Fantasy Baseball Today - Shohei Ohtani Creates 50-50 Club! Week 27 Sleepers & Two-Start Pitchers! (9/20 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 20, 2024

Shohei Ohtani is the first player ever to accomplish a 50-50 season (2:12)! ... Let's highlight Red Sox top prospect Roman Anthony (12:27). ... News (20:41): Juan Soto is getting an x-ray on his knee. ... The Braves and Mets offenses exploded (23:22)! ... Chris Sale is pitching with lower velo (28:30). ... Zack Littell has been pitching well (32:26)! ... Taylor Ward continues to hit (40:50). ... Start or sit guys like Luis Severino and Yusei Kikuchi in the final week (45:45)? ... Let's preview Week 27, with two-start pitchers and sleeper hitters (48:57). ... We wrap up with 2025 Round Association, bullpen updates and weekend streamers (1:00:25). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

and welcome into fantasy baseball today on September 20th. I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. A historic season. Capped off by a historic game. Six for six, three homers, two steals, four runs, 10 RBI, 17 total bases, 35 fantasy points on CBS. Shohayotani, I'm gonna say it. The most talented baseball player who's ever lived,

put together the first 50-50 season, and in fact, it's now 5151. Here is the call of his final homer of the game, courtesy of Sportsnet, L.A. Oh my gosh. Show baseball history. That is probably not an exaggeration. He had, he had,

so six for six with three home runs. That's happened six times in Major League history. The long time. 10 RBI, I think the, hold on, first six hit game of the season in the majors this year, 15th three homer game of the season. Sixth time a player has had three homers and six hits in a game ever. First 10 RBI games since 2018 and the 16th in MLB history. He also had two doubles.

And it's the first three homer two steel game in Major League history. three. I think it's the first three homer one steel game. He also got thrown out at third base trying to go for a triple. It could have been a cycle. That's bonkers. It's I don't think it's the most total bases in a game. It's it's tied. Okay. Sean Green. He is the seventh player to have 17 total bases in the game. He is the first to do it with fewer than four home runs. Okay. Okay. That's awesome. All the other 17 total base guys. Oh, you know what? I'm sorry, a couple were more than 17. Yeah, I think Sean Green has the, because I think his full home game, he had a couple doubles.

Yeah. Okay, so there are six who've had, and now seven with Otani, seven who have had 17 total bases or more. But everyone else on that leaderboard did it with four home runs. And Otani did it with three, and he did it. He was the only one to steal bases, one or two of those players. The thing is, like, he's not pitching right now, but he's also capable of being an ace pitcher.

And he's still rehabbing from elbow surgery. It's not even the best two-way player since Babe Ruth, because Babe Ruth wasn't actually a full-time two-way player. There was no DH back then. It was more difficult. I get that. But, like, he never played full-time as a hitter and a pitcher. it's we've never seen anything like shahitani he's one of one yeah well i mean look most talented

player ever might just be the best baseball player ever okay so a couple of stray observations before i continue on that thought one that that call you played at the start of the show i'm not even sure that's going to be the most famous call from the game because that wasn't the call where he hit his 50th home run to become the first 50-50 player. I think we're going to hear that one even more over the years, too. It's nice that Lone Depot Park has a permanent place in history, as many times as that highlight is going to be replayed. It'll have happened in Lone Depot Park.

You know, Ichi-Roszuki also got his 3,000 hit at Lone Depot Park and Japan won the World Baseball Classic at Lone Depot Park. There was a quote from Sho Hay Otani where he said, I'm starting to like this park because that was where he struck out Mike Trout to end the World Baseball Classic. He should go to the Marlins. That would be fun. Yeah. So continuing the point about Shohei Otani's greatness, you know, obviously we talked a lot. Ronald de Kuhniel last year, 40 Homer 70 Steels, best fantasy season in history.

I think there's a good argument to be made for that. And I would imagine Shohei Otani's season has. to be in the discussion too. It's the first 50 Homer 50 steel season. So it's not just, wow, he's really good at both hitting and pitching. He isn't like an all-timer as a hitter. And he also happens to be a really good pitcher. And so, you know, if we want to continue down the path of,

is this the greatest fantasy season ever? I would still argue that Acuna's last year was better. 149 runs, 337 batting average. Right, because you have to, right, almost 100. 50 runs scored almost a 340 batting average in addition to all the home runs and steals. And if you just look at the Razball player raider, the dollar value assigned to Otani this year versus Akuna last year. And I know there's there's some relativity with the rest of the player pool right each year. So it's not a straight apples to apples comparison. But I think

Acuna was, uh, it was like $80 last year. Yeah, it was it was at Otani coming into today was 64, that's obviously going to go up, but it's less. It's significantly less. Well, significantly, I don't know, but it was less. But, like, Otani, when I put out my top, my ideal first two rounds for next year, I published that article earlier this week. And Otani is the number one overall pick in Roto. I do have Aaron Judge is the number one pick in points leagues. I don't think it matters that much if you take Otani instead. But, you know, Judge walks a ton and so I put him ahead in points leagues. And that's

as a DH only player, Otani doing this and obviously it's coming off a year where he wasn't even available to pitch

so I'm not even, I'm just rating him on his hitting basically without even taking into account anything he might provide it pitching. And I do wonder,

would it be better for fantasy if he didn't pitch the way this season is gone? I mean, I think it's unlikely he's going to

run as much. much next year. Right. That's what I'm concerned. Maybe. But I would also say that the pitching, I guess it works both ways. I think the pitching increases risk of injury. And we've seen him still be dominant when playing through injury as a hitter, but still.

But it also does provide some somewhat of a backstop for his values. value, right? Like, let's say for some reason, Shohei Otani has a Jose Ramirez in 2019 season, like we were talking about yesterday, where he just, for whatever reason, stops hitting. All right. You've got like the 13th best pitcher in fantasy also. And you can just slot him in that spot. So I think you can look at it both ways. I think on the whole, it probably does make him, he's unlikely to ever have a season this good again. Ronald Cunia is unlikely to ever have a season as good as last year again. It's just when you have an all-time great season, like Barry Bond's never had a season as good as his 73 homer season again. Like that's just career years happen. And this is probably, probably a career year for Shohei O'Con. Yeah.

I think though Aaron Judge has been better. This is overall has been better this year than the 62 homer season. So that would be. Um, no, not for fantasy. He's, he's hitting 10 points higher. He currently is, I think it's OPS plus is higher this year. Uh, yes. I understand isn't a fantasy stat, but just like, and, and, but it does speak to how much better he's been relative to the, the league.

Yeah. But he had 20 more runs scored. Actually, seven more RBI. Uh, I, I think 22 was probably the better fantasy season. But it's not over. Otani is like 35, 30-ish points ahead of Judge in points now after this game. They were basically tied before. Yeah.

Yeah. It's like I've seen some like sour like Braves fans especially, but even like weirdly, I saw a Mets fan doing it earlier today. Like Ronald Ocunia's 23 was more impressive than show him. And I don't care. Like, if your first thought to seeing someone go 50-50 is like, yeah, but this other guy, like, who, shut up? Like, you're don't, you're not enjoying sports if that's your thought process. Like, Ronald O'Kunia did something we've never seen before last year.

Shohayotani is doing something we've never seen before. Just enjoy it. It's, like, these are like, we watch sports to watch people make the impossible become reality. and it's it's happening. Well, that's not why everybody watches sports. Some people are team first. I know, but like. They don't like to feel like.

But then you don't actually like sports. Well, you like tribalism. Well, who doesn't like tribalism? You should, I totally get what you're saying to, Chris, because I had a group chat that as soon as this happened, it just skepticism about it's just like, well, you wouldn't have 50 steals if it wasn't for the new. rules and, you know, increasing steals.

And Francisco Lador should be MVP because he plays defense. And I'm just like, dude, can we just enjoy what just happened? It's just, man, people get so crazy with it. But we are here to celebrate and enjoy the greatness of, I think probably the most talented baseball player that ever has existed. And that is Shohei Otani. No other players of the night. That is it.

He is the breadstick up at the top, all alone by himself. We do have one last prospect spotlight to get to. so we will do that right now. Let's talk about somebody who has claim to the top prospect in all of baseball. Roman Anthony of the Boston Red Sox, who is 20 years old, a second round pick back in 2022. This season in the minors hit 289 with 18 homers, 19 steals,

in 883 OPS in 116 games across AA and AAA. He got even better once he was bumped up to AAA, where he played 32 games. Reminder, age to level production. A 20-year-old at AAA is incredibly, incredibly impressive here for Roman Anthony. Scott, we'll start with you. Do you think that Anthony has a chance to be on the Red Sox opening day roster next season? Sure he does.

Sure he does. It kind of will depend in part if they attempt to bring back Tyler O'Neill. And even if they don't bring back Tyler O'Neill, there's quite a bit of crowding going on there. I presume Seidon Raphaela is going to go back to playing the outfield primarily next year because of their infield surplus. And so I don't think Roman Anthony is just going to Waltz in, but if he makes a strong enough impression in spring training, I think they'll definitely be open-minded to that possibility of adding them to the roster. It's been an impressive season for Anthony, and mainly it's been an impressive second half

because I got to tell you, the hype for Anthony was mostly based on underlying data more than actual production, and the strikeout rate had been very high for most of his minor league career, including the first half, of this year. And I started to get cold feet with Roman Anthony in the Scott White Dynasty League.

I actually ended up trading him to Chris in a deal that I hoped would help me win now. It did help me get into the playoffs, but ultimately I was bounced from the playoffs. And that's, that is a move I would like to have back because I went from having cold feet to Roman Anthony to my eyes have been opened here with what he's done in the second half and it really started at the all-star break during the what do they call it the futures game showcase something like that where it is a skill showcase and particularly the the home run hitting portion of it he just kept hitting these majestic shots over and over again ended up winning the skills showcase mostly on the strength of the performance. in that one category. And since he did that, since he did that, Roman Anthony,

heading into Thursday here, has slashed 350, 437, 569 in the minors. His strikeout rate that I was concerned about before then has become 21.6%

during that time, and it's gotten even better, as you said, Frank, since he moved up to AAA, theoretically against harder competition, pitchers with some major league experience, some secondary offerings. It's just gotten better and better.

And when you see a prospect who already has a lot of buzz just for the underlying skill set, and then he begins to produce too, you can understand why baseball America in their most recent top 100 said Roman Anthony is the number one prospect now. I don't know that he'll be universally the number one prospect heading into next year, but I think he definitely belongs in that discussion. If there is one thing he still needs to work on, it's elevating the ball because as hard as he hits it, as well as he's hit at AAA in general.

He just has three home runs and 147 plate appearances. But we saw during that skills showcased, he's definitely capable of hitting home runs and a very impressive one. So it's not different from James Wood in that way. It's a common issue for young players that they just have to get. that launch ankle right. But I think Roman Anthony's well on his way at age 20. And yeah, I think he'll be at least in the discussion to win a job next spring. One thing I want to add about Roman Anthony is something that we've seen. And he's only been, he's only played two full seasons as a professional.

Like you said, he's 20. He won't turn 21 until May. He's been a slow starter. April last season, he had a 613 OPS. This year, it was, around the same. I don't have the exact number in front of me, but both seasons, it's basically just been bad April, 900 OPS the rest of the way. Yeah, it was 638 in April of this season. He struck out like 35% of the time. After that, 868, 905, 929, 982, 967 is his OPS by month after that. So one thing is it might just be random that his two worst months, both season happen

to be in April. He might also just for whatever reason, take a little while to get going, get his swing rate, and... We've seen it for a lot of hitters across all levels of baseball too, whatever. Yeah. Whatever the reason for that is. He was playing in Portland Maine this season

I believe is where they're double A. I don't know the weather in Portland very well. Sounds like it's probably pretty cold in April up there. So, you know, that's something to keep in mind. Just if he gets off to a slow start, whether it's in the majors or minors last next season, he has figured it out both of his professional seasons.

He is, I think clearly the Red Sox top prospect. He's an incredibly interesting minor league prospect. And, yeah, someone wants you adjust for age, even more impressive than the underlying number. He's been one of the youngest players in both AA and AAA. Again, that's Roman Anthony, who is in the running for top prospect in all of baseball and will be in the running for an opening day spot on the Red Sox roster as well. Before we hit the break, just a reminder to download and follow our 5-minute podcast Fantasy Baseball today in 5. Wherever you listen to a podcast, we'll have a bonus episode coming out this Saturday.

Let's take our first break, and when we return, we'll hit some news and notes, some big offensive games. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in news and notes. Juan Soto, please, please be okay. We'll undergo x-rays on his left knee after crashing into the wall on a sliding catch. He remained in the game and the imaging is considered precautionary, according to the Yankees. Francisco Lindor was out of the lineup Thursday as expected.

Manager Carlos Mendoza said there is a chance Lindor plays against the Phillies this weekend. Ozzie Albies will return Friday against the Marlins. He's been out since late July with a fractalice. fractured left wrist. The most important part of Ozzy Albi's return, though, Frank. He is going to bat exclusively right-handed, which is something I've been begging him to do for years. He's forced to do it now because his wrist still hurts swinging from the left side.

So he took some righty-on-righty at bats in the minors, and we'll see how it goes. I'm hoping it goes really well, so well that he just gives up the left-handed hitting because for his career. Go ahead. Oh, do you have the numbers? No, you have. It sounded like you had the numbers. 932 OPS as a right-handed hitter. 747 as a lefty. Wow. Yeah. That is drastic. Yeah, we've pointed those splits out for years. Could be a thing. We'll see. I'm, I'm pretty interested if that can maybe be a thing heading into 2025 for Ozzy Albies as well. But, was placed on the IL with a fractured right middle finger. Kevin Gosman was removed from his start Thursday due to lower back tightness.

He was awesome before he left. There were five no-hit innings with six strikeouts up against the Texas Rangers. O'Neill Cruz returned to the lineup after missing three straight with left- ankle discomfort. And Aaron Boone said that while Luke Weaver could close out a lot of games, Boone stopped short of naming Luke Weaver the closer. But he's the closer. He's been the best reliever. Four.

I don't know. He might have some doubts about whether he can get him through the ninth. Was that just a reason? Yeah. Did you want to? I was like, do you want to sing it, Scott? I was not really.

I was giving you the window to do it there if you wanted. I was talking to Adam Azer the other day, and I asked him if he would do it. And he said, quote, his singing voice is gone now or something along those lines. I tried. Okay, Adam. I got big time.

He's given up on singing. I sincerely doubt that. I'm sure we can find a fantasy football today episode where he's singing something somewhere. There's got to be. He just, he just didn't want to dance on command. That's all that was. I mean, I totally get it. Some big offensive explosions here on Thursday outside of Shohei Otani.

Of course, huge game for your Atlanta Bravescott. 15 runs on 18 hits, including six homers in this game. Michael Harris, three for five with a double dong, four runs, four RBI. He heard you guys say, ah, seventh round pick next year. Nope, let's go. Bump him up around sixth round, Michael Harris. Let's do it. He just earned sixth round based solely on this game, yeah.

100%. Jorge Salar, two for three with his 20th home run, three runs, and three RBI. And Matt Olson, two for four with a double dong for RBI. Updated numbers since July 24th, last 54 games for Matt Olson. He's batting 284 with 15 homers, 50 RBI, and an OPS around 950. So he's been Matt Olson for about...

Is Matt Olson the Blake Snell of hitters? Just buy him when he has the good season, buy him when he has the bad season and don't buy him when he has the good one. It's been like... Haven't we made this case between him and Alonzo? Like when Alonzo has a bad year by him, when Olson has a bad year? Here's Matt Olson's Ops by year.

1,03, there's 59 games, but still, it fits in with the trends, so we'll include it. 78, 896, 734, 911, 802, 993, 772. It's actually kind of amazing how inconsistent he's been in his career. I was going to point out that the strikeout rate is also much, much lower during this stretch. I didn't go back to June 24th, but what I calculated for Matt Olson, is that over his last 47 games with about a 950 OPS, 17.7% K rate, which is when Matt Olson's doing that, he's going well.

I don't think we need to really look into any single stretch of Matt Olson's season and say, well, this must be the new Matt Olson now. That's a mistake I've made more than once, I think. we should approach it as yeah he'll he'll hit between 30 and 50 home runs and you're probably better off buying him the year after he comes closer to 30 than a year he comes closer to 50 with horace soler scott was he in consideration for a sleeper hitter spot at all for next week maybe he should have been because he's gotten hot he was this past week he was one of the top sleeper hitters but the Braves matchups I don't love them okay that doesn't mean you shouldn't

start them like the sleeper hitter and pitcher choices I'll go ahead and just give you a heads up pretty ghastly like this is this is definitely a check the box sort of week for sleeper pitchers and hitters I do not feel confident recommending to anyone to start any of them but I have to recommend them so that you what we get what we get and we don't get upset. I hope Hunter Goodman made the list. You did not. All right, Chris.

Cancel the podcast. It's hard to recommend catchers. It's hard to recommend catchers. He has outfield eligibility, Scott. Yeah, well, that's... Not really the point, is it? Yes. All right, let's talk about the Mets

who have scored 10 runs in three straight games. I believe I heard somewhere. I was watching an MLB network. I think they said the first time in franchise history that's been done, which would make sense. 10 runs on 11 hits, including four homers for the Mets, Brandon Nimmo, two for five with his 21st home run. He is homered in back-to-back games.

He has three homers in his past six. Mark Vientos, two for four with his 25th home run, two RBI. Pete Alonzo, one for four with his 34th homer. He has three home runs in his past seven games. And Francisco Alvarez, one for three, with his 10th home run. He has four homers in his past seven. So some Metsluggers heating up here. One thing we haven't talked about with Mark Viantos,

or maybe we have kind of in passing, but he's had a great season, no doubt. Breakout season, you know, 272, 25-Homers, 853 OPS. He has overperformed his expected stats by quite a bit. 253XBA, 482 slug, which are both still good. If he turns out to be a 250 hitting, you know, 25 to 30 home run hitter, that's still a very good player for fantasy. But just wanted to point out he has overachieved quite a bit.

Yeah, I don't think you should expect him. to be quite this good moving forward. It's not like a, I mean, we probably said something similar about Austin Riley's breakout season, but it's not, you know, an Austin Riley breakout where it's, you know, where I think it's just this is who he is forever now. I do think the batting average especially is something that I would probably take the under on next year compared to where he is now. Let's talk about Chris Sale.

Any concern here? solid outing at the Reds, five innings, two runs, six strikeouts, still had 18 whiffs on 93 pitches. Slyder was awesome as always. The big story was the velocity, which was way down. Slider was down two miles per hour, fastball down 2.2. The change-up was down 3.1 miles per hour. That's now three of the last four where the velocity has been down pretty big for Chris Sale.

And this is by far the most innings he's thrown in a season since 2017. With all of that said, the results have still been really great. So it's hard to be concerned, but Scott, unfortunately, the way my mind works is the first thing I think of is, well, Chris Sale has had lots of arm troubles, velocity is down. I don't know. Yeah, it's reasonable to wonder. I am less concerned for him actually than I would be for most pitchers because we see a lot of fluctuation and velocity from him without it compromising his effectiveness. I've been saying this for years about Chris Sale. It was down even more in this one, two to three miles per hour across the board when it was more like one and a half to two. Those other times it was down. He blamed it on environmental conditions.

He said, sometimes you feel great and sometimes you've just got to find a way through it. Day game. Hot. I just had to find a way to get through that one. So it sounds like he was holding a little something back based on that quote. and he still got 18 swinging strikes in five innings. So I, you know, there's one more time to set your lineup. I think you're setting it with Chris Sale in it for sure.

Chris Sale. Chris Sale, not a morning guy. I can get behind that. We do the podcast like 1 a.m. every night. So, yeah, that's fine by me. I totally understand it, Chris Sale. Let's get in. Go ahead, Chris.

I do think just from a 2025 perspective, I'll have trouble, drafting him at face value. Yep, I agree. Just because he's 35, 36, and it is a giant innings jump. And that's a red flag. It's not a reason not to draft him.

It's just if he's been the number one pitcher, probably in fantasy this season. Yeah, I think he's been the best pitcher. I think you probably draft him as the number five pitcher next season, or number six, whatever it ends. I haven't looked at it yet that closely, but that's more what I mean. I think he's going to be four for me,

just because I don't know who else to put forth. Yeah. Put forth as an F-O-U-R-T-H. But you could mean the other fourth. So I think pretty clearly for me, it's Tarek Scoobull, Zach Wheeler one and two. Yeah. Some people might put Skeens ahead of one of them,

but not me. Skeens is going to be three for me. and I think there's a little bit of a gap before I go sail for because I don't want to, I don't want to overpay. I do think there are some risks given his age and injury history. And, you know, it's one thing when nobody wants him and you're drafting him in round 12 or whatever. It's another when he just won a Cy Young.

Yeah. And people think he's an ace again. Yeah. I've kind of been holding this take in. So I was happy that you guys just addressed it. But I think it's a full thing. fade. I think it's a full fade for me next year. I'll probably rank him as like a top five or top 10 starting pitcher just because coming off the season he just had and you have to rank somebody

there like every pitcher has concerns. But Scott, you just hit it on the head man. Like it's just different when you can get him in round 10 versus having to use a second or a third round pick on Chris Sale who has had lots of volatility throughout his career. Most of it injury related. But I just don't think it's going to be for me in 2025. WaiverWire. pitchers for the final week of the season. Brian Bayo pitched well at Tampa Bay, five and two thirds, one run, seven strikeouts here. Last eight starts for Bayo, 289, ERA, 118-whip, and he's at the Blue Jays in the final week of the season. Zach Lattel, dominant on the other side, seven shotout innings, one hit, seven strikeouts, 10 whiffs on 75 pitches, and four starts since

returning from the IL, 164 ERA, 0.82 whip, and he's gone six plus innings in back-to-back starts at the Tigers next week. I think we can get behind that. And Luis Ortiz of the Pirates, a quality start at the Cardinals, six innings, two runs, seven strikeouts, 10 whiffs on 89 pitches. He is home against the Brewers next week. Chris, the first two here, I think I could sign off on Bayo at Toronto, Zach Lattel at the Tigers. Luis Ortiz. Probably not. Yeah, I think I probably like Lattel a little more than Beo. Might just be true in a vacuum, but especially given the matchup. I do like the matchup against Detroit more than the matchup against Toronto. Beio, I just, I wish he would throw his four seamer and not his sinker.

I would love to at least see him try because his sinker keeps the ball on the ground, which is important. And maybe it pairs really well with his changeup and it would impact the effect of his changeup. That's something that I can't say for sure. But it just, it feels like the overall profile. file would look a lot better. If one, he could command his pitch is better, or if he had a fastball that he leaned on more that was able to generate whiffs. But either, because slider and changer were both really good pitches.

And it just, it feels like he should be better than he is. But that 449 ERA is backed up by his peripherals, especially the, 444 XERA entering today. So I just, I think absent some changes in approach or a jump in grade as a control pitcher, this is probably more like who he is. Did you happen to mention Frank Zach Lattel's numbers in his last three starts?

I had his last four, basically since he's returned from the IL. Yeah. Okay, last three, he's given up six hits and 18 innings. No runs, one walk. he has been three starts in a row basically untouchable doing the Bowden Francis thing or at least a slightly lesser form of it and I haven't really found anything that's that's clearly changed in like pitch selection or anything like that he did say early in the year is still relatively new to starting he's spent most of his career in relief early in the year

there was a lot of trial and error. I presume he meant in terms of pitch sequencing and that sort of thing. And now he's taken the lessons he learned from that and has just go now. He has elite control. We can say that much for Zach Lattel. And that's a good thing to have. I don't know exactly what to make of him, but this has been an impressive stretch for sure. One thing I will note is a lot.

more four seamers, a lot fewer sinkers in September. That's pretty much the only change, but it is a notable one. He's throwing his splitter a little bit more as well, kind of becoming more of just a, not a three pitch pitcher because he throws a couple other pitches around 12% of the time, but it's been much more focused on four seamer as his primary pitch, slider and splitter. Kuma Rocker struggled with control in his second career start. Three innings two runs one of those earned four walks with five strikeouts only through 58% of his pitches for strikes he's at Oakland next week which is still a pretty good match up here Scott I noticed Kumar Rocker on your sleeper pitchers list

Zach Lattel not yeah let's all might be better choice I was writing that putting together that list before I had the results of this start for Lattel so So, yeah, I'll give that a second look because I think I'd rather start Lattel, particularly after the way Kumar Rocker's second start went. He's going against the Rays next time, who are the second worst offense now by run scored. And, you know, there's still a chance he could eke out five innings

get you a win with eight or nine strikeouts, and that would be pretty valuable. So I don't want to totally dismiss the possibility of using Kumar Rocker, but it's a definite gamble given how short his first two major league starts have been.

Yeah, he just didn't seem to have the slider in this one, or at least if he had it, opposing batters were not worried about it because he only threw in the strike zone 37% of time. That's pretty typical for a slider.

You're usually chasing chases with it. Zone swing rate only 30% in this one, out of zone. own 24%. So I don't know if it was a game playing thing. The Blue Jays just picked up the slider and spit on it, but that he's not going to be effective if he's not generating swings on the slider. So given how much that pitch has passed the eye test, I'm not really concerned about that long term. But, you know, second start, much less impressive than the first. It certainly makes it tougher to. trust him in start number three.

I saw Mike Petriello tweeting about that exact thing with Kumar Rocker is that in his first start faced a Mariners who have the fourth highest whiff rate against sliders the season. The Blue Jays have the fourth lowest whiff rate against slider. So yeah, I think pretty clearly just laying off that pitch in this one. And Chris, something in the start actually made me think of you. Yeah, he threw an actual curve ball. He was asked about it the other day.

They said, is it a slider or a curve ball? because the characteristics of the pitch are kind of dead on in the middle of both pitches as well. And unhelpfully, he said, yeah, it's a slider or a curveball. All right. Sounds like a slurve to me. Call it whatever you want. All right. Let's take our final break.

When we return, we'll quickly run through some waiver wire hitters. And our final week, week 27 preview up next after this. Welcome back in some waiver wire hitters. Taylor Ward stayed hot, one for four with his 25th home run, continuing his big second half, where he's hitting 280 with 11 homers, two steals, 844 OPS.

Scott, how would you rank these three shallow league outfielder for the final week? I don't see any of them on your sleeper hitter, so maybe you don't really like the matchups, but Taylor Ward, Jorge Soler, and Tommy Edmund. Edmund's on the list. Oh, he is?

Number two. All right. So I'll say Edmund, then Saler, then. Ward. And I think Ward's a distant third. Chris, any interest in these two in deeper leagues for the final week? Kyle Manzardo has hit well since returning three for three with his fourth homer. He was moved up to second in the lineup in this one.

The problem, he has only started three of the past six games. The Guardians have five games next week. Zero lefties on the schedule. So should appear in all five of those. Hopefully, that's Kyle Manzardo. And Jose Tana continues to impress for the nationals. Two for four with the RBI and a steel. He's betting 2.92. He's got three home runs, six steals in 36 games. And he is 18% rostered.

Six home games on the schedule for Tana. Chris, can you see using either of those? Manzardo, Tena in deeper leagues. While I answer that, Frank, you look a little fuzzy if you want to go to the barber and trim it up. Actually, I'm getting a haircut tomorrow. It's pretty crazy underneath this hat right now, guys. You know, same. I got to get a haircut. I think yours is longer. Vanzardo, only five games on the schedule, not playing every day. I assume it's more of a platoon thing than anything. So no lefties helps.

I think he's pretty fringy, but I think he's a talented hitter. So if you need a corner infielder, off the top of my head, I can't think of any more obviously beneficial first baseman who are widely available right now. So sure, I think he's fine. Jose Tana, I think, is pretty interesting. We talked a decent amount when he got called up about his interesting minor league numbers. He's doing a little bit of running and a little bit of hitting for power. So as a corner infielder, I think Jose Tain is a little bit interesting as well.

On the prospect of picking up Manzardo, he's just been sitting so much, even against right-handed pitchers. And maybe that should change. but I don't know that I'd be willing to trust in that heading into the final week of the season. Yeah. The fact that they moved them up to second in the lineup in this game, and he performed three for three, hopefully just gaining more confidence from his manager.

I mean, he hit two homers in his first game back. Yeah. No, that's fair. Yeah, I mean, looking at first baseman who are rostered in similar ranges, I guess I'd rather have tie France. I think I'd feel a little better about him playing every day the rest of the way. Yeah. I think Luke Rayleigh's not in a better situation, so I don't think that really.

So I actually have five first-paced eligible players on the sleeper-hitters for this week. I assume just a lot of them are because Manzart is only 17% or 19, 22% roster. Yeah, I'm sure they're all, they are all more rostered than that. But Michael Tolia, Andrew Vaugh, Carlos Santana, and Michael Bush, three of those four are less than 50%. roster. And Spencer Horowitz on that list. Oh yeah. Spencer Horowitz was the fifth. Yeah. So five of the four of those five less than 50%. I would guess Horowitz is pretty, it's 43% so about double. Yeah. And like, you look a little deeper and like Tyler Soderstrom. I, I don't think I'd rather start him than Monsardo at first base at least. Catcher. Yes, Kamenzartre. You can't start catcher. Yeah. But so yeah,

I think among the widely available first baseman in his range, I think Menzart is probably the most interesting, but I can't say he's someone in a 12 team league that needs to be rostered, sir. Sure. Wanted to quickly mention a gentleman named Blake Dunn, who had a huge game for the Reds, two for three with a sock and two shoes. His first career home run came off of Chris Sale.

It's a pretty good one to get there. 26 years old, he had a huge season in the minors last year, 312, 23 homers, 54 steals, but took a big step back. this year. Scott, is this a name for like deep dynasty leagues or probably not? Blake Dunn.

I'm going to say probably not. But sometimes this sort of player who just gets stuck in the minors for a long time and just puts a huge numbers there, sometimes he does turn into something, even if it's just short-lived. So I would not totally ignore him, but the odds are against him becoming a useful fantasy. player. All right. Start or sit these pitchers for the final week of the season. Luis Severino

last seven starts a 264 ERA and a 111-11 whip over a strikeout per inning. He is at the Atlanta Braves next week. He has a 480 ERA on the road. So he's pitching well Chris, but I don't know, those home road splits I might shy away from Severino. Yeah, I mean, we've talked a lot about the different ways that Louis Severino has reinvented himself this season. Um, most recent, kind of looking like a little more like the Louis Severino of old going very fastball, very sweeper heavy slider sweeper used to be a slider. And he's getting more strikeouts as a result. Is he a must start pitcher?

Obviously not. But the Braves aren't a terrible matchup 10 runs today. But I think he's an okay start next week. Again, that's Louis Severino. Let's talk about Brandon Fott. What a bounceback, right? Like, last start out, he gets destroyed. Then he's at the Brewers.

Seven innings, one run, 12 strikeouts, 21 whiffs on 104 pitches. He only allowed one hard hit in this game. Fastball was dominant. He is down to 78% roster. He gets the Giants next week. It's a good matchup. But Scott, Brandon Fott was so bad before this.

What do you think? Yeah. I wish I could get some insights into what happened for him. His fastball was clearly so much more effective in this start, and I noticed the vertical movement was down two inches on that, which for a fastball in particular, can be a good thing. If it's not sinking as much as the hitter would expect it to, then he ends up swinging under it.

That's kind of all the rage for, fastballs now. So in addition to that, he was throwing it harder and it just, it was a massive swing and miss pitch for Brandon fought today when usually it's not. Usually it's a pretty bad fastball. So can he repeat that? I'd be skeptical. And particularly with everything on the line, particularly with him having a 7508 ER in his previous nine starts, I would prefer to stay away. You say Kukuchi has pitched very well since joining the Astros. Nine starts with the team, a 3-ERA, 0.94 whip, 68 strikeouts over 54 innings. He's 73% started on CBS, and he gets the Mariners the final week.

So, Chris, I am wheels up on you say Kukuchi. Yeah, I think he'd be pretty much a must-start pitcher regardless of the matchup that it's against the Mariners only makes it better. Did you know him and Shohayatani went to high school together? I had no idea. I feel like that's the kind of, like, I've heard that Clayton Kershaw and Matthew Stafford went to high school together about a billion times on broadcast. I don't know how I didn't know that Shohei Otani and you said Kukuchi went to the same high school.

Well, maybe if we get the Astros Dodgers World Series, we'll have probably a whole feature ton about Kikuchi and Otani growing up together there. Let's get into the final week of the season. Week 27 preview. The schedule for next week, 28 teams with six games and there are two unlucky teams with five games. The Reds and the Guardians. What about the Rockies? They have six home games in Cores Field,

three up against the Cardinals, and three against the Dodgers. Start or sit these two-star pitchers. And Scott, your first up, Sunny Gray, usually a must-start, but one of his starts in Cores Field, the other at the Giants. You're probably going to start him.

He's less than a must start, given that one outing at Colorado and that he's had some kind of shaky outings. But it's worth noting, very light schedule. There are only 25 two-star pitchers here in the rankings for me. Normally it's 35 to 40 and there's 25 this week.

So you got to stretch to get those extra starts in there. I do think I should also point out, since it is the final week of the season, teams can kind of do whatever they want. Yeah. And so you've got to be careful with two-star pitchers in general because if you want to, if you couldn't, if the only reason you're considering using a pitcher is because he's in line for two starts, then maybe rethink that because there's a very good chance he doesn't end up making a second start.

They have somebody else substitute for him. Even some of the ones who make two starts, it might be like a two, three-inning start. So in the case of Sunny Gray specifically, the first start is at Colorado, which is less than ideal, but I think in most cases you're still starting a me, Sunny Gray. I was going to say Sunny Gray feels like a pitcher who would be especially bad at Corse Field. lies so much on bendy pitches. He's only made one start there, but it was nine strikeouts and one earn run and seven innings.

It was back in 2019, so a long time ago. But, you know, he hasn't been blown up in course field before. All right. First time for everything. Chris, you get Ryan Pepeio. He's at the Tigers and at the Red Sox. This is definitely one that feels risky. Only through 72 pitches, I think, in his most recent start before that, it was two in

So if he doesn't get that second start, and it's something I was considering saying about Zach Lattel as well, where it's just like the razor out of it, they're very health conscious organization. And I could see them pulling back on some of these guys with big workload jumps in the final week and just giving someone else a try. But I would lean towards a start in Roto

and a sit in point. Even though he is RP eligible, so that makes it a little more difficult. When we were talking about Pepio coming off that 12 strikeout effort, I think it was, where I kind of don't know if we played up enough just how good he looked in that start. But I went back and to look for the quote about them kind of easing his workload. And it was just such a throwaway line after he was. removed a two-inning start where his velocity was downed. Okay, we don't want him to keep pitching if his velocity's down, so we're just going to

yank him here. Then, okay, every start from now on for Pepio is going to be a short one. So I think given that his first start is against the Tigers, yeah, he could end up making a second one against that same Red Sox lineup where he had the 12 strikeouts, right? That was the Red Sox he did that against? Yeah. Yeah, I think I think I'm pretty much on board with Pepio. for this week.

All right. What about Nestor Cortez? He gets the Orioles and the Pirates. Yeah, I'm going to lean yes on him too. It's a good chance he makes that second start. We don't think there's any chance the Yankees bring Marcus Sherman back in. I think if it was a pitcher

that they would expect to use in the playoff rotation, there would be more risk for Nestor Cortez, but if they're looking at like a three or four-man rotation in the playoffs, I don't think Cortez is part of it. personally i could be wrong about that but uh tanner halk in his latest start only through four innings and he's at the blue jays and home against tampa bay he is not going to be skipped i saw an article about that i don't know if he you know because he was skipped because of the dead arm

earlier but they they explicitly said he's not there's no plans to skip him again the rest of the way so and those are two really good matchups they're good matchups i has he had more than five strikeouts in a start since like July? It's been... Yeah, but he's... He gets... He hasn't been bad. He gets brown balls at such a high rate that he can...

I'd rather him have strikeouts, but I don't know that he necessarily needs strikeouts to justify using it a two-star week. He's had four starts with five strikeouts, Chris. Put some respect on Tanner Howk's name. Scott, give me the sleeper hitters for the... final week. You just throw them all that.

Wait, wait, wait. We don't want to do any pitchers? Any more pitcher recommendations? I had some deep league names on here, but I just thought maybe you would mention them as sleeper pitchers. You want me to jump ahead to sleeper hitters and skip over sleeper pitchers?

Is that what I said? Did I say sleeper haters? Oh, I meant sleeper pitchers. Okay. That's what I thought. Fair enough. Okay. These aren't among my 10 sleeper pitchers,

but they're rostered in less than 10% of leagues. So I do want to mention them. The Angels pitcher, Jack Kohanowitz. Thank you. Jack Kohanowitz gets the White Sox and the Rangers. We talked about yesterday, ground ball pitcher. He's had a lot of good outings recently. It's scary, but some people just want to throw every start they can at him.

Okay, if you're one of those people, then Jack Kohanowitz is somebody you might want to consider. Same thing with Jonathan Cannon, who's had his ups and downs, but as two starts this week are against the Angels and Tigers. It wouldn't be me, but I do think they're worth highlighting if you just want to cram as many starts in your lineup as you can. Okay. The ones I actually like, well, as I said earlier in the show, I don't really like any of these guys that much this week.

So I don't want to hear you're crying if it doesn't work out. Okay. I think if you have good pitchers, just start your good, pitchers don't get cute with it. But if you're in a desperate situation, Cody Bradford at Oakland, that's my favorite one. JP Sears at Seattle. These are kind of boomer bus profiles, fly ball guys.

They can get burned by home runs. But when they don't, they generally pitch well. Cutter Crawford, same thing. He gets the raise. So three volatile profiles with really good matchups there. One start guys. Cody Bradford, J.P. Sears, Cutter Crawford. two-start options,

Eduardo Rodriguez coming off his best start of the season, Jose Cantana with that 0.28 ERA in his last five starts, but his matchups, he's going against a Braves lineup that seems like it's found its footing maybe, and he gets the Brewers who have had a good lineup all season long. So those are my favorite two-star sleepers, Eduardo Rodriguez, Jose Cantana.

Neither of their matchups are amazing, but I think that's the best you can do. If you want a two-star guy. Mitch Spence, ground ball pitcher, short outings, but generally doesn't give up a lot of damage. He gets the Rangers and the Mariners this week. Pretty good matchups. Dean Kramer, he's been pitching well lately,

but he gets the Yankees and the twins. So, you know, do you want the good matchups from Mitch Spence? Do you want Dean Kramer, who's rolling but has terrible matchups? I don't think I want either. but this is the best you're going to get this week. A couple more one-star guys, Tobias Myers, who did not look very good on Thursday and has been very up and down recently.

He gets the pirates. Tyler Anderson, who hasn't really looked good in the second half, he gets the White Sox. And you mentioned Zach Lattell earlier, so I'll throw him in here against the Tigers. He'll probably be pretty high on this list. He'll probably be... He might be second behind Cody Bradford, actually,

among one-star sleepers, Zach Lattel. Okay. What about the hitters for the final week? Best matchups, the Cardinals, Phillies,

Blue Jays, Rockies, and Twins. The worst hitter matchups, Nationals, Orioles, athletics, Yankees,

and Astros. Scott, who are your sleeper hitters for the final week? Again, not thrilled with this selection.

Pete Crowe Armstrong is at the list, the top of the list by default. He's still available in more than a third of CBS Sports Leagues. He's been steady.

in August and September. Cubs matchups are middle of the road, but I think Pete Crowe Armstrong just shouldn't be as available as he is. Tommy Edmund, with the Dodgers closing the season at Corse Field as well as he's been hitting. I think he's pretty much a must.

The Tigers weren't among the five best hitter matchups, but their matchups are pretty good, and there are, I think it's exclusively righties on the schedule for the Tigers. That's good news for Kerry Carpenter. Parker Meadows also has been hitting so well since returning from the miners. Parker Meadows way under-roastered, I think, 35%. I know it's at the point in the season where roster rates don't change that much,

but he's been awesome. They change enough. More than his. Yeah. Then he should be well more than 35% rostered. Michael Tolia, anytime the Rockies have good matchups, I feel like I have to include him here, even though his numbers are better on the road.

If you project out to infinity, every Rockies hitter, looks better at home. And so Tolia with a full week of home games, I think is a fine play. Brendan Rogers is the Rockies hitter who has the biggest gap between home and away splits. So with the Rockies being at home,

I think you could look into Rogers. I mentioned Andrew Vaughn earlier. He's having a great September. Four lefties on the schedule for the White Sox. His numbers are better against lefties. Carlos Santana with the twins having the fifth best matchup. Michael Bush.

Again, the Cubs matchups aren't incredible, but only one lefty on the schedule. He's been hitting well lately. And I have Spencer Horowitz here rounding out the list, but I think I am going to replace him with Jorge Saler. I don't know why I overlooked him. I think I assumed he was more rostered than he is. But he, even though the Braves don't have the best matchups,

I'd rather have Jorge Saler in my lineup than a lot of these guys I mentioned. I think he'll probably be right behind Pete Crow Armstrong and Tommy Edmund as the third sleeper hitter for this week. All right, there you have it. Our final weekly preview of the season. Also, no, this isn't our final Kokomo Friday. We'll do one next week too.

But yeah, I got a little emotional thinking about that. But we'll have one more, Coca-Bole Friday for you next week. Let's wrap up a few more hitters in the Round Association for 2025. We did this yesterday. I'll give these guys a hitter. give me a knee-jerk reaction to what round they think said hitter will be drafted in next year. Anthony Santander.

Go. We were just arguing about him before the show. Yeah, I don't. Do you want to know where I'll rank him or do you want to know where I think he'll be drafted? Round Association. Okay. So it's like what if Brent Rooker, it's like what if Brent Rooker was worse but had outfield eligibility? What round do you think he's going to be?

be drafted in Scott. Five. That sounds right. I can't really see much reason to draft Anthony Santander ahead of Brent Rucker. Even knowing one is Alfield eligible for 2025 and one is utility only, Brent Rooker's underlying numbers are so much better and they were not that different in 2023. I think there might be a five round difference between them.

But Rooker wasn't nearly as good in 2023. I there probably wasn't that big of a gap between them was there Santander has a pretty good track pretty good track record for Santander just consistent power hitter yeah yeah you've got three good years in a row I don't like the profile for Santander because he does one thing well and if he just comes up a little short in that one thing he's going to look pretty average so that's why I

I'm somebody who fades Santander every year So far it hasn't worked out, but one of these years it will. I think this year will work out because his price has been really reasonable in the past. And this year, it feels like it might not be, I agree, fifth round sounds right for where he will be drafted. I don't think it's where he should be drafted. And he's entering free agency. So will he be back with the Orioles?

I think that's a pretty big question. Vlad Amir Guerrero Jr. So. Second? Is that what you said, Chris? Second? Yeah, second. I think I have him 13th.

So technically second, but it's the round one-two turn. Yeah. Three for four with a double dong here on Thursday. And I haven't provided a haircut update in a while, but 77 games since cutting the hair for Vlad Jr. 362, 23 home runs, and an OPS over 1100. I believe he has been the best hitter in baseball in the second half. by actually

last I saw it was a pretty wide margin okay no Aaron Judge is back ahead of him and Wobah since the start of the second half but Vladimir Guerrero has a 1153 OPS since the All-Star break before two homers on on Thursday

he's been unbelievably good maybe the best stretch we've ever seen from Vladimir Guerrero. While we're throwing out our own favorite endpoints for Vladimir Guerrero, you want to go all the way back to May 1st. Batting 3.46 since then. Yeah, but the haircut is much more fun, Scott.

All right. What about Jazz Chisholm? I like it more than, and I think most people will like it more than Santander, so I'm going to say round four. That sounds right. Once you start ranking outfield, and I've done a very, very rough draft of the outfield, it's really hard. He might be top 12 in the outfield. In the outfield.

Yeah. And like top seven at third base. I'm trying to think of where I actually ranked him. Top six at third base is where I ranked him. I think, oh, God, does anybody actually? going to draft him in the third round. That's probably sounding like where I'm going to rank him, though. But fourth.

Fourth sounds okay. 39 games with the Yankees for Jazz. 280 batting average, 10 home runs, 15 steals. It's just a bonkers pace since he's joined the team. He might go 2540 this year. Yeah, he's at 23 and 37 so far. Or he might get hurt after 80 games. Oh, I mean this.

I was saying this year, he might 2540. Yeah. He's two home runs and three steals away. And the last name on the list is C.J. Abrams. Hmm. Fifth. Okay, so you would take Jazz ahead of him? I think so.

Yes. I'm going to say sixth. Ooh. I think there's going to be... Okay. In part because he plays the deepest position. Mm-hmm. I'm going to prefer O'Neill cruise over C.J. Abrams, I think.

I heard those words coming out of my mouth and I began to doubt them I don't know about that I'm writing about O'Neo Cruz as one of the five toughest players for ranking at outfield or five players that I can't figure out how to rank and he is the first player besides John Carlos Stanton to ever have multiple batted balls of 120 miles per hour in a single season he's had four this season Stan, I think, has still had three. Unbelievable that he's still capable of that. And he has been better in the second half.

He's cut the strikeouts. He's hitting lefties better as well. I think he still only has 19 home runs on the season, though, right? Yeah, that sounds right. He's since the All-Star break, though, he is 15 for 15 on steals. obviously the raw power for 30 homers is clearly there. He's cut the strikeout rate to 28% in the second half. We've done this before, though.

And O'Neill Cruz ranking him for outfield, very tough, ranking him for shortstop. I think I ended up seventh in my first run through the shortstop position. No, ninth for O'Neill Cruz. But there's definitely a lot of competition between him, Abrams and Jackson, or Jackson Merrill's not short stuff. Eligible, what I'm talking about?

So, yeah. I think it's Willie Adama's. Like those are the three for me that I'm just going to pull my hair out. Clear tier drop after Corey Seeger. Willie Adomas, O'Neal Cruz, C.J. Abrams. What makes it difficult is

how they performed in 2024 is probably the reverse of how I think they should perform. So they should perform Cruz Abrams at Adama's and they did just the opposite. So how do you reconcile that? I don't know.

I think it comes down to your personal level of risk tolerance and how much you want to chase upside with your builds because Cruz probably still has the most upside among the three. Bullpen updates from Thursday for the Orioles, Sir Anthony Dominguez got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He gave up back-to-back walks and then a game-tying single. He only recorded one out.

Gregory Soto finished the inning in the Orioles won in the bottom of the ninth. For the Mariners, Andres Munoz struck out the side for his 22nd save. For the Pirates, our oldest Chapman, got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He gave up a hit, but picked up his 10th save. For the Cubs, Porter Hodge got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He gave up a hit and a walk, but picked up his sixth save. For the Rays, Edwin Useta, got the eighth inning with a two-run lead facing five, six, and seven in the Red Sox lineup. It was lefty Garrett Clevenger who struck out two for his six save.

And then for the Astros, Josh Hader struck out one for his 32nd save of the season. To stream or not to stream on Friday, I think James and Tyone versus the Nationals, Nick Martinez versus the Pirates. And probably only those two, maybe one of Ben Lively or Kyle Gibson, who are facing each other. Yeah, I guess. Yeah, I think just Tyone and Nick Martinez are the only two I consider Except in one of those cram everybody you can in the lineup situations. Lifely and Gibson might be okay. On Saturday, we have Rhett-Lowder facing the Pirates.

Mackenzie Gore is at the Cubs. Redembers, oh gosh, at the Astros. Aaron Savoy. He'll dominate. Of course. Probably. Aaron Savali faces the debacks. Matthew Boyd at the Cardinals.

Martin Perez faces the White Sox JP Sears revenge game against the Yankees. I don't really like any of them here. I could see a good start for Martin Perez against the White Sox. Yeah, I could see Reese Olson, but he only threw like two innings in his first start back from the

Yeah, I can't trust him. Right, no way. McKenzie Gore, Velocci was back down his most recent start. Um, like I could see Ariel Rodriguez having a good start. I could see Reed Detmer. I could see Aaron Safale, I could see Matthew Boyd.

I don't want to trust any of them to do it though. Okay. Yeah, I think Martin Perez, Yankees are kind of suspect against lefties. I can see it working out. It could go terribly wrong as well, but yeah, I guess I'll sign off there on the J.P. Sears revenge game. And then on Sunday, we have Albert Svarez facing the Tigers.

Grant Holmes is at the Marlins. Frankie Montauce faces the debacks. Andre Palante versus the Guardians Andrew Heaney versus the Mariners Haney should give you five decent innings Gavin Williams last start was good

he went all in on the cutter I still don't really believe in it Montas has been kind of interesting since getting to Milwaukee but not against the diamondbacks I can't trust it and like Grant Holmes gets the Marlins so I could absolutely see a quality start there but I don't

don't really love any of these options either I would probably go Heaney Grant Holmes and if you're desperate Albert Suarez I think I'd go Palante ahead of Suarez I'd go Williams ahead of Suarez Okay I think that's reasonable We are gonna wrap there for Scott and Chris

I am Frank thanks as always for tuning in some fantasy baseball today Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify and we will be back again next week Bye bye Podcasts.