Fantasy Baseball Today - Schwellenbach Out With Fractured Elbow! Ranking Pitchers & Hot Hitters! (7/3 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 3, 2025

Spencer Schwellenbach is out with a fractured elbow (2:15)! ... Who are the top replacements (10:55)? ... Welcome back, Jurickson Profar (16:48)! ... Jacob Misiorowski had his first clunker (21:40). ... Riley Greene has been a savage (26:57). ... News (30:00): Bailey Ober went on the IL with a hip impingement. ... Add Josh Lowe or Profar in shallow leagues (38:30)? ... Drop Will Warren and Jung Hoo Lee (47:37)? ... How do we rank these five pitchers (51:05)? ... These hitters are on a tear right now (55:22)! ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (58:00). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow FBT on TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CBSScottWhite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Roto_Frank⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. And first pitch, Rishing. Got a fantasy question, email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Hey there.

Welcome in some fantasy baseball today on Thursday, July 3rd. I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, welcome back to Jerks and ProFar. We'll rank some pitchers. Talk about some hot hitters, but unfortunately, there's only one place to start. Some terrible, tragic news we got on Wednesday. Spencer Schwellenbach has been diagnosed with a fractured right elbow.

He shut down for four weeks. Hopes to return in September. We'll see about that. Massive loss. Currently, the SP12 in Roto, SP7 in head-to-head points. Scott, sorry to you and to all brace fans out there. First, Chris Sale, now that. this. I mean, it just cannot get much worse. That is just brutal.

Are you holding on to Spencer Speltenbach in redraft leagues? I mean, it depends. Like, there's a lot of upside there, obviously, if there's any hope of him returning and you have a free IL spot and you plan on going places this season, it's not a bad idea. It's certainly possible he misses the rest of the season or practically the rest of the season because he's held out so long that, you know, it just takes him a while to ramp up again and he's not all the way there. It's it's an injury that it's kind of hard to say how it's going to go. It's kind of hard to say how it's going to go from a long-term perspective, too, because it's a stress-related injury. It's an injury he's suffered in the process of pitching.

And it's not just me saying that. Like, he says he thinks he's. started throwing harder than his elbow was prepared to handle, and that's what caused it. And we've seen other stress injuries for pitchers, Jacob de Grom famously. I mean, that's a big reason why I was bearish on him coming in. I believe his was more of the shoulder than the elbow. But same sort of thing. His body couldn't withstand the velocities he was throwing at.

and that's part of the reason why I think he started not throwing his hard. So Will Schwellenbach have to do something similar is, I don't know, the way he put it was his elbow wasn't ready to throw that hard. I don't know if there's... I don't know, like, I guess he can drink more milk, but I don't really know how you get the bones in your elbow ready for. I don't know. I'm not a fitness expert. Well, part of the thing with everything, about this injury is the Braves haven't given any details on where the fracture is,

which bone, like, was it like Corbyn Carroll's hand or wrist injury where it was a chip fracture, where the ligament broke off the bone? Was it, you know, they have said there's no, there's nothing wrong with the ligament. Okay. I heard that on the broadcast today. But that could still be, you know like because in corbin carroll's case from what i understand what happened is the the ligament the part the part of the bone holding ligament is what broke but the ligament itself is fine so but you know i i try to do you know whenever there's a serious injury like this i try to look at you know try to find comps and without knowing any details about it it's really hard to come up with cons that they're it's a relatively rare injury uh for pitchers to suffer

fractured elbow, especially, you know, I think, um, did Brandon Woodruff have something like that in his recovery when he got hit on the elbow? Someone got hit on the elbow and suffered a fracture fairly recently. And then like, I tried to find, uh, the white sucks just lost in humiliating late-ending fashion. Um, I tried to find some examples of pitchers coming back from elbow fractures. I couldn't find a single. example of a pitcher suffering a fractured elbow and then coming back that season. The only one I found was Jared Weaver in 2013, I believe, but that was he fell and fractured his elbow. And then there was Zach Allen in 2019, I want to say, fractured his forearm in,

but that was hitting and he was back in like 20 days. That seems very different. Um, so like Michael King had a fracture form. It's the nature of the fracture. It's the size of the fracture. This is apparently a very teeny tiny. They didn't call it a stress fracture, but it's a stress injury that, that created a very small fracture. So that's, you know, not that stress fractures can't require a lengthy absence. But part of the reason they're saying he could begin throwing within four weeks is because of how small the fracture is. But they also did, you know, the initial report. was he shut down four weeks.

And the, I think the way it was phrased by multiple reporters was the team believes the, the expectation he will pitch in September was the initial reporting. And then there was a second report that came out, I think after Schwellenbach talked to reporters where it was he's not going to throw until it's completely healed. So he's going to be checked in four weeks, but that doesn't mean it'll be healed in four weeks. and the hope, I guess, is that he'll be back in four weeks. I certainly hope so, or that he'll be able to start throwing in four weeks. But you start to do the math on that.

And if it's four weeks and then building up, you're probably talking about another four to six weeks. So then you get to, that already puts you right around the beginning of September. So when you're talking about like holding on to Spencer Schoenbach, if you've got unlimited aisle spots, it doesn't matter. If you're in a Roto League, I think you hold on to him no matter what, even if you don't have IL spots, just because if he only comes back for the final three weeks, but he comes back for the final three weeks and as himself, you want those three weeks. In a head-to-head league where, you know, I was checking our leagues and it looks like most of our playoffs begin the third or final week of August, like the 18th to 25th, that makes it a lot harder to, to, to, to, justify hang on them i i think you should at least for now but you know if you're in a 12 team

league with no i l spots to play with i think you're going to have to seriously consider dropping spencer schwellenbach especially if it's a head-to-head league the problem of course you drop him you go at edward cabrera ryan nelson who or whoever you get to the playoffs what if the guy that picked up Spencer Schwellenbach has an early September return for Spencer Schwellenbach and you've got to go against him in the playoffs. Yeah. That's really tough. I don't think that should really play into your decision making that much.

A lot has to go right for that to be the case. I mean, it's not like the pitcher you're picking up off the waiver wire probably isn't going to do you much good in the long run. He's on the waiver wire in July. for a reason. So you have to, you have to weigh that in. Like, okay,

it's head to head points leagues, especially you do a lot of streaming. And okay, I want to have a spot available for streaming. So I'm going to sacrifice Shwellenbach to do that. I get it. But probably you have some IEL spots. And I don't know about you.

Grayson Rodriguez is stashed in most of my leagues. Now, I do think Grayson Rodriguez is going to be back sooner than Shwellenbach, but I'm less confident in what Shwell and, and how useful Grayson Rodriguez is going to be. So I think I'd rather stash Swellenbach than Grace and Rodriguez. I'd rather stash Schwellenbach than Spencer Arigetti. I'd rather stash Schwell and Bach.

Harder to say with McLeanahan. I think that's a close call. I think McClanhan's going to be back sooner and has a ton of upside. But it's been a lot longer since we've seen him pitch at a high level. So again, it's harder to say what to expect. Another factor, too, is the Braves are six and a half games out of a wide. wild card spot right now. So I think we all expect their offense to turn around, but now they lost sale, they lost Schwellenbach. There's no guarantee by the time they get to September that

they're even really playing for a playoff spot at that point. So if that's the case, they're probably just shutting him down because it doesn't make sense to bring it back at that point. Yeah, probably not. I mean, we have seen non-contenders bring back pitchers from the lengthy Tommy John recovery very late in the season just to kind of get a couple of starts. Yeah, so I could see that happening if the Braves are out of it, which they probably will be. I'm not totally ready to say they absolutely will be, though. You should probably be looking at the trade market first. Like, obviously, you need to add someone to fill that roster spot, but try to trade for Hazers, Lizarro or Dillon C.

They seem like the most obvious guys who are currently underperforming their peripherals. Lizarro 406 ERA 275 FIPP. C's has about a similar gap between his. I would also Sandy Alcantra or Yuri Perez or go see if the person who has Chase Burns is a little panicky after that terrible start this week and see if you can buy him for cheap. Those are, I think, your best chances of getting a true impact player without significantly hurting the rest of your roster.

Totally agree on all those names trying to buy them. if you lost Schwellenbach. What about off the waiver wire? It does sound like the Dodgers could recall Emmich Sheen to start or pitch in bulk relief on Sunday against the Astros. That's not confirmed, but something that they are considering. He's 52% rostered. We've talked a lot about him.

Funny enough, that report comes after his worst start at AAA, but other starts have been very good, obviously. So he's a name that could be up soon. Other names that you can look to add, Ryan Nelson, Edward Cabrera, Quinn Priester, Lucas Gialito, Scott, how are you ranking those four? Priester, Gialito, who are the other two? Edward Cabrera and Ryan Nelson.

Let's go Cabrera, Nelson, and then Gialito Priester. Yeah, I wrote about 10 players to target on CBSSports.com, 10 pitchers. I guess I set my sights a little lower than Golito and Priesters roster rate, because I think they're both closer to 70% maybe. I didn't write about them, but I did write about Cabrera, Nelson, and Sheehan. I think those are the top three I would be targeting, at least for guys who are relatively. You didn't mention him, Frank, but that's not the list. I also, Mike Soroka.

He kind of looks good right now. He's got a 304 XERA for the season. I don't know when that happened, but all of a sudden, Mike Soroka kind of looks awesome. He pitched really well against lefties in June. I think I'd rather do that than Quinn Priester. And maybe even Lucas Geolito. I just don't have a ton of interest in the upside for those guys. I know Geolito's pitched well the past four starts, I think,

but I don't really see a lot there. I had Soroka written down as more of a deep league option. A couple other names there as well. Brandon Walter, Kumar Rocker, and Trevor Rogers. Not that I really trust any of those names, but you know, you go deep enough. You're just looking for guys that are pitching well right now, and a lot of those guys are. Scott, any insight as to who could replace Schwellenbach in the rotation and doesn't matter at all? Probably doesn't matter because Didier Fuentes hasn't mattered, and he was the last injury fill in.

I'm trying to remember the guy's name now. Nathan Wiles? No, that's not who I was talking about. But sure, maybe. No, the guy I was talking about Jackson Stevens. No clue. Yeah, well, he's been, he's been off and on a part of their bullpen the last few years and has had some decent starts of AAA.

So I know he's gotten some buzz, but he's probably not actually good. He's 31 years old. We don't know, no interest in Hurston-Wildrop anymore. He's got pedigree, but the numbers in the minor are so bad, yeah. Yeah, it's not great. It's not great. Really hope the offense comes around. And there was just an addition to the offense. And we will get to that in just a second. So once again, Spencer Schwellenbach diagnosed with a fractured right elbow. Shut down for four weeks. They'll reevaluate hope that he can return in September.

Let's take a quick break. When we return, we'll get into the players of the night right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Let's get into the. the players from Wednesday's action. All right, Scott, you alluded to the name, and we've been telling people for a while to go pick them up. Jerks and ProFar, welcome back. Jerks and ProFar, welcome back, indeed. There was a lot of talk about where he would hit in the Braves lineup.

He ended up hitting fifth in this one. Of course, that's subject to change based on how everybody's performing. But that's not a bad place to hit. And he had a good game. He two hits, scored two runs, hit a home run. a pretty well struck home run. In fact, both of Jurex and ProFAR's hits in this game, the single and the home run,

over 105 miles per hour, which makes them both harder hit than any ball he hit on his AAA rehab assignment. So game one already, my main concern for ProFar was alleviated, and considering he was a must start across the board last. year. You know, at this point, he's probably close to 80% rostered in CPS, right?

77, yep. Yeah. So any, if you happen to be in one of the 23% where he isn't, or you play on another platform where he's less rostered, I think this return was promising enough that you should take

it as your last chance to pick him up. No guarantees, of course. It is a sample of one. He does have a funky history. that was only further complicated by the PED suspension, but it's rare that you can get a player who was as good as he was, as recently as he was for free this late in the season.

He also had a 101 mile per hour batting ball in this one that wasn't a hit. So 300 mile per hour batted balls in one game. Very impressive. I also think a lot of people think of, steroid use. Frank, I feel like you might get this reference. Scott, I don't know. You're older and your kids aren't quite there yet.

You remember the episode of SpongeBob where he gets the big inflatable mussely arms? Yeah. And goes to like a weightlifting competition and then they get deflated and everybody laughs at him. I think people view steroids like that where like you get like big inflated muscles and then you stop taking them and it goes and like you're not strong anymore. But like, that's not actually how it works. You don't need to take steroids forever. You can increase your baseline strength with the help of performance enhancing drugs. I'm not a doctor or a physical therapist or...

It kind of sounded like you were just now. Or the guy who, you know, injects you in the bathroom, whatever. Like, I don't actually know anything. But like, my understanding is that you don't tend to lose. Like, you can. And obviously you can lose muscle mass for a variety of reasons. But like, if you continue to work out, you don't like just revert to your previous muscle mass.

So like whatever gains he got, I'm not saying he definitely has them. I'm not even necessarily saying that the only reason jerks and pro far was good last year is because of the performance enhancing drugs that he was on. But I am saying that if there was some benefit from that, it is not necessarily the case that he will just lose whatever benefits that there were. So, I mean, Nelson Cruz was really good for like 12 years after he was popped for a PED suspension. Robinson Cano is still out there in Mexico hitting like 380, you know?

The Yankees could use them right now, by the way. A number of times over the years. And the overwhelming number of players who've come back from a PED suspension come back more or less the same. same. There are some exceptions, of course, but the majority come back the same. It's more, uh, I think there's more room for skepticism in pro far's case because he was a one year wonder. Like he had a breakout at age 31. So, okay, maybe that was just PED fueled. I think that's a, it's not an unreasonable assumption, but there are, there were other changes, visible changes he made in his setup and his swing that, uh, uh,

likely contributed to the breakout as well. So I'm open, I'm open to all possibilities for ProFAR, but I think the best possibility is likely enough that, you know, you just, you take the flyer, see where it goes. According to Google, there were three doctors in the SpongeBob SquarePants series, so I could be Dr. Gilgillium. Never seen an episode of SpongeBob. Oh, it's really good.

All right, well, I hate to bring us back to the negativity, but let's do it anyway, Chris. your player than it. Play the Mizz soundtrack. Do you have a sound drop for the Mizz like getting Stone Cold Stunnered through a cage or something? Because I'm the Mizz! And I'm not awesome.

I mean, you know, I still think he's awesome, but he was not awesome on Wednesday night against the Mets. He gave up five earned runs, walked three and three and two-thirds innings, only struck out two, gave up a couple of home runs. And I think in this one, we saw kind of the limitations of the approach. Because, you know, Scott, I know you had mentioned it a few times after his first couple of starts that he wasn't missing a lot of bats.

And on the slider in particular. Yeah. And we had kind of. Yeah. We had kind of just, well, the results are so good. Who cares? Right? Like he throws a 96 mile an hour slider.

I don't care the second with. Well, I think what Jacob Izurowski, and he's talked about this a little bit from what I've read, that the approach this year to get. the walk rate under control has just been kind of aim for the middle. He's not going to hit the middle, but that that's what he's aiming for. He's not like, I'm going to, I'm going to dot this slider on the outside corner. He's just throw it. It'll go where it goes and it's good enough that they're not going to do anything with it. Well, what you saw in this one was the Mets are a super disciplined team. They've got a really good lineup. They've got a lot of guys who will take a walk. They've got a lot of guys will punish you if you make the wrong pitch.

And Jacob Mizoggiwasky threw 57% of his pitches in the strike zone, according to stat cast, 82% of his sliders in the strike zone. And they only swung at 13% of the pitches that weren't in the zone. And so the Mets had a really good approach. And they just said, we're not going to take any of the waste pitches. We are going to wait for the competitive pitches that get too much of the plate, and we're going to hit them. And, you know, Major League hitters can do. that with 98 mile an hour fastballs. They can do it with 93 mile an hour sliders. It's harder,

but it's possible. And so I think, look, he wasn't going to just allow, you know, three hits every five starts or whatever his pace was the first couple of starts. There were always going to be some bumps in the road. His approach is extremely unrefined right now. And he's more of a thrower than a pitcher. And that's, I think, goes with the territory with a young pitcher. is my optimism for Jacob Mizzerowski shaken? Not really, a little bit. But I still think the stuff is good enough to get away with the approach. Is the approach good enough for Jacob Mizirowski to be an ace the rest of the season?

No, but we weren't expecting that. You know, I think you could be hopeful for it, but he's going to have to keep developing, and that was always true. I think this removes him for. just being an automatic start every week for me. Like I waste on the way his, it was two starts or three, but prior to this one. Three, three.

Three, okay, based on the way those went, it was like, all right, well, I don't care who he's facing. I don't care who else I have. Like, I can't take Mizorowski out of my lineup, obviously. And now it's like, well, let me weigh my options because there is some downside here that we've now seen. And you know who the next starts against. Oh, I know.

Dodgers. There you go. Might be a good opportunity to pull back and see how he performs against that high-end lineup. Yeah, I think it's fine to sit him if you have better options. But if he goes out and strikes out eight and six innings, I also wouldn't be surprised. Yeah. You know, the stuff is that good. And one more thing on him.

People might crush me for bringing this up. I think there is a non-zero chance that when Brandon Woodruff reenter, is the rotation this weekend. I don't think this is going to happen, but it could. What if Mizzi Arowski gets sent down? Just going to say, it's a possibility. Yeah, they did it with Logan Henderson. It is a possibility.

You can't say there's no, you can't say it's not happening for sure. Right. I would be pretty bloated. Well, who else would they kick out? Priester? We were trying to figure this out yesterday. Chad Patrick has options.

Quinn Priester has options. I would think you just, they stuck with Priester and Patrick. trick over Henderson. Kentana would they? Well, so I, I would open maybe. It's what, eight more games until the, the All-Star break, something like that.

Yeah. Maybe 10. Go with one extra pitcher for that. Yeah. I agree with you. Figure it out. Like something could have. I don't think that's a decision you should make until you have to.

And frankly, you don't have to make a decision. They could just go with a six-man rotation because Mizzi Rasky, like they're going to have to manage his innings in some ways. I think he only got to like what, 100 last year, 90 something, 97. So, you know, it probably wouldn't be the worst thing if they just had a six-man rotation for a while. I would guess that's more likely than sending Mizirowski down. But I'm not in charge of the Brewers. Right. Yet. I'm rooting for you, kid. My player of the night, Riley Green, who had a monster game in game one of their doubleheader, two for five with a double-dongedonged, RBI. He has four homers in his past four games. Since the start of June, he is hitting 355, with eight

homers, 29 RBI, and OPS over a thousand, a 20% barrel rate during that time. And entering Wednesday, he was the sixth best outfielder in Roto, 13th in head-toe points. He does have a 30% strikeout rate, so I guess that dragged him down a little bit in points leagues. I just wonder if maybe he's one of this next group of just awesome four category contributors. I mean, the comp that I made for him before he broke out last year was Nick Castionas. And this power looks better than anything.

He's better than Nick Castiano's. Well, no, like the version of Mc Castellanos, you know, from the Cubs and Reds and late Detroit days. Okay. It was, you know, uh, terrible plate discipline guy, didn't really steal any bases.

but just the quality of contact was so good that it didn't really matter. Cassiano's had much better strikeout rates than Riley Green. Riley Green's up to 30% as you mentioned. That's pretty bad. 30% K rate with a 54th percentile average exit velocity. Something's going to give there eventually. We already know Riley Green's must start. We knew that coming into the year.

So it's just a question of how good. I think he's playing over his head. I feel pretty confident in that. I think there is an element of cell high here. He is making optimal contact for power, though. I mean, he's got an 18% barrel rate on the season, 544X slug that pretty much lines up with his slugging percentage so far. The XBA is 268, so maybe, you know, more like a 270 hitter.

But even if he's a 270-40 home run hitting, you know, that is like an awesome four category contributors. I think it's really hard to sustain any. 18% barrel rate is the thing. I think it's more like 32 to 35 homers. Yeah. Even that. I mean, that would be pretty awesome.

Oh, yeah, I think he's all, and it's a good lineup. So he's got 21 now. Yeah, 23. And we're just past the halfway point, 21. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, I'd give him another 13 homer, sure. Yeah, 35. But that would far exceed, I think, any of our expectations coming into the season.

So, yeah. Yeah, he's banked a lot of that already. But, yeah. Fair enough. Yeah, he's very good. Before we move on, just want to give a shout out to Clayton Kershaw, who picked up his 3,000th career strikeout. Incredible accomplishment, just the 20th player ever to achieve that.

And based on the way the game is trending, not really sure we'll see another pitcher to accomplish that feat. So, I don't know. Might be the last 3,000 strikeout pitcher we get. Also had a subpar outing against the White Sox. But let's just focus on the good here, you know. Awesome moment. Yay!

For Clayton Kershaw. Let's get into the news and notes, and he can't hurt us anymore. Bailey Ober was placed in the aisle with a left hip impingement, 528 ERA 141 whip on the season. I think we learned about a month ago that he has been pitching through a hip issue, so apparently it has gotten bad enough that they've put him on the aisle, which I think makes sense. This kind of reminds me of another Twins pitcher, actually, Joe Ryan. I think it was two years ago. He was pitching through a groin injury.

August and just getting destroyed. And they eventually had to relent and have him deal with the groin injury. We knew this was going on with Ober's hip. And now they've had to relent because he was getting destroyed. But I, you know, I still think Ober's going to be a good one in the long run. I do think this clarifies things because if you have an aisle spot, just throw him in there. If you don't, I think it's okay to drop him. Stash Ober or Schwellenbach?

That was my next question. I would assume Ober is coming back sooner. Yeah, he is. Probably. But I have a lot less hope that Ober figures it out this season. I think long term when you're talking about

all right, next year if he's healthy, I think he can bounce back. I don't know about this year. I don't have a lot of, I'm not a hundred percent certain that Spencer Schwellenbach can just come back and be Spencer Schwellenbach.

You know? Like, he is coming back from an elbow injury. Yeah. Yeah. But, like, here's the thing. You drop Schwellenbach, maybe somebody scoops them up, stashes in the aisle, you never see him again. You drop Oper. Probably people are like, well, why didn't you do that yesterday? You know?

I'm not looking at the comments. I'm assuming there are six comments saying exactly that already, actually. Yeah. Hunter Green through one inning and 20 pitches in a live batting practice on Wednesday. expected to face hitters again this weekend and could start a rehab assignment next week. Max Muncie of the Dodgers left early with a left knee injury and it looked pretty serious, had to be helped off the field by a trainer.

And if it is a long-term absence, just watch out for a prospect named Alex Freeland, who has been hitting very well at AAA this year, 271 batting average, lots of walks, big OBP, 10 homers, 13 seals, 845 OPS, also hits the ball very hard. So just a name to watch there. It feels like the Dodgers just churn guys like this out. Like, there's like six of these guys that come around every two years. Alex Freeland? Just that kind of like.

Yeah, he kind of feels like Michael Bush with a little bit more speed. Michael Bush or Miguel Vargas or even like Annie Pahas or James Outman, like these guys that just like they walk a ton, they hit the ball hard. It's impressive. Yordon Alvarez was transferred to the 60-day IL, mostly as a procedural move to make room on their 40-man roster. Both Wilson Contreras and Nolan Aronado were out of the lineup for the Cardinals. Contreras with a left-risk contusion, Aronado dealing with a finger injury that he suffered on Sunday.

Spencer Stier was out of the lineup for game two due to a hand injury. He experienced swelling after being hit by a pitch. Josh Naylor returned to the lineup after missing four straight with neck soreness. Jordan Westberg has now missed five straight with that left index finger strain. Boba Chet has missed three straight with a sore right knee, but, John Schneider said, Bichette's, quote, feeling better than he did on Tuesday. Brandon Woodruff will officially make his season debut Sunday against the Marlins. Chris and I spoke about our expectations yesterday.

They're pretty low. Scott, what about you? What are you expecting for Brandon Woodruff? Oh, low. I mean, you lose that much velocity. You're not the same pitcher anymore. And so some pitchers find a way to work around it, but that is definitely the exception.

My head was somewhere else when you asked because I wondered if filling in for Max Muncie, we were missing the obvious that this is a path for Haissan Kim to play more regularly. I don't know exactly how that would work out. He hasn't appeared at third base himself in either the majors or minors. And Tommy Edmund,

I don't know his history at third base. He's, yeah, he's played 94 games at third base in his career. So maybe that would be, maybe that would be the initial plan. He's sunk Kim. I know we're pretty skeptical, but the production has been terrific when he's played. He's been 369. Yeah. So he might matter in fantasy.

Suddenly, we'll see what the Dodgers do. I also do want to point out because somebody said something about it. Brin and Woodruff's velocity was up in his most recent final AAA start. it was still 93 miles per hour which is three miles per hour lower than it was but that's better than the 91 92 he was working at before he didn't get a single whiff with his

four seamer in that start so it just comes down to he had such a freakishly good four seamer the last time we saw him when he was one of the best pitchers in baseball we've just never seen him succeed without that it's not to say he can't but skepticism is, I think, the right way to approach it. Now, it's an interesting call on Hessung Kim, by the way,

26% rostered, second-based shortstop and outfield eligibility, depending on maybe if he could play third, if Edmund plays third. But if he does, then he'll just gain another position. So pretty interesting player and profile there as well. Trace Olson could make his return Friday against the Guardians. He's still 88% rostered, which is good. I'm proud of everyone for holding him. on because I think Reese Olson is good.

296 ERA, 117 whip in nine starts the season. The Rangers activated Jake Burger and option Josh Young to AAA. Josh Young hit 158 with a 429 OPS in the month of June. I don't know if this is just a quick reset and he'll be back. That's what I imagine it'll be, but it'll probably depend on what he does at AAA as well. So we'll see. Yeah, I would guess the plan is like what they did with Jake Burger last time. Yeah.

Tyler O'Neill is returning on Friday. 44% rostered if you need power in category leagues. Zach Gelloff is likely to be activated sometime during this weekend series against the Giants. In 13 games of AAA, he hit 263 with one homer, three steals, 874 OPS, you know, deeper, middle infielder if you need a little bit of pop, some speed. Obviously, good park to hit in in Sacramento. And with Jorickson Profar back, the Braves designated Alex Verdugo for assignment. Let's take our final break and then we'll try to motor through the rest of all this stuff.

We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Let's take a look at the Waverwire hitters from Wednesday's action and we already spoke about ProFar. What about Josh Lowe picking things up, two for four with his sixth home run and over his last eight games. He's hitting 433, two homers and one steal during that time. You know, he doesn't play against all lefties.

Who would you guys prefer shallow league stuff here between Josh Lowe and Pro Foss? Is it just format dependent? I think it's format dependent because you love the steals from Lowe and Roto. You love the plate discipline from ProFar and points. It's as simple as that for me. I'm inclined to just say ProFar either way. If you desperately need roughly 13 to 17 stolen bases the rest of the way,

then you can go with Lowe. But I think pro far is going to be better overall. I think Lowe is a good hitter. And I know we've, I know I've, I know Frank and I have been more in that category than you in general. But my biggest concerns for low in the past was strikeout rate, which is way down this year. And pole air rate, which is way up this year. And, you know, he's going to hit for power if, if that pole air rate holds and he has been hitting for power and we know we can run. We've seen him hit for average before.

I don't know. I think there's five category. potential here. And he is starting about 85% of the games for the raise overall since coming back. So it's not every day, but that's not bad. Next up, two names with multi-position eligibility. Addison Barger had himself a huge game, two-for-four with a sock and a shoe, his 10th home run and second stolen base. Willie Castro is picking up the steals lately, three-for-four with his sixth steal. He has three in his past five games.

Over his last 30 games, Willie Castro is hitting 3.30 with five home runs, 20 runs scored four steals at a 959 OPS. Who do you guys prefer between Barger and Castro? Barger, by a long shot. I think,

like, Barger's one of those hitters who, you know, I've been hyping him for a while now and kind of the production stop once I started hyping him, and so everybody's kind of tired of me talking about. him but the metrics are still phenomenal on this guy and I trust I I when we're talking about samples this small particularly from a player who's been productive in the

miners before I'm gonna insist upon those eventually coming to fruition I have a lot of confidence in that Castro you mentioned the numbers last 30 games well it was really the first 20 of those last 30 he's been pretty bad lately Yeah, even the last 15, you just split it in half. He's hitting 220 with those 636 OPS. Come on, guys. Work with me here. Geez.

I'm just, I'm just clarifying for the audience. I know. I'll say Castro was a 30 steel guy two years ago. Yeah. Yeah, 33. Then he barely ran at all the first couple of months of this season. If he can get back to actually being an impactful base stealer, that would swing it back his way.

but I just don't have a ton of reason to believe he will be. Next name up here is Nathaniel Lowe, two for four with his with four RBI here, and he is picking things back up lately. I was shocked to see that despite hitting 233 with a 700 OPS, Nathaniel Lowe has 58 RBI on the season. This is what I was saying before the season about Nathaniel Lowe as a sleeper. It's just he's at the, in a run-producing spot behind some really good hitters. He makes a ton of contact.

Like, this is a profile that can outperform expectations on RBI. He's been pretty bad overall, but it's not terribly surprising that he's driving in a decent amount of runs just because of the kind of hitter he is. You know who's outperformed Nathaniel Lowe in points leagues despite all of Lowe's RBI, who's outperformed in both in total fantasy points. and even more in head and fantasy points per game. Nolan Shaniel. Oh, yeah, that makes sense. He is surprisingly, like he's, he's always been geared more toward points leagues, but he's actually been kind of good in points leagues this year.

And at least in that format, I think I'd take him over low. Yeah, I think Shaniel's strikeout rate is probably half of what Nate Moses is. Yeah, less than half. It's about 15 percentage points lower. Yeah, so low strikeout rate is actually up a little bit. This year he's up to 27%. But, yeah, that RBI number just stood out to me. 50% rostered, does that number need to be higher for Nate?

Yeah. Yeah, I think it's about right. All right. What about Tyler Freeman, who continues to roll three for five with two steals? Last 27 games for him hitting 376 with eight steals and OPS over 950 during that time. 29% rostered. leading off for the Rockies. This number feels kind of low to me.

He has second base and outfield eligibility. I really like what we've seen here. Potentially premium base dealer. His expected batting averages 311. And as I understand it, that doesn't account for the Corps effect. Yeah. So.

And he's actually better on the road than he is at Corse field this season. He's good in both, but. Yeah. Yeah. This might be, this might be, you know, we've, we've kind of,

of, it's been a long time since we've seen a hit or go to Coors Field and be magically transformed into a good fantasy asset that used to be like a slam dunk. I guess you could say Nolan Jones sort of, but Nolan Jones had actual skills. Yeah. Tyler, Tyler Freeman might be the guy is what I'm getting at. He might be the one who's transformed. If he's elite stolen base's elite batting average, that's kind of what you drafted Xavier Edwards to be. And you know what? They won the trade, guys. We laughed at that when they traded Nolan Jones for Tyler Freeman. So far it's worked out, I guess.

Some deep league names here. Max Muncie of the Athletics is doing some things. Back-to-back games with a homer. 25 games since returning. He's got six homers, 15 RBI, and a steal. Tommy Pham has been hot lately. Last eight games hitting 448, two homers, 13 RBI. Joey Ortiz had a grand slam in one of the games between that doubleheader.

Last 15, he's hitting. 2-91, 4-Homers, 16 RBI, two steals for him. Isaac Collins, is he a thing? I don't know. 4-4 with his fifth home run in game one of their double-heder has started 11 of the past 13. And Josh Bell, that's right, Josh Bell, he's picking things back up. I mean, we have a stretch every year where Josh Bell looks okay. Last 288 games, he's hitting 284, 5 homers, 19 RBI, and OPS over 800. Very deep league stuff here, any of these names stand out.

Josh Bell, Isaac Collins, Joey Ortiz, Tommy Fam, Max Muncie of the Athletics. I think we have a lot of ground to cover, and I think, I don't think it's worth lingering on these names. All right, fair enough. Very light night for WaverWire pitchers. I have only one name. Scott probably doesn't even want me to bring them up, but for my NL-onlyers out there, Jansen Junk, a quality start against the twins, six innings, two runs, seven strikeouts, to zero walks. He's got a 362 ERA, a 113-13 whip.

I don't, anything here? So the peripherally named pitcher. Well, the peripherals are in very big disagreement about him. Because by FIP, he has a 183. X-FIPP is 301. Okay, well, he's not giving up a lot of home runs. I guess that explains that. XERA was 468 coming into this start.

That was one where, like, I was like, oh, Janston Junk's had some good starts. lately and I went and looked and it's just like, oh, no, he is. Yeah. No, I, I mean, look, at NL only league, he's in a rotation. Like, sure, go ahead and add him. But I don't think he matters anywhere else. I think when you see that discrepancy between XERA, particularly being high and fit being low, you know, over a large sample, maybe you can kind of ignore it. But we're talking about a tiny sample.

And what it probably means is Jansen junk is. had a tremendous amount of home run luck. Because he gives up very hard contact, but he's given up, I think, just one home run and is walking nobody. So FIPP loves that, both of those things. But I think the hard contact he's giving up is more telling in this case.

I agree. Are these two names dropable? Will Warren crushed at the Blue Jays, four innings, 10 hits, eight runs, four walks, four strikeouts. Second time he's allowed seven plus, runs this season. He's up to a five ERA, a 142 whip. All the underlying numbers say that this is the type of pitcher that you should be buying, but man, he's just, I don't know. I don't know that all the underlying numbers do. There are some, like, he's his fast, forcing fastball's good, better than most at missing bats. And that's a good quality to have. His sweeper has crazy spin. Though it hasn't actually been that effective on the whole for having so much spin. Uh, he did seem to be.

be trending up prior to this start. So eight earner runs in this start, but it was a combined nine earn runs in his previous start. And like half of those came in one of those starts with some good strikeout outings in there. I think he's interesting, but I think Luis Ortiz is interesting. And Luis Ortiz doesn't need to be that widely rostered. So miss on as a streamer pitcher for this week, Will Warren. But I don't think it'll be the last week. He'll be on that streamer pitchers list because, you know, it's, it's, it's, It's an un-appealing selection to begin with. Would you guys drop Will Warren for the names we keep bringing up,

Ryan Nelson, Edward Cabrera, Quinn Priester? I like him more than Priester, but I like Cabrera and Nelson more than Warren at this point probably. It's a sort of thing where like one start either way could change it. It's a very malleable group. The thing that's tough with Warren is, I agree, the underlying numbers look better than his actual numbers. The problem is he was so bad last year, both in the majors and minors, that it's hard to argue he deserves the benefit of the doubt. You know, like at some point he's got to prove himself and he's not doing it right now.

Jung Lili just had his first multi-hit game since June 4th, and he went three for five, two runs, RBI. All right, nice to see that. But in his previous 38 games before this, he is head. hitting 178 with zero homers. 16 runs 5 RBI in 38 games. Just seems impossible. 561 OPS. He's still 85% rostered.

Is Junkhu Lee dropable? Yeah. Obviously, that's harder to say in a 5 outfielder league than a 3 outfielder league. His skill set is better suited for points leagues, which tend to be the 3 outfielder leagues. So I'm not saying he's like must drop anywhere. but he's fringy. I think we can conclude

Jung Hu Lee is fringy, and fringy guys are always dropable. Would you drop him for ProFar or Josh Lowe? Yeah, I'd drop him for either one. All right. What about Kyle Stowers, who hit another home run, by the way? I'm fine playing the high hand there.

I didn't know if Scott was going to say anything. That was asking if you would drop... Okay, Josh. If you dropped Junghu Lee for Kyle Stowers, by the way. I thought Scott might have frozen. I didn't know either. Yeah, definitely. Definitely getting robotic over here.

So continue. I'll chime in when it feels like I can't. So we actually did freeze. All right, so that makes sense. All right, so let's rank some pitchers. Pitchers who actually had some good starts here on Wednesday. Ryan Pepio, six innings, two runs, nine strikeouts against the athletics. 14 whiffs on 100 pitches.

Changed up the pitch mix in this one and obviously was successful. Nick Povetta, back-to-back quality starts after a rough four-start stretch. Six innings, one run, six strikeouts for him. Christopher Sanchez, another strong outing, seven innings one run with five strikeouts. That's six straight quality starts. Four of those have been seven-plus innings. He has zero walks in his last four starts combined. That has been a big key here for Christopher Sanchez.

Freddie Peralta, great start at the Mets, six innings, two runs with six strikeouts, and Nathan Avaldi picked up a win in his second start back. He went five shutout with five strikeouts, built up to 72 pitches. So from 45 pitches up to 72, so a nice little jump there for Avaldi. How would you guys rank these five? And was there anything interesting from today's starts? Okay, I would rank them Peralta Sanchez. Paveda Avaldi Pepio, I think.

But I think outside of the top, I think the top two are kind of in their own tier. I think I ranked them both around 20th overall. And then Avaldi Pivotta and Pepio are all more like 30. Pepio is probably a little further. As far as what we saw today, nothing really stood out for most of them. but of all the really efficient today only 72 pitches so still not fully stretched out as we expected

but he was still able to get the win and get through five innings so useful if you started him i definitely lean towards nathan avaldi being a sell high candidate what we've seen throughout his career is he'll have these really good stretches but the margin for error tends to be pretty slim he gets hurt he pitches through something and things tend to fall apart on him while he already got hurt hopefully it doesn't fall apart but given his history i certainly don't expect a 175 era that goes without saying but even it's been a long 325 era i would take the over on that it's been a long time since i brought it up but nathan avaldi hasn't had an era below 363 since 2013 when he was with the marlins

which most people don't even probably remember in being with the Marlins and was a completely different kind of pitcher, but a very different pitcher. So if 375 plus is pretty much always what Avaldi is, then it's hard to imagine that at age 35, he's going to sustain an ERA around 2 or even 250 or even 3, like you were pointing out, Chris.

So I think that's reasonable. I actually rank Christopher Sanchez first of this group. He threw 71% of his pitches for strikes in this start, continuing a trend. The start before that, 70%, the start before that, 77%. The start before that 69% to start before that 67%. All those are great. All of those are great percentages.

He's throwing strikes like this. We've seen him do it for stretches before. He's basically untouchable. He's such a good groundball guy. He's got plenty of bat missing ability. He looks like an ace right now. I'm not saying he'll be able to sustain this control forever. But even when he doesn't have quite this control, he's still pretty good.

If I'm ranking this group, I do have Sanchez at the top as well, followed by Freddie Peralta, Nick Pavetta, Nathan Avaldi, and Ryan Pepio. But all five are in my top 40, and I think the top two are like in my top. 24. Pepe has a distant last for me. I'll point that out too. I think so without looking at the rankings, that that's my sense as well,

that there's a probably eight to 10 spot gap between him and the other two guys. Hitters on its hair right now. Yandy Diaz, two for four with his 14th home run. Last 30 games, he's hitting 388 with seven homers, 21 runs, 22 RBI, and a 1085 OPS. Marcus Semyon, one for four with his ninth homer. Last 30 for him.

348, 6 home runs, 4 steals, 1012 OPS. Corey Seeger, over his last 8 games, batting 333 with 4 home runs, crushing the ball during that time. Randy a Rosarena, four homers in his past three games. Last 13, he's hitting 377 with an OPS near 1,100. And Matt Olson had a big game, 3 for 5 with his 16th home run. Over his last 18, he's batting 371. This is just his second home run during that span, but the fact that he has picked the batting average up. It's all the way up to 267, which is pretty much what we're,

what we were expecting coming into the season. But yeah, lots of hitters here on a tear. Anyone that stands out or anything you'd like to add on those, that group? I think Marcus Simeon's turnaround is reason why you can still hold out hope that Ozzy Albies will also turn around. I, I have real concerns about Ozzy Albies. It's not clear that his, uh, suboptimal quality of contact readings translate to this sort of batted ball environment. But the same is true for Simeon. And he's found a way to make it work.

There was no reason besides his name being Marcus Simeon to think that Marcus Simeon was about to turn it around. He's much older than Alpsis, too. Albies is 28. People I think, suspect he's 32. He's been around for so long. But he's only like he's in his Brian. Yeah, he was super young when he got called up. And, you know, with Simeon, there was nothing to suggest that he was about to break out.

You know, he wasn't hitting the ball hard. His plate discipline was as good as it ever is. But that was true last year. And he was pretty bad. So what is happening current trends are not destiny. You know, what is currently happening is not what's going to happen moving forward. As bad as Ozzi Albies has been. for as long as he has been, he still has a very good track record.

And that should still matter. I know people don't like hearing that, but guys usually don't just lose the ability to play baseball at a high level completely at the age of 28. It happens occasionally, but without an injury especially, they usually get it back. All right, two frustrating pitchers who let us down once again. Dylan Cease, subpar outing at the Phillies 6th.

innings, four runs, four strikeouts. Didn't walk anybody, but gave up some hard contact, allowed two homers in this one. I don't know what else to say about him. I kind of feel like a broken record. We keep telling people to buy, but maybe it's just going to be one of those seasons for Dylan C's.

People are starting to sit him a little bit. He's down to 75% started. Does line up for two starts next week. And the other name is Tanner Bybee, who had a rough one at the Cubs, four innings, five runs, four walks, five strikeouts here. Look, you just can't walk for against the lineup as good as the Cubs.

Obviously, they're going to take advantage of that. He has a 420 ERA, 124 whip. He's just kind of been off all-season Tanner Bibi. Both of these guys line up for two starts next week. Both are, you know, starting to get benched a little bit. What do you guys think about Bobby and C's? I'd start at both. I am much more optimistic about to Cise than Bibi at this point.

Bibi just feels like he's been searching for it all season. And it kind of felt like he had figured it out, but the strikeouts still weren't really there. He's still down to like a 20% strikeout rate for his season. I don't know. I guess my thing is I don't see what the upside is for Bibi. I think and because both of his rookie and sophomore seasons, sort of indicated this too.

I think he's just a very unconventional read. He's got a lot of pitch variety. He's got a lot of pitch selection variety. He isn't conventionally

dominant, but he is really good at going on runs where he keeps runs off the board. Even prior to this start, previous 12 stars for Tanner Bybee, his ERA was 338. And his FIP was like 342, I think. It was pretty much right in line.

So he's, he's, I think he's going, it's only his third year, but I think Tanner Bybee's career is, it's shaping up to be as frustrating for analysts as Sunny Gray's has been. But I think I'm ready, like, he's basically always been good. Maybe not great, but good. And I'm willing to just roll with that at this point. All right, some hitting leftovers. Aaron Judge hit a clutch game-tying home run in the eighth inning after they were down eight-zip, and then they lost anyway. Classic Yankees, three-for-four with his 31st home run,

three RBI in this one. Francisco Lindor, he needed a good game. He got it in game two of their doubleheader. Three-for-four with his 17th home run. Previous 20 games before Wednesday, he was hitting 163 with a 506 OPS. Big game for Brendan Nimmo, who got moved up to the leadoff spot in game two of their doubleheader. That will be interesting to see if the Mets stick with that moving forward.

He went two for five with a sock in the shoe, his 16th home run, his eighth steel. And Catell made a clutch game tying homer in the ninth, his 18th of the season. He's also batting 300 with a 999 OPS. Anything to add here? Mostly studs, except for Nimmo, who's, you know, just solid, rock solid. It's good. Yeah. I will note Lindor said he's not going to do the All-Star game because his toe is still bothering him, which just, or not the All-Star game, the Home Run Derby.

He was invited and he turned it down because his fractured big toe, small-toe, middle-toe. Might explain why he's struggling lately. Yeah, might. Yeah, he's been going through in a little bit. Quality of contact metrics are still pretty good, so I don't have too much concern there, but that's worth noting. and then if you're favoring that, it's going to change your mechanics. Yeah, that's the concern.

So he may still be impacting the ball well, but it doesn't take much to throw off a swing or a delivery. And that's why, I think that's a big reason why peaks and valleys are so common in baseball, but why there's these wild swings and productions over the course of the season is just because little things happen that get mechanics out of whack on both the pitching and hitting end.

So we actually know what there's something going on with Lindor. I think it's reasonable to assume that's why. And on a similar note, I mean, talking about Lindor and his injury, I almost forgot about this. Sometimes things just kind of like fall between the cracks, but Freddie Freeman has been playing through like a quad thing since the beginning of June. And basically his numbers during that time

coincide with, okay, he's been terrible. Perhaps, you know, that, still getting treatment on the ankle every day of the season. So, you know, those two things in conjunction, you know, maybe he's just playing through a lot right now and might explain why Freddie Freeman is struggling as well.

Some pitching leftovers, Hunter Brown turned in a quality start at the Rockies, six innings, two runs, eight strikeouts, with 17 whiffs on 102 pitches. He has a quality start in 13 of 17 out. this season. Mitch Keller was great against the Cardinal, seven shutout with seven strikeouts. And, you know, Keller's quietly been pretty good. He's down to a 364 ERA, 119 whip. And you say Kukuchi, another solid outing this time at the Braves, 5 and 2 thirds with two runs.

Seven strikeouts had 12 whiffs on 100 pitches. Anything to add on Kukuchi, Mitch Keller, and Hunter Brown? So remember the story, the explanation for why Kukuchi had been pitching so well. a bunch of double-digit strikeout efforts recently is the change in pitch mix, specifically less fastball, more curveball. Well, he didn't really throw the curveball much at all on this one, so he got away with it, got away from it, and got away with it, against a struggling Braves lineup. I still think he needs to be rostered, but I'm not totally sanguine about Kukuchi's

prospects the rest of the year. Mitch Keller has pitched well and would be a pretty good streaming option, except the Pirates have absolutely killed him. He's three in ten. That's his record. And it's particularly in points leagues, the more streamable format. It just doesn't amount to much when the record is that bad. And the Pirates remain bad.

So I'm not sure how much it's going to improve for Keller. Be nice, maybe if he got traded. I hope they don't trade him just because there was a piece on fan graphs about four weeks ago talking about how rare it is for a player to have more wins above replacement than pitcher wins

in a season and he's pretty close he was at 2.1 before this very good start and the win today messed it up so he's got a chance you know I think that'd be fun I think much color's fine one more thought of a fantasy option

he's not great but he's fine One more thought about this group, Hunter Brown, is my new number five. That number five spot in the starting pitcher rankings has been really hard to fill. Keep changing it out. Hunter Brown's the new one. Good for you, Hunter Brown. Hold on to it. All right.

Call to the bullpen for Tampa Bay with Pete Fairbanks unavailable. Edwin Useta got the ninth inning with a two-run lead. He gave up one run on four hits, picked up his first save. But man, he did try his hardest to give it away for the rest. Red Sox in game one, Aroldus Chapman struck out one for his 15th save. For the Padres in game one, Robert Suarez got the ninth inning once again with a three-run lead, did give up another run on three hits, but picked up his 24th save.

For the twins, Yawain Duron got the ninth inning with a one-run lead, picked up his 13th save. For the Yankees, Devin Williams entered in the eighth inning with the game tied. He gave up two runs on two walks and a hit, took his third loss of the season on the other side. Jeff Hoffman picked up his 20th save for the Mets in game two. Edwin Diaz got the final four outs for his 17th save. For the Cubs, Daniel Palencia, got the ninth inning with a two-run lead. He allowed an unearned run but picked up his 10th save.

For the Giants, Camillo Doval, got the ninth inning with the two-run lead. He gave up two runs, took the blown save. Giants scored one in the top of the 10th. Doval came back out for the bottom of the 10th, and this time he actually closed it out. So got the save for himself. Look at that. There you go. Didn't actually get a save.

He did get the window. Chris, don't you know how saves work? Not really. Yeah, take that, Chris. And then for the White Sox, Chris mentioned this earlier, but, yep, they did blow it. Grant Taylor came on in the ninth with a two-run lead. He had been pretty good so far. He was charged with three runs, took his first loss of the season.

To stream work. I just wanted to underscore something. Devin Williams pitching the eighth and a tie game. That itself is notable, even if he pitched well and didn't take the loss. Because that would have been the first time he was setting up for Weaver since Weaver returned, right? It didn't play out that way, obviously, because it was a bad inning. I think that was just the highest leverage spot. It was the top of the lineup coming up with the game tied.

So that's why they went to him. Even so. That shows they're willing to do that on occasion. Luke Weaver wasn't available either. He's been terrible since returning, too. He gave up a grand slam on Tuesday. He's looked bad. Maybe the hamstring is not fully healthy, but...

Okay. He didn't do a rehab assignment, did he? Nope. Yeah. So, I don't know. Yeah, everything is wrong right now. To stream or not to stream on Thursday, David Festa at the Marlins,

Brandon Walter at the Rockies, Jose Cantana at the Mets, Luis Ortiz at the Cubs, and Kate Horton, home against the Guardians. Gross. Yeah, don't love it. Guardians offense has been really bad lately For what it's worth

So has Kate Horton, but I do agree with your premise I think Festa Is probably the only one I would want to go with If you're forcing me to start one I think I'm gonna start Brandon Walter at Coors But Coors is I feel like it's playing a little more like Coors later It's just so it's course like even as bad as they are It's just you don't know how

guys are going to play. So I'm like, yeah, you start Hunter Brown there, but I don't think I'm starting streaming Brandon Walter. Yeah, I'd rather not stream anybody. That's gun to head situation. Yeah, that's not the answer that people are looking for, Scott. And then on Friday, July 4th, how about that? And I believe Chris's birthday. Isn't it your birthday Friday, Chris? Yeah. Yeah, that is my birthday. He had to look down and figure out what day one. I just don't know, yeah. I don't know what day of the week is. It is. Well, you won't be on the podcast tomorrow, so happy early birthday to you.

Oh, thanks. And then, so on Friday, we have Lucas Gilito at the Nationals, Kumar Rocker at the Padres, Slate Cicone gets the Tigers, Charlie Morton at the Braves Revenge game, Adrian Houser at the audition game. Yeah, Adrian Houser at the Rockies. Also pitching through elbow tendonitis game, so not Charlie Morton. Gilito is fine. I don't really buy it, but I think he's fine.

I really like what Kumar Rocker's done lately with this cutter. I think it's really helped him settle down. He seems to be commanding that pitch a lot better than his fastballs, which are generally pretty bad. I don't know if I love streaming him against the Padres, but he's probably my second favorite after Lucas Jolito. Gun to head situation. Why would you put a gun to someone's head to start Kumar Rocker?

I am just, it's a hypothetical. I just don't just saying. that is the sort of duress I would have to be under to stream him. It would have to be that extreme of the situation. I don't think we should do that. That feels unsafe. I'm not advocating for it. I'm just saying it's a dangerous world, Chris. Yeah, Chilito and Rocker are the only two I would even consider out of this.

Did we really get through all those notes in less than an hour and 10 minutes? There were 19 games today. It was a weird day, though. We're talking about like four players. It was a weird day because like the Schwellenbach injury came in. We had 19 games. And I was like, oh my God, we're going to have so much to talk about. And then there was like not really that much interesting happened today.

It was a weird. It was a weird day. I was a little bit more pick and choosy with what I put on the rundown. And that's exactly why I put Jansen Junk on the rundown. So there you go. I mean, the people demand Jansen Junk Talk. That's exactly right. We're 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 5 start rating on Apple or Spotify and we will be back again tomorrow bye-bye paramount podcasts