Fantasy Baseball Today - Spin Rates Plummet! Weekend Recap & Most Added/Dropped (6/14 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 14, 2021

What do we make of the poor performances by Shane Bieber, Trevor Bauer, and Corbin Burnes this weekend (2:20)? Is Logan Gilbert a must-add pitcher? ... News and notes (13:05)! Jacob deGrom left his start Thursday, Mike Trout is progressing, plus tough lineup decisions. ... Prospect updates on Kelenic, Nolan Gorman and others (21:23). ... Who were the most added/dropped hitters from the weekend (22:57)? What about for starting pitchers (28:42)? Should you add James Kaprielian and Patrick Sandoval? ... Who were the top hitting standouts from the weekend (37:54)? The Blue Jays won't stop! ... What do we do with these starting pitchers (45:09)? I'm talking about you Blake Snell! .... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates, and streamers (52:42). ... Email us at [e-mail]. 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank, @AdamAizer Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. I drive. Centerfield is magnificent. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank Scott, Chris, and Adam.

Happy Monday, everybody, and welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on June 14th. Frank Stamphle joined by Scott White. No Chris Towers this week, as he is on. vacation, a well-deserved vacation. I saw that he was hanging out with his doppelganger, Luis Giorme, at City Field on Sunday. So hope you had a great time at the game, Chris. You got to see Chris Paddock dominate,

something that we will talk about a little bit later on. Today on the show, we're going to recap the weekend, of course, spin rates continued to drop for some of the bigger name starting pitchers, most added, most dropped players, waiver wire ads. What do we do with these guys? I have a group of starting pitchers that just don't really know what to do. Blake Snow, I was at the game on Friday. I don't really know what to do with that guy.

He's not very good right now. What is up, Scott? How is your weekend? I see you got new couches. New couches. Yeah, they're in. They're beautiful. They're new.

They're nice. They're not comfortable yet. They need to be broken in. But, you know, the old ones were more comfortable. But these will get there. They'll get there. I keep reassuring my wife. They will get there.

They will get there. They will get there. Yeah, no, that was pretty much the highlight of the weekend, I would say. What about you, Frank. Oh, it was a very eventful weekend. I went to my cousin's graduation on Saturday, so that was a lot of fun. And on Friday night, I went to go see Jacob de Grom pitch. And unfortunately, he had to leave that game. And we'll talk about that a little bit later on. But Scott, he is, I mean, to see Jacob de Grom pitch live in person, it was ridiculous. And it was like the first game where the Mets had this huge live crowd in attendance. It was like 23,000 people sold out.

well, sold out as far as they can go to this point, but it was crazy. It was a raucous crowd, and he was really, really fun to watch pitch. So he's quite good, and we can talk about it. But let's jump right in some, oh my goodness gracious standouts from the weekend. Oh, my goodness gracious! All right, Scott, where would you like to start? I would like to start in the same place I started so many of my drafts with the Bebes.

Shane Bieber. Bebeber. Shane Bieber had his worst start in a couple years. Against the Mariners of all teams, you expected him to throw a no-hitter, considering he was facing the Mariners, and instead he threw a multi-hitter. It wasn't pretty.

He gave up 10 hits, to be specific. He's been giving up a lot of hits all year. But what really stood out about this particular start for Shane Bieber is that the spin rate on his curveball was down nearly 300 RPM. It was down nearly 300 RPM. It was down nearly 200 RPM in his last start for what it's worth. His last start was a good one. He had, I think, pretty much all good starts in June up until this one.

But we're seeing what's afflicting many pitchers across the league, impacting Shane Bieber's, you know, one of his top pitches there in the curveball. And really, I mean, the spin rate was down across the board. It was just, it really stood on on that curveball specifically. I don't know if that's the reason why he had his worst start in two years. It's notable, considering that he did have his worst start in two years. Yeah, I don't really know what to make of it other than just pointing it out. It obviously raises the old eyebrow and makes you wonder what happens next for Shane Bieber,

as we've been wondering for many a pitcher in light of these new developments. and yeah, I mean, am I that worried? No, but my worry is above zero, I would say. You know, 2019, you know, I say it's worst starting two years. 2019 was that year. That was his breakout year. That was, you know, he was performed like a second rounder, basically. And he didn't throw the curveball as much that year.

He was more, he leaned more on the slider. And maybe he could go back to that. if the curveball becomes an issue for him, if the RPM stay down on it. So, you know, there's a lot of weapons for him to work with, which is a big reason why I'm not worried. But, you know, I am not confident saying Beaver will for sure be a top five pitcher the rest of the way.

Certainly there's a chance. I do feel confident saying he'll be a top 10 pitcher the rest of the way. Yeah, I think that's definitely fair to say. And even after this start, a 3.28 ERA, very respectable, but hasn't lived up to the expectations, specifically in the whip department, 1.25 whip on the season. We know that he has struggled with control this year,

which is something Shane Bieber doesn't usually have issues with. So the walks are up, and in conjunction with his BABB, his batting average on balls and play, is currently at 337 after this start. Last year, that number was 267. In his breakout 2019, it was 296. So more hits are dropping in, the walks are up.

That's how we get the whip to where it is. You mentioned the RPM on his curb ball. The RPM on his slider was down 157 as well. So I don't know if it's just coincidence, whatever it might be, but between Bieber, Garrett Cole the past couple of weeks. And then also this weekend, Scott, Trevor Bauer goes out, has a terrible start against the Texas Rangers of all teams. He gives up six runs, four of those were earned,

and his four-seam spin rate was down. down 166 RPM. His cutter was down 123. Same thing with Corbyn Burns, who going up against the Pittsburgh Pirates, it was just weird to see his final line. Four runnings, nine hits, four runs, three of those were earned. He still had eight strikeouts, but his cutter, which is his best pitch and something he uses over 50% of the time, was down 163 RPM. So it's, now we have Bauer and Burns and Bieber and Garrett Cole, four of the top 10 starting pitchers in fantasy baseball with spin rates, down. And again,

I don't want to set, I don't want to use this as a cop-out, but we just don't really know. We still, like, okay, these are the first time that we've seen spin rates down

and pitchers actually struggle with them. So maybe we will see more performances like this. But like you, I still think Shane Bieber is a top 10 starting pitcher. Trevor Bauer, a little more concerning there. And especially with Corbyn-Burn, too, because this was a breakout season.

So I don't know if there's anything you specifically want to add on those two, Scott. but those were the other big names along with Bieber that I noticed this had the same issue. It's hard to know what to make of it, but it is notable that three of the best pitchers in baseball this year, Bauer, Bieber, and Burns, each had their worst start of the season

against one of the worst offenses in baseball in the same weekend and saw a big drop in spin rate. Now, with Burns, part of this you know this is what complicates it is a sample of one is too small of a sample to deduce anything of course and that's what we're talking about for the most part I guess in Bauer's case it's a sample of two still pretty small but Burns's spin rate on his cutter was down in his previous start too by about the same amount that it was in this latest start

and that was his best start of the season you know he had 13 strikeouts and that start so you know the spin rate's been way down on his best pitch, two starts in a row. One was his best start of the season. One was his worst. You know, that makes it even harder to know what to make of it.

Maybe consistency is what ends up being lost more than anything else. Certainly, you know, what stood out to me in this start for Burns was he issued three walks. He'd issued only seven walks all season. And of course, control had been an issue for him before.

And that certainly speaks to a consistency issue. So, you know, I just think we need to see more. I think we need to see more, but it's clearly something that's worth monitoring. And it could change the value of some of these pitchers. As I said last week, I don't think it'll be more than a handful that it changes their value in terms of moving them from one extreme to another. Oh my goodness gracious for me here, Scott. Logan Gilbert, who was opposing Shane Bieber on Sunday.

He was very good now for two straight starts. And in this one, six and two thirds, one earned, one walk. Six strikeouts, 19 swinging strikes for Logan Gilbert on 92 pitches. He had 10 on the four-scene fastball. This is now back-to-back starts with 18 plus swinging strikes. He is 56% rostered and he faces the Tampa Bay raise this week. Scott, is Logan Gilbert a must add after these two starts? Pretty close.

Pretty close. Yeah, going from 20 swinging strikes in one start to 90s. in this start. And each, like, he's still hardly throwing his change-up, but it was a little more each time. He got up to eight change-ups thrown in this start Sunday. And four of them were swings and misses, you know? So just that extra, extra look on that third pitch may help his arsenal fill out

and help him start to live up to his potential. So really encouraging stuff from Gilbert, the past two outings. And his spin rates have been fine. I guess it's worth noting that as well. Every pitcher it's worth noting from now on. We don't have a choice, right?

We've got to monitor these things and see what's going on here. But Logan Gilbert has been very good over his last two starts. Some of the most dropped starting pitchers. I was going to get to these a little bit later on, but let's just see which ones we would be willing to drop for

Logan Gilbert. Vince Velasquez, that's fine. He's one of the most dropped starting pitchers, which is weird because he actually had a decent start over the weekend, but I'm fine with it, obviously. David Price, Sure, could drop him. Jameson Tion. Well, we said you could drop him last week, and then he goes out and he couldn't escape the first inning against the Phillies. So, don't have an issue with that one either. Chris Bubidge, John Gantt, Garrett Richards, fine. I think, right, Scott, Garrett Richards, we're okay dropping him for Logan Gilbert, right? Yeah. Yeah, all these pitchers seem fine to me.

The last two on the list, I found interesting because they're currently in the bullpen for their respective teams, but have flashed upside. Obviously, Jesus Lazzardo has prospect pedigree, and, Christian Javier. He had some good starts earlier in the season, but now both of them are in the bullpen. So would you be okay dropping either one of those for Logan Gilbert? I'm warming up to the idea of maybe dropping Luzardo in a league, obviously, where you need a spot. Don't just drop him to drop them,

because obviously there's a lot of upside. He could rejoin the rotation at some point, but his ERA is over six now. You know, he hasn't been good since coming off the IL and joining the bullpen. And it makes you wonder how much you should care about him rejoining the rotation, really. Javier's dominated. And, you know, mostly in like four-inning stints, kind of had a piggyback role with Odaryzi, I think. I think it is that he's kind of teamed up with.

And now Lance McCullors is coming off the aisle, and he's going to – Oterizzi is going to come out of the bullpen following him on Tuesday. and then the Astros are planning to go six-man is my understanding. So, you know, Javier continues to dominate as a long reliever, and I think there's a good chance he winds up in the rotation soon enough, and you'll be glad you held on to him if he does. So would you rather hold Javier or pick up Logan Gilbert, if that was your only option? I'd rather hold Javier.

Okay. I'm kind of on the fence Luzardo versus Logan Gilbert. Certainly, if you need help right now, Gilbert's the better option. All righty, before we get to the news and notes, just want to remind everyone to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Thank you to those who are watching us live right now. It's 1225 a.m. Eastern time. And yeah, if you haven't subscribed yet to our YouTube channel,

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YouTube.com slash fantasy baseball today. News and notes from the weekend, Jacob DeGrom was awesome on Friday. Six shutout. Telling you, guy is absolutely electric. One hit, 10 strikeouts, zero walks. However, he left that start on Friday with flexor tendonitis in his right elbow. He checked out fine after playing catch over the weekend

and is in line to make his start this week. But Scott, this is scary, man, because now not only have we dealt with oblique injuries with DeGrom, he is dealing with an elbow injury. And I mean, anytime someone who averages like 100 miles per hour on their fastball, you know, obviously raises red flags. He's got the weirdest body. That's what I would say about Jacob deGrom,

because, man, how many times over the past, three, four years has he done this, left with an injury that caused everybody to worry. Like, is this going to be a lengthy aisle? And then he's back throwing the next day. You know, as I miss a turn.

You know, it's weird. The whole thing is just weird. It keeps you constantly on edge if you're the person who has DeGrom. It's, you know, somebody was calling us out on Twitter last week for still having Garrick Cole ahead of DeGrom and arrest of season rankings.

and okay, fine. I moved DeGrom ahead, but it's not that easy a call because, not that easy of a call, because DeGrom, you're always waiting for the other shoe to drop with them. It's weird between DeGrom and the rest of the elite starting pitchers right now

because even if I want to say, okay, do you shop DeGrom, because you're worried about these injuries, see what you could get for them, but there's risk factors with all the starting pitchers right now as we continue to highlight. Not all of them, obviously. I'm putting everyone in the same basket,

which I should not be doing. But ultimately, we do have some concerns there between DeGrom and other elite starting pitchers. So, Scott, would you try and shop him right now? No, yes. All right. No. Let's see what happens.

There's too much uncertainty at starting pitcher right now to be shopping the best. Mike Trout is expected to have a clearer return timeline once he's cleared to resume jogging in the coming days. Steven Strassberg is scheduled to meet with a specialist soon before the Nationals determine the next step in his recovery from nerve irritation. Max Muncie was placed on the IL with a right oblique strain.

Shohei Otani now has outfield eligibility. Whoa! On CBS, which is awesome. Scott, I was updating some outfield ranks on Sunday because Otani is now in them. And where should he rank among the outfielders, the elite outfielders? I moved him up to, I got a refresher here. But he was inside my top 10 for both headset points.

Yeah, it looks like he had him sixth and roto behind Harper and behind Whitmeryfield. I don't know about that one, Frank. Yeah. But I would say, I would have him sixth. I would have him behind Harper as you do. I would also have him behind J.D. Martinez, which you don't. and then the top three for us both are in some order Acuna Soto and Betts.

Minotani's right there. I would say if we were redrafting today for rest of season, he'd be a second round pick for me. So that's where this puts him. All right, yeah. I have him eighth in head-ed points and I have him sixth in Roto. But that is very fun

that we can now play him in the outfield on CBS. and I believe it's 10 games on ESPN. So you got a little bit of a ways to go there if you do play on ESPN. Scott, where should you play him this week? Should you play him as a starting pitcher or as a hitter? He was fine this weekend, five innings, two runs, eight strikeouts. His last five starts, he's actually been very good.

3.14 ERA, 1.05 whip. And he's going up against the Tigers, so it's a great matchup, but he has seven games this week versus AL opponents. So he should be in the lineup, at least six of those, I would imagine. Yeah. No, still as a hitter.

Okay. I don't know why we'd stray from that. Actually, the last two weeks, the Angels would play the series in the NL, so he was not as available to bat the past two weeks. But that, you know, back to all A.L opponents this week, as you said. Yeah, I actually started him as a pitcher for the first time all season, last week, because of that reason.

that he wasn't playing over the weekend. They were in, I believe it was Arizona. So, yeah, he wasn't in the lineup of those games. Zach Gallen, speaking of Arizona, is, of course, dealing with a sprained UCL. He threw 46 pitches over 2 and 2 thirds in a simulated game on Saturday. The debacks are hopeful that he can return

by the end of June. Trent Grisham and Mike Yistremski were reinstated for their respective teams on Saturday. Luis Severino exited his rehab start on Saturday with a right-eastern. leg injury. So once we know more there, we'll keep you updated on Luis Severino. Corey Seeger is about two weeks away from beginning a rehab assignment with the Dodgers. And I'm going to highlight a few players who are currently day-to-day. They're a little bit

banged up. And, Scott, you let me know if you would be willing to leave these players in your lineup for this upcoming week. Ronald de Cunia left Sunday with right pectoral tightness. Yeah, he's not expected to miss any time. So he stays in the lineup. Javier Baez was scratched from Sunday's lineup because of thumb soreness. Yeah, I'd like to have a replacement for him. It's hard to find a replacement as shortstop. So, you know, but this is an injury. Like we were talking about this injury at this time a week ago,

and he's still dealing with it. So that's not a good feeling. Cody Bellinger has missed two straight games with hamstring tightness. And on top of that, he's been very bad since he's returned from the I.O. Yeah, he has. Yeah, I'd probably try to avoid Bellinger, too. Aaron Judge sat Sunday with back spasms. Another one, kind of like DeGrom,

where he's, anytime you see something kind of on the radar here for Aaron Judge, it sets off a light bulb, Scott. So, what do you think about, Judge? I think I saw that he should have been available to come off the bench. Yeah, they were playing in an NL park

to pinch it. He didn't actually pinch it, which you know, it was a lopsided loss. So I guess there was no reason for him to. I'm leaning towards starting judge, though. Max Scherzer left Friday start with groin inflammation. Would you start him against the Pirates this week? Obviously, a pretty good match up there.

Yeah, he's supposed to be fine. I'd start Scherzer. Byron Buxson will travel with the twins on their upcoming road trip to Seattle, though we don't know exactly when he's going to be activated. What do you think about Bucson, Scott? Got to get him active. All right. Mitch Hanigur was removed Sunday after fouling a ball off of his knee. X-rays revealed a deep bone bruise.

So, glass half full there, Scott. nothing major, but maybe he sits out a day or two. Bone breezes can sometimes be an issue. I remember Carlos Beltron missed a long time with one back when he played for the Mets. Hopefully he can avoid an IEL stint. I think there's enough of a chance he goes on the aisle, though, that I'd look to sit Hanager if it's a shallow enough league that I can.

And then Jonathan's Scope was Crats Sunday with hand soreness. So he's been a popular ad. He's hot right now, but I don't think he's someone that you have to keep in your lineup if there's any doubt about playing time for him. Michael Paneda left Sundays start with right forearm tightness. He's likely to miss at least one start. D.D. Gregorius will not be activated on Monday. He experienced some stiffness in his injured right elbow.

During his rehab assignment, Jake O'Reilly will follow Lance McCuller's in Tuesday's game against the Rangers, but is expected to remain in a six-man starting rotation thereafter. Ryan Weathers will return to the bullpen for the Padres, and they do not appear to be assigning another pitcher to the rotation, so they will shift from a six-man to a traditional five-man rotation. Max Kepler and Luke Voigt began rehab assignments on Sunday for their respective teams. Tyrone Taylor was placed on the aisle with a strained right shoulder, and some prospect updates from the weekend. Jared Kelnick had a sock and a shoe. That's a home run and a stolen base on Saturday. So keep doing stuff like that. And hopefully we can see you back in the majors

there, Jared Kelnick. And Cardinals third base prospect, Nolan, had at least five home. runs over the weekend. I didn't check his box score on Sunday. It might have been more. Stop counting. Yeah, five home runs. He is currently at AA and he's been playing second base this season in the minors as well. So he's betting. That's true. I forgot about that. And when I looked earlier this week, Nolan Gore, like his problem, he had the all or nothing Joey Gallo thing going on with home runs and strikeouts. But his strikeout rate is way down this year. And he's still hitting for power. So, Nolan Gorman becoming more and more interesting his prospect.

Yeah, especially if he's going to play middle infield could potentially be a huge power bat there. So he is currently at AA. Maybe we see him at AAA before long. Last year's first overall pick for the Tigers, Spencer Torkelson has been promoted to double A. He was batting 311 with five home runs, 27 RBI, and three steals at high A. And Nat's starting pitching prospect and first round pick from 2020. Cade Cavali, pitch seven no-hit end. with 15 strikeouts at high A over the weekend.

He now has three straight double-digit strikeout games. So similar to Spencer Torkelson, maybe it won't be long before Kate Cavali gets promoted to AA. Some of the most added hitters from the weekend, Scott, and no surprise, a lot of these are names that were part of your sleeper hitter column, but they included Patrick Wisdom, Miguel Ann Duhar, Eric Haas, Justin Upton, Jonathan Scope. Jonathan India with the Reds, Ahmed Rosario,

Ryan Mountcastle, and Max Stassie, who continues to crush it. Catcher with the Los Angeles Angels. Scott, let's say you had to choose your three favorites from this list, most added hitters from the weekend.

Who would they be? Well, Upton's actually the only one on my top 10 sleeper hitters list for the upcoming week. Okay. But he has been really, really good in June. And up to 14 homers now for the season. So probably needs to be rostered in all leagues, still available in about a third of them.

Second favorite, I would say, is Stasi. Everybody needs a catcher who can hit, and he seems to have picked up where he left off last year after a lot of injuries early this year. My third favorite is actually Jonathan India, who wasn't especially productive this past week, but I know since about mid-May. He's really turned his season around. He's back to batting lead off for the reds. Let me see if I can pull up the numbers here real quick for Jonathan India. See if they still look good during kind of a quiet week.

So in his past 27 games heading into Sunday where I think he had a hit in a walk. 287 batting average four home runs, three steals, an 881 OPS, 410 on base percentage. Yeah, Jonathan India, I think, is back to being a viable fantasy option. So I'm leaving Scope out. And Scope didn't play Sunday because I forget what it was. It seemed like I think you got hit on the wrist or something the day before. It sounded like a day-to-day thing. But yeah, I'm, I think if you haven't gotten anything out of scope the past couple weeks,

you probably, it's probably too late to jump aboard now because I think he was just hot. I think he's going to cool off. And when Scope cools off, there's not much more there. specifically for Jonathan India, it's a great lineup context too. Not that overall, it's not a great lineup, but it's a good ballpark to hit in obviously Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati.

And with Jesse Winker, Nick Castiano's, now Joey Vado's back, he's looked all right, A. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. Hanoe. Swarres. Those guys behind India, he should be able to score a lot of runs and you read off the OBP. He has got a good eye at the plate.

So, yeah, I think regardless of format, too. Even in a points league, you should get some volume there and a pretty decent walk rate. These were not on the most added list got, but they were two names that caught my eye over the weekend. And if you need a middle infielder, I think, in a 12-team Rotel League or deeper,

that's probably where you're going to be looking at these two names. Taylor Walls went three-for-four with his third stolen base on Sunday. He's batting 308 with a homer and two seals over the last seven days. He has a 15% walk rate on the season, albeit with a 25% strikeout rate. He's 11% rostered. And J.P. Crawford, who I've mentioned a few times, but he went three for five on Sunday.

He's now batting 3.56 with two homers and a steal over his last 15 games. He's 25% rostered. He has seven games at home this week. J.P. Crawford again, 9% walk rate and 18% strikeout rate on the season, Scott. So if you needed a middle infielder, who do you like more between Walls and Crawford? They're very similar. I don't think either has much power. They can both run a little.

and get on base a bit. I think walls may be a little better at both of those, getting on base and running. So I'll say walls, but not super high on either. The most dropped hitters from the weekend, Jared Kelnick, down to 73% rostered. And last week, Scott, remind me, you said you would try to hold on to Kelnik, if you could.

Yeah, yeah. I would. I think he would still be my top minor league at a stash, even though the first didn't go well. Scott, let me know if you have an issue with dropping any of these other hitters. Nick Solac is now batting 186 in 39 games since the start of May.

David Peralta with the Diamondbacks has slowed down. He's had a few like just massive games, but outside of that, not a lot of consistency. Nate Lowe, his last 15 games, he's betting 167 with one homer. A lot of Texas Rangers on this list. Willie Calhoun has not hit a home run since May 17th in 23 games since he's batting 206.

your mean Mercedes. 37 games since May 1st. He's batting 2-11 with a 579 OPS. And then Alex Kirillov, who was banged up a little bit over the weekend. He did return. And I reminded everyone that his stat-cast numbers, his expected numbers for Kirloff are actually really good. So he's probably the one that stands out Moscott

where I would try my best to hold on to Kirloff and Kelnick. But how about everyone else of this group? I think they're all dropable. Like, I don't know. that I'd stress that much about dropping any of them. Certainly in a roto league, they're going to be harder to drop just because you have more hitter spots to fill, and so you may be less likely to drop them. I mean, you know, you know, the caliber of hitter that's available on your waiver wire,

and if, you know, all of these players are obviously better than that, then you should try to hold on to them. But I had to head lineup, 12 teams are shallower. I think they're all right on the fringes. I think the easiest to drop would probably be your mean Mercedes and will, you'll Willie Calhoun and David Peralta, the two Rangers, so lack and low.

I might be more inclined to hold on to them, but yeah, I think they're all droppable. The most added starting pitchers from the weekend. Tucker Davidson, who is a two-star pitcher, as is Austin Gomber and Vladimir Gutierrez. They are both on this list. Sam Long, someone we spoke about,

made his Major League debut for the San Francisco Giants last week, Scott. Did you see if he's remaining in the rotation because I was trying to look it up and I couldn't find anything anywhere about it. Well, he didn't actually start the last time. Yeah, he was a bulk reliever, yep. Yeah, he followed an opener. I have him in my two-star pitcher list.

I'm not sure he'll technically start, but I don't think he's pitched since then, so that looks like his turn, whether he's starting or not. You know, I need to see a lot more than just that one appearance to use him in fantasy. I do have Tucker Davidson, Austin Gomber, Vladimir Gutierrez on my top 10 sleeper pitchers for this upcoming week.

All of them are kind of there because I have to find 10. I'm not sure I really want to use any of them. But Davidson, I might be the most inclined to pick up just because if his first start is against the Red Sox, and if he continues this run he's been on, the first three starts have been promising, obviously. if he turns in another one against the Red Sox. You know, there may be no looking back at that point.

So it's not a bad idea to pick him up, even if you don't want to use him. Yeah, and he does have some prospect pedigree too. So he was pitching very well at AAA for the Atlanta Braves, and so far has pitched pretty well. In the majors, he just has to keep those walks down. That's been the biggest issue for him at times. The other two names on this list, Terrick Scouble,

we talk about quite a bit, and Ryan Yarbrough, who turned in another pretty good start over the weekend, six innings, three hits, two runs. Zero earned, actually. Zero walks to six strikeouts, and he's now allowed just two earned runs over his last two starts. He's 60% rostered,

and he's at the White Sox this week. Scott, any interest in starting Yarbrough in that spot? That's not a priority. Yeah. But he has, he's been useful of late. I think the last time I talked about him on here, I don't know, maybe you and Chris had a conversation

since this, but I was saying, yeah, look, he only goes like four innings missed. starts. Well, four of his past five have been quality starts, meaning he's gone six innings or more and obviously limited the damage as well. So, I mean, Yarbro is always going to be vulnerable to getting knocked around because he's not a big strikeout artist or anything, but his overall numbers have been usable. This is, what, the third year in a row that's been true? Maybe the fourth year in a row? Yeah, he's been usable for a while now.

All right. These are not the most added starting pitchers, but they are available on waiver wires, and they were pretty good this weekend. So let's talk about it. WaiverWire starting pitchers, part one. Wade Miley was up against the Rockies, seven innings, three runs,

two of those were earned, only three strikeouts. The ERA is down to 2.92 on the season for Miley. He's 66% rostered. James Caprillion versus the Royal Sixth Shutout, two hits, four walks, seven strikeouts. He has a 2.5, one ERA, but that comes with a 4.88 X-Fit for James Caprillion.

Brady Singer was at the Oakland A's. He turned into quality start with seven strikeouts, six-ennings-three runs, and he was opposed by Cole Irvin, who also turned into quality start, six-ennings, two runs with four strikeouts, Scott. So between that group of four, Wade Miley, James Caprillion, Brady-Singer, and Cole Irvin, who's your favorite of that group? My favorite is Caprillion. Yeah, yeah.

That's the one I'd want to roster most. Still, I'm not sure I know what Caprillion is yet, but only one bad start so far. So the strikeout rate's been pretty good. The XERA is 361. Singer, Irvin, Miley, I think they're going to remain pretty fringy. Caprillion has a chance to be more. All right, and he is 58% rostered.

He is at the Yankees this week, which based on his walk- great Scott and the fact that he has been a little bit lucky with home run suppression. I don't know that I want to start him there at the Yankees, although I guess it is a revenge game by definition. He's a former Yankee prospect. So I like holding on to him. He is a spark, but don't really love that matchup for him going up against the Yankees in the Yankee Stadium. Waiverwire starting pitchers, part two. Joe Ross at the Giants this weekend. Eight shutout with nine strikeouts. Patrick Sandoval was at the Diamondback, six innings, two runs, four,

strikeouts and entering Sunday, he had a 17.8% swinging strike rate, which is amazing. It's really, really good for Patrick Sandoval. Carlos Martinez and Zach Davies opposed each other on Sunday night baseball. They both turned in quality starts. So Scott, between Joe Ross, Patrick Sandoval, Carlos Martinez, and Zach Davies. Who is your favorite? Oh, Sandoval is pretty interesting. He's kept the walks down. Obviously, the swinging strike rate was so high because he was coming off that 32 swinging strike effort last time out. He only had 13 swinging strikes in this one, but 10 were on the change-up, which is a really good pitch. It seems like, yeah, I think Posey Cantana comes back at some point.

Sandoval would be the most obvious man out. I don't know. Maybe Cantana doesn't deserve a spot in the rotation again. I don't know. We'll see how Sandoval is pitching at that point. But that change-up is really good. If you can keep the walks down, then he may be,

angels may be on to something with him. And if you are really desperate for a start, a good matchup this week, he is going up against the Detroit Tigers, Patrick Sandoval. And they are 29th in weighted-on-base average versus left-handed pitching this season. He's only 8% rostered, so widely available.

Again, the name there, Patrick Sandoval. Scott, in deeper leagues, let me know if you like any of these names. Eric Fetty, Colby Allard, Tony Santion, who is a prospect for the Reds. He made his debut on Sunday. Joey Lucasey, five innings, one run, six strikeouts. And Zach Thompson, who went five shutout with six strikeouts for the Miami Marlins.

He was going up against the Braves this weekend. So Fetty, Allard, Santion, Lucchase, and Zach Thompson. Anything? I did actually put in a very small bid on Colby Allard in one of my my 15 team leagues this weekend. He's kind of interesting. Former prospect in the Braves organization. He went five shutout innings on Saturday.

He gave up two earn runs in five innings last time. Overall, he has a 292, I'm sorry, a 291 ERA, a 112 whip, more than a strikeout per inning. And he's one of those pitchers whose velocity has been concerning at times, like it would drop into that sub-90. range at times, but it's been up over 91 this year, which might be enough for Colby Allard to remain useful. So, you know, mostly worked as like the, as kind of a piggyback guy. So none of his outings have been very long. But he's beginning to stand out a little among the

Rangers starting options. Yeah, he's worked as a reliever and as a starter this year. And the numbers are pretty strong so far for Colby Allard. 2.91 ERA, 1.12 whip. That comes with a 3.57 X-FIP, 9.8K per 9 and a 2.4 walk per 9. So pretty solid numbers there so far. For Colby Allard, he is only 6% rostered up against the twins this week, which is not the best matchup for a left-handed pitcher. We're going to take a quick break, but when we return,

we're going to highlight some of the notable hitting standouts from the weekend. We'll do that next here on Fantasy Baseball today. All right, so the Blue Jays are awesome, as they have been all season, and they will continue to be because they, I wrote this down, they rank 7th in baseball, they're averaging 4.9 runs per game, and their 765 OPS as a team is second in baseball. This is without George Springer. This is crazy.

They have a really, really good offense, and they exploded for 18 runs, 20 hits. Eight of those were home runs on Sunday, which included a double dong for, to Oscar Hernandez. He is batting 2.94 with 10 home runs. Bobauchette went four for five with his 13th home run of the season. And last but not least, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went three for five with his major league leading. 21st home run of the season, three straight games with a homer. Scott, Vlad Jr. is on pace for 50 home runs over 150 games. He is batting 344 with an 1137 OPS.

Yeah, so we do like a little roundtable. every Sunday night, a column for the site. Five questions are, we reach, Chris, you and I answer five questions. And one of the questions last week was who is

the number one player in fantasy right now. And I think we all said Acuna, right? But I think Guerrero is in that discussion. I think, I think the breakthrough has been, has been that decisive. And,

you know, obviously he doesn't, steel base is the way Acuna does, but in terms of just pure bats, he's probably the one, I'd probably put him number one right now if there were, if steals weren't, uh, steals weren't a question. Yeah. The best four category contributor in fantasy baseball this season, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. And it's not particularly close. Matt, by the way, you know who's looked good for the Blue Jays since coming off the IL? Who is Kevin Bigio. Okay. He had back-to-back games this weekend with multiple hits.

a home run and a double. And it kind of makes you wonder how much that back slash neck was bothering him early in the year. Yeah, definitely worth paying attention to. He is 90% rostered. He's only 49% started. So you might want to get him back in your lineup,

especially with how well the Blue Jays are playing. Matt Olson had a double dong on Sunday, and he is batting. He's having a phenomenal season. 289 batting average with 18 home runs. And specifically, against lefties. He's batting 274. He's got a 990 OPS.

Eight of his 18 home runs have come against lefties. Again, this is Matt Olson we're talking about. His strikeout rate is a career best 17%. So I don't know if he's going to... That's the thing. Yeah. I don't know if he's going to keep that up, Scott, because 31% last year, he usually ranges in like the mid to high 20s.

But how often he's making contact this year has completely elevated his game. Yeah, 17% is about as good as you'll find from a first baseman, right? I guess Yuli Gurriel would be lower than that. Probably in the same range as like Anthony Rizzo, right? That's like a low strikeout rate.

And for a guy who may well lead the majors and homers, he's three behind Guerrero right now. But, you know, I've talked about him in the past as I think one of the clearest, or the best bets to have like a 40 homer season, if not more. So we don't really have any reason to question the power. I don't know where all this contact came from. But yeah, it's been going on a long time now.

We're not quite to the halfway point of the season. We got a couple weeks to go. But it's something to take seriously, for sure. And Scott, as soon as we say it's okay to drop Matt Chapman, I put it as the subject of the podcast on Friday. You could drop Matt Chapman, okay? He goes out. I had a hard time saying that.

Yeah, no. Yeah, you did. And he had seven hits with two home runs over the weekend. So maybe you hold on a little bit longer and see what happens with Matt Chapman. Michael Brantley went four for five with three doubles and four RBI on Sunday. That was his second four hit game of the weekend. Fernando Tatis added two more home runs, one on Saturday, one on Sunday. Of course, he didn't homer in the game that I want to.

It's pretty hard to homer off to Grom, obviously. But Fernando Tatis is now up to 19 home runs and 13 steals. Francisco Lindor went two for four on Sunday. He's now betting 310 with three homers over his last 15 games. So, all right, all right. The wheels are starting to turn here for Francisco Lindor. Kyle Schwerber had a double dong and now has 12 homers on the season. He's 73% rostered and has seven games this week.

At least three of those will come against that. lefties, so keep that in mind. Gary Sanchez hit his eighth home run of the season on Saturday and is now batting 300 with three homers over his last 15 games. So, did you mention Brantley in here? Yes. Michael Brantley going four for five.

I wanted to point out this blew my mind. This could have been my oh my goodness gracious. Michael Brantley, according to statcast, so this isn't according to stat cast, but his actual batting average for the year, it's a little shy of

340, I think. According to Stackcast, Michael Brantley's expected batting average, coming into this four-hit game, was 360. Now, the thing about stats like expected batting average

is they're supposed to kind of take outliers and bring them back toward the center. They're supposed to normalize numbers that are outlandish way out in the, you know, just in, And just numbers that are doing the things that happens in baseball sometimes where they're just totally out of sight and unbelievable.

But the expected batting average for Michael Brantley says 360. That's amazing. That is ridiculous. That is number one in baseball. Well, of course. How could it not be? Yeah. You know, normally he has a line drive rate in the 22 to 25% range.

Michael Brantley's line drive rate this year is about 30. So I'm sure that has a lot to do with it. I don't know if he can sustain that, but I don't know. I certainly find it interesting. Obviously, we think of them as a good source of batting average anyway, but he's going above and beyond this year. Yeah, for sure. Nice little note there on Michael Brantley.

This is the hardest. He has ever hit the ball in the Stackass era, at least in terms of average exit velocity, 91.1 miles per hour. Same thing for hard hit rate. And he also has a 540. X-slug and entering Sunday he now this is actually after Sunday

497 was his actual slugging percentage so Stackass thinks Michael Brantley is going to get even better a potential buy high if other people in your league are not realizing how good Michael Brantley has been and how much better he could potentially get so go go get him go get him on your team. Scott what do we do with these guys in fantasy baseball some starting pitchers here we'll start off with Blake's now at the Mets

on Friday 4.4.4.4. plus innings, three earned runs, three walks, four strikeouts, the ERA, 4.97. The whip is 1.47. He's going up against the Reds this week, and they are second in weighted on base average versus left-handed pitching. I will point out that Snell has a 1.65 ERA at home this year, and an ERA over nine on the road. This week's start is at home, so I don't know if that makes you feel any better, Scott. Start, sit, drop, like Snell. What are we doing? I'm at the point with Blake Snell where unless it's just an amazing matchup

for a two-start week, I would probably try to sit. I mean, what I mean by that is, you know, it depends how good the rest of your pitching staff is. And I wouldn't pick up some scrub to start over him, but I would like to think I have more quality pitching options that I don't have to take a chance on him having one of these four-inning starts where he has a 180 whip,

which seems to be what the majority. of his starts are these days. He's had a couple of really, really good ones recently, but in between, it's been more of that nonsense. That's kind of where I'm at with him. I don't blame you. I wouldn't drop him. It's kind of similar to Luis Castillo, basically, all season,

where if I drafted him, I would just be too stubborn to drop Blake's now. No, I don't think you should drop him. Yeah. Well, should you drop Charlie Morton, Scott, because he has also just been kind of, of mad all season. And the underlying numbers look better. And I keep waiting for him to be more consistent. But four renings, four runs, four walks against the Miami Marlins. He has just four quality starts in 13 tries this season. A 4.50 ERA. Would you start or sit or drop? Charlie

Morton this week. He's going up against the Cardinals at home. Like I said with Snow, I probably try not to start him. I would not. I have not given any thought to dropping Morton this year. It's been one of the more difficult pitchers to figure out because yeah, the underlying numbers look great. Feel like you should be getting better results, but they're just not coming. This next one, Aaron Savale, and

it's interesting because his teammate, Shane Bieber, goes out and struggles against the Marlins, and against the same offense, Aaron Savale pitched eight shutout this weekend, one hit, one walk, with 11 strikeouts, 15 swinging strikes on 101 pitches.

It was the first double-digit strikeout game of Aaron Savali's career. He threw a season high, 25 curveballs and a season low, two sliders. So what I wanted to ask you here, Scott, I think we can continue to start him. I'll look up who he's going up against this week. But I'm a little bit more hesitant to sell Aaron Savali after this game, specifically for this pitch mix change, where he threw his curve balls much more than a slider.

And his slider is not a very good pitch. So what do you think about maybe holding Savali now? Don't try and trade him. Depends how much pitching you have. But yeah, I'd need to have a pretty stacked pitching staff to really entertain the idea of trading Savale. I think he's more likely to get worse than better than from here. The ERA, the whip, they're more likely to go up than down.

He's still, even after the 11 strikeout game, 7.1K per 9. But, you know, I think he'll remain a fine option for you. and I'm kind of reluctant to sell any pitcher right now because I don't really know what's going to happen to the world of starting pitching after this another dramatic change has been introduced here. Savale is at home against the Baltimore Orioles this week,

so pretty confident putting him in my lineup. And what about Jose Orkitti, who was at the twins this weekend, seven innings, three runs, eight strikeouts to one walk, 21 swinging striking strikes in this start which was a career high

and Erkidi now has a 16% swinging strike rate in three starts since returning from the IL, Scott. Is this a by high situation for Jose Orkiti? I don't know. I don't really see

how anything's different for him. I have noticed that the swinging strikes have been up dramatically so in this latest start but really in all three starts since returning from the IL. I don't know that I'm ready to believe he's like drastically different pitcher because of that.

Chris Paddock was awesome on Sunday against the Mets. Six innings, two runs, nine strikeouts to zero walks, 19 swinging strikes on 84 pitches, his most in a start since September 11th of 2019. Ten of those came on the fastball, which averaged a season high, 95.9 miles per hour for Chris Paddock. Scott, would you start or sit him this week going up against the Cincinnati Reds in offense that is second in weighted and weighted on base average against right-handed pitching. I'd lean towards sitting paddock also. I'd be more likely to start him than Morton.

Probably put Paddock on about the same level of snow. But yeah, this was encouraging. This was encouraging. And his spin rate, because, you know, we've talked about that before, the spin rate really going back a while now, we saw it tick up on the fastball. And, has performed much better than since then. Four of his past five starts have been quality starts. His spin rate hasn't dropped dramatically. It dropped a little in this start, but not in a way that would really raise...

Not in a way that would raise the old eyebrow, just normal start to start fluctuation there with the spin rate. So Paddock definitely seems to be trending the right direction. I stopped short of saying he's must start now. Well, Scott, I would ask you what do you want to do with Herma Marquez, but I know that you dropped him into a few of your leagues already. And he was great entering this weekend. His last six starts, 1.89 ERA, 1.05 whip, 13% swinging strike rate.

Everyone looks good. Everything looks good for Hermann Marquez. At the Reds, five innings, 12 hits, nine runs. He's still 84% rostered. I can't even say... It wasn't even at home. It wasn't a home star. It wasn't the world.

I can't even say like pick and choose your spot. with Marquez because he goes on this stretch where he looks really good and then he just gets blown up and completely annihilates your ERA and your whip. Because I was having some remorse obviously dropping him in some pretty deep leagues and then he went on that great

that great stretch that made me thought I made a huge mistake but my thinking at the time of dropping him because even then it wasn't so like he had had a couple of bad starts on the road so it's like oh if I'm not even going to be able to trust them on the road. What's the point? But yeah, as good as those four starts were

prior to this awful start Saturday. Well, still a 319th ERA for that five-start stretch. But you had to start him for all five to get the benefit of that, which maybe you didn't. Yeah, you're bringing up a little bit here, Scott. So... Oh, come on. The couches.

It's the couches messing with... They're blocking the... With their connection. They're blocking the, yeah. I don't know how, but somehow. Stud performances at starting pitcher from Friday, in particular. Anthony Descalfani was at the Washington Nationals. He pitched a shutout, complete game.

With eight strikeouts to one walk, Lucas Gialito has been very good again. Over his last five starts, the walks are way down, which has been the biggest key for Lucas Gialito. As we get Scotty Dubbs back in here, Scott. I was just highlighting some of the stud pitching performances from Friday. I mentioned Dees Cofofani, Gialito, Brandon Woodruff, who turned in another quality start. He has 11 quality starts on the season that is tied for first in baseball.

And Clayton Kershaw had a great start against the Rangers, six innings, one run, nine strikeouts, got anything you would like to highlight for Descalfani. First of all, can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you. Am I breaking up still? No, you're good. You're back. I'm back, baby.

Back and better than ever. what are we talking about? Oh, Wedruff and other good starters. Let's see. Anything notable from these fine performers Friday, just the Friday guys? Yeah, we're going to hit Saturday and Sunday right after this. No, not really.

No. Just guys doing their thing. All righty. And those stud starting pitchers from Saturday and Sunday, you say Kikuchi 7 shutout against Cleveland, Aaron Nola, nice bounce back against the Yankees, seven and two-thirds, shutout with nine strikeouts. Robbie Ray continues to be awesome.

Ten strikeouts. Quality start against the Red Sox. Carl Sordaun had a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Tigers. He finished seven endings, one run. Nine strikeouts. Framber Valdez at the Twins. Seven-endings, two runs, only two strikeouts, but he is a 75% ground ball rate through his first four starts.

And Walker Bueller with a fine start. six shutout with five strikeouts. The ERA is down to 2.38. Scott, Kikuchi, Nola, Robbie Ray, Rodon, Framber Valdez, and Bueller. Anything you'd like to add on these, gents? Yeah, a little more I could say here. I mean, with Kukuchi, it's kind of amazing still. He's available in about a quarter of all CBS sports leagues.

People need to get on the bandwagon there if they're not already. Past eight starts for you, say Kukuchi. 270 ERA, 0.9 whip, 9.9K per 9, and a 15.1% swinging strike rate that would rank 11th among qualifiers ahead of Garrett Cole if Kukuchi had been doing that all year. But that's an eight-star stretch that he's been doing it. So that's enough for me. I don't know what more you need to see out there, you people. Anyway, yeah. Can I talk about Carlos Rodan?

you can talk about Carl's Ferdone. Gosh. So, yeah, so this near no-hitter and the actual no-hitter, the only two starts where he's gone seven,

and he's or more. So that's worth pointing out. But, man, his number, like, I don't know if you've stopped and look at his numbers recently. He's at a 189 ERA and 0.84 whip for the season, 13.1, K for 9.

Just so good. So good. I don't know. That's all I had to say about that. Is he the breakout MVP of starting pitchers this season? I mean, based on

where he was drafted or just added as a waiver wire? I think he probably has to be number one, right? It might be. Yeah. He might be. Carl Swardan has been ridiculous. The calls of the Penn, Scott.

We will wrap up here with some bullpen updates. And for the Tampa Bay raise on Friday, Pete Fairbanks had his second save of the season. Diego Castillo pitched on Tuesday and Wednesday, so maybe they were just giving Castillo a day off. And then on Saturday, Fairbanks pitched in the 8th, and Diego Castillo was used in the 9th,

and he picked up his 11th save of the season. For the Oakland A's, Jake Deekman on Friday, pitched in the 8th to face 2, 3 and 4 in the lineup. Lou Trevino recorded four outs from the 8th to the 9th inning. He picked up the win, and then Trevino got his 10th save of the season. on, I don't know, it was either Saturday or Sunday, but he has four straight saves for the Oakland A's,

which means I'm sure Jake Deekman will get the next one because just when you think you know, you don't know. For the Angels on Friday, Reiselle Iglesias had his third blown save. He allowed a solo home run to Eduardo Escobar. It's been kind of an inconsistent year for Rice Liglacius. For Hector Neris on Saturday, picked up his fourth blown save of the season.

He gave up a three-run home run to DJ LaMayhew on Saturday for the Marseus. on Saturday for the Marlins. Raphael Montero was used in the ninth inning with a three-run lead and he took his sixth blown save for the Marlins on Friday. Yemi Garcia got his 11th save

and then on Saturday, Dylan Floro got his second save of the season. Garcia had pitched the previous two days and then we had two different closers get three saves this weekend. The old Friday, Saturday, Sunday trick. Josh Hater is now at 17 and Craig Kimberl is now at 18 saves.

Edwin Diaz picked up two saves this weekend. He's now at 12. Brad Hand got his 11th save. Liam Hendricks got his 17th. Lucas Sims on Sunday pitched in the 8th and the 9th inning in a 6-2 game. So if it had been a save situation, I'm sure they still would have used him

the same exact way. And then for the Braves, Will Smith got his 12th save of the season. Scott, let's wrap up with some to stream or not to stream for Monday. J.T. Brewbaker at the Nationals. Marco Gonzalez versus the twins, Dylan Bundy at the Oakland A's, Austin Gomber versus the Padres, Vladimir Gutierrez at the Brewers,

and Matthew Boyd at the Royals. Well, the obvious answer here is Matthew Boyd. Sorry about that. I think I was cutting out there for a second. But yeah, Boyd, and then, you know, if you have to go with somebody else, maybe, maybe Marco Gonzalez. No, that's the left-hander against the twins.

I don't know. And, uh, let's say Vladimir Grudiguerre is at Milwaukee. That's a pretty good matchup. And for Tuesday to stream or not to stream, Andrew Heaney at the Oakland A's, Shane McLeanahan at the White Sox,

Mike Miner at the Tigers, Tyler Anderson at the Nationals, Jordan Montgomery at the Blue Jays, and J-Hap at the Mariners. So I would say, Mike Minor at Detroit, He's been great lately, and that's a bad offense. Pretty easy.

Pretty easy call there. Let's go Haney at Oakland and Montgomery at the Blue Jays. Those are riskier, but potentially rewarding. All right. We're going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching fantasy baseball. Today will be back again tomorrow.

Bye-bye.