Fantasy Baseball Today - Ryu's Struggles, Offense in June, Week 15 Sleepers & Two-Start Pitchers! (7/2 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 2, 2021

Is Hyun Jin Ryu broken (2:18)? Why was Tony Gonsolin used in relief? Adam Wainwright has been awesome this season! ... News and notes (14:53)! We have an update on Trevor Bauer, Corbin Burnes left his start with a knee injury, and more. ... Prospect updates (23:30)! Luis Patiño is getting the call for the Rays? Where should he be added? Do we have any interest in Jake Burger? ... Week 15 sleepers and two-start pitchers (28:44)! How has Framber Valdez changed his pitch-mix this season (36:35)? ... How much was offense actually up in June (39:57)? Are things back to normal? ... We have waiver wire hitters (42:37)! We also have Thursday leftovers, bullpen updates, and streamers for the weekend (48:18). ... Let's end the week with some Fantasy Justice For All (58:32)! ... Email us at [e-mail]. 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  CBS Sports and Westinghouse are teaming up to give away a 55" TV, portable power station and air purifier over the next month. Go to cbssports.com/homerun to enter. 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

Get ready to win your league. Now here's Frank Scott, Chris, and Adam. Have you met Scott? Happy Cougamow Friday and welcome into fantasy baseball today, presented by Lion & Coogles. More on their great variety of beverages later on in the podcast. Friday, July 2nd. Frank Sample joined by Scott White.

Of course, we have your week 15 sleepers, two-star pitchers. What is wrong with Hyun Ryu? how much was offense actually up in June and a lonely fantasy justice question. Scott, I wish I could take credit for wanting to be the, for being the person who actually came up with the,

have you met Scott? But someone pointed out on a YouTube video once, and they were like, every time you open the Kokomo Friday podcast, I think you're going to say, have you met Scott? And I've never done it. So I wanted to do it.

But you didn't open with Kokomo Friday. song. You didn't. I didn't. You had the normal one. Oh, let's just start things over. What am I doing? All right. I'm so disappointed. This is such a great weekend to look forward to, Kokomo Friday. All right, all right, all right. Have you met Scott? All right, how did I do, Scott?

It's Kokomo Friday now, for sure. Oh, man. I totally, totally butchered that one. There's a lot going on. Right before the podcast, I'm always gathering all my notes. I'm getting everything together. Scott's just staring at me like, come on, Frank. I want to start already. So apologies for the late start, as always, but a little flustered there.

You get your Kokomo Friday. Of course, lots to talk about, Scott. Let's not waste any more time. Oh, my goodness gracious. All right, I'm taking this one. Let's start. Yunjin Ryu. Is he a broken pitcher?

He was up against the Mariners on Thursday. four innings, seven hits, five runs. Four of those were earned. He gave up, wait for it. 13 hard hit balls against the Seattle Mariners' offense of all teams. It should have been a no-hitter.

Should have been a no-hitter. I'm pretty sure there's someone that emails in every time you say that, Scott, and they're like, can Scott stop saying that? No. That's the bit. I'm not going to stop saying it. Anyway, for Ryu, his first 10 starts,

he was awesome. 2.62 ERA. 58 strikeouts over 58 in a third innings pitched. His last six starts Thursday included 5.35 ERA, 16 strikeouts over 35.1 innings pitched, which is just awful. There's no other way to put it. It's been an awful stretch for Jun Ryu. And during this time, his swinging strike rate has dropped about three percentage points. Not that he's ever been great in that category anyway. His chase rate is down about 10 percentage points. So a lot of hitters are laying off of pitches

outside of the strike zone. It's something that he actually alluded to and he mentioned in a quote after his start. He had this to say after the outing. A lot of my pitches today were just off the plate and the hitters were being very patient and not swinging. He later added,

I feel like it's one of those minor things that I can change right away very quickly, hopefully. So that quote is kind of all over the place. I don't know what he's referring to as being that minor thing that he can fix. We kind of heard something similar from Luis Castillo earlier in the season when he was struggling. He's, yeah, I've got it under control. I know what I need to fix. It's going to

come around. Eventually, Luis Castillo did come around. And if anyone's wondering about the swinging, the spin rates for Junjun Riu, that's not an issue. I looked at all of his last six starts. Hasn't been an issue, Scott. So what have you seen? Is Hian Riu broken? I don't know that I'd go that far. No, I mean, he's certainly off. He's off by his own admission and it may not take that much to get it right. As he says, the spin rates are pretty much the same across the board. As you pointed out, Frank, the velocity's been fine. I would guess it's a matter of, a matter of location or, you know, something mechanical going on. Pitch-tip. is always a possibility,

but I don't really see great reason for alarm here. Obviously, the results are concerning. It hasn't been a total disaster. I mean, he hasn't been as effective. The strikeout rate's been down, but he's such a good ground ball pitcher. You know, it's not like he's getting crushed every time out. Den pitch wasn't so great today,

but, you know, you can live with what he's giving you right now. With the hope and expectation that the strikeout rate eventually bounces back, Of course, Yanjin Ryu is not known for a high strike rate anyway, but this is month of June, it was 4Ks per 9. That's not good. Awful. That's not good. Specifically, it looks like the whiff rate on the curveball is way down.

The cutter, it's down a pretty good amount too. Fastball seems fine. Yeah, I don't know exactly what it is. I'm kind of just regurgitating results here to you, I understand. but I'm not super concerned if I have Ryu. I'm thinking it's just a rough patch. I'm thinking he's going to get out of it. And I don't know.

I guess maybe there's a by-low opportunity here. Though again, it's not like he's been such a disaster that the person who has Ryu is looking to unload him at this point. I would agree that it is a by-low to a certain extent. Now, I don't think that this is just who Ryu is at this point, but in a lot of ways, he is a finesse pitcher, a lot like someone like Dallas Keiko, right, where he's got to paint corners

and he doesn't rely on like plus stuff, but he's got to have really, really good command within the zone. And right now it seems like that is not happening for Yanjin Ryu. In particular in this start when I was watching, he kept falling behind counts again. It's something that he alluded to as well. So I guess the next question is, do we start him next week?

And he is up against the Baltimore Orioles and your first instinct might be, oh, well, it's the Orioles. You've got to start Hyun Jun Riu. Well, they are actually awesome against left-handed pitching this year. They have the third best Wobah the Orioles do against lefties this year.

Now, Riu did have a pretty good start back on June 20th against him, seven innings one run, his next time out, six and two-thirds, four runs against the Orioles. So one really good start and then one mass start. So what do you think, Scott?

Would you actually start Riu next week against the Orioles? I'd try not to. I wouldn't be that scared to do it either, but I'd try not to. I think it makes sense to sit in if you have viable alternatives. Yeah. In 12-team leagues are shallower. I would try to get Ryu out of my lineup.

I haven't been in a 15-team league, and I'm going to have no choice but to start. I'm just based on the nature of that league size. So, shallower leagues, get Ryu out of the lineup for now. All right, Scott, your, oh, my goodness gracious player from Thursday. Well, I'm not sure anyone really made me say, oh my goodness gracious today. Who did I tell you I was going to do? I can't even remember now.

It was so forgettable. Joey Gallo? Did I say I was going to do Gallo? I thought I said I was going to do something. No, it was Tony Gonson. Oh, I will mention Joey Gallow's homered seven times in his past five games. So good for Joey Gallo. He's back.

If you were ever worried about Joey Gallo, he's back. Another 40 Homer pace. He's batting around 240 now. You know, Joey Gallo, he comes and goes. He's here right now. All right. Yeah, I want to talk about Tony Gonsolin a little bit more because Tony Gonsolin

driving us nuts right now. The Dodgers didn't have him start today. They had him pitch and relief instead. He was the bulk pitcher. And the results were pretty good. He walked too many guys. That's kind of been a problem since we've seen him come back from the injury.

He walked three and three innings. But only one earn run, two hits, four strikeouts, eight swinging strikes on 52 pitches. That's obviously a very good rate. And that was after 4-1 hit innings last time out with seven strikeouts. So two really good outings in a row.

But while the last, the previous outings seemed like a step forward, he got up to 69 pitches, got up to four innings for the first time. Even on his rehab assignment, he didn't get to four innings. They kind of changed the way they implemented him this start, and he made it only three innings through only 52 pitches. So we're not seeing, it was

an interruption to the buildup. An interruption to the buildup for Gonsolin and that's frustrating. That's frustrating because he's in line for two starts next week. One is against the Marlins. One is against the Diamondbacks. Those are some really tasty matchups, obviously. I'd rather eat a Marlin than a Diamondback probably, but they're tasty matchups.

Any way you look at it. I was hoping after this outing we'd be at a point where we'd say, okay, it's a good chance he goes five innings now and we're not, clearly, because he only went three innings. So I don't know how long this is going to last. You know, it sounds like the Dodgers may need more bulk from their pitchers in the future. They're losing some bulk here potentially in the form of Trevor Bauer. So, yeah, I mean, I don't know what they're doing with Tony Gonsolin, but it's frustrating. You're holding on to him, right, Scott? He's still 79% rostered.

Yeah, of course, I'm holding on to him. I'm just frustrated. Because with those two matchups, I feel like I got to call him a sleep. per pitcher for next week, but is he going to give you a total of six innings between the two? No chance for a win? I mean, I guess if he's a bulk reliever following an opener, he has a chance

for a win. He actually picked up the win on Thursday, so oddly enough, but yeah, only three innings, only 50 pitches. He has 13 walks in 16 innings pitch this season, so the control has been very wonky so far to this point for Tony Gonsolin. Not dropping him.

I guess, you know, in a rhodo Categories League. I would get him in there with those matchups, even if it's as a bulk reliever, but you'll have to pay attention to what the Dodgers say about him over the weekend. I don't know that they're going to tip their hand. They probably want it to be an unknown for a competitive edge, I guess, or something like that.

You know those Dodgers always dodging the questions. Yeah, that's right. But in a points league, it might be harder to start him just because you don't know what the volume is going to look like for next week. Quick shout out to Adam Wainwright, man, because I don't know how he does it, Scott, but he's just doing

it. He's getting it done. And this time he goes into Cores Field in Colorado. Eight innings, two runs, only four strikeouts, eight swinging strikes on 110 pitches. He's doing something right. He's got the divers pitch arsenal. He throws all these different kinds of curveballs, cutters,

whatever. He doesn't throw hard. Never really has. But six straight quality starts for Adam Wainwright since the start of June. A 2.41 ERA during that span. 39 strikeouts to eight walks over 41 ennings pitched. And last

year he was really good, 3.15 ERA, 105 whip. And, you know, I think he's actually more valuable than we realize Scott, because in a season where there are pitchers who are, like, as a season goes along, they're going to be limited. And we've talked about multiple

times, you know, Trevor Rogers, Freddie Peralta, Julio Reyes. We're kind of assuming, but I think it's a fair assumption. Adam Wainwright's not going to get shut down. This guy has a rubber arm. He's throwing 110 pitches every time out. And so like, especially... He's 39 years old.

He's about to be 40. What's he saving it for? Yeah. So there's value in that, especially if you're playing a points league. So we haven't really talked about Wainwright this year. I don't know if there's anything you want to add, but I just thought I would give him his due because he's pitching well.

He is pitching well. I have no complaints about Adam Wainwright. His ex-PIP is actually 366, I think, 367. It's solid. It's the best it's been. in several years, the ground fall rate is slightly improved, the strikeout rate is slightly improved, and that together makes for a much better ex-fip.

So, you know, his ERA and X-FIP more or less match up. And obviously he's giving you tons of volume. You know, I think he's, well, any pitcher who gives up, I say a strikeout rates up, but he still gives up a fair amount of contact, Adam Wain-R-R-Denity, but pitcher who gives up that much contact is, of course, susceptible to a blowout

that could really skew the numbers at some point. But you got to fill out your pitching staff. Adam Wainwright seems like somebody who can do it for you. A 3.69 X-FIP, which you did reference, Scott, is his lowest since 2015. He only pitched 28 endings that year. So 2014 was the last time he's had one over a full season, an X-FIP this low.

So shout-out to Adam Wainwright. Before we get some news and notes, just wanted to let you know about CBS Sports HQ. As always, CBS Sports HQ is the network. to start your sports news day at 8 a.m. Eastern with morning buzz, an hour of highlights, news and all the days need to know, and come back or leave us on all day at 6 p.m. where we break down all the night's action and release dozens of picks from the best analysts and cappers in the sports world. How do you watch HQ? It is easy. Go to your Roku,

Apple TV, Fire TV, really most connected TVs, and look for the CBS Sports app. Fire it up. Check out HQ. The only 24-7. and free sports streaming network. And we also have a giveaway that I've told you about multiple weeks now, but I'll remind you again, CBS Sports and Westinghouse are teaming up to give away a 55-inch TV, a portable power station, and an air purifier. Over the next month, go to CVSports.com slash home run, H-O-M-E-R-U-N to enter. We'll put the link in the episode description as well.

Contest ends July 31st at CBSSports.com slash home run. no purchase necessary, 18 or over, must be located in the United States. The news and notes from Thursday, yeah, I was talking to Scott before this, and this Trevor Bauer situation is obviously a very serious one, and it's just kind of tough and weird to talk about right now,

if I'm just being completely honest with everybody, because of the serious nature of what is obviously being, alleged here, but just because we don't really know what is going to happen. So, you know, it's bigger than fantasy baseball and baseball, obviously. But we're here to kind of give you the ramifications of this. And I don't know what's going to happen. And neither does his manager, Dave Roberts. And he had this to say, I'm in the position of following the lead of Major League Baseball. Their recommendation was for us to move forward and have him start the game on Sunday. And so

for me to try to read into any more outside of just following. what they have had advised me and us to do, I just choose to kind of follow their lead. That is what Dave Roberts had to say about Trevor Bauer starting this Sunday, and then Ken Rosenthal from the Athletic, had an article come out right before we started, saying that the Dodgers cannot have Trevor Bauer start on Sunday. Obviously, that is Ken Rosenthal's opinion,

but this is an ongoing situation and a very serious one with Trevor Bauer. Corbyn Burns left Thursday start with knee sorenness, and apparently he slipped while making a pitch. After the game, he said that he is optimistic that he will make his next start in the rotation. Corbyn Burns at the Pirates. Seven and a third, four hits, one run, one walk, five strikeouts. Very good start.

Only 12 swinging strikes on 94 pitches. He has now had 12 swinging strikes or less in three straight for Corbyn Burns. The spin rates remain down, but not nearly as far down as we've seen in the past, Scott. Yeah, that's interesting. isn't it? Yeah. And I noticed that in Garrett Cole's most recent start too.

It was still down, but not nearly as much. And, you know, Garrett Cole ended up with a poor line in spite of that in his most recent start. Corbyn's line obviously pretty good. But as you pointed out, it's a 10.9% swinging strike rate for Corbyn Burns over his past three starts.

That's really bad. It's just three starts, but it coincides with the stretch of his spin rate. rate being down and so that that makes you wonder if his spin rate on his cutter which is his primary pitch if it's about what it was in this start

I'm not sure there's really anything to be concerned about but if it's down more like it was always down a hundred nine RPM on average in this start it's more like 200 250 I think we've seen it close to 300 at times memory serves you know

that that's obviously more significant so I don't know what to make of Corbin Burns right now. I have an article on the site right now. Top two rounds if you're redrafting for the rest of the season. I left Corbin Burns out of it. I had him in the also considered section. But the thing about it is in addition to the spin rates dropping, the workload question is going to come up very soon. And, you know, the Brewers are in her first place. So obviously they need his arm in there. But when's the last time you've seen even a competitive club just throw caution to the wind

with a prized asset like that. I mean, we haven't really seen that since Steven Strasbourg. Yeah. A long time ago. Before your time, Frank. Oh, I remember that day. Like it was yesterday, Scott. What year was that? Was that his rookie year? Was that his first year back from Tommy John? I can't remember exactly

what the circumstances were, but... I actually remember having this dilemma because I was, I believe, a senior in college. That would have been 2013. I remember walking to college from the train station and getting that update on Steven Trosburgh. And I think I had him on a few of my fantasy teams.

So I don't know why that memory is so vivid. But 2013 would have been, I don't know, maybe I got my ears mixed up. 2012 was the year after he returned from injury. So maybe it was 2012, but somewhere around there. I think it's a good point that you bring up about Corbyn Burns. The Brewers are in first place. They need him.

He was shut down. He was on the aisle for two to three weeks. That was a COVID situation, so maybe that buys him a few more starts towards the end of the season, but I just don't really see how they can afford to limit both him and Freddie Peralta. Those guys are pivotal to their success. Of course. Ronald Acuna was scratched from Thursday's lineup with back tightness. He's dealt with this on and off all season.

Scott, any concern for Acuna? Not really. No. All right. It started as lower back tightness. It's now mid-back tightness. that tightness is creeping up his back. So that's interesting.

I don't know what that tightness is doing. That's the extent of my analysis on Ronald de Cune's back tightness. I think we need to get a chiropractor on this podcast, trying to figure out what's going on there. Tray Turner was not in the lineup Thursday after jamming his left middle finger the day before. Look, the guy had an awesome game. Went for a cycle, two steals.

Get him a day off. Hopefully he's all right. Mike Trout took 50 swings off a T. He threw from 90 feet and he jogged on Tuesday. He's been on the IL since mid-May, of course, with that calf injury, as long as he does not suffer a setback trout should return in mid to late July. Blake Snell was clear to rejoin the Padres. He was actually placed on the COVID-IL, so he was able to come back sooner.

Snell is tentatively lined up to face the Phillies on Sunday. Yawamankata is dealing with a bruised hand that he suffered on a slide. He'll likely miss the entire weekend series. More on his replacement coming up. It's a great weekend for this White Sox prospect that's getting the call. Dave Roberts is hopeful that Corey Seeger could return right after the All-Star break. Seems a little optimistic to me. We had a trade.

The Bronx bombers are making moves. Big moves, baby. Tim LaCastro. They acquired Tim LaCastro from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for right-hander Keegan Curtis. Okay. Carlos Carrasco has been throwing full boppins. All right. Some good news there.

Haven't heard his name in a while. And could face live hitters in the near future. Dillon Bundy has been demoted to the Angels bullpen, Jose Suarez, will take his spot in the rotation. You can drop Dylan Bundy everywhere. Eddie Rosario exited Thursday's game with right abdominal tightness. David Peterson will not make his next start for the Mets. Colton Wong finally returned to the lineup, and then he exited with calf tightness again, and it sounds like he's going to land back on the IL.

Harrison Bader was reinstated. Our boy, Laura's Noot Bar was optioned back to the minors. Mike Talkman was diagnosed with a mild knee strain and is expected to miss 10 to 14 days. Rangers catcher Jose Trevino was placed on the aisle. John Hicks started on Thursday. He had two hits and a home run. For those who are in two catcher leagues,

last but not least, we've got to talk about the all-star starters, right? I mean, it doesn't really matter all that much. But here's what stood out to me. Adam Fraser, starting second baseman for the National League. Love it. One half of the Babbitt Bandits. It's great. both Nick Castellanos and Jesse Winker are starting in the outfield for the National League. That's pretty sweet.

This one I don't really get. People kind of call me out, us out for always hating on the Blue Jays. To Asker Hernandez is having a very good season. No doubt about it. He's starting in the outfield for the American League. Yeah, that's the one I was really disappointed in too. For the most part, I think the voters did a good job. Yeah. I think they usually do a good job. I think they've do a good job. I think they've do a better and better job every year. But yeah, that one, that one kind of raised the old eyebrow. I mean, Cedric Mullins, obviously not a big name. How do we not have Cedric Mullins starting in the outfield? Yeah, I mean, that would have been the most sensible one. I think he's probably going to start anyway because Mike Trout was voted in as a starter. Obviously, he's not going to play,

so. Right. Yeah. Right. But, you know, you would have had to go even a few out fielders beyond that before before I would have gotten to Teosker Hernandez. Yeah, I think Michael Brantley could have been in that mix. Whitmerfield, like, Whitmeryfield is not starting in the All-Star game. What is going on? Like, I don't know

how he was listed on the ballot. He may have been second base. Yeah, he might have been second base, but he's played some outfield this year. Whatever. Throw him in the outfield, man. And Whitmeryfield should be on that team. Some prospect updates. Ray's pitching prospect, Luis Patino is expected to be called up and start Friday against the Blue Jays. So,

I would not want to start him in his first start back in the majors. But over his last three starts at AAA, he allowed zero earned runs with 23 strikeouts to just four walks. He's 25% rostered. Scott, where should you be adding Luis Patino, if anywhere? I would probably add him anywhere you need pitching. I think there's enough openings in the race rotation right now, enough soft spots in the rotation, that this could be it for Luis Petino. This could be the time he sticks.

I imagine his workload will be limited early on, sort of like Shane McClanahan's was, but maybe not even that dramatically. I think, yeah, anywhere you need pitching, you could look at Patino as a potential pickup. Not saying he's must-add, but he's attractive enough to add. How would you rank these three starting pitcher, Scott?

They're all rostered in 30% or less of CBS leagues. Patino, Kyle Mueller, and Zach Thompson. That's a good question. That's why I get paid the big bucks. I think I'd have to put Petino at the bottom of the list for now. He's just he could leapfrog those two. He has the best prospect pedigree of the three. But I'm really excited about what I've seen from Zach Thompson.

So I think I'd go him number one. Mueller certainly has shown good strikeout potential, both in the minors and his second major league start last time out. So I want a clear idea of how the rays are going to use Patine. I think before I pick him up ahead of those two. Kyle Mueller's next two starts are against the Marlins. One, I believe, this weekend and then the following week as well. So if you could still pick him up and stream him,

something I would definitely look into doing. Already referenced this, but the White Sox are expected to call up infield prospect Jake Berger. Great weekend. Fourth of July weekend to call up the Jake Burger. We actually pre-recorded a podcast that's going to come out on Monday. Redrafting the first round. did a July 4th cookout draft.

So check it out. Find out where the cheeseburger landed on that list. Anyway, for Jake Berger, he is a former first-round pick from 2017 that plays mostly third base, a little bit of second base. Sounds like he'll just be filling in for Yohan Moncada. He was batting 32 with 10 homers and a 964 OPS at AAA.

Scott, any interest in Jake Berger? Yeah, I mean, it's more of an observe situation. Here's another one for the scout team situation. Got to see how much he's playing. Got to see if he hits well enough to stick around. You know, he wasn't, it's not like his stats at AAA were eye popping, but they were good.

They were good. I think he's actually somebody we were talking about with this with Mike Soroka, somebody who's ruptured in Achilles tendon twice. And that's why he went so long without playing in the minors after being such a high draft pick. Yeah, I don't know. I can't get a confirmation real quick. But I think I heard that.

Yeah, he has torn his Achilles twice here, right? There you go. So that's interesting. But let's see how much he plays. It's interesting that they called Gavin Sheets up ahead of Jake Berger. And Sheets has played the outfield before, and that's where they've been playing him. He's actually off to a really good start for them,

started all three games. gone five for 11 with a home run and two doubles. So, you know, he's making an impression already. He was up first. I think if it becomes an issue of them keeping one or the other when Yon Moncada comes back, certainly Gavin Sheets has a head start, and I think he's pretty interesting in a 15-team sense.

But that's all I'd be picking up Sheets in. That's all I'd be picking up Burger in right now, until we see how he does. And Brewer's pitching prospect, Aaron Ashby, He was optioned back to the minors. He did not escape the first inning in his start on Wednesday. We're going to take a quick break, but when we return, we are going to get you set up for next week. We'll do it here on Fantasy Baseball today.

The week 15 pitcher and hitter planners presented by lining Cougals. We have lots of games next week. It's going to be a busy one. We have 14 teams with seven games, 16 teams with six games that leaves zero. Zero teams with five games next week. Lots of volumes. Scott, why don't you get us started here with the two-start pitchers you're looking at for next week? Well, I mentioned Tony Gonslin if he is actually starting.

I mean, still, for a pitcher rostered in less than 80% of leagues, I still think he's one of your better choices with those two matchups at Miami versus Arizona. Jameson-Tayone. I think he was originally lined up for two starts this past week, the week we're currently in. But I don't know, I guess things got shifted around because now he's in line for two again, at Seattle for one, so he might throw a no-hitter, at Houston for the other. I mean, those are pretty polar matchups.

Not super excited about Tyome, but among the two-starred options, rostered in 80% of leagues, he's my second favorite. If you want a deeper option, Colby Allard is rostered in only 19% of leagues. It's been pretty consistent. Doesn't pitch all that deep into games, not a big strikeout guy, but I, I, I think he has more than one per inning. And one of us two matches against the Tigers, the others against the A's,

but certainly that Tiger's matchup is attractive enough that Colby Allard is worth a look this week. Yeah, I spoke about Colby Allard on yesterday's podcast, and I asked Chris which two-star pitcher he would prefer between John Gray and Colby Allard. You like Gray more, right? Oh, you know what? I miss Gray here. Sorry, his name is so short.

I didn't notice he had two starts on my list here because they got pushed over. Anyway, yeah, yeah, Gray is John Gray. Yeah, he's available in 45% of CBS Sports Leagues. He's looked really good since coming back from the IL. The slider seems to have more bites, missing a lot more bats. And he wasn't that bad before going on the aisle at Arizona. And at San Diego, that's a pretty good matchup too.

So John Gray, who were you comparing John Gray and to who else? Colby Allard. Yeah, I'd rather have Gray for sure. All right. I mean, they're away from Colorado. He's always been pretty good at Colorado, but that helps. too. You know, what's weird is this year he has an ERA over five on the road and mid-threes at home. Yeah. He's had years like that before. He's... Really weird.

It's unique to John Gray, but I'd still rather start him away from Coorsfield, despite with the numbers show. My relationship with John Gray over the years in fantasy has been all over the place, so... I mean, I'm happy he's performing well. Maybe they'll trade him away, which would actually help his value quite a bit. Who are we looking at in terms of some single-start streamers for next week, Scott? Jordan Montgomery goes against those mariners, so you might throw a no-hitter. Don't say it. J.T. Brewbaker, wow, how repetitive is this list.

He's on and again. The Pirates face only bad lineups, apparently. The Mets this time. That's a bad lineup. Sorry to say. Um, so Patrick Sandoval gets the Mariners too. I'm not going to say it again. Ross Stripling.

Ross Stripling actually against, I have Ross Stripling and I have Logan Gilbert on here just because they've been so reliable of late. Or I don't know that I call Gilbert reliable, but he's looked impressive of late. He's going against the Yankees. So, you know, they're still available in quite a few leagues, Gilbert and Stripling. So they're not bad. Kyle Muller, you mentioned him, Frank. He gets the Marlins. You know, obviously a risky start because he was good last time out,

and he looked okay in his first start. It was a short one, but that's obviously not much to go on. And he has control issues, but the Marlins have the second worst offense in terms of OPS. So Kyle Mueller, not such a bad gamble. All right. Yeah, I like what I've seen from Kyle Mueller so far, especially against the Marlins. I can get behind that. Let's move over to the offensive side of things.

Got some sleeper hitters who are rostered in less than 80% of least. for next week. So the Phillies have the best hitter matchups, and that makes Andrew McCutcheon, I think, a very attractive play. He's creeping up to that 80% threshold. But even if you had them on your bench, you're in the lineup,

you're debating whether to put him in your lineup. I think he should. I think he should. For the season, his numbers still look awful against right-handers, but I actually did look it up before the podcast. since it's a little tricky to look up. In June, at a big month of June, in June,

batting over 300 with an OPS over 900 against righties. So those numbers are on the rise, even though the season mark is still bad. And like I said, the Phillies have the best matchups. So the Red Sox face three lefties. That's good for Hunter Renfro, who's been hot. The Angels face four lefties. That's good for David Fletcher, who's been pretty hot. I like the White Sox matchups

So Andrew Vaughn Who just had his third straight Two-Hit game on Thursday Becomes an interesting play Gavin Sheets who I mentioned earlier I guess Jake Berger too We don't really know the extent of his playing time yet And he's not going to be on my top 10 list here

Because of that Cleveland The Indians have good matchups And they face five left-handers Which is enough for me to recommend Ahmed Rosario who's bad he's a right-handed hitter and his

splits yes they do favor left-handed pitchers as you'd expect but even Bobby Bradley who's a left-handed hitter I went back and looked at the past couple years in the minors he crushed left-handers and so far in the majors this year batting average is lower but the power production has been there against left-handers so I don't think

I'd be afraid to use them as favorable as the matchups are for Cleveland I still like Joey Votto I still like Jonathan India I still like Thai France I feel like they're just automatic recommendations unless their matchups are awful and they're not. So they're in the discussion here as well. All right. And the five teams with the best hitter matchups, Scott already referenced some of them,

but the Phillies are number one for next week. The Royals, Cleveland, the White Sox, and then the Tigers. I have another Cleveland hitter and another White Sox hitter that I'm going to mention a little bit later on for deeper leagues that I think might be interesting. And then the five teams with the worst hitter matchups, the Marlins, the Pirates, the National. The Yankees and the Astros. So there you have it. The Week 15 pitcher and hitter planners

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I wanted to reference it, and it comes from Framber Valdez, who was at Cleveland on Thursday. Seven innings, two runs, five walks, mass, six strikeouts. Okay, 13 swinging strikes on 107 pitches. Eh, okay, that's fine. That's good for him.

Yeah, it's pretty good. Eight on the curve ball, he has gone seven plus endings from Bravaldez has in five of his last six starts. So picking right up where he left off last season, giving you lots of volume and lots of ground balls as well. The change-up usage is what I've noticed got way up this year. 20% on the change-up usage entering this start on Thursday. Last year, he only used the change-up 10% of the time. Now, it's not a pitch that has dominated to this point, but just, having a third offering that is

decent so that he's not as reliant on his just sinker and curbball combination, I don't think that it's going to hurt for Amber Valdez. He actually used to change up 27% of the time in this start on Thursday. So I wanted to reference this pitch mix change and

the fact that I've been pretty aggressive ranking him. He's inside my top 25 starting pitchers and I don't really see that changing. No, that's interesting that you pointed that out because I had noticed that his swinging strike rate was up. You kind of said the 13 and today's start weren't a big deal.

And, you know, for the average pitcher, I guess not. But one of the things that was interesting about Framber Valdez last year is even though he had 9.7K per 9, his swinging strike rate was 10, which is low. I mentioned that for Corbyn Burns earlier in his last three starts. This was a little over 10. But that's not a good swinging strike rate. And Framber Valdez was getting strikeouts in spite of that last year. Now his swinging strike rate for this year.

It's probably up a little after this start, but it's over 11%. And yeah, you see the breakdown of the pitches there, the whiff rate on the change-up for as little as he threw it last year. It's up this year. And the sinker, which is, you know, his fastball, basically. The whiff rates up on that, too. And just having that change-up to play off of it, I assume, contributes to that. So interestingly enough, his strike-out rate, his actual K-per-9 is down from last year. But is the strikeout rate itself? Yeah, the strikeout rate is too. I was curious

feed loud so few base runners that it was having the effect of pulling down the K-per-9. But yeah, no, I think it's overall a step in the right direction for Framber Valdez, and he has certainly been money so far with a bunch of seven-in-nings starts and a 218 ERA. And I mentioned his groundball rate is high. It's super high. It's 71%. If he qualified, that would be first among starting pitchers. By a mile. He was 60% last year and was a distant first at 60%. and so it's up over 70% now. It's awesome, man. A lot of the times recently when we talk about trades, we're talking about selling off pitching to acquire hitting because obviously all fences up. But for Framber Valdez, I'm not looking to sell. This isn't a sell high situation. I think this is a

buy high situation. So if anyone in your league is not valuing him as a top 30 starting pitch, I would be looking to acquire him if I could. Let's transition into offense a little bit, and I wanted to mention now that the month of June is over and all the numbers are finalized, take a look at how much was offense actually up in the month of June. So from April to May, 236 batting average league-wide,

705 OPS, 24% strikeout rate, 13% home run-to-fly ball ratio. In June, 246 batting average, up 10 points. the OPS 737, up 32 points across the league. 23% strikeout rate, that's down one percentage point. Home runs off fly ball ratio was at 14.5%. So up about 1.5 percentage points, which sounds minimal, but over the course of an entire

month with all of the hitters, it actually is pretty big. And comparing it just to 2020, short and season 60 games, June was basically on par with exactly what the offensive output was for last season. So I know, Scott, we've struggled to evaluate offense and hitting this year. But I think now that June has kind of presented offense similar to how it was last year, I think we're kind of getting back on track to where we can actually evaluate hitting again. Yeah, and pitching, hopefully. Yeah, that's right.

To somebody who doesn't often reference these numbers, these league-wide numbers, those changes might sound small. But, I mean, you remember how abysmal offense was in April? To see now that June, by comparison, was basically offense last year where nobody was like, what's wrong with offense? You know, in 2020, it all seemed very normal to what we were used to. And what's also interesting about that, too, is the season didn't really begin until August last year. late July, right? Basically August. And we just finished June.

August is normally the best month for offense. July is better than June. It basically gets better every month until September when it drops again. So, you know, if that's the case, if this year follows the normal increase there, August compared to last August is going to probably be much more favorable for offense. Yeah, no, that's a really good point that you bring up there. But I'm just happy to see that we're kind of back on track here.

So I think it's a combination of a few things. Obviously, the weather heating up, the fact that they've implemented this crackdown on foreign substances. I think that has helped offense get back on track as well. So it's good to see. Let's talk about some more hitters now. Some waiver wire hitters. And I'm not overly excited about any of these players, but they did stuff on Thursday. So let's talk about them.

Low had a double dong. He's now up to 12 on the season. The slugging percentage has really dropped off since April. Since May began, it is under 400 slugging percentage for Nate Low. He's 68% rostered. He's got six home games next week.

Dom Smith also added a double dong. He's 60% rostered. Let's say, Scott, that you are looking for a corner infielder or looking to catch lightning in a bottle. I don't know that you're going to from either one of these two.

But if you had to choose between one of them and which one would you go with? Nate Lowe or Dom Smith? Probably Nate Lowe, but of course I would prefer Joey Vado or Thai France to either one of them. Agreed. Nate Lowe's two home runs

here on July 1st equaled his June total and his May total. So, Nate Lowe has not. not been someone whose bat has heated up with the weather. Man, Dom Smith has been such a disappointment this year. I was all in, and I think I got duped by the shortened season last year, but it's a new

month. Maybe it's a new season for Dom Smith. That's what I'm hoping for. He's 60% rostered. I wouldn't go out and add him yet, but, you know, if he starts to string together a few good games in a row, then I might look into adding Dom Smith. Brendan Rogers had two hits. Last time I checked, it might have winded up being more.

but he also added his fifth home run. He's 45% rostered, six road games next week, Scott. We talk about Brendan Rogers a lot. I don't know that he should be much higher than 45% roster. No, he must. He should? He's been amazing. He had an amazing month of June.

He is breaking out. He is breaking out, finally. And it's being covered over because, I don't know, he sits every fourth or fifth day, which is frustrating. But as he continues to do this, it'll be less and less. His June numbers were awesome. There's an OPS over 900.

And the thing is, his right now, because they spent so much of the month of June on the road, the Rockies did, I believe his road numbers are actually better than his home numbers. So, yeah, they are. All the batting averages, the OPS. No, no, wait a second. Batting average is higher at home,

but he has an 851 OPS on the road versus 70-74 at home. So obviously a small sample in both instances. But my point is his success hasn't been fueled by Cores Field to this point. Yeah, in June, he hit 308 with four home runs in a 927 OPS. And the other name I wanted to mention on the Waver Wire, Kike Hernandez now has three homers and three multi-hit games in his last five. He is 29% rostered. He plays six games next week.

I'm not overly excited about Kike Hernandez, but he's been leaning off again. His lineup context, obviously leading off of the Reds. Sox lineup is very enticing. And I always find this interesting when it kind of sounds like Jaron Duran is close, hopefully, to getting the call. And maybe if he comes up, Kiki Hernandez loses playing time, sometimes that motivates veteran players.

So we kind of saw something similar with Ross Stripling where, all right, you start to hear the rumblings about Alec Menoa, and it motivated him. So maybe that's what's going on with Kike Hernandez. Not a must add, but someone who is playing well right now. Some deeper waiver wire hitters, Jake Freilly went two for three. with his sixth home run, and it came, I believe it came off of Ryu.

So that would be against a lefty. He has struggled against lefties this year. So that is nice to see for Jake Freilly. Yep, it was off of Hian-Riu. He had a solid month of June. Freilly did. 841 OPS, five homers, four steals. You know, you need an outfielder in a Roto league.

Five outfielders? Sure, Jake Frelly. The two hitters I wanted to mention with the strong matchups next week, one White Sox, one Cleveland. Brian Goodwin has now homers. in back-to-back games for the White Sox. He has eight hits over his last seven games.

He's only 2% rostered. And Harold Ramirez went one for two with a double and two walks, quietly batting 280, has an 802 OPS on the season. 13% rostered, seven games next week, Scott. Any interest in either one of these in deeper leagues, 15 team leagues, Brian Goodwin, Harold Ramirez. You know, I thought about Harold Ramirez for my 10 sleeper hitters for this upcoming week.

I mentioned Cleveland has good matchups, a lot of lefties on the schedule, and he's a right-handed hitter. I ultimately couldn't fit him on the list. There were just more interesting players. The power production, I still doubt. I know it's been,

it was good in June. 55% ground ball rate, and that's been something that's been present throughout his career majors and minors. He's never really been a big home run guy anywhere. So I

just don't think that's going to continue and he could potentially be a high average guy but who doesn't get on base much overall. So really

not the kind of player you expect to see hold down a starting job long term in the majors. I mean, if you're really hurting in a five outfielder league, you could do worse

than Harold Ramirez, especially with the matchups on top for the Indians. but would not be a high priority for me. All righty. Let's take a look at some starting pitcher's standouts from Thursday, Jacob de Grom.

I gave up three runs. The ERA now up to 0.93, L.O.L. But he also had 14 strikeouts to zero walks, 27 swinging strikes on 93 pitches against the Atlanta Braves. There are no words left to describe Jacob de Grom. It's been raised for fine again, by the way. They're actually up, I think, a little.

That is very slightly. Worth noting with his compadres, Garrett Cole and Max Scherzer and Carlos Rode down. Lucas Gialito, spin rates being down for those guys, of course. You say Kukuchi was at the Blue Jays, seven innings, five hits, one run, one walk, six strikeouts.

The guy is money this season. You say Kikuchi. I think I have to find a way to get him inside my top 30 starting pitcher, Scott. I don't think it's an overreaction. I just think, he's been good for two months now and not just good

really really good oh yeah and what where are you trying to get him you said I'm trying to get him inside my top 30 I just moved him up to SP 31 ahead of Max Fried and Junjin Ryu

I don't know if that's too aggressive I don't think it is he's been great I would definitely rather have freed but Ryu yeah I don't even have Kikuchi in my top 40 yet

Come on, Scott. I thought I moved him ahead of Savali. I thought I moved Savali behind him. I'll tell you who I would rather have Kikuchi over. You're not going to like it. Dylan Sees. I mean, there's an argument to be made, sure. Cucci's better numbers are better right now, right?

Yeah, I guess that's like the main argument. Dylan Sees, by the way, Scott. I don't know if you have a reaction, but his spin rates way down again in his most recent start. It still was a good start. Quality start. I think it was like seven or eight strikeouts or whatever, but yeah, two starts in a row now.

It's hard to know what to make of it when the pitcher keeps pitching well, you know, when you don't see a clear impact on performance. Yeah. The other pitching standouts from Thursday, Nathan Avaldi, seven shutout against the Royals with six strikeouts. The Royals stink. But his last 10 starts, he's got a 2.63 ERA. He's kind of inconsistent of all the, you know who he is. He is, use him in the right matchups.

Next week, he faces the Angels, their 8th and Wowa versus right-handed pitching. So I don't love that matchup for Nathan Avaldi. The last one I wanted to mention, Merrill Kelly, up against the Giants. We go through these waves with Merrill Kelly, where he goes through a three or four-star stretch where he looks kind of intriguing. Then he's bad for three or four starts. Now he's going through another stretch where he looks pretty good. Three straight quality starts, seven innings, three runs, seven strikeouts.

He's allowed four earned runs over his last 20 innings pitched. Scott, interested in Merrill Kelly anywhere. I mean, you kind of broke it down where I, I don't think he's actually that good, but he's durable enough that he can have good stretches like this. And he's tempting to put in the top 10 sleeper pitchers for next week because his matchup is against the Rockies. At home in Arizona, so.

Right, not at Coors Field. So the Rockies on the road, the Rockies win themselves are on the road. About as favorable as matchups get, but yeah, I just don't have a lot of confidence in Meryl Kelly or the Diamondbacks offense to score for him. Well, you watch out, Scott. They just won and they had a save opportunity.

I'll let you know who got it in just a little bit. A few more things I wanted to mention from Thursday, some hitters that are hot again. Mitch Hanager, Marcus Semyon kind of cooled off the first half of June. He went three for four with his 20th home run. J.D. Martinez now has three homers in his last five games. Raphael Devers hit his 20th home run. He's now up to six.

69 RBI as well. Nelson Cruz had a down May. He was dealing with some injuries. Over his last 15 games, he's betting 397 with six home runs. Nelson Cruz looks fine. Joey Gallo, we mentioned three for three. Another home run. He's up to 20 now on the season.

Max Muncie hit a grand slam off of Patrick Corbin. It was his 18th homer. Jose Al Tuvae hit a grand slam. It was his 18th home run. And got to mention Luis Castillo because, come on, he's Luis Castillo. Turned in a quality start against the Padres. Seems like they left him out there a little bit too long. He sat through a rain delay,

did come back out. He had the bases loaded, gave up a pinch hit two-run single to Tommy Fam late in that start. So kind of makes the start not look as good as it was, but six and a third, three earned runs, six strikeouts, 17 swinging strikes on 103 pitches. His last six starts for Castillo, a 2.13 ERA, 38 strikeouts over 38 innings pitched. The call to the pen, some bullpen updates for the Braves, your bravos, Scotty. Will Smith allowed a run, but took his second blown save of the season,

and he wound up with the win. So there you go. For the Diamondbacks, who got the save? It was Joachim Soria. I don't think that the Diamondbacks are going to win many games, but if you're playing a 15-team Categories league or deeper, I guess you can add

Joaquin Soria. Sure, why not? The Padres, Mark Malanson, allowed a game-tying home run, and then he took the loss. I was watching this game. and there was some really poor defense behind him. There was a ball hit right at Juerks and Profar.

It was a line drive. It was a hard hit ball, but it was right at him, and he dropped it. So that kind of escalated things there for Mark Malanson. He took the save, and I was looking into what the Reds actually went with here. Amir Garrett came in in the 7th. Brad Brock came in in the 8th.

He allowed a run, and it was an unearned run. Art Warren came in the 9th, struck out the side. I don't know if we're any closer to figuring the Reds bullpen out, Scott, but anything you'd like to add? No. No. I mean, Garrett and Brock, I thought maybe they'll split saves,

but yeah, neither one was being reserved for that. So it took so long for David Bell to come around to Lucas Sims in the first place. And that wasn't even a 100% we're going with Sims if we get a save opportunity. It was more like an 80% situation. so yeah I just I don't think this is really going to sort it I don't have much confidence this will sort itself out before Sims gets back all right for the Rockies Daniel Bard pitched in the ninth inning he wound up taking the win because Elias Diaz hit a walkoff three-run home run

off of Giovanni Gallegos in that game Elias Diaz is kind of hot right now for the Padres so two catcher leagues deeper ones I guess a name to know he plays for the Rockies To stream or not to stream, we'll start with Friday. Logan Gilbert versus the Rangers. Griffin Canning versus the Orioles. Drew Smiley versus the Marlins. J.T. Brewbaker versus the Brewers.

Brewbaker Brewers. Adrian Houser at the Pirates. Jordan Montgomery versus the Mets. Yeah. There's a lot of decent ones here. I think Logan Gilbert is probably my first choice, but there's so many good ones here. I just, I think Logan Gilbert is, look,

much better the past few starts, incorporating the change up more, not even that much more, but his whiff rate has gone way up. Over the past few starts, Jordan Montgomery against the Mets, yeah, I mean, anytime he has a good matchup, you want to use him, J.T. Brewbaker against the Brewers.

Seems like those two are, I feel like that's an inevitability for trade down the line. Oh, yeah. Let's make it happen. Scott, I think that was the most positive reaction you have ever had to the segment ever from that group of starting pitchers. I mean, I can keep going.

I don't... Yeah, I mean, they're all solid. You should start Griffin Canning against the Orioles or Adrian Houser against the Pirates. Not going as far as Drew Smiley against the Marlins, but that's the only one

I'm really rejecting here. He was the next one I was going to mention that I actually liked. Fourth on this list. Oh, they're smiling. You think getting lucky. It's the Marlins. The lucky duckie.

Just going back to Jordan Montgomery up against the Mets. The Mets are 26. and weighted on base average against left-handed pitching this year. For Saturday. All right, Scott, you enjoyed the last list? I'm not going to like this one. Jordan Liles at the Mariners.

Sammy Long at the Diamondbacks. Alex Cobb revenge game versus the Orioles. Jake Oteresey at Cleveland. Kyle Mueller versus the Marlins. Eric Lauer at the Pirates. You know, this one's not so bad either, honestly. All right. Jake Oterizia Cleveland's good.

Kyle Mueller against the Marlins, sure. I don't really want to pick a third. I'll throw a bone to Chris Towers, the spirit of Chris Towers, and say Alex Cobb against the Orioles is my third choice. You know on yesterday's podcast, he was talking up Alex Cobb again. I'm sure he was.

All right, for Sunday, we have Caleb Smith versus the Giants. Mike Fultenevich at the Mariners. Chris Flexen versus the Rangers. Patrick Sandoval versus the Orioles. Ross, who is this? Joe Ross versus the Dodgers and Tyler McGill at the Yankees.

Yeah, hmm. I like flexen. Flexen splits at home this year. He's been awesome. I like flexen against the Rangers. Yeah, and obviously good matchup. If Joey Gallo doesn't get a hold of one with a couple men on. I don't hate Fulte either at Seattle.

He's put up two quality starts in a row. Yeah, I hate Fulte. I don't have any confidence in that guy. I might go, I might go Caleb Smith or even Joe Ross, or Fulte and neither of them has a good matchup. I will go Flexen, Ross, and Caleb Smith is my top three here. All right, as we always do to end the week.

No, no, no, no. Wait, no, Patrick Sandoval against the Orioles, but the Orioles are bad against lefties, right? No, the Orioles are awesome against lefties. I wouldn't do it. Right, I won't phone out. Yeah, so let's leave Patrick Santerval out. Sorry, go ahead.

All right. We like to end our week, usually, with some fantasy justice. So let's do that right now. Yeah, yeah. I don't do it as good as Chris, but he's not here. Unless you want to do it, Scott.

Yeah, yeah. All right. I don't know what I'm supposed to sound like. Oh, you're hurting my heart, Scott. Sorry. It's Metallica. You want to be the first. Your homework for the weekend.

Listen to one Metallic album. Please, please, Scott. All right, so this one is from Spike. Admittedly, I didn't read this question. I just threw it on the rundown, so don't let us down, Spike. Quick Fantasy Justice question. There is a manager in one of my,

league who routinely picks up two-star pitchers from the waiver wire and then drops them at midday on Monday. This is so messed up. A couple of hours before game start for that week and effectively eliminating their availability to any other managers. Since they would be a one-star pitcher by the time, the waiver period ended. Given the sneaky jerkiness of this situation, I doubt there is a rule and I am not even sure what sort of rule would cover this.

It just seems especially crappy, particularly because the manager who does this week after week is in first place overall. Is it worth reaching out to the commissioner about this, since this is more of a violation of the spirit of the game rather than breaking a rule itself? Yeah, it's wrong. It's wrong to do it. I dabbled it in myself in my younger years, my pre-CBS years. Wow.

And I was called out for it immediately. Shame. Yeah. decided I shouldn't, shouldn't be that way. It's just, it's just not the right way to behave. It doesn't seem like it's the sort of thing that should have to be legislated because, you know, it just kind of stands to reason

you're not supposed to do this, but one easy solution. This is a weekly lineup block, clearly. Clearly. Why do we, do ways, or FAB or whatever system you're using, why does it have to run daily in a league with a weekly lineup lock? There's really no upside to that.

And some of the downside to that is exactly this. Now, there's downside in the form of you've got to make sure you got all the players you need the night before. You can't pick up somebody at the last minute. But, you know, if it's a nightly waiver run situation, anyway, Maybe I'm reading it wrong and it's not. But if you're already locked out for, you know, except every night anyway, you know, that's something you're already used to dealing with. But, you know, I decided to implement that in my longest standing league this year, not really to combat this,

but just because the weekly fab run every Sunday night allows for more competitive bidding. And it keeps somebody from stockpiling two-star pitchers over the course of the week. Because, you know, half the league is probably not even looking into it. until the night before anyway. So it just makes for a fairer waiver wire situation. And you're only setting your line up once a week anyway, so why not? All right, well, you didn't let us down, Spike. That was actually a very good question.

It's something that we should have talked about earlier, but bad fantasy etiquette by that fantasy manager. At the same time, you know, it's also very Bill Belichekian. And Houston... It's cutthroat. It's Houston Astrosy, if I can turn that into a... A verb, an adjective? I don't know what that is.

I don't know my, whatever you call those words. Anyway, fantasy justice has been served. Yeah, yeah. For Scott, I am frank, thank you all for listening and watching fantasy baseball today. Enjoy your Fourth of July weekend. Stay safe. Don't do anything that we wouldn't do.

We'll talk to you again on Monday. Bye-bye.