Fantasy Baseball Today - Temperature Check on Pitchers & Braves Hitters On Fire! (8/19 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 19, 2025

Spencer Strider got destroyed again (2:35). ... Jurickson Profar and Michael Harris are both on fire (7:55). ... Jack Flaherty got back on track (12:59). ... News (17:43): Zack Wheeler had a procedure to remove the blood clot near his right shoulder. ... Colt Keith and Lenyn Sosa are making noise (23:35). ... We have a trivia question for Scott (31:24)! ... Let's do a temperature check on these starting pitchers (36:24). ... How did the first start go for these two-start pitchers (48:25). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpens, streamers and Team Name Tuesday (52:10). 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, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@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. Hey there, welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Tuesday, August 19th. I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White. Today on the show, we'll do a temperature check for a bunch of pitch.

see where our heads are at. Jerks and ProFar and Michael Harris are on fire. We received a fun trivia question from a listener. So it could potentially be an early week, Scottie doesn't know. So we'll put your track as well. How about that? You have little faith. Actually, it's kind of reasonable.

I think you might be able to get it. We'll see. And much more. Let's jump in. Yeah, big boy. All right, let's start with the obvious. Spencer Strider destroyed again by the White Sox this time. Three plus innings, seven runs allowed, 10 hits in this one, two homers allowed.

Whiffs, not a problem. Still generating whiffs, 13 of them on 68 pitches. But he has now allowed five plus earned runs in three straight. The first time in his career that he has done that. The overall numbers, he's up to a 524 ERA, a 143 whip. I feel like we've talked so much about Strider recently. The fact that his fastball is not what it was. Pre-internal brace surgery.

You know, the slider is still really good. He's getting whiffs on the curveball. It's like a 50% whiff rate on both of those pitches. But the fastball is just not right. So Scott, I guess let's just start our temperature check. Where are we at on Spencer Strider? Can he be dropped? People are asking.

Yeah, is like the number one thing. People were asking me on Twitter tonight is, do they have my permission to drop Spencer Strider? And, you know, I'm going to say, it's your team, do what you want. I don't see myself dropping Spencer Strider in any league. And here's the main reason why I'd hate for that to blow up in my face, because it could blow up in my face spectacularly. And I'm not so hard up for roster space in most leagues that, like, I have to get them off my roster.

or else the whole thing's going to fall apart. You know, I can afford to just park him there. Maybe never use him again. Who knows? But, like, at least I know he's safely out of somebody else's hands if he goes off. And I'll remind everybody that, yeah, it's been three awful turns in a row. Prior to that, Spencer Strider had a nine-start stretch with a 291 ERA. And hopefully you've paid close enough attention to baseball this season to see how quickly

and drastically things can turn for a player. So, you know, my overall evaluation of Strider is, I'm concerned. You kind of laid it out already. The fastball doesn't have the same shape that made it an elite pitch when he was first coming up. 2022, 2023. Still has good enough velocity. Good velocity overall, I would say. But it's just, it's not getting whiffs.

It actually got like four in this start, which is more than a, had been doing. And the average exit velocity was actually way down for Strider, 86.3. But the results, I don't think anybody cares about that. He's going to need to either rework his delivery to regain that fastball shape. Because I do think his deliveries looked a little different this year. He hasn't been driving quite as low to my naked eye. I don't know, maybe somebody who's really into reading pitch data can tell me if my hunch

there is right. So he'll neither need to redo his delivery, rework his delivery to regain that fastball shape or he'll have to broaden his arsenal to make it so hitters can't key in on that fastball so much. And that kind of work may have to wait until the off season. So I'm not approaching Strider with a lot of optimism moving forward. But again, he had a nine-starred stretch with a 2-91 ERA and a good strikeout rate. And so you drop him now, he goes out and has two great outings in a row. That could be the reason you lose your league. Somebody else picks him up and maybe he has a strong finish.

I'm not saying that's the likeliest outcome, but it's certainly a foreseeable outcome. So that's where I stand on Strider, not eager to start him again, not looking to drop him either. This three-star stretch, by the way, if you want the entire numbers, 20 earn runs over 11 and 2 thirds innings 15.43 ERA with a 283 whips. So obviously it has been a disastrous August here for Spencer Strider.

Just looking a little bit deeper, you know, obviously the fastball again, we've talked a lot about that. But the walks, the hard contact, the barrels, they're all just way up from two years ago. Just further confirming he's not the same pitcher. His swinging strike rate, while it's still elite compared to others, 14.2%. it was 18.9% two years ago, like, top of the league. So it's comes down. Which I think is the highest we've ever seen for a starter. If not, it's close to it.

I may be, I may be overstating that, but only slightly. It's, it was an outlier in terms of what a starting pitcher can do. Yeah. So when he's not getting whiffs this season, he's clearly just obviously getting beat up pretty hard. So 96% rostered, I would agree with you. I don't think that I would drop him. You obviously cannot start him right now. I know if you're in a weekly league,

you're probably locked in for the two starts, but daily lineup leagues are for next week and beyond. We need to probably see back-to-back starts of Strider looking decent at least before we can have the confidence to get him back in our lineup. So I'm not dropping him, but obviously you need to bench him the way he's playing right now. Let's talk about something good going on

with the Atlanta Braves Scott. That is Jurekson ProFar. Yes, Jurekson Profar has been on a great run and had maybe his best game of this great run here on Monday hitting two home runs. Three for five, two home runs, had five RBI. Neither of the home runs was hit especially hard, but they were both over 100 miles per hour.

And really, he's come about this production here recently by pulling the ball a ton. So he's not getting the exit velocities he got during his breakthrough season last year, which makes me a little concerned about how sustainable this is, but he is optimizing the ankle off the bat, his jerks and pro far. So to give you the exact numbers,

average exit velocity coming into Monday's game, 87.6 miles per hour. that is that is I don't have a percentile ranking he doesn't have enough at bats it's not very good though 87 and actually during his hottest stretch here

last 16 games jerks and pro far 317 batting average six home runs four steals actually too his average exit velocity is only 86.4 so it's actually down but again he's pulling the ball well he's elevating well he's drawing a ton of walks

we mentioned that the other day with jerk in ProFAR by far the most walks of any major leaguer since the All-Star break and doing it from the lead-off spot for the Braves, even with Ronald de Cunea back. So it's made him plenty productive in fantasy. It's made him, I mean, he's performing like an elite outfielder again in points leagues right now. I say again because he was exactly that last year, so good in points leagues. I'd like him to be hitting the ball harder. Again, it makes me skeptical that ProFar can sustain this that he really is as good as he was last year. But he's looking plenty good enough now and showing no signs of slowing down.

Totally agree with the hard contact. But it's one of those things where you just want to ride the hot hand to while it's going like this for Jerks and ProFar. And some other Braves bats will talk about Michael Harris in a second as well. But the bats are waking up here. And so they're putting things together. He's leading off. He's scoring a bunch of runs.

He's getting on base, obviously. And he's running. too. I mean, the fact that in this 16 game stretch he has four seals, as you mentioned, that's really helpful as well. 77% rostered on CBS could be out there in some shallower formats. Definitely change that

if he is. And even on Yahoo, 55%. So, Jerks and ProFar with as hot as he is, is a must roster player right now that goes without saying almost. So I don't even, I'm not even including this game here Monday, again, with the two home runs and 5 RBI.

Jurekson ProFar for the season, 3.35 head-to-head points per game. Fernando Tatis is 3.34. Yeah. So ProFar per game base is actually outperforming Tatis so far. And again, that's gone up for ProFar after Monday's game. Michael Harris, another big game here as well. 4-4 with his 15th home run. Second half, updated numbers.

398 with nine homers, eight doubles, three triples, 21 runs, 22 RBI, two steals, 1145 OPS in 30 games. And he now has the overall numbers up to 260, an OPS that starts with a 7, which if I told you that at the All-Star break, you probably would have laughed at me. But one of the hottest hitters here in the second half, he's incredibly streaky.

I get how frustrating that is for people. But if you held on to him or managed to pick him up, Scott, I picked up Michael Harris in a 15-team league. Somebody dropped them in a 15-teamor? Is that five outfielders? The Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational. Someone dropped him in my league, I think, probably around or just before the All-Star break. I scooped them up and I've just been reaping the rewards.

So the host site for the Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational is NFBC, which famously has no IL spots. and so that does that does kind of corner people into making some kind of reckless drop moves just because they have injured players that they can't afford to drop and so that's probably what happened there

unfortunately I really hate that rule I really hate that league design because it does it corners you into making kind of boneheaded moves and you know they're boneheaded as you're making them but you just have no choice Michael Harris by the way

I did. No, I'm not going to have enough time to pull up his stack cast data here for the second half. But obviously, he's incredibly hot and we've seen him do this before and go on these crazy runs. So just continue to reap the rewards there as well. Before we get to the break, I would be remiss not to mention Jack Flaherty. So when I have been, you know, so hot and cold with, emotional, whatever you want to call it. Great start. Back on track here against the Astros, seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts. his longest start of the year, nine strikeouts

tied a season high as well. He had 11 whiffs on 90 pitches. Did a much better job limiting the hard contact. 84.4 average exit velocity against this one. Had everything working in this start, the fastball, the curve, the slider. This is why I get so frustrated with players like Jack Flaherty

because you know he has the talent to do stuff. And I understand it's major league baseball. It's incredibly difficult. Like I'm sure these guys want to go out every time and do this every single start. It's obviously not possible because, you know, you're going up against tough competition. But, you know, the first half of last year that we saw with Flarity

and at times this year, you know it's still in there. You know he has the talent. You see it in the strikeouts and some of the underlying numbers. It's just that's why I get so frustrated with someone like Jack Flaherty. Yeah, and that's why I say, I've been saying it a lot lately, baseball is best enjoyed from a 30,000-foot view because from that view, it's like, okay, the guy has 11.1K per 9. He goes six plus innings with some consistency.

What's the problem here? But this is kind of Monday night the duality of the boomer bust pitcher here. Because remember, Jack Flaherty and Spencer Strider were back to back in my two-star pitcher rankings, the advisable in most cases tier. I think Strider was the one who was ahead, a spot ahead. Full disclosure. but you know, you had strider turning in an awful start. You had Flaherty turning in a tremendous start.

Yeah. That's how it goes. And these two are very much so representative of what we call a Charzard here on the podcast. We actually got an email, Scott. Someone asked, what is a Charzard? When you talk about this referring to a starting pitcher, and you could correct me if I'm wrong, but just as likely to burn you as they are to burn the opponent, right?

Yeah, so if you remember the Pokemon card, tune, which my kids have been watching. So it kind of refreshes my memory. Ash, the main character. I'm so jealous, by the way, that you're getting to watch Pokemon with your kids. Had a Charmander that too quickly evolved into a Charmielion and then a Charzard. It, like, happened too quickly. And so he wasn't trained properly.

And Charzard, one of the most powerful Pokemon there is, just wouldn't listen to Ash most of the time. so he'd summon him and Charzard would end up singeing Ash himself instead of doing, you know, attacking whatever Ash wanted him to attack. So that is what happens. That fits the description of a Charzard pitcher just as likely to burn you as to do massive damage in a good way. All right. If you enjoy the podcast, feel free to leave us a five-star rating and review on Apple or Spotify, wherever you listen.

Big thanks to those watching live. make sure to hit the like button and subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already. Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Let's run through the news and notes. Zach Wheeler underwent a procedure to remove the blood clot near his right shoulder. His timeline has yet to be determined. But obviously a step in the right direction here for Zach Wheeler.

Fast recovery, man. Hoping it works out there for Zach Wheeler. Vlad Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Jr., left Monday night with hamstring tightness and will undergo an MRI. Manager John Schneider said, hopefully Vlad is good to go in a day or two. And apparently he suffered this on a few stretches that he did at first base. Sometimes when I see these splits that are going down over there, Scott,

I wonder myself why there aren't more hamstring injuries because some of them look very, very painful or borderline painful. Got a properly stretch, Frank. That's what it's all about. Nobody believes it. I don't believe in myself, but I, you know. Now that I am approaching. My wife was a collegiate athlete, so she stretches.

Really? Stresses it, yeah. What did she play? I didn't even know this. Cross country and also track. Nice. Yeah. She was the, I believe it was her junior year.

She was the girl's state champion for the entire state of Florida. All right, Scott. Come on, step it up, man. Yeah. That's pretty awesome stuff. As I'm approaching my mid-30s, I am learning the importance of stretching because, you know, when I was younger, of course, I would do it here and there. But, yeah, it's much more important now. I still get out there, you know, try and play some basketball and pick a ball and things like that.

But it's very important. So I am learning here in live time. Cole Reagan's threw a 35-pitched bullpen on Monday. He's slowly working his way back from a rotator cuff train. Chris Hill will make one more rehab start at AA on Saturday before rejoining. the Braves rotation. Austin Riley took batting practice Monday but remains without a timetable to return from him from his abdominal injury. Shane Bieber will make his season debut, also his Blue Jays debut this Friday in Miami, and I think he's ready. He threw seven

shutout innings his last time out at AAA. He's all the way up to 83% rostered, so not much actionable with adding Shane Bieber, but if he goes out there and looks anything like the Shane Bieber of old, then, you know, we're probably getting them back in our lineups starting next week. And I think he will. His average fastball velocity on this rehab assignment is up like one and a half miles per hour from his last full season. But remember, we got that glimpse of Shane Bieber early last season before the injury. And he looked like Sy Young Bieber again. He was, he'd worked with drive line that offseason to regain some of that velocity. It carried over into the regular season it was looking great. Well, it seems to have followed him after Tommy John surgery, too,

did this rehab assignment. So I just came out with an IL stash rankings on Monday, and Bieber was eighth on it, eighth among all injured players. All right, next up, Bryce Miller will be activated to start Tuesday against the Phillies, and then three rehab starts a 405 ERA.75 whip, 15 strikeouts, just three walks over 13 in a third inning. 77% rostered. still be out there in shallower leagues. He was awful earlier this year, very clearly pitching through injury, but he was really, really good.

He was a league winner down the stretch last season. Who did you have higher on those stash rankings? Beaver or Bryce? Beaver by quite a bit. I think I had Miller 17th or so because it's going to take, it's going to take a little more time to regain trust after as badly as he burned us early on.

But I'll note also in the case of Bryce Miller, velocity's been up quite a bit on the rehab assignment, nearly one and a half miles per hour as well. And that's encouraging. It's actually even higher than it was last year. So there was a slight drop in velocity from 2024 to 2025. It's been way up, though, on his rehab assignment. Not totally sure what to make of it,

but that's usually a good sign. Colson Montgomery left Monday night with left side sorenness. Brendan Donovan was placed in the aisle with a left groin strain. Williara Brayu was out of the lineup with, with right calf tornus and could still go on the IL. Kate Horton left early on Monday due to a blister on his right middle finger. Jordan Westberg also left on Monday due to right ankle discomfort. Jackson Meryl was held out of the lineup with that left ankle injury.

He's day to day. Kyle Tucker will receive multiple days off as a bit of a mental reset amidst this massive slump that he's going through. Tanner Scott will begin a rehab assignment at AAA on Tuesday. He's on the IL with left elbow inflammation. and just cannot get back fast enough. The Dodgers had another game here late where it was a tie game,

and their bullpen wound up blowing that one. So they need all the help. I believe Tanner Scott was ninth on the I.L. Stash Rangis, he's just behind Bieber. You know what? I have it up right here. You are correct. Tanner Scott, number nine on the IL.

Stash rankings. Kyle Bradish, well, let's see where he's at. 11th. So just behind Tanner Scott. We'll make his season debut next week. He's working his way back. Go to the list. He's working his way back from Tommy John surgery last year,

and five rehab starts 467 ERA 133 whip, but his latest start was much better, five shutout innings with nine strikeouts. Looked really good the last time we saw him. He has awesome breaking pitches, gets a bunch of whiffs on those. He's 41% roster, definitely someone that you should be looking to stash right now.

Francisco Alvarez went for an MRI on his jammed right thumb. We'll see what the results say. Jake Berger was placing the aisle with a left wrist brain, and Christian Javier is expected to be fine for his next scheduled start this weekend in Baltimore. He left early on Sunday with an illness. Let's run through some Waverwire hitters here from Monday's action and rank these utility options.

Players you can move around, they have multi-position eligibility. Colt Keith had himself a big game, three-for-four with a sock and a shoe, his 11th home run, his first steal. Last 16 games for Colt Keith. He is hitting 392 with three homers and an OPS over a thousand.

average exit velocity 92.8 miles per hour. So he is hitting the crap out of the ball. Lenin Sosa. I think before we move on to Lenin Sosa, we can take it back even further than that, right? I'll see how far back I could go. Excuse me, gosh. That burp, did you hear that?

Did you hear that burp come out? I just heard like you kind of got startled the bag. I don't know if I heard a burp, but someone might. Well, that's what it was. and I can't hide it because I have obviously drawn plenty of attention to it. But anyway,

Cole Keith, you take it all the way back to May 4th, May the 4th. Be with you. Do a little quick math here, adding the 3 for 4. So that makes him 77 out of 259.

2.97 is what he's batting in his last 82 games, roughly half the season, with nine home runs. and yeah, the exit velocity has been greatly improved during that time. It seems like Cole Keith, you know, he was a big prospect, so big. The Tigers signed him to a long-term deal before he even debuted. And, yeah, I think he's obviously put himself into the usable category for fantasy.

Is he especially high-end? No. But he's kind of a top-15. type at the end field positions where he's eligible, I would say. Yeah, that's first, second, and third base. The biggest drawback for him is that he doesn't play against lefties, and he probably shouldn't. He has a 600 career OPS against left-handed pitching so far.

So it's kind of a chicken or the egg type thing. Like, he needs more time to develop against lefties, but they don't play him against lefties, so that's where we're at. Lenin Sosa. I realize I've been calling him Lennon Sosa. My apologies. Lenine Sosa, two-for-six with his 17th home run for RBI. last 43 games for him,

hitting 280 with 13 homers and an OPS over 850 during that time. He also has first, second, and third base eligibility. Caleb Durbin also had a big game here against the Cubs, two for five with a sock and a shoe, his seventh home run, his 11th steal. But he has been sitting out more. He's sat out seven of the past 18 games

dating back to July 29th, Scott. So how are you ranking these utility-type options? So I think, I think I'm, going to go Sosa number one here. I wish she was in a better lineup because it would be like I think his breakthrough season is big enough that it would be widely acknowledged. Like you wouldn't be available in half of CBS sports leagues if you just had a better supporting cast for him to drive in and to drive him in because what the things

Lenine Sosa can control, he is he's maxing out. And as we talked about on yesterday's show, he has a Minder League track record to support it. The expected stats look great. The quality of contact looks great. Pull air rate looks great. My pet stat of this year. So I think Lenin Sosa is really good.

And the main thing holding him back is that supporting cast, especially since his on base skills are lacking. then I probably go Keith over Caleb Durbin, but Durbin is opening eyes too. Next up here, Evan Carter has looked good since coming off the IL, 2 for 4 with the RBI here. Five games since coming back,

seven hits, one homer, one steal, and overall he's hitting 254, five home runs, 13 steals, does not play against left-handed pitching. 42% rostered. Does that number need to be much higher, Scott? Does it sound right? Is it just five outfieler leagues for Evan Carter?

Yeah, yeah, he's been, he's had stretches this year where he looked like maybe he was living up to his prospect pedigree, but they've been short-lived and playing time is an issue to in and out of the lineup a lot. So I don't even know that he's a must roster in five outfields, to be honest. Evan Carter or Brenton Doyle? Doyle. Evan Carter or Isaac Collins? Collins. Evan Carter or Dalton Varsho Varsho

And Evan Carter or Dylan Beaver's Uh Beaver's I'd rather bet on Beaver's who's had a Reach base four times here on Monday Yeah I was going to mention that in just a little bit here But why not right now? Nice night for the Orioles kids Dylan Beaver as you mentioned he got on base four times

Two for two two walks and RBI And Samuel Bessayo two for five with two RBI Had two hard hits in this game One of them 108.3 miles per hour. So small sample, but we're already seeing some pretty big exit velocities here from Samuel Basayo. Some deep league named CJ Kaffis with a nice game, two for three with his second home run.

Wenzel Perez also had a big game, two for three with a sock and a shoe. Quietly has just been solid, man. He's got 10 homers, seven steals, and 815 OPS and 66 games played this season. And Nolan Gorman is hitting a little bit better in August. one for four with his 12th homer and here in the month hitting 250, three home runs and then 842 apse.

Any deep league interest in Nolan, Gorman, Wenzell Perez, or C.J. Kaffes. I think Wensile Perez, he might be somebody to take over Evan Carter in a five outfielder league. I don't think it's huge upside,

but I think he's usable. Let me see if playing time has suffered recently. It's been a little sporadic, but no worse than it's going to be for Evan Carter. So I think I do have a slight preference for Perez as sort of a low-end number five outfielder. For Kaffis and Gorman,

I'm going to say not yet. There are aspects of Kphis' profile that I like, but it's far from Camp Miss. And, you know, we've seen Gorman a fair bound already. He's got over 1,200 plays. appearances of the majors, right? The Cardinals still seem to believe in him and that he hasn't achieved his final form.

Yeah, he's closing in on 1,500 plate appearances. My goodness. I kind of think they're slow playing Nolan Aeronado just to give Nolan Gorman some run here at the end of the season. They've got Aeronado at the spring training complex trying to regain strength. So, you know, obviously they're done with him.

It seems like they've been one to trade him for a while now. He just hasn't been good enough and has turned down trades that he's been a part of. So I think the Cardinals would prefer him to go away and then try Al Gorman, but I'm not as bullish on him as they are. Wenzel Perez, by the way, just wanted to mention, I know you love your pull-to-air percentage, Scott. He's very good at it. Wentzel Perez is someone who does exactly that for, you know, it isn't a massive exit velocity, even though 90 miles per hour is still pretty good, but he does kind of maximize his skill set for power here so far with the 10 home runs in 66 games this season. All right, let's do a little trivia. Got this fun trivia that we received from Matt in Maine,

and he offered Hall of Famer Randy Johnson ranks number six all time in K per 9, 10.6K per 9. The five pitchers ahead of Randy Johnson are all currently active in the MLB and have been in MLB for more than five years. years. So again, five pitchers ahead of Randy Johnson and K-per-9. They're all currently active. They've been on teams for more than five years. Name those five players. It doesn't surprise me that the five ahead of them, him are active now. He was such an outlier for getting strikeouts. Like he was such a freak for his era for his time, really for all of baseball history up to that point, which is why he was number one in baseball history until these five newcomers came along. Okay. So they have at least five years in the majors, you said. Yep. I got to think Jacob de Grom is one. Correct. I would guess Max Scherzer is one.

Correct. I don't think the other two obvious Hall of Fame bounds pitchers are, which would be Kirschaw and Verlander. I don't think either of them. There's probably some obvious ones. All right, let me just think at the top of the rankings here. I don't think Wheeler. Skeens doesn't have the,

enough reps neither does scoble does scoble has scubel pitch five years he is not on this list yeah i didn't think so got a kind of a freebie there uh let's say like snell he is number one yeah you have two left two left can we get a clean sweep uh probably not probably not because i'm having trouble coming up with names now. Scoobel does have the five years, but he's only at 10.4 K-per-9 for his career. Oh, that's kind of surprising. Yeah.

Only 10.4 for his career. Okay. Who else is up there? K-per-9. I'll give you a clue, Scott. Yeah. Plays for your favorite team. Chris Sale.

Yes. And the other one is someone who actually pitch on Monday night. Okay. Somebody who pitched on Monday night. Is it scanning my notes to see who pitched? It's not jumping out at me. I guess I'm going to guess. I guess I'm going to guess Logan. No, no, no, no, no.

No, no, no. Is it Freddie Peralta? It is not. Scottie doesn't know. Oh, Scotty doesn't know. The answer you were looking for is Robbie Ray. Robbie Ray is on that list at 10.87 K-per-9. Might have gone down a little bit after this game, but obviously not enough.

So yeah. I don't think I would have come up with them, so we would have been, we would have been guessing for a while. Scotty kind of knows. He got four and a five. So the top five in K-per-9 ahead of Randy Johnson for their careers, Blake Snell, Chris Sale, Robbie Ray, Jacob de Grom, and Max Scherzer. Let's take our final break. when we return, a temperature check on these pitchers.

We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Temperature check on these pitchers. Where are we at? Logan Gilbert, bombed by the Phillies. Six runs over two innings. He allowed two homers in this one. Just four whiffs on 65 pitches, 15% CSW.

So just kind of struggled all around here. Lots of hard contact, pretty obvious. Just hasn't really looked the same. I know he's had some solid starts here keeping runs off the board, but, you know, length going deep into starts. Do you trust Logan Gilbert as a borderline SP1 rest of season? Yeah, I do. He's at 12.3K per 9. He's got a 16% swinging strike rate.

His three outings prior to this one were good. Yeah, I mean, he's not giving us the length we're used to seeing from him. That was kind of one of the big selling points was how durable he is. which can be overrated, particularly when there's not a long track record of it, you know. But it's not just his last three starts, like four out of his last five, I'm sorry, five of Logan Gilbert's previous six starts were great.

He didn't throw his splitter as much in this start, and that is his best whiff pitch. It's got better than a 50% whiff rate. So I don't know if he just didn't have a feel for it or what, but it kind of explains why it was such a bad outcome for Logan Gilbert, but I'm not worried about him. Yeah, from a skills perspective, he looks like one of the best pitchers

in all of baseball this season, but it's almost like he's had to work harder to get there, which I guess that is probably obvious to be the best pitcher in baseball, but yeah, it's just, I don't know, he's been a little bit off. He hasn't looked the same,

and obviously he dealt with the injury earlier this season. I don't know, maybe that's played a little bit of a factor here for Logan Gilbert. Rangers Suarez, bounced back with a great start on the other side of this game, at six and two-thirds innings, two runs, 10 strikeouts, zero walks, had 13 whiffs on 102 pitches here,

but velocity was back up on the breaking stuff. He obviously looked awesome, had given up 11 earned runs over his last two starts before this one, and we thought, all right, maybe the confidence is starting to teeter a little bit here, but what about Ranger Suarez? Does he remain in the must-start category despite some ups and downs?

I know that the one league I have him in, I didn't start him this week. Two-star week, really? Okay, maybe I don't know that. Maybe I did start him. Let me double check. Yeah, I started him. Two-star week, for sure.

That would have surprised me. But I know there have been times recently with how much Suarez has struggled that I haven't started him. So maybe the start puts him back in that category. He threw 69% of his business for strikes in this one. And we know from Ranger Suarez's history that when he, is when his command is at the top of the scales, then he can be pretty dominant. But we know he loses that command for stretches too, and it can get ugly fast. There's not a large margin for error there for Suarez.

So that's why I hesitate to call a must-start, but I know I rank him in the top 30 rest of seasons, so it's kind of nitpicking. All right. Next up, we have Trevor Rogers, who was great again. This time at the Red Sox, seven innings, one run, seven strikeouts to one walk, had 15 whiffs on 98 pitches here. Did allow some hard contact, but man, he had everything working,

generating whiffs all over the place. Has allowed one earned run or fewer in five straight. He has gone seven plus innings in four of those starts and has now allowed two earn runs or fewer in 11 of 12 starts this season. So we almost say the same thing after every start. Like he's not going to keep this up, right? A 141 ERA, a 0.80 whip. But man, he has just been,

He might be the guy you need to just win your league or whatever, take everything down this season because he's been that good. It can't continue like this. I do think obviously Trevor Rogers is must roster. Pretty much must start for now. I mean, hasn't had a miss in a long time. You have to. Yeah, he's must.

Yeah. Do I think he'll remain that high ends? I'm skeptical of that. but every time Trevor Rogers pitches, I pull it up the box score and I'm like, he did it again. I just can't believe how consistently dominant he's been, not by all traditional measures of that, but just by, you know, the overall stat line.

So, yeah, keep starting him for now. Yeah. And a big key for him has obviously been control this season. He's under two walks per nine. and he's doing a good job getting whiffs on his fastball this season, 24%. That's a great mark for a four-seem fastball. He also has whiff rates over 30% on both his slider and sweeper.

Changeup has been a very solid pitch for him as well. So he has a full arsenal working, good fastball, and on top of that, he's limiting the walks. So that's how we get to this level here for Trevor Rogers. This goes about saying he's not really available anywhere. He's up to 90% rostered. Somebody asked me here on Monday night, Would I drop Strider for Trevor Rogers?

I said yes. I mean, that sounds like an oddball scenario, like you were saying. Rogers is so rostered. Look, I rank. Well, at least when I update my rankings tomorrow, I will have Rogers ahead of Strider. So I suppose if push came to shove. I do that.

I would hope there's somebody lesser I could drop for Rogers, but he needs to be rostered more than Strider does. Sure. Yep. Uri Perez struggled with his control. here against the Cardinals, four in a third innings, three runs allowed, only one of those earned, but had four walks here, still through 64% of his pitches for strikes, which is not terrible, but four walks, a season high for Yuri Perez, and has struggled over his last three, a 614 ERA,

a 123 whip, still over a strikeout per inning. What about Yuri Perez? Scott, does he remain a must-star pitcher, or maybe did we get too high on him after that great stretch? he should be a must-star pitcher. It has been a bumpy ride here lately, and we saw that clip of Jose Ramirez in the Guardians' dugout in Perez's previous start, kind of signaling to the rest of the Guardians team how Yuri Perez was tipping his pitches. Haven't heard anything about that since then, if that's something the Marlins confirmed and addressed. He was less hitable in this start. He just was walking a bunch of guys.

So maybe it's not the same problem in each of these three starts. I think I'd still lean towards starting Yuri Perez in most cases. I think he's going to write the ship and the stuff is still phenomenal. It's still ace upside. It's been a bumpy three starts, but it's not like been Spencer Strider bad, you know? You can navigate it a little easier. and I think you don't want to pick and choose too much with Yuri Perez. Next up is Gavin Williams, who bounced back with a solid outing at the D-Backs 5 and a third

shutout innings with five strikeouts to one walk. Still just threw 61% of his pitches for strikes, allowed some hard contacts here. But he's now allowed two run runs or fewer in five of his last six. Two walks are fewer during that same stretch in five of his last six starts here in the second half. We were talking beforehand, Scott, I'm pretty sure the words came out of your mouth. I have no idea what to do with Kevin Williams.

So I'll ask you on the podcast. How do you feel about Kevin Williams? I think what I said is I have no idea if he's good or bad. We're not seeing the consistent across the board dominance indicators from William. Sometimes some of them are there, but not others are there. Sometimes it's a bad start, but, you know, he's getting a ton of whiffs. Sometimes it's a good start like this year, but he's not. He has been on a great run except for the previous out.

Prior to this one, he was coming off the 130 pitch near no hitter. So it made sense. Kind of expected him to take a step back just because he was worked so hard in that start. And that's really the one misstep Gavin Williams has had in a couple months now. So I don't trust him entirely. I wish the whiffs were more consistent. I wish the walks were less. But I do think there's talent here,

and sometimes it manifests in ways that are unexpected. So I'm leaning toward Gavin Williams being good, but not totally sold on him. And even this start, he changed the pitch mix. He faded his sweeper, and that's his best pitch. It has a 41% whiff rate on the season, 245 expected Wobah. So not exactly what we want to see

Gavin Williams do, though he had an okay start here. Yeah, he's not a must start. He's not in that same category that all these other pitchers we've been talking about. I think you can be a little bit more pick and choosy with when you use Gavin Williams. What about on the other... Not that I think he's so responsive to matchups.

True. Sure, you could pick the better matchups. I don't know that that determines whether Gavin Williams is good or bad. I think he kind of... beats himself when he doesn't do well. On the other side, Zach Gallen, a quality start against the Guardian,

six innings, three runs, three strikeouts, zero walks. He's looked, he's been a little bit better here in August. The ERA is all right, but the whip is way too high. His overall ERA is still over five. I think it was okay to use him in a points league this week and a two-star week.

I'm just still shocked that Zach Gallen is as rostered as he is at this point. He's 92% roster. with a 528 ERA that seems too high, man. Yeah, I would say that the 528 ERA itself seems too high, especially since he's started to, he's been a little more reliable lately. I do see him as basically just a points league asset at this point,

kind of in the same category as like a Jose Barrios. So he doesn't need to be rostered as well. as you're saying. I mean, Burios himself might be too, but, you know, that kind of Chris Bassett,

I don't know, maybe you could put Dean Kramer in the same category too, guys whose ratios are going to be on the high side, which maybe eliminates them for, for roto leagues, for other five-by-five category leagues,

like head-to-head categories leagues if you need me to say the H-to-H word, you know if you're in a categories league or not. You don't need me. to say head to head. Anyway, it's, but they're veteran guys who win they have a good start, they're going

deep enough that it's impactful for points leagues. I guess Mitch Keller's in that same category. Yeah. They're kind of points league specialists, I feel like, and Galen fits into that category now. You know, the August numbers are a little bit better than I thought. 352 ERA, 128 whip over four starts.

Only 13 strikeouts over 23 innings is not great, but he's, you know, keep and runs off the board, keeping runners off base. I just think if, you know, I play in a Categories League, I'd drop Gallen for the shot at Hurston-Waldrip or Nolan

McLean, something like that. In a Categories League, yeah, for sure. I agree. Let's take a look at some front end of the two-start week pitchers here and how they did. Dustin May turned in a quality start against the Orioles, six innings, eight hits, two runs, five strikeouts,

had nine whiffs on 100 pitches. He's turned in back-to-back quality he starts. His first start with the Red Sox was not great, but obviously these next two were solid. He's at the Yankees later this week. Rough outing for Jack Leiter, if you used him at the Royals, three and two-thirds innings, three runs, three walks, two homers allowed in this one. He's just so erratic, and this is a lot of the same that we saw in the miners as well. He walks too many. He gives up a lot of hard contact, so I think he's drovable after this. Nestor Cortez struggled against the Giants, five and two-thirds, four runs, four walks, three homers, a lot. He walks. Three homers

Nessa Cortez is a five-ball pitcher. He's going to give up home runs. He has to limit walks. If, you know, that's how he had success in the past. Obviously, didn't do that here. And Brady Singer turned into quality start at the Angels, six innings, one run, four strikeouts. And last five starts for him, it's a 186 ERA, one whip, just over a strikeout per inning. So out of all those names, I think Brady Singer is probably the one that you can hold on to most if you had him for a two-star week. I think the others are probably expendable. And Brady Singer is the perfect example of the sort of pitcher I was referring to Zach Allen being now. Guy who's going to go deep enough that it matters in points leagues when he's good,

but not going to be good reliably. Just so happened he was widely used in this week because he lined up for two starts. He was among my sleeper pitchers. But higher on the sleeper pitchers list for this week was Jack Leiter because he entered previous eight starts he had a 295 ERA Now was there much good during that eight start stretch Other than 295 ERA?

It was just kind of happenstance that he had that 295 ERA I kind of think so So I'm not opposed to dropping him now But he was on that kind of run He had two good matchups, Royals And I believe the second one was Guardians Though I'll point out Royals have been

Streaking lately Like they've been putting up some runs lately I don't know if that's going to last. I try not to get too caught up in streaks, like team-wide streaks in terms of start-sit decisions, but it's been going on for a couple weeks now for the Royals. So maybe we need to look into that next time we're streaming pitchers against them. Oh, I did want to point out with Dustin May.

Like the Red Sox are doing something different with him, emphasizing the cutter more, which he hardly threw for the Dodgers. but that is something they identified. They thought it could help Dustin May take a leap. And obviously there's plenty of stuff to work with there. I mean, he's got a jiff-worthy arsenal, if that's something even people do online anymore,

make jiffs out of pitchers throw. But, you know, they look pretty, but they haven't always gotten the best results. And now he has back-to-back quality starts with the Red Sox. So it's worth keeping an eye on. I'm not rushing to add Dustin May again. but it's, they may be remaking him a little bit in Boston. Yeah, that Jack Leiter stretch, by the way that you mentioned,

295 ERA. It also came with a 139 whip, almost five walks per nine, and a 495 X-FIP. So yeah, it kind of seems like Fools gold there a little bit. Look, he has talent, he throws hard, he's got interesting secondary pitches here, but just the inability to throw strikes and as erratic as he is,

We just haven't seen enough growth here from Jack Leiter. Pitching studs being studs. Freddie Peralta turned in another great start. This one at the Cubs, six shutout innings with six strikeouts. And we don't talk about wins often because they're pretty fluky, but he leads baseball with 15 wins. Nobody else has more than 13. So pretty awesome season here for Freddie Peralta.

Paul Skeen's a quality start against the Blue Js, six innings, two runs. Eight strikeouts had 16 whiffs on 96 pitches. has a quality start in four of his last six. Yep, Yoshinobu Yamamoto turned in a quality start in course field, seven innings, three runs, six strikeouts, 12 whiffs on 103 pitches. Surprisingly enough, through more curveballs in course field, and that pitch was amazing, but just we don't normally see that in course field,

the way the ball moves and everything. And Robbie Ray had himself a strong start at the Padres, six and two thirds, three runs, one of those earned with six strikeouts, had 16 wifts on 105 pitches. Anything that stood out from Robbie Ray, Yamamoto, Paul Skeenz, and Freddie Parlesa. I'm confused here. Going back to the trivia question,

the Randy Johnson trivia question, what was my answer that was wrong? It was Freddie Peralta. Yeah. Freddie Peralta is in his eighth year. His career K-per-9 is 11.1. Randy Johnson's is 10.6. So how was that wrong?

What did I do wrong? It was right. This game is being played under protest. Sounds like I didn't fact check. I just completely trusted. I completely trusted Matt from Maine. I was one. Okay, so now I'm looking at career starter versus reliever for Freddie Peralta

because he did spend some time in the bullpen. It's 10.8 even as a starter, career as a starter, which is more than 10.6 for Johnson. Well, you know what, Scott? I will never take back playing Scotty doesn't know on this podcast. Fair enough. Anything to add on this group? That was the main thing I had to say about that group

because I wasn't listening once I looked it up, to be honest. I was thinking about what I should say. Yeah, I mean, they kind of did their usual stuff. So, yeah, I didn't have anything to add now that I'm catching up. Some hitting leftovers, Bryce Terang has hit for big power here in August, two for five with his 13th home run in the month hitting 339, seven homers, two steals, and an 1187 OPS. So pretty nice season here for Bryce Terang.

We wanted more steals. He's made up for it in other places. Huge game for Trey Turner, four for six with his 13th home run. And the homer he hit was his 15th, career hit. So shout out to Tray Turner. Bryce Harper has picked things back up, three for six with a double-donged three RBI. The first Philly in the stat cast era to hit two, 440 foot homers in the same game. How about that?

Last 33 games for Harper, 286, 12 home runs, an OPS near 1,000. Gunner Henderson, 2 for 4 with a triple and a homer. He's hitting better in the second half. We just still need more power out of him. Big game from Freddie Freeman, 2 for 3 with two doubles and his fourth steep. and he is hitting much better in August after a brutal June and July, hitting 322, four homers, 13 RBI, two steals here in the month for Freddie Freeman. And we'll get to J.T. Romuto in a second, but anything to add on this group.

Kind of underscore what you're saying about Freddie Freeman here, because there was that two-month stretch, it was so bad that... There's pretty strong takes out there about Freddie Freeman. And just like it's it's baseball guys. Come on. Like let's stop doing this. Like things just because something has happened for a couple months even, certainly a couple weeks. Like all the crazy takes for Pete Crow Armstrong.

But when it's a couple months, even like it's, that doesn't mean that's the way it's always, going to be. And I'm just tired of seeing people go down that rabbit hole. I don't know if it's engagement farming or what, because it seems like it's getting worse, you know? And you just got to take a step back. You just, that's not, I'm only telling you this because I don't want to see you make mistakes.

You know, I want you to play better. I don't know that anybody was like dropping Freddie Freeman or selling low on him, but. you know, they were losing their minds over it. Well, just last week, people were freaking out about Kyle Tucker to you, Scott, and it's kind of a similar thing. Although Craig Counsel is saying he's going to give Tucker some days off. So it seems like Craig Counsel's a little worried about Tucker at this point. But, yeah, I mean, overall, I think Tucker's going to be fine and you shouldn't be sweating.

Yeah, it is the same thing. There are countless examples from this season and every other season. And it's just, I don't, I wish I could fix that. I wish I could fix that. And I understand where it comes from. It's people wanting to, not wanting to just rest on their laurels, you know, they see something that is not going right. And they want to get in there and fix it. But it's, you got to treat it more like playing the stock market, you know?

Like, it's a long-term game. It's not something where, oh, this stock isn't performing well right now, I better switch to something else. You know, that's just, that's not going to be a good strategy. With somebody like Freeman, I guess maybe you could have made the case already. He's 35 years old. He could be starting to slow down, age-related. He is.

He is starting to slow down. But usually it doesn't drop off a cliff. Right. Especially not for as disciplined of a hitter as he is. It doesn't drop off a cliff. Yeah. And he also, let me remind people, was dealing with a quad injury in early June,

which that might be part of the reason why he had a terrible two-month stretch. That on top of he's been rehabbing his ankle all season long. So a lot of times we'll find out, you know, maybe after the fact, after the season, oh, I was dealing with this, I was dealing with that. Players are dealing with stuff all season long. Kyle Tucker had the finger thing back in June. Maybe it's been a problem.

in July and August. It's certainly possible. But yeah, just a reminder there on Freddie Freeman. Scott, I know you wanted to mention J.T. Real Muto, who hit a home run here on Monday. He's been hitting for batting average for a long time. It's just, it's not really coming with anything else. I mean, that's basically all I wanted to say. So since June 9th, it's a long time.

That's going back over two months at this point. J.T. RioMuto is batting 328. That's crazy. He has only three home runs during that time. I believe, unless he walked here on Monday, he has just eight walks during that time. So it kind of caught me by surprise looking at his game log after this three-hit game Monday.

Wow. Because every time we talk up catchers, it's like J.T. Real Muto is, he's kind of forgotten man. It's like, oh, I'll definitely take player X, Samuel Bessio in this case, over JT Real Muto. And it's, he's still hitting.

It's just not with the same power we're used to seeing, not with the plate discipline we're used to seeing. And so that that reduces him to second class status at the position. You know, I just realized that I had Kyle Teal on the rundown and I completely skipped over it. So while we're talking about catchers, as if you needed another one for fantasy, four for five with his third home run.

And in the second half, he's hitting over 300 and 80. 23 OPS. The expected stats look great here for Kyle Teal. He's 21% rostered. I think he's only a name for two-catcher leagues, but in our Memorial Magazine League, it's a 12-team Roto, two-catchers.

Francisco Alvarez is dealing with the injury. I picked up Kyle Teal for this week, and boom, big game, but so far, so good. As a top prospect who got called up, he's starting to figure things out, and the underlying numbers look good, too. Yeah. I think he, Kyle Teal, has a bright future.

Incidentally, I've compared him in the past too, J.T. Real Muto. I see him being that kind of hitter. But he's not really standing out in this year's catcher environment. So I think we can treat him as pretty fringy even in two catcher leagues. Call to the bullpen for the pirates. Dennis Santana tossed a clean inning for his eighth save. For the Royals, Carlos Estevez, a clean ninth for his 30-second save. For the Rockies, Victor Vodnick pitched a scoreless ninth with the game tied.

He picked up the win. On the other side, for the Dodgers, Justin Robleski got the ninth with the game tied. He gave up a run on two hits and took the loss. For the Guardians, Cade Smith got the ninth with a three-run lead. He allowed a run, but struck out two for his seventh save. For the Reds with Emilio Pagan. Unavailable, Scott Barlow recorded the final four outs, all the strikeout for his first save.

And for the Giants, Randy Rodriguez got the ninth with a one-run lead and he closed it out for his fourth save of the season. He has been pretty shaky since getting this closer role. I think on the broadcast, I saw it's like a 567 ERA in the second half or something like that. So it hasn't been complete lockdown, but he's the closer, he's the guy,

and all the underlying numbers are pretty awesome for Randy Rodriguez. To stream or not to stream on Tuesday, we have Michael McGreevy at the Marlins, Tomoyuki Sugano at the Red Sox, Shane Smith at the Braves, Emmett Sheehan at the Rockies, Eduardo Rodriguez against the Guardians,

Chad Patrick at the Cubs, Jameson, in his return from the IEL against the Brewers. I don't like it, Frank. Yeah, I mean either. You didn't preface it this time, so I got to say it. I don't like it.

I don't want to. any thing to do with any of them. I really, I could not bring myself to start any of these guys. If you're saying I have to, under penalty of law, maybe Tyone.

No, the Brewers are so hot. No, you can't do it. You can't. Oh, who are you going to say? Shane Smith at Atlanta? The Braves have been so hot. Yesterday I said Shane Smith, but man, yeah, the Braves are hitting. I don't know. Michael McGree.

at Miami. I just hoping to get a three strikeout quality start. Maybe. Maybe that's answer. It doesn't seem worth the downside risk. Erod against the Guardians. I don't know. Ugh.

All right. He was pretty good last time now. Yeah. So I mean, maybe that. But like, that's, you'd have to be in dire straits to do it. Let's be honest. Yeah, Tuesday is stay away on Tuesday. What about Wednesday?

Anyone better? Charlie Morton against the Astros, Andre Palante, at the Marlins, Brad Lourlands. Brad Lord against the Mets. Herson Waldrop against the White Sox. There you go. We have one. Cam Schlittler at the raise.

J.T. Ginn against the twins. Billy Ober faces the athletics. And yeah, that's probably about it. Yeah, I'm hopeful Overs trending the right direction, but I'm not ready to trust him yet, especially since that athletics lineup can be pretty dangerous at times. I think Waldrop's the only one. And I can, you know, he was pretty high on my sleeper pitchers list for the week.

too. So I can give Waldrop my full-throated endorsement. I will throw Charlie Morton in that mix as well. I know he's been up and down. Last start was good. He's getting to pitch in Comerica here against the Astros. Revenge game. Yeah, that's fair. I love it. You know I love a revenge game. So you do. Let's do it. Yeah, I don't mind that one either. That's fair point. Both of those are better than anything Tuesday, for sure. Let's wrap up with some team name Tuesday. These are from Matthew and they are queen-themed. Bohemian Hapstity

You know, I'd like it better if it was just Bohemian Rhapsody. I don't know if that's just me. But adding the second name feels like it's trying too hard. Another Kwan bites the Dustin. I mean, same thing.

I don't even know what Dustin you're referring to. I guess it's Dustin May? Is that the only one we have left? I don't know. I don't know why my mind there immediately went to Dustin Padreja. He's not playing. Mine went to

that athletics outfielder. Dustin Fowler, is that it? Dustin Fowler. No, that's not it. Is that a person? It was with the Yankees and then he was with the athletics. Yeah, he's a person. Oh, it is Dustin Fowler. Okay, there you go. All right.

All right. Yeah, that's where mine went. Next up here, Fott bottom Gurelles. That's a, I feel like that's an oldie but a goody, fought bottom couryelles. Weems will rock you. And you spelled like you Darvish. Sure. Thunderberg pressure.

Okay. I forgot that was a queen song, actually. We are the Chapmans. I kind of like, that's, that's kind of a so bad, it's good, I think. And crazy, crazy little thing called love. It's always got to be careful with that, man. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, got to be careful with that name for a couple reasons. All right. I'll send them to Chris. I feel like Chris would probably like those. We're 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. Paramount Podcasts.