Fantasy Baseball Today - The Circle of Trust! Is Casey Mize In or Out? (6/30 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 30, 2026

Is Casey Mize in the circle of trust (4:30)? ... Eduardo Rodriguez keeps getting away with it (8:55). ... Endy Rodriguez might be legit (14:34). ... News (21:26): Aaron Judge will not be re-evaluated this week. ... Sean Burke impressed again (33:58). ... Is George Kirby in the circle or trust (39:33)? ... What about Parker Messick (47:11)? ... Who's hot and who's not, hitter edition (58:00). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpens and streamers (1:10:35).Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for the newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters

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 lead. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Hey there, welcome into fantasy baseball today on Tuesday, June 30th. I am Frank Sample, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers.

Today on the show, we have the starting pitcher. circle of trust. And Eduardo Rodriguez can't keep getting away with it, but he does. Who's hot and who's not hitter edition? And much more. Let's jump in. Oh my goodness. Goodness, gracious.

Players of the night, I do want to mention first and foremost, it was a Max Muncie off. I don't know if this is the first time it happened, but it feels like it's the first time that happened. I believe it was. Max Muncie of the Dodgers, Max Muncie of the A's, in the lineup together and Max Muncie homered.

The Dodger won, his 17th home run of the season. So pretty cool stuff. I read that as they both homered. Oh, that's less fun. I wish they did. Maybe they did. That's on me for reading the notes wrong. Max Muncie of the A's one for three with a walk and a run.

Not bad. How wild is it that they were both born on the same date? It's pretty crazy. Not the same day because Max Muncie is 12 years older than Max Muncie, but the September, August 10th or something, born on that is wild. Same day with the same name and both make it to the major leagues. And both were drafted by the A's.

It's pretty weird stuff. Let's talk about Casey Mize up top here. Madison Bumgarner's first girlfriend being named Madison Bumgarner. Well, that one he's in control of. What? You know, well, it's not like he like started dating this girl and then presumably he wasn't like, oh my God, your name is Madison Bumgarner too. I would assume that was part of what drew them together.

Oh, really? I would think so. Is this a real story? You would be attracted to somebody with the same first and last name? I'm not saying they started dating because they had the same name. But like, yeah, you would know of them because they have the same name as you. Yes, you would know ahead of time. You wouldn't be surprised by it.

But it's still, I still think it's a coincidence rather than him being. Do you know Clayton Curshaal and Matthew Stafford went to high school together? Never. I never heard that one. If you watched any NFL playoff game ever, it somehow comes out. No, Julian Edelman played lacrosse in college? That Madison Bumgarner thing, I really did not know.

That is pretty, pretty creepy. I didn't do Google it. His second girlfriend was, I can't remember his fake rodeo name. That would have been a better joke if I could have, though. Oh, yeah, yeah, I vaguely remember that. Let's, while you're looking that up, Scott, Casey Mide, let's talk about him. He destroyed the Yankees here on Monday.

He's quietly been really, really good this season. shutout innings one hit, 10 strikeouts to zero walks, 13 whiffs on 88 pitches here, five of those on the fastball, four on the splitter, three on the sinker, and should point out this Yankees' offense is like historically bad over the last four games, but Casey Mize, you know, you go out there,

you face who's in front of you, and he has been really good. The whiff rate up on each of his fastball, his splitter, his slider this season. I looked into like pitch movement stuff on the pitcher list website. All three of those pitches are getting more horizontal break this season. So that could explain why, you know, he's getting more movement. He's getting more whiffs on those pitches as well. He's down to a 263 ERA.

It's a 0.97 whip over a strikeout pre inning improved control. Underlying numbers look pretty good. He's done a much better job. Limiting hard contact this season. The swinging strike rate is up pretty much every single thing that we look at for a starting pitcher. Casey Mize has been better at the season. It is a smaller sample because he's been on the IL a few times,

I think with groin stuff that's been going on. We have the Circle of Trust coming up later on. Is Casey Mize in the Circle of Trust? I was thinking about this. I don't really know how to define the Circle of Trust, but when you know it, you see it. I know it when I see it, yeah. I kind of think Casey Mize is in the Circle of Trust.

When you're out, you're all the way out. I know that from Meet the Parents. Is he in? So, like, is Nick Ladolo in the Circle of Trust? Oh, we're going to talk about him later on. He's on the list of names to talk about. Probably not. I think Casey Mize, like, yeah, there are plenty of reasons why he looks better this season.

Obviously, there were a couple I-L stints that interrupted it. And coming back from that, the outings were short, a little shaky. Maybe he wasn't back in the Circle of Trust. He was there, clearly, before. the injuries happen, though, I would say. And I guess this start puts them back in it. I don't know what made this start in particular so great. Like, I get why KC.

Mize, there's a lot, again, I get why it has a lot going for him this year. But why this start was so special, I don't know. Maybe it's just one of those days. But, like, I do trust this version of KZ Mize to come up with this sort of start, more than past versions of KC. Mize. I think it's the best version of him we've ever seen. Agreed. And, you know, just going through the rankings just now, kind of vaguely defining Circle of Trust as, like, top 48?

Because I'm looking at my rankings and I'm updating it as we speak and I'm moving Casey Miles to 48. Oh, no, no. You're trying to apply objective standards to what's very much a feel. No, no, I'm just, but like I've got like Emmishian, not in the circle of trust. Ryan Weathers, not in the circle of trust Correct Jose Soriano, not in the circle of trust No

Connolly early Will Warren Probably not in the circle of trust Yuri Perez I think No That area I think mine should be ahead of all those names And that's what I'm saying Yeah that he's kind of

I think there's like a A drop off where like Max Meyer In Michael King Probably in I don't think Michael King is in Okay, all right I don't trust that guy.

Yeah. I think what's got... If I can't trust you, Greg, then I have no choice but to put you right back outside the circle. And once you're out, you're out. There's no coming back. You know, I'm excited for the new one. They're making a new one of these movies, right? Yeah.

Ariana Grande is very funny. I think it should be good. I agree with what Scott's saying here. It's kind of, it's more of a feel thing because, I mean, even... It's not a ranking. Inside of my top 40, like, Framber Valdez, Freddie Peralta. Like, are they in the circle of trust right now? You trust Trey Savage?

We're going to talk about him a little bit later anyway. The point was... Unlike Jack Burns, unlike Jack Burns from Meet the Parents, you can move in and out of my circle of trust. Like, you know, it's pretty fluid. Yeah. But right now Michael King is out. Is that one Wilson in the circle of trust? Oh, yeah, definitely.

It's been a long time since I've seen any of those. Oh, man, he loved that guy. Scott, let's go over to your player of the night. I... I don't think he's in the circle of trust. He should not be. Of course he's not in the circle of trust. But he's got a 221.

Okay. He's got a 221 ERA and a 118 whip. Yeah, he's not in my circle of trust, which is the reason why I wanted to talk about Eduardo Rodriguez, who I've made reference to this article I wrote last week. I made reference to it a few times, six pitchers to sell high on, or if you know, you don't think it's realistic to sell high. Six pitchers who are overachieving, six pitchers who you shouldn't have put that much trust.

And a lot of those pitchers, Spencer Argetti, the weekend have already come crashing back down to Earth. Eduardo Rodriguez hasn't yet. And here he delivered another great start by conventional baseball standards, gave up one earn run in seven innings, lowered his ERA to 221, as you point out, Frank. Recorded one strikeout,

which brings his strikeout rate to 6.3 per 9. That is the seventh worst among quality. His swinging strike rate is the fifth worst among qualifiers. Now, you may say, I grew up in the 1980s. I don't know. I know that you don't have to get strikeouts to be a good pitcher, to which I say, first of all, it's not the 1980s anymore, but second of all, okay, then what, if you're not getting strikeouts,

it's true, the very rare pitcher can succeed without getting strikeouts at a good rate, but you have to be able to do something else well. What is it that Eduardo Rodriguez is doing well? Is he allowing weak contact? Not really. Average exit velocity is 59th percentile. That's above average slightly, but it's not so impressive that that would be enough to sustain him on his own, 59th percentile.

Expected Wobon contact is 3.74. It was 380 last season. Both of those are worse than average numbers. There you go. Is he getting a lot of ground balls? No, 40th percentile. ground ball rate, actually, below average. Is it just pristine control?

Is he like the new Greg Maddox? No, 3.6 walks per 9, 31st percentile for walk rate. So not weak contact, not hard contact, but it happens to be on the ground, so it's not leading to much damage. Not terrific control. And again, he's not missing bats. His expected ERA, Eduardo Rodriguez, is 482 versus the actual 221 mark.

Fine, you don't believe in expected ERA. That's why I went through the trouble of breaking it down piecemeal. Nothing adds up here. And that gap between expected ERA and actual ERA is the second biggest difference among active starting pitchers. The highest is Randy Vasquez, who's expected ERA is over seven, believe it or not. But Eduardo Rodriguez is really bad, and he's going to get much worse, and it's just a matter of time.

And don't put him in your circle of trust. Trade him if you can. To add a little more color, just because I think we really need to drive this home. Because nobody wants to believe that ERA has very little predictive value. And you can argue with me all you want. ERA has very little predictive value. It's not zero predictive value. A guy with a five ERA over 100 innings is probably a worse pitcher than a guy with a two ERA over 100 innings.

but ERA is very, very weak at predicting ERA from one timetable to the next. It gets less weak over a large amount of innings, but we are not near there. You need like 500 innings for ERA to really have much predictive value. So that's it. That's the only thing in R. Rodriguez is doing well right now is getting a low ERA and that has no predictive value. I've also seen it suggested that, well, he's a lefty with a change-up and we saw a lot of lefties with change-ups. find a lot of success last year. Matthew Boyd. We're seeing with Parker Messick.

It's been a profile that has befuddled major league hitters. Rodriguez change-up isn't all that good. He's 27th out of 54 with at least 50 plate appearances against their change-up in Wobah loud, 27th out of 54. He is 47th out of 54 in expected Wobah with his change-up. he is he has the second lowest whiff rate on changeups among those 54 pitchers. There is no good explanation for why, for why Eduardo Rodriguez has a low ERA, except that somebody is going to outperform their peripherals like this over 90 innings every season, and it happens to be him.

There is no reason to think Eduardo Rodriguez is going to continue to be a must-start pitcher. I think he is a lot closer to being worth dropping than he is to being a must roster pitcher. All right again, that is Eduardo Rodriguez. Not that there's any much else to add, but I guess a few things that I will. His Babbat this year is 247. His left-on base percentage 87% for his career 303 and 74%.

So typically over the course of a season, doesn't always happen, but these things tend to regress towards career norms, towards league averages and things like that. And so far, his Babbup and his left on base percentage have been very, very fortunate this season. Again, that is Eduardo Rodriguez. Let's talk about another Rodriguez, Andy Rodriguez.

I think this one might be actually good. I think he might be really good. The playing time is just annoying, man. Yeah, I mean, he's at like 70-ish plate appearances in the month of June, which is not incredible, but for a number two catcher, you can live with it. And I think Andy Rodriguez might be good. His play discipline has been really good this season.

He's hitting the ball really hard, like 92 mile an hour average, exit velocity. A ton of line drives. He's hitting the ball in the air to the pole side. And I think it's worth remembering that it's been a long time now. But Andy Rodriguez was a top prospect at one point. And he was not great in 2023 when he was he like the opening day and everyday first basement for the Pirates in 2023, if I'm remembering correctly? I think that's the case.

One of those years, maybe it was 24. Well, so 24 and 25, I think he played like 36 games total. He had Tommy John surgery or something? Tommy John surgery, I think at the end of the 2020 three season, barely played in 2024. Last year, he wasn't healthy all season. He ended up having ulnar nerve transposition surgery, I believe, which just sounds awful. Don't want to have to go through that. Don't want them to move my nerves around ever.

And they just leave him where they are, if we can. It's possible he's just healthy now. And hasn't been healthy in a long time. And this is a talented player who finally feels right. The Pirates did already get rid of Joey Bart. Andy Rodriguez opened the season as their third catcher in the minors. But he was good enough that they had to move on from him. And I do think we could see a point maybe soon where,

Andy Rodriguez just takes over as the primary catcher for the Pirates. He's probably the best one there, at least the one who's showing the most right now. So it's incredibly hard to break in a catcher these days, certainly in a one catcher league. I don't think he matters in a one catcher league. But I think any two catcher leagues, Andy Rodriguez is a worthwhile option

if you don't already have two good ones. I got to feel like the playing time situation is going to improve because Henry Davis is doing nothing. Andy Rodriguez, it's got a 404 on base percentage overall. 18% walk rate. Andy has only started two of the past five games. It's just annoying. It is annoying, but that's why I think it's going to correct itself.

And just you mentioned Andy Rodriguez used to be a top prospect. He was surging in 2022. That was his breakthrough season in the minors. He slashed 323-407-590 across three levels, The numbers got better at every level, had 25 home runs. And the injury started right after that. He comes back. He's not hitting the ball very hard at all.

It's like, okay, I guess he's just broken. And very quickly, everybody gave up on Andy Rodriguez. But if he's healthy, that's a reminder of where things stood in 2022. To drive home that point as well, prior to the 2023 season, he was the 23rd ranked prospect by Baseball America. Yep. I think he was a better prospect. at the time than either Joey Bart or Henry Davis,

who were both pretty good prospects. Yeah. No, and Andy Rodriguez doing some very, very interesting things right now. Totally agree he should be rostered in two-catcher leagues. Would you guys take Andy Rodriguez or Cooper Ingle in a two-catcher league? Andy. Andy, yeah.

I think so, too. What about this one's kind of tough? We did get some news today that Will Smith is still kind of dealing with this neck injury. Would you take Andy or Dalton rushing? Hmm. I think I would I think I'd have to say

Endy I mean Russian has run next to nothing since surging out of the gate right he has nine home runs seven came like in the first two weeks or something yeah he has a 746 OPS in June so he hasn't been awful but yeah it's seven RBI

10 runs despite playing pretty regularly the strikeout rate is way up yeah I I think it might have been a little bit of a flash in the Pan. Yeah, I would go Andy there as well. I haven't met 22, so he's kind of like right on that border, but definitely should be rostered in 12 team two catcher leagues. And, you know, right there in 10 teamers as well. Honestly, I have a couple of injuries ranked ahead of him too. So probably even in 10 team, two catcher leagues, Andy Rodriguez needs to be rostered. Before we hit

our first break, for those listening on the audio side of things, feel free to leave us a five-star rating and review on both Apple and Spotify. It really does help us out a lot. Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back, Fantasy Baseball today. Let's hit the news and notes and we do have some Yankees updates here. Aaron Judge is not expected to be ready for a re-evaluation later this week. They said that Judge would be re-evaluated in four to six weeks. He's nearing that four-week mark, but obviously it looks like they're trending closer to that six-week mark when they're actually going to re-evaluate him.

So it looks like we're going to have to wait a little bit longer on Aaron Judge. Max Fried will throw a two-inning sim game on Tuesday. He's targeting 30 pitches in that one. And Jazz Chisholm left after a collision with Jason Dominguez in right field. He's in concussion protocol. But after the game, Aaron Boone said that Jazz does not have a concussion, but will remain in protocol until I guess he passes all the tests. For the Cincinnati Reds, we have some updates here.

Ellie Dela Cruz was in the lineup as the DH Monday after tweaking his ankle on Sunday. he launched a two-run homer in that game. E. E. E. E. E. E. Horeno Suarez was not in the lineup after taking a pitch off of his left wrist on Sunday. X-rays and a CT scan both returned negative. And he said himself that he's good, so hopefully in the lineup over the next couple days. And Emilio Paghan will be activated on Tuesday and is set to be the team's closer once again. 62% rostered. Is Emilio Paghan someone that should just be re-added everywhere? even in, let's say, points leagues.

62% is probably right for points leagues because you don't have... Not everyone with a closer rule is going to be rostered there, at least not. Any roto league. Any league where saves are scarce. I mean, begone, I'd take them over either the White Sox guys.

I'd take them over Clayton Peter or Caleb Killian or... Anybody on the Pirates, anybody on the Nationals, anybody on the A's, anybody on the Giants. Yep. Yeah. I think that all makes sense. We had a few A's bats go on the aisle.

Tyler Soderstrom with a left hip impingement, Jacob Wilson with right thumb inflammation. The A's called up prospect Joshua Corota Grower. Krohauer knew nothing about this guy. He was watching the game. He had a couple hits. He stole a base. And the minor league numbers are kind of interesting.

75 games a season between AA and AAA. He hit 323. They said on the broadcast that he was leading the entire minors and hits. So that's kind of interesting. seven homers, 76 runs, 15 stolen bases, 845 OPS, barely walks, barely strikes out. It's kind of like Luis Arise

with speed in the miners. I don't know how sustainable it is, but do you guys know anything about Joshua Corota Grower? I can't say I'm familiar with his oeuvre. He runs a little bit, so that could be enough because you expect someone

who makes the kind of contact that he does to to hit pretty well but it's like if he hits 280 yeah he could probably

matter for fantasy but even making that much contact hitting 280 is hard so I don't really have a ton of expectations there difficult profile of land you do see it occasionally Louisa Rise

is obviously the most telling example but we're seeing Jacob Wilson this season margin for error can be pretty slim there. There's a reason why we always have to make that Louise Arise comp with players who have this skill set because he's the one.

Kind of on his own. All right, Byron Buxton was out on Monday with a right hip impingement. Buxon underwent an MRI, so we'll wait on those results, and he is day to day for now. Jeremy Pena was originally out of the lineup Monday with left leg discomfort. Then after the game, the Astros put him on the IL with a left calf strain. So hopefully you got him out of your lineups.

I have at least one lineup where I left him in just because I didn't think it was a big deal. But here he is on the IL. Joe Espada said he expects Jeremy Pena to only be out for a minimum IL stint here. Legs have been an issue for Pena all season. He had the hamstring, now the calf. But when he's played, he's actually been really good.

It's just frustrating. Brandon Nimmo was out of the lineup Monday and an MRI on his left shoulder revealed an AC joint sprain. Skip Schumacher said, Nimmo could wind up on the IL. Will Smith of the Dodgers is not expected to be ready to return when the Dodgers begin their homestand on Thursday.

He's been on the IL since June 11th with neck inflammation and has yet to resume baseball activities. It's already June 30th. Probably going to need a rehab stand. I don't know if he's back before the All-Star break. Again, that's where he's... William Hicks is expected to return from the IL Tuesday in Colorado when first eligible.

So I hope you saw this news. them before setting lineups. If you're playing a weekly lineup league, because you want to get those games in Corsfield. That would be great. Will you know. Best schedule anyone will have this season. Marlins at Colorado at Oakland,

hard to beat that unless they were going to Las Vegas. Pretty awesome, yep. William Domas was out of the lineup Monday with back spasms. David Bendar was placed on the paternity list and we'll miss one to three days. Logan Henderson made his first rehab start Sunday at AAA. Three shutout innings with seven strikeouts. He got up to 50 pitches.

Pat Murphy said he expected Henderson back before the All-Star break, which is pretty comforting to hear. We know the Brewers kind of play these games with Logan Henderson, but it sounds like he has a spot waiting for him once he's ready to go. 72% rostered. Do you guys think Logan Henderson is a must roster pitcher? Yeah. He was looking great before the injury.

I think he has one miss in his entire Major League career. All the other starts between this year and last year have been good. Obviously, looked good at that AAA start. If he's going to be back before the All-Star break, it sounds like he can only have one more rehab start for that to happen. So you're going to be able to put Logan Henderson back in your lineup very soon. I'd put him right there with that Sean Burke, Trevor Rogers. Gosh, who else were talking about?

Tatsuya I'd put him right there with those guys. I might put him. I might put him at the top, but he's in that group. I don't know, Scott. Joey Cantillo was a must, must, must for you yesterday. Must, must, must, to quote Tenifer from Parks and Rec, and I'm glad at least one person got that reference on X. Yeah, I think that's a tough call.

You know what? I'm going to put Logan Henderson ahead of Cantillo even. Must, must, must. Must. There has to be a fourth one if he's ahead of Cantillo. Oh, all right. Noah Schultz is on track to return Wednesday against the Orioles in eight starts. He had a 582 ERA and a 134 whip.

40% rostered. Any interest here in Noah Schultz? Not none, but all those guys we just mentioned would have to not be available. I agree. It feels like a deep league name. If someone dropped him there, you know, you'd kind of go with a spec ad there. But 12 teamers, I think we probably need to see something from Noah Schultz before we add him. We got a couple hitter updates here.

were on the aisle. Luis Robert will start a rehab assignment at AAA on Tuesday. John Carlo Stanton has restarted a running program and will take live at Bats on Tuesday. Brendan Donovan ran sprints on field Monday and will be re-evaluated after the Mariners homestand to determine if he's ready for a rehab assignment. And Trent Grisham is expected back either Wednesday or Friday this week. Obviously Grisham is the closest of all these names. But how would you rank them just in terms of, I guess, your interest level or stash ability. Luis Robert, Stanton, Brendan Donovan,

Trent Grisham. I think I'd go Grisham. Donovan, but I'm just, where's he gonna play? I guess he's gonna play. He should. They traded a decent amount for him.

But there's not an obvious opening for him. Is it going to be a situation where he's just kind of playing somewhere every day and they just give guys days off? Like Colt Emerson's power has been okay, but he's hitting around 200, so. I could see Emerson get it going back down potentially. They're probably not going to give up on Jake P. Crawford.

Cole Young just homered twice here on Monday, as I'm sure we're getting to. He has started every single game this year. So they seem pretty committed to him. And to be fair, like the expected stats look pretty good actually for Young. Not amazing, but pretty good. And even without that, he's on close to a two and a half to three win pace. It's not like he's been a disaster. He's a solid little player.

With these two home runs, he now has a solid June. Five home runs. I think he's batting over $2.90 for the month. So I don't think Cole Young's going anywhere. Emerson would be the most likely candidate, or I guess they go super utility with Brendan Donovan, like you were saying, playing every day, but no set position. Scott, how would you rank that group, Grisham, Luis, Robert, Stanton, Donovan?

Uh, I would go, Grisham Donovan. Oh, you know what? I'm like a Robert at the top of the list, actually. Robert, Grisham, Donovan, Stanton. I am kind of interested to see what happens with the Mets when Luis Robert is back. Things can figure themselves out by then, but they have Soto, Benj, and AJ Ewing in the outfield right now. Mark Viantos at DH, so I guess they could like shuffle through the DH role if they wanted to do

that. I don't know if you saw Juan Soto give up a Little League home run today, but maybe he should be at T-H. Not great. Ewing has been quiet, but effective. So I don't think they're- His June has been solid. He kind of scuffled in May, but he's getting on base a ton.

He's bounced back. He's been hot recently. Yeah. I mean. I just hope they let the kids continue to play, right? I mean, they're having a terrible season. Why wouldn't they? You can probably pull the plug on Mark Vientos, and I don't think anybody would really mind

that except for Mark Viantos. Marcus Semyon was diagnosed with a grade 3 left hip flexor strain and is expected to be out four to six weeks at minimum. Spencer Schwellenbach will likely report to Braves spring training facility in early July and could be a candidate to return by late August or early September. There's a lot of like coulds and probabilities and hopefullys with Spencer Schwellenbach. 45% rostered. He's a pretty long ways away.

Is he worth stashing? I'm not sure. I'm not without a lot of far. kind of surprised how far away he is. Yeah, considering he and Hurst and Waldrop had the same injury. Yeah. And it was like only a week apart in spring training that they were. I think they're being really cautious because he didn't pitch at all in the second half of last year.

I wonder if like, was Waldrop just removing loose bodies, but Schwellenbach had to get like bone spurs shaved down, which requires additional healing? That would make more sense because, Yeah, it feels like an unusually long timetable, but this is a guy who had a fractured elbow from pitching last year, which I think you really have to be careful, yeah.

Yep. AJ Smith-Shawver is going on a rehab assignment, and he's coming back from Tommy John's surgery. So I did not expect to see Smith Schaver before Shwellenbach. And look, he's not as nearly as interesting for fantasy purposes of Shwellenbach, but he was showing some breakout signs prior to the. the Tommy John surgery last year. So I think it's just a name to keep in mind,

AJ Smith-Shawber. Still, you know, month to six weeks away. All right, Corbyn Burns is expected to be reevaluated during the first or second week of July. He's been shut down from throwing it since the beginning of June when he suffered a terrorist major strain in his shoulder. He's trying to come back from Tommy John surgery as well. Addison Barger will be shut down a few weeks

after sustaining a stress reaction in his back. So perhaps that. that opens something up here for Sean Keyes, that was the name right, that we were talking about yesterday, prospect promoted by the Blue Jays, and the Tigers are moving Cade Aramontero to the bullpen for the time being. Before we get to the Circle of Trust, I do have some Waverwire pitchers. I want to quickly ask about Zebby Matthews, a great outing here at the Astros, seven innings, one run, seven strikeouts to one walk, he had 13 whiffs on 89 pitches. I noticed the velocity up on some of the secondaries and his head.

His breaking pitches had a lot more horizontal break in this start. I still can't really figure out why Zebby Matthews has had good starts, but he has had three quality starts in a row. Sean Burke, solid, little wild here at the Orioles, five and a third, two runs, eight strikeouts to three walks. Velocity did remain up. The 13 whiffs on 89 pitches, that looked very good for him. Shane Boz, solid, quality start against the White Sox,

seven innings of two-run ball, six strikeouts, four walks. he's another one. He's pitching better. I just don't really get it. Last eight starts, 308, ERA 121 whip for Shane Boz. And Sean Mania, he was solid at the Blue Jays, five and two thirds, two runs, four strikeouts. Kind of just feels like a spark for those in points leagues. But Chris, how would you rank these four in terms of your interest level?

Zebby Matthew, Sean Burke, Shane Boz, and Sean Mania. Okay. Sean Burke for sure at the top. I would go with Baws. I think I would go with Mania, certainly in a points league because he has that SPARP eligibility. And I have found SPARPs very useful this season relative to trying to play the reliever game in my points league.

So I will add Sean Burt, Sean Mania to that pile of Anthony K. and Reed, Detmer's, and Hope he gives me something. And then Zebby's at the bottom of the list. I'm not saying I have zero interest in him, but kind of shocked he's already 54% rostered. That still feels too high.

I think people picked him up for the two-star week. Yeah, he's a decent pitcher, but not one that I think I have a ton of faith in. So the only one, so like Sean Burke, obviously, with velocity being way up of the fastball three straight starts and getting much better.

results. Like, he's must roster at this point, I would say, must, must, must. I don't know, but must, at least. And the only one I really care about aside from him is Shane Boz. And I have noticed one little thing with Boz over this recent stretch. The hiccups along the way, I think it's like a stretch of seven starts where he has an ERA just over three. A couple hiccups in there.

and the hiccups are the starts where he throws the sinker more than 10% at the time. And the good starts, he throws it less than 10% of the time. Barely made the cut this start with 9%. But some of them he basically ditches the sinker entirely. And so

I'm gathering that pitch is not doing him many favors. It's one, I think he throws more to right-handers, right? So predicting how often he's going to use the sinker, you could look at the opposing lineup, maybe, but I haven't gone through all those games and seen, okay, how many righties were there

each time to see if it's entirely tied to that. Yeah, the sinker for the season has a 91 mile per hour average exit velocity against 2-11 batting average 263 slug. The results haven't been great, but the expected stats don't look very good on that sinker there for Shane Boss. I just wish there was more of a standout pitch or pitches for him. His curve ball is good, but it has a 29% whiff rate. usually a good pitcher's best whiff pitch is probably somewhere in the 30s.

If it's really good, maybe it's like a 40% width rate. But yeah, I just wish there was a little bit more juice there with Shane Bonds. He's been pitching well. But yeah, just wish there was a little bit more to back it up for him. Let's take our final break when we return, the Circle of Trust. We'll talk about it right after this. The Circle of Trust, starting pitcher edition. I have, I think, like, nine or ten names.

so we've got to keep this moving. Are they in or out? You know it when you see it. We're not going to try to quantify it, but here we are. Don't try, Chris. Don't do it. I hate this. It's a vibe.

It's a vibe. Chris, it's a vibes thing. You're kind of a vibes guy. He does use the millennial giving off blank vibes as opposed to the Gen Z giving blank. Yes. Oh, yeah. I will never. I will all.

Construction. Basically, Chris, think about it like this. ironically. Are any of these pitchers giving Circle of Trust vibes to you? So we'll... No, no, don't don't use vibes for me. It's just giving. Are they giving Circle of Trust? Are they giving Circle of Trust? George Kirby

had one of his best starts of the season against the Angels. Eight innings, two runs, seven strikeouts to one walk, 17 whiffs on 100 pitches. Obviously great matchup. Angels, no Mike Trout in the lineup. I kind of wish there was like more under the hood in this start,

but what do you guys think? Circle of trust for George Kirby. Yes. Yeah, he's in. Because I never really give a thought to sitting him. No. You know, I've been pretty underwhelmed by all of it. The fastball hasn't played nearly as well this year.

And so I was encouraged that he threw it only about half as often in this start and got a much better result. Maybe that's something he should dabble with more. Missed the good fastball, obviously. But even so, Kirby, in the circle of trust. Yeah. The one thing that, or gets two things that stood out to me as positive, is the four seam in the curveball. He got whiffs on both of those pitches in this start.

The whiff rate on both had been way, way down this season. So that was encouraging. Can he do it against the team? Not named the Angels without Mike Trout. We wait and see with George Kirby. Let's talk about Trae Savage, a strong outing here against the meds, six and two-thirds, one run, three strikeouts to zero walks. But he did have 14 whiffs on 94 pitches. So it feels like he deserved more than three.

strikeouts. Kind of weird, 11 hard hits, only 61% of his pitches for strikes. Here are his walks in his last six starts. 050627. I have no idea. He can only beat himself. I keep saying it. Is he in or out?

So here's the problem with the framing. Right? And I know, oh, Chris, don't do it, but I'm going to do it. Come on. All right. Come on. I do not trust Trey Asavage

I don't know how you could look at what he's done He's out and say But like The circle of trust Should somewhat overlap with my rankings And I definitely have him Like is it Is it like an amorphous blob

And it like Yes Goes like this and then like cuts Because like Well because there are reasons to rank it If you're ranking You Savage hired than some pitchers who are in the circle of trust,

you're ranking them that high for upside, not because you trust them. So we are doing single factor analysis here, and the single factor is on a gut level, do you trust this pitcher or not? No. Okay. I do.

I got your savage in my circle of trust. Even with the high walkoutings recently, I think they are the most exaggerated form of when things go wrong for him. I don't think he's going to keep walking five plus batters per start. And I'll note that two of the three starts with five or more walks were actually pretty good. So, yeah, I trust you, Savage. I think by not trusting him, you miss risking out on too many potentially great starts.

But that's not the question. Well, I agree with you, but that doesn't mean I do trust him. I will still start him. every player I start doesn't have to be someone I trust I trust you're making this you're like this is like playing categories with my dad who wants to argue every single answer your dad sounds like a smart guy

within this category really and truly your dad sounds like a smart guy yeah all right I'm going to put a little post it here on this rundown only do circle of trust when Scott is on the show let's talk about Ryan is an awful outing here against the tiger's one and two-thirds innings

and seven hits, five runs, two earned some questionable defense behind him, but yeah, kind of felt like this was coming. Lots of hard contact in this start. In or out. Ryan Weathers. Out. Absolutely out. Yeah, out.

For sure. He was in before this start. No. Two really good starts in a row. I felt like he had gotten back on track. After those last two, starts. I think the exact words I said sell while you can.

I think this is highlighting some like cultural and personality differences. Scott's from a small town very trusting. And big city guys just just too cynical.

No, there's no way you can trust Ryan Weathers. I guess I do kind of live in a small town now but I wasn't I wasn't I was raised in the the suburbs. Like that, like that John Cougar

Mellon camp song. The one about sucking on chili dogs. I don't know if being raised in the suburbs would make me less trusting.

I don't think you could can you sell high on him still Ryan Weathers? No. I think it's going to be hard to do. Is he dropable?

Like, no. Would you drop him for Joey Cantillo must, must, must, must? Ah. Uh, maybe.

Logan Henderson must, must, must. Oh man He's gotten 10K per 9 Weather's does That's a big number Also entered to start with a 450 XERA

I'm fine with that You know Like if it's I There are very few of my leagues Where I could say It is okay It is acceptable to drop Ryan Weathers

In this league But you know Some people play in shallow leagues than I do And Or in leagues Where only 60% of the league is still attentive at this point.

And so that creates roster clutter too. And yeah, if it's a situation where you could honestly entertain the question, I don't think my trust in Cantillo is any less than it is in Weathers.

I mean, it's not that high because he was just on the waiver wire yesterday. But it's not any lower than Weathers. Ranger Suarez. actually turned in a quality start against the nationals who destroy lefties, six innings, three runs, eight strikeouts to one walk.

He's been money. 294 ERA, 113 whip over a strikeout per inning. Ranger Suarez, in or out. In. Oh yeah, in, in, in. Way in. Way in. Way in.

It's like maybe at the beginning of the season, you're never quite sure, but he's in. Yeah. He's definitely in. As long as he can remain healthy, you know, these back things usually crop up on Suarez, knock on wood. You know, it has been a thing that has basically bothered him every season.

So hopefully that doesn't happen. But right now, he's pitching really, really well. And he has a really good defense behind him, too, with the Red Sox here. What happened to Parker Messick here against the Rangers? Six and two-thirds, eight hits, four runs, five strikeouts to zero walks. The velocity came back down a little bit. It was way up in his previous two before this. I think previous three before this.

But he has gone six-plus innings in three straight. All the numbers look really, really good. Parker Messick, in or out. I think he's pretty easily in. Yeah, he's definitely in. This was a step back since the velocity on the fastball returned to normal. It was up between one and two the previous two starts, and they were both awesome. And he talked about making a mechanical change prior to that two-start stretch that I hoped would give that improved velocity some legs.

Maybe it doesn't have legs, but yeah, Messick's still in the circle of trust. He's the highest ranked of the pitchers we've mentioned here. Oh, yeah. He's for me. Yeah, yeah, I moved him ahead of George Kirby last week as well. I think he's inside my top 25 starting pitchers. Something interesting with Messick here, eight hits loud, a 348 bad-up in this game.

Just two hard hits, a 78.4 average EV. So it feels a little bit unlucky there for Parker Messick. Nick Ladolo, effectively wild, I guess, at the Brewers. Five shutout innings, one hit, four walks, four strikeouts. only five whiffs on 96 pitches. He's not right. He's just, he's not right. Nicklolo's not right.

He's not in. Definitely out of the circle of trust. And he's, he had to lean on the sinker a lot in this start, which doesn't seem like a long-term solution for Nicolodolo. Seems very much like a Band-Aid. And he survived it, but the thing about Band-Aids is,

they come off eventually. It wouldn't surprise me if he gets going at some point, like clearly a talented pitcher. I just kind of wonder, is there some kind of underlying injury thing? Is the blister still kind of in the back of his mind? Is it, you know,

there has to be something affecting him. His location plus is down from 104 last year to 91 this year. That is just untenable. But it's like we talked about a lot lately. That's the kind of thing that can, switch on overnight. And so when that's the thing that's wrong with a pitcher, I am loath to give up on them because it could happen all year.

He could just struggle to command his pitches all year. But it's also entirely possible that he just wakes up in the next couple of days and finds a mechanical tweak and figures it out and gets going because the stuff still looks good. And we have seen Nicodola be a very good pitcher. So I do not trust him certainly, no. I think he's the least trustworthy of the pitchers we've talked about so far. But I don't think he's dropable.

If I had to drop someone between him or Ryan Weathers, I think I would drop Ryan Weathers because I also have the concern that Ryan Weathers just isn't going to be in the rotation too long. Let's talk about Chota Imanaga, a quality start against the Padres, six and a third, nine hits, two runs, four strikeouts, zero walks,

13 whiffs on 97 pitches here. Another one, kind of like Parker Messing, nine hits in this start, 3991 Babbip, five hard hits, 79.4 average EV, I don't know, was he a bit unlucky here? Shotiya Imanaga, it was his first quality start since May 13th. We know that he's been all over the place, you know, home runs, juice ball right now too, wind blowing out in Chicago, in or out? He's out.

Okay. In. Why? Because I know who Shoda Imanaga is. and I am pretty sure his ERA is not going to be great. I don't think it'll be terrible, but I don't think it's going to be great. I think he's like a true talent high three's ERA guy.

I know I'm going to get strikeouts. Not elite strikeouts, but pretty good strikeouts. I know I'm going to get a good whip from him. I think trust means being able to project what a player is going to do. And so there are pitchers that are better than Shoda Imanaga. who I do not trust. But I think he is in the circle of trust, yes. Hmm.

Look, you're asking me to play Samantha games. I'm going to play semantic games. You can't get mad at me. And just to contrast maybe here, I'm going to put some definitions on it myself. When I think Circle of Trust, and this is not something I'm consciously thinking, I think it's where my gut goes.

I am thinking when I'm setting my lineup each week, do I think twice about putting this guy in my lineup? And if the answer is yes, not in the circle of trust. If the answer is, eh, he can go in. I don't really care who he's facing. I don't really, you know, it's fine. Like, not that he's an automatic start necessarily, but just if there's a hole there and he's, you know,

sitting there on my bench, It's not like, I don't know. He's facing this team. He did this last time. I don't know if I should put him in or not. Do I really trust him? If I don't have to do all those gymnastics, I just, he's in the circle of trust.

You can't change the rules just because you don't like how I'm playing the game. That's not what I'm doing. I'm just trying to explain why I would say I'managa's out and you would say he's in. He's in. We do have two more names to get to you quickly here. Sandy Alcantara, not a good one here in Cores.

Five and two-thirds, five runs, five walks, three strikeouts, 12 whiffs on 96 pitches. The control had been much better as of late leading into this start. He also had five quality starts in a row. Before this, a 260 ERA 104 whip during that span. Sandy Alcantra, in or out. Okay, so two things here. One, Cores, I don't care.

I don't care about anything that happened in this start. two definitely in in a points league it's really hard to him I mean I guess if you have a good two-star pitcher you probably sit him but he's in the points league I'd say probably out in a roto league because I think the ERA is going to be similar to Imanaga

but he's not the elite whip guy even when things are going poorly so I would say in in points out in rodo he's in right now for me okay I mean that may be as simple as his June's been awesome outside of the course field start.

Yeah. But his May was just like his April and June were actually good and his May was just terrible. So that's kind of distorted the numbers here for Sandy. And Gage Jump meet the Dodgers, unfortunately. Four and two thirds, 11 hits, five runs, two homers loud in this one. Scott did tell you last time out that there would be some home run regression here at some point with Gage Jump. Ten hard hits in this one, 93.5 average EV.

But its previous five start. 119, ERA, a 0.79 whip, and he ran into the Dodgers. It's Gage Jump in or out. After this start, I'm afraid he's out. I get him out, Greg. I kind of give him the benefit of the doubt just because he was so good

and he was facing the best lineup in baseball. They just got to ask Hernandez back to. That's what I was doing. I was willing to start Gage Jump until he gave me a reason not to. And so I put him in the must-start section of the two-star pitcher rankings this week, even though he had this first match.

against the Dodgers. So, you know, egg all over my face, fair enough. But I don't think he's nearly as dominant of a pitcher as he looked into starts prior to the Dodgers. And that was the message I hope I got across, even as I was recommending him for two starts. Because he was thriving mostly on elite control, 68, 70% strikes every time out.

And you look at his minor league tracker, he'd have stretches like that where he was dominating with control, and then he'd have stretches where it was just walks all over the place. And so I felt like when he's not hitting his spots perfectly, how is this going to look for gauge jump? Is he dominant enough to survive that? And I think only 63% strikes in this start. I know on an individual start, that's just a matter of a few pitches,

but it was the first time where we didn't see him have this, overwhelmingly good strike rate. And, you know, that speaks to just how well he's locating in general, I think. It's obviously not a direct correlation there, but it is a correlation. And he got knocked around pretty good. So, you know, this is a conversation Chris and I were having last week. I forget who the pitcher was about, but, you know, Ranger Suarez often fits into this category. Like when he's pitching well, he looks like an ace.

And when he's not pitching his best, he looks pretty ordinary. And not every pitcher's like that. Some guys just have the stuff to overcome not having it that day, right? Yeah. Like the feel. I do think jump part of the problem and why I would say he would never have been in my circle of trust is just he's made five major league starts. and there's just, like Paul Skeens was in the Circle of Trust after five starts. That's probably it, right?

Like, it's just, we're still dealing with a deficit of information when it comes to Gage Jump and who he is, who he was in the minors was pretty different than who he's been so far. He's throwing a lot of strikes at the Major League level. He did not throw many strikes in the minors, but that was small sample sizes too. So I think I'm excited about Gage Jump. I think he's good. No, trust would not be the word that I would. use there. So I'm, I think he's an inherently, any pitcher this early in his career is going to be

an inherently volatile profile until we find out who they are for sure. I think he's good though. So I want him in certainly on my team and probably in my lineup, but I can't trust him yet. No. Yeah. I do want to hammer home that last point too. I agree. I think gauge jump is good. I think he has proven that there is legitimate talent here. I don't want anyone listening to this be like, oh no, they're flip-flopping, they're turning on gauge jump. He had a bad start against the Dodgers. We knew that there would be some regression. I think we all agree that he's still a really talented pitcher.

And I think long term, we're all pretty excited about him. Who's hot and who's not hitter edition? Want to kind of speed through this as well. Some hot names, Hunter Goodman, man. Who's hotter than this guy? Five homers in his past four games. And the only question is, how high can this number go? Entering Monday, he was on pace for 48.

homers. How high do you guys think this number could actually go for Hunter Goodman? Look out Cal Raleigh. I think you still set the over under at 39 and a half. I think he gets to 40. He's at 26, basically at the halfway point. Like, I was thinking, I think he gets like 45. 14 at his, 14 with the number of games we have left is basically what he did last year.

A little slower, but, you know, he could get to 45, but that would still be close to a 40 homer pace for the full season, which I don't really think Hunter Goodman's a true talent level 40 homer guy. Scott mentioned Cal Raleigh in there. He is kind of doing exactly what Cal Raleigh did last year. He's just pulling the ball in the air more than ever before.

It's like a 31% pulled air rate. Like that is outlier stuff. And it's a 17% barrel rate. So you do that in Corres Field, although a lot of his home runs have come on the road. I get that. It might not matter where he hits. Yeah. And I've noticed a lot of discussion on

among Rockies fans about whether they consider trading Hunter Goodman right now. Cash out. Which I think wouldn't be a bad idea. He's a pretty good player, but I don't think he's like a superstar. So you have to keep that in mind. Although I think he'd be pretty good anywhere. I just think he'll,

anyone will be worse at Coorsfield, even if he's been better away from Coorsfield than at home. If nothing else, the batting average expectation should be lower outside of course field. Yeah. He's become a good defender, hasn't he? I feel like that he was surprisingly good last year for a guy who win the miners.

His stack cast stuff is like basically spot-on mediocre. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know how much trade value he'd hold. That's an interesting question because he's cost-controlled for a while. And so, like, if the return isn't, if you can't actually get something good for him.

And they might as well just hold. Yeah. Yeah. But. I agree. We'll see. I mean, you know, there will be contenders out there that need a catcher. The Yankees, the Yankees need a catcher, so I don't know how much they're willing to give up,

but we might find out. Otto Lopez hit his seventh home run, and June has been his best month yet. He's hitting 340, 3 homers, 21 runs, 6 deals, 922 OPS in the month. And Scott, is it time to consider Otto Lopez overnames like Brandon Lowe, J.J. Weatherholt, South Stewart, at second base. I saw that Chris has already moved Otto Lopez ahead of Lowe and Weatherholt and Homer.

With how hot he's been, man. I mean, he's been hot all season. I think it's a real question. I did recently move him past like Ozzie Albies and Xavier Edwards and Nico Horner. I don't know. I just, I think if you just want to go strictly off the data,

there's a justification to put him ahead of Lowe and Weatherholt, too. I just, I don't. I mean, speaking of Circle of Trump, I don't know that I have quite the same trust level that this profile is durable for Lopez. So I'm keeping them behind those two. Oh, right. I think it's close enough between the three of them,

my expectation. Like even if Lopez remains this good, I don't think any of us see him hitting 333 all season. No, no, no. But let's say he hits 285 rest of season. That's basically systematic. Yeah, I don't know that he's That's fair

That much better than whether holter low If he's doing that It's kind of Last year's Geraldo Perdomo If he hits 290 Walk rate won't be as good That's the biggest difference He's like a 5% walk rate

But it's gonna be Close to 95 runs and 70 RBI and he's on a 30 steel pace And a 15 homer pace It's a really awesome season He is having a really awesome season. But so are Brandon Lau. Yeah, I think there's a fairly like five to honestly even 12 at second base.

I think it's not a huge gap. I mean, if you want to put Casey Schmidt in there, it's 13. I think you put Travis Pisana in there if you wanted to. Yeah. He's slow down. I assumed he slowed down. Yeah. I was going with Sam Antanachi, but I think they're kind of similar players.

So you can go 14 in that case. Antinacci is a dude, man. I think Antenacci's awesome. He's fun to watch. He's pretty good. I realize now, sometimes I do this. I cut something from the rundown. Control X.

I mean to paste it somewhere else, and then I forget, and then I lose it. I hate that. And I was supposed to talk about Esmerlin Valdez much earlier in the show, and I completely forgot to do it. But we should talk about it now, because he is a hot hitter.

He has homered in four straight. We talked about him yesterday. Look, for everyone who listened to yesterday's show, like we talked about him a lot. I don't know that our analysis has changed in one day. It probably shouldn't. But he's 12% rostered. And I think in five outfieler leagues,

if, you know, Nimmo is heard and Tyler Soderstrom went on the IL, like you need a replacement. He's hot now. The power is legit. I think he's going to strike out quite a bit. Yeah, like, like the power's legit. I can say that. And so if you want to just roll the dice on that,

on him continuing to hit for power. I don't think it's the craziest idea. I want to get your hopes too high. I want to think, okay, I picked up as Merlin Valdez.

My outfield problems are solved. Probably not. Probably not. His profile strikes me, you know, right-handed, all-or-nothing slugger who's stuck at a corner position.

That's right-handed. those guys, if they struggle to make contact, they often wash out of the league very quickly. And so that is my expectation for as Merlin-Valdez. But, you know, at one point in time, I might have said something similar for Teoska Hernandez. You know, like sometimes it works out. Do have a pair of Phillies bats on this list.

Bryce Harper, he is on a heater right now. Last 10 games, 450 with five homers. and 13 RBI. Brandon Marsh, he keeps on, keep it on. Two for five with a double dong. One of the home runs off Braxton Ashcraft, the other off of lefty Gregory Soto. So pretty impressive stuff here for Brandon Marsh.

He is putting the finishing touches on a monster June. 3.30 batting average, nine homers, four steals, 992 OPS. And we spoke about it last week, but I think Brandon Marsh, rightfully so, is someone that should be moving up our outfield rankings pretty rapidly. wasn't his career high for homers 11 coming into the season?

I think that's the case. I think last year he had 11 or 12 homers, and he has 9 in June, just a completely ridiculous month. 16, 2 years ago. Oh, 16, okay. Yeah, actually had a solid. 16 homers, 19 steals two years ago,

but only hit 2.49, so obviously the batting average much, much higher this year. Yeah, he was always a platoon player before this year, too, which, you know, just getting more reps and more A, B, can help pad the totals. But the strikeout rate has been way up in June, and that kind of concerns me. He had three strikeouts among the two home runs here on Monday,

so it continues to go up. So, you know, we're used to him being more like a 250 hitter. He's been batting 320 this year. That's the part that I expect to correct. It's going to fall apart at some point. It's like a 35% strikeout rate against lefties. It's a 236-X Wobah against lefties. it's going to fall apart on Brandon Marsh at some point.

But the circle of trust right now for sure. Yeah. I do have a pair of Mariners to talk about as well. Dom-Kanzone hit his 13th home run. This one came off of a lefty. He actually has started against four of the past five lefties, which I found pretty interesting. The underlying stuff, stat-cast stuff,

looks really good for Dom-Kan zone. So if you're starting to play more, I like that. 61% rostered, I was pretty surprised to see that number so high. And Cole Young, three-for-three. with a double dong, three RBI. Last 30 games, he's hitting 299, six homers, and an 800 OPS, 37% rostered. Should these guys be more rostered?

What do you think? Dom Canzon, 61%, Cole Young, 37%. Hard to say that for Canzone, because he strictly plays against right-handers. Has started against four of their past five lefties. Oh, did you say that already? Yeah. Sorry.

And homered off a lefty here on Monday. All right, well, if that's changing, then I guess we've got to think about that because Canzon's data set has always been very impressive. And I would like to, like even in the weeks where the Mariners were facing a lot of right-handers, it's like, well, anytime a left-handed reliever comes in, he's coming out. And so how usable is he, even in that situation? But if that's changing, if they're starting to trust him against left-handers, sorry for not listening, Frank.

It is still only 28-plate appearances against lefties entering today, I guess 29 now. Sure. And I don't think it's an automatic ad. Maybe like 15 team five outfielder leagues. Okay. You go ahead and do that in Canso because it's so hard to find outfield help on the waiver wire. I think a five outfielder league in general, I think he's an okay guy.

Because like I've got some 12 team five outfielder leagues where I have Carrie Carpenter. You know, like that kind of player can be useful to have a round even if you're not using them every week. But no point. leagues for Domkenzone, unfortunately. No. Now, Young, I think, is definitely under-raster, given the revelations today about how good he's been in June. Obviously, the two-homer game makes that look a lot better all of a sudden, but he's still doing fine before then,

and he's played every single game, like I said earlier in the show. It has to be a league that requires an extra middle infielder because the middle-end field positions are deep enough in leagues that don't, but you don't even get to Young. but he's a solid player. I actually just dropped him in Tau Wars because of a roster crunch and now I'm regretting it.

Last name on here is Caleb Durbin who continues to hit his seventh home run and updated June numbers 325, six homers, five steals, 974 OPS. I'm not sure he's someone that you hold on to all season, but he's pretty hot right now and as a hot hand play,

I think it's totally fine to continue using Caleb Durbin right now. A couple names who were, not very hot, but homered here on Monday. James Wood, the home run did come off a lefty, so you like to see that, but he has slowed down in June, 225 batting average, 736 OPS, 36% strikeout rate, and Andy Potitz hit his 16th home run. His previous 27 games before this, he was hitting just 202 with two homers 618 OPS. Chris, any concern with these two, or is it just kind of the ebbs and flows of the season. James Wood, Andy Pahez. I think

a bit of column A, bit of column B for Andy Pahas. I think it's both the ebbs and flows of the season and a little concerning, because I've never really bought into him all that much. He is an extreme flyball hitter and an extreme pulled air hitter. He has one of the most extreme we call it tilt, I think. He's got one of the steepest swings in baseball.

And I think there's just going to be stretches where he's not quite on. And there doesn't seem to be a lot of margin for error with his swing because he's so geared for hitting for power. But I think he's fine. Like I think he's a good hitter. I think he's a good fantasy player. But he was never going to be as good as he was early on in the season. So it's, again, a little bit of both. One other waiver wire hitter to ask about, Cam Smith, two for four with a double.

Donald Dong has four home runs in his past seven games. I think he's a good athlete. Like the expected stats are okay, but it's, it feels like his production has just been so sporadic over the course of the season. 41% rostered. I personally,

Scott, I'm not that moved by this. I think we just need to see a little bit more from Cam Smith. Yeah, he's a curious one because to me, like the sum of the parts has been greater than the whole. because I look at each of the data points there and none of them blow me away

but they're all like solid. I feel like the stat line should be better. The strikeout rate's a little high, I guess, but it's not on the verge of 30%. It's 26. But that's really the only one that seems a little bit yucky. I don't know. I'm kind of just waiting for Cam Smith to turn the corner.

Who knows? Maybe this two-homer game will be the start of it, but there's no reason to believe it'll be the start of it. I just think eventually we're going to have a pretty good player here. I did drop him in at least three leagues this week, so you're welcome. I think I would rather take a shot on like Dom Kanzone or Esmerlin Valdez over Cam Smith for now just until we see more. but he's intriguing. Just need to see more.

Some hitting leftovers. Somebody pointed this out to us on Twitter, but Christian Yelich has now sat out for the past five games against lefties, even though his splits are very even this year, so something to watch. Gunner Henderson moved up to lead off in an attempt to get him going.

He went two for three with a run scored. Trey Turner, slowly picking things up last 12 games, 340, one homer, 14 runs, two steals. Francisco Indoor hit his first home run since coming off the IL. Wilson Gattreras hit his 18th home run before being ejected from that game. And Zach Netto also hit his 18th home run

just kind of selling out for power this year it feels like he has eight home runs in June, 18 home runs overall, but strikeouts way up this year only hitting 226. It's, you know, I was about to say, look, the batting average is a disappointment, but like 18 home runs, 59 runs, and 11 steals.

Like that's pretty frustrating season. for him, I think. Yeah. But good. So I don't think you're too worried about it. Yeah. Right. One pitching left over, Braxton Ashcraft,

struggled with the long ball here at the Philly. Six innings, five runs, eight strikeouts, three homers allowed in this one, still had 16 whiffs on 97 pitches. Ten hard hits in this game, but through a bunch of strikes. Scott, is just a bump in the road here for Braxton, Ashcraft? Yeah, I mean, the three home runs.

definitely out of character. He had allowed eight all year prior to that. The ground ball rate isn't as high as it used to be. It has been trending down, so I'm going to watch. Yeah. But I don't think he's going to run into these kinds of home-run problems very often. The call to the bullpen for the pirates, Gregory Soto, entered in the eighth inning with a three-run lead

facing the heart of the Phillies lineup. He recorded two outs. He was charged with two earned runs. Johann Ramirez got the final out of the eighth, and then it was Mason Montgomery who got the ninth inning now with a four-run lead, so no longer a safe situation. But interesting, I don't know if this was, you know, they used Soto to face lefties in the middle of the Phillies lineup,

or they're starting to experiment with using other pitchers in the ninth inning. I mean, I think with Soto struggling here, given how much he said himself back even a little bit more tonight. I think the pirates really want a closer, and I don't think they have one. Trade market. Because Dennis Santana and Gregory Soto have really struggled. Soto especially lately.

Bring a roll of Chapman back. Given, I think that would make sense. I don't know if they're going to do it, but this is a team that's desperate to make the playoffs. So I do think they will trade for a closer. The Pirates will have a closer at some point. It might be Mason Montgomery. Given the way they used him, the fact that they scored three,

they were up one heading into the night. They scored three and they still brought him in. I think that tells you, he was likely to get the save, but it hasn't been very good this season. Evan Sisk, I think, is the other, the one guy who's been good in their bullpen this season, basically. He pitched the seventh inning in this one, yeah. Yeah, I think the Pirates Closer is not on the roster. But I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to get aggressive with it and make a trade early.

I just, none of the bad teams. There's so many teams that aren't out of it yet, because everyone's so mediocre this season, especially in the A-L that, like- And the Red Sox are kind of surging right now, too. Yeah, I don't know who's quite ready to make a trade yet. Like Rockies, Angels. You know what could be interesting? Luke Weaver from the Mets?

Oh, man. Okay, yeah. I totally missed the Rangers climbing to first place. I know they've had a lot of saves recently. Yeah. At 500? The American League is just a disaster. Yeah, the entire American League outside of the Yankees,

and even the Yankees kind of stink right now. Oh, they do. Well, the Reyes have. the best record in the American League. Let's not leave them out for the many many Rays fans listening. They're run differential, not nearly as because of the Yankees BS. But yeah, you look at the

teams that are probably out of it and it's like... Luke Weaver, I think, is a name to watch. I think he can wind up somewhere as the team's closer, so we'll see. Yeah, it's been awesome. For the Blue Jays, Louis Varland picked up his 17th save for the Red Sox. Our oldest Chapman was unavailable.

Garrett Whitlock picked up his save of the season. And if the Redstocks start to falter again and they trade Chapman, I, Garrett Whitlock would probably be the next name up. So just, you know, if you play in a league where you like to stash closer candidates around the trade deadline, that would make sense. For the Rangers, Jacob Latz pitched a perfect eighth and ninth for his 17th save. That's his fifth save this season of two innings, which is just a very unique weapon,

is Jacob Lats for the Rangers this year. He's got a whip below 0.7. That's wild. He absolutely should be an all-star of the series. Awesome. For the Brewer, Trevor McGill got the ninth with a two-run lead.

He picked up his 11th save. For the twins, Yo-Entries Gomez entered with two-outs in the ninth, a two-run lead. He allowed a solo homer, but did pick up his ninth save, and he has four of the last five saves for the twins, so kind of feels like the guy,

famous last words. For the debacks, Paul Seawald, got the ninth with a three-run lead. He gave up two runs on three hits, but picked up his 19th save, and he has five. earned runs over his last two outings. He has given up runs in three of his last four. The ERA is up to 455, so, uh, yeah, Paul Sewald, kind of turning it to Paul Sewald.

Yeah, not a lot of great alternatives there. I think Kevin Ginkle would be the next up. I actually just went through this whole process with all 30 teams, uh, the latest bullpen report. If you want to check that out on CBSports.com. Check it out. Also on the CBS Fantasy app to stream or not to stream on Tuesday, we have Cade Kavali. at the Red Sox, Matthew Libertor at the Braves. Martine Perez against the Cardinals, Griffin Jacks at the Royals. Brandon Sproote against the Reds, Landon Rup at the D-Backs. Jacks, Rup and Cavali are all good.

Yep. Yep. Could see another good start from Sprode. He just dominated the Reds, but... I like it. Certainly not in the circle of trust. I'd probably go Rup, Jax, and Cavali in that order on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, we have Troy Milton at the Yankees.

Joey Cantillo must, must, must against the Rangers. Walker Bueller at the Cubs. Colin Ray gets the Padres. Michael McGreevy at the Braves. Tatsuya I. Mai against the twins. Andrew Abbott at the Brewers, Shane Drohan against the Reds. Kind of an interesting day too. I like Melton.

I like Cantillo. I like Amai. I think Abbott and Drohan could both be good. I don't think I'd use Abbott at the Brewers myself. Good place to pitch. I think I prefer McGreevy at the Braves more. I think I would go Cantillo in my. No, can't.

Yeah, Cantillo Imai Melton as the top three, but a couple of those others look decent as well. McGreevy, Abbott, I think, could be okay as well. But yeah, pretty good streaming days here. We went way too long, so Team Day and Tuesday, we'll save for next week. There's a pretty fun one on there, too, but we'll save it for next week. I promise. About time,

we had a fun one. Put a reminder on there. Whoa, whoa, whoa, come on. Wow. Those are your listeners, sir.

Oh, gosh. All right. Well, we will, the anticipation will have to wait for one more week. We are going to wrap there for Scott, Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to fantasy baseball today.

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