Fantasy Baseball Today - Rough Pitcher Outings, Hitter Questions & Bryan WOOOOOO! (8/15 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 15, 2024

Mitch Keller got crushed by the Padres (2:35)! ... Tanner Houck's innings are starting to add up (5:40). ... Bryan Woo is turning into Bryan WOOOOO (11:51)! ... The Braves beat up on Robbie Ray (18:55). ... News (20:25): Jazz Chisholm was officially placed on the IL. ... Let's run through some hitter questions on Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Corbin Carroll and others (26:10). ... We got rough outings from Walker Buehler, Tyler Anderson and Robbie Ray (42:07). ... Add Kerry Carpenter or TJ Friedl (47:17)? ... Jordan Montgomery had his curveball working against the Rockies (54:51). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (1:01:54). 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, @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/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. With fantasy. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. In 48 games since cutting his hair, Vlad Jr. is now batting 387 with 18 homers, 50 RBI, and an OPS over 1,200. That'll do.

Welcome in to fantasy baseball. ball today on Thursday, August 15th. I am Frank Stamphle, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, we had some rough pitcher outings. Brian Wu, the opposite end. He was actually really good, and he's been good lately. WaiverWire options, I've got some hitter questions, and much more, but let's jump in.

Oh my goodness, Holy cow, do you believe it? All right, Scott, do you believe how bad Mitch Keller was here on Wednesday? Yeah, yeah. I mean, there was a pitcher who was worse, and we'll get to him. But Mitch Keller was bad for sure. He gave up eight earn runs in five innings at the Padres. And this was just to start after giving up seven earn runs and four innings against the Dodgers. So 15 earn runs in his last two starts. And it's funny because I was just thinking about how, you know, all the grief I got this preseason, if you take out these four terrible. starts Mitch Keller had last year his ERA would have been in the low threes. I was thinking about that recently and oh look, Mitch Keller has a 320 ERA. Who was right?

I was right. Aha. Well, now the ERA's $3.95 after those two starts. So the second half is going about like his second half went last year with these just dreadfully awful starts. What do we take from it though? well you could say that in this start where he gave eight earned runs to the Padres his sinker was down 2.3 miles per hour everything else was down like a mile per hour and a half but in that previous start where he gave up seven earned runs against the Dodgers all the velocities were up so I think it's just typical Mitch Keller weirdness we see velocity fluctuate from him a lot of with him. We see pitch selection fluctuate a lot with him. We see performance fluctuate a lot with him. His quote after the game was, man, it just sucks. It feels like whatever I'm throwing up there right now is getting hit.

Try to go back, look it over, see what's working, what's not working, and why it's happening, and just be better about it. Which I know is not like a lot of concrete information there, but that's probably his whole process normally. right? Like he just reviews what went wrong and then he changes a bunch of things and a lot of times it works. So I don't know that there's anything to take from this start for Mitch Keller. I just think it's the cost of doing business with Mitch Keller and he lines up for two starts next week.

If you're in a situation where you need to protect your ERA and whip in a categories league, I get it. You probably sit him in that case. but otherwise if you're chasing wins or strikeouts or certainly if you're in a points league, you're going to start him. Yeah, that was the next question. Mitch Keller, 69% started on CBS.

He looks like he gets the Reds and at the Rangers next week for those two starts. I do think the fact that his velocity was down this much and he got hit hard is pretty worrisome, but it's not like this has been a trend or anything, so we'll have to see what the velocity is like in his next outing. But yeah, I do mostly agree with your analysis on where we should or shouldn't start Mitch Keller next week. Chris, over to you, your player of the night.

Yeah, Tanner Halk. That's who we're going to talk about. And look, it's two solid results starts in a row. I believe he gave up one earned run in his previous start, two earned runs over six and two-thirds innings against Texas tonight. So that's great. The process is pretty rotten right now, though. He had three strikeouts to two walks and six and two-thirds innings. He's always done a good job of limiting hard contact. And so that has kept the floor fairly high for Tanner Howk. But since the start of July, I think we're talking about seven starts here. He has 22 strikeouts to 21 walks in 39 innings of work. Now, he's managed to remain useful for fantasy despite that.

But, man, it feels like the wheels could fall off at any point for Tanner Halk right now, just you can't survive with a one-to-one strike-out-to-walk ratio. I don't think that's going out on a limb here. He's got to be better. And the problem is, I think he's another one of these pitchers who has already gone past last year in total. And I don't know if Tanner Houtts ever really even gotten close to this level. I'll look it up right now and confirm.

But he, yeah, I could. tell you. So I just wrote an article earlier this week, 16 pitchers with innings limit concerns, which is, you might have trouble finding it on the fantasy news page, but I'm sure if you Google it, you'll find it. I think it's a pretty valuable resource this time of year. And I assessed the risk level for each of these 16 pitchers. They all have a risk level, but Tanner Hauk was among the highest because he came into this start with 140 innings. So I guess he's at. How many was it? Six innings? 146.2.

146 and 2 thirds innings now. Last year it was 114 and 2 thirds. So he's already basically 40 over that. And his career high prior to this year was only 119. So he is well over his previous high with a month and a half to go. And he's lost his control. At least it hasn't been as sharp lately. So I think there's a good chance.

particularly if they fall out of the playoff race. Like Tanner House is one of those pitchers who may be looking at a hard shutdown at some point. And I think we are in a similar spot with Tanner Halk as we are with Mitch Keller. Not a must-start pitcher, but it looks like he's in line for two starts next week as well. He gets the debacks and the Astros, which...

I'll be honest. I have a lot more faith in Mitch Keller right now than Tanner Halk. I don't know if I'm alone on that one, but... Gosh. While the result, like I said, the results have not been terrible for Tanner Halk, the process has just been untenable in a way that feels like it's really going to bite him at some point. That's because Mitch Keller is analysis proof. Sure.

That's part, like, I think a big thing, I didn't get to say anything about Mitch Keller, but I think he's just like a big feel guy. And it's one of those things where like he's got so many pitches that it's probably hard to consider. consistently have the feel for all of them. And when something's not working, he finds out the batters let him know what's not working. And he usually finds a way to tinker his way back from, you know, last year,

I think after the All-Star break, it was five starts of at least six earned runs. In the rest of his like seven or eight other starts, he didn't allow more than three earned runs. I tend to not actually worry about Mitch, Keller when things go wrong just because it's kind of baked into my my mental framework for Mitch Keller at this point. I think this is part of a larger discussion. I don't know if we could if we want to have it right now or if it's something you guys have thought about. But I kind of think the glob is back.

Have you felt that way, Scott? Because I was I was updating my pitcher rankings today. And once you get past the top 30, it just does not feel very good. I honestly, I think you're being generous with the top 30. Yeah. I think it's like 13 or 14 pitchers I feel pretty good about maybe 15, maybe 20. But like you get into a range where like Max Fried I don't feel very good about right now. Carlos Rodan, I feel pretty iffy. Luis Heel, I have no idea. Spencer Schwellenbach looks good, but it's a small sample size.

Like, yeah, I don't know. It's kind of rough, yeah. I'll tell you I have Mitch Keller 31st. And looking at the names behind him, I have Robbie Ray 36th. Yeah. And, oh gosh. Yeah, the thing is I start dragging down all these pitchers with obvious inning concerns like Howk and Louise Heel and Gary Crochet is outside of my top 60 now. And that somebody else has to be pushed up to take their place.

and it's not as promising of a group. You know, I'd like to get Schwellenbach up more, but he has the journey's concerns. I see your point. It didn't occur to me as I was putting together my rankings, but I see what you're saying. Yeah, I have this mini, like, injury tier, 31, 32, and 33 of Yamamoto,

Ranger Suarez, and Jared Jones. And then after that, I didn't know who to put, who to start the next tier with. I just, like, I have Hunter Brown, Seth Lugo and Kevin Gossman. And all these names you're mentioning, I feel like really sum up that we're back in the Glob-Bin-ness era

because I've got Schwellenbach at 32. I've got Keller at 47. Yeah. So like, yeah, I feel like there's just not much separating any of that range of pitchers. Yeah. Someone who might be transcending the Glob, Brian Wu, or should I say Brian

was awesome at the Tigers. Seven shutout innings with six strikeouts. He had 12 whiffs on 85 pitches. Eight of those came on the fastball. He did throw a lot more sweepers and change-ups in this start. Neither got many whiffs, but they were effective. He was able to get some called strikes, and the quality of contact against was not bad

against the sweeper and the change-up for Brian Wu here. We know the fastball is his best pitch. It was money in this one again. Eight whiffs, a 32-per-frey-width rate. and Brian Wu now has quality starts He has three straight quality starts Two of which he's gone seven innings He's thrown 85 plus pitches in each of his last three starts

So I know we were worried for a while there And rightfully so because he just wasn't throwing many pitches And he wasn't delivering quality starts He's been really efficient and really good Over his last three starts How do you guys feel about Brian Wu moving forward? As long as three starts of the year So I would say he must be feeling

pretty good. In terms of pitch count, he had only had one start above 82. His most his most pitches in a start prior to this one was 85. He matched that today. It was his tied for his third most. So I think that kind of gives you the good and the bad side, right? Because like if he's not this efficient, he's going to have a lot of five innings start. But he seems to be feeling good. He's working more pitches than just the fastball and sinker into the arch. Arsenal. I don't know if anything's ever going to be a consistent swing and miss pitch. It certainly hasn't been so far. But the fastballs are elite. They're really, really good pitches. And so it's enough if he can throw 90 pitches. It's just I was really skeptical early on because one, he wasn't getting any strikeouts. And two, he was seemingly going for an MRI after every start. And he was throwing 68 pitches. So yeah. Now he's keeping the results while pitching. deeper into games. I think that's the best of

Brian Wu that we've seen so far. And I wish there were more strikeouts. Any strikeouts are the best thing a pitcher can do for himself, but Wu is amazing at everything else, it seems like. He is amazing with

control. He gives up a lot of fly balls, which could be a danger, but quality of contact is so poor on those fly balls. So he's great at hit prevention as well as being an excellent control pitcher. So if you're not, if you're just not putting any base runners on ever, I can live without the strikeouts. And obviously it helps with efficiency too. As you were saying, Chris, I'd still be a little

worried that Brian Wu is just going to up and disappear on us. But I kind of worry about that with every pitcher this late in the year. So it doesn't seem worth worrying. out. Brian, Brian Wu, or as I call him every time I type his name,

Brian Wood. Me too. Looks very good. My finger goes right for every single. I don't know if I've typed that name correctly once,

the first time. Entering the start for Brian Wu, he had a 2% barrel rate against and a 224 expected ERA. His,

his FIP is probably not quite as good as is actually R. And I would guess his X FIP is even worse. Yeah, as X-FIPs close to four. His X-E-R-A entering the start was like dead on. His actual ERA. It was 227. And the reason, and the reason X-FIP doesn't like him, like I think we should ignore it because X-FIP treats all fly balls as equal, basically. And I just mentioned they're

weak fly-balls that Wu gives up. Just for a little bit of context, because I think it's relevant to like Hunter Green that we talked about. And Tanner Halk, I think, falls under this as well. Andrew Abbott. Exfip assumes everyone's homer prevention is relatively the same, or assumes everyone's quality of contact is the same. And XERA is the exact opposite. XERA is tangibly taking into account the quality of contact they're allowing and estimating how many runs they should have allowed.

And I think the way to look at it is XERA is a better descriptor of what a pitcher has done and earned. X-FIP probably has more predictive value, just because quality of contact that pitchers allow is very noisy, and you should expect outliers to regress to league average. That's not always true, but that's, if I was projecting Brian Wu for 2025, I'd probably put the ERA more in the mid-3s range. Well, I'm back to preferring FIP to X-FIP.

myself because I liked X-FIP during the juice ball era where it legitimately seemed like every fly ball was becoming a home run, but now that it's not like that anymore, and I know it's been a good couple months for home runs, but I don't find X-FIP to be particularly useful in general right now with the league context. Again, that was Brian Wu that we were talking about and I think you should have a lot of confidence starting him right now. I don't have it ranked this way, but I think I'm probably more confidence starting him than either of Mitch Keller or Tanner Halk at least for the next coming weeks. I think that's reasonable.

I think that's a short term on Brian Wu. I want to give an oh my goodness gracious shout out to Aaron Judge who went two for four with his 43rd home run and he became the fastest player ever to reach 300 career homers. I believe he's 32 years old so yes. A little bit older than we'd like in terms of chasing records, but

obviously it's been an awesome career so far for Aaron Judge. Want to mention an oh my goodness gracious lineup. How about those brave, Scotty? Vintage performance here. Put up 13 runs on 11 hits including four homers. Welcome back to Michael Harris, who you were wearing on the shirt. Love to see it.

One for five with a grand slam off Robbie Ray left on left. You love to see that. First at bat back from the I.L. Had five RBI total in the game, did Michael Harris. Matt Olson, two for four with his 21 homer, and last 21 games, he's batting 288 with eight home runs. Austin Riley, one for four with his 19th home run. Austin Riley has basically been himself since mid-June.

So the last two months, 307 batting average, 16 homers, and OPS over 1,000 for Austin Riley. And who did they do all this damage against? I mentioned Robbie Ray. We'll talk about him in just a little bit. Big thanks to everyone watching us live. We appreciate you for being here. Make sure to hit that like button.

and subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already. Let's take our first break, and when we return, we'll hit the news and notes right after this. News and notes, and it is official. Jazz Chisholm was placed on the I.O. with a left elbow sprain. He's shut down from baseball activities, and the team is still waiting on other medical opinions

to, I guess, figure out where they're going to go from here. For whatever this is worth, John Heyman reported the Yankees are hopeful jazz will be back in three to four weeks. I'm not really sure how they can have that information, or that optimism as of now, but we'll see where it goes. The team recalled Oswald Parraza, who was on fire over his last 20 games at AAA. Still only 24 years old, a name to watch in the deepest of leagues, but it was actually Oswaldo Cabrera,

who got to start at third base here on Wednesday. Julio... Go ahead. I don't mean to derail us further, but why has Yankees media not brought up the idea of moving Aaron judge to first base. I know he took some reps there prior to the season and they're hurting, they just lost

Jazz Chisholm, they have Jason Dominguez waiting in the minors. They can't fit in their outfield. What's that? I mean, that would solve the problem of not having Jason Dominguez, but they would still have a hole at third. Yeah, no, I get that, but they're just,

if they're just looking to get another good bat in their line, because they lost jazz chisholm. they should just bench Alex Verdugo. I mean, they could do that, but Alex Verdugo is better than whoever they're running out there at first base. And yeah, I don't know.

I mean, I understand it's a lot to ask of the best player in baseball, but I have wondered, he'd make a huge target over there. I have wondered why, first of all, Ron Washington would have something to say about that. And second of all,

I have wondered why, like, Aaron Judge, but really, John Carlos Stanton, hasn't at least tried. Oh, those hamstrings, Chris, imagine him trying to stretch at first base?

I don't know, man. It's not going to work. There's some pretty stiff first baseman out there. You know, when I was thinking, before the season, just thinking long term about the Yankees' future, it felt like if they could sign Juan Soto long term, one of him or judge is going to wind up at first base.

That was just my thinking because they have Jason Dominguez coming. Before the season, it seemed like, all right, Spencer Jones, there's optimism. although he hasn't had a good season. So, yeah. It seemed like it keeps Judge healthier too, you know? Yeah, I don't disagree. Yeah, I think that's probably where things are headed long term here with Aaron Judge.

But I have not seen any rumblings whatsoever regarding him playing first base. Julio Rodriguez left early due to right ankle, due to a right ankle injury. The same one that he was just on the IL with. And I was searching Twitter and trying to find any more information on this. It was mostly just a lot of Mariners fans and, you know, Twitter doctors. to surmise that Julio Rodriguez is probably not going to be the same for the rest of the season. Because this is a high ankle sprain, so it feels like this is something he's just going to have to play through. And it's a pain management issue.

And he wasn't having a good season before this. So it doesn't feel like it's going to be a very good end to the season here for Julio Rogers. I didn't end up moving him up in my rankings at all now that he's back. I didn't drop him that much when he got hurt, but I didn't move him up and he with him back. Yeah, I left him right around my 20. ranked outfielder. Yeah, I dropped him a bunch when the injury happened and then did move him back, but I think he's in the 25 range for me. Yeah. Yep. Cotel Marte remained out of the lineup again with that low grade left ankle sprain. Rinele Blanco was removed from his start Wednesday after getting hit in

the left index finger by a comebacker. He did have a really good start before he left. Tyler Glass now's next start will be pushed back to Saturday against the Cardinals. He was originally slated to start Friday, but they wanted to get Glassed out in extra day of rest. Bruce Bochie said Max Scherzer is feeling really good after receiving a nerve injection. Scherzer is on the IL with right shoulder fatigue. Ronaldo Lopez is tentatively expected to rejoin the Braves rotation on Tuesday next week against the Phillies. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli wouldn't rule out a trip to the IL for Byron Buxton.

The MRI on Buxton's hip came back negative, but apparently he is still feeling sore. Nathan Avaldi has been clear to start Saturday against the twins. He suffered a low-grade right oblique strain in his previous. start. Ryan Pepio is scheduled to be activated and start Friday against the debacks. He's been out the past month with an infection in his right knee that he suffered from a bug bite. Different, two different players have gone to the IL and been hospitalized with infections in the past month. Because Tyler O'Neill also, which is just weird. Like, I don't think there's anything to it.

Because of a bug bite as well for Tyler O'Neill? I don't think so. I haven't seen any details on it. but remember he was sick and then he had the calf infection. I don't know specifically what it is, but I just thought that was weird. Jorge Salera was removed Wednesday due to left hamstrick tightness. His removal was described as precautionary. I did see an update that he is not expected to play on Thursday. The Rockies placed Elias Diaz on outright waivers.

If he goes unclaimed, the Rockies may keep him on the active roster or outright him to AAA. And if that happens, Jacob Stallings will be the team's main catcher. And apparently the Marlins told Sandy Alcansor he will not be traded this offseason and they expect him to be their opening day starter in 2025. So if you play in any keeper leagues,

maybe just check to make sure Sandy Alcansra is not a free agent. You might want to pick him up and stash him heading into next season. What was his reaction when they told him he won't be traded? Gosh, darn it. I don't know if that was actually his reaction.

Let's get into five hitter questions. And first up, Vlad Jr. You heard up at the top, I mentioned the numbers since Vlad cut his hair. I don't think there's actually anything to do with the hair, but it's just funny that that event happened, and he has just been amazing since then. The overall numbers for Vlad is a 323 batting average, 25 homers, 80 RBI, and a 950 OPS.

Yesterday, Chris, you said you moved Vlad up to your number one first baseman. So the first question is for Scott. Well, hold on. All right. Sorry. It's all good. I have, I'll, I'll ask the question. You ask you. Have Scott and Frank moved flat up to the number one first baseman? Because I'm looking at the rankings right now in the rotisserie scoring format for fantasy baseball. You don't have him number one. No, I don't. I haven't. I haven't moved him to number one. Frank. Frank doesn't have him number two. Whoa, whoa, whoa. So why are we putting Skisks? I'm supposed to be answering asking the question. Why does Scott have to get, you know, put his hand on the Bible and answer the question? Who are you?

I'm the only one who's done it so far. I haven't done it, but I probably should. What do you think, Scott? Yeah, I thought about it in my big update, Rankings update yesterday. It's certainly defensible. I opted not to just because. When in doubt, I usually don't update. When in doubt, I usually don't update because I think it's kind of my role to be the steady hand when everybody else is reacting to the latest thing happening.

And the way I justify it. So I do have Vladimir Guerrero second in Roto. I have him third in points. He's behind just Harper, Bryce Harper and Roto, because Harper, of course, is capable of getting. very hot and doing exactly what Guerrero's been doing the past couple months, but with some stolen bases, with more runs in RBI, batting in the Phillies lineup.

I think over the long run, Vladimir Guerrero doesn't really have anything on Harper. He does have a home run advantage, I think, at this stage of their career over Freddie Freeman, which is why I moved him ahead of Freddie Freeman in Roto, but I kept Freeman ahead in points because, walks basically walks and doubles

Freeman still hits a ton of doubles which aren't rewarded at all at Roto they are rewarded in points leagues and also yeah the walks so it's and if you look at the head to head points per game between the three players it's closer than you probably think in fact Harper may actually have

the edge I think they're all right at 3.5 yeah so the thought process for me and why willing to buy in for for Vlad is there was a perception coming into the season specifically that he was just not the type of hitter for whatever reason who would live up to his underlying stats the the underlying stats last year were still really really good but he way underperformed them and there were a lot of thoughts about why it was right there was he doesn't pull the ball enough or his offensive production was inflated in 2020

by the minor league parks they played in. Well, if you actually look at his career, this is now six seasons for Vladimir Guerrero. Five of them, he has played almost exactly two his expected Wobah. This year, it's 413 as his ex-Woba, his actual Wobah's 400, but he's catching up real quick.

Last year's the only year that he underperformed by more than 13 points. And the underlying numbers are you can't say they're as good as anyone in baseball because like Juan Soto and Aaron Judge exist but he might be top he's probably top five in ex Wobah for the season I would guess he's seventh excuse me so I just don't see any real reason to doubt the the underlying numbers at this point and so I'm just going to buy all in on that Yeah, I think that's totally defensible.

And yeah, I thought about it as well. I probably just should. I think, yeah, he's done it for long enough now where, you know, Vlad is definitely in that conversation to be the best first baseman in fantasy baseball. Are these two hitters back? Kind of. Corbyn Carroll has been doing some things,

one for three with two walks and two runs scored. Last 33 games, he's batting 246. Obviously, we want a better batting average. But nine homers, 33 runs, six steals, and an OPS over 900, that's pretty good for Corbyn Carroll. And Adolis Garcia, 3 for 5 with a double dong, last 20 games, a 303 batting average,

three homers, three steals, lots of line drives, hitting the ball hard during the spend. What do you guys think? Are Corby Carroll and Adolis Garcia kind of back? I think Carol is kind of back. It's kind of early to say for Adolice Garcia, though I found Adolice Garcia

to be a head scratcher all season. reason because a lot of the underlying numbers look exactly the same as they have the past couple years. So I've been confused why Adolese-Carcia has been so absent to begin with. But I actually did it. So you looked up the numbers for Corby and Carole last 33 games. Yep. If you go back more like 60 games, you'll find the same thing. Batting average shy of 250, but OPS in the mid-800s and plenty of extra base hits.

And yeah, we expected a higher batting average from Corby and Carroll, but batting average is a pretty noisy stat. And I don't know, he's gone a long way to relieving my concerns about his shoulder and whether or not he should be a highly drafted outfielder next year. And I certainly think of Corbyn Carroll as must start right now. It is a little weird that he only has 21 steals. He's still 96th percentile sprint speed. I think he's certainly capable of stealing more bases,

but maybe it's just all the home runs he's been hitting recently, hasn't had an opportunity to run as much. Let's talk about Wyatt Langford, who launched a clutch home run in the ninth inning, three for five with his seventh home run, added three runs and three RBI. His previous 27 games before this one, 149 batting average, one homer of 458 OPS. Chris, do you think Wyatt Langford should still be 91% rostered on CBS? On the merits, probably not,

but we've seen enough hot streaks from him where he's justified it. And obviously, I think the talent is still really impressive. I do hope at some point there's this like ongoing like, oh, these dumb nerds are wrong about Ellie de la Cruz and they were wrong about Fernando Tatis. And then we always like selectively remember which of the like super highly touted rookies actually hit and which one. fall on their faces like Wyatt Langford. And I hope we just add him to the mental model. And don't forget that, well, yes,

some of these guys turn into league winners. Some of them don't. And Wyatt Langford, while I think deserves to be rostered just on the upside alone, I also think it's reasonable to say, we're running out of time to worry about upside. You've got bench spots.

And I'd rather use a bench spot on Wyatt Langford than whoever the replacement level outfielder in your leagues waiver wire is. Yeah, I mean, look at how quickly things turned around for Jackson Chorio. And they could for Langford as well. There have been a couple fakeouts. Yes. Where we thought, okay, maybe Langford's coming on now and then it hasn't happened. 27 games prior to this one, he was batting 149.

so obviously it had been totally useless. Did you give that stat already, Frank? I sure did. Yeah, well, just I'm reinforcing it. Scott just wants to make sure the people know. You know, I've been, it's the time of year where I'm listening to the fantasy football podcast because I have my draft coming up

and that is the lowest effort way to prepare for my draft. And I notice, you know, I'm usually when I'm listening, I'm driving or I'm doing work around the house. or whatever. And I miss a lot of details because my mind tunes out for just a second to focus on whatever I'm doing on.

I'm like, oh, what was that? And the more you can repeat things, the better is all I'm saying, based on my own podcast. I love that. I love that justification. Adam Azer's been off the baseball pod for about five years,

and Scott still listens to him more than he listens to me. How about that? Let's talk about Tyler Fitzgerald, who went two for five with his 14th home run at last 26 games, 3.30 batting average with 13 homers, five steals, and an OPS over 1100. The plate discipline has gotten better during that time, too.

81% zone contact rate, that'll work for Tyler Fitzgerald. I don't know how we quantify this, but let's put our hypothetical hats on here. Is Tyler Fitzgerald about to be a league winner? It kind of feels like that. I mean, it could end any day. it could end any day. Enjoy it. Enjoy it.

I'm not saying like cut him and and and. No, definitely do not. Forget it. But I don't think he's actually this good. I think eventually major league pitchers will figure out how to pitch to him. They may not figure it out this year. But they probably will next year if they don't figure it out this year. So I, you know, I don't, I don't like being a buzzkill.

Um, but. I do like being honest. And that's my honest assessment of Tyler Fitzgerald. I don't want to change it just because he had another day with a home run. Yeah, like I'm trying to figure out like what's the comp here. Like Zach Gelloff. Yeah, but like Gelloff was 23.

Last year. Yeah, he was 23 years old. He was a later breakout. Yeah. A somewhat notable prospect when he got called up. Like Tyler Fitzgerald got called up. And nobody, like, batted an eye. He had been up, this is not like his first taste in the majors or anything.

Like Patrick Wisdom in 2021. I thought Max Muncie with the Dodgers when he first got there. Sure, yeah, yeah. That's another kind of older. But he actually became a fantasy's done. But like the thing. I mean, there is a possibility Fitzgerald does do that. I understand it's a very low possibility.

That's the problem with the question is you only remember. remember the really notable ones and that's going to skew towards the guys who worked out whereas like a Joey Manessus who I know was a couple years older than Fitzgerald, but like Fitzgerald's about to turn 27. Like this is pretty old for what we're for a guy with the lack of experience at the major league level that he has. So I there's no way to like what he's doing doesn't make sense. You know, like he has a 30.

percent hard hit rate. He has an 88.4 mile per hour average, eggs of velocity. His barrel rate is better than that, but it's like 75th percentile. It's not incredible. Like the underlying numbers are solid. 267XBA, 485X slug.

Like that's a really, that would be a really useful player, especially with a little bit of speed. Like that there's, it's not hard to say Tyler Fitzgerald's a useful player. A league winner? What he's doing right now? it doesn't make any sense.

So how can I analyze it? Like it's, it's ineffable. And my, the rational part of my brain says there's no way he keeps it up, but there should have been no way for him to do this already. So what does it matter that he shouldn't be able to keep it up, right? Like that,

that's, that's the thing I'm struggling with. Let's get into our final hitter question. And it is regarding Jonathan India, three for five with a double dong for RBI, his previous 18 games before this, 103 batting average, three extra base hits,

a 394 OPS. 78% rostered. Is Jonathan India still a must roster player? Well, you ask us after he hits two home runs. I mean, not in the shallow leagues with no middle infield spot to fill. I think he's, when he's going well,

he's perfectly, you're perfectly fine to use him there, but obviously he had been struggling. I won't repeat number that I'm sure you already said. But, you know, if you just look at his year-to-date production in points leagues, Jonathan India is right in that range where you'd consider using him, even in shallower leagues. Yeah, I'll say the leagues where I have him, I hadn't really considered dropping him.

Okay, fair enough. He's 12th. He entered today 12th and head-to-head points at second base. He's got like a 360 OBP. Like the power's been hit or miss, but it's a useful player, yeah. He's lower in my rankings than 12th, I'll tell you that. I moved Tyler Fitzgerald ahead of him, right? Fitzgerald's eligible at second base.

Yep. I moved Xavier Edwards ahead of him. Same. So yeah, okay. So just, is he must roster? No, but he's rosterable. He's can roster. Sure.

Yeah, I think that makes sense. Again, that was Jonathan India. Let's take our final break. and when we return, we'll get into some of those rough pitcher outings right after this. Welcome back in, let's talk some rough pitcher outings. We already spoke about Mitch Keller, but let's talk about Walker Bueller, who was bad again in his return at the Brewers. Three in a third innings, four runs allowed, only one of those was earned,

but he had four walks to three strikeouts, only five whiffs, only through 53% of his pitches for strikes. Tyler Anderson, a mixed start. I mean, it's mostly bad because, look, seven earned runs is bad, but he had eight strikeouts. He had 19 whiffs on 98 pitches, but obviously the overall line was not great here for Tyler Anderson. And Robbie Ray could not escape the first inning against the Braves.

He only recorded two outs. He gave up five runs, three walks, two hit by pitches, one big hit, which was a grand slam to Michael Harris. Scott, what do we do? Robbie Ray, Tyler Anderson, Walker Bueller. Okay, well, Walker Bueller, I think we just leave him alone. because he does not seem good. He's still 81% rostered.

I know. I have him stashed pretty much everywhere that I had him stashed, but now that he's off the IL and did this, and was bad on his, it wasn't a rehab stint, his trip to the miners. I think I'm probably going to have to drop him, yeah. Yeah, I'd be totally fine dropping him. I'm surprised he's as rostered as he is.

I hope he gets it back at some point. second Tommy John surgery is hard and he's shown no signs at all of having much of anything to offer. So I think we can just ignore him. Anderson and Robbie Ray, those are tougher cases. I've been forecasting the Anderson implosion all season, but then he started missing a ton more bats. I don't have the updated numbers, but it was first 17 starts, 11% swinging strike rate. the six prior to this one, 15% swinging strike rate. Big jump.

It's even higher. He had 19 on 98 pitches today, yeah. I see he walked four in this one, and I'm like, well, that's not going to happen very often. And you could understand why the start went kind of sideways on Tyler Anderson because of that. So I'm actually going to give him a pass for this and not claim that this is the beginning of the end for Tyler Anderson. Agreed. Robbie Ray I'm throwing this one out

when you when you hit everybody and walk everybody it was bad he was terrible it was bad in a way that suggests he's hurt or something and it was a late game so we don't have much information about the start yet

but and he has a long history of control problems but this was next level. This was like Rick Ankeel and the 2000 wildcard game levels of wildness. What's crazy is this is how his first start started against the Dodgers. That first inning was awful,

and then he just settled down and was amazing. Two hit batters. I think he had a strikeout. I think he had two hit batters and two walks and that first inning against the Dodgers. A grand slam, another walk out of the game. Oh, okay. I mean, I didn't, I didn't, maybe.

Here's the craziest part, though. Like, I'm not dropping Robbie Ray after this start or anything. Like, yeah, he has a history of wildness and maybe it was just, maybe it's just one of those days for him. I don't know. It worries me, though. I'm not just writing it off. No, yeah, I think that's fair. His next start is against the white sucks.

I'm starting him next week. Yeah, there's no doubt. I hate that. I hate that. Any other team, I would just. sit them and see how it goes. But White Sox, man. Oh.

Like, I haven't updated the numbers in a while. Let's see. The White Sox are averaging 3.14 runs per game. You know how the Marlins have a terrible offense? The Marlins are averaging like six-tenths of a run more per game. The Marlins are going to end up scoring like 130 more runs than the Wright Sox. this season. I mean, the way

Xavier Edwards and Jake Berger are going to even sure the Marlins' offense is that bad right now. Joe Bride, baby. Yeah, Jonah Bride will get to him in just a bit. Yeah, it's stunning.

Like, this is the worst offense in a half a century at least. That's not an overstatement. Yeah, so. They made Will Warren look like a major league pitcher today. They've made, like,

everyone except Louis Heal this season. and look like Major League Pitten, right? That was who started the... Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was the first time

the White Sox beat anybody by 10 runs this season, by the way. Just got a, you know, deep my fan. He'll turn. I'll start anyone against the White Sox.

Yeah. I think that's a good way to end it. You're starting Robbie Ray next week. Let's get into some Waver Wire hitters and who would you rather have between these two? Kerry Carpenter makes it two for two. He's homered on back-to-back

days since coming off the IL, one for four with his 11th home run. And as we spoke about yesterday, the overall numbers of season are really good. It's just, Carrie Carpenter missed a lot of time with injury. And T.J. Friedel had a big game, two for four with a double dong, 19 games since returning from the IL, 258 batting average, five home runs in 858 OPS. Who would you guys rather have Carrie Carpenter or T.J. Friedel? I'm going to say Friedel by a long shot, actually. I'm not, they don't play Carpenter against Lefties. Yeah, that's the very consistently sat Carrie Carpenter against Lefties. I kind of feel like they should try though because they're so bad.

They should, yeah. They might now that he's back, right? It's possible. The National should try to play Louise Garcia against Lefties. Hey, he did the other, yesterday, I think. Okay. Okay, it's one. I'm sure it wasn't the first time he started against Lefty,

but it's been rare and it's been rare for Carpenter. So I'm going to take Friedel, who is at least a stud at home. I think Harry Carpenter is a better hitter, but I agree with what you're saying. The lack of playing time against lefties makes it hard to say for sure that you'd rather have. Yeah, I do like both of them quite a bit, but I would take Friedel as well. In a shallow league, would you guys drop White Lankford for T.J. Friedel? Yeah.

It would have to be a Roto League. Yeah, I actually move free to one spot ahead of White Lankford. So yeah, I think in a shallower league, I would be fine with that move. Who would you rather have between these two catchers? Austin Wells continues to hit three for five with his ninth home run. Last 35 games, he's batting 316 with seven homers, 25 RBI, and OPS over 900 for Austin Wells. And Joey Bart, two for four, with his 11th home run since the start of July.

31 games for Bart, 287 batting average, seven homers, hitting the ball hard, has 21 RBI during that stretch. Who do you like more, Chris? Austin Wells, Joey Bart. They are both top 15 catchers for me. But. Yeah, I think I moved Bard up to like 18. I have Wells 12th.

Yeah. I like both. I have Wells 12th and Bart 14th. So I, the underlying data for Austin Wells is really strong. And it has been for most of the season. So, you know, he's a more recent top prospect than Joey Bard, although wasn't necessarily viewed quite as highly as Joey Bart at his peak, but that was like five years ago now.

So, yeah, I have a little more faith in Austin Wells. Love that he's batting cleanup for the Yankees. I really kind of annoyed at how good he is. Like, he might mess around and win rookie of the year. Austin Wells? Yeah. I think he. Is there nobody else in the American League?

I think he now leads AL rookies in war. Wow. I did not realize that. I would not have guessed that. 260XBA 436X lug for Austin Wells, which is pretty impressive. That's about 65th percentile for both. In a one-catcher league,

would you drop Francisco Alvarez for either of these catchers? Wells or Bart? Alvarez is ice cold. I... Yeah. I'm not saying, yeah, dude. question. I was saying, yeah, to him being ice cold. I rank Alvarez ahead of them, and I'm not inclined to change it. If it's a shallow league, I have no problem to just chasing the hot

hand at catchers if you don't have a stud there, and I wouldn't consider Alvarez a stud. You know, one catcher league, yeah, I think you can consider it. I moved Alvarez down to 13th. I have Austin Wells 14th. So it's really close, and I think it's totally defensible in a one catcher league if you wanted to do that. But Austin Wells entering today was three-tenths of a win behind Colton Couser for the American League lead. Interesting. A. E. Oh, Hennio Suarez continues to hit for power,

three for five with two doubles, and his 18th home run, he added five RBI. The debacks as a team are just red-hot since the All-Star break. Last 33 games for Suarez, 306, batting average, 12 homers, and OPS over a thousand, 63% rostered.

Is Suarez behind Camerro and Jake Berger? Because it kind of feels like they're in a similar tier right now. he is for me but it's closeish I guess I don't know I'm having trouble actually ranking Suarez because I think the wheels are going to fall off at some point he's been really hot

but I think the floor is going to be very very low when he cools off I have more faith in Berger and I'd rather gosh the Caminero one is so tough because in theory he's got more upside but obviously with what Suarez is doing over the last month plus, I don't think Junior Caminaro is going to be better than that.

Well, but he's, we're ranking him for rest of season. So he doesn't have to be better than what Suarez has been at his absolute artist. He has to be better than what you think Suarez is going to be going forward. And I put, I put Suarez and Burger in the same category as far as that goes. They obviously need to be rostered with how they've performed the past couple months. or six weeks or so, whatever it is. But this is not them. They will fall off.

I have more faith than Berger than Suarez. I do have Burger last year. Yeah. But only by a couple spots. I have Common Air. I'm looking at it now. I ranked him a lot more aggressively than you guys. So those guys I have around Swaraz and Burger,

I have around 20th at third base. I have Commonero 14th. Yeah. I get it. if you're chasing the upside. I have Burger at the top of that trio. I have 19th. I have Camerro at 21,

and then I have Suarez at 23. So that's how I'm ranking those three third basemen. One name in deeper leagues, Jonah Bride continues to hit for the Marlins, two for four with his fifth home run, added 4 RBI. He has started 17 straight games, mostly batting third or fourth in the lineup,

and since being recalled on July 4th, 2.93 batting average, five homers, 18 RBI. I brought up the name yesterday, any interest? I don't know. It's got to be real deep league stuff. 15 team roto and I'll only.

Jonah bride. I do have him in NL only NL only league. There's almost nothing to suggest that this is real. This is a 28-year-old career journeyman who had put up decent numbers at AAA, but like he's 28 and has played 166 games at AAA in his career. He did nothing in, um, 40 games with the A's last year. He did nothing in 58 games with the A's the year before.

So fun story, good for the Marlins, but I, like the underlying numbers don't back it up. The track record doesn't back it up. I think he only matters in NL only. Plus what I think is eventually going to happen to Jonah Bride is he's going to, they're going to call up Davis and De Los Santos. to play first base and shift Berger back over to third base full-time. I think that's how it ends this season. All right, let's talk some Waverwire pitchers.

And first name up top, Jordan Montgomery turned in a quality start up against the Rockies, six innings, three runs, eight strikeouts, had 22 whiffs on 106 pitches. I think that's mostly just a result of playing the Rockies on the road here. It was his first quality start since June 27th. He does get the Marlins next week. Is there any way, you guys, would trust is not the right word,

but I guess streamed toward a Montgomery against the Marlins next week. I mean, the thing we've been watching with him is the curveball, right? Like, that's the most important pitch, and it was just super loopy earlier in this season. He was getting way too much break on it. It was, I guess, just too easy to see out of the hand.

It was tighter in this one, three inches less vertical break, got eight whiffs with it, really good results. Of 22 total, right? Yeah, the best he's looked all season for sure. I could see a good start against the Marlins next week, given that it's a one-star week and there are some two-start pitchers that we've talked about

who I think are a little more interesting. I don't know how much more rostered Jordan Montgomery should be, but I could see him being useful next week, yeah. What is he? 65%. I'm going to guess he'll be in my 10 sleeper pitchers for next week. Understanding that my 10 sleeper pitchers are basically all bad pitchers. Well, let's talk about more bad pitchers then. What do you got, Chris?

No, I think Martin Perez might be not bad. I don't know. Let's find out. Beat the waiver wire for any of these two-star pitchers. We'll find out on tomorrow's podcast if they actually project for two starts. But as of now, according to CBS, it looks like these names will have two starts next week. And the list includes many names. I've got six here. Martin Perez, DJ Hers, Dean Kramer.

Alex Cobb, Zach Lattel, David Peterson. They all pitched well here on Wednesday. If you guys want to scroll through the names and look at the matchups, but would you actually be looking to add and use any of these pitchers for next week? So, Paul Blackburn, take notes. This is what you're supposed to do

in a revenge game when you've recently been traded. Martine Perez. What was it? Five and a third innings, eight strikeouts, 12 whiffs, continues to throw the curveball as his, primary pitch as he's done in I believe all three pit starts since getting to the Padres, 21 strikeouts, 18 and a third innings.

I don't think Martine Perez is an ace suddenly, but I think he's useful in a two-start week, especially in head-to-head points leagues where he's a spark. The matchups make it a little ifier for Roto because like if he got bombed by the twins and Mets next week and screwed up your ratios, I wouldn't be shocked. but I'm okay with using Martin Perez in points leagues as a spark. I'm also, I think Zach Lattel in a points league is going to be pretty useful next week. Another spark, Oakland and the Dodgers certainly don't love the Dodgers matchup, but I think in a points league only,

Zach Lattel as an NRP will be worth starting. You couldn't get Chris to say anything nice about Martin Perez. Well, that was two years ago, two years ago when he had a 29 ERA. That was when people were demanding that we treat him like an ace. What happened in 2023? Do we want to talk about that? No.

No, I don't. I want to talk about how you're finally willing to say something nice about my team. I'm all in. And I do think he's the most attractive of this very unattractive group. Dean Kramer, this was his first. good start in seven. So I'm pretty much over him. DJ hers.

He's had two earn runs or he's had his. He's had his, his, um, I wrote down numbers here, but I didn't write down the span of time. He's been good for a while now. I think this was his only quality start during that stretch though, just because he hadn't been working deep into games. and I noticed... He's pretty interesting though, I think. I think so too.

Yeah, he started... He didn't have to rely on his fastball as much in this one. He threw a bunch more sliders, which isn't a very good pitch for him, but he obviously got a good result and got a bunch of whiffs on the change-up. It wasn't just the slider. I don't know.

He just seems to be becoming a more complete pitcher DJ Hearst does with each passing start. So I don't know that I'm ready to actually like recommend him in fantasy. but I could see getting to that point. He's got versus Colorado to kick off next week. Yeah, that's pretty good. He might end up making the cut because somebody has to for sleeper pitchers. Yeah, five starts in the second half for DJ Hers.

304 ERA 118, whip 41 strikeouts over 31 in a third. The matchups next week, the Rockies on the road and at the Braves. So I could see it working out in a deeper league. Again, that is DJ Hers. Speaking of deeper leagues, I do have two other names here on this list. Grant Holmes turned in a strong start at the Giants. Seven innings two runs, six strikeouts, had 14 whiffs on 95 pitches. I remain intrigued here.

It looks like he has three legit good pitches. Grant Holmes, the fastball, the curve, and the slider. The problem, I don't know if he's going to stick around in the rotation once Ronaldo Lopez returns. And Davis Martin actually pitched pretty well against the Yankees, five and two thirds, one run allowed with five strikeouts there. Scott, anything to add? on Davis Martin, and will Grant Holmes stick around once Lopez is back? Yeah, that's the big question because Holmes is,

because Renoldo Lopez is going to be back early next week, and there's nobody else to remove from that rotation unless they're ready to cut back on Spencer Schwellenbach's workload, which they're going to have to do eventually. He's been so good for them that they might not want to, or they might use Holmes to space out their other starters as they've been doing all year with Lopez and Chris Sale, and that would help Schwellenbach also.

So I could see Holmes mixing in from time to time. Is that enough to keep him rostered? Not in most leagues. But I agree with you. I think there might be actual ability here. His swinging strike rate would be higher than any qualifier. Cole Reagan says the highest swinging strike rate among qualifiers, 14.8%. Grant Holmes is like a percentage.

point higher than that. Like, that's, that is the purest indication of talent in my mind. Yeah, so we'll see if Grant Holmes could stick around, but I remain intrigued on him in deeper leagues. Let's get into the leftovers and start with pitchers. Cole Regens turned in a gem at the twins, seven innings, one run, eight strikeouts, had 18 whiffs on 106 pitches. Ronell Blanco pitched well before leaving that start at Tampa Bay, six shotout

innings with four strikeouts, and Jose Burrios had. had a great start at the Angels, seven innings, one run, five strikeouts there. Chris, anything you'd like to add on, Berrios, Renel Blanco, and Cole Regens. Burrios, like, I don't know. I never have a good explanation for why he's pitching poorly when he does. I never have a good explanation for why he suddenly starts pitching well, like he has the past couple of starts. So I, I don't know, man, Jose Barrios is an enigma to me. Cole Reagan's fastball velocity was up above 95 miles per hour for the first time in over a month. That's a good sign given the injury concern or the innings concerns we had about him and the declining velocity recently.

Good to see that. He's remained still very good despite the inning's concerns, but it was good to see. Well, the performance had been dropping off in recent starts. It was it was seven in a row where his velocity was down like one and a half to two miles. per hour across the board. And I was starting to get worried about Cole Reagan's because the innings were mounting. He's already well past his career high. You wouldn't think the Royals would be in a position to shut him down as they're fighting for a

playoffs. Yeah, no, they can't. But it's, the concern level is high for Reagan's workload-wise. But he did regain velocity, and I read on the team's official site, that he made a mechanical adjustment to get that velocity back. So apparently his mechanics were off. It wasn't him taking something off intentionally. It wasn't necessarily him tiring,

except that maybe tiring affected his mechanics. And he said everything feels great. It's starting to get back where it was. Blah, blah, blah. I was encouraged to hear that it was a mechanical thing for Regens. I'll just want to be clear. We're not talking about the Olympic break dancer, Raycon. This is Cole Reagan's, the Kansas City Royals pitcher.

Yeah, every time she's brought up, I think of Frank's sound effect. Oh, do I have it loaded up? Let's see. I do. Yeah. All right, so I'm hitting leftovers. Another day, another homer for Bobby Witt, Jr., two for four with his 24th home run. In the second half, he's now betting 453 with a 1337 OPS. And of course, one day after we put Jake Cronomworth on the Wuriameter, he hits a home run. On his birthday, one for three with his 15th homer, three RBI in that one. Gunner Henderson has been in a bit of a power drought, but did go one for three with his 30th home run. Andres Jimenez had a big game three for four with a double three RBI and his 20th steel. He's hit much better in August after a dreadful June and July.

Jeremy Pena has homered in three of his last four games and is heating up in the second half. Pete Alonzo, four for four with his 26th home run. And Juan Soto, like many hitters, enjoyed facing the White Sox this week. One for two with three walks and his 34th home run. He has four home runs over his past two games. Some Bulpin updates for the Royals. Lucas Erseg recorded the final four outs for his fifth save

and his second with the Royals. Solid numbers all around 305 ERA, a 106 whip. He's 22% rostered. And if you are looking for saves, I think it makes a bunch of sense to go out and add Lucas Ersig. For the Orioles, a one-run lead. Yanir Cano pitched a clean seventh inning. Then the Orioles tacked on two more.

And Conell Perez got the eighth inning, Sir Anthony Dominguez in the ninth. With a three-run lead, he walked one, but picked up his third save, and he is only 8% rostered. It kind of feels like, at least for the time being, this is going to be the recipe for the Orioles. It does.

It is beginning to seem that way. Back-to-back saves for Sir Anthony Dominguez. And prior to that, he worked the ninth inning twice with a four-run lead. So I don't know. I imagine they're still wanting Craig Kimbril to find his way back into that role. But his last outing was pretty awful, and I'm losing confidence that he will. For the Red Sox, Kenley Jansen was unavailable. Josh Winkowski got the ninth inning with a three-run lead.

He gave up a game-tying home run to Wyatt Langford. He took his first blown save. The Red Sox would eventually lose an extra inning. On the other side, for the Rangers, Kirby Yates pitched a clean 10th inning for his 21st save. Just wanted to point out, what a fantastic season for Kirby Yates, 102 ERA, 0.88 whip, 63 strikeouts over 44 in a third innings. For the Phillies, Carlos Estevez got the ninth inning with a four-run lead. He struck out two, I think pretty clearly the closer for the Phillies. For the Astros, Josh Hader got the ninth inning with the game tied.

He pitched a clean inning. Then the Astros took a one-run lead in the 10th. Josh Hater came back out and he closed the game. Pitched two perfect innings with three strikeouts, picked up his fifth win. And for the Brewers, Devin Williams pitched a clean ninth inning. He struck out one for his second save of the season. To stream or not to stream on Thursday, we have a pretty light slate. If I had to choose, I think I would go Kintana against the A's and Cody Bradford against the twins.

I kind of like what Tobias Myers has been doing, but not against the Dodgers. Not against the Dodgers. Yeah, I think Kentana is the clear best option here, and that's not saying very much. Agreed. On Friday, it does look a little bit better here. We have Arrogatti who gets the White Sox, and he's still under 70% rostered. We have Jose Soriano against the Braves. Simeon Woods Richardson at Texas, I think is okay.

There's Ryan Nelson at Tampa Bay. this is probably Ryan Nelson's last turn, right? Yeah, I think so. It's not a bad matchup. The Rays are the third lowest scoring team in baseball this season, and they strike out a bunch. So that one, you know, he's throwing his fastball up in the zone a bunch, and it's made him a much more effective pitcher.

I could see that one being pretty good. Erickettys clearly the top choice. Yep, yep. He shouldn't be in the streaming conversation, given the upside. He's shown the last couple of starts. He should just be too raw. for this.

And so, Nelson, I could see Rodriguez having a good start against the Cubs. They're a beatable matchup. And Jose Soriano, I think we all like him a decent amount. So Friday has some options, yeah. Yeah. I don't mind Andrew Heaney against the twins either, though, the ones you mentioned, especially Soriano. I'd like more. Guys, I started Spencer Erigetti going against the White Sox.

I started him over Aaron Nola and a league. Wow. I know. Who does Nola face? I know. I know. What? Who does Aaron Nola face?

I don't know. I don't remember. It looks like the Nationals on Friday. That's pretty bold. That sounds about right. Yeah. He's just been so shaky lately and Eric Gettie's going against the white socks. So it's very out of character for me to do something like that.

We'll see if I hate myself in the morning. Yeah. I got Arrogatti in AL Labor. So let's see another great start from them. Let's do it. We are going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today.

Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. Mount Podcasts.