored a lot of runs,

but it's really more that he's facing Marlins in the second turn, Birdsong. and he did everything we wanted to see over five innings in his first outing. So I think Bird's song is a good call. Weathers, the fastball has played, you know, since coming back from the IEL, the fastball's played like it was in spring training up a couple miles per hour, a couple extra inches of induced vertical break. And his first two outings were on the shorter end, but he gave up just one run in each against the Cubs both times.

So if he could do that against the Cubs, just imagine what he's going to do. Well, the matchups are kind of tough to Padres and Giants, but they're not as bad as the Cubs is the point. So you've got to get weather's in there. Let's see, Jameson-Tayone gets the Rockies on the road, meaning in Chicago. And he gets the Reds on the road, meaning in Chicago, not in Cincinnati, notably because that's a Homer-friendly park. And Tion is vulnerable to home runs. So I think he's a fine play with those matchups. Eric Fetty don't trust him any further than I can throw him

and I couldn't even throw him an inch because he probably weighs more than me but he gets the Orioles and the Rangers and they are both bottom six offenses believe it or not so I think Fetty might just pull through with those matchups all right what about the one-star streamers

I see some pretty lots of picking on the Rockies here I like it yes that is the theme We had the two-star Tijuana. Some one-start pitchers going against the Rockies are... These aren't necessarily at the top of the list. But David Peterson and Kate Horton, I have among my 10 streamer pitchers. Peterson has started to work deeper into games.

He's managed to keep the runs low all along because of a near 60% ground ball rate. Horton introduced that change-up in his last start against the Marlins. Got a lot more whiffs, even though the overall result was questionable. I think he's trending the right direction, and I love picking on the Rockies outside of course field. One star streamers that I like even more. Drew Rasmussen gets the injury depleted twins lineup. Dustin May gets the Guardians who have not been very good offensively this year.

And I'm kind of surprised Dustin May is only 70% rostered and qualifies for this list. I think the 2 and 4 record has something to do with it. That record's going to get flipped with the, with the Dodgers backing up May. I have a lot of confidence in that. Tyler McGill gets the White Sox. He's cut almost 13K per 9, and yet nobody's buying into him

because his outings are so short. I think I'll go at least five against the White Sox and maybe get double-digit strikeouts again. Luis Ortiz has turned into a great batmissor with the Guardians. They did it again. And he gets the Angels, who have the second most strikeouts.

of any team. I think I hit everybody there, right? Yeah, those are the one-star streamers. All right, let's slide over to the hitters and the best matchups for next week. We have the Orioles, Mets, D-Backs, Padres, and Cardinals, the worst-hitter matchups, Phillies, Pirates, Red Sox, Athletics, and Tigers. Scott, who are the sleeper hitters for week? Number 10.

So you heard all those favorable matchups, and they're not going to get mentioned again because basically all the sleeper hitters for this week are. are just hitters who are way too available, not necessarily the ones with the best matchups, but the worst matchups aren't really that bad for the typical week. There are a lot of hitter matchups that are just kind of in the middle. So matchups weren't a big differentiator here. These hitters are just undervalued by and large.

Austin Hayes, only 58% roster. That's ridiculous. He's been amazing in between IEL stints and facing two injury depleted rotations this week, Royals and Cubs. So I think you got to get him not just rostered, but not just streamed, but like just on your roster period. T.J. Friedel, Red's leadoff hitter, also gets to take advantage of those matchups.

And Will Benson, who actually has 12 homers between the majors and minors this year, and it's looked great since being called up. He has not played against lefties, but there's only one on the schedule for the Reds. So I think Will Benson. He's the 10th hitter here, but he's definitely worth mentioning. Others higher on the list, we got Reese Hoskins, who's like slashing 300, 400, 500 on the year. I don't know why he's as available as he is.

He's been great. Taylor Ward, we talked about him. Jake Berger is called up and he's been hot. I think Jonathan Arronda, he's on one of the two teams playing seven games, the race. And there's just one lefty on the schedule. I wish the matchups were better. There's some tough pitchers there for the raise.

But if you're going to, if Aranda, if we can't play Aranda during the weeks where he's facing six lefties, then there's just not much of a point. You mean six righties? Six Ritees, yeah. There's just not much of a point. You have to take advantage of those weeks, regardless of how tough the pitchers are. Ryan O'Hern, Orioles had the very best hitter matchups, all righties. So O'Hern, you got to play. Guriel's had a good May.

the Diamondbacks have the third best matchups. That's Lordis Gurriel. Matt Shaw has looked good since returning for the minors. The Cubs matchups are pretty good. Three games against the Rockies pitching staff in particular. So I think it's not a bad time to try out Shaw again. Maybe get a little power speed combo working this week. All right.

That was the weekly preview brought to you by Travis Matthew apparel designed for confidence and comfort no matter where the day takes. to big fan of Travis Matthew. I am wearing this cloud waffle collection shirt here. It's one of the most comfy shirts that I have ever worn. It's like a thermal, but even better. It's just more, it's like a thermal

and a sweater at a baby, and this is what popped out. It's got like you're wearing a cloud. Yes, exactly that. I love the polo too that you're rocking. You got the Braves logo on the side there. I've got mine with the Yankee logo. It feels great. It looks great.

So for any, obviously, people listening, You're a baseball fan. There's an MLB collection over on the website for Travis Matthew that I encourage many people to check out. Big thanks to Travis Matthew for making clothes for any occasion that are not only comfy but stylish as well. Let's wrap up with some leftovers here, Scott. And on the hitting side of things,

Trey Turner is running more this season. He swiped another bag on Thursday. He's up to 12 in 48 games. That is a 40 stolen base pace. We also would like more power. He's only got three home runs. But at least he's running. I guess that's the positive for him.

Zach Netto will not stop. Three for five with two runs scored. And I saw this tweet from the underdog MLB account. Zach Netto over his last 162 games. 30 homers, 34 steals, 91 runs 87 RBI bat. That's pretty awesome for Zach Netto. And Brent Rooker had himself a big game at three for four with his 11th home run. and I kind of like the idea of trying to buy it Rooker Now, Scott.

It's not really a buy low. He's been okay. It's like a buy medium, I guess you could say. But the expected stats look great. And I really do think that as the weather heats up in Sacramento, I think the ball is just going to fly out of there. Could be. Could be. Yeah, the expected stats look even better.

At least the expected batting average even better than last year. The strikeout rate is down below 25% for the year. when it was up near 30 last year. I remember that was my biggest concern with Rooker coming in. It's, you know, it could go back. He could have a bad week of strikeouts and suddenly that strikeout rate is back up to where it was last year. But it is, you'd rather see it lower than higher,

and it's lower right now. So for the most part, I feel pretty good about Rooker. Trey Turner, I keep finding excuses to put short. short stops ahead of him in my rest of season rankings. First it was Zonio Cruz, now it's C.J. Abrams. I don't want to move Turner down necessarily, but I think of those three players, the power concerns are clearest for Turner.

And so while he still does, why I still think he's a great asset and valuable in many ways, I'm not so confident that he's just going to deliver his usual 20 to 25 home runs, only three so far. Yeah, might be more like 15 homers. The shape of the production might be different this year. 15 homers, but if he can approach 40 steals, that obviously is really valuable. And, you know, of the names you mentioned, he's probably going to provide the best batting average, I would say, right? Trey Turner.

Yeah, though. I want to I know C.J. Abrams hasn't been a great source of batting average to this point. If the pull air rate continues the power production we've seen so far and if he maintains the lower strikeout rate,

I think C.J. Abrams could end up being more of a help than a hindrance in batting average. All right. What about the pitching leftovers, Ranger Suarez the great in course field, six and two-thirds shutout with six strikeouts. He had a rough first start

against the debacks where he gave up seven earned runs, but since then, three quality starts in a row, two of those seven innings, so Ranger Suarez looks back on track. Jack Flaredi, a quality start against the Guardian, six and two-thirds, three runs with eight strikeouts. And Scott, what happened? AJ Smith-Shawber, your boy, he got rocked at the Nationals.

Three innings, seven hits, three walks to one strikeout, 11 hard hits allowed in this one. Wolf. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, they just clearly had his number. And I don't like this can happen sometimes. So Smith Schaver dominated in his previous start against the Nationals and he comes right back and is facing the exact same lineup. And they just, they have too good of a read on him.

And that could be a problem if it continues over the course of his career, you know, like you have to. Once the scouting reports, the film gets. gets out on you, players get a look at you, and you don't have that element of surprise going for you anymore. You have to figure out a way to work around that. And that might be the next hurdle in Smith Schavers development. You know, it hasn't been like across the board, um, clear telltale signs of breakout for Smith Schawe. He had been trending the right direction. and his last few starts, it seemed like each one was better than the last.

And just watching a pitch, I mean, the upside is obvious. But it's not, like, I'm not so sold on it being a breakout for Smith Schoffer that if he has, if he follows up this start with another one just like it, I think we're back to discussing maybe dropping up that point. So hopefully he bounces back from this one.

Yeah. I mean, the walks have been a problem here. the fastball gets hit really hard for Smith Chauver as well. The splitter and curve look like really, really good pitches for him. I just, I wonder if maybe he should move a little bit away from that fastball. Not completely abandoned it, but, you know, maybe mixing those secondary pitches more, yeah. Yeah, he does throw the fastball a lot. I'm trying to see if I jot it down what the usage was in this one.

46% fastball. That's not as many as I thought, but. Yeah. But maybe if he lived in the like 35% range, you know, something like that. Might help him out. Call to the bullpen for the Yankees. Devin Williams got the eighth inning again with a one-run lead. He struck out one for his fifth hold.

And Luke Weaver got the ninth. He struck out one for his seventh save. For the Blue Jays, Jeff Hoffman got the ninth with a two-run lead. He immediately gave up a walk and then a game-tying two-run homer and took his third blown save. I understand if people are frustrated, Scott, but whenever I dig in to Jeff Hoffman's numbers, they all look awesome.

I can't just keep saying it's bad love. it's like clearly he's leaving pitches out over the plate that hitters can drive in bad times but I still trust the talent here yeah it just becomes a question if the blue jays decide he's costing them too many games and and that they have to they have to do something else with the ninth inning i there isn't i don't think there's a clear backup plan there so i'm i'm sure that's i think jimmy Garcia is pretty good. Yeah. I mean, he's been around for a while

and never really take into that closer role. But he has been pretty solid this year, missing bats, getting strikeouts at a better rate than I thought. So they could go that route. And that would be my biggest concern for Jeff Hoffman, less that he's just not good enough to do this, than that the Blue Jays run out of patience and he doesn't get the chance to recover.

For the Padres, Robert Suarez got the 10th inning with a one-run lead. He allowed the Ghost Runner in on a single. He took his second blown save. For the Phillies, Jordan Romano got the ninth inning with a two-run lead. He struck out two for his sixth save. And in May, Jordan Romano,

eight shutout innings with 12 strikeouts to one walk. He looks like he might be pretty good. 74% rostered, so still out there in a few shallower leagues. For the Nationals, Kyle Finnegan got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He gave up an unearned run on two hits, took his third blown save, and for the

Brewers, Trevor McGill entered with two runners on, a four-run lead, no outs in the ninth inning, and he converted his eighth save of the year. I mean, this, this Chorden Romano turnaround. I thought they were going to,

I thought by the end of April they were going to cut them, know, it was crazy. Yeah, his ERA at one point, oh, this website isn't updating like it should. So I can't look up what his ERA was at one point, but it was very, it was like over 12 as recently as, oh my gosh, it was seven. Is that right? No, I didn't pick the right day, ranch. All right, it was 1350 as late as April 26th. Oh, yeah.

He looked like he couldn't get anybody out. Like he might be, like he said, like he might be at the end of his career. And then since then, he's allowed, you know, so basically a month's time almost, he's allowed four total base runners. Nine shutout innings, 13Ks, just completely transformed.

And that just shows why it's so hard. I mean, 15 team roto leagues where saves are gold. I dropped him in a 15 team. Yeah, so did I. A couple of them. And now he's back and he's somebody else's. And like what? So, so frustrating.

Yeah. I mean, what could you do? But it goes to show you that if patience was worth it, even in Romano's case, where there was nothing redeeming there, then for all these players who have struggled so far, there's plenty redeeming. There's plenty of reason for optimism. Keep the faith.

All right. To stream or not to stream for Friday, we have Clark Schmidt at the Rockies, Landon Roup at the Nationals, Clayton Kirschall at the Mets, Sean Burke against the Rangers, Noah Cameron at the Twins, G-Lito, home against the Orioles.

Yeah, this isn't good. I think we said that the best choices, we were discussing Friday Slate yesterday. Actually, it looks different now. Clark Schmidt at Colorado, was he an option before? I think he might have been a TBD, but now they've added him in there, so. Yeah, I think he's my favorite.

You know, Colorado is Colorado, but Colorado, the team isn't Colorado. I guess it is. They've been bad for a while now, but you get what I'm saying. Like, they're so bad at Corse Field can't even save him. So Schmidt, then Rup, then I know a Cameron at the twins, but I don't love it. On Saturday we have Zebby Matthews home against the Royals, Jake Irvin home against the Giants, Colin Ray is at the Reds, Jack Leiter at the White Sox, Luis Ortiz at the Tigers, Jose Soriano home against the Marlins.

Yeah, I like this a little better. I will say Soriano against the Marlins. and Jack Leiter at the White Sox, I probably over Soriano even. Yeah. And then Luis Ortiz at Detroit, I don't mind. I think it's a good chance he gives you eight plus strikeouts at least. And then on Sunday we have Will Warren at the Rockies,

Mike Soroka Home Against the Giants. Edward Cabrera at the Angels. You don't sound enthusiastic. How far can we stream against the White Sox, Scott? Because Patrick Corbyn is at the White Sox. Too far for me. He's actually looked okay for what it's worth. Yeah, too far for me.

Realistically, the only one I'd consider Sunday is Will Warren at Colorado. Okay. If we have to give out a second one, I will say Patrick Corbyn at the White Sox. Okay. But, ooh, that is risky. We are going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify.

And we will be back again on Monday night. Reminder, not live on Sunday. Memorial Day weekend. Everybody enjoy. Stay safe. But we would be back again on Monday night. See you there. Bye-bye.