Fantasy Baseball Today - Ronald Acuña Is Back! Week 5 Sleepers & Two-Start Pitchers (4/29 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 29, 2022

Ronald Acuña is back (1:00)! What are our expectations? ... Adalberto Mondesi is out for the season while Zack Wheeler had his best start of the season (5:07). ... Freddy Peralta and Trevor Rogers are getting back on track (8:50). ... Justin Verlander, Alek Manoah and Kyle Wright continue to look like studs (15:00). ... Is Alec Bohm a must-roster hitter (18:06)? How do we rank the latest waiver wire outfielders. ... News and notes (27:14): hitting is down in the minors plus we have starting pitcher injury updates. ... Let's get you ready for Week 5 with two-start pitchers and sleepers (33:50). ... Where did this Jose Quintana start come from (48:25)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (53:30). Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get 20% off Fantasy Baseball Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @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/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday 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

And welcome in to fantasy baseball today on April 29th. Frank Stamphle joined by Scott White today on the show. We had some pitchers get back on track. We'll talk about those week five sleepers, two star pitchers, and much more. But first, even before we get to, oh my goodness gracious, welcome back. Welcome back is in order for Ronald Acuna Jr. Three weeks into the season, he is back on Thursday, goes one for four, two strikeouts, but two steals already.

Are you kidding me? Scott, this guy looks healthy. He looks good. And honestly, hopefully he can be the start of the return to offense in fantasy baseball because it was great to see him back on the field. Yeah, it was great to see him back for sure. Turns out more than a week sooner than expected, which, yeah, I think we saw that coming, right? even when they announced,

even before he began his minor league rehab assignment, right? It's like, you're really going to need three weeks. That seems excessive. And so he's back. And the fact he's running, I think, is a good sign for that knee. If you were worried that any skill would be diminished after a torn ACL, it would be what he does on the base path is obviously a big part of what he provides in fantasy. Of course, now the line from the brave.

is that he's not going to be ready to play every day yet. In fact, one of the beatwriters was tweeting out, they're not expecting him to be ready to play every day until a year after the surgery, which would be in July sometime. But, of course, there's the DH and the NL now. I'm not sure I really believe them about that either. We'll see when the Friday lineups come out if he's in it.

He's not supposed to be in it. but if he is in it, D.H. or otherwise, I think that's a pretty good early indication that they're not going to stick to that line about him not playing every day yet. Yeah, come on. I mean, the guy was playing the minors. He probably wasn't playing every day there, but he's running, he looks healthy. I get it. This is one of the most prized assets in real-life baseball, in fantasy baseball. I understand why they would want to be cautious with him. but hey, don't look now. The Braves are kind of off to a weird start right now.

It's a long season. I'm sure they'll be fine, but they could use Ronald Acuna's bat in the lineup. The rest of season projections, according to Steamer over on Fangraphs, have Ronald LeCunia at 32 homers and 27 steals. Scott, for fun, let's just say I set the over-under at 59 and a half,

home runs and steals combined. From here until the rest of the season, would you take the over-under for Ronald Cunia? That sounds high to me. Sounds high. I'm not saying it's impossible, but usually when you're projecting something, you'll want to make the estimate a little on the conservative side. You know, he has only missed what, the three and a half weeks or, you know, the season started on a Thursday. So I guess three weeks, exactly, yeah. Three weeks, which isn't really that much. Over. He's going over, Scott.

24 homers and 17 seals and 82 games last year. He's a full. He's a full. freak, man. Yeah, but what if he's not playing every day for two months? I mean, I could see it maybe for the first couple of weeks, but man, by the time we get to late May, he's playing every day. I think he is, but what do

I know? You're probably right. All right, I'm with you. I'll take the over. I'm with you, Frank. Yes, for the first time ever. Scott is with me. Speaking of Young Stud stealing bases, I just wanted to highlight this because I was pretty blown away when I actually saw. Julio Rodriguez leads baseball in still

on bases. One for three with two more steals on Thursday. Now has eight steals again that leads baseball slowly coming around. He has seven hits over his last six games. Strikeouts are still an issue. He has at least one strikeout in every game but one. But when he gets on base, he has the green light and he's been successful so far. So you love to see that from J. Rod. And his counterpart, his rookie counterpart, Bobby Witt. Also now on a seven game hitting streak since being dropped in the order. Nine hits, three steals during that time. He stole another. base on Thursday. You love to see it from the youngsters.

Anyway, that was all ahead of, oh my goodness gracious. Take it away, Susan. Oh, my goodness gracious. All right, Scott. What made you say, oh, my goodness gracious on Thursday? Well, what made me say, oh, my goodness gracious, wasn't anything that happened on the field. And it's probably going to be a pretty short conversation. But at Alberto Mondesie, the torn ACL.

already out for the season. When the knee injury first happened, it seemed like they were downplaying. Oh, I saw, maybe he'll go on the I.L. Maybe you won't. Torn ACL, done. He gave you five steals. Hopefully, that wasn't one steal per round.

Hopefully you drafted them a little later than that, because that's all you're getting from them. It's over already. And, you know, you always feel like you should have seen it coming. but man, you only have two ACLs to tear. Like at some point, like how many ways can it go wrong, you know? Yeah, frustrating. It's rough.

It's rough. I feel so bad for the guy too. It's just he cannot stay on the field. Again, this is at Alberto Mondesi, torn ACL out for the rest of the season. Somebody asked me earlier on Thursday morning, Scott, if they can drop Mondisey in a, I believe a 10-team Categories Dynasty League. What do you think about that? Probably not.

It'd be easier to say no if it was deeper than 10 teams. And if it wasn't a Categories league, yeah, probably not. Probably need to hold on to him in that format. All right. On to next year. Let's see what Mondesey does, I guess, in spring training. Or we'll probably read something about what he's doing in Winter Ball and we'll get excited and he'll.

be a top seven round pick again. Somehow, some way. Oh my goodness gracious for me. Zach Wheeler, nice little bounce back. Actually, it was a very good bounce back. His best start of the season, up against the Rockies. The game was in Philadelphia, so you get the Rockies on the road, but they've been playing pretty good on the road.

Six shutout endings for Zach Wheeler, one hit, four walks, seven strikeouts, 11 swinging strikes on 90 pitches in this one. He only allowed two hard hit balls. Don't love to see that the velocity still is not. up where it was last year, Scott. He was sitting 95 miles per hour with the fastball. Last year, that was 97 for Zach Wheeler. But slowly, the results are starting to come back.

The walks here are not great, but strikeouts, you love to see it, limiting the hard contact. I think we're slowly coming around here with Zach Wheeler. Remember, he didn't have a spring training. So this is basically his spring training. Yeah, I was a little disappointed that the velocity didn't climb anymore from the previous start. It did improve last time out, but it's still more than a mile per hour

short of where it was last year. And so I hope he's not plateauing, but other than the four walks, the results were good. And, you know, I choose to be encouraged by it, I would say. Makes sense to me. I would assume that we're starting him next week

at home against the Texas Rangers. Yep. The Texas Rangers, by the way, for the big bats that they brought in, Corey Seger and Marcus Semyon, not that they're doing anything right now, they are a team that you want to throw your pitchers against. The Rangers are 29th in weighted on base average against right-handed pitching this season. So make sure Zach Wheeler is back in your lineups next week. Let's take a look at a few other pitchers, Scott, who got back on track.

Freddie Peralton now two strong starts in a row. This one at the Pirates, six shutout innings, three hits, zero walks, to seven strikeouts. And then Trevor Rogers also makes it two strong starts in a row after that blow-up start he had his second start of the season at the Nationals in this one. Six innings, one run, four strikeouts to two walks. It wasn't a standout performance, and the Asper Velocity was actually down one mile per hour for Trevor Rogers, but the results are there for both him and Freddie Peralta.

What did you see? There's a couple weird things going on with both of these guys, kind of like with Rogers, or kind of like with Wheeler, I should say. I'm not totally, like, relieved and, okay, there's, you know, it's going to be smooth sailing from here. Of course, I had concerns about Trevor Rogers coming into the season. But the swinging strike rate has been pretty unimpressive so far as it was down the stretch last year. And the change-up in particular has been such a critical pitch for him to this point in his career. It just isn't playing the same.

Eight of his nine swinging strikes. and this one were on pitches other than the change-up. I guess the easier way to say that was he had one swinging strike on the change-up today. And Freddie Peralta, it's kind of a similar story. His slider, really both of his breaking balls, to the extent he has two different ones. It played a lot better last year. It was getting a lot more whiffs, like a big discrepancy in that rate early on, in this start.

Like he's really just doing it with the fastball right now. And I don't think that's going to be a formula for success over the whole season. And I'm not saying like it's time to panic and move Freddie Peralta and Trevor Rogers. But I think it's still up in the air. If they're totally fine, if they're going to be who you drafted them to be. So, you know, whatever you decide to do with them, that's what you have to keep in mind. And I see similarities between the two, Scott, because they're both young-ish starting pitchers who, obviously nobody threw much in the short in 2020, and then both of these guys saw a pretty big increase in their workload last year.

And again, being as young as they are, I mean, it's pretty taxing, and now they're coming off of that. So how does the body respond? How do the pitches respond? How crisp are those pitches? And right now you make a good point because I just looked up those exact pitches. Trevor Rogers' change-up. The swinging strike rate is 12.5% that was entering Thursday. Last year, it was 19%.

And Freddie Peralta's slider entering Thursday, 7.8% swinging strike rate. Last year, that was 20%. Big difference. Yeah, massive difference for those guys right now. And another thing worth pointing out is that it hasn't been talked about so much because the focus has been on offense and how offense is down. around the league here in April. Strikeouts are down around the league, too, which, particularly if you're comparing it to last

April. April is usually the worst month for strikeouts. It's usually the worst month for offense. But compared to last April, strikeouts are down. And that's after decades and decades of strikeouts rising every year. That trend appears to be reversed here early on. And, you know, I've noticed with particular pictures, like, Alec Manoa has been great this year. And the swinging strike rate's great.

He has exactly a strikeout per inning, which you want to think of as a great strikeout rate, you know? Michael Kopeck has less than a strikeout per inning. There are tons of examples like that where you think of big strikeout guys who have big stuff, and their strikeout rates, you look at them, and it's just like, you know, I expect it to be higher than that. So I don't know exactly what to make of that,

particularly since hitters are struggling so much, it's not because they're not putting the bat on the ball. One thought that occurred to me is, well, strikeouts declined after the sticky substance ban went into effect last year. This is the first April we're seeing with it in effect, and them cracking down even more because they're checking the actual hands of the pitchers

as they walk off the mound as opposed to just their belts and hats and places where they may have normally hit. sticky substance. They're just going straight to the hand. So even less they can get away with. And maybe that's having an impact. I don't know. Maybe baseball's not as crazy as we think it is. They're going about it about these changes in kind of a piecemeal fashion with the deadened

balls and the sticky substance band. Next year we're going to get the infield shift band. band, you know, in concert, you could see how this could all add up to making it less, making it no longer a three true outcomes game, getting back to the preferred aesthetic of fielding plays and people running around the bases, you know, I'm not saying the rollout of this new ball has gone great. There's, there definitely seems like there are things that can be tweaked, but three years from now, we may, it may be a sport with a better aesthetic. They may have, they may have fixed a lot of what ailed it. It's just, it's just painful getting there.

I hope you're right, Scott, because I am tired of talking about a new ball, a new environment, sticky substances every single year. It's, you know, we've got some new kind of wacky change that we have to work into our analysis. And look, I'm not complaining about it. It's part of the job. I love doing this. You love doing this. this, but it makes it hard. Go ahead and complain. It makes it hard. It's crazy.

It does make it hard. It makes us look like idiots. It's hard, man. You know what? Maybe we are. Ah, man. You mentioned Alec Manoa. Let's talk about a few studs being studs.

Pitcher edition. Manoa, four straight quality starts to open the season. This one against the division rival, Boston Red Sox. Seven shutout innings, three hits, one walk. Seven strikeouts here. Justin Verlander, ho-ho-hum, three straight quality starts for him. Two, going seven. plus innings. His ERA is 1.73, his whip 0.69.

Velocity on all of his pitches up on Thursday. I know we said this about Carlos Rodon the other day, Scott, but Rodon might be start for start in the discussion for the best pitcher in baseball. If Justin Verlander is just Justin Verlander, he's probably in that discussion as well. So he's looked awesome. And then your boy, Kyle Wright, just another one as well.

Three straight third quality start in his first four. his third straight start with eight plus strikeouts for Kyle Wright. This was the first time we kind of saw the walks get in the way, four walks to eight strikeouts, but seven innings, one run ball, the ground ball rate up this season for Kyle Wright, just continues to look like that breakout candidate. What did you see from Wright, Manoa, Verlander?

So your point about Verlander is well taken, and if we're just talking who's going to have the best fantasy season, Yeah, I mean, it could be Verlander. Verlander has the advantage over those two Burns and Rodon in terms of expected workload. Even coming back from Tommy John surgery, I don't expect it to limit him much. You know, it's more of a pitch-for-pitch thing.

Burns and Rodon probably put him ahead of Verlander in terms of how good they are pitch-for-pitch. But yeah, Verlander's been great. Top 10, maybe top-five, rest of way is how I'd rank him. Manoa, I mentioned the strikeout rate is a little disappointing, but he's not alone in that regard, and Wright continues to look like somebody you're glad you picked up in week one. 100%.

I mean, if he is not the biggest breakout so far, I don't know who is. I mean, I'm sure I'm forgetting someone right now, but Kyle Wright has been awesome. Scott, I saw you move him up to SP36 in your rankings. I have him at 43. probably deserves to move up a little bit. Chris has him inside of his top 40. Again, that is Kyle Wright.

I've got Minow at SP20, Scott. Any thought to move him up even further? I know you have him at 26. Not a huge disparity, obviously. I'd have to look at who I have right ahead of him. So you've got Darvish, Kirschaw, Musgrove, Paralta, Berrios. I feel like I have Manoa about as high as I can have him.

because I'm not ready, like I haven't soured on any of those top 25 types coming in, like Darvish and Kershaw, who were right ahead of him. So I'm not saying Manoa can't crack that group, but I'm not ready to do that yet with him. All right. Yeah, I mean, really the difference is you have him at the bottom of that tier.

I have them at the top of that tier. So I love what I've seen from him thus far. Let's talk about some hitters, Scott. Alec Bohm, some waiver wire hitters at that. Alec Bohm goes one for four with his. the second home run of the season. He is 64% rostered, six home games next week. Would you consider Alec Bohm a must-add hitter right now?

Playing every day. Well, I mean, the fact he plays third base, there is somebody in your league who should probably be not just rostering Bone, but starting him because third base is terrible and is somebody who just lost at Alberto Mondesie in a 16-team league. I don't know what to do about it.

Bome's already gone. I'd have to pick up Patrick Wisdom or something. I don't know. Yeah, no, Bome is hitting the ball incredibly hard. His strikeout rate is about half of what it was last year, which is more in line with what we expected all along. We expected him to be a good contact hitter. Great on base skills.

Get a home run today, obviously. I think that's still the biggest question because he doesn't put the ball in the air a lot. But if he hits it hard enough, it may not matter. He may have a high enough home run to fly ball rate that he emerges as a true standout at third base. I think he's one of the most interesting hitter pickups if he is still available in your league. Again, that is Alec Bohm. Let's talk about a few outfielder, Scott. And we were talking beforehand every day.

It seems like there's so many outfielders emerging that we need to talk about who are available in a good amount of CBS League. So on Thursday, the names that we have, Brandon Marsh, we keep talking about Taylor Ward, rightfully so. Taylor Ward has been awesome. Brandon Marsh, very quietly, has been very good as well. Three for four with an RBI. He picked up his third steal of the season. He's batting 3.40.

Strikeout rate is down. Line drive rate is ridiculous right now for Brandon Marsh. A few other names, Andrew Benintendi, went two for three with a double. He's batting 3993. Austin Hayes, four for five with three doubles on Thursday. Robbie Grossman's bet, hit three for five. now has 13 hits over his last seven games.

Doesn't have any home runs or steals, but he's batting 327. Kind of an odd line for Robbie Grossman right now. And then Andrew McCutcheon, went three for four, hit his first home run of the season. Scott, is there one or two standouts for you from that group? Brandon Marsh, Ben and Tendi,

Austin Hayes, Grossman McCutcheon. Yeah, I have a couple actually on my top 10 sleeper hitters for this week, including Marsh, because the angels are in line to face six right-handers so he's not going to have much interference from Joe Adele this week and yeah he's been

you know it's kind of like it's a similar profile to Alec Bone doesn't make as much contact as Bone but it's hard contact is it in the air does he put it in the air enough to deliver the power numbers we're looking for well Marshall also has some speed to fall back on

so I would say that roster rate needs to be continuing to rise. Understanding he's a platoon player and you may have to pick your spots with them. Let's see. Who else? You know, I considered Grossman and Ben Intendi and I may slot one or the other

in to these top ten sleeper hitters. When I look at it again, it's not completely written yet. But obviously, neither one, you know, they're hot, but it's non-home run type of hits. and that's, of course, going to be the case for both of them. I think it's going to continue to be the case.

I do have Austin Hayes and my top 10 sleeper hitters for this week. I like the Orioles matchups. I also have his teammate. I don't know if you had Chris talked about him yesterday, but Anthony Santander. Yep, we did. He's high on the sleeper list for this upcoming week because I like those Orioles matchups.

Yeah. He's rocking the specs now, Scott. I don't know if you saw it. He's wearing the glasses, Anthony Santander. Yeah. Has that been going on all season? I know I caught somebody tweeting about it yesterday. I don't know if it's been all season.

It's definitely been at least recently, but it would make sense if it's... Because the vision appears to be improved. He's already more than halfway to his career high in walks. Right. And if that's something he can continue, like that was the big other than staying healthy. He hasn't been able to stay healthy. But plate discipline was the big issue for him.

Put the bat on the ball a lot, put it in the air a lot. If he walks a lot or at least a decent amount, I could see him having a breakthrough season. Again, that is Anthony Santander. Scott, would you put Taylor Ward and Randall Gritchick ahead of all the outfielers we just mentioned? Yes. Okay.

Yeah. Because those are really the ones that have really popped the past week or so. So again, Taylor Ward, Randall Gritchick, they're ahead of this group, but Brandon Marsh, we'll talk about him. again a little bit later on when we get to Scott's week five sleepers, but someone you should be paying attention to right now. I don't want to talk about Eric Hosmer every single day.

I feel like I've done that this week. I mean, he just keeps hitting, right? So I will quickly mention he went two for four, is now batting 415 on the young season. He's 41% rostered and has six games next week. One other name here, Scott, Gio Orchella, went three for five with a run and an RBI. On Thursday, multiple hits in three of his last four games.

He's batting 321. which is great. OPS, not so great, 770, but he's only 30% rostered, G. Orshella, and he has dual eligibility,

third base, and shortstop. I just feel like this number should be a little bit higher than 30%. What do you think? I don't know.

I mean, he's been just a singles guy. Like, almost literally, he has one extra base head. It was a home run. And he seemed like an obvious casualty

of the New Dead and Baseball last year. after a couple years, whereas power production was halfway decent. He puts the bat on the ball a lot, but I don't know. I think he's fine if you need a fill-in option. Let me see the Twins. The Twins actually have the most favorable hitter matchups of any team this week. And yet I didn't seriously consider Gio Orchella for my top 10 sleeper hitter.

So what does that tell you? All right. I do like his lineup context, too. He's batted fourth or fifth in basically every game. eventually Carlos Correa and Jorge Polanco should come around. And when they do, I think there'll be some RBI opportunities for Gio Urchella. If you play in a Categories League, Harrison Bader is only 33% rostered. He went two for three with his fifth steel.

Obviously, steals are pretty hard to come by. So if you're playing in a Categor's league, look for Harrison Bader. He's got seven games next week. And for those in deeper leagues, really deep leagues, Mike Mustakis returned on Thursday. Went two for three with a walk, RBI. and two runs scored, he is 20% rostered. Fantasy Baseball Today is here to help you dominate your league all season long,

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News and notes, and we've already talked about this, but once again, the Royals announced Thursday, Adelberto Montesey diagnosed with a torn ACL, and he will miss the rest of the season. Scott, I feel like if Nick Prado or MJ Melendez were doing anything of note in the minors, they probably would be close to being called up right now, but they're just not.

Yeah, and that's not something we've talked about much either, is for all the hitting struggles we've seen in the majors so far, seeing a lot in the minors, too. A lot of the top hitting prospects. You and I were discussing some of them before we started recording here. O'Neill Cruz, both the Royals guys, Anthony Volpe of the Yankees, Jose Miranda.

More top hitting prospects than not are off to really, really miserable starts in the minors, which, you know, I honestly haven't heard if some of the changes that were made in the majors were also made in the minors, like what ball they're using in the miners, I would doubt there's a humidore at every park in the miners. That seems unlikely.

So I kind of find that encouraging that, you know, maybe it has more to do with temperature and the short spring training and everything. If it's also happening in the minors like it is in the majors. And I don't have the macro stats, but, you know, just considering that that many top hitting prospects are struggling, I imagine we're seeing a similar trend in the minors with offense being down. We've heard this before, but Tony Larissa is hopeful that Luis Robert will return. into the lineup on Friday.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. missed Thursday's game after fouling a ball off his foot Wednesday night. X-rays were negative, thankfully. Jose Al-Tuvei will begin a rehab assignment at AAA Sugar Land, one of my favorite minor league team names. That is just awesome.

This weekend and is expected to return. I think they changed it from the Skeeters, though. It's no longer the Sugar Land Skeeters, which is like, what's the point? Is it Space Cowboys now? Something like that. Yeah, I know they changed it, which the Astros, they purchased that affiliate. Like, it seems like you did it for the name, right?

Like Sugar Land Skeeters, it's iconic at this point. Yeah, they are now the Sugar Land Space Cowboys. Unbelievable. You know what? Unbelievable. You're right, Scott. How could they? By the way, Al Tuvae is going to return on Monday if all goes well.

Nolan Aradado has been issued a two-game suspension for his role in that bench's clearing brawl on Wednesday against the Mets. We have some updates on those injured starting pitchers. Jack Flarrity advanced to throwing off flat ground from 240 feet on Wednesday. He remains without a timetable dealing with that shoulder injury. Chris Sale through seven pitches during a bullpen session this week. He's on the IL with a stress fracture in his right rib cage. It's also just a very random amount, seven pitches in a bullpen session.

All right. Lance Lynn is progressing in his throwing program and could return by the end. of May. J.D. Martinez was held out of Thursday's lineup after he aggravated his adductor injury. Doesn't sound great for an older gentleman like J.D. Martinez. Chris Bryant has now missed three straight games due to back stiffness. Also doesn't sound great for somebody who's dealt with a lot of injuries in his career already. Bailey Ober was removed from his start Thursday due to right groin tightness. Mitch Hanigur took part in a pregame workout on Thursday but has yet to be officially activated from the COVID IL.

He's apparently not feeling 100%. I mentioned him on yesterday's podcast as a buy low candidate. His stack cast, expected numbers are amazing right now. So I would take advantage of this absence for Mitch Hanager and try and buy low. Stephen Kwan has missed four straight games due to that hamstring injury. Nicola Dolo, this one came out of nowhere. Place on the IL with a lower back strain, but is expected to return next weekend against the Pirates, so they're hoping for the minimum stay there.

Will Myers placed on the IL with a right thumb contusion. Matt Bede has started two straight games. Miguel Sinoe tweaked his knee on Tuesday night and has been receiving treatment. He did not play Wednesday or Thursday. Ken Giles has been clear to resume throwing. He's on the IL with a tendon injury in his right middle finger. Scott, do you think Ken Giles is worth a stash in deeper categories leagues right now? He's only 14% rostered.

If you have IL space to stash him, it's a fine idea. I'm not confident he's going to be a solitary closer at any point. It just doesn't seem like the Mariners want to go in that direction. But he seems the most likely candidate to become that once he's healthy. Presuming nobody else has become that by that point. Andres Munoz, I mean, he is fun to watch. And he's been working the ninth inning recently. But who knows?

Maybe it'll be him. That would be the one who's most likely, if not Giles. I guess Munoz would be the one to most likely get it before Giles even has a chance. Jordan Hicks is expected to start Sunday after leaving Tuesday's start with a risk contusion. Ryan Mountcastle should return to the lineup Friday against the Red Sox. Actually, speaking of Ryan Mountcastle, Scott, I got a good question on Wednesday night. Would you drop Ryan Mountcastle for Eric Hosmer, the way that Hosmer is playing right now? Look, you know Ryan Mountcastle was like my number one bust pick coming into the season?

So with that in mind, I actually don't have a problem with that. I'm not saying it's a must move or anything because I'm not a big believer in Hosmer, but Hosmer's more playable right now. I feel like, though I have mentioned the Orioles have good matchups this upcoming week. They are, however, at home for the entire week. And you know what? I haven't seen any data about how the dimensions, the new dimensions are playing at Camden Yards. But it's still not a good thing for a right-handed hitter no matter how they've played.

so far. I know Chris mentioned on yesterday's podcast that Trey Mancini has been robbed of at least one home run because of the new dimension. So I'd have to look more into it. And I think somewhere in there, Scott, you gave Eric Hosmer a compliment. So we're going to count that. We're going to count that for a... You know, I featured him in, what day? Thursday's waiver wire column as one of potential pickup. No, I don't believe that he's breaking out. But there is a, There is the one clear change in his profile where he's pulling the ball a lot more, particularly in the air. And that's one way you can potentially make up for a lack of natural power is just by making sure your fly balls are pulled. So if there is a path for him to have a breakthrough season, that's it.

and I don't mind picking them up as like a hot hand play and just seeing where it goes. You don't have to fully buy into it yet. Obviously, I want to prioritize a Hosmer over a Taylor Ward or, you know, Randall Gritchick, who I still have no idea why Randall Gritchick is available in a third of all CBS sports leagues, but for some reason he is. All right.

Hosmer's not up with them, but I can see picking him up. All right. Let's move on to week five. The schedule is pretty spread out for next week. We have three teams with five games. Those are the Cubs, the Rangers, and the Dodgers. 15 teams that have six games next week, 11 teams that have seven games,

and one lucky team has eight games. That is the New York Mets. Before we get into two-star pitchers to add and stream, Scott, who are some of those two-start options that are on the fringe right now? Well, I want to mention, I doubt anybody's considering sitting Joe Ryan, but he is a two-star pitcher this week, and his matchups are at Baltimore versus Oakland. So he's actually my number one ranked two-star pitcher this week, Joe Ryan,

who was off to a tremendous start, had his best start yet last time out. And yeah, those matches are amazing. So he's ahead of some bigger names like Pablo Lopez, Alec, Manilow, Dillon C. not that they're, you know, obviously they're all must-starts themselves. I would also say McKenzie Gore is must-start at Cleveland versus Miami. Zach Gallin, I never thought I'd be saying this at the end of April. But he's a must-start two-start. He's a must-start-to-start pitcher against the Marlins and against the Rockies in Arizona.

Patrick Sandoval, I would also say, is a must-start pitcher coming off his best. start of the year. He gets the White Sox and the Nationals. I want to go as far as to call Carlos Carrasco must start. Coming off that Rocky outing last time, his matchups are the Braves and the Phillies. Pretty rough. But, you know, most people who have him should probably start him. Ranger Suarez, he finally went six innings in his latest start. Still having some control issues. But I think he's trending the right direction. His matchups are against the Rangers and Mets. I would call him in an advisable start,

less than must start. advisable. So there was a lot of people after Charlie Morton's last start wanting to know what's up on Twitter and expressing their displeasure in no uncertain terms with Charlie Morton and what he's done for them so far. And I told them, look, you can sit them if you want, you can't drop them. And I stand by that, except for maybe the sitting part. because it turns out he has two starts this week.

And I get it if you're in a categories league and you just want to be really protective of your ratios, okay, Charlie Morton could end up doing twice the damage with two starts. And it's a risk. But his next start could be the start where it all clicks for him too, in which case, I think in a points league especially, you just got to cross your fingers and slot them in there.

So I'm fine starting Charlie Morton And Yeah Yeah We can go on to the Potential Sleeper Pickups now, I think You know Scott the way you were describing Charlie Morton That really sounds

Like our fortune favors the brave Two-star pitcher of the week I don't think it's just the brave Who has to do it though I don't know I mean we haven't really Have we pinned down exactly what the fortune favors The Brave pick is?

No idea I might describe Hermann Marquez, who, you know, last week we were talking about him as a two-start pitcher. Obviously didn't happen. He's a two-star pitcher again and has been pretty terrible so far this year. But we know the story with Herman Marquez, where it can turn around very suddenly. And he has two-starts, hopefully for real this time. And no way I do that in the Categories League. I probably want to do it at a points league either.

but if you're the kind of person who just has to maximize the number of starts on your roster, I would call Herman Marquez the fortune favors the brave pick of the week. Oof, all right, I can tell you what, I'm sure that my dad will put him in the lineup because my dad in our home league, he's notorious for,

he will pick up any two-star pitcher and just throw him in the lineup. He doesn't, it could be, it could be Scott White making two-starts, My dad is picking you up. He's throwing you in the lineup, Scott. Bad idea. While we're talking about all these,

who are other two-star pitchers who are looking to add and use for next week? Drew Rasmussen's the big one coming off that brilliant effort against the Mariners. He gets the Mariners again this week and also gets the athletics. I'm going to call the Mariners a pretty good matchup. I know they scored a lot of runs so far.

Athletics definitely are. And, yeah, hopefully he can keep it going with that slider-cutter combo that he was... And those pitches were both moving all over the place in his last start. Got a ton of whiffs with him. So he's the top choice to pick up. Bailey Ober would be, but he left today's start with, what was it, a groin injury? So they're calling him day to day for now, but it wouldn't surprise me if he went on the I.L.

So keep an eye on that. But I like his two matchups next week if they do say he's going to make his next turn. Jordan Montgomery might be available in a few leagues at Toronto versus Texas some matchups on opposite ends there but he's usually pretty decent if you're just looking to get an extra start in your lineup Dakota Hudson who started here on Thursday and had another strong six-inning performance

I believe now he's allowed a total Dakota Hudson has of... Let's see if I can find it real quick. I thought I had his page open here. I think he's allowed like a total of three hits in his last two starts. No runs. So, you know, I don't think there's a ton of upside there,

but he's been remarkably good at keeping runs off the board during his brief career and gets a lot of ground balls. And his matchups this week are against the Royal And the Giants, opposite ends the spectrum there. But I would say in point leagues, especially Dakota Hudson's one you can look at. And this one's digging really deep. Jake, Junis, I'm not sure it'll technically be two starts. It might technically be zero starts because he follows an opener.

But he's thrived in that role for the Giants so far. They have him throwing his slider a ton, which has always been his best pitch. And he's only rostered in 4% of leagues. Lines up for two turns, whether. as a bulk reliever or a starter. So in Points League, he's somebody who you could look at as well. All right. My fortune favors the brave

or bold, two-star pitcher of the week, is Michael Waka, who has pitched well thus far. I've got his Fangraphs page open. It's not looking too good here. But the matchups, he is going up against the White Sox and the Angels. So one good one right now,

White Sox are not hitting So that's an okay matchup And then the Angels are basically hitting everybody. So if you are brave enough, Michael Walker is the name for you. Some single-star streamers, Scott, who you got for next week?

Not as many of those, but I will highlight a couple for you here. We have Terrick Scouble who was not great. A lot of these pictures started just today, right? Or was Terrick Scuba yesterday? No, that was Thursday. Yep.

So yeah, kind of took a step back today, allowed six runs, only three of them earned in five innings, didn't get the strikeouts we saw on the previous starts. I think he's still figuring out his pitch mix. I'd like to see him throw the change up more

because it's gotten a lot of wist a little bit he's thrown in. His match was against the Pirates, so he's probably the best one-start option who might be available in your league, 79% roster that's kind of a really close to the threshold there. Aaron Ashby,

I think he's supposed to make another turn. The Brewers are going six-man right now, and obviously he looked pretty good on Wednesday. Too many walks, but only one hit allowed. And hopefully he's trending the right direction. He gets the Reds who have just been horrible so far. Horrible. And then Michael Lorenzen against the Nationals, I think, is an okay.

Honestly, I'm not that excited about any of these choices, but it's one of those weeks for the sleeper pitchers. All right. Michael Lorenzen also has spot. Barb eligibility, as does Aaron Ashby. So if you're playing in a points league and you're looking for a spark, both of those names are widely available. The best hitter matchups for next week.

Scott mentioned twins earlier than the Astros, the Orioles, the Angels, and the Rockies, the worst hitter matchups, the Cubs, the Rangers, the Guardians, the Dodgers, and the Padres. With that being said, Scott, who are your sleeper hitters for week five? Well, you notice the Mets weren't included among those best hitter matchups. even though they're playing eight games. Facing some tough pitchers in those eight games.

Not saying you should bench all your mats or anything, but I thought it was worth noting. So Taylor Ward, of course, is the number one sleeper hitter for this week. You did mention the Angels among the teams with the best matchups. And frankly, I'd want to get Ward in my lineup either way, because he's just been good all along, but especially since movie did the leadoff spot, already a two-homer game,

already a separate game where he was a single short of the cycle. He's walking a ton. I think he's got to be in everybody's lineup right now. I probably should hesitate to say that because I'm sure some people are starting like three top 20 outfielers. Maybe not one of those lineups,

but somebody in your league should have Taylor Ward in their lineup. Andrew Vaughn, pretty good matchups for the White Sox this week and his playing time issues are behind him now that Aloi Jimenez is hurt. I mentioned Anthony Santander, a little further down on this list, Austin Hayes, with the Orioles facing the Twins and Royals in seven games. I like the Twins' matchups themselves.

Max Kepler had a two-homer game the other day. He's made some changes to his approach that might allow him to be fantasy relevant again. He's always done a pretty good job of making contact, so it's a question of how much power he contributes. But the twins have the best matchups of all this week. Five of the seven pitchers on the schedule are righties. And that's also why I have Luis Arias on here, who tends to sit against lefties,

but is off to a good start with the batting average. Can't say that about many players across the entire league right now. Randall Gritchick's on here, of course. I feel like he's a staple. Yuleiguriel, if he's available in your league, and he is in about a quarter of leagues, I think. That needs to change. range.

And I think that pretty much covers it. Brandon Marsh, who we mentioned earlier, because the angels have six Ritey's on the schedule. So you could get him in your lineup as well. Max Kepler is someone I'm especially interested in. Looking at his stackcast page, the exit velocity is higher than ever before.

His barrel rate, higher than ever before. 302XBA, 607 expected slug for... So that must have just changed with the two-homer game because I was riding him up in waiver wire. Of course, the stack cast numbers don't update in real time. He only update the next day.

But basically what both he and Rocco Baldelli, the Twins manager, were saying after that two-homer game, and he homered the day before as well, was that he's doing a better job of swinging with intent, which I interpreted to mean taking a bigger cut, on pitches that are in his wheelhouse, just trying to clobber them when maybe in the past

he would do more of a controlled swing. And, you know, it sounds like that could be what's going on for Max Kepler. Of course, so early in the season, hard to know if it's going to stick. But there may be something there. I mean, in 2019, he hit 36 home runs, right? So it's something we've seen him do before.

All right. While we're talking about hitters, Scott, would you bench any of these in week five? The struggle is real right now for Joey Votto. Five straight hitless games. He's betting 129. Strikeouts are way up. Ground balls are way up. Brian Reynolds, three more strikeouts on Thursday.

His strikeout rate is 31%. And then Jared Kelnick, 0 for 3, one strikeout. He's batting 1.40. Scott, what do you think about benching any or all of Votto, Brian Reynolds, Jared Kelnick right now? I would be most hesitant to bench Reynolds of the three. But Votto, Kelnick, I mean, if you have quality alternatives, I'm totally fine with benching them. All right.

Let's get back over to some waiver wire pitchers. I wanted to mention Dakota Hudson was on this list. You talked about him. Chris Flexen, three straight quality starts. Scott, I know he is in line for two starts next week. However, they are against the Tampa Bay raise. at the Houston Astros. So we're probably staying away on Chris Flexon, right?

Yeah. Okay. Brad Keller is another one. You know, all three of these pitchers, Hudson, Flexon, Keller, they're kind of similar where, like, they pitch to contact, and they do a good job of limiting hard contact, but they're not very exciting overall. Brad Keller has three quality starts in his four starts that he's made.

Seven innings, one run, three strikeouts on Thursday. He's getting a lot of ground balls. It's got any interest in Brad Keller next week against the Cardinal. No, I don't think so. I'm not saying we'll never have a desire to stream him this year, but I think a one-start week with, you know, just kind of a middle-of-the-road matchup. I think you can do better.

All right, how about these names in deeper leagues who stood out from Thursday, Reed Detmer's, now has put together two solid starts in a row. Nick Martinez, five innings of two-run ball against the Reds. Jose Cantana, just kind of out of nowhere, five innings, one run, nine strikeouts to zero walks against the Brewers. Austin Gomber has posted back-to-back quality starts, both of them on the road. And then Martine Perez was perfect through six innings against the Houston Astros.

He wound up seven innings, one run, four strikeouts. Scott, in deeper leagues, Detmer's, Nick Martinez, Kentana, Gomber, Martine Perez. Anything on those five? I can find very little to say positive about those five. I mean, it was a great star for Kentana. He got the nine strikeouts. He got a ton of whiffs on three different pitches, especially the change-up.

But, like, where did it come from? Was he doing anything different? I can't see anything there. And obviously, it's been a few years since Jose Cantana's been fantasy relevant. So I'll need to see him do this another turn or two before I can start to buy into it. Martin Perez kind of the same way.

He's not allowing hits. Back-to-back two-hit outings. But again, I'm not seeing a lot there that tells me he's a changed pitcher rather than a pitcher who just happy to have two good starts. And of course, Reed Detmer's is the highest upside of this group. But, and you mentioned he had a decent start on Thursday. not really showing any of that upside this year. He was a strikeout machine in the miners last year,

but largely it was on the strength of his curveball. It's supposed to be this elite pitch. It has not played like that this year. His breaking balls, neither one of them is getting any whiffs. And he actually threw his fastball 53% of the time in this one. I don't know that that's going to be a formula for success. for Reid DeMers. So I don't see much reason

to be encouraged by this start. The only thing I've noticed with Jose Cantana, his change-up usage is way up this year. 32% entering Thursday's start. That's never been higher than 15% in his career. And it's been his best whiff pitch this season. So something that he's using more

and he's getting whiffs on it. I don't think... Well, he got whiffs on it in this start. He and his swinging strike rate coming into this start was 8%. right. Let me pull up and see what it's been on just the changeup. I don't think you need to add him, but I think he's just someone who's on the radar. He also has a spark eligibility for those who play in points leagues. Kintana's swinging strike rate on the change up this year is 12.8%, which, it's okay. It's not amazing or anything like that. Scott, would you start or sit Tyler Malley, who's been kind of blast since his opening day start. Thursday, 5 and a third innings, three runs, five strikeouts.

He is at the Milwaukee Brewers next week. I don't think he's an automatic start, but he's not an automatic set either. It just depends what else you have. The Reds have won three games this year for what it's worth. So he's not getting any favors there from his supporting cast,

not that he's pitched particularly well. You know, once they started selling off all their pieces, I thought about putting in a wager on their under, the Reds, their season-long win under, and I didn't do it. Feel pretty dumb right now. I probably should have done that.

You know what's funny? They have three wins. One was saved by Tony Santian. One was saved by Art Warren. One was saved by Lucas Sims. Yeah. Funny how that works, huh? David Bell.

Thanks, bud. Some hitting standouts from Thursday. Manny Machado went four for five with a double. is batting 395 with an OPS over 1,000, one of the few hitters actually hitting right now. Aaron Judge went two for five with his fifth home run of the season. He added four RBI. I was at the game on Thursday and I could tell everybody to not go to baseball games in the Northeast in April because they're very cold and they're not very enjoyable because of the weather. It was a fun game. The Yankees won. But by the way, the Orioles, you know that they're bad, but watching them live,

they are. They're really bad. Jorge Mateo, you're like two or three errors in that game. They had five errors overall as a team. They are just woof. Not good. They've won twice as many games as the red.

Knock it off. All right. Austin Riley went one for five with his fifth home run. Paul Goldschmidt went three for four. He now has multiple hits in six of his last seven games. The batting average is up to 296. And Danesby Swanson went two for three with a sock and a shoe. His first home run, his second steal of the season. We've been waiting to see a little

something out of Dansby Swanson. He's got seven games next week on the schedule, so hopefully he can keep it rolling. The call to the bullpen for the Padres. Taylor Rogers allowed a hit, but picked up his seventh save of the season. For the pirates, David Bednar entered in the eighth inning up two to one. He faced the heart of the lineup. Chris Stratton comes in in the ninth inning, he gives up four hits, two runs, and takes a loss. I wonder how long this, I really think it's just an arbitration situation here, Scott, where the pirates don't want to use Bednar as their closer, because then they'll probably have to pay them more in arbitration, but. Well, I mean, you mentioned Bednar faced the heart of the lineup. They've, they've gone back and

forth with the saves. Yeah. I think it's, I think the two clearest bullpen tandums in baseball right now are the royals and the pirates. Like, if anybody's going to emerge to be the sole closer in Pittsburgh, it's got to be Bednar. And more outings like this from Stratton will make it happen. But I'm not ready to predict

it's going to happen because of this outing, you know? Yeah. The answer is probably to just let him pitch the eighth and the ninth inning because it's not really working for Chris Stratton right now. For the Marlins, Cole Solcer picked up his first save with Anthony Bender working two days in a row.

For the Astros, Rafael Montaro gave up a solo homer but picked up his first save. Ryan Stannick got the save on Wednesday night. For the Royals, Josh Stalman entered the eighth inning with a one-run lead. He faced the 5, 6, and 7 in the lineup. He gave up two hits in Earn Run that led to a tie game. Scott Barlow pitched in the ninth, and then Taylor Clark picked up the save in extra innings. For the Blue Jays, Jordan Romano allowed a hit. He now has nine saves.

God, it's crazy. It's like the closers, the elite closers are kind of separating themselves right now. Josh Hader has 10 saves on the season. Jordan Romano has nine. That is just, I mean, that's more than some of my Roto teams total right now. Just those two guys.

I did not realize. I didn't realize Hater got his total up that high. It's crazy. I knew Romano was off to that kind of start, but yeah, I mean, most, those two are definitely distancing themselves from everyone else. And did you mention in here that Devin,

I mean, haters been used so much recently, Devin Williams had to get the save here on Thursday. And struck out the side. I mean, he'd be a great closer for many teams, but Brewers obviously don't need him in that role. Yeah. I did this on a few of my roto teams this year, Scott, but I'm really starting to lean into

get at least one lockdown closer on your roto category teams. And then I guess just try and figure out the wrestling later. I did that on my main event team. I got a manual class A. It's not really working out so well early on. Well, that's the thing. Like who who really is a lockdown? I mean, are you just saying a guy who is known to have exclusivity in the role at the start of the year, which would have included Mark Malanson, but correct. Maybe you exclude him on principle. I mean, part of the issue with that approach, I mean, part of the issue, the biggest part of the issue with that

approach is in the industry leagues, they got moved up to like round three, right? So you're giving up an MVP caliber bat or a cyan caliber arm to get a saved source, basically. So that's the biggest issue with that. But the second issue with that is there's a lot of turnover in that role, you know? Like, of course, guys like Chapman and Kimbril and Janssen have done it year after year, but they're pretty rare. I guess Hater is you could have that level of trust in him. but even Liam Hendricks he's only done it a couple years he's off to a bad start this year

I think he'll be fine but I can't say it with 100% certainty yeah no it's fair it's there was really eight or nine guys Scott and it kind of ended with Chapman I was worried about but you knew the role was going to be there for him

Kenley Jansen is still a lockdown closer Ryan Presley who's injured now but yeah there was like eight or nine and usually in my category leagues I tried to get at least one and then figure out the rest later. And I think that's going to be the approach for the time being.

What else we have here? The Red Sox, Matt Barnes, pitched in the eighth inning down one zip. He faced the heart of the lineup, four, five, and six. Hansel Robles then pitched in the ninth inning. Red Sox, bullpen, is kind of a mess right now.

And the Angels, Reis-Ele-Eglacius. Ah, yes, he's another one of those. He picked up his fifth save of the season. To stream or not to stream for the weekend. Let's start with Friday. Eliezer Hernandez versus the Mariners Madison Bumgarner at the Cardinals

Tyler Anderson versus the Tigers Rich Hill at the Orioles and Adrian Houser versus the Cubs I don't want any of them but if you're making me probably Houser against the Cubs would be my first choice Hernandez against the Mariners as much as they've been striking out

that might go okay but yeah it's not it's not a great selection All right. Let's move to Saturday. Cole Irvin versus the Guardians. Chris Archer at the Tampa Bay Rays for his revenge game. Bryce Elder at the Rangers, Dane Dunning versus the Braves, Taiwan Walker versus the Phillies, Chad Cool versus the Reds. I guess it's just not a good weekend to stream, Scott. Yes. This is an even worse group than the last one. I don't know that I want to be associated with any of these. names? Chad Cool against the Reds?

Question mark? I don't know. How bad is Cleveland against lefties? They are 23rd and weighted on base average. That warrants an okay for Cole Irvin, but don't feel great about it. For Sunday, we've got Daniel Lynch versus the Yankees,

Nick Pavetta at the Orioles, Chris Paddock at the Reyes, Mitch Keller versus the Padres. Michael Lorenzen at the White Sox and Jordan Hicks versus the Diamondbacks. Is Jordan Hicks okay? He left his last start with an injury. Yeah, he's going to start on Sunday. I guess him then. I don't want to recommend Mitch Keller again. Lorenzen. Lorenzen's the one.

The White Sox cannot hit right now. They are 30th in Wobah against Ritees. Okay. Okay. I'm with you, Frank. Yes. Two. I'm with you, Franks, in one podcast. With that, we're going to wrap it up. For Scott, I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again on Monday. Bye-bye.