Fantasy Baseball Today - Sell-High on Blake Snell? Alonso Bounce Back & Pitchers on the Rise! (7/26 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 26, 2023

Is now the time to sell-high on Blake Snell (1:20)? ... Will Benson just keeps on hitting for the Reds (8:48). ... Pete Alonso had a huge game at Yankee Stadium (11:35). ... Is Justin Verlander back (14:10)? ... Tyler Glasnow and Aaron Civale are on the rise (23:35). ... We had a bunch of double dongs on Tuesday (30:18). ... Nico Hoerner appreciation (36:10)! ... News (38:55): Aaron Judge is ramping up activity. ... Should Jarren Duran be universally rostered (42:22)? ... Rank JP France, Kyle Hendricks and Kyle Gibson (47:33). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (51:30). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ 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

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Are Justin Burlander and Pete Alonzo back? Let's discuss.

Welcome into fantasy baseball today on Wednesday, July 26th. I am Frank Samfell, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, Pete Alonzo had a huge game, much needed. Pitchers on the rise, Verlander, Tyler Glassnow, both pitching very well recently. Nico Horner appreciation. I feel like we haven't talked enough about him. He had a massive game as well, and much more. Before we get started, please like this video and subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already.

And if you're listening on the audio side, download, follow, and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We really do appreciate it. Let's jump in. Chris, what's up, man? You are up a player that made you say, wow, hey now. So Blake Snell now leads the majors in ERA at 261, I believe. I saw a tweet about that and I'm going to trust it implicitly like I do everything on X.com. It is true.

And he also leads the majors in walks. And that's a fascinating combination of things for a pitcher to do. but it's especially fascinating over the past five starts, which have all conveniently taken place in the month of July, so I don't have to do any math. He has thrown 27 innings over five starts in the month of July. He has a .67 ERA, which is very, very good. He has 22 walks in those 27 innings.

I will have to do a little bit of math for that one. It is a lot of walks. 7.3 per 9, to be precise, with 33 strikeouts in 27 innings, which is like fine, but not exactly great. I don't know what's happening here. This is really weird because like we saw the turnaround in really late May and then June, June, he was incredible. 0.87 ERA with 53 strikeouts to eight walks in 31 innings. Those are the kind of numbers that make you say, okay. I get how a guy can have a sub 1 ERA for a month when he has 53 strikeouts to eight walks.

33 to 22. Again, not so much. I have no idea what's happening with Blake Snell. Generally speaking, my thought process with Blake Snell is when things are going really, really well for him, you should probably try trading Blake Snell. And when things are going really, really poorly for him, you should try selling or buying Blake Snell. I'm going to say Blake Snell is a cell high candidate right now. I agree.

Blake Snell is hanging on by a very thin thread, I think, is what's going on here. And you've already gotten so much more than you could have hoped for at the end of May when he took a 504 ERA into his May 31st start. You've gotten over two months of production so good, a sub one ERA that, that it's made him now the leader, or at least very close to the leader, in an overall ERA, something we haven't seen from Blake's now since 2018,

a SIE Young winning season. I think you better cash it in before it goes colossally wrong. And here's another, here's some more food for thought. I was writing about 10 players who could, what did you say? Nothing.

You said food for thought and I said, yummy, I'm sorry. Oh, it's okay. I thought my voice was going robotic again, and I was not going to be happy about that. But now, here's some more food for thought. I was just writing about 10 players who could be moved at the deadline.

Blake Snell's a prime candidate for this. He's a free agent in the offseason, and the Padres are, they entered today six games out of the wild card race. I don't know that they're going to be sellers, but Snell is a really strong asset for them, a really strong trade ship for them if they are as well as Josh Hader.

I mean, what kind of prospect hall could they get for those two? As volatile as Snell has been for his entire time in San Diego, really his entire career, I don't know what that would, I don't know if that could be something that sets them off. You know, like if that could be what causes the House of Cards to tumble, if it isn't already happening here with the bloated walk rate recently. So, yeah, I'm on board with you, Chris. and it's the perfect kind of sell-high candidate because most people aren't going to perceive it

as a sell-high candidate. They're going to be like, oh, Blake Snell, you're a leader, tons of strikeouts. This is great. So you could really, really cash in just like I'm saying the Padres might. Naturally, the next question is, who are you trying to sell Blake Snell for?

I wrote down a couple names. Would you do it for either presumed Philly's ace, Zach Wheeler or Aranola? Oh, yes. Absolutely. A thousand percent. No question. I have Michael Harris written down.

I feel like that's kind of an interesting hitter comp for him. I mean, it's not automatic. Yeah. It kind of depends what I need more. The fact Harris bats ninth, you know, even though he's turned his season around, he hasn't looked like 22 Harris during that time. So he's a solid outfield starter more than a spectacular one. Yeah, here's the problem with Michael.

Harris. He has an 816 OPS in the month of July, which that seems perfectly sustainable. He has six RBI and eight runs scored in that time. That ninth. No point out. And four of those 14 combined runs and RBI have come on his two home runs. Well, I guess at least, I don't know if anybody was on base for them. Two other interesting names. I don't know if you could pull it off.

You guys let me know if I'm completely off base. Do you guys think you could get Vlad for Blake's? Snell, the way that Snell has pitched. And, you know, Vlad's kind of been a disappointment, I guess you could say. I don't think I could get Vlad against the people I play with. Unless, I mean, maybe it's possible if it's, you know, a Roto League and people are looking at where they rank in the statistical categories and they have a lot of ground. They can make up in strikeouts and not so much in the categories career.

It seems possible even among the expert ranks that I could do that. But certainly, in a league of fantasy civilians, as we call them, it's feasible. It's worth trying. You mean our listeners, Guy. I mean, not every, well, I mean, look, if it's a league full of our listeners, they'll know not to do it. Precisely. The last name I had written down, and again, I don't know how realistic this is, but he is struggling in July. He's kind of coming back down to Earth.

Maybe he's lost some of his luster. Ellie Dela Cruz? Can it happen? Or is the name value is still so amazing that no one's doing that? So this is a hard one because like

I think if you asked any fantasy analyst they would say immediately no. I think most fantasy analysts would probably say there are fewer than 10 or 15 players

that they would trade Ellie Daly Cruz for right now. I don't know how that translates to the average fan. I've been on the impression the average fan is is more likely to have an outsized impression of Ellie De La Cruz than the average fantasy analyst.

I've spent more time talking people down on Ellie De La Cruz, which is no fun to do, by the way, than having to prop him up. All right, well, just to put it out there, those are some ideas that you can try and sell Blake Snell for, and look, if no one wants him, who knows? Maybe we just continue to get these random number-generated, low earned run starts for Blake Snell.

Scott, you are up, your player of the night. Let's see. I don't even remember who it was. I know I didn't want to pick anybody. Lots of excitement here for Will Benson. Will Benson. Yeah, Reds outfielder, Will Benson. So we've brought them up a few times in the context of

Christian and Carnaccio Strang getting called up. Okay, maybe they could bump Spencer Steer to the outfield full-time, except Will Benson has been so productive that he deserves his at Bats too. I actually took a closer look at that based on his performance here. Tuesday went one for three with a home run, seventh home run. But that's not the main reason I'm talking about him, the fact that he hit a home run on Tuesday. The main reason I'm talking about Will Benson is since May 21st, since he returned to the majors, May 21st, a span of 47 games,

Will Benson has hit 325 with seven homers, 10 steals, an OBP near 440. He's walking a ton. An OPS over a thousand. So, you know, you got power, you got speed, you got on-base skills. You got basically the outfield version of Matt McLean. I mean, he's kind of been better than that. The playing time isn't as consistent as McLean because Benson, Let me double check this based on the Chas McCormick mish mishap last.

Yes, he's a left-handed header. He only has 17 played appearances against lefties. He's one of several. The Reds are kind of going the way of the race this season. They're doing a lot of platooning. But looking at it, the game log now, Benson has started against two of the last three lefties the Reds have faced. So he's earning a bigger share of playing time,

even against them, and I think deservedly. And, you know, he might be one of the most underappreciated, overlooked players in fantasy right now that Will Benson. I maintain skepticism because he's been such a big strikeout guy throughout his career, even in the minor, since 30% roster, by the way. But that skepticism is waiver. I think he deserves to be much more rostered than 30%. So two names that I have, I guess comparable to,

Will Benson. We've talked about recently. Carrie Carpenter has really picked it up since being activated off the IL. And someone else we haven't talked about recently who's having a strong July is Max Kepler, who went two for four with two runs and an RBI on Tuesday. And in July, batting 310 with three home runs, 12 runs, 13 RBI, and an 852 OPS. Scott, would you take Will Benson over both Kerry Carpenter and Max Kepler and say a five outfielder league? Give me Willie Ben. All right, players of the night for me. Let's just go with all of the New York Mets

and we'll start things off here with Pete Alonzo, who we mentioned at the top. We needed him to get back on track. He heads into Yankee Stadium for the Subway series and has a massive game. Three for four with a double dong, five RBI, and he's now up to 28 home runs, 68 RBI on the season,

but still just a 218 batting average. And last week we spoke extensively about Pete Alonzo. how poorly he's played since coming off the IL. Kind of seems like, you know, maybe he rushed himself back or the Mets kind of pressured him to get back on the field, whatever it might be. Seems like he came back too soon and Pete Alonzo was not playing very well. Chris, do you think this maybe could be a sign of getting the elite Pete Alonzo back once again?

Yeah, I mean, it's not just this game. You take the last five games and he is nine, four, 19 overall in that stretch. one walk, three strikeouts. So, you know, I don't know what the quality of contact metrics look like in that stretch, explicitly specifically, but he's got a triple two doubles. Yeah, the home runs were crushed, 108 miles an hour on both of them. But I don't know what the numbers look like overall. Still in the month of July overall, he's up to like a 90, 89 mile per hour average exit velocity before

today. So that seems pretty promising. It's not, you know, elite, but Piedelons is actually not usually a guy who posts like 94. He's not Vlad Jr. or Aaron Judge or John Carlos Stanton. He gets the most out of what he's got. That's not to say he doesn't have power, obviously. It's just to say that he's usually not elite when it comes to exit velocities.

And right now he's at 89 miles per hour in the month of July. That's right around where he's been. About 93 is the average exit velocity for that five game stretch. Okay, there you go. That's a good sign. We were concerned about that wrist injury and whether it was sapping his power. And again, as we said last week, it wasn't proof that he couldn't be good the rest of the way. And this isn't proof that he's back to being normal.

None of these things are necessarily proof of anything. Nothing is proof of anything necessarily if you want to get existential about it. But it's a good sign after several weeks of pretty much nothing but bad signs. Good signs as well for Justin Verlander, who now has a quality start in four of his past five outings at the Yankees, six shutout innings with six strikeouts and 14 swinging strikes on 98 pitches. He only allowed two hard hits in this game. and all of a sudden, I know the strikeout numbers are not there, but he has a 324 ERA, a 1.15 whip on the season, does Justin Verlander,

and over his last six starts, a 146 ERA, a 105 whip, and nearly a strikeout per inning. You know, walks, oddly enough, have been up recently. But Scott, I know, you know, we kind of hit a snag in the middle of the season, and we started lowering Justin Verlander down the rankings. is this enough to kind of boost him back up the way he's pitched recently? No, not without the strikeouts.

I mean, he's fine. Like, dropping Justin Verlander is not part of the discussion, obviously, especially now with the way he's pitching now. I think he's just part of the glob. I think he's just another part of the glob, random number generator for him too. You know, the good side of that

is going to be six, seven shutout innings, the bad side of that. is going to be an a-earned run-outing eventually. And that's... Because he is not capable of missing bats at the level he once did, he's as vulnerable to that as the majority of the starting pitcher pool. So, yeah, I mean, just keep that in mind with Rilander. Don't treat him like an ace anymore.

I don't think that's changed. Scott, where does this so-called glob start for you in your starting pitcher rank? Well, you know, the thing about globs is they're kind of, they don't have a structure, you know, they're kind of, unless they kind of take the shape of their container, right? So I can't define exactly where the edge of the glob is, but he knows it when he sees it. It's somewhere around 20, 25 in my starting pitcher rankings and continues up through maybe 75, 80. and all of those pitchers are basically random number generators as far as I'm concerned. I think maybe I'm a little bit more optimistic on Verlander. Look, I can't dispute the strikeouts.

They are not where they were last year or where they were when he was in his prime. But, you know, again, we read off the ERA and the whip, and he is showing a little bit more consistency here. So I think it would be just ahead of the glob for me. Maybe he's like a high end or solid SP2 somewhere in that range. He's not the SP1. I think we were drafting him to be. But I'm a little bit more optimistic.

Chris, what do you think? I agree. I have been less aggressive in moving him down than even you, Frank, but certainly less than than Scott. He's still a top 12 pitcher for me. And the reason for that, at least early on, was he still had two high-end skills. He was avoiding walks and he was generating a ton of weak contact. Those are the two things that had been there for him.

And then lately, we've had the four walks to. day, the six walks three starts ago. Those seem a little fluky, especially that, you know, the previous five had been zero, zero, two, one, three. And the underlying swing and miss metrics for the pitches don't look that much worse than last season. You know, everything is pretty much in the same range. And so I've been waiting for a flip.

to switch with with regards to the strikeouts and maybe it'll never come. But I think because of the quality of contact suppression, he's still going to be reliably solid moving forward. I think there's an extremely high floor with Justin Berliner. Like Scott, you said there's going to be an eight run start. And I know you're not specifically saying there's going to be an eight run start. But I actually do think Justin Verlander is probably more immune to that kind of outing than most pitchers, even in, you know, there aren't a lot of pitchers I trust right now.

But he is, I think, more immune to that than most. Okay. I mean, how many of those starts as he had already? Two, but both of them were in May. He hasn't had any since then. And I would be willing to guess those, that was closer to when he was returning, originally returning from injury. Yeah, it was his third and fifth start.

He got up six runs in. both. He's had two other starts with four earned runs. One was three innings. So you can call that one of those. But everything else has, you know, he's mostly avoided the big blowups over the past two months. All right. Anything else, Scott, Ted? Seems like you kind of want to retort, but you're thinking about it. Glob theory is still in its infancy, I want to say. So let's not, let's not be too harsh on the theory. Of course, there are, you know, I keep starting pitcher rankings, there are gradations within the glob, maybe the, you know,

you got the kind of like thin, paper thin edges and then the gooey middle. And so maybe Justin Verlander isn't in the gooey middle of the blob. I'll also say, like, I'm sorry, continue. Do I really need to? Well, yeah, I mean, look, for me, like, starting pitcher rankings matter a lot during draft season because you need to figure out what order you are going to draft your starting pitcher rank

starting pitchers in. In season, for me at least, they're a lot more fluid and they're a lot more to use another weird metaphor. They're like electron clouds, right? This is this, they're, you know, the classic image you have in your brain of electrons is that there's a little orbit.

That's not how they actually work. They jump between ranges seemingly at random. That's how I feel about starting pitchers. When I've got a guy ranked 11th, he could be 24th. And I wouldn't really complain about it. You know, like there's a lot of, there's a lot of fluidity in my rankings. Maybe that, you know. Yeah. Or I guess rather to say that a guy ranked 11th than a guy ranked 24th, if you say, how could you have that guy ranked 11th and that guy ranked 24th? My answer is like, they both, They both might be 70. I mean, I might put the range of starting pitchers where they start jumping a little lower than that.

Sure. A much wider range. Basically, the glob is where that's happening, numbers, what, 30 through 75 in my rankings? Would I rather have pitcher 50, pitcher 45 than pitcher 75? Of course I would. why you have them rank that way. But it's not so significant of an upgrade that I'm going to really seek out that trade, I guess. And it's just like I think in trying to figure out how to tackle the starting pitcher position for next season, for instance.

And okay, pitchers in the glob, let's say you got Chris Bassett, you got Bryce Wilson, you got Bryce Wilson not Bryce Wilson Bryce Miller the other Bryce Bryce Bryce Elder Gotcha

Not you got Chris Bassett You got Chris Bassett You got Bryce Elder You got some other globy pitcher Alex Cobb let's say Who pitched today How many rounds

are you going to prioritize Any one of those guys over the other And I'm thinking I don't want to do that I don't, I, I just want to take, if once we're into the glob at starting pitcher, I just want to take whatever comes to me. At some point, I'm going to have to step up and take one, but I'm not going to be so particular about it.

That is, that I sacrifice value at other positions. Someone in the comment said Alex Glob. That's, that's pretty good. I have a feeling tiered rankings might matter a little bit more next year, Scott, or potentially they'll just be a lot bigger. Like the players within the tiers. Yes. Indeed they will. Let's take our first break.

And when we return, I've got other pitchers on the rise. A bunch of double dongs from Tuesday. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back. And a quick reminder to sign up for our fantasy baseball today newsletter. It is free. And you can find it at cbsports.com slash newsletters. You click on the FBT logo and you're punching your email address.

And boom, it's easy as that. If you're getting ready for fantasy football, do the same thing. Click on that FFT logo. punch in your email and you'll get a spiffy newsletter sent to you every day by Chris Towers. So there you go. You can find both of those at cbsports.com slash newsletters. And if you're watching us live on YouTube,

scan that QR code that will take you right to the website as well. Other pitchers who are on the rise, Tyler Glassnow complete seven in back to back starts. He was going up against the Miami Marlins, seven innings of one-run ball with eight strikeouts and 17 swinging. strikes. Glassnow now has six plus strikeouts in all 11 of his starts. He has eight or more in

six of those 11 starts. 326 ERA, a 1.1 to whip well over a strikeout per inning. I mean, everything is there for Tyler Glassnow right now. It's just a matter of can he stay on the mound? But Scott, if he does on a per inning basis, I think you can reasonably rank Tyler Glass now is a top 12 starting pitch or rest of season. And SP1. Not to overplay this analogy. Tyler Glass now is broken free of the glob. He is.

He has transcended the glob. To use another analogy I use sometimes, he is in the circle of trust. But no, getting back to the glob analogy, I think. Is the circle of trust itself a glob? Oh. Circle of untrust. I'll get back to you on that. Later, not today.

When you're drafting starting pitchers, I don't know why I'm talking about draft strategies, I guess because it's on my mind. But when I'm drafting starting pitchers next year, I will single out pitchers in the glob who I think have a chance of transcending the glob. I mean, I'm going to get back to a real skills-oriented approach at starting

pitcher after kind of straying from that in recent years looking for a market and efficiency that doesn't exist because there are just too many gloppy pitchers out there and so you know in the past I might have been out too much injury risk for Tyler Glass now if he was available in the glob and I'm saying I'm not going to stress about that kind of stuff anymore and certainly not now when we're in August almost okay I'm not going to worry about his injury risk in August he's healthy right now he's delivering So there you go.

That's where I stand on Tyler Glassnow in relation to the Glob. Yeah, I'm just looking at the rankings now and I think there's a case to be made at least for me. 11 through 15, I have Max Scherzer, Aaron Nola, Logan Webb, Joe Muskrove, Joe Ryan. Kind of feels like Glass Now should either be in that

grouping or at the top of that grouping the way that he's pitching right now. So he has been awesome, as has Aaron Savali. He's just doing it in a much different way. He's allowed two run runs or fewer in nine of 10 starts since returning from the IL. Some really good matchups in there. But you know what? He's taking advantage.

He went up against the Royals on Tuesday, eight innings, one run, five strikeouts for Aaron Savali. Two starts in a row, however, where the velocity is way down on basically all of his pitches. Chris, again, we have a 10-start stretch here where Savali is, you know, a sub-3-ERA, really good whip. Your thoughts on Aaron Savali? Yeah, I mean, I'm going through the game log now and like, how many good starts has he had against even an average matchup? He's got the two runs in five and two thirds against Boston. That's a very good start. Two runs in five innings against Texas.

That's a good start. Is there another good start against a legitimately even average offense on the on the schedule here? It's like Seattle's pretty good matchup this year. Minnesota is a great matchup this year. Yeah. The Padres are probably close to average. Oakland's a great matchup. Milwaukee's been pretty bad.

Chicago's nothing special. The Royals are arguably the best matchup in baseball for a right-handed pitcher. I'm not surprised at all that he was good in this start because I expect every pitcher to be good against the Royals. It's just, I don't know. To put it another way. put it another way the glob

Aaron Savale Aaron Savale has a 100% success rate against good offenses you can't hold the schedule against them I don't think Aaron Savale is nearly this good

and I you know the fact that his velocity's been way down as past two starts it's weird I mean obviously it hasn't impacted his performance I'm not sure how much it matters for a pitcher like him. I don't know. Obviously, it hasn't been in performance.

I'm kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop on Aaron Savali either way. I have him ranked 89th. I'm not moved to move him up. That feels like a range in the rankings where it's a bunch of just streaming pitcher types. You know, your Dean Kramer's. That's what I think he is. JP France that we'll talk about in a bit. But I feel like maybe he's graduated from that, Chris.

Like maybe not much higher. He may have joined the glob is what. what I'm trying to say. Like, if the glob ends at 75, you're saying he's at 89, glob doesn't end, as I already said, it takes a shape of its container. So we can't define exactly where it is. What I was going to say, another way of putting it, so I can stop talking about globs, is we all have pitching staffs we have to fill out.

And we can't expect to fill them out with perfect worry-free pitchers. Things are going to go wrong for Savale. at some point. But when they're not going wrong, he's really efficient. He goes six, seven innings. It is kind of another Dean Kramer situation, except he doesn't have the great offense backing him, so he's less likely to win.

I'm not saying if you pick them up for the two-star week, you have to hold tight to Aaron Savali. If there's something exciting out there, go ahead and let him go. But he might be, he might be someone who's necessary to fill out a pitching staff at this stage of the year. And something that could be exciting that's out there. We spoke about Scoobel and Kenta Maeda extensively yesterday.

I think we would all make that swap. But, you know, outside of that, again, we get into the, we'll talk about JP France, Kyle Hendrix. I think Savali is probably in that range as well. The good news, he's dominating matchups. His next two projected matchups are the White Sox. They are 27th in Wobah against right-handed pitching. so I think we just keep on rolling with Aaron Savali the way that he is pitching.

Let's move over to the hitter side of things. I mentioned there were a bunch of double dongs. Pete Alonzo had one of them. Julio Rodriguez. He now has three homers in his past four games, and he's up to 16 home runs, 23 steals. Power and speed has been great this year. The problem has been the batting average.

246. Hopefully, you know, we can get that up to about a, you know, 260, 270 by seasons, and that would be fantastic if we could do that. Danesby Swanson, he returned on Saturday. He went three for three with a double dong as well. He also added four RBI in this game, batting 271 with a 793 OPS. It's been an okay season for Swanson.

I feel like he's very kind of middle infielder-e at this point. You know, just the shortstop position in general up top, it's just so loaded. It's, you know, trying to compare him to some of those talents. It's just, you know, he's just very clear. behind that group. So that's just how it feels at this point. I mean, he's been surpassed,

as I pointed out last week or earlier this week, whenever it was. He's been surpassed by Haasong Kim and CJ Abrams in terms of head-to-head points per game. And I don't know, maybe a two-homer game

put him past them again. At this point, I think I definitely would prefer Ha-Sung Kim because he's batting lead-off and he is on a 20-homer, 30-steal pace. And it's a closer call

with Abrams, especially if you're talking points leagues. But yeah, I would agree. Swanson is definitively second tier. I mean, the way I make up my tiers, it may be more low. It may be lower than that, technically, but you know what I'm saying. He's not, he's not among the studs at the position. He's in the 20-ish range, I think, at the position now, which is a testament to how good the position is. But, yeah, I mean, I think, like,

Like, I think him and Nico Horner and Carlos Correa and Tommy Edmund are all like 15 to 20 maybe. Yeah. No, that sounds right. Yeah, I have him right at. Danor Bogart is in that range. Jeremy Pena's in that range. Like, there's a glob at shortstop. I have Swanson at 15, but, I mean, he could be at the top of that group for someone.

He could be at the bottom. I have Hassan Kim at 20, but maybe that's just me selling them shorter. It sounds like I need to kind of get him up there. So I have Bogarts at 12 and I have Horner at 11. I'm wondering. Yeah, I've got Horner 14, so it's not a huge gap. I'm wondering who you put ahead. Gunner Henderson?

Gunner Henderson's definitely ahead of them for me. Yeah. And Estrada, Tyro Estrada is. I've got Matt McLean ahead of them. Tyro Estrada would be if he was healthy. Yeah, I've got McLean as well. Horner, Bogart's, Gunner, I moved ahead.

Him and Willie Adomas is kind of a coin flip, I think, but... Jeremy Pena. Why you got Jeremy Pena so high, Chris? Yeah, Pena's in the same range. Get him down there, Chris. Get him out of that. Get him out of there. He's the same range. Let's talk about one other player with a double dong here on Tuesday.

Bo Naler, two for three. He had three hard hits in this game. One homer was 109.4 exit velocity, 430 feet. Obviously, it helps when you're facing Zach Granky as a left-handed bat. So far in 22 games, Bo Nailer batting 2-11 with four home runs and a 696 OPS. Lots of line drives, but also lots of strikeouts up around a 30% strikeout rate.

Chris, does Bo Nailer matter in anything other than two catcher leagues for now? No, he weirdly hasn't really played all that much lately. I don't know. The Guardians, I don't know if it's an organizational thing or if it's Terrancona, but they seem unwilling to let promising young player sink or swim. And that is the real, and that is really frustrating because this is a team that pretty desperately needs offense.

Bo Nailer has had a, I think uneven would be a polite way to say how his, you know, first taste in the majors has gone. But he's also clearly incredibly talented. And so I would love to see him get more. playing time and maybe this will get it. But for now, yeah, it's just two catcher leagues.

I think he should be rostered in two catcher leagues, but it's not a Henry Davis situation. Are they really playing Cam Gallagher over Bow Nailer? Well, there's also David Frye who had a good weekend. And, I mean, his season lines looking good, 290. Entered the day with a 290 batting average 810 OPS. But I think Bo Nailer had only started three games

before since the All Star break before today. I haven't. That's he's four of nine now. Yeah. That's four, four since the All Star break. That's just,

frankly, it's indefensible, even if he hasn't been good. And his last game before the All Star game, he went three for four with a double. And then his first game back, he went two for four with the home run. And then they just stopped playing him.

It doesn't make any sense. Wow. Yeah, this, this is weird. Because I was just looking at Ross, resource and David Fry, is listed as a utility bat.

But he has played 19 games a catcher, but only four starts. It's so weird. It's just, what are they doing? It's, you know, look,

the Guardians are, you know, pretty smart organization in terms of how they handle pitching staff. So I get, you know, they might want a,

a better framing catcher or a better catcher in terms of calling the game back there, but they also need offense in their lineup. There are two games under 500. Like, this is not, I will just say that it's not a team

that deserves the benefit of the doubt right now. Fair enough. We spoke a little bit about Nico Horner and I feel like we need to show him some appreciation. We haven't talked about it much this season. He went three for five with a sock and two shoes. That's right. A homer and two steals in this game. He is up to seven home runs and 24 steals. He entered Tuesday as the 38th overall player in Roto this season. Got a 277 batting average, 56 runs. And what surprised me most, 55 RBI. Niko Horner is usually near the top of the lineup. He has 55 RBI. this year. That's pretty impressive. That's how many he had last year. Yeah. And you know, he's done that in, uh, what, three fifths of the season, three quarters of the season so far. Chris, I know you were a fan of Nico Horner coming in and he's lived up to it and then some. Yeah, I mean, he had been pretty cold in July before really the last like week. He's got four multi-hit games in his last eight, it looks like. But he had been slumping to the point where, you know, I said I have him 14th at shortstop.

The last few times I've done my updates, I've been thinking about moving him down. And hey, the last couple of games have made it look better that I didn't move him down much. But yeah, I think he's, you know, kind of is what he is. And are we sure him and Bryson Stott

aren't the same guy or that they, they haven't been like, there's, it's not like a space jam situation where they're like transferring powers because it feels like they've been like good at separate times and they're kind of the same place. Um, Horner, Horner I trust a little more, but yeah, that Horner looked like he was going to be a 40 deal guy pretty easily when he had 10. Yeah, early on.

Like, oh, he's really taking advantage of the new rules, which is part of the reason I like them as a breakout coming in. He was batting high in the lineup. He's, you know, going to do new rules to benefit his best skill. Um, looks like it's more going to be more like 35. Yeah. Yeah. He slowed down quite a bit, though he did have the two steals or shoes as we call them on this show. Yeah, one sock and two shoes. That's one of those shoes is going to get pretty stinky.

Yeah, that's, did you guys ever wear sneakers without socks? Because I know there were some people that did that growing up. I do. I do. When I walk my dog, I'll just throw a pair of sneakers on and my wife gets mad at me every time, which makes sense. She has to live with me. I mean, it's, it's, it's, I. Only an emergency situation did I ever do that because...

Yeah, I agree. It just felt wrong. Yeah, the emergency is I'm lazy and I don't want to go put socks on before I walk the dog. We have different definitions of emergency, Chris. I'm just going to throw that out there. Let's quickly run through some news and notes and then, gosh, we got a whole bunch more. Aaron Judge played five innings in a simulated game at the Yankee spring training complex on Tuesday. The plan is for Judge to up the volume in another sim game on Wednesday,

which sounds like good news. Astros manager Dusty Baker said there is a chance both Yordon Alvarez and Jose Altuve could return to the lineup on Wednesday. Mike Trout went through some running drills Tuesday. He's been out since early July with a hamate bone injury.

Yandi Diaz was removed Tuesday with an apparent injury. He was seen limping off the field and we know he slowed down considerably. I moved him a little bit down the rankings too. We can maybe talk about some rankings movers tomorrow. Tyro Estrada has resumed hitting and fielding grounders. He's been out since the beginning of July with a fractured left hand. Merrill Kelly was activated for his start Tuesday against

the Cardinals. He's been out about a month with a blood clot in his right calf. He pitched well, turned in a quality start. Both Adolice Garcia and J.D. Martinez returned to their respective lineups on Tuesday. Red Sox manager Alex Cora would not rule out a return this weekend for Trevor story. Story is currently at AAA on a rehab assignment. Chris Sale could be ready to begin a rehab assignment as well next week. He is eligible for activation on August 1st, but seems like he might need a little bit more time than that. Stallee Marte hit and ran the bases on Tuesday. He's on the aisle with migraines, but is expected back soon. Chris Bryant was placed on the aisle with a fractured left index finger. Elehires Montaro was recalled by the Rockies. Key Brian Hayes,

began a rehab assignment at AAA. He's been out since July 7th with lower back discomfort. Jake Berger made his first career start at second base on Tuesday. Could gain that eligibility soon. C.J. Crone said he does not expect to return to the lineup until Friday.

He's dealing with lower back tightness. Aaron Hicks was placed in the aisle with a left hamstring strain. Philly's top pitching prospect, Andrew Painter, underwent Tommy John surgery on Tuesday. It was also an early ulnar nerve transposition surgery. I don't know how much that,

that probably doesn't change the timetable much, but it complicates the recovery, I would imagine. Yeah, we are not going to see him pitch, at least for the Phillies in the majors, until 2025 at the early. That'd be my bet.

Yeah. But maybe he gets in a few minor league games next year. If everything goes well, maybe he's out in the Arizona Fall League or something like that. But yeah, it's going to be a while. until we see Andrew Painter.

The Dodgers acquired Kike Hernandez from the Red Sox for two pitchers, Nick Robertson and Justin Hagenman, which means Kiki Hernandez will pop up in NO-only league. So if you play in that format, just kind of keep your head on a swivel with all these trades. You know, little random players could pop up and get some playing time. So anyone who plays in a Mono League, obviously, they should be on your radar. It's not like they're all set at shortstop, the Dodgers.

playing mostly Miguel Rojas there. Gonna think of his name. Yeah, so we could get some playing time there for Kike Hernandez. Let's take our final break. I've got some Waverwire moves. We had a pitching duel between Corbyn Burns and Andrew Abbott.

We'll talk about all of that right after this. Welcome back and let's get into some Waver Wire hitters and we had Jaron Duran who went one for four with a run. RPI and two more steals. Now batting 316 with 21 steals on the season. He is up to 75% rostered. Scott, the next question with Jaron Duran is, does he need to be universally rostered? Does he need to be rostered in Head-Dead points leagues? Just the way that he's playing, leading off, stealing bases, your thoughts? I mean, he's close. He's close. There is still,

let me look at how they've distributed playing time recently. Yeah, they've had him out of the lineup, mostly against lefties. Part of it's just because they have more mouths than they can feed in the outfield. Interestingly, I saw a report today that the Braves are interested in acquiring Adam Duval. So the Red Sox are just reuniting families left and right here leading up to the trade deadline if that happens.

First, Kike Hernandez going back to the Dodgers, then maybe Duval back to the Braves. That would free up playing time. That would make Duran. or Duran, I'm sorry, Duran plays for the Rangers. That would make Duran more attractive in fantasy. But as it is, I mean, he's at least in the mix in three outfielder leagues as somebody you could slot into that third outfield spot.

Brandon Lough went three for four with his 11th home run and has played a little bit better here in July. He is 67% rostered. Chris, do you think that number needs to be higher for Brandon Lowe? I think it's similar to Duran. Now you got me doing it Because he's not gonna play every day There's going to be time off for him

I do think in any Roto league especially where you need a corner infielder Brennan Lowe makes sense but Probably not like I had to head points league now Willie Castro went one for three with a triple And two more steals and has the quietest 25 steals This season that maybe I've ever seen It's just completely flying on flying under the radar

24% rostered with four different position eligibility, second base, third base, shortstop, and outfield. I think Willie Castro, his best format is a daily lineup league where you can just throw him in your lineup whenever he's in the lineup. Doesn't necessarily play every day, but... This was the first day he was in the lineup in all of July. What? Really? Mm-hmm. Oh, no. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I said that. too confidently. It's not. I'm sorry. He's played more regularly than that. I will just say, and this is partially a reaction to the fact that I'm in a league where a guy has offered me like

50 trades this year and like 27 of them have involved Willie Castro, who I do not have any interest in. He's really, really valuable in steals only leagues. That's all, though. Like, he doesn't do anything else. He has five runs in the month of July. He has 2 RBI might no 7 RBI in the month of July he like he gets on base at a decent clip and he runs when he's on there but that's really all he does yeah i mean you kind of have to and like gosh it was so long ago i understand why you can't put yourself in an early 2000s mindset with what with what 25 steals heading into august means maybe not that much not as much as your 2020s mindset has led you to believe All right, let's slide over to just kidding, not up to waiver pitchers yet. There was one more name. Cade Marlow, who went two for three with a walk, a sock, and a shoe. His first career home run and his second stolen base. He is only 2% rostered, not likely to face left-handed pitching.

This season in the minors, he was betting 255 with 11 homers and 25 steals. Last year in the minors, 23 homers, 42 steals. Scott, I think if you're playing a deeper mixed roto league, 15 teams, if you're desperate for a middle infielder, I think Cade Marlow is kind of interesting, at least based on the minor league numbers. For a middle infielder, you said? Yeah, 15-team roto or, you know, deeper than that as a middle infielder.

He's outfield only, isn't he? Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Oh, well, you know, in a five outfielder league, deeper five outfielder league. All right, well, you're making me feel like I'm not the only one, Frank. I feel like Scott's blob energy, glob energy, has just thrown everyone off their game today. The glob comes for us all. Why did I think he was a middle infielder?

I don't know. I don't know. So he started three of six games since getting called up. Let's see if that changes. That's where I am with Cade Marlowe. Before we even address the issue of the question of whether he's good, which is a pretty big question in himself. I mean, he had a good minor league performance last year, mostly in the second half.

Not as good this year. Let's see if he actually plays enough for it to mean anything. All righty. Let's slide over to the Waverwire pitchers and three names up top. Kyle Gibson turns in back-to-back quality starts. He was at the Phillies, six innings, two runs, five strikeouts for him. J.P. France puts up back-to-back seven-inning quality starts. This one against the Rangers, much more impressive.

Seven innings, one unearned run with three strikeouts in that one. And Kyle Hendricks, another quality start for him as well. He was at the White Sox, six in a third innings, three runs allowed with four strikeouts. And he's pitched pretty well. He's looked a lot like Kyle Hendricks. Chris, how would you rank these three Hendricks, J.P. France, and Kyle Gibson? Right around Aaron Savale. I would go Hendricks at the top, probably Gibson and then France.

I just, I know France has done it for a while, but I just, I don't have any confidence in it. So at least Hendricks has, you know, the elite quality of contact suppression, a track record that supports, you know, a mid-to-high 3ZRA. And Gibson, I just, I think he's a streamer at home mostly. Remember how last time Frank France threw his change up 35% of the time? And I was like, great, let's see more of that. It's been a good swing and miss pitch for him. 8% of the time in this start.

That's exactly. One and done with that change. That's exactly what I had written down as well. You didn't say it though, did you? I did not, I did not. I thought it was, look, it worked in this start. He threw a bunch of fastballs and for some reason it worked,

but entering this start, his fastball was not very good. So, J.P. France, he's 73% rostered. I think they're all pretty similar. We're looking at using those pitchers in the right matchups. Two names that are much more widely available. Nick Povetta continues to pitch well out of the bullpen. He threw five shutout innings with five strikeouts up against the Braves,

and since being moved to the bullpen back in May, Nick Povetta has a 198 ERA, a point 80 whip, 58 strikeouts, over 41 innings pitched, 37% rostered, and Stephen Mats now has six plus strikeouts in three of his last four starts, and he's been pitching much better recently as well.

Scott, any interest here in Nick Povetta and Stephen Mats? Enough interest that I'm adding them? Probably not. it would obviously depend on the depth of the league. But they both have intrigued us in the past. And I would say I have a little more confidence in Matt's being useful now. Confidence isn't exactly the right word. But I have a little more hope in Matt's being useful now

just because Povetta's role is so weird. Remember he had the 13 strikeouts in six no-hit innings of relief back on July 17th against the A's. he made a relief appearance since then, a one-inning relief appearance in the eighth inning. So he's not even, we can't even say with confidence he's like a starter, but he just follows an opener.

It's a weird role that the Red Sox have made for Pavetta here. So even though he's been getting a lot of strikeouts lately and maybe showing signs of making good on that long-forgotten potential, it's just a little, it's all just a little too dicey for me. The problem is, I have 15 team leagues where I've used Trevor Richards

and Matt Strom at various points this season because they've been just outstanding out of the bullpen. And Povetta definitely could be more useful than those guys. The problem is he's 37% rostered. So he's already rostered in any of those leagues where I could see him being useful.

It's got to be a Categories league. There's no way you can use a Maddad points league. But even then, it's basically just hoping for good ratios and strikeouts. And we've been burned by that with Nick Povetta before. We had ourselves a pitcher's duel on Tuesday between Corbyn Burns and Andrew Abbott. It's time to do to do. Corbyn Burns, six innings, two runs, six strikeouts. And on the other side, Andrew Abbott, six shutout innings for him, nine strikeouts in this one,

15 swinging strikes on 113 pitches. 113 pitches. That is a lot of pitches. And I noticed Andrew Abbott has thrown 100 or more pitches in 6 of 10 starts. He's a rookie pitcher. The Reds are not really treating him like a rookie pitcher. They're letting him go.

So, I mean, it's helped us for fantasy. I don't know what it's going to mean long term for Andrew Abbott, but man, it's been pretty awesome here. Chris, you get the first word. Any thoughts here on Corbyn Burns versus Andrew Abbott. Yeah, I hadn't noticed that about his pitch counts. And what's really interesting is he hadn't thrown 100 pitches in a start all season before getting to the majors.

His season high was 97. And I'm looking last season. And he had not thrown 100 pitches in a start last season either. So that's pretty interesting. Save those bullets for when it matters. I mean, hey, they're in a playoff race. Yeah, I think, you know, everything we've said about. Abbott, since he got called up, I don't think I have too much to add. He's really, really good at

a decent number of things. And there are going to be really, really ugly starts when the one thing he's really bad at, which is keeping the ball in the yard, uh, bites him. We've seen that a few times. And hopefully he can continue to allow like he did three starts ago, a lot of solo home runs. He had two, two solo home runs in that one. I think he's really good. I think Andrew Abbott's probably more like a mid-3s ERA pitcher, but with a bunch of

strikeouts and a good whip. And yeah, that's where I'm at on him. You know where that puts him? Yeah, he's solidly in the glob. Firmly in the glob. I feel like he's at the towards the front half, not towards the front half of the glove, man.

I mean, he's a top 50. It's not a clear front and back. Top 50 starting pitcher is what I'm going to say about Andrew Abbott. That's where I'm at. I was going to say top 40, Chris. I think he's earned it. Sure. Top 50 was before this last start.

When you're in the glob, can you really tell the difference between top 40 and top 50? Let's be honest. Last point on Andrew Abbott, Chris, you mentioned when he gives up home runs. We're hoping that those are solo home runs. He has done a much better job with the walks recently. Two or fewer walks in five straight. That was an issue in his first five starts. So it looks like the control.

troll is getting better here for Andrew Abbott. Some leftovers will start with the hitters. Bryce Harper went two for four with his fifth home run, and it's kind of been a one month on, one month off. Great May, rough June, and has now turned it back on in July, has Bryce Harper. Francisco Lindor went three for five with three runs scored, and since the start of June, he has nine home runs and 11 steals, a ton of counting stats.

The problem, much like Julio Rodriguez, we mentioned earlier, The batting average. That has been an issue for Francisco Lindor, but entering Tuesday, he was the third highest scoring shortstop in Head to Head Pointes and the fifth best shortstop in Roto. So I moved him inside my top five. I think he has earned that.

Kyle Tucker went two for four with a sock and a shoe, his 18th home run, his 19th steel. Christian Yelich will not stop hitting. Three for five with his 15th home run. He added three RBI in this game. Masataka Yoshita, same thing, just keeps on hitting. Three for four with his 12th,

home run. He's still batting 320 with an 888 OPS on the season. Wilson Contreras, two for four. If you kept the faith, he is having a massive July. 442 batting average, three homers, and a 1345 OPS. Bobauchette had a big game in that nightcap against the Dodgers as well, four hits, including his 17th home run. The pitching leftovers, Pablo Lopez got back on track with a quality start up against the Mariners, Blake Snell, we mentioned earlier. Merrill Kelly, successful return up against the Cardinals, six innings, one run, five strikeouts there.

And Alex Cobb put together a great start against the Oakland A's, six shutout innings with nine strikeouts there. Scott, anything you'd like to add on Cobb, Merrill Kelly, Pablo Lopez, or any of the hitters I mentioned. I will point out for Pablo Lopez. We've done a lot of hand-wringing over him this year. it's, you know,

undecided whether he belongs in the glob or not. Over his last six starts, including this one, Pablo Lopez has a 349 ERA, a 11.6 strikeouts per nine innings. And that six-start stretch includes a seven run outing. So five of his last six starts have been amazing. And he might be verging on breaking free,

following, grabbing onto Tyler Glassnow's heel, as Glassnow climbs out. of the glob. He might, Pablo Lopez might be on the verge of that. Is George Kirby in the glob? Hmm. I think he's at the front of it. Maybe. Because he got, he's got it, he's got his hands on the edge pushing at least. Like, get me out of here. Yeah, Kirby got rocked here on, on Tuesday. He had a ton of strikeouts, but seems like everyone gets a ton of strikeouts against the Minnesota twins. Yeah. The problem with Kirby, and we've said this before, is he throws a lot of strikes. And

at times he's prone to giving up a lot of hard contact against certain teams. So that problem with Kirby is he's kind of a glob himself. Yeah. If we're referring to the video game character, Kirby. That's exactly where my head was going as well. He's just, you know, sucking up everyone else's powers around him, I guess. Everyone else in that Mariners rotation. Pablo Lopez, third in the majors and strikeouts.

Pretty good. Wow. That is interesting. Didn't realize. Only two back of Kevin Gosman. Where's, where's Snell? I close the window. Ricky mistake. I think I have.

Blake Snellis was seventh before tonight, and he had how many strikeouts tonight? He is up to fifth. He has 147 strikeouts. He is fifth of 147 strikeouts. Thank you, Chris. Let's slide over to the bullpen updates for the Angels. Carlos Estevez entered the ninth inning with a four-run lead.

He gave up four runs on four hits, and a walk. All four were unearned due to a lead-off error in that game. I know you guys were kind of breaking this down with somebody on Twitter. Was there anything that I missed there? Or was that just it?

No, it was just the first run was the guy who reached on an error. They had two outs when the rest of the runs scored. So it was all earned. It's kind of a weird thing, but that's the rule. That is the rule.

For the Orioles, Felix Bautista, very interesting, got two nights off in a row. He did pitch on Saturday and Sunday, but he didn't pitch on Monday. So this was kind of interesting. Yaneer Canoe got the ninth with a one-run lead, and he gave up exactly two runs.

He took his fifth blown save and second loss of the season. For Tampa Bay, Pete Fairbanks struck out two for his 12th save. For the Mariners, Paul Seawald gave up a solo homer, but picked up his 20th save. For the Astros, Ryan Presley entered with a three-run lead. He gave up a two-run homer, picked up his 24th save. For the Reds, they started the ninth inning

with a four-run lead. A gentleman named Daniel Duarte, gave up a three-run homer, and then Alexis Diaz got the final out for his 30th save of the year. For the Diamondbacks, Kevin Ginkle got the ninth inning with a two-run lead.

He pitched a clean inning for his third save. I guess they kind of learned from their Andrew Chafin mistake yesterday. Kevin Ginkle, 21-person rostered, if you need saves. For the Giants, Camillo DeValle struck out the side for his league leading 31st save of the season.

And the Cubs, Adbert Alzali, struck out the side for his 10th save. And somebody asked me on Twitter, would I drop Will Smith, who is now in a closer by committee for Adbert Alzali? And I think it's an interesting question.

And it's actually a move that I made in Tout Wars this past week. Because I had to add points league. I just figured, you know, maybe the Cubs don't win as many games as the Rangers, but it's not a closer by committee. And I think whenever they get saves, it's going to go to Aalai. I mean, they say it's a closer by committee.

Only once since Chapman was acquired, has Will Smith not been the pitcher? And in a Will Smith appearance, has he not been brought in to finish the game? So you're saying you would not make that move? I would not make that move. I mean, if it was, if the teams were more even, if it wasn't the third best team in base, or what's the Rangers record, like fourth best, something like that versus the, you know, a real mediocre when lost record. I know Al-Zalate Lai has struggled to get consistent save chances even since he's moved into

the role. So no, I would stick with Will Smith over Al-A-Lai myself. I feel like it's been a little bit more consistent, though, for Al-S-Lai. It just kind of feels like he's the guy. It's like he's the guy. Five or six saves in July, I think, right? I don't know if it's that many, but it just feels like he's the guy. He's been the guy for a while.

That's six saves in July. Yeah, that's pretty good. So, all right, agree to disagree. I'll take Al's a lie, but I do think it's a fair question. Let's wrap up with to stream or not to stream, and we'll start with Wednesday. And who did we say yesterday? I think it was Gavin Williams versus the Royals. Seth Lugo versus the Pirates.

Actually, there's a lot of interesting names here. Michael Lorenzen versus the Angels in a revenge game. You got Patrick Sandoval on the other side at the Tigers. Not that I think Sandoval is great, but the Tigers are the Tigers. And Jose Cantana at the Yankees. I think he's kind of interesting too. Yeah. Yeah, I would put Jose Cantana a distant fifth among the ones you mentioned.

And Alex Wood, there's just the way they use him is always kind of can be weird. So I don't know about that one. Okay. So Lugo and Gavin Williams, we feel great about Scott. Do you have a third that you like? I would say Kentana I didn't want to

make a fight out of it but I think Kentana is a pretty safe bet not to get you destroyed in this matchup at the Yankees and then on Thursday we have a whopping

four game slate we are going to have to we're going to have to get into the bag on Thursday Fantasy feud baby yeah come up with some kind of creative segments there on Thursday because we've only got four games

I think, you know, Chase Silseth at the Tigers, it's probably fine. I know he threw his slider a ton his last time out and looked pretty good against the Yankees. Josiah Gray at the Mets, it's okay. Any other takes? I think Michael is against the Cubs is fine. He has a random number generator, but when it... What? I'm looking at Chris trying to talk.

I had myself muted for a while. Yep. It's funny. Michaelis is kind of the epitome of the random number generator, but when he's on and he's been on more than off lately, he gives you six, seven strong innings. So, you know, if you're chasing volume, which is what streaming is all about,

seems like a reasonable choice against the middle of the road lineup. I have nothing to add. All right. Thursday, again, we've got Michaelis, Josiah Gray, and Chase Silseth. Take her to leave it. We're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris.

I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.