Fantasy Baseball Today - Six Burning Questions, Jordan Westburg Replacements & More! (8/1 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 1, 2024

Nick Lodolo got crushed by the Cubs (2:30). ... Framber Valdez is racking up the whiffs (8:47). ... Logan Webb threw a five-hit shutout (14:35)! ... Jackson Holliday returned with a grand slam (17:45)! ... Jordan Westburg has a fractured hand (23:50). Who are the top replacements? ... News (31:23): Gerrit Cole could return this weekend. ... Paul Sewald is on shaky ground right now (35:00). ... Let's get into our burning questions, starting with Pablo Lopez (41:15). ... We got rough outings from Cristopher Sanchez and Clayton Kershaw (50:31). ... Is Colton Cowser must-add again (54:21)? ... Do any of these waiver wire pitchers matter (1:00:30)? .... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (1:02:36). 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

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. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Welcome back to Jackson Holiday and welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Thursday, August 1st. It is crunch time. Two months left in the season.

I am Frank Stanfield, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, Jordan Westberg has a fractured hand. That means we need replacements. Plus, we had some more rough pitcher outings, six burning questions, and much more. But let's jump in. Can you believe it? Wow! All right, we will start with Scott.

One of those rough pitcher outings is someone you are going to highlight. Yeah, it's Nicola Dolo, who was really bad against the Cubs, gave up eight earners. runs on 11 hits and 5 and 2 thirds innings. And it just seemed like this was bound to happen at some point. He has not looked right for a long time now, ever since coming back from a strained groin in mid-May, long time ago, the movement profile on his curveball has been different, the vertical movement's been down, the horizontal movement's been down, it hasn't been as effective.

And we've noted this. We've noted this for a long time. with Nicola Dolo, like, eh, something doesn't seem quite right here. But it never rose to the point of hitting the panic button because he managed to eke by in spite of it. So in 10 starts, since returning from that groin injury in mid-May, prior to this start, 10 starts, Nicola Dolo had a 351 ERA 121 whip 8.1 strikeouts per nine innings. Like not good numbers, but numbers worth having around.

And, you know, we all saw the upside from Nick. Lodolo prior to that groin injury. We've all seen the upside from him in the past. We certainly hoped for it to be, for him to discover it again. But it continues. It continues with the curveball not looking right. And now a really ugly start with the results. And I don't know what's to do with them at this point. I am not so inclined to drop them because I still love the upside. But we're going on now almost three months of him not looking right. And that doesn't mean it could have changed in an instant. He could go to work in the bullpen and figure it out.

And the curveball's totally fine from this point forward. But it's really hard to trust him right now, I guess is all I'll say. And even with a favorable matchup, I don't know that I'd be totally eager to start him. So with regards to the question of dropping him, I guess the question that I would have to ask is for who? Right? Like for Spencer Schwellenbach? He's the top guy right now. Maybe.

I mean, if that's what it took to get Schwellenbach, I think I'd do it. For Hayden Birdsong? I think he's probably next up. I wouldn't do it for either of those, by the way. No, I don't think I would either. And then, like, you look at the most added pitchers after that right now in CBS leagues. And it's Tyler Phillips definitely wouldn't do that. Robbie Ray is only available in 12% of leagues.

Yeah. Yeah. I think Gavin Williams. Simions Woods Richardson is no. Kevin Ryan probably not. I think Gavin Williams is the next up after those, those other two you mentioned. I would rank them swell and Bach birds on Gavin Williams in that order. But I wouldn't drop Nick Laudel.

for any of those three. I might Shwell and Bach, but I don't know that I would the other two. And it's, you know, it's good to get into specifics. I'm not, this isn't,

you know, it's good to get into specifics. But we've all played in leagues, generally home leagues, generally the kinds of leagues where most of the people listening, what the kind of leagues they're playing in, where just some random guy will be on waivers who's good, who's rostered almost universally.

And he just happened to get dropped in, this particular league, right? We've all experienced that. So we can't speak to every feasible scenario that exists out there. And somebody may be looking to clear a roster spot for whomever isn't worth dropping Ladolo for. I don't know. I don't know.

My confidence in him is very much shaken. Yeah. And you mentioned some of the numbers, Scott, since he first came back off the aisle, in his most recent IL stint, you know, five starts since coming back. I think it was either late June or early July. It's a 667 ERA, a 137 whip. So, yeah, this has been going on for quite some time now for Nick Ladolo. The problem for next week, he's 71% started on CBS. It looks like as of now, he's in line for two starts at the Marlins and at the Milwaukee Brewers. So what do you do? That's pretty good. One really good matchup. Yeah.

I think the Brewers are probably a decent matchup right now. Cherry out. Top. I don't know. I don't know if they're particularly good against lefties or righties. I checked earlier. They were 14th in Wobah against lefties.

The Marlins are dead last. Yeah, some middle of the back. I think I could only do it in a points league. I think so, too. You can absorb the bad starts better. I was going to bring up this point. And, you know, we've talked a lot about July with offense being up and so many pitchers

having just these blow-up starts. I think we're at a point. now in category leagues where you really need to protect your ratios. I don't think you can go out and just try and chase wins and strikeouts anymore. I understand like if those are the categories you're chasing, you don't have a choice. But if you have the option to protect your ratios, do I throw out a Nick Ladolo who's been rough even though he has two starts? He could get me 15 strikeouts, but he could also wreck my ratios. I think I would stay away and maybe just use either a really good reliever or maybe just a pitcher who's hotter right now with a better matchup,

whatever it might be. But I think we're in a zone right now with the landscape of baseball where you just have to try and protect those ratios as much as you can. Yeah, I think that's a good point. And it's always harder to make up ground in ratios. So you don't want to lose a lot in one fell swoop. But there are circumstances where you look at the standings and it's like, oh, I could make up six spots and wins rather easily or strikeouts rather easily.

And you just have to. Yeah. Be cautious about who you plug in, but yeah, you need to maximize volume where you reasonably can. And in that scenario, maybe I would risk it with Lodolo, but in the majority of scenarios, I'd rather not. All right, Chris, let's go over to you, your player of the night. My player of the night is Astro's starting pitcher Framber Valdez, who has 10 strikeouts now in three of his last five starts. That is 10 strikeouts in three of his last five starts. Three of his last four, Chris.

Three of his last four, right. To give some context to that, to get to his previous three double digit strikeout efforts, if we include the playoffs, his previous 32 starts were his last three double digit strikeout efforts. So this is a significant change in the results that Frambervaldez is generating. and it might not be a fluke because he has really prioritized his four seam, sorry, his curveball lately. He generated 15 whiffs with it. He threw the number in the month of July, I believe, is 191 sinkers compared to 181 curveballs.

Now, for some context there. In June, he threw twice as many sinkers as cutters as. curve balls. So he has basically become more or less the curveball is now his one B pitch. And it's his best swing and miss pitch. It's got like a 40% whiff rate this season. And it hasn't really led to like there are always tradeoffs in professional sports. Right. Like it's really difficult to be an elite athlete at this level. And anytime you change something, you tend to lose something along with whatever you gain. It doesn't seem to be the case for Valdez. He had in the month of July nine walks to 40 strikeouts. He had two home runs allowed. I don't know. Is this just a

new Framber Faldez that we're seeing? It might be. You mentioned the curveball how much he's used it in July. His last four starts, he's thrown at 37% of the time or more. He actually use it 45% in this start on Wednesday, which was a season high. So he's leaning on that pitch. And it was awesome. 15 whiffs, as you mentioned. So one of my burning questions for later on, I'll throw this your way, Scott. What are your thoughts on this new version of Framber Valdez?

Because he looks pretty damn good. Well, and that he's getting more strikeouts. Yeah. But I don't know. I may have kind of preferred the old version of Framber Valdez. And I'm actually pulling up here as, as Chris was talking, because I seem to remember a stretch last year where he kind of sold out for strikeouts a little more by mixing in some secondary offerings. It looks like it may have been classified as a slider last May and June, and then he kind of went back away from it.

So I don't know that it's a permanent situation anyway. I guess any take I have on Frambert Valdez is rather muted. I think he's a pretty good, uh, mid rotation guy in fantasy who you can trust to, to be available and to go deep into games. And there will be, there will be ebbs and flows and all the other categories.

But, you know, he's, I, I don't know that in the long run he's going to be that different. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, that might be right. It might just be kind of a, you know, a stretch for now. But the July numbers are great with this curveball. usage up, the strikeouts are much better.

And I've had Valdez around SP 30, seeing the way he's pitched all of July, I think this might be enough to get him, you know, closer to like the top 20 again where he was earlier in the season. Yeah, he's my SP 20, but that's not like reacting that much to this most recent stretch.

He stayed around SP 24 for me. The one thing I will say is, again, I want to focus on the lack of tradeoffs that have come from this switch. Because last year, like when he switched to that slider, what we saw was the quality of contact gets significantly worse, by far the worst of his career. 392 expected Wobah on contact last season.

For his career, it's 349. This season, it's 354. And in the month of July, when he, you know, has the 40 strikeouts, I think, his average exit velocity down to a season low 88 miles per hour. his expected Wobo Loud second lowest of any month at 286. That was before today's start. It might actually be the lowest now. Average launch angle is up a little bit, but it's only to five degrees.

So it's like he's not the extreme outlier ground ball guy that he was in the past. But again, it hasn't prioritizing the curve ball hasn't cost him anything in the way that doing that with the slider last year. did seem to. So that's why I'm pretty optimistic. Look, I don't think he's a double-digit strikeout guy every time out. I'd be surprised if he struck out a batter per inning the rest of the way. But he's a really high floor pitcher who is showing us a high ceiling. And I think that's worth getting excited.

I may have, I called a mid-rotation. That may have not been the best way to phrase it. I was thinking more like number three like a five-man starting staff he's going to be about 2.5 in that five-man starting staff. That's what I was thinking when I said mid-rotation, which is still

pretty high in the rankings. Let's get to my player of the night and that is Logan Webb who bounced back with a complete game shutout up against the Oakland A's who had been clobbering everybody in July. Five hits allowed, one walk, six strikeouts had 12 wifts on 106 pitches. And the biggest takeaway, the change-up. It was good.

Nine of his 12 whiffs came on that change-up. He leaned all the way onto that pitch, 51% usage. That was just 32% entering the start. And I mentioned the nine wifts, a 27% whiff rate. And I think that's a big story

of Logan Webb's season. I mean, that pitch has just regressed. The whiff rate is down a few percentage points this season. The quality of contact, is much, significantly worse, much worse. I mean, his expected Wobah on the change-up is up almost 100 points this season.

The average exit velocity is up from 89.6 miles per hour last year to 92.3. So it really just comes back to the change-up, which I don't think Logan Webb has had the best feel for that pitch this season, and that's why we see the numbers where they're at overall. But if this could be kind of the launching pad for him to get that change-up going again,

then I think we could still see really, really, good Logan Webb. What do you guys think? Yeah, I mean, you see it in the pitch usage, right? Last year, he led with the change up, 42% usage. This year before today's start, which he threw it like 45% of the time. 51% today, yeah. 51% of the time. Before this, he was only throwing it 32% of the time. So it was a problem for him. He's already allowed as many home runs on his change up as he had all season last year. average exit velocity is up three miles per hour on the pitch. It had been significantly worse with Ray way down. So yeah, rediscovering that pitch is kind of, I think, the path for Logan Webb to figure things out.

It doesn't necessarily mean that he has figured things out, but the one-star sample size that we're going off here, this is the best the change-up has looked in a long time, maybe since the start of the season. I will point out for Logan Webb that prior to July he had a 312 VRA and 1222 whip and I don't think anybody was that worried But it's so I have Logan Webb in a lot of spots It was very worried

It hasn't felt the same though You know it just hasn't felt as dominant as last year He hasn't gotten this many strikeouts Not that he was ever a big strikeout guy And I know I had some concerns early on When the changeup didn't look right But I don't know Those concerns had mostly gone by the wayside

and a three-start rough patch in July didn't renew them for me. I guess I'm just, I don't know, I'm just, I'm being even Stephen over here today. I guess. Scott has no takes, no spicy takes here on a Thursday. He just Scott famous to H. Brownwallers. She always has.

Logan Webb, by the way, you mentioned last three starts before this. The numbers there, 844 ERA, a 206 whip. So he was struggling quite a bit, but gets back on track here with a great start up against the, Oakland A's wanted to give a shout out, of course, to Jackson Holiday. Welcome back. One for five with his first career home run, and of course, it would be a grand slam. Three hard hits in this game, the home run, 109.2 exit velocity, 439 feet. He missed a second one and like three more RBI by like three inches. I don't know if you guys

were watching that game. No, I didn't see that. But he had one that like just snuck. It would have been like way down the left field line. He would have hit it the other way, but it was like three inches off the pole. It was very, very close to being a huge game for Jackson Holiday. Yeah, and Holiday is up to 77% rostered. Still could be out there in some shallower leagues.

Could be a Jordan Westberg replacement if you lost him, has the second base and shortstop eligibility. And Scott, where did you move Jackson Holiday up to in the rankings now that he's back up with the team because I moved them up to 17 at second base and 21 at shortstop. I don't know if that's too aggressive, not aggressive enough. It's not too aggressive.

17 at shortstop? 17 at second base, 21st at shortstop. 21st at shortstop. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's shortstop. That's a tough threshold to break into. And he was just useless when he was up before.

And it's not like he went down to AAA Jackson Holiday and set the world on fire. There was a good stretch there, some bad stretches there. When he came back from the elbow entry, he was pretty awesome. He was called right before he got called up. And so I don't have the numbers right in front of me exactly what the stat line was for the whole span of time. But I don't know. I mean, obviously this was he didn't do anything like this the first time he was up. He only got one hit.

It wasn't a home run. So it's hard not to be encouraged by. these initial results. Obviously, there's a ton of upside there. I'm looking at my shortstop rankings now. Yeah, I mean, there's kind of, it's kind of a mix of players who are performing well, but I don't love and ones who aren't performing well, but I do think are kind of good and where exactly he fits into that mix.

You probably have it about right. Yeah. So I slotted him in right behind Correa and Bichette to, injured guys that obviously were expecting much better things from when they're healthy. And then just the head of guys like Jeremy Pena, Sadan Raphael Azequel Tovar, Zach Netto,

Danes, B. Swanson, names like that. So it just, it felt like he has more upside than those guys. Yeah. I think I take him over the shed at this point. What I will say, Frank, you asked if that was too aggressive. I do not believe it was. Because I have

him, I think, 18th at shortstop and 12th at second base. Partially, that is just, I mean, who's at second base right now, right? Like, is it really like going out on a limb to move him ahead of Nolan Gorman and Luis Renhifo? And even Jose Caballero has been pretty iffy for a long time. Yeah, he absolutely should be ahead of all those. The one that was tough for me was Holiday versus Colt Keith, who's had a great July himself. Yeah, he's not real.

in that discussion for me. I've got him like maybe eight spots lower than that. So yeah. All right. All right. So that was, I haven't. So Tuesday is the day I normally update my rankings.

Tuesday was the trade deadline. I did not up by rankings. So I don't know exactly what I'm going to because I have writing responsibilities that, you know, a thorough update of the rankings takes like five, six hours. I don't know what I'm going to get around to it. I'll try to make some.

the big moves like holiday so I can participate in this discussion better. But yeah, it's, it's, I commend you guys for finding the time to do that this week. All right, before we hit our first break, big thanks to everyone watching live. We appreciate you for being here. Make sure to hit the like button and subscribe to the channel. If you haven't already, YouTube.com slash fantasy baseball today. And a reminder that you can always find FBT and our five minute podcast, FBT and 5 on Spotify. scan the QR code that will take you right to the FBT feed on Spotify. We'll take our first break and when we return, some Jordan Westberg replacements right after this.

Welcome back in news and notes and some awful news on Jordan Westberg who was diagnosed with a fractured hand after getting hit by a pitch. What else is new? Another day, someone gets hit in the hand, someone gets hit in the head. It just feels like we have someone to report on every single day. But you've got to feel for Jordan Westberg who's had a breakout season.

Brandon Hyde said that they're hoping Westberg could return before the end of the regular season, but he is without a clear timeline. I would imagine over the next couple days, maybe the next week we'll learn more about that timeline. But for now, yeah, Chris, we were talking earlier and, you know, it's kind of spread out, fractured hand. I mean, I would guess the earliest is like early to mid-September. Yeah, like looking at guys who have missed time with a fractured hand over the past. I think baseball prospectus, their database goes back,

eight seasons with the recovery dashboard. There are clusters around four weeks. And then there are clusters around two months. And so I think in the best case scenario, you're probably looking at 28 to 35 days is where you see the timetables come in. But there's a lot in the 55. to 60 day range as well.

I think there's a decent chance that his fantasy season is all but over in the same way like Ozzy Albis. You know, we're kind of assuming the same for him. Yeah. Again, that is Jordan Westberg. So we do need replacements. He was helping people out at both second base and third base. So taking a look at some second baseman in shallower leagues, we just mentioned Jackson

Holiday, who I think is probably at the top of the list. He's 77% rostered. Other names that could be out there. Xavier Edwards, 59%, Brandon Lau, 68%. Luis Garcia, who's actually been a pretty big standout in Roto Category League this year, 61%. Scott, how would you rank those names, both in Roto and head-to-head points?

Again, it's Holiday, Edwards, Brandon Lowe, Luis Garcia. I don't know that I have strong opinions here, but I think I'm going to go with Brandon Lowe because he's been so good since returning from injury. So I think he's got to be number one. I'd probably gamble on holiday two there in most scenarios because I do think the upside is limited for somebody like Xavier Edwards. But then I think I'd give him the edge over Luis Garcia

because of the obvious platoon concerns there. So LOW, Holiday, Edwards, Garcia. And if you need third base replacements, Mark Vientos, 75% rostered, Michael Bush, 72%, Jake Berger, 54% and A. Eugenio Suarez, 44% rostered. Vientos, by the way, hit another home run here on Wednesday, his 16th, and so did Jake Berger, his 15th home run, and he just wrapped up a great July, betting 287 with eight home runs and a 963 OPS. Chris, how would you rank Viantos, Bush, Burger, and Eugenio Suarez? I think in that order. I could see a case for Suarez ahead of Berger. He's also been

arguably even hotter than Berger in the month of July, but was arguably even worse before that. But I think Vientos is the clear top option there. And in deeper league, some names that could be out there in, you know, 15 teamers, things like that, Gavin Lux, 23% rostered, Miguel Vargas, 11%, and Ahmed Rosario, 23%, hoping that he gets playing time as long as Max Muncie remains on the IL there with the Dodgers. I think, I mean, we haven't, Scott might have said the name earlier, but Kobe Mayo.

We have to, like, they, who did they call up some guy that they just traded for? Soto is his last name. Levon, yeah. Yeah. They just traded for,

I don't, like, there's nothing to go on here, right? There's no reporting that says the Kobe Mayo is coming up or, or that he's imminent, but this guy has played like 137 games. at AAA now.

He's got like a 930 OPS across two seasons at AAA. He's 22 years old. Like, the only reason to keep him down at this point is because there might be some service time. I saw, I don't know exactly what it was, but maybe they can get that extra year service time. I can't say that's not their thinking.

In fact, I think it probably is their thinking. But, yeah, it's preserving his rookie L. his rookie status for next year. If they wait until the last week of August, they preserve his rookie status for next year.

And that opens up. They can get additional draft pick. Yeah. And it's very complicated how that works. It has to do with how they place in various awards voting the first however many years of their careers. Yeah.

It's just like the idea one of like, oh, we can get an extra year of control. seven years from now, or maybe we get an extra draft pick four years. Like, it just seems like this is a team that's one of the handful of teams with a legitimate chance to win a World Series this year. Well, that's the thing. Just call them up. And they are scuffling right now.

The Orioles are struggling. Yeah, they're only a half game up on the Yankees. Right. They could lose the division of the Yankees. And it seems like an extra two and a half weeks from Kobe Mayo could change that. So that's, that's like, I don't know what people expect. GMs to do, like, if they're incentivized to do a certain thing, they're going to do that thing, obviously. And it used to be that the incentive was to wait until late April to call up the prospect.

People didn't like that. They want prospects on the opening day roster. So it will be changed just so the incentive is now to call them up last week of August. There's always going to be some kind of incentive. And why wouldn't they act on it? I mean, if you were in their position, you probably would too, except that in the case of the Orioles. They could lose the division on this decision. It's just so pennywise, pound foolish, right?

Like, we're not even, it's not even like it's a first round pick they get. They're like compensation round. It's like a sandwich. Yeah, it's like maybe the 37th pick in the draft in the best case scenario, right? Like, that's not nothing. That's a pretty valuable pick, I would say. It's not nothing, but that just got traded for Hunter Harvey. Might be future closer Hunter Harvey to you.

It might be. Right, but like, is the difference between winning your division and not Hunter Harvey? No, that's where it gets to be. So the only other thing that I think people are not accounting for in their outrage, if that's what you want to call it, Mayo's not a good defender. I was going to bring up this exact thing. Not that they deserve the benefit of the doubt, like any GMs, but everything I've read is, yeah, the defense is not good. I mean, there was a time where Nolan Aronado was considered not a great defender in the minor.

So these things can change, but they may not think he's major league caliber at third base. And third base is kind of a critical defensive position. And it may be that Kobe Mayo's future is ultimately at first base. I don't know. I don't know if that's reason enough to do it. But that may be the unspoken reason here. All right, we've got to move on. Garrett Cole played catch without issue on Wednesday and is slated to throw a bullpen on Friday.

If all goes well, Cole will start this weekend against the Blue Jays. Likely that would be on Sunday. Mookie Betz is participating in batting practice and could return in a couple weeks. Fernando Tatis remains without a clear timeline for a return, though he is expected to play again this season. GM, A.J. Perler had this to say, quote, we expect him to be back exactly when. That's something we've still got to get more information from our doctors,

but every report I've gotten has been really positive. Okay, that's kind of open-ended. doesn't give us much. Really, it's nothing. Yeah. That tells us nothing. Brandon Nimmo exited after fouling a ball off his left foot. And manager Carlos Mendoza said Nimmo is day to day after x-rays came back negative.

Christian Yellich said it is not 100% decided that he will undergo off-season back surgery. And if he does, he does not believe this will affect his availability for the start of the 2025 season. Luis Ranjifo exited after re-injuring his wrist. He missed time earlier in July with that same injury. Joe Musgrove will make a rehab appearance on Sunday. Musgrove threw 40 pitches in a two-inning simulated game on Tuesday and has now been cleared for game action. He's been out since late May due to a bone spur

and a bone bruised in his right elbow. Kenley Jansen apparently tweaked his lower back during Wednesday's game against the Mariners. Tristan Kossis started his rehab assignment at AAA on Tuesday, and if all goes well the rest of this week, the Red Sox do want to see him play back-to-back game, in the field. So hopefully that happens this week. I wouldn't be surprised if he's back as soon as next week. Again, that is Tristan Kassas. Available in 21% of CBS Fantasy Leagues. So definitely go out

and make sure in a shallow league that he's not available because he can definitely be a difference maker down the stretch. And he probably will be up. He'll probably be up just as early as Kobe Mayo, if not earlier. And I have more confidence in Tristan Koss's performance. right away. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Stali Marche will report to single A Monday to begin a rehab assignment. Dave Roberts said Max Muncie, quote, crossed a hurdle after visiting a chiropractor and is scheduled to start taking swings on Thursday. Muncie has been out since mid-May due to an oblique strain. Lance Lynn was placing the aisle with right knee inflammation. Andre Palante will remain in the Cardinals' rotation. You say Kikuchi will make his Astros debut Friday against the Rays.

Frankie Montas will make his Brewer's debut Friday against the Nationals. Michael Lorenzen will make his Royals debut Saturday against the Tigers. Alec Marsh was optioned back to AAA to make room for Lorenzen. Paul Blackburn will make his Mets debut Friday against the Angels. Tyler McGill has been moved to the bullpen. And the Marlins option Connor Norby to AAA, which I also read could be a service time move on their part. No surprise, I guess. Edward Cabrera is expected to make his next start Sunday after

testing out his, after testing on his left knee came back clean. Jorge Polanco was removed from the game due to knee issues. The Braves optioned Nacho Alvarez back to AAA and started Whitmerfield at second base on Wednesday. Whit went one for three with a walk, a steel, and a run scored. Deeper leagues, 15 teamers if he's out there, he could matter with Merrifield. The Braves also optioned Bryce Elder to AAA after a strong start on Tuesday and the Dodgers optioned Justin Robleski back to AAA as well.

We don't usually get to closures this early and I realize we're like halfway through the podcast but I did want to get to Paul Seawald earlier than usual. You want to get to Seaworld? Yes, I am going to Orlando next week so maybe I can make that happen. Paul Seawald, struggling.

Got the ninth inning with a three run lead. He gave up two runs on a walk and three hits and he, I don't know, I got that wrong. Maybe it was three walks and a hit. Something like that. Well, it wasn't a good outing regardless. He only recorded one out. He was relieved by Ryan Thompson, who got the final two outs for his first save. And yeah, I- Three walks and a hit. Yeah. Yeah. Two runs. I listened to Tori Lavullo talk afterwards. He said his focus is on, you know, delivery and mechanics,

and they're going to talk with Paul Seawald. No decisions have been made on the closer situation, but he's been really bad. Paul Sewell entered July with a 0.54 E. It is now 439. So a really bad month. Five saves. Four blown saves. What do you guys think happens here with the D-Backs bullpen? Yeah, I mean, his fastball has been really bad this season, especially relative to last year.

Velocities down about one mile per hour. Whiff rate down seven points. Expected Woba up 80 points before today. And not a guy with a deep arsenal. He throws his fastball 64% of the time. He throws his sweeper 35% of the time. If you can do the math in your head real quick, he has thrown four changeups this season. So he really can't survive without a really good fastball.

And the skill set looks like it has just kind of collapsed since last season. The thing to keep in mind about all closers is it's 27 innings this season. Right. Like, we have seen starting pitchers go from really bad to really good in 27-inning stretches. So it's entirely possible that Paul C. Like, we're talking especially about a stretch where a month ago, his job wasn't in question. He had a 3-ERA. So, I don't know.

It's concerning for sure. Yeah. But I don't want to panic yet. Yeah, I feel like it almost, it's rare. worth even digging into the data on a reliever. I mean, the fact is fastballs down a mile per hour, I would say that's the most concerning thing because it stands to reason it's not going to play as well if it is.

But even that could change theoretically. My biggest concern with Seawald, as opposed to another closer who might be going through a stretch like this, is the Diamondbacks have a lot of good alternatives. Ryan Thompson, who bailed him out today and got the save, has a 181 ERA, albeit with a low strikeout rate. There's also Kevin Ginkle,

who filled in well for Seawald earlier. There's Justin Martinez, really hard thrower. There's AJ Puck, who they just acquired from the Marlins and seems to have closer stuff. So it wouldn't surprise me if they start

mixing and matching a little bit. If you're asking me to bet on who's the leading saves guy for the Diamondbacks, well, I bet on Seawald. pretty heavily. But this isn't like I'm more like with Craig Kimbril. I'm more like, eh, we've seen this movie before.

It'll be fine. And I know we worked the eighth inning today, but whatever. We've seen that. That's part of the movie. That's part of the movie we've seen before. What? It was a blowout for. Yeah.

Yeah. I think they're trying to find ways to get Craig Kimball back on track right now. If you guys had to just bet on one other reliever in the D-Backs bullpen, maybe you have Seewald on your fantasy team and you just, kind of a handcuffed situation. Who would you add, out of all the names we mentioned? It'd be ginkle.

He's been quite good this season, really, really good in July 18th strikeouts and 14 innings. He got demoted, though, from being the eighth inning guy with Thompson replacing him. So, I don't know, I'm not saying it's the wrong pick. I'm just saying it's not crystal clear to me.

Justin Martinez is kind of exciting as a hard thrower. I kind of think AJ Puck would do the best job in the role. So you want me to pick somebody? I'll, okay, I'll side with Chris on Ginkle. But it's like, let's say, 88% Seawald and then 3% each of the other four guys who's likely to lead the team and saves

from this point forward. All right, let's take our final break. And when we've returned, we'll have six burning questions right after this. Welcome back in, six burning questions. And we do have to pick up the pace. we will start with Pablo Lopez, who turned in a quality start at the Mets, six innings, two runs, seven strikeouts, had 17 whiffs on 103 pitches,

last seven starts for Lopez, a 286 ERA, a 0.93 whip, 55 strikeouts over 44 innings. Scott, question number one, is Pablo back? Yeah, yeah, and I think we were all in agreement earlier this year that he wasn't that far gone. Basically, everything looked right except the nine. number of home runs he was giving up. And it was especially noticeable because nobody else was giving up home runs. But during this seven-start stretch with the 286 ERA, 0.93-1-11K-4K-4-K-4-9, again, that's seven-star. It's only four home runs allowed. So that's, however he managed to do

it, he seems to have fixed the home run problem. I moved him back up to SP12 today. After our conversation yesterday, Chris, well, after our conversation. Station yesterday was just, I didn't know who else belonged. So why not? Pablo. Yeah. I think you'll see, Scott, when you update your rankings, you know, later on in the week, we were just trying to figure out who deserves to be SP12, because it feels like there's a very clear top 11. And then you get to 12 and you're like, well, who should I put here? Yeah, I don't know. And we thought about Pablo and maybe Hunter Green deserves it. And I don't know. But, yeah, that's kind of where we left off. Let's talk about Grayson Rodriguez, who turned in a quality start up against the Blue Jays, six innings, four runs allowed,

three of those earned. He did have eight strikeouts with 16 whiffs on 96 pitches. At this point in the season, a 386 ERA, a 124 whip. The underlying numbers do look better. It's lots of strikeouts, lots of whiffs. Chris, I'm trying to look into the individual pitch characteristics. Who is Grayson Rodriguez? Because I have a tough time figuring him out. I wish you hadn't asked me because I have had the same question pretty much all season. Like, yeah, you look at the individual pitch characteristics and everything looks pretty good.

Uh, he doesn't really get hit all that hard on any of his pitches. He gets decent amount of whiffs. He's got pretty good control. He gets a decent amount of strikeouts. It's like everything is pretty good. And then you look at it's a 382 ERA and a 389 XERA. Like the,

the, the one thing that he doesn't, that he's below average at, right now is the quality of contact. And the balance that I think is going to be difficult for Grayson Rider gets to strike is his slider is his best swing and miss pitch or tied with his change up effectively right now. But the changeup has a 249 ex-wo, but the slider has a 378.

And so that's where it's like, well, he could just throw the slider more. Well, the slider hasn't been a particularly good pitch for him. It is a new pitch. It's not one that he threw last year. Remember, he had a cutter and a sweeper that had different characteristics. Maybe he could try to bring back the sweeper, which was a little better for him last year. Why did he get rid of that sweeper? It was so good last year.

It might just be a control thing. Might just be that he has a better feel for the slider. I don't know. But it's hard because I want to say he is who he is, except that he's really young and obviously super talented. He's got the frame, and he's pitching like a war course right now. And so I think he is what he is with room to grow, but I'm not necessarily expecting significantly better things from him. Okay.

I'll take a more optimistic approach. I think he is who he is for the rest of the season. Yeah, yeah. Which is maybe a little underwhelming, but still close to most start. But I think it's just a really talented pitcher who needs more polish. You know, he needs to master the final. finer points of pitch sequencing and commands locating those pitches. But I think he's going to get there because it's clear he's very talented.

And for him doing so well for not having mastered those finer points yet, I think is a credit to him. Let's talk about Vinnie Pee. Vinnie Pass Guantino homered on Wednesday, but Power has been hard to come by for him this season. It was just his 12th home run of the year. he still hits the ball really hard but it's just a 7.1% barrel rate 41st percentile the question with Vinnie P

I'll go to you Scott is where is the power like are you expecting this one oh now Chris one's I actually have I have a very straightforward answer I go a different ballpark yep that's it like if you look at the X home run

stat based on ballpark he would have 29 at KC we'd have 21 at Baltimore or Boston that would be the worst Wait wait you said 29 in Casey 29 in Casey for his career Oh for his career okay

He would have 21 in Boston He would have 30 in a couple other parks Basically everywhere else is like 35 to 40 At Yankee Stadium would be 50 Maybe that's who they should go get Cincinnati 55 He is a Jets fan They should get him

And God Yankees fans would love having Vinnie P on their team Not being sarcastic there. But yeah, it might just be that he is uniquely ill-suited for the home park that he is unfortunately stuck in for the foreseeable future. Yep. Anything else got it? Or is, yeah. I think it's, I think it's pretty straightforward. He has 12 home runs this season, Vinnie P. And if he played all of his games

in Cincinnati, he would have 21. If he played all of his games in Yankee Stadium, he'd have 20. In Philadelphia, he would have 18. So I do think it's largely associated to his home part. Yeah. I mean, you know, that players add power, subtract power. I'm not ruling out that Vinnie Pasquantino will never be a top six type first basement in fantasy in Kansas City. But it does seem like a big obstacle to him doing that. Let's talk about Ian Hap, who had himself a big game, three for four with a double, a walk, and 17th home run of the season. He had been slumping before this. His previous 14 games, 157 batting average of 535 OPEC.

P-S. This question is kind of tongue-in-cheek, but why does Ian Hap own the Reds? Because in his career, 112 games against the Reds, Ian Hap, 285 batting average 31 homers, and OPS over a thousand. That's like...

He's so good. It's like darn near a 50 homer pace. Yeah. That's incredible. Ian Hap loves facing the Reds. I mean, probably part of it's just Reds haven't had very good bullpard. A pitch.

And yeah, they play in a very good ballpark. Yeah, I'd be interesting, interested in seeing the home away breakdown. He has 142 career home runs. He would have 162 if he played all of his games at Great American Ballpark. That is by far the most of any park. Yeah. Which would, you know, be true for every player. But obviously some players power is fringier away from Cincinnati than other players would be.

Yeah. And overall, it's just been a solid. season for Ian Hap. The batting average is a little bit lower than you'd like, 235, but 17 homers, seven steals. That's like a 25, 12 pace. Counting stats are there. And he was someone I drafted a lot of this year in five alpha league's just because he's rock solid. You know what you're going to get. And he plays. Well, it's going horribly at first. Yeah. No, he really got back on track. Now he's pretty much back on last year's pace, which was a great season for him.

Let's talk about Taj Bradley, who was up against the Marlins. And He actually struggled in this one. Five innings, four runs, six strikeouts, two home runs allowed. He did have 13 whiffs on 94 pitches. Another one, a little tongue-in-cheek here, but really? How did Tage Bradley streak end against the Marlins? How did this happen? What's going on here?

I mean, you want an actual answer? Sure. Even when he's been going well, he still gets hit pretty hard. Yeah. His fastball had a 94.6 average exit velocity against in this start. Yeah, he only had five hard hit balls against him in this one. It's just two of them happen to be for home runs. But yeah, I think like the expected Wobon contact better than it was last year,

but it's still 384. That's worse than league average. Like, I think this is something that he's always going to struggle with. And it's just can he avoid the walks? Can he be a high-end strikeout pitcher for the most part this season that has been the case? And so it hasn't been an issue. But I think there are going to be blow-up starts, even against very, very beatable matchups.

Yeah. The previous nine starts before this for Taj Bradley, a 0.82 ERA, a 0.89 whip, 10.6K per 9, 12.7% swinging strike rate. So he's right on the fringes

of being a top 30 starting pitch a rest of season, and he's earned that based on his basically the past two months of the season. Let's talk about some other rough pitcher outings from Wednesday's action.

We already spoke about Nicola Dolo. Christopher Sanchez got clobbered by the Yankees, five and two-thirds, six runs. allowed. He did have seven strikeouts and 19 whiffs on 94 pitches. So those are the positives, but he did give up 10 hard hits in this game. And he has given up six plus earned runs in two

of his last five starts. Despite those blow-up outings got everything in between, really since the middle of June has mostly been really good for Christopher Sanchez. Yeah, it's been a wild ride, though, trying to decide how I feel about Christopher Sanchez, because it seems like when I am most enthusiastic about him. He goes on a bad stretch. When I'm down on him, he seems to write the ship. And it's been different ways that he's struggled. So in this outing, clearly missing bats wasn't a problem.

He struck out seven. He got 19 swinging strikes. His previous two outings, two strikeouts in each of them. And early in the year was a ton of walks. We're bringing him down. Well, this not so impressive three-star stretch, he has a combined three walks. The ground ball rate has always been good,

so I guess that's something Christopher Sanchez can hang his hat on. But the walks have been up and down, the strikeouts have been up and down. It's just hard to get a feel for how good he actually is. And it's nowhere near to the point of dropping him, I mean, especially given the offense backing him up. but it does create, it does make for some tricky start-sit decisions. Clayton Kirshall was not good in his second start. This one at the Padres, three and two-thirds innings, seven runs allowed,

three of those earned. So some bad defense behind Kirchall here, but obviously still was not good. I actually saw this stat first time in his career that he earned zero strikeouts in a game that he started. Yeah, 424 starts. It's pretty good. Pretty good. The velocity I noticed, the fastball was down one mile per hour. The slider down right around one mile per hour compared to his first outing.

But I think we're still part, we're in this like grace period. It's a second start back from shoulder surgery. I don't want to make excuses for the guy. I don't think you're going to start him his next time out. He faces the Phillies. But I think we need to see a few more, a few good starts in a row before we're really comfortable with Clayton Kershaw. Yeah. I don't know that you have that luxury, a few good starts in a row.

how many starts left. That's fair. That's fair. I was pretty encouraged coming off the first start because the velocity was good and it was a short outing

but for the most part everything looked good. And then he follows it up with this where the velocity's down and obviously you can't start him yet. I think there will come a time when you can, but not right now.

Luis Severino got crushed by the twins. Three innings six runs allowed. He did give up two homers in this one. didn't have anything working. Velocity was down across the board. The previous three starts were very good for Severino, but this is kind of been the case. He's been up and down for most of this season.

He's still 83% rostered, and if these matchups remain, if they hold for next week, it's going to be in-course field and at Seattle. So one really good matchup, one awful matchup. I don't think I would want to start him there, and I would be totally fine dropping Severino

for Spencer Schwellenbach. Oh, yeah. No question. Yeah. He's rostered in more leagues right now than Schwellenbach. People need to pick up Shwellenbach. Come on. Yep.

Would you guys do it for Hayden Birdsong? I would rather have Birdsong, yeah. What about for Gavin Williams? Yes. I'd rather have Williams. All right, let's talk some Waverwire hitters from Wednesday's action. I kind of think Colton Couser is back to being a must add. Two for five with his 16th home run,

and he has let off five games in a row for the Orioles. not sure what he did in the All-Star break, but it's working because in 13 games after the break, it's a 315 batting average, four homers, 13 runs, 13 RBI, two steals, and an 885 OPS. Kouser, 72% are rostered. Scott, what do you think? Must add on Kouser?

I mean, it's hard to get so enthusiastic about him after he kind of pulled the rug out from under us earlier this season when he was so hot, and it may just be that he's streaking again. Yeah, you could add him while he's hot, even in three outfielder leagues. He probably needs to be added. I know I had him as a sleeper hitter this week. I think he was number one on the list.

So usually that guy is usually the number one guy needs to be rostered just about everywhere. But I don't know that I want to get too attached. And part of the reason I don't want to get too attached is I don't know how things are going to play out with Eloy Jimenez. Somebody's got to go. Maybe it's Jimenez. Maybe he's just a weak side platoon bat. But this is the toughest question. Colton Cowder has started 13 straight games going back to the All-Star break.

Before then, he had started 10 of the previous 17 games. So about 60%. That's a significant difference. And I have no idea. I'll be honest. I don't know if they just faced a bunch of lefties at the end of the first half and they haven't faced any lately. Like I haven't looked into it that deeply. But that's kind of true.

It looks like. The playing time is the big question because I do think there's talent. And if he's playing every day, especially if he's banning lead off consistently, like, I think this is a guy you want on your roster for the upside down the stretch. But it's just, is that actually something that has changed or is it just a quirk of the schedule? Who did the Orioles face today? What pitcher? They faced the Blue Jays. It was Paolo Espino, I think, already.

Yeah, so during that stretch of 13 consecutive starts, only one left-handed starter. Okay. Yeah. That would make sense. That's an incomplete, I would say, on the grading scale. Who are they going to play over him if they platoon him, though? I know they traded for Austin Slater, who's good against lefties,

but, like, are they really, they're not going to play Eloy in the outfield? No way. They'd play, well, I guess O'Hern O'Hourn platoons too, right? But they've been playing Kouser. Mountcastle plays first base. They could play O'Hern at first and move Mountcastle to D.H.

They've been playing Kouser in center field, though. No, I mean, they could play O'Hern himself in the outfield. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I guess. But he's a left-handed hitter, too. He doesn't. That's exactly what I was going to say. I mean, I think the playing time is safe.

I think he's going to play. It's just, will he perform against him. Hayes used to be the platoon guy. Yeah. Yes, Colton Couser. He's back. But was Hayes platooning? I don't know.

I got to look at this more. Because Couser and O'Hern were both sitting against lefties, right? So who was the other platoon guy? I don't have the answer. Yeah. But I mean, I think as long as Colton Couser is this hot, 72% rostered. Yeah, I think he should be close to unanimous. Someone like Lawrence Butler obviously needs to be rostered ahead of Colton Couser.

I think that goes without saying. Those might have been the days they played Rushman at D.H. Looking at it. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. All right. Some names in deeper leagues. Tommy Fam off to a nice start in his reunion with the Cardinals.

Three for four with a double, two runs, and two RBI. Alex Call, getting the chance to play for the Nationals following the Lane Thomas trade. He went one for three with a walk and a steel. He had a homer the other day as well. Addison Barger, getting a chance to play for the Blue Jays and doing some damage. His last four games, he's got six hits, two home runs, seven RBI. Matt Walner, two for five with his sixth home run. And since being recalled, 15 games, batting 364 with five homers and a 1269 OPS.

And then two deep league catchers. Freddie Fermin, solid July, 345, two homers, 876 OPS. And Joey Bart has been playing for the Pirates, started six of the past seven. Also had a big July, 276, three home runs. 12 RBI and 824 OPS. Lots of deep league names here. Joey Bart, Freddie Freeman. Freddie Freeman.

Freddie Freeman. Matt Walner, Addison Barger, Alex Cole, and Tommy Fam. Chris, do any of these names stand out to you? One, just Henry Davis getting Wally Pitt by Joey Bart is incredibly triggering for me personally because I was a Joey Bart believer for a long time. And then I was a hate Henry Davis believer. Freddie Furmean is, I think, just a good hitter. He might be like for a catcher.

He's hitting, I mean, I had the numbers earlier. I think he's hitting like, he's over 300 for the season. 286 going back to the start of last season. Wow. In a pretty significant amount of plate appearances, because as was the case last season, they're doing what they can to get both their catchers in the lineup. I believe Fermin started at DH today and took over at catcher.

when Salvador Perez left the game. Perez has played a little bit of first base lately. He's played a decent amount of DH. So Fermanes is not really at a deficit when it comes to playing time at this point. He's played 15 of 20, started 15 of 21 games since July 4th. So I think Freddie Fremaine is just a solid number two catcher. And Joey Bart's probably in that discussion as well, but much more on the lower end. I just don't have much faith

that he's going to be passable and batting average. Okay. Let's move on to some waiver wire pitchers. Not many options here, but Brian Beow, a quality start up against the Mariners, six and a third innings, two runs, seven strikeouts had 15 whiffs on 98 pitches, and then two names in much deeper leagues.

Kyle Freeland was good again at the Angels, seven innings, one run, six strikeouts. He's made seven starts since returning from the aisle, a 291 ERA, a 113 whip for Kyle Freeland, and Michael McGrady made his debut, his major league debut. He pitched for the Cardinals, and up against the Rangers,

seven innings, one run, three strikeouts. Minor league numbers are not great. I'm pretty sure that guy plays guitar for Pearl Jam. Scott, anything here, two deep league names, and then Brian Bayo. Well, I still think,

even though he has six good starts and seven since returning from the IL, Kyle Freeland is somebody you can pretty safely ignore. It looked like that ended. Like the one bad start was his last turn. And it's like, okay, we can stop with the Kyle Freeland thing now. And he bounced back with another really good start. So, you know, the history of Rocky's pitchers is what it is. Freeland's own history is what it is.

I think you can safely ignore him. I do think Michael McGreevy is better. than his minor league numbers, he has always rated well among prospects. He is a pitch-to-contact groundball pitcher, and bad defense in the minors, those guys can see their ERAs inflated. You see that pretty often, actually. Like, how is this guy good? He had a mid-fours ERA in the minors, and okay, well, the defense is a lot better,

and he's a pitch-to-contact guy. So I could see that happening for Michael McGreevy, but this was just a spot start, right? Yeah, it sounds like he's going down after the start. Although with Lynn on the IL, who's going to be in the rotation for it? So they trade it for Fetty and they're keeping Palante in the rotation, yeah. Hey, you're right, you're right. Yep.

All right, let's wrap up with some leftovers here and we will start off with the pitchers. Dylan Sees, a solid start up against the Dodgers coming off that no hitter, five and two thirds, one run, six strikeouts. Zach Gallen, a quality start up against the nationals. six innings, one run with six strikeouts. Chris Sale, not as sharp at the Brewers, but still pretty good. Five and two thirds, two runs, three walks, six strikeouts, and Freddie Peralta on the other side. Quality start, six innings, two runs, seven strikeouts. Chris, do you have anything on Peralta, Chris Sale, Zach Allen, and Dylan Cese?

Yeah, I think the biggest thing from this group is just Zach Allen getting back on track. This was return to form. He'd walked nine in his previous two starts. only one in this one. That's a good sign. He had just looked a little off since coming back from that. Was the hamstring injury at the end of June? Hadn't looked right. And it was weird because, like, his velocity was way up at one point.

Then it's come back down. But the walks had come back. He hadn't been getting whiffs. So I think all in all, this was a good start. Can't say for sure that Zach Allen's going to be an ace moving forward. He's not in that top 12 for me, although he's not far. but yeah, I feel better about him after this one. Two other pitching leftovers, Nestor Cortez,

solid outing at the Phillies, five and a third, three runs, six strikeouts, had 15 whiffs on 99 pitches, and Brady Singer, a quality start at the White Sox, seven innings, three runs with four strikeouts, a much less exciting group, Scott, but anything on Nasty Nestor and Brady Singer. Bashful Brady.

I don't think it was enough. You said it was a solid star for Nestor Cortez. Well, it was less than a quality start even, three and runs and a third inning. Tough matchup. He got a lot of wifts. Okay, there were some positives. But given how bad he's been recently, I don't think this saves his roster spot if I'm looking to free up a roster spot. And maybe he'll go on a good run with good offense behind him.

I'm not saying Nestor Cortez is never worth looking into again. But I don't think the upside is high enough that you have to hold on. to him just because he was slightly better than bad in this start. Some hitting a leftover is Christopher Morel. He's two for two with the Tampa Bay race. He's homered in each of his first two games with his new team. He has hit third in the lineup in both of those games. He started at second base on Tuesday.

He was at DH on Wednesday. And he's up to 20 homers. He's got seven steals. The last part, we need that batting average to climb, obviously, for Christopher Morel. Byron Buckson has basically been great since the start of June. Last 38 games, 3.38 batting average with 10 homers, 30 runs scored, 28 RBI, 4 steals, and an OPS over a thousand for Byron Bucson. And Matt Olson, some signs of life, two for four with a double dong, and he has four home runs over his past five games.

So hopefully the start of something better for-bearing the lead there. What's up? Him and Travis Darno went back-to-back twice. in this game. That was pretty wild. That's pretty awesome. And then I'll just point out because I thought it was very funny.

Isok Paratus got his first hit with the Cubs today. It was not a home run. Would have been a home run at Tropicana Field. Ooh, spicy. I thought that was just very funny. They were in Cincinnati, right? They are in... Yeah, it was in Cincinnati, I believe.

Yeah. That's interesting. That is surprising, then. It's shallow and the power. rallies than the corners, I guess. I think it's like 335 to the corners. Tampa's 315. Gosh, I saw a report on Wednesday that the Astros really made a hard push to get

East Hawk Paredes. That would have been the dream. It would have just been a match made in heaven, my gosh. But it didn't happen. 63, 319 foot home runs. It would have been amazing. Yeah, there would have been a new AL record. I know you love that.

Let's wrap up with some bullpen updates here. For the Marlins, Andrew Nardi, got the sixth inning, which I didn't really want to see that. 4 to 2 lead, struck out 3. The Marlins added two runs after that. Anthony Bender pitched a scoreless eighth inning, and it was Calvin Foshae, who pitched a scoreless 9th. So if this is any indication,

my guess is Calvin Foshae will get the first save opportunity. And if you're looking for his name in deeper leagues, that's F-A-U-C-H-E-R, Calvin F-H-H-E-R. Skip Schumacher has been about as predictable as a manager can get with bullpen usage. doesn't mess around with it a lot. So I think he really tipped his hand with this. And Calvin Foshae is the one to go after.

For the Yankees, Clay Holmes bounced back. He got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He gave up a hit but picked up his 22nd save. I believe he's worked three days in a row and, you know, looked pretty good in this one. For the, no, not the debacks. For the Astros, Josh Hayter got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He gave up a hit, but picked up his 21st save.

And for the Rockies, Victor Vodnick, got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He struck out one for his fourth save, 6% rostered, a name for deeper leagues. Would you rather add Foshe or Victor Vodnick, if you're just desperate for saves? Foshae, Foshae, Fosho. Okay, I think we might have a new soundbite.

To stream or not to stream on Thursday, only five games on the schedule, and there's not much going on here. Yeah, like I don't want to start Max Meyer against Atlanta. I think he's the most interesting of these pitchers. So if I have to start one on a five game slate on Thursday, I will go with Ryan Feltoner at the Angels. I love it.

I love it. I mean, Scott doesn't want to answer. Fall in on Ryan Feltoner. Everything else is worse. Yeah. I still might go Max Meyer at the Braves, but yeah, you should not stream anybody on. Thursday. What about Friday?

It's... Probably shouldn't stream anybody on Friday either. Not much better. You know, look, Tyler Phillips coming off a complete game. He's at the Mariners. I think that could be okay. Yeah, no. Him and Paul Blackburn, I think, are fine. I don't think I would want anybody else here. Kyle Harrison's coming off a great start, but that was against the Rockies.

Now he's in Great American Ballpark. I don't love that. He did change up his approach through his slurve more. That could be a sign of good things to come, but I need to see a lot more from him. He's been so underwhelming. Dean Kramer could be okay. Yeah, he's at Cleveland. I love the matchup, yeah. Luis Ortiz

has been pretty good over the past month. D-Bax is kind of a hit or miss matchup. If I'm ranking them, I would go Phillips, Ortiz, and Blackburn, but I don't really love any of those either. We are going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks, thanks as always, for tuning in to Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow

and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify, and we'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. Bye.