Fantasy Baseball Today - Shohei Ohtani LIVE Injury Reaction! Cole Ragans Hype & Waiver Wire Moves (8/24 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 24, 2023

Bid on a spot in our 2024 FBT listener league- https://www.ebay.com/itm/374885098315?hash=item5748e4a34b:g:5p8AAOSwy8lkiJds Bid on a guest spot on the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast- https://www.ebay.com/itm/374885021676?hash=item5748e377ec:g:P0MAAOSwA~JkiJg3 Cole Ragans just dominated the A's (4:35). Could he be a league winner? Aaron Civale is racking up the strikeouts with the Rays (15:15). ... Aaron Judge and Elly De La Cruz listen to the podcast (20:00)! ... So we start off talking about the Shohei Ohtani injury scare AND THEN we get the breaking news from Chris Towers (28:52). What does this mean for Ohtani? ... Let's rank some waiver wire pitchers (41:11). ... Please add Kerry Carpenter if he's available (44:41). ... News (48:45): Mike Trout is back on the IL. ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (53:42). 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. All aboard, the Cole Regan's hype train. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Thursday, August 24th.

I am Frank Stanfield, joined by Chris the Welsh. Usually this Thursday podcast is exclusively for Chris's, but we have a very special guest today on the show joining us. Welsh, are you ready? I'm ready. Drum roll. And his name is Scott Wai. Yay! Hey!

I'm here. The ground goes wild. You couldn't keep me away on Cole Reagan's day. I had to show up to offer my thoughts. The world demanded them on Twitter. But had Cole Regans had a bad outing, would you have? No. No, I won it.

I halfway wonder if I should be here now. This feels like a very Stephen A. Smith thing to do. You know, like I was on vacation, but this news happened. You have to hear my take. And it's like, dude, just take a day off. Like, that's how I always feel when I see him do that because it's very, you know, how often he's done that all the time. But no, I'm here.

and there's a lot to be excited about, and I'm ready to comment on it. Indeed, there is. We'll see if I regret it tomorrow. True story. The reason we are starting so late is everything was kind of in flux, is like, is Tower is going to be on? Is Scott going to be on?

And then we're like, yeah, Scott's going to be on. We need him on to talk about Cole Reagan. So here we are today on the show, of course, we will talk about him. Ellie Taylor Cruz and Aaron Judge, listen to this podcast, apparently. We'll talk about that. The summer of Bobby Witt Jr.

We'll get some prospect updates from the Welsh and much more before we get started. Help us out by liking this video and subscribing 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. You can put it on the board. Yes. Yes. All right, Scott. You're up. You saved me the breadstick. We didn't even have this conversation beforehand,

because I decided so last minute to come on. But Cole Regens, yes, that's who I'm going to talk about. Because Cole Regens was the best he's been yet. It was at Oakland. Let's just go ahead and get that out of the way. It was against this AAA athletics lineup. But he two hit them over six innings. He struck out 11.

He walked nobody. And here's the thing. It was already unfair the kind of run Reagan's was on to send him out there against this A's lineup. But he started throwing two miles per hour harder on average. Like his velocity was already up four miles per hour this year from previous years. It was up two more miles per hour against this A's lineup. It was just, it was completely unfair. He peaked at 101.

And I mean, now it's in four of five starts since returning from the minor leagues. He has at least eight strikeouts. He has 11 and two of those starts. And it's just a completely transformed pitcher here with the addition of that slider. It was a pitch he worked to perfect, really, after joining the Royals organization. It helped him find success against left-handers. He was struggling against them with the Rangers, even though he's a left-hander himself.

It just seemed to kind of bring everything together and allow those velocity gains from the preseason to play up to maximum effect. And at this point, I mean, I already pointed out earlier this week that the Royals have arguably the best, the most pitcher favorable schedule of any team over the next five weeks. So not even counting this matchup that Reagan's had against the athletics. And I would not, at this point, I would be hard pressed to bet on anyone else being the breakout pitcher of the second half with what Cole Regens has already banked and what I expect him to do with that matchup.

Are you calling you a must start rest of season? I mean, somebody asked me if he had transcended the glob now. If Cole Regens was one of just a couple dozen pitchers who I would say is better than the glob, which, you know, he would have to be for me to call him must start. I think... Someone's riding the high. Listen to this. well what would you do

I don't think he's a must start I don't I think he is in awesome like there's like the must start there's the I don't even want to call them necessarily situational because I think there are guys that almost transition situation a little bit where it's just like just don't give me those peeky peak teams like this don't give me those top five you know eight offenses and then I'm good

then they're situational which is semi-streaming and then it's like A's and tigers you know like Like those are like the values of those. I think he is somewhere in between, uh, situational and then just don't put me up against those really big offensive teams. Like I think he's somewhere in that line. I mean,

yeah, I, I would have to say if you're talking about like the, the, the, the very popular industry format, the 15 team roto. And there's,

there's no way I can imagine sitting him. There just aren't enough pitchers to choose from. But there are a lot of pictures that are in, the glob that I would say that about and those deeper formats for a shallower format, say a 12 team head-to-head league where you're only starting five starting pitchers every week, particularly if your team is playoff bound, it probably has pretty good pitching. And so I'd stop a little short of calling Cole Reagan's a must start the rest of the way. But I will say it takes a certain skill set to transcend the glob, I think, in 2023.

And, you know, a lot of, we're seeing a lot of 8 to 9 K per 9 type of pitchers or pitchers with other obvious defects that I think prevent them from transcending the glob. I don't know that Reagan's has those defects. I know he has some control issues in his history, but they don't seem to be afflicting him right now. And the strikeout potential looks completely legit. I mean, stuff-wise, you know, there was already a lot to like. and then with the introduction of that slider, I think it's just sent him into the stratosphere here.

Cole Reagan's to the moon. And I'm very excited about him. The one thing, so one of my biggest regrets this year is in the Scott White Dynasty League, a 2014 head-to-head points league. Cheap pitching is the most prized asset. I gave up like four huge prospects to get a cheap Mitch Keller. I picked up Cole Reagan's for a dollar with the first run of waivers because I liked the way he looked in spring training

and waited around for a month for the Rangers to give him an honest chance and they didn't. So I cut him loose and now somebody else has him. And just not until July, I think not until the eroldest Chapman trade did he get picked up. But the oldest trade, Chapman trade being what brought him to Kansas City. But yeah, it hurts.

Could I present something to you? Can I put real quick, Can I present to you the name? Because you were saying you got to have a certain set of skills to get out of the blob. Could we call them the Liam Nesson's? Could we have that tier of pictures? The Liam Nessons that I have a particular set of skills. Of course that's where it was going. You're going to ask dynasty. One thing before you're going to dynasty, I just wanted to ask is I said this to Frank before the show started. I'm just so curious what the royals unlocked with Cole Regans. Because yes, you had a big Velo uptick, but you saw bigger uptick here. He was garbage with the Rangers, really at every stop. In April, he ended up throwing 10 innings. He had a 6 ERA in May. He threw another 10 innings, had a 5 ERA. And also, we saw this happen with the Royals a little bit this year.

In early onsets, we saw Brad Keller with some Velo uptics. I think it was Chris Bubich. We had some uptick. So there's something that they were doing with pitchers early on. And I just would love to know what that medicine is, what the Rangers with, you know, Evaldi and Heaney and DeGre. and Mike Maddox as a pitching coach, they didn't unlock with Cole Regans.

That was then suddenly unlocked with the Royals of all teams. I don't know about the velocity angle, but I did mention the slider thing. As it was reported on the Royals team site, I think after Reagan's return to the majors, he approached them with the idea of the slider being something that could neutralize lefties better than the cutter he had been using. And they basically said to him,

one step ahead of you, let's make this happen. And so that's what he was, working on in the minors before returning. But it's like the Rangers didn't allow him to do it. It was Mike Maddox like, no, no, we're not going to do that. Like, yes, we got Jacob de Grom and we know what a slider looks like and this isn't a slider. I mean, they may. It's just crazy.

They may have just invested so much in their starting rotation in the offseason that they didn't. He just wasn't much of a priority for them, developing him like he was for the royals, who obviously target him in a trade, saw plenty they liked in him. Yeah, from the dynasty angle, I, I, I, do, I don't want to lose sight of this one fact. Part of the reason Cole Reagan's is seemingly coming out of nowhere is because he had two Tommy John surgeries prior to reaching the majors, two, not one, but two. A lot of pitchers don't come back when they have that second one.

He's come back and now he's throwing harder than ever and threw even harder tonight. And so that, like, the injury risk has to be stated here. if you're looking to turn your dynasty team upside down to acquire Cole Regans. I do think he's a genuine talent. His arm has had trouble holding up even at lower velocities. Something to keep in mind. Scott, Cole Regens was so good, and you've been so excited about him recently

that I have decided to make a new soundbite for Cole Regens. Are you ready? Sure. All right, here it is. What is that? You must be asking yourself. On Tuesday's podcast, we got a team name Tuesday that said you announce his name

Cole Rayguns, like a Raygun. Oh, Raygun. Classic computer Rayguns sounded. I mean, that's a serviceable nickname. Yeah. I thought you were going to drop a Liam Neeson. I thought you were going to drop the quote. Like, I thought you were that quick.

I wish I could have. But if anyone is going to wield a ray gun, I feel like Liam Neeson would be pretty good at doing it. Last point on Coleragin's 61% rostered. He is a SPARP on CBS, so has that RP eligibility. Might not be a must-start yet, but I am saying he is a must-start next week when he faces off against the Pittsburgh Pirates. So I do like that matchup quite a bit.

I had three names here. I said the matchups are going to be great for the most part for him down the stretch. I had three names written down here that I would drop for Cole Regens. You guys tell me if I'm crazy. Lucas Chelito, Hunter Brown, Christian Javier. Way to just lightly go into it, Frank. All three of those. I'll just throw them all your way.

Yeah, I mean, if you're, if you're, if you're, if you're, if that, if you're telling me those are the decisions I have to make, I'm, I'm going to take Reagan's over all of them. I think, I think I would be most hesitant with Lucas G. Alito of those three, particularly since, you know, he's coming off a big strikeout game and made some changes to his arsenal that maybe, maybe we'll take him in a new direction. And I'm going to guess anybody who has Lucas. Gialito has somebody he could drop before him. But either of the Astros pitchers, especially Hunter Brown, who, you know, given that his rookie season, I'm not, I'm not counting on him. Reverse in course from what he's done lately. Yeah, I'd be fine dropping him for Regans for sure. I'd echo exactly what he's.

Like, Hunter Brown is the easy one here, probably Jolieter. I would try to find someone else than Gialito. But push comes to shove, if you're in, you're just looking at, you know, what's in heading? you probably from a matchup perspective, Cole Regans might be the best of that crew. All right. Well, uh, nearly 13 minutes on Cole Reagan's. Let's talk about another player. Welsh, you're up. Player the night. I'll just be, I'll be quicker on mine. I was encouraged and we've talked about this a lot when the trade happened with Aaron Savale. Aaron Savale talked about what would the raise unlock? What would this end up looking like?

Well, four starts and he has not given up more than three earned runs and a start tonight. He gave up three in five, but struck out not. in his time so far over these last four starts. He has a 20 to two strikeout to walk ratio. So he's keeping the whip down. He's gone five in three of the last four. He's given up three runs over the last two. And the big usage change has been that they've started,

you know, hey, just like you talked about the Cole Regans, the slider. The slider is coming back in. And that's kind of been where Aaron Savale out, because I was trying to look. And I do think that you might see baseball Savant messing around are messing with and screwing up the fastball versus sinker usage. I was taking a look at this game that happened tonight and like the velos for the fastball and the sinker are the same.

You actually see a lot of similar break in it. So I just wonder if maybe they're mischaracterizing him using the sinker a whole lot less in favor of the four seams. So I'm just throwing that out there. But either way, the noticeable thing is the slider, which he actually took some big Velo off tonight, hit over 3,000 on the RPM. That pitch ended up having a 50% swing and miss rate. He had 16 swing and whiffs all across the board, even distribution.

Cutter was in there. Curveball was getting it done, 46 CSW or 40 on the slider, and a 44 CSW overall. I guess my big point would be is the raise just continue to do it. And hopefully we're not going to have weird arm issues like every other single raise pitcher. But his move over has. been good. He's not walking anybody. We can see the K's starting to come out and that slider usage is really improved. So Aaron Savali is moving into like another tier and we just have to, you know, we just have to bow down to the raise. We're able to absolutely unlock even more out

of a guy that I don't know. Yeah, I think a lot of us by expected stats sort of said has been way over performing. You know, his expected ERA has been over a run for quite some time. And the K percentage was kind of down on the season. But I think this is a very, very good run. And I think Karen Savali is moving into that same territory of like, I think you just start him every time you go out. And I know that might be like, oh, just go to Tuera. Yeah, of course you do. And not necessarily. But Savali, I trust way more than I did before as a guardian.

And I think he actually be curious, Scott, who I guess in matchup is dependent, but who do you have more faith in rest of season? If you had Savale or Cole Regens, which one would you go to battle with? I mean, I'd say Regens. I think the strikeout profile is more. durable and that's usually what I'm going to bet on. But the win potential for Savale is higher. There's no doubting that. I mean, Regens has to have, he has to thoroughly dominate to put himself in a position

to win and even then might not win. Obviously, wins are, there's a fair amount of randomness that goes with that and a pitcher only has so much control over it, but you're talking about two offenses on the opposite end of the spectrum, Raised Royals. Also with Savali, I noticed his curb ball usage right at 30% each of his past two starts. And that is up compared to how much he was using that pitch with the Guardians earlier this season. So yeah, I think it's all good news for Aaron Savali right now. He had, I think it was 16 swinging strikes in this start.

So pretty impressive stuff. And next week looks like he's in line for CBS says two starts, but they only have five games. Probably not two starts. But it's... But they've had a lot of injuries to their role. It's been harder, and in particular this time of year. This year as a whole, but particularly right now, with teams inserting six starters on a whim,

having a pitcher throw two innings out of the bullpen randomly. It's been really hard to predict two-start weeks. And so I would say if there's any doubt whether he's going to make two starts, probably presume he won't, particularly on a team like the race. Well, both matchups look like they are against the Guardians and the Marlins. So either way, I think it's going to be a pretty good matchup there for Aaron Savoy next week. If it's the Guardians, he would have faced them twice already in five starts with Tampa Bay,

which is so weird, right? Like revenge games two times in your first five away from your, like, I don't know, it's just weird. Oh my goodness gracious for me, I just want to give a shout out to these guys. guys. It's funny how I know you didn't say anything crazy yesterday Scott about Judge or Ellie De La Cruz but it's just funny that whenever we bring up players struggling,

not every time. But sometimes we bring them up and then they go out and they go out and have monster games the next day. And that's exactly what we saw on Wednesday where Aaron Judge, you know, talking about struggling in the second half so far. First three home run game of his

career, three for four with a triple dong. 27 home runs in 70 games for Aaron Judge. That's a 56 home run pace over 150 games. So you can convince yourself if he didn't get hurt this year, what kind of season would Aaron Judge have had?

Sounds like he would have been a pretty awesome again. And I say this as somebody who was vocally, as vocal about drafting Judge number one overall as anybody. He has some injury in his history. You know, like that, it was fairly predictable that he did miss time.

I'm not saying he's always going to misstep and crash into an outfield fence the way he did this year that cost him so much time. But like it always seems to be something. He's a big lumbering guy and just seems to have trouble holding up over the course of a 162 game season.

Is that going to deter you though next year? Like because who doesn't? Like who of the first round would you look at and you're like, that's a clean bill? Like is that going to be an argument to not take him top five. I mean, whatever you want to, whatever you want to say, the presumed value is right now, is that going to deter you from next year? Freddie Freeman doesn't. Okay. And that's probably,

that's probably a choice in the middle of round one, Judge or Freeman, right? Which I think Freeman even more locked into just like how solid is, but I mean like Acuna, Julio, Carol will be in there. Bobby Williams. They're a shoulder thing. I wonder if that's going to crop up again. Oh, I think these guys are. I'm saying all these guys are. Maybe Bobby Witt's not. Bobby Witt would be one of those. It's not. Yeah. Yeah. It's about it.

I don't know. I'm going to have to think about that some more. I'm going to push back a little bit on the judge thing, though. I mean, crashing into a wall that seems pretty fluky, right? Like, the Dodgers have a cement brick that goes around the bottom of their outfield, which why is that even there? Frankly, I'm surprised it didn't happen to somebody sooner. It seems pretty fluky that happened to Aaron Judge. If it was like an oblique or a hamstring, I'd say,

okay, this is something like we've seen that happen before with Aaron Judge. He's had oblique injuries in the past, but like a broken toe that it seems kind of fluky, I don't know. Yes, but also he's enormous. And not, I don't mean that in like a critical way.

It's just the way he's built. He's a big guy. That's a very judgy, Scott. He's enormous. So like, you know, when you crash into a fence, it's going to do more damage to you probably. And it's not always,

going to be crashing into a fence. It's going to be some other, some other atypical thing that happens on a baseball field that just seems to do more damage to him than to other players. Seems like you're getting back into that old argument of like injury prone versus injury plagued.

You know, like the, and I always confuse, I get convoluted on like, which is the witch. I think it's injury prone is the like the stanton's of getting like this and this weird thing and plagued would be the one that has the consistent nagging injuries

of the similar ilk and stuff like that where plague just seemed to be injury plague prone one of them is the one where it's like consistently bad luck of injuries and it seems to just follow them, the witch was Stanton. Well, I'm just, I'm thinking back to my preseason argument for taking judge

and my argument was basically he is legitimately this good which as you point out, Frank, his pace stats suggest that it's 162 game pace set stats suggest that as well. If there is anything that's going to keep him from living up to the number one overall price tag, it's that he'll get hurt.

And that's exactly what's happened. So, like, I can't help but feel regret, like, oh, I should have seen this coming. I kind of, that's exactly how I laid it out. I hear what you're saying. I used to be very, I used to be very big. Like, don't draft Aaron Judge because I was scared because it was always like a core muscle injury or something like that. but I don't know.

The toe seems kind of fluky to me. L.A. Dela Cruz, also very tall, so maybe Scott won't want to draft him next year. I'm just kidding. Three for ten with a home run, six RBI, and a steal here on Wednesday. So, again, these guys listen to the podcast.

They heard us, you know, bashing them yesterday, and they came out, and they were awesome. It's like the angel gets their wings. You weren't bashing them, though. Like, Frank, you're like, you talked about this reverse jinx on Twitter. What did I actually say about Judge yesterday? It was just the fact that...

98 miles per week. hour on average since returning from the injury. He's obviously fine and about to get hot. And then the very next day, he hits three home runs. I would say I called it. And you're saying we reverse jinxed up. I will say I reverse jinxed them for bringing them up. I thought it was worthy a reverse jinx is. A reverse jinx is when something the opposite of what you predict or want to happen happens. That's a reverse jink. Not just mentioning something bad is going on. And the bad thing in. Scott reverse reversed your jinx.

So that's what he's actually saying, Frank. He reversed, reverse the jinx. I mean things. I will call it an odd coincidence, I guess, that I brought them up yesterday and then they had big games here on Wednesday.

Let's take our first break when we return. The big news from Wednesday, we got an injury scare with Shohei Otani. We'll quickly talk about that. Some other waiver wire pitchers, Seth Lugo, Dean Kramer had another great start. We'll talk about those right after this. Welcome back.

And a quick reminder that our friends over on the Fantasy Football Today podcast have their annual draftathon coming up on Wednesday, August 30th, from 4 to 10 p.m. Eastern Time. And they've been raising a bunch of money with all of it being donated to St. Jude Children's Hospital. And if you want to help contribute, you can head to tiny URL.com slash FFT donate. And you'll find some fun listings on eBay. We currently have another spot in one of our 2024 FBT listener leagues as well as a guest spot on this. this very podcast. Those bids end tonight when you're watching, when you're listening Thursday, August 24th.

So if you wanna bid, again, head to tiny URL.com slash FFT donate or scan the QR code in the top right corner of the screen. To start bidding, you can also find the links to both listings on YouTube and in the podcast description. All proceeds again will go to St. Jude Children's Hospital. The injury scare that we got on Wednesday came from Shohay Otani, who was removed in game one,

of their double header as both the pitcher and the hitter still managed to hit his 44th home run, league leading 44th home run of the season before leaving that game. And I had this whole long conversation planned. I am kind of an injury pessimist, I guess you could say, and I kind of freak out over these things. And he was in the lineup for game two of the double header. I was like, okay, I guess we don't need to have this conversation. It's like the third time this has happened. It's like the third or fourth time we've already seen this where it's like this big major scare.

the team seems to be really extra cautious, and then we're good to go. Like, we are consistently getting scared by this. Yeah, it happens with Ronald de Cunia a lot. I know that. I mean, he fouls a ball off some part of his body, and he's riding on the ground, and they take him out of the game,

and it's like, he's fine. But with Otani, I mean, we've, I do think there is concern over Atani just in the respect that he was already coming back from, you know, a lengthy layoff, a couple weeks off of pitching, and then he leaves again with arm fatigue. So that was two weeks off. The arm is still fatigued.

So you need two more weeks off? Does he need longer than two weeks off? And at that point, you're running out of calendar. So I think there's a chance he doesn't pitch again this year. Oh, I knew you were going to go there. How? How could they do that? He's 30 shy of what he did last year.

If this team really thinks they're doing it. Unless it's clearly abundant that they are not going to have any shot at the playoffs, how could they afford to not throw him out at every step that he's not in a wheelchair? They took him out of the game today because his arm was fatigued. You guys saw the news, right? What news? Okay, I was trying to follow the conversation. I wasn't sure if you saw the breaking news just now.

You've joined the podcast? Shohia Tani tore his UCL. No. And he's not going to pitch again this season. No, there's no. Is that real? Are you joking? The Angels just announced that.

Wow. Is that real? Okay, I was sitting here trying to figure out if you guys were like, because I didn't, yeah. Rhett Bowlinger right here. Shohi Otani had imaging done. There is a tear in his UCL. Wow.

And Mike Trout is also going back on the I.L. I feel like, is that a punked? Yeah, no, I saw it. And I was just like, wait. No, that's not real. And then I tuned in to see if you guys were talking about it. And I couldn't tell if I jumped in mid-conversation. So I couldn't tell if, like, you guys were talking about the toy.

Yeah, Joe Hattani has a torn UCL. Super professional here who doesn't want to scroll Twitter while he's doing a show. So I was being very professional, not looking. But now my night is, wow. No, because I have Jeff Passon tweets, you know, just alerted notifications on. So I didn't see it from Jeff Passen. think that's gone through any because I have him Heyman and one of the other ones

and I don't think it's gone through the national writers yet but yeah well I mean look that so well Scott your prediction is correct because show hey Otani will not pitch again this will not pitch again the season yeah Frank I saw you like I tend to be a pessimist and I was like oh okay then he does know but then you guys weren't okay so they knew before us the bearer of ACL or UCL excuse

me. Yes. Then you had a torn UCL and then sent him into play in game two anyway. Did this imaging happen before game two? I presume so. How can you tear your UCL and then be like, no, no, but we're good to bat? How can you risk anything? His second season, he wasn't pitching, but he hit really poorly, but he hit.

Sure. But how could you have imaging prior to a game be like, oh, that thing is torn? You're done pitching. But go out there, Slugger, have fun. How could that be a thing that we do? I am no medical expert, but how long does it take to get the results? It might take a little time to get the results. I don't know.

What's worse? What's worse? Taring your UCL, them finding out and sending you out, or not doing imaging before the second game and finding out after the second game. What's worse? I do take it back. He was pretty good in 2019 when he was playing through the torn. And I think he like kind of,

got better after the injury in 2018, if I'm remembering correctly. I don't know. It's, you know, I'm just thinking about like the long term ramifications of this now. Like he's obviously entering free agency where he was set to, he probably still is going to get a record setting contract, but like, whoever signs him, he's not pitching, right? I mean, he's not pitching for the foreseeable future. He's not pitching next year. He has to probably have Tommy John surgery.

And maybe he's just a hitter for you while he rehabs the help. I don't know. Is this the thing that brings him back to the angels? This is the thing that brings him back to the angel. No, he's not back there. Well, I think the question is, is he a pitcher? Right. Moving forward.

Like, is this what ends the two-way experiment? He's two torn ACLs in a short span of time, and a team has a huge invest, is going to have a huge investment in him. He's already an MVP caliber player without the pitching. You say he's not an angel, but you know what? If I'm Shohei Otani,

you sign a deal with an out after three years, best case scenario for the Angels here. They throw all the money they possibly can. We got three more years to try to build this up. This is our guy. He can recover from that arm, set back up, get back into free agency. I don't see, how do you get the money

if you have a torn UCL that we were talking about before? Why not return on a mutual agreed out after two or three years on this? This is the only scenario I could have ever imagined that he would return to the Angels is something like this. My thing is that any team is still gonna offer him He can go to any team and they'll say, we'll give you opt-outs after every single year. Like, you can have whatever you want.

That's fair. The opt-ups. 150 million over three years, someone might do that, you know? Yeah. Does he, yeah. You know what's so crazy about all this is I started this saying, I was, I'm an injury pessimist, right? And I had this whole thing lined up about how I was going to say, it looks like Shohayotani's body is kind of failing him at this point.

And, you know, he's a human after all, right? Because what he's attempting to do is superhuman, right? Like, we've never seen this before. That was going to be the gist of the conversation. But then when I saw when he was in the lineup in game too, I was like, oh, we don't need to have that conversation. Way to frame it all around you, Frank. I've got it.

I've got it. I wanted everyone to know how accurate my pre-injury take once. O'Tonnie, for what it's worth, he took a month off in 2019, 2018, his rookie season after he tore his UCL. Didn't hit or pitch for that month. Came back and was a better hitter after coming back. I do think he tried to pay. Am I remembering correctly?

He tried to pitch through the, yeah, he tried to pitch through the elbow strain. Came back at September. Yeah, I don't know. It's, well, they said it's a partially torn UCL, so maybe he'll just be able to hit the rest of the way and just wear a brace on it and he'll be fine. But they did say it's unclear he'll have surgery. If he's destined for free agency, why would he do that? I mean, I guess technically the angels are still in the running,

and maybe he feels an obligation to that. But, like, they're not going to make playoffs with Trout back on the IL and show Hey, Otani, unavailable to pitch. I mean, that's the other thing that gets hidden here is Mike Trout went on back on the IL as well. I just can't get over, and maybe I'm overblowing it, but just the idea that there's no scenario I'm like, oh, that was, like, cool management of the Angels. Like, whatever you did. You knew before the game and you'd send them out there.

You didn't do it until after. It seems very, it just feels very dangerous with how they were playing with the greatest baseball player we've seen. You know, like it's very, very loose and willing. I mean, it's crazy. It might be a situation where there's just not that much risk to. I don't understand how bodies work. So it might just be that like UCLs aren't particularly necessary for hitting. You know?

I don't know. Most three letter. An acronym to part of the body usually are important. Yeah. He throws the opposite hand that he hits, which I think. Yeah. Well, it's his, it is his lead arm. Right, but the top, like, the predominant hand is predominant, whether you're hitting or pitching.

It's, you, you know, the top hand generates most of the power on the swing. Yahoo pitcher only Otanis have to be just wanting to put their head through a wall right now. Just want to re-throw out the thing I've hated the most all time is the, the singular positioned Otani is out. absolutely ruined. I have Otani in a league that is dual and I have them in both. Scott White League in another place and I can move him in between and as brutal as the pitching side is, at least I did have that option. You only have that pitching side. That stinks. The latest tweet from Jeff Passon, just basically confirming what we already know, but Choheyotani has a tear in his UCL. Angels GM Perry Manassian told reporters in Anaheim, it is still unclear.

He said whether it will require surgery. He will not pitch the rest of the season. Otani had Tommy John surgery in October 2018. The elbow continues to be the worst. Just a quick prediction, we obviously don't know right now. I'll just go around the horn. I'll start with Scott. Do you think that Shohei Otani will continue to hit this season? We don't know.

Again, this is just your prediction. My guess is yes. I would advise him as his agent not to, and maybe that'll win out. Towers? Yeah. And I would guess so. And one thing that I will point out is, this is still the same,

I guess it's a different leadership group, Billy Appler was a GM back in the mid-2010s, but the Angels had a period where they like really tried to have their young pitchers not have Tommy John surgery. Otani was part of that in 2017, but I remember Andrew Heaney had partially torn UCLA that he tried to rest and do the PRP injections. I want to say,

gosh, I don't know who the other. There was another one in that period. I can't remember his name, but he was like looking like he was going to be a big deal. Was it Gary Richards? Yeah, that was that. Yeah. So they did have an organizational philosophy for a period of trying to have guys. And then, you know, we saw maybe some of that with, I'm blanking on the name now.

But like it might be a situation where they try to, well, it might not be. their choice, I guess, since he's a free agent. But it's the kind of thing where, like, it might be see if it heals on its own or with rehab and treatment over the next four months, five months, ramp up for next season and if, you know, see what happens there. But obviously with his free agency, that throws a whole different wrinkle into it. That's, uh, gosh, I don't know. Yeah, thanks for the great news, towers.

Yeah, thanks for the great appearance. By the way, I say partially. I think he plays partially, and I think when it is clear, which it is getting pretty clear, that the angels are not going to be vying, he and his advisement, he will be out. You can't do this. I think there's a possibility he doesn't at all. But while you have that opportunity, you may go, I see a very slim chance that he finishes out what we care about for fantasy baseball.

I doubt we see the totality of that season. There are, what, nine games back at this point? point. Yeah. I'm in May September. This might be done. Yeah. All right.

Well, Towers, you sticking around or are you hopping off? No, I'm going to go. Is there any other news you have? Get out of here. Nope, nope. Any other injuries you want to announce? No, no. I don't think there's anything else.

Jackson Smith and Jigba's fractured wrist. All right, you got to go. Yeah. Bye guys. See you later, man. All right. Well, let's talk about some other waiver wire pitchers here from Wednesday. We spoke about Cole Reagan's. He is at the top of the list. Obviously,

there's a lot of information, so we'll just try and get through everything here for the rest of this podcast. The three names I have written down here, Seth Lugo, back-to-back, scoreless outings. He was facing the Miami Marlins, six shot-out endings with four strikeouts for him. And outside of that one eight-earned run start, Seth Lugo has still been pretty good. I know, obviously, that was a really bad start, though. Dean Kramer has turned in three straight quality starts. The random number generator strikes again, six shot-out endings. with five strikeouts for him. And I think we need to see more.

I'm not saying he's an ad yet. But Luis Severino put up his first scoreless outings since June 24th. He went six and two-thirds shutout innings, one hit, two walks, two strikeouts against the nationals. Scott, how would you rank this group? Lugo, Dean Kramer, and Luis Severino.

I would rank them Lugo, Dean Kramer, and Luis Severino. You're right about about Lugo, how he's given up two run runs or fewer in six of his last seven starts, but the one was the eight run outing, as you pointed out, Frank. So that makes for a 357 ERA during that seven-start stretch, where it's been mostly terrific. And that's where I think, this is an example of how the sort of the randomness we're seeing within the pitcher ranks this year, the randomness.

number generator effect where like anybody on any day is susceptible to just a total blow-up start. This is an example of how I think you're feeling the effect of that more in a roto league because it makes for a not-so-great ERA. Just one bad start like that makes for a not-so-grade ERA over a great stretch. Where Lugo, I mean, if you have Lugo and a head to points league especially, like you're you're thinking he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. And like Kramer's whole season is representative of that as well because he still has an ERA well over four.

But there have been a lot of terrific starts like this, the random number generator, as you point out, Frank, throwing six shutout innings against the Blue Jays. Like nobody should bat an eye at that because Kramer has had so many starts like that while also mixing in these dreadful starts. Yes, indeed. Seth Lugo, by the way, looks like he's in line for two starts next week against the Giants and the Cardinals and Dean Kramer. If you are looking for a one-star streamer, perhaps in a deeper league, he is home against the White Sox next week, which seems like it would be a pretty good matchup. But Severino, we need to see more. I get that. He's in line for two starts next week.

We're not starting him. But I will say this, that if he looks good in two starts next week, and that makes three good starts in a row, then I think maybe we look to pick him back up after that. So let's see what Luis Severino could do next week. In a deeper league, just wanted to mention the name Zach Thompson. He pitches for the Cardinals. He's a lefty, and he was at the Pirates on Wednesday,

five innings, two runs with five strikeouts in that one. and he's been solid this year, 386 ERA. The whip is high, but mostly as a reliever, 11.3K per 9, a 48% ground ball rate. It's kind of interesting. So in deeper leagues, he's a name to, let's watch, let's see where it goes. He's only RP eligible on CBS as of now.

Again, the name there is Zach Thompson. Let's slide over to some waiver wire hitters. We talk about Kerry Carpenter every day. This is just a reminder. He needs to be rostered in every league, 100%, even in three outfits. other leagues. One for four with a grand slam on Wednesday, his 20th home run of the season. And now in the month of August, Kerry Carpenter is hitting 368 with nine homers and a 1211 OPS.

He's 72% rostered seven games next week, all against right-handed pitching. It doesn't get better. That's what I was about to say. I was going to say, I mean, the split, by the way, against Ritey's 18 of his 20 homers have come against Ritey so far this year, hitting 296. He is just an, this is like the Jorge Soler, Josh Lowe type of split you play. You get those righties. You go Kerry Carpenter and you feel great. And as I said for Cole Regans, the same also goes for Carrie Carpenter in that his team, the Tigers have arguably the best hitting matchups from next week through the end of season over the next five weeks.

All right, let's rank some third baseman, free agent third baseman. Kibrian Hayes went two for five with his ninth. home run and in 18 games since returning from the IL, he's batting 288 with four home runs and a 94 mile per hour average exit velocity. He's hitting more fly balls. He's pulling the ball more than he ever has. So I think it's pretty interesting right now for Cabrion Hayes. Royce Lewis went one for five with his fifth home run. He actually hit it off of Corbyn Burns in that game. And Wilmer Flores, it's like one of these names is not like the other young guys, some upside. And then Wilmer Flores. but he's having a huge second half.

He went two for four with his 18th home run. And so far, after the All Star break, batting 3.47 with 10 home runs and a 1087 OPS. Welsh, how would you rank these three? Hayes, Royce Lewis, Wilmer Flores. Oh, man, I mean, Wilmer is boring but fun. Like, he gets it done. He's just like a get it done guy. He is not remotely as fun as these other two.

Like you said, one thing is not like the other. Key Brian Hayes' turnaround has been pretty exciting. I mean, I always want to root for him. He's one of those guys with, you know, the very sexy, pretty baseball savant page that the results don't end up working. He doesn't whiff a bunch. He hits the ball really hard.

His barreling has been a problem. Though he's been, you know, good in August. He's got four homers. It's the most he's had in any given month. The stolen bases just went away. So I tend to think, I mean, obviously you can chase in different directions. I feel like the upside plays a little bit more on Royce Lewis, especially as playing time goes.

So I'm going to rank them. Oof. Royce Lewis. I might actually go Wilmer Flores and then Key Brian Hayes. I think that's how I'm going to do it. Scott, same order for you? Yeah, I think so. Worth noting, you mentioned flyball rate of almost 50%

better pool rate than ever for Kibrian Hayes. That's just over the 18 games since he returned. And we've seen hitters fake that over short stretches before. I would still bet on those regressing to the mean. Yeah, we're looking at you, Yandy Diaz, for, someone who's faked us out with the ground ball rate and the fly ball rate in the past. Adam Duval heating back up. He went two for four with his 14th home run. He has homered in three straight. He's 37% rostered. Scott, would you take Adam Duval over any of these three names that we've talked

about recently. Tommy Fam, Eddie Rosario, Say a Suzuki. I would take him over Tommy Fan, but that's it. I prefer Rosario and Suzuki to Duval. Okay. A name in deeper league, Josh Rojas, he's kind of getting hot here for the Mariners, three for four with his ninth stolen base. And over his last four games, he has nine hits with one homer, seven run scored, and three steals. He is 12% rostered.

He has second and third base eligibility. Six games next week, three lefties on the schedule. So it's kind of like I'm excited about what he's doing in a deeper league, but the schedule, I don't think it's going to be very good for Josh Rojas next week. Let's quickly run through some news and notes. outside of the biggest news, maybe ever on this podcast. Mike Trout is being placed in the aisle, which we mentioned earlier. Yordaun Alvarez has missed two straight after slamming his left index finger in a door.

Dusty Baker is hopeful that Yordaun Alvarez will return on Thursday. Joe Ryan is likely to return Saturday against the Angels. He's been out since August 3rd with a left groin strain. Kenley Jansen left Wednesday night after recording just one out with, did they announce what injury it was? I saw him kind of limping off the field. Hamstring? Yeah, that makes sense.

He was kind of favoring. Tightness is what they're calling it. Yeah, he was favoring one of his legs. Josh Winkowski. How's his UCL? That's what we care about that. Let's hope that it's A-OK. Josh Winkowski would eventually pick up the save for the Red Sox.

So if anything happens to Kenley, that probably would be Chris Martin, if we're being honest. O'Neill Cruz has shut down his running progression due to soreness in his surgically repaired left ankle. And while it would be awesome to see Cruz again this season, I don't think it makes much sense for the pirates to risk it. I mean, if he gets back, he gets back, that's fine. But they're clearly going to play this pretty cautious with O'Neill Cruz.

South Relic has missed three straight due to right handstring soreness. His MRI came back clean and should be considered day to day. Nolan Gorman is expected to be activated on Friday. He's been out the past few weeks with a back injury. Ryan Pepio will be called up to start Thursday against the Guardians. and Scott was pretty excited about him if you listen to yesterday's podcast Ryan Pepio, 19% rostered

could be out there even in some deep release. Jose Ibrahim was activated off the IL and batting sixth in the Astros lineup Wednesday night. Jack Flaherty said he does not know when he'll make his next start due to General Soros. John... Yeah.

That dastardly general soreness. When will his reign of terror end? Someday. Hey, one note I wanted to throw in on the Abraeu side, Yanir Diaz, catcher DH, three hits tonight. I know a lot of people kind of get that worry of what's going to go on with Yanar Diaz,

but he was in the lineup. He was getting hits again, and it's just going to be really hard to take him out, Abraeu or not. Yeah, I'm starting to feel that way too. Yesterday we were kind of worried about Abraeu returning. I think that they'll just find a way, you know,

give Martine Maldonado a day off. They'll play Yorda on Alvarez in left field one day. They'll give Jose Abraeu a day off here and there. I think they're going to find a way still to get 100%. agree with you. I meaner Diaz's bat in the lineup. John Means will shift his minor league rehab assignment from double A to AAA and make his fourth rehab start on Friday. Looks like he's

close to returning and is 22% rostered if you're looking to stash. Stone Garrett nasty injury Wednesday night. He was trying to scale right field in Yankee Stadium and he like twisted his ankle. It looked pretty nasty. He actually had to get carted off the field. So we hope you're all right or speedy recovery there. Bad timing for a guy who had been passed over for chances in the past and it's getting kind of old to get future chances. So that's a real shame. Yeah, it is.

And last but not least, Padres Reliever, Robert Suarez was ejected for the use of an illegal foreign substance. He will be suspended 10 games. Let's take our final break, I guess if you're listening on the podcast side of things. And when we return, we will talk about some of the leftovers here from Wednesday night, right after this.

All right, let's talk about some. Pitching leftovers. First up, actually we have the good, the bad, and the ugly here, and you'll find out in just a second. The good, Kevin Gosman, a tough luck loser. That's not the good, but his performance was good. Six innings, two runs, eight strikeouts to one walk at the Orioles. His previous five starts, ERA just over four.

He was, you know, scuffling a bit, I guess you could say. But this was a good start here for Gosman. Charlie Morton, he's back. Was dead, may never die. Back-to-back starts with double-digit strikeouts, both against New York teams, the Yankees and the Mets. And against the Mets in this one, seven shutout innings, two hits, one walk,

11 strikeouts with 19 swinging strikes for Charlie Morton. Notice the past who starts, he has been throwing his cutter more. I don't think it's necessarily a good pitch, but it's a different look, and maybe it helps his other stuff play up. Scott, anything to add here on Charlie Morton and Kevin Gosman. I mean, how fitting is it that Charlie Morton has two amazing, like legitimately amazing starts, like the kind we'd come to expect from Charlie Morton

prior to last year. Right at the moment, I decide there's nothing more to see there. I mean, the very next start after I say that, after keeping the faith on Charlie Morton for nearly two years, I finally say I'm out and he does this. Back-to-back double-digit strikeout efforts, how much is it the cut? Cutter, how much is it that the RPM on his curveball, these last two starts have been up between 50 to 100 RPM.

I mean, it's already a high RPM curveball, but even higher, seems like he's snapping that off with a little more conviction. I think more than anything, it's just it's that he's walked a combined three in those two starts. For the year, he's at 4.3 walks per nine. And last year, when Morton was a disappointment, it was 3.3 walks per nine. So it's gone from, you know, good control to bad control to very bad control this year. And, you know, now he's finding his form at just the right time, it seems. And I bring up the thing about him, him, like, getting back on truck right when I give up on him, because I feel like that happens a lot.

I'll be either in on a guy or out on the guy because the data looks a certain way and I'll eventually reach a breaking point and say, oh, I guess the data is just wrong and change my tune. And like that's when it all changes. So I don't know what that says about how I should approach that in the future, maybe just be a little more resolute in my conviction, regardless if it's a long-term trend or not. of the player opposing the data.

I don't know. We'll see how things ultimately end up with Charlie Morton. Maybe this just turns out to be a two-star blip. But a little frustrated by it, not going to lie. In the words of the Philadelphia 76ers, Scott, trust the process. Yeah. We got to stick with it, man. For how many years?

Yeah, how many. So we spoke about the good. Let's talk about the bad. Andrew Abbott has looked a little bit more human over his last five starts. He was at the Angels where he allowed three runs, Over four innings. He walked four. He did have five strikeouts in this one.

The last five starts, a 646 ERA and a 173 whip for Andrew Abbott. Chris Sale. Another mixed bag here. He allowed four runs over five innings. Tough matchup against the Astros. Did have nine strikeouts and 19 swinging trikes. So obviously, that's good. The fastball velocity was back up.

We were very worried about that in his previous start. He threw his slider a ton in this one, 55% usage show. Really a mixed bag. I guess it was probably a little bit more worrisome for for Andrew Abbott here. Welsh, any thoughts on these two moving forward? Yeah, I'm a little bit more worried about Abbott. I feel like we've got a relative gauge on the inconsistencies that is sale. This is actually like the recipe of something with sale that I'm like, well, this is great. You know, there's a bunch of whiffs on that slider.

He was 50% 55% slider 44. 44 sliders he threw to 24 fastballs. Obviously that could go wrong when in the green. scheme of where he is, he's going to get those strikeouts. But I think we know the inconsistencies that are there. Abbott, we've talked a lot about him getting away with some stuff. He's been one of those guys that feels like the stuff has played up and above. And it looks like at least, you know, if you're comparing this to this most recent start, usage looks about the same. But he's getting hit harder and it looks like the change up is getting hit a bit harder. On the season, the change has had an EV of 86 and a half miles per hour.

This game, it was rocking around 99. It's getting less whiffs. It's less effective. You know, he's not having the command. And we've talked a lot about the release point as well. I think we might be dipping a little bit into that just as he's building innings that he hasn't got before. This is that theoretical proverbial wall that's going on.

He also has had in his last four starts, he had a couple of clean walk ones, but he had a four and a five walk game. I think that's not a good look for a guy that's going to be built off of his stuff playing up on command. So the change of is falling apart just a tiny bit. He's getting hit harder. We're in a little bit more of a worrisome state with Abbott. I'm more worried about him in my expectations than I am with what I know from sale. I do have to point out with Abbott.

Like, he's still for his season long ERA is still like a point lower than all his ERA estimators. So it may just be all the. all the concerns that we raised about Abbott when he was first called up and pitching well, it may just be that they're finally catching up to him. Yeah, he's not getting away with that stuff. That's a better way to say what I was saying. He was getting away with a lot, which might have been due to similar release points on pitches, which he does a good job of, and that might be slowly waning a little bit.

And like I said, when the pitches are less effective, I'll allow the change up here. You know, the whiff rates going down. It's getting hit harder. everything else just becomes less effective. And it does look like both Andrew Abbott and Chris Sale are in line for two starts next week, but we'll save that for tomorrow's podcast when we preview week 23. Is it week 23? Is that what we're up to Scott? It is week 23.

There you go, boom. Lastly, the ugly pitching performance. Corbyn Burns. Last time out, I gave him a compliment. I said, hey, look at the overall numbers. It actually turned out to be a pretty good year. And then what happens? He gets rocked.

By the Minnesota Twins, he gave up six runs over six innings. He allowed three home runs in this one, 10 hard hits, 91.4 average exit velocity. This was the sixth start in his career with three or more home runs allowed. And just, I think, trying to steer this towards next season, this is my early take. I guess it could change. But as of now, if Corbyn Burns is still, let's say a top three-round player next year,

I don't think I'm going to be in. I think I'm going to need more of a discount. Just some worrisome trends of the walk rate going up, the swinging strikes, really dropping way down this year compared to years past. Scott, any thoughts here on Corbyn Burns for this year and next, I guess? Yeah, he's not the standout among aces that he used to be.

I mean, the drop and strikeout rate is the clearest indicator of that. You know, is he really that much better than Zach Gallen? I have my doubts. it's going to be interesting to see when people will decide is appropriate to go for that third pitcher, whoever it is. Because in some order, Garrett Cole and Spencer Strider, I think, are shaping up to be the clear one and two.

Who deserves to go third? And how much later than those two does he deserve to go? I will reference Rob D. Pietro, who is a buddy of mine. He's a NFBC player. They're doing a way too early draft for next year. And look, I don't, don't, I'm not telling everyone to do this. It's obviously like way too early to do this. That's why they call it that.

But they did the first seven rounds of a 15 team league. Strider was the SP1. Garrick Cole was the SP2. And Kevin Gosman was the third pitcher off the board. And that was about two, four, six, eight, nine picks after Garrett Cole. So I guess that would be my choice. Yeah. The name, as if right now.

Where did Burns go? Because I know you're talking about this. I think we might be giving a little bit too much credit to this season. I don't, I mean, you're talking about him maybe being three. I don't know if he's going to be top ten. I mean, the way that we're shaping up here, I'm not sure you can jump into that pool with, I mean, I guess some of that middleish tier, not quite the glob, but the upper middle tier, they kind of has wavered a little bit. The Julio Urius has don't exist anymore and the brain of woodrifts don't exist. So, you know, maybe I'm being dramatic about it. Maybe he's right outside the top five, but I don't think he's in the top five. He went at SP5 in the third round. Again, this is, look, it's way too early for a reason, but I don't know. I think if you look at it, you'll struggle to decide who else deserves to be in the top five. He might be ranked that way, but. Yeah, Luis Castillo went ahead of him in that way to really draft. But he might be ranked as like a top 10 guy, but I just think if you have to use a third round pick

to get him. I probably won't have any Corbyn Burns next year. One note on Terrick Scouble, who he allowed four earned runs in his start on Wednesday. He's allowed four earned runs in three of his last five starts. He's been a little bit disappointing. I'm telling you to keep the faith. He's up to 80% rostered, so it's not like he's a waiver wire pitcher. He's not really out there. But the K to walk ratio looks amazing, amazing.

A 54% ground ball rate, the FIP, the X FIP, swinging strike rate. Everything looks awesome for Terik Scouble. So if you held on this long, keep the faith. I think better days are coming. Good matches for him down the stretch, and I'm most encouraged just that it was back-to-back six-inning starts after having none before then. Yep.

Let's quickly hit some hitting leftovers here. You see me wearing the powder blue Phillies jersey. This is, does have Bryce Harper's name on the back, and the guy is heating up. Two for four with his 12th home run, including a three-run game-tying home run off Camillo DeVal in the ninth inning of that game. He has homered in three straight.

He's got five home runs in his past seven games, having a huge August, and we are five first base starts away from getting first base eligible Bryce Harper for next season. So let's make that happen, because obviously that is much better than U-Till only. Teoska Hernandez went two-for-four with a walk and his sixth stolen base. He is having a bounce-back August. Good news for him. Willie Adama is two-for-five with his 21st home run. He has three homers in his past four games.

It just feels like it's too little too late, right? for Willie Adamas. It's it's been he's batting 214 it's been a pretty big letdown year. I think but like you pointed out though the 257 average in August with the homers like he is a he's a streaky inconsistent guy that I would be willing at this point in the season to pull that trigger really quick if you've got some dead space on your middle infield shorts up if somebody had cut him but that might not be to the discussion right now. It's a little too late because everything is probably jumbled up for him but there's big power big RBI opportunities.

if he were sitting out there and you were looking to make a move, you could buy the hot streak right now. But it's not a dynasty question or anything. Big welcome back to Anthony Santander, who went two for four with a double dong. He's up to 23 home runs on the year. Marcel Lozuna continues his Torrid August,

where he had his 28th home run on Wednesday with 4 RBI and in the month batting 363 with six homers and an 1121 OPS. Let me give you the updated numbers since the end of April. Let's do it. Prozuna. 293, 26 homers, and OPS around 925.

This guy a week ago, he was available in a third of CBS Sports League still. I'm glad that's corrected itself. But you missed out a lot on a lot of production in the meantime. Certainly have. The call to the bullpen. A few updates here for the Cardinals.

Jojo Romero pitched the final two innings. He did give up a run, but picked up his third save. He's only 7% rostered. So if you're in a deeper league and desperate for saves, I think Jojo Romero is a name. The Cubs, Adbra Alzali, struck out two for his 19th save. For the White Sox, Gregory Santos,

entered in the eighth with a runner on first and a two-run lead. He did get out of that. And then they kept him in for the ninth inning, where he gave up three runs, took his third-blown save. On the other side for the Mariners, Andres Munoz, he got the bottom of the ninth. He had that one-run lead. He gave up a run on two hits

That's his third blown save. He's been kind of shaky here since Paul Seawald was traded, and I think Matt Brash is a sneaky pickup in category leagues right now. He's 34% rostered. For the Twins, Yohan Duron pitched a clean ninth with the game tied. He came out for the 10th. He gave up two unearned runs and took the loss in that one. For the Royals, Carlos Hernandez recorded the final five outs.

Did not allow a base runner for his third save. He is 10% rostered, so widely available. For the Giants, Camillo DeVall, entered the ninth with a three-run lead. He gave up that game-tying home run to Bryce Harper. DeVall did not record a single out. And I think last I checked, I have him in a points league on CBS. I think he has close to negative 20 fantasy points on the week. Camillo Doval.

So it's, if you're playing in a playoff matchup right now, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I have to drop the Sopranos. Oh! I love it. Yeah, he's not. up to minus 18 on the week for Camilla Doval. For the Phillies, Craig Kimberle entered in the 10th ending with the game tied with the

Manfred Man on second base. He gave up two runs and took his fourth loss. For the Rockies, Justin Lawrence entered in the ninth with a two-run lead. He gave up two runs, took his sixth blown save and the Rockies would eventually lose in extra innings. No surprise there. And I already mentioned earlier with the Red Sox, Josh Winkowski picked up his third save of the year.

To stream or not to stream, we will start. start with Thursday. And I think I would say Andrew Heaney at the Twins and Ryan Pepio at the Guardians question mark. I second.

Very risky. Both recommended with even less gusto than usual. There's never much gusto, except with Cole Reagan's today. Boy, we don't have to keep tooting that horn. Yeah, I think those are my favorite two, too, though I'd be hard-pressed to actually use them anywhere.

On Friday We are I think Kyle Hendricks at the Pirates is fine Brandon Fott versus Cincinnati Just Brandon Fott out there Going no hits on the Padres No big deal

Strikeouts I think that's a play Okay I think it's risky But he's he's looked much better Since returning he has He looked very very good Did you mention Christopher Sanchez

I didn't But he probably should be in this conversation Would you rather Sanchez against the Cardinals or Fott versus the Reds? Sanchez against the Cardinals. Yeah, I'll go with Fott versus the Reds on that one. It's close. I think Sanchez has the higher floor. You know, Fott probably has more blow-up potential.

Probably has more strikeout potential too. We haven't seen a blow-up from Sanchez yet, have we? No, I don't think so. I would probably rank them Hendricks, Sanchez, and Fott in that order for me. We're going to wrap there for the Welsh and Scotty. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into Fingham. fantasy baseball today, both live streams and of course the podcast. It's been a pretty

crazy night. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify and we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. No.