Fantasy Baseball Today - Six Pitcher Questions! Add Daniel Hudson? Drop Bryson Stott? (7/23 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 23, 2024

Carlos Rodon turned in his first quality in over a month (2:45)! ... Daniel Hudson might just be the Dodgers closer (6:45). ... News (14:03): Julio Rodriguez was out of the lineup Monday and remains day-to-day with an ankle injury. ... We have six pitcher questions, starting with Cole Ragans, Blake Snell and others (25:08). ... Is it okay to drop Bryson Stott in shallower leagues (35:25)? ... Tobias Myers has been solid and River Ryan made his debut (40:04). ... Should Michael Busch be rostered in more leagues (44:50)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (54:00). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @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. Hello, and welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Tuesday, July 23rd. I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White. Today on the show, we have six pitcher questions. Say bye-bye to the birdie.

Birdsong for now. We'll talk about that. WaverWire moves and much more. Bullet jump in. All right, Scott, player of the night. Somebody, we talk about a lot. Every time he pitches he's the player of the night. We spent about 10 minutes talking about him last time.

Thought we had finally landed in a good place. But no, Carlos Rodon comes back, throws a gem right after I dropped him. in my shallowest league, by the way, right after I did that, Carlos Rodan against the race, strikes out 10 in seven innings, one run, two hits allowed. It was a dominant start. And strangely, it was dominant, even though he threw his fastball even more than usual.

54% versus 50. It's high either way. But it got six whiffs. His slider got nine whiffs. mostly focused on those two pitches after having some success with curveball and change up recently. So I guess you could point to that as a change for Carlos Rodon. I don't know that it's a change that really explains what happened here. Given that in his previous six starts, he had a 967 ERA.

None of those six starts being quality starts. I wouldn't say I'm right back on board with Carlos Rodan. I wish I hadn't dropped them in that league now. but beyond that, I still think he's on very thin ice for fantasy. And in those six starts, where you're the 9th, 6070 R.A., he allowed nine home runs. So, you know, part of it, I think, is he was facing a bad race offense, only gave up one home run. Maybe the slider was working a little better than usual, and it all added up to a good day.

I mean, even as Carlos Rodana struggled, he's had, he's, he's, he's been able to rack up whiffs. So I don't think it's like outside of his skill set to have a start like this. It's just the bad starts have far outnumbered the good, especially lately. And, you know, he reminded us what the upside could be. But I remain skeptical. Don't drop him yet, though. As you mentioned, this was Carl Swardan's first quality start since June 10th.

You read the numbers and his six starts before this one. and overall, I think Tampa Bay is a good matchup, but against lefties, they are actually pretty good. Seventh in Wobah against left-handed pitching, entering this start, but obviously it was a great one from Carl Swardan, and he was part of a segment I had planned for later on,

six pitcher questions, and the question for him is, what did he do differently in this start to stand out? And the only thing that really kind of pops off the screen, Scott, is that he did throw his curveball more in this one. He used it 16%. of the time. And entering the start, it was 7% usage.

So he more than doubled it. It didn't get any whiffs, but it did have seven called strikes. So I do wonder if maybe it just caught opposing hitters off balance a little bit. They weren't expecting it. He was able to steal strikes a little bit here or there. It could just be that he executed his pitches better than he had been in previous starts, location-wise.

But does the curveball kind of factor in at all for you, him using it more in this one? Well, let me look at the game log here, if it'll load form. me. If we're not careful, we're going to end up spending 10 minutes talking about Carlos Rudon again because it's not loading for me. So, okay, so yeah, what I was curious about, because he has been featuring his curveball more in general after at the start of the season, he wasn't throwing it much at all. So, yeah, it was double the usage, if you compare it to his season long curveball rate, but it was

pretty close to in line with what it's been recently. Obviously, we haven't seen that uptick and performance from Rodon recently. So I don't even know that I can take too much away from that. Gotcha. Yeah, I'm looking at it too. Really, since the start of June, he's consistently been throwing it, you know, double-digit percentage, that curveball. All right, so great start from Carlos Rodon. We talk about him all the time.

I'm not really sure where you go from here. If you still have him, as Scott mentioned, I think you hold on. And let's see if he can build some good starts off of this one. My player of the night, and we don't do this often, Scott. But, you know, there wasn't too much going on here on a Monday. Daniel Hudson, I am going to go with a reliever because he was thrown right back into the ninth inning on Monday with a one run lead.

He walked one, he struck out two, he picked up his seventh save. He now has three saves in four games here in the second half. He has each of the Dodgers' last four saves overall. And we got a news update here on Monday from Dave Roberts who stopped short of calling Evan Phillips his closer. He said Phillips could still pitch in safe situations, but that he could also appear in leverage spots earlier in games. They want to give him some opportunities right now

to work through some of his recent struggles. And while he's doing that, Daniel Hudson might just run away with this thing because the overall numbers this year, a 155 ERA, a 0.79 whip over a strike upper inning, Daniel Hudson 35% rostered. That is a number that I think needs to jump up quite a bit. Yeah, I was lamenting just yesterday

that some of those early weekly fab runs Sunday, I hadn't looked at the latest Dodgers box score before I put in my bids there, and so I missed out on Daniel Hudson, who went for a reasonable amount. I did get him in a Rotta League that ran later in the night, and I feel pretty happy about that because he has closer caliber numbers.

Now he has each of the Dodgers' last four saves, including three since the All-Star break. Evan Phillips is imploding. I do worry about the progress, presence of Alex Vescia a little bit, left-handed who also has closer caliber numbers, and he had three saves and pretty quick succession leading into the All-Star break.

You know, it certainly looks like Daniel Hudson has the upper hand right now. I don't know that Dave Roberts likes having a set closer if he had his druthers. he was stuck with Kenley Jansen in that role. You could say blessed with Kenley Jansen in that role, I guess. But he kind of was obligated to run Kenley Jansen out there in the ninth consistently. But ever since he left, I mean, last year, Phillips did emerge as the top guy,

but there were intrusions from Bruisedar Gratterol, you may remember. And I just, I don't know that Roberts is ever going to be that commitment. middle to anyone reliever unless it was a super stud. But Daniel Hudson, I think you have to bet on him being the leading guy right now. Would you drop any of these names for Daniel Hudson? They're all 50% rostered or more on CBS. Jason Foley. Yeah, I'd rather have Hudson.

What about Hector Nairus? I guess. I guess. We got a report on Monday that the Dodgers, are looking more towards the, I mean, the Cubs, excuse me, are looking more towards the future. So it sounds like they're going to be sellers here at the deadline. And I think Hector Nairus is someone who makes some sense for them to move.

So I don't think he's signed beyond this year, is he? He might have an option year. Yeah. But, yeah, it's like if you were asking me who is more likely, well, I don't even know that that's true. Obviously, if Hector Narris gets traded, all bets are off. he is the Cubs closer. And Daniel Hudson, I'm not as confident as the Dodgers closer,

but Daniel Hudson, I think, is a lot better. So if you're selling out for upside and probably the sort of league where you could even think about dropping Nairus, you are, then I guess, yes, I would rather have Daniel Hudson. At this point, with Devin Williams so close to returning, would you drop somebody like Trevor McGill to pick up Daniel Hudson? I mean, Miguel has been so good.

I know he had a couple, He's had a couple rough outings recently. I just wonder, you know, what if Devin Williams suffers a setback? It's possible. Then you gave up a pretty good closer and Trevor Miguel. So I guess if that was the only way to get Hudson, I'd do it, but I don't love it.

And the last name, Jose Alvarado, who we know has struggled over the past month or so, and Jeff Hoffman has looked great. Yeah. I mean, it's not like Alvarado ever had the job outright. right. And so I think in a best case scenario, he's where Hudson is, and it's possible Hudson is getting a greater share now than Alvarado ever had. All right. I want to give a shout out to Bobby Witt, Jr., who is probably the hottest hitter

in baseball right now. He finished a single short of the cycle. He got hit by a pitch in the eighth inning while he was going for that cycle, which is pretty annoying for everybody involved. I know there was some shouting involved between the debacks and the Royals in that game, but Bobby Witt three for four with his 18th home run, three runs scored three RBI. He has three hits in all four of his games so far in the second half. So 12 hits total, two homers, seven runs, six RBI, awesome season and awesome starts of the second half here for Bobby Witt Jr.

Thanks to everyone for hanging out and watching live. We appreciate you for being here. Make sure to hit that like button and subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already. That's YouTube.com slash fantasy baseball today. and if you enjoy the audio podcast, make sure to drop us a five-star rating and review on both Apple and Spotify. Let's take our first break.

When we return, we'll hit the News and Notes right after this. Welcome back in. Let's talk News and Notes. Julio Rodriguez was out of the lineup on Monday with that right ankle injury. His manager, Scott, Service, said, Julio is day-to-day after undergoing an MRI. I did not see any results on the MRI.

Scott, did you see anything on Julio? Well, I keep seeing he has no. he doesn't have a major ankle injury. They're saying that much. So I don't know that I've seen specifically what the MRI showed, but they keep saying it's a day-to-day injury. This is from Ryan Divish, who covers the Mariners for the Seattle Times 11 minutes ago.

Julio Rodriguez has a mild ankle sprain and is day-to-day. So that's your latest update. Mookie Betts took light swings on Monday for the first time since suffering a fractured left hand. Royce Lewis will be. a rehab assignment with AAA on Tuesday. He's been sidelined for three weeks with a right adductor strain. We got some Angels News.

Mike Trout will begin his rehab on Tuesday and we'll play at least two games before returning. Luis Renhifo could be ready. At least two? At least two, yeah. Probably needs more, but probably. That was the specific number that I saw in multiple reports. They just, they said. At least two.

Could be 20. Yeah. But at least two. Luis Renhifo could be ready to return. from the IEL on Tuesday and turns out the Red Sox are interested in trading for Luis Franjifo so we'll see if that actually happens.

Jared Jones threw off flat ground from about 90 to 120 feet on Monday. He went on the IL on July 4th with a grade two right lat strain. The hope is he could return in August assuming no setbacks. Michael Harris has yet to progress to

sprinting as he works his way back from a left hamstring strain. Cody Bellinger is able to hit without much discomfort, but it's still having some trouble gripping a baseball. He's nearly two weeks removed from suffering a fractured left-middle finger. Kodi Senga is expected to get about five innings and 85 pitches in his season debut, which is scheduled for Friday against the Braves. Jacob de Grom is...

Did you want to add something on Sengo? Well, yeah, I just... I'm a little unsure how this is going to go for Kodi Senga. Maybe I just feel like we've all gotten burned with the other pitchers who were injured for the entire season and recently came back like Gavin Williams and Shane Boz and even Max Scherzer, Garak Cole even. Yeah. For the first couple turns, though he seems to have righted the ship. With Kodai Sanga, I mean, it was shoulder issues. There were setbacks where he was having to work on his delivery, his velocity.

his velocity has been down about a mile per hour across the board at AAA. And I keep coming back to, well, do, are we even that confident he's good to begin with? Because yeah, he had a promising rookie season that had us all ranking him in the top 20 initially for the strikeout upside. But within that rookie season, there were control issues. It was pretty scary at first the control. And he kind of leveled out, but it was not a strength. of his. And so if he comes off the IEL here last week of July, walking a batter per inning, I just wonder how long we're going to stick with him. So it needs to be rostered, obviously,

and you hope for the best. But I think those other disappointments that I referred to, you know, just need to keep it in perspective. It is kind of a lottery ticket play. Like when you add a top prospect call-up, you know, you hope for the, the best, but you expect, you know, you just got to think of it as kind of a bonus. Yeah, I think that's fair. And I am confident saying last year's version of Kodi-Senga was a good pitcher. I just don't know that we're going to get that pitcher right off the IL, which obviously you spoke about. And his last start at AAA, it wasn't a good one. Three innings, eight hits, five runs, three walks to one strikeout. So obviously do not start

Kodi Senga here in his first start back against the Atlanta Braves. I was writing about this earlier today, which I guess is why it was on my mind. But the three who are coming back this week, Kodi Sangha, Robbie Ray, Clayton Kershaw, and soon to follow Jeffrey Spring. So he's making one more rehab start will probably be back next week. I think you treat them all as if you just picked them up off Waverwire because in many cases you did. So you're valuing them like a player. you just picked up off the waiver wire,

but one that you wouldn't dream of putting back on the waiver wire. So you've got to find that middle ground between those two. You're not putting too many hopes in them, but at the same time, you're recognizing there's tons of upside here and you want to see how it plays out.

Jacob de Grom is getting close to facing hitters. He'll throw around 40 pitches in a bullpen session Tuesday and is slated for another bullpen on Friday, maybe late August, September for Jacob de Grom. Robbie Ray, as we just mentioned, will make his season debut Wednesday against the Dodgers. Welcome back. You have to face

one of the best lineups in baseball right out of the gate. Robbie Ray is 67% rostered, and one of the corresponding moves here was that Hayden Birdsong was optioned to single A, but we'll be back to start their double header on Saturday. What happens after that?

I have no idea. So obviously, good on you, Scott, for bringing this up as a possibility yesterday. I didn't really think, look, maybe he comes up on Saturday for the doubleheader Birdsong and he's just great again and they say, all right, let's move Jordan Hicks to the bullpen, yada, yada and we'll figure it out. But somebody goes on the IEL, life finds a way in that way. Yeah. That's possible, but it does. It's frustrating. This would seem to suggest that Birdsong is going to be the odd man out and that if not for the double header and the extra arm that requires,

the extra roster spot that opens up, that maybe Birdsong would be down for a while. We'll see what happens between now and then. What about his teammate, Alex Cobb, who is also working his way back. Cobb through five scoreless innings with four strikeouts in a rehab start at AAA on Saturday. He's only 8% rostered.

Obviously, Scott, not to the same talent level as these other names, and it's even more of a lottery ticket, I think, even, you know, mostly for deeper leagues. But do you have any interest in Alex Cobb? I've never been the biggest Alex Cobb guy. I know he's been a fantasy darling for a long time. And he's had his moments, but he's,

he generally ends up being a pretty fringy 12-team league option. So I'd put him more in, I guess, that Kyle Gibson class. I think at his best he's better than Kyle Gibson, and maybe he can become that once he's proven his health and he'll be a little more locked in on 12-team rosters. But I wouldn't say my hopes for Alex Cobb being a difference maker in fantasy are especially high. Are you a big fan of corn on the Cobb?

Yes. I like corn on the cob. I don't know why it's so much better than corn off the cob. But I've marveled at that even... Even as a child, corn on the cob so much better than corn off the cob. Just little corn nibblets on your plate. I think it does taste better. It's also a lot of work. And I feel like it gets stuck in your teeth a lot more when you eat it on the cob.

Like eating it's a lot of work? Yeah, like eating corn on the cob. I think objectively it's less work. It's more work than just putting a fork on a plate and scooping some corn into your mouth, you know? No, anything you eat with your hands is less work than with utensils. Maybe, but not corn on the cob. I think corn on the cob is a little different. You know, it may just be that I dress up corn on the cob,

getting back to my point, a little more. Like I slather it with butter. I break out the salt and pepper. There you go. When corn and it's just like, ah, whatever. You know, I just shovel it in. Yeah. I don't know.

I'll think about it some more. Get back to you. All right. This news actually just came in. J.P. Crawford was diagnosed with a fractured pinky and will go on the IL. I guess Dylan Moore could take over at shortstop, although he started at first base

and they designated Thai France for assignments, so I don't know. We're probably going to get some roster shuffling from the Mariners moving forward. Red Sox manager, Alex Kora, said Monday that Tristan Kossis could be close to turning a corner in the recovery process. Kossis has been out since late April

with torn cartilage in his left rib. Bobby Miller will remain in AAA for at least his next start. He made a start at AAA this past weekend. He threw five scurrilous innings, but he did have four walks in that start as well. Tommy Edmund is expected to resume his rehab assignment with AA on Tuesday. He has not played since July 14th due to lingering ankle soreness. He's also working his way back from offseason wrist surgery. The Dodgers promoted River Ryan on Monday, and as a result, they designated James Paxson for a

assignment. The Brave signed Whitmerryfield to a one-year contract on his first day with the team. He was struck on the right hand by an errant crown ball during defensive drills, and he's been cleared of any fractures, but not sure when we'll actually see Whitmeryfield on the field with the Atlanta Braves. Maybe makes a difference in deeper leagues at some point. It was funny before the podcast, I was like, Whitmeryfield's with the Braves? Because I just just saw this news item and you had the same reaction like we discovered what maryfield had signed with the braves because of this injury news and i i hadn't even heard that the phillies let him go i guess it happened um during my little my little mini break around the all-star break and

wasn't wasn't following the news as closely uh so i missed that one and he signed with the braves it does kind of put a little pressure on on nacho alvarez to deliver right away I would say, because they have an alternative there. It would Maryfield, who's had a rough season, but hasn't been getting inconsistent at bats. And you wonder if it would benefit from more consistent at bats. And we are one week away from the trade deadline. Here is the latest.

I mentioned the Red Sox are interested in Luis Renhifo, and barring a winning streak by the Cubs this week, the team will likely sell at the deadline. Six pitcher questions. We already spoke about Carlos Rodon. Let's talk about Cole Reagan. who turned in a quality start up against the debacks, six innings, three runs, five strikeouts.

He had 12 whiffs on 105 pitches. And what has stood out to me? Four starts in a row where his velocity is down considerably. In this start, Cole Reagan's velocity on all of his pitches was down between 1.4 and 2.2 miles per hour. He averaged 94.1 on his fastball. That's down 1.7 from his career mark. he's been at 94.4 or lower in three of his last four starts,

but it hasn't affected the production. He's still been really good, so maybe this doesn't matter at all. Scott, how much are you worried about Cole Reagan's velocity drop over his last four starts? Yeah, well, I've been monitoring it. There hasn't been much reason to bring it up on the podcast,

I guess, because he's been so dominant, even with that one and a half to two mile per hour drop. And not just on the fastball, by the way, I kind of want everything. And because he's so dominant, I kind of want, because he's been so dominant, I kind of wonder if this is something he's done on purpose to command his pitchers better. They have such good characteristics that maybe he doesn't need quite as much velocity. But it does raise the question, is he getting tired?

Is he pitching through an injury? It makes you wonder, especially if the production takes a turn for the work. this wasn't his greatest start. It was still a quality start. And so I wanted to say I'm worried, but I am mindful of it. I'm cognizant of it. All right, let's move over to Blake Snell,

who has looked much better since returning from the IL earlier this month. He went six innings. He allowed two runs, only four strikeouts, but had 12 whiffs on 83 pitches in a tough matchup against the Dodgers. He leaned all the way into that curveball.

He more than doubled the curveball usage. He threw it 43% of the time and it was amazing in the start. Velocity was up for Blake Snell. And in 3 July starts, he has a one ERA, a 0.61 whip. Scott, the question here is Blake Snell back? Well, I mean, that start right before the All-Star break was so dominant. I pretty much declared it on Twitter when it happened and said,

you need to get back to starting him. This is it. This is the moment you were waiting for. So far, so good. he turned in another nice outing, although the strikeouts weren't impressive. It was a good stat line overall. And we've seen Blake Snell

turned the corner with this approach before, where he kind of simplifies everything, just zeros on the pitches that are working. In the past, it was the slider. This year, it seems to be the curveball with over 40% whiff rate. And that seems to be enough when he does that, because that's what's keyed,

some of these big second halves he's had in the past is simplifying, reducing his pitches. Last year when he won the Cy Young, he had everything working. And so maybe that's Blake Snell at his very best. But this approach should be good enough if it keeps them from, if it keeps them in the strike zone and keeps them missing bats, it should be good enough. So, yeah, two starts are two starts, but we've seen this past. pattern from Blake's Nell so many times before that I think if you were, if you're invested in him at all, this is this is what it was for and you have to take advantage of it. Let's talk about Ranger Suarez, who has not been as sharp recently, perhaps due to that

back injury he's been pitching with, but he was at the Twins. He went five in a third inning, seven hits, three runs, four strikeouts to one walk, healing. He had seven whiffs on 79 pitches. And the question here, Scott, do you think we should bench Suarez while he worked his way through this back injury because he just has not been as sharp. A 771 ERA, a 176 whip over his last four starts. Well, I mean, it was a two-star pitcher this week, so you obviously couldn't bench him.

It's the sort of stat line this time where it's close to being unremarkable. Right? If he gets two more outs, it goes six innings instead of five and a third. if he allows one fewer earned run, two instead of three, then we're probably not even mentioning it, you know? Yeah.

I think it's just this is closer to a typical Ranger Suarez start than what we were seeing earlier in the season. It's the regression. How much of it is owed to the back? I don't know. If his back was bothering him that much, he probably wouldn't have pitched in the All-Star game. So I think maybe we,

we don't treat Ranger Suarez as a must start anymore, but always because that's the direction we were heading. Let's talk about Ronaldo Lopez, who allowed a season high, four earned runs up against the Reds. He went six innings, gave up those four runs, had five strikeouts, still had 13 whiffs on 85 pitches, allowed a lot of hard contact in this one, nine hard hits, allowed. Crazy to think he allowed three earned runs or fewer

in each of his first 17 starts before this one for Ronaldo Lopez. we've seen some things pop up recently with the walk, Scott, and giving up some more hard contact. Do you get the sense, obviously, you're close to the Braves, I know you watch a lot of Ronaldo Lopez, do you get the sense that the innings and are starting to catch up a little bit here, or is this just a blip for Ronaldo?

It could be. I mean, partly what I just said about Ranger Suarez also applies to Ranato Lopez. There was no way he was going to sustain an ERA below two. it's not like his velocity is down. I think that would be a clear indicator that he's tiring. I know the fastball was down 0.6, but other pitches were up in velocity.

So, yeah, I don't think there's much there with the velocity for Reinaldo Lopez. You know, he's bound to regress. And you hope it's not like him running into a brick wall and getting bombed every time out. The last two starts, he gave his team a chance to win and gave you a chance for a worthy outing and fantasy. But, yeah, it's been a little less crisp, and it'll probably be, it should have been like that all along.

And we can assume it's probably going to be like that going forward. He just was pitching over his head. I think he's useful. I think Reinaldo Lopez is still worth keeping around, but like Ranger Suarez, I wouldn't consider a must start. And I would expect a worse second half than the first half. He is now up to 101 and two-thirds innings for Ronaldo Lopez. Last year he threw 66, and he has not been over 100 innings since 2019.

So I think the innings are obviously starting to add up a little bit. that's exactly why he's looked a little bit more human over the past month or so, but it could be part of the calculation there with Ronaldo Lopez. Bailey Ober has been good for quite some time now. He was up against the Phillies, seven innings, two runs,

had four strikeouts with 10 whiffs on 83 pitches. Did give up some hard contact in this start, but overall last six outings for Bailey Ober, a 223 ERA, a 0.84 whip over a strikeout per inning. Scott, is it time? to get Bailey Ober back inside of our top 40 starting pitchers rest of season. Yeah, I believe I've gotten him there.

I think we are just both outside of it. Just both outside? Yeah. Close enough. Close enough, Frank. Is there a huge difference between 38 and 41? Yeah. I couldn't think of a better question.

Do you have a better question that you would like to answer for Billy Ober? I don't know. I mean, yeah, I feel like we've been saying that for the past few starts. now. Yeah, he's just he's been frustrating because of the

ups and downs and there were stretches where he wasn't working deep into games even when he was pitching well, but he's clearly turned the corner as far as that goes. Six straight starts

of six innings or more, including a complete game effort in there. So I think I think Bailey Oper is maybe not quite must start, but pretty close. This has turned into a pretty fun group in the 30 to 45 range where you have names like Hunter Green and Tage Bradley and Christopher Sanchez

and Bailey Ober and Michael King. A lot of those guys have really, really not turn their seasons around, but they're on great runs right now. A lot of those pitchers right now. And obviously deserving of being ranked this higher or maybe even higher. So it's a good range. for those guys. Yep.

I am going to do my big rankings update tomorrow. And I imagine I'll be moving Hunter Green up even more, probably past Ranger Suarez. And let's see. I, you know, I could probably get Bailey up a couple spots. I'd move him ahead of Cutter Crawford, who I worry about his, him getting burned by the long ball now that the ball is carrying better. and maybe a couple other guys too. Yeah. Like, let's get Kevin Gossman lower.

Yeah. That guy stinks. It's starting to feel that way. Yeah. And I just, I feel supremely more confident in just a lot of those other names I mentioned, the Taj Bradley's and Hunter Greens right now. We'll talk about Hunter Green in just a little bit. But I do want to throw one hitter question in here.

Lots of pitcher talk. But we've been getting lots of questions about Bryson Stott and what to do here. He's really just had one good month this season. And he's now, I mean, this has been happening all year. He's sitting against lefties. I'm not exactly sure why. He's actually better against... Not for Whitmerfield.

I'll tell you that much. He's actually sitting. He's better against lefties than he is against righties in his career overall. He was good against both lefties and righties last year. So I'm not exactly sure why he's sitting. I wouldn't be surprised if maybe that's kind of led to a confidence issue here. But the point is that Bryson Stott had a... a really good May.

But since the start of June, 39 games, he's batting 226 with one homer, eight steals, a sub-600 OPS, and overall, I mean, he's betting 236 on the season, six homers,

22 steals, a 669 OPS. You know, the power and speed, I don't think is far off from what we're expecting, probably in the like 12 home run, 30 steel range, right? That's close to what we were expecting.

The batting average, the OBP, Yes, that's pretty bad right now for Bryson Stott. So he's 92% rostered. Can you start to think about dropping someone like Bryson Stott in a shallower league? Yeah, I think so. I think that's probably fine. I don't know, you know, you're too late for like Jonathan India,

who's turned to season around. But there's probably a large group of second basemen like that who in those head-to-head leagues where there's no extra middle infield spot to fill, so the waiver wire is more fertile, you can kind of swap them out depending on how they're going. I don't think this is the end for Bryson Stott. I don't think you drop them now and you'll never hear from him again. They'll never be worth picking up again in that format. But yeah, he's got a limited ceiling.

He has platoon issues that when he's going well, I think, will become. less of an issue. I think we'll see him play more against left-handers when he's hitting well. And it's not like looking at the skill indicators on a stack-cast page. It's not like he's become a fundamentally different players. So I think he will

make up ground before the season's over, but I understand he's killing you right now. And in a shallow league, there are probably second baseman who wouldn't be killing you. All right, again, that is Bryson Stott. Let's take our final break. And when we return, we'll take a look at the waiver Wire options from Monday.

We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in. Let's take a look at some Waver Wire pitchers, and Tobias Myers was just okay at the Cubs. Five and a third, three runs allowed. He had six strikeouts with 10 whiffs on 87 pitches. Still does have a 314 ERA and a 115 whip on the year. We mentioned the Dodgers called up River Ryan,

who was one of their pitching prospects, and he pitched well in his season debut against the Giants. Five and a third, one unearned run with three. three walks at two strikeouts. Did only have five whiffs on 73 pitches, but he throws hard, 96 on the fastball. He's got a bunch of different pitches. Andre Palante turned in a quality start at the Pirates,

six innings, one run, three strikeouts. I feel like that's the Scott White special. Every time I see him as a streamer, I feel like you recommend him, and he does pretty well. And Hogan Harris was great up against the Astros, six and two-thirds, shutout innings with seven strikeouts.

His velocity was down quite a bit. bit in this one, but overall, a great start for him. Scott, any interest here in Hogan Harris, Andre Palante, River Ryan, and Tobias Myers. I think Tobias Myers is the most interesting, particularly if we're thinking River Ryan is not going to stick around long. Glass Now and Clayton Kirschaw coming back in the next couple days, I would imagine that's the case. River Ryan is a prospect of some note, got strikeouts and a nice clip in the minors, has six different pitches that he threw here. And this was his debut, right? His Major League debut. It was his season debut. I thought he might have pitched last year.

I could be wrong about that. Doesn't look like it. Okay. And he has a good ground ball rate, six pitch arsenal. Yeah, there are some interesting things going on with River Ryan, but I don't think now is his time. So the most interesting apart from him, I will maintain us to Tobias Myers. Not that I think he has huge upside, but the effectiveness of his slider and changeup are notable. Interestingly, he leaned even more on the fastball in this one, which I'd rather not see Tobias Myers do.

I'd rather him see it throw at less, but came pretty close to a quality start. And for the year now, 314, ARA 115 whip. I don't even know that he needs to be rostered everywhere, But I do think Tobias Myers is going to keep appearing as a sleeper pitcher as matchups warrant. Andre Palante, you said every time he shows up as a potential sleeper pitcher for the day, I end up picking him. The matchups good enough, yes. He's not an upside deep pitcher at all.

I just think the ground ball rate is so high that if you're going start by start, who of these bad pitchers is most likely to give you a quality start? Well, the guy who gets ground balls at a 60% clip is least likely to get bombed of this not interesting group. So that therefore makes him the most likely to give you a quality start. So that's why I lean on him in those streaming situations. Who would you take between Tobias Myers and Robbie Ray? Myers, no, I'm sorry, not Bob.

I was thinking River Rhine when you said Robbie Ray. No, definitely Robbie Ray. Yeah, too many R alliteration names on today's podcast. One name I wanted to bring up who had a very rough outing here. If you picked him up for a two-star week, I'm sorry. You might be able to drop him after this one because it was a pretty rough outing for Gilber Diaz. It actually turns out it's Jillber Diaz.

It's spelled with a Y, but I heard it on the broadcast. And I've heard it on multiple broadcast now. So, yeah, it actually is. pronounced with a J, but he was at the Royals where he allowed seven earned runs over three innings. I picked him up in a few spots. He looked great in his first two starts before this, but Scott, if you picked up Gilbert Diaz, do you think it's all right to drop him after this one?

Yeah, I still think he's a young pitcher of note, but I don't think he's, I don't think he deserves the leash that like Christian Scott has gotten. And of course, Christian Scott has about run out of leash himself. So, yeah, Jill Ber Diaz had big strikeout numbers in the miners. Coming into this start, his slider, after two starts, had a really good whiff rate, over 40%. But it didn't get a single whiff in this one. And he got knocked around pretty good. So, yeah, I think Jill Ber Diaz, you can put him to the side for now.

Let's talk Waverwire hitters. And Michael Bush continues to hit. He went two for four with an RBI and the same. Steel, he really just had a bad May. If you look at his monthly splits, he hit 208 with a 712 OPS in May, but he's hit 282 or higher with an OPS of 848 or better in each of the other three months this season. And overall, he's hit 270, he's got 12 home runs and 820 OPS, 76% roster. I don't know that he's a huge ceiling play, Michael Bush, and we've talked about him a lot

recently, but in a points league, he's just solid, Scott. He gets on base, gives you a decent amount of power. The OPS is good. You know, hits in the middle of a, not a good lineup, but it's in the middle. So there could be some counting stats as well. It just does he need to be more than 76% rostered, I guess? Michael Bush. I don't think so.

And you know I love Michael Bush. I'm not sure he's there yet. And considering he's 26, I can understand somebody saying, oh, well, if he's not there yet, when will he ever get there? Okay, he's still a rookie. And there's still a learning curve here. In the long run, is he going to strike out at a 30% rate? I'm hopeful he doesn't because it's not like strikeouts were a huge issue for him in the miners. And I think that could be what allows him to take the next step forward.

There clearly seems to be some power there. He's capable of drawing a walk, certainly. And the strikeout rate has been better in June. It's 22%, but it's still a lot of two strikeout games. and in points leagues especially, that's going to limit Michael Bush's utility. Overall, I like the direction he's trending. But I don't think he's quite there yet

where he needs to be universally rostered. Three third base eligible hitters who are right around 75% rostered, Scott. How would you rank Michael Bush, Colt Keith, and Mark Vientos? Viantos is cooled off. I'm still going to put him number one, but Colt Keith is surging. I think I'm going to put Colt Keith ahead of Michael Bush.

She hasn't had strikeout issues all year. Actually, his strikeout rates gone up here in July as his production is taken off. It's still not a bad strikeout rate. But for the month of July, do you have these numbers yet? Nope. For the month of July, Colt Keith, after adding a home run here on Monday, is bashing 333, 433, 737 with six home runs. Yeah. Looking at that now.

That's pretty good. It took some time, but this is closer to the player that we thought we were getting coming into the season. So as we've seen with many prospects, top prospects, middling prospects, whatever it might be. A lot of these guys, they kind of fall flat early, get a couple months in, and then, all right, now he's starting to hit the ground running. So, yeah, I think it's a good time here to either add Colt Keith or if you have them, obviously just hold on to him. And so how much of that is the rookie having gotten enough reps that he's found his stride in the majors? How much of it is that versus how much of it is the ball is carrying a lot better now in July? It's hard to say, right?

It is hard to say. It's a fair question. Yeah, it's probably a little bit of both because, you know, when you first get called up, I mean, I can imagine the game must be going so fast for these guys, and especially the pitchers that you face in the majors versus the pitchers in AAA. It just feels like it's a completely different game. So I don't, I'm not surprised by it.

And I think, you know, things are just starting to slow down for some of these guys. And we're seeing it with Colt Keith and Jackson Churio is picking things up. Well, specifically with Keith, because remember I talked about Jackson Chorio yesterday, how through June, his average axis of velocity was 8. 88 miles per hour in July, it's, or maybe I don't have those timelines, right? I think it was through May. Yeah. Average exit velocity was 88 miles per hour for Jackson Chorio since the 90 miles per hour.

So that is skill improvement. That's measurable. But I don't think I'd have to double check, but just going off memory, I don't think Colt Keith's exit velocity has improved as the production has improved. So it makes me wonder a little more in his case. I wanted to I could quickly pull it up here in July yeah

87.5 average exit velocity 7.2% barrel rate is not great for Colt Keith so I don't know maybe he's not everything but it does raise the question of okay was he well is are those

are those batted balls just care anymore now yeah it's not like he's hitting a ton of fly balls or pulling it either I don't I don't know how to explain what Colt Keith is doing right now, but he's hot.

Some other hot hitters, I guess, at least on Monday, had themselves some big games. Brian Dela Cruz, three for five with a sock and a shoe, his 17th home run, his third stolen base. He is 68% rostered, and Will Benson had a huge game, two for two with a sock and two shoes. That's a homer and two steals, and he's up to 11 homers and 13 seals on the season, but it also comes with a 194 batting. average. Will Benson is 23% rostered. Any interest in either of those outfielderers, Scott? Brian De LaCrues, Will Benson? Well, not Will Benson.

Yeah. Brian Dela Cruz is whatever. He has a decent home run total. Not much of anything else because he's in such a bad lineup, doesn't draw walks. So that brings down the run scored. And he's a serviceable fifth outfielder, but that's about it. One other name here. Austin Wells has quietly been solid as of late.

Three for five with his seventh home run. He's actually hit cleanup for the Yankees three games in a row. And over his last 17 games, Austin Wells is betting 277 with five home runs and 10 RBI. 15% rostered. Deeper to catcher leagues, Scott, have you given any thought to Austin Wells if he was available? I have not.

Have you? Have you, Frank? Let's just have a little conversation. I can tell you that in leagues where I have been streaming my second catcher spot in 15 team Roto leagues, I wish Austin Wells was available. Yeah, a very specific scenario. If I have teams where, like I have a few teams where my second catcher has been bad. It's been Corey Lee and, you know, Ben Rortford and names like that. It's, yeah, if I could swap those out for Austin Wells, like, yeah, I'd absolutely do it.

Sure. Sure. That, you know, anybody who's breathing, that's good enough for those leagues. Can I bring up one other hitter here? Yes. Who I kind of wanted to talk about yesterday, but definitely today. I think we should talk about Tyler Fitzgerald. Okay.

Of the Giants who has started their last three games at shortstop and has homered in all three of them. And in fact, he's homered in four straight games for the Giants. 11 days in between the first two of those games, but then three in a row here. His numbers in the majors are very good. 299 batting average, five homers, seven steals, and just 96 plate appearances. His numbers and the minors are very good. This is Tyler Fitzgerald we're talking about. So AAA Sacramento, he slashed 310, 402,

7-18, eight home runs in 87 plate appearances. You look at last year's numbers, very good. 22 homers, 32 steals with a 292 batting average. Tyler Fitzgerald, he's 26 years old. He's a versatile defender. It's kind of surprising he doesn't get discussed more. And it's one of those cases where, okay, he doesn't hit the ball very hard. his strikeout rate in both the majors and minors is pretty high.

Like he probably shouldn't be hitting this well by the data points. And yet he is. And he has for a long time if you look at the minor league track record as well. So I think it's somebody to keep an eye on because there are ways he's easy to fit in the lineup as versatile as he is. The Giants need help on offense. It's not like they have a lineup full of star. hitters. And I think as long as Tyler Fitzgerald performs, he's going to keep getting chances, power, speed. Again, it probably shouldn't have power and speed, but he has in both the majors and

minors. So let's keep an eye on it. Tyler Fitzgerald, one person at rostered on CBS. He has second base shortstop and outfield eligibility, probably just an NL only name for now. But if he continues to play, you know, deeper mixed roto leagues could factor in there. Let's get into some of the leftovers and we will start with the pitchers. Part one, Terrick's Goebbled, turn. turned in a solid start at the Guardian, seven innings, 10 hits. That was surprising, a season high, but still just one earned run,

six strikeouts had 15 whiffs on 97 pitches. Mitch Keller turned in another strong start. He was up against the Cardinals, seven innings, one run ball with three strikeouts, only three wifts on 97 pitches. And Hunter Green, a dominant start at the Atlanta Braves, seven shutout with seven strikeouts, 11 wifts on 112 pitches.

They just let him go in this one. He's turned in three straight quality starts. He has seven plus strikeouts in each of those. It's got anything to add on Hunter Green, Mitch Keller, and Terrick Scouble. It's not just three straight quality starts for Hunter Green. 20 innings between them, only seven hits allowed, only one run allowed. So he has been dominant lately. And, you know, there's a lot to like here.

Beyond the obvious, he throws hard. he has the 10.2K per 9. Lots of weak contact, lots of in the air contact. That's a good combination. If you're allowing fly balls that aren't hit especially hard, that's a lot of outs.

That's hit prevention. That's kind of why he's allowed seven hits in his last 20 innings. So I think Hunter Green, I just mentioned, I'll probably move him ahead of Ranger Suarez's rest of season. He could still get burned by the long ball.

He could still get burned by walks. But I think the upside, outcomes now. He's reaching them more often and they're pretty impressive. And pitching leftovers part two, we had Eric Fetty turn in another quality start at the Rangers, six and a third, two runs allowed, five strikeouts. I think he's going to work out pretty well for a contending team that it's just going to be an under the radar move. No one's excited about trading for Eric Fetty. But if he goes to a Dodgers or an Orioles team, that could be pretty good for his fantasy value. Tyler Anderson got away with it again.

against a Julio Rodriguez, less Mariners lineup, so a pretty good matchup here. Five and two thirds, one run, eight strikeouts, 18 whiffs on 96 pitches. He has 18 plus wifts in two of his last three starts. And Bryce Miller on the other side

had a great start up against the Angels. He threw seven shutout with five strikeouts, only nine wists on 94 pitches. Scott, anything on Bryce Miller, Tyler Anderson, and Eric Fetty. Yeah, there's been a lot. of hand ringing over Bryce Miller. And I get it because there are some people

who are very, very high on Bryce Miller's upside. But I don't want to go too far the other direction either. It's okay if a pitcher's not a stud. Like he could just be a perfectly fine pitcher. And I think Bryce Miller, I can say that about him with even more confidence than I can, like Rinaldo Lopez, who it was kind of, making the same case for

his control has been really good, especially lately, it's been really good, two walks combined in his last four starts. He has a decent strikeout rate. You know, you compare him to Eric Fetty, and I think there are still more marks in Bryce Miller's favor than Eric Fetties.

And I think there has been less discouraging talk of Fettie lately than Miller. So, yeah, Bryce Miller probably not an ace or a must-star pitcher, but a must-raster pitcher, I would say, and one who's worth mixing in at least with the right matchups, if not more often than that. I'll also say for Tyler Anderson,

this is now two of his last three starts have been his best swinging strike starts of the season with good swinging strike numbers. And the caveat has always been, I will not believe in Tyler Anderson, no matter how long he continues this, unless there's the skill change. He's missing more bats.

I haven't identified exactly what the skill change is, but I like miss bats. So, I mean, he probably needs to be rostered in every league at this point. I'm not saying it'll stay that way. I would definitely be calling him a sell high candidate still, but coming into this week, he qualified as a sleeper pitcher, so he wasn't rostered everywhere. It probably needs to be at this point.

and just treat him with great skepticism and openness on the trade market. But he needs to be rostered. Tyler Anderson up to 81% rostered on CBS and 60% rostered on Yahoo. So could be out there in some of those leagues as well. Let's talk some hitting leftovers. Juan Soto had a huge game, 3 for 4 with a double dong, 4 RBI, one of his home runs, 11.9 exit velocity,

the other 112.1 exit velocity. He has 11 hits in 4 games so far in the second half. That's Juan Soto. Anthony Volpe has actually hit well so far in the second half here. Again, it's incredibly small sample size. I understand that, but 2 for 4 with his

7th home run, his first homer since May 16th. It is July 23rd. So, yeah, a pretty long power drought there for Anthony Volpe. but in four games after the break so far six hits one homer two steals for him O'Neill Cruz one for three with two steals

another one four games after the break six hits one homer seven RBI two steals and Francisco Linder had himself a massive game two for four with two socks and a shoe that's two home runs and one steal and he is up to 19 homers 20 steals let's make it happen 30 30 two years in a row for Francisco Linder

some bullpen Updates for the Pirates. David Bednar got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He gave up a hit but picked up his 18th save for the Mets. Edwin Diaz got the ninth inning with a three-run lead. He gave up one run, but picked up his 12th save. For the White Sox, Michael Kopeck entered with a runner on first and one out in the seven.

In a tie game, he recorded the next five outs in order. And then John Brebria got the ninth with a one-run lead. He gave up a single run on a walk and two hits. He took his second blown. and the White Sox eventually lost in extra innings. For the Angels, Carlos Estevez pitched a clean ninth for his 19th save, and for the Red Sox who are missing Kenley Jansen because they're in Corse Field, it's already hurt them because Zach Kelly pitched a clean ninth inning with the game tied.

The Red Sox took a two-run lead in the top of the 10th. Kelly came out for the bottom of the 10th. He gave up two runs. The Red Sox scored a run later on in the 12th, and then they had lefty Bailey Horn get the bottom of the 12th inning. He was charged with two runs, one of those earned. He took his first blown save

and first loss of the season. To stream or not to stream on Tuesday, some names we mentioned yesterday, Albert Suarez at the Marlins. We also brought up John Gray against the White Sox, Jose Soriano at the Mariners. Yeah, that's my favorite of the three.

Yes. There's Colin Ray at the Cubs. Jose Cantana at the Yankees. Lanselin at the Pirates. Yeah, I'll pass on Jose Cantana. He's had some good starts recently, but Yankees, I don't know about that. Yeah, I think I would go with Soriano, Suarez,

and John Gray in that order. On Wednesday, anybody stand out here? Not a great day. Michael Waco we like, but D-backs are a little bit of a tougher matchup. There's Sean Mania at the Yankees, but I don't know about that. Mitchell Parker against the Padres. I want to say the Padres aren't so great against lefties. Let's find out about that.

They are 22nd in Wobah against lefties, yeah, so that is a good call. So Mitchell Parker might be okay. I'm not loving it. But I think of these Michael Walker against the Diamondbacks would be my first choice, even though it's not such a good matchup. He's just been so reliable lately. Hope it continues. Let's wrap up with Team Name Tuesday, and these are from Nicholas.

Heinz ketchup. Like Reese Heinz. Reese Heinz. Probably do something with the first name there, too. Well, you could go like Reese's pieces, but then it has nothing to do with ketchup. You could go, yeah, just split them. No, you don't need to mix them. You don't want to mix Reese's and ketchup.

Believe me. You do not want to do that. Next up is Bayo Kitty, but it's spelled Belleau, like Hello Kitty, I guess. Yeah, okay. Rice and schemes. Okay. Lemon terrain pie.

All right. Gin and Quantic. Uh-huh. Stottfate. and coal. I kind of like that. Yeah, it's not bad. It's not a bad multi-name one.

I'll have my eggs, Ober Medium, please. Yeah, there's so much you could do with Ober. The Yates Motel. Okay. And Freed Bird. Mm-hmm. These are from Tom.

This vest is Taylor Wade. I mean, some pretty obscure players there, but... Okay. Yeah. Like, Will Vest? I just realized the Vee was. capitalize. Yeah,

Will Vest. Yeah, that's funny. Benson and Hedges, which I didn't know apparently is a cigarette brand, but those are two baseball players as well.

So there you go. I didn't know that either. And pro far so good. Oh yeah, that's a classic. These are from Danny. Wu-Tang Clan. Yep.

Peanut Butter, Ellie with a baseball pet. Oh, that's, that's, that's good because you got the baseball bat in there just naturally.

Yeah, that's very, I haven't seen that one yet, and that's kind of surprising. Too legit to wit. All right. Some like Witt hot. Mm-hmm. Big Willie style. Yeah. This one, we couldn't figure it out last time because it was just Schwell and Bach's

named together. To Schwell and Bach. I still don't know that I get it. Oh, it's like to hell and back. Oh. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it's actually pretty clever, but yeah, someone else sent that in and we...

A little too clever by half, I'm going to say. Someone else sent it in, we just could not figure it out. Guriel's just want to have fun. Mm-hmm. Psycho Keller. Okay. The Bryce is Wainwright. All righty.

And Wizard of Boz. Hmm. All right. These are from Freddie. The old man in the Seawald. Uh-huh. The sun also arises. It sure does.

For whom the Snelltolls. Yeah. So there's a bit of a theme going on there. If you notice, Hemingway. Ah. Yeah, I mean, I am about as uncultured as they get, so, yeah, I wasn't, was not going to get that one. From Sage, Fott Guy in a Letel coat. Okay.

Got your culture there. That's good. Free man, woo man, haters club. From Patrick, when I say I love you, you say Pavetta.

Okay. I don't know. What is that? When I say I love you, you say you better, maybe? Oh, maybe. Maybe. Next one,

shirts or skeins? Okay. From Brandon. It's Leviosa, not Lenin Sosa. Oh, you seem to get that one. I don't get that. It's a Harry Potter thing. Oh.

Yeah. Okay. And this last one's from Zach. Sunny with a chance of scubles. Scoobles? Meatballs, scubles? Yeah. It's kind of far off, I guess.

It's a stretch, Zach. Yeah. All right. Well. And the book is cloudy with the chance of meatballs anyway. So sunny with a chance of sco. You're just like cramming the extra player name and making it more, what's the word?

Inaccessible, making it more inaccessible, less accessible. I noticed the C and Chance is capitalized. Is that a chance-sisco shout-out? Probably just because it was a title. Yeah, maybe. Well, I mean, there are probably some player out there named Chance, right? Yeah, Chance Cisco. Sure.

Anytime we get a Chance Cisco reference in here, we've got to go for it. We are going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. Mount Podcasts.