Fantasy Baseball Today - Three More Prospect Promotions! Waiver Wire Adds & Start/Sit Decisions (8/21 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 21, 2023

Bid on a spot in our 2024 FBT listener league- https://www.ebay.com/itm/374885098315?hash=item5748e4a34b:g:5p8AAOSwy8lkiJds Bid on a guest spot on the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast- https://www.ebay.com/itm/374885021676?hash=item5748e377ec:g:P0MAAOSwA~JkiJg3 The Reds surprisingly promoted Noelvi Marte this weekend (1:05)! ... The Giants plan to promote Kyle Harrison on Tuesday (7:05). ... The Angels did it again (11:05)! ... Eury Perez dominated the Dodgers this weekend (15:45). ... Mitch Keller had his best start in a while (18:43). ... Framber Valdez continues to struggle (22:20). ... Cole Ragans or Tarik Skubal (29:57)? ... Kerry Carpenter keeps hitting home runs (38:25). ... News (44:04): Mike Trout could be back very soon. ... Start or sit these pitchers (48:15)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (55:40). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Move over, Mason, Win. We had more prospects promoted over the weekend.

Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Monday, August 21st. I am Frank Sample, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, weekend waiver wire ads, starter sit decisions, and three more prospects promoted. Before we get started, help us out by liking this video and subscribing on YouTube if you haven't already. And if you're listening on the audio side, download, follow and leave a five-star rating

on Apple or Spotify. And like we did on Friday, let's just start with the prospects here. Of course, on Friday we got the news that Mason Wynn was going to be promoted by the St. Louis Cardinals. And over the weekend, we got a few more names more names and we'll start with Noelvi Marte who was promoted by the Cincinnati Reds really kind of came out of nowhere was not expecting this one at at least not this soon

and he was part of that massive return in the Luis Castillo trade that happened last year came over from the Seattle Mariners his name has been in prospect circles really dating back to even before 2020 this has been a pretty big prospect for a while now noelvi Marte 21 years old this season in the miners was hitting 279 with 11 home runs, 18 steals, and an 812 OPS. Scott, your thoughts on Nolvi-Marté, and would you rather have him or Mason Wynn? Mason Wynn. And I'll just preface this whole thing by saying none of these call-ups are as exciting

as Mason Wynn. I suppose we should have anticipated a bit of an influx here, right, when we hit that 45 days left in the season point. But yeah, I would say all three of the guys we were talking about today have had enough reasons to think they wouldn't be among the crew called up. And in Noel V. Marte's case, it's that he's 21 years old. He

hadn't really done much for the entire month of August, recently moved up to AAA, but hadn't really done much there particularly recently. And yeah, he's been he's one of those prospects who became a big prospect at a very young age,

17, 18, and then there's just been a lot of hand ringing over, oh, is this guy going to live up to his potential ever since then. Because the numbers, he's gone through some ups and downs. The final numbers have always ended up in a pretty good place,

but not like a jaw-dropping place. For instance, his numbers between double and AAA this year, 279 batting average, 11 home runs, 18 steals, 812 OPS in 92 games. Those are fine numbers, but they're not going to make anyone fall out of their chair.

He was used as a pinch runner in his first game Saturday. he did get a start at third base Sunday. And I do think he's going to be their primary third baseman for now. But the same thing we said when Elie de la Cruz and Christian Encarnacian Strand came up is where they're going to play all these guys. If Marte is at third base every day, then that means Elie de la Cruz is a shortstop every day.

Matt McLean is at second base every day. And I guess Spencer Steers in left field every day, is that really going to happen? And then what about when Jonathan India and Jake Fraley return? Fraley, you know, he's kind of got a weird situation going on. But it does seem like they're both going to return at some point. Is this going to be short-lived with Noel Vibmarte? As I said for Mason William, when we talked about him,

just because they're being called up at a point where they can't lose their rookie eligibility by days, on the active roster doesn't mean they can't lose their rookie eligibility by getting too many bats. If they exceed 130, then they lose rookie eligibility that way. And that's going to mean that he can't play every day, basically. If he plays every day, if he gets at bats every day, he's going to exceed 130. So I think even more so in Nelvi-Marty's case, given the state of development he's in and the roster crunch, it's even more obvious he's not going to play every day. And so, you know, I was putting in bids in all my leagues here for the start of the new week. Probably, probably half of them. I didn't even bother to bid on Marte. So that's where I'm at

with them. Yeah, I would say leagues with a middle infield spot, because as of now, Noelvie Marte is only shortstop eligible, should gain third base eligibility on CBS as well. But he became available in those NFBC leagues. So 15 team leagues are deeper with that middle infield spot. I think that's where we're looking at these these younger names for now. But there's a chance because obviously they are pretty young, exciting players. And I do wonder if like specifically whether it tells us something about Jonathan India's chances of coming back this season. You know, like would they even bother if they thought Jonathan India was two weeks away? You know, given that he's already had the setback with the with the foot injury. He's, you know, complained about how it was handled. I do wonder if

that they might not be tipping their hands a little bit. And then Jake Frailie, Jake Frailie is one of those guys that like, we like him because he's, you know, played 160 games and he's with the Reds and he's got like 25 homers and a decent amount of steals. But like, he's been a 1.7 war player over the past two seasons and 160 games.

So it's not like they can't just take him out of the lineup. I mostly agree. I do appreciate the like metronomic quality. of Noelvie Marte's production. If you look at just every level starting at A ball, he's 831 OPS, 824, 820, 820, while hitting like right at 280 every year. Yeah, I think the likeliest outcome is Noelvi Marte

doesn't make much of an impact for fantasy. But in the one league I've got where we have open free agency rather than waivers, I picked him up when I saw the breaking news. It's not the stakes are low there. You know, I didn't have to put any fab or any waiver priority on him. So it's like, let's just see what happens and we cycle through guys a lot in that league. I would put the cutoff,

and this is what I tweeted out over the weekend, about if you play in a league where fewer than 300 players are rostered, unless you happen to have just like a intense need at shortstop or third base, which is going to pick up, you probably don't really have somebody you can drop for Noel V. Marte.

If it's more than 300 players, maybe you do. And it's always worth pursuing upside if you have a roster spy you can play with. Yeah, I dropped Alec Thomas for him. That was an easy call. Yeah, that's pretty easy. All right, let's slide over to the pitching prospect who is planning, who they're planning to promote on Tuesday,

and they being the San Francisco Giants. Their top pitching prospect, Kyle Harrison, he is a 22-year-old left-handed pitcher, not having a great season in the minors, 452 ERA, a 148 whip, lots of strikeouts, but also lots of walks. He's only completed five innings once this season, in the minors, 6.6 walks per 9.

But he throws very hard and does get strikeouts. Chris, any interest here in Kyle Harrison? I think it probably would have to be deeper leagues. Yeah, I mean, you have to consider the, you know, the situation that he's in. He's got a 466 ERA at AAA this season. Well, that's the PCL. So that's a very, very tough hitting environment. It's kind of like pitching at cores.

Now, obviously, it's like pitching at cores against minor leaguers. So there's still that adjustment. But it is to say that like he's a 332 ERA guy for his career, crazy high strikeout numbers. I think the likeliest outcome is he's not particularly useful for fantasy, just like we said for no Alvin Marte. But pitching is hard enough to find. And pitching has been random enough this season that, you know, I'll take a flyer on Kyle Harrison who does have a very strong whiff rate with his four-seem fastball,

36% down there in the miners. That's a huge mark for a forcing fastball. Slider, 35%. He's got a slurve curveball. That's 28%. So, you know, decent strikeout potential here and good quality of contact metrics as well. So I'm probably more interested in Harrison than Marte.

I just don't want to understate the extent of the control issue because you mentioned a very high walk rate, Frank. 6.4 walks per nine innings. That's the extent of bad that we're talking about. Has thrown 59% of his pitches for strikes for the season. Control problems have been an issue for Kyle Harrison throughout his minor league career, and it's just, oh, but the stuff is so good. Hopefully he'll get over it soon.

He was better last year, seemed to take a step forward, huge step back this year. That's kind of why I was surprised to hear him getting close. called up. I did notice, and this is obviously a small sample size, probably means nothing, but when you're dealing with prospects, small sample sizes can mean a lot more. The organization obviously has a better feel for what this sample means from Kyle Harrison. But last two starts, walk nobody through 73% of his pitches for strikes. So maybe something happened there, and that's why Kyle Harrison is getting called up now. It was only seven in a third inning. I said two

start seven and a third innings. You mentioned Frank. He hasn't gone how long in any start this year? He's only completed five innings once the entire season. And with the Giants, I mean, like, they treat 60% of their rotation like long relievers anyway. So they're probably going to do that with Harrison just based on that stat. And he hasn't earned more than 83 pitches in a start. He's only topped 83 times. So, yeah. I think, and Chris is right that like pitching has been so unpredictable I can understand just, you know, taking a shot on upside and hoping it goes well. I suspect it won't.

I suspect in retrospect we'll see this as, you know, at some point the major league career has to begin before you can progress, particularly if we're in an era now where prospect call-ups take longer to adjust to the majors, which seems to be the case. At some point, you've got to get them to the majors before. so they can take the time to adjust to it. And maybe, like, maybe this is worth celebrating just for that, even if Kyle Harrison's not going to be that impactful yet.

The third prospect that we saw promoted this weekend, and the Angels, they're really just competing against themselves, right? Of how many times can we one up ourselves in terms of calling up prospects? Incredibly fast, because this one is crazy. They promoted first base prospect Nolan Shanwell. That's spelled S-C-H-A-N-U-E-L if you're looking for, him in your league. He was a first round pick in this year's draft. He was the 11th overall pick which July. Yeah. This is just, it's crazy stuff. But he's here. He's with the Angels. C.J.

C. C.J. Cron went on the I L. So they did, they needed help at first base. He's 21 years old. He's a left-handed batter. I mentioned the 11th overall pick. He was batting 3.39 with a 955 OPS in 16 games at double A. That was it. He has he has let off all three games for the Angels for what it's worth. He's 19% rostered. Chris, your thoughts on Nolan Shenwell. I will say like, I don't know if this kid's ready. He looked about as ready as you possibly can in a 16 game sample size at double A. I mean, he made the jump from the conference USA to double A and he walked 16 times to nine strikeouts in 16 games. Now, that's a tiny sample size. And there are real questions about whether he's got enough power to play.

I mean, he hit 19 home runs last season in 59 games at college, but he only had one home run in the Cape Cod League last summer. He's only got one home run as a professional in 21 games. The notable thing there is those are both wooden bat leagues. And his, I was just looking at his baseball America page. Average executive velocity so far in the minor is 83.9 miles per hour, 96.6.6. six mile per hour, 90th percentile exit velocity, 103.6 max exit below.

That's really bad across the board for a major league hitter. So I think it's-first baseman. Yeah, especially for first baseman. So I think it's pretty unlikely that Nolan Chanwell is able to hit enough to stick in the majors. But, you know, maybe it's kind of a, I don't know, a backwards profile where he can OBP his way to fantasy relevance at the top of a good lineup. It's more interesting in points leagues. Stretching.

Yeah, I think so. You know, what came to mind was James Loney on. I don't know if that makes sense for you. I was going back even farther to Nick Johnson. Nick Johnson, yeah, that's the right. I was going to say. Yeah.

Former Yankee and national, right? Former Marlin. Oh, really? Yeah, that's true. For about 12 games. He had the mustache, right? When he was with the Marlins. Yeah.

I wanted to point this out for, for Shanwell. And I, you know, I think it sums up the strengths. His last year at FAU, college is last year in college, which I guess was what, this year?

Because they called him up so quickly. 71 walks versus 14 strikeouts. Yeah, that's pretty nuts. And his plate discipline was amazing before that. But he actually had a vision problem. You know, he had an astigmatism,

and they had to get a new contact for him prior to his final. year in college where he walked 71 times and struck out just 14 times. So he's been batting leadoff. We haven't tested the theory yet whether they're going to play him against lefties. He bats left-handed, does Shanwell. But he started every game batted leadoff for the Angels since being called up. I actually do have just because of, you know, they seem to have such an obvious role for him

and batting leadoff and everything. I have a little bit more hope for him than these other two. I'm still leaving him for deeper leagues, but it does seem like his call-up is more about addressing a need than is Noel V. Martes or Kyle Harrison's. Look, waivers ran over at the NFBC

at 10 p.m. Eastern time, and I was able to get Mason win for $3 out of $1,000. It's okay. That's amazing. At that point, why not? You know, Nolan, Shanwell, I picked them up for two bucks. So I'm kind of desperate for middle and corner infield in deeper leagues. And so that's where I think these players are going to be the most useful.

Again, three more prospects promoted this weekend. Noel V Marte with the Reds, Kyle Harrison with the Giants, and Nolan Chanwell with the Angels. With that being said, let's talk about the rest of this weekend's action. The impossible has happened. All right, Chris, you are up with your player of the weekend. Yeah, let's, I mean, we've talked so much lately about. about how pitching is a random number generator. So let's go with the good side of that.

And Yuri Perez, who had, was this his best start yet? Career high, 10 strikeouts, six shutout innings, two hits allowed against the Los Angeles Dodgers yesterday in a game that the Marlins managed to lose. He had a similar one against the Braves. No, it wasn't against the Braves. Never mind. He had a terrible start against the Braves.

He had consecutive games where he had nine strikeouts before he got shut down. Yeah, and six innings. So, yeah, this was his best start, statistically. And, like, there had been some changes in his pitch mix since coming back. He was prioritizing the forcing fastball and slider well above everything else. And this one, he mixed his curveball and change up in about 29% of the time. 22 whiffs in this one, you know, hard hits, you know, on the rare balls in play. But just a really, really nice performance from Yuri Perez and something that I don't know if I needed to see from him because I certainly haven't changed my long-term outlook on Yuri Perez.

But like, did I end up sitting him in one league? I'm trying to remember the one league I've got him in. I did end up sitting him this week because of the way. the last couple of starts had gone. The fact that he hadn't been throwing even 90 pitches, he got to 90 in this one. You know, I'm going to have some,

some tougher choices to make. He's got Washington on the schedule this week, one start week. My other options would be like a one-start Terrick Scoobal against the Cubs. I'm probably going Yuri Perez over him, right? Yeah, I think so. The Nationals are 23rd in Wobah against Ritees this year.

So I think it's a fine matchup. I'm hopeful he kind of, Because obviously they shut him down for a while. He was building back up again. I'm hopeful Yuri Perez regained the feel for the curveball in this start because he was so heavy fastball slider. Those first couple turns and didn't go well for him, obviously up the curveball used to 21% in this one. Seven whiffs on 10 swings with that one.

So there you go. Also nine wifts on 15 slider swings. Right. I'm sure it made a slider more effective. He made everything more effective. He has so many weapons to, to choose from to work with. And he was kind of handcuffed in his first couple starts back.

So hopefully he's back up to form in this one. I'd say given the quality of the competition and the sheer dominance, I would think we're not going to sit Yuri Perez much going forward. That curveball, by the way, just to put some numbers on that pitch, it has a 60% whiff rate with a 0.037 batting average against Uri-Pres's ball is amazing. Scott, let's go over to you, your player of the weekend. I'm going to go with Mitch Keller, our old friend Mitch Keller, who had his second consecutive pretty good start after a stretch of some really awful ones. This one came at Minnesota, team that strikes out

a lot against right-handed pitchers. It's worth noting. Strike out 12 times against Mitch Keller on Saturday, 18 swinging strikes on 98 pitches. He still had more base runners. then innings pitched, eight base runners and six innings. That happened in his previous start, too. But watching the highlights for this game, the movement on his pitches was pretty incredible. You could understand why he got as many strikeouts as he did. The sweeper in particular was untouchable.

He threw 18% of his pitches were sweepers. It did not get touched. Nobody made contact off it. Ex of velocity against zero on the sweeper. It did generate four whiffs. It got some nice called strikes too. He threw his cutter a lot more than usual, which is interesting because that's his pitch with the highest batting average against. And so this is kind of the, okay, good news, Mitch Keller, bad news, Mitch Keller.

98.1 miles per hour was the average exit velocity off Mitch Keller in this start where he struck out 12. That's a lot of really hard contact. And I wonder what was going on with the pitch selection there, throwing the cutter so much. But, you know, I think all in all, a step in the right direction for Keller, a reason that shoe can feel validated for holding on to him if you didn't dump him during that rough patch.

I don't think he's, I don't think he's back to a, I don't think we're at a point where we start him against anybody. where he's transcended the glob, anything like that. But he's shown he deserves to be in the glob still and is worth considering as a starter moving forward. I will say both sides of the good and bad for Mitch Keller in this one might just be like an It Was the Twins kind of thing.

Because this is a team that when they make contact, they tend to hit the ball very, very hard. It's just that they have the highest strikeout rate ever so far this season. So, you know, it could just be, right slash wrong matchup because Keller, even throughout, you know, his struggles, the one thing he has done is like hard hit rate is still only 34.4%. That is very low.

So that's the one thing he has continued to do pretty well. So all three names that we chose for our players of the weekend. We're part of a starter sit segment for this upcoming week. Yuri Perez, again, I think we felt pretty good about that. Scott, the matchup for Mitch Keller this week is home against the Cubs. a team that is seventh in Wobah against right-handed pitching this season. Where would you go with Mitch Keller? I'd lean no.

I think so. But I think with this start, he showed that it's not an automatic no anymore. So, you know, it kind of depends who you have. Would I start one-start Mitch Keller over questionably a two-start, Zach Lattel, who's one of my higher sleeper pitchers for this week? And it's not clear he's making two starts. There's some disagreement over whether that's going to happen. I would say no.

I'd say I'd go with Mitch Keller over rolling the dice on somebody like Lattel. So that's, you know, you got to consider who else you have on your roster and who else is available to you. But I'd prefer not to start Keller with that matchup. All right. Well, I am going to take the negative pitching performance of the weekend. For Amber Valdez up against the Mariners who will have six earned runs over five innings pitched, 12 base runners in this one. He still did have a good amount of swinging strikes. He had 13 of them on 88 pitches.

but lots of hard contact, 12 hard hits allowed in this game. And that really has been a big issue for Framberveltes this year. His average exit velocity on the season, 91.9 miles per hour. And over his last nine starts, this includes the no hitter that he threw a couple of outings ago. He has a 582 ERA and a 135 whip, and it coincides with him hurting his ankle back in late June. So I just, I wonder how much of that has actually kind of hampered his performance over the past couple of months. Again, the numbers are not good recently.

The good news is that he faces the Tigers this week, which I'll point out they have been playing a little bit better recently. I'm starting him. You're starting him. There's no way I would say Frambervaldez against the Tigers. Okay. Chris, Scott, any other thoughts about the recent struggles of Framber Valdez? And you're starting him at the Tigers this week?

Yeah, I would start him against the Tigers. Remember, it wasn't that long ago. He had a complete game shutout. I know it's been all bad since then. but you'd hate to miss that on something like that. You were underselling him, sir. Yes, you are, Scott. It was a no-hitter.

It was a no-hitter, right. Right, it was a no-hitter. And the one thing I will say is, like, I don't know. I'm not a pitcher, so I don't know if the ankle bone is connected to the curveball bone. But the one thing that really stands out when you look at his pitch, his game log, is he threw his curveball 45% of the time in that start against Cleveland. It was 28% the next time out, but three of his last five starts have been 20% or 20% or lower. This is a guy who typically throws his curve ball.

This season is about 25% of a time. Historically, it's been closer to 30% of the time. So, yeah, I do think when you're, you know, we've, this is not the first time we've tried to figure out what's wrong with Framber Valdez. That's the thing that stands out the most. I was going to point out the same thing. So in that no hitter, it turns out. not just a complete game shut out like I wrote down. In that no-hitter, Framber Valdez, yeah,

the curve ball was his most thrown pitch. But in this most recent start, well, he threw it 25, I don't remember exactly, I may have my notes wrong here, 25% of the time he threw the curve ball. I'm not, the point is he's been throwing his curveball not enough, apart from that no-hitter. And his ground ball rate for the entire second half, Framber Valdez, below 50%.

This is a guy who we're used to seeing his ground ball rate up near 60%. And it's been below 50%. He's given up nine home runs in the second half versus seven in the first half. Did he even give up nine last year? I'm not sure about that. But he needs to throw the curveball more. I don't know if something's wrong with it. Maybe it's connected the ankle bone or whatever.

But he needs to get back to throwing it. He needs to get back to getting ground balls like we're used to seeing from him. It's kind of just another way of saying things aren't going right for him, but it's the way in which they're not going right for him, I guess. You give up 11 home runs last season. Yes, and in this start over the weekend, Framber Valdez only through his curb bowl 18% of the time. So again, it's down compared to what we would like to see out of Framber Valdez.

These two guys say that they are still starting him this week at the Tigers, who are 26th in Wobah against left-handed pitching. Two quick shoutouts for the weekend. Gunner Henderson had a monster weekend in Oakland, pretty obvious, you know, bad pitching staff. But he went at one for four for five with his 21st home run on Sunday. He actually passed up a cycle. Yeah, that was great. I love that.

It was crazy. He, uh, so he's in the eighth inning. He needs a single for the cycle. He hits a ground ball down the right field line. And he just went to second instead of stopping at first. It kind of looked like he could have gotten the triple if he pushed for it. Yeah, it was crazy. Cool stat for that.

according to Sarah Lang's at 22 years and 42 days old, Gunner Henderson is the youngest player in Orioles history with four extra base hits in a game. The last person to do it, Cal Ripkin Jr. back in 1983. I have to say, I'm kind of tired of the whole cycle being this ultimate standard of hitting greatness,

because it's a statistical oddity, but getting extra bases is better. getting what 7, 9, 10, getting 11 total bases in 4 of bats is better than getting 10 total bases in 4 of bats if the doubles available to you,

of course take it. Who cares if it's not the cycle? Yeah, but like... Better than the cycle. The cycle's like a Fibonacci sequence, you know? I don't care. It's like the Da Vinci Code, but for baseball.

What if I told you that the Orioles won the game 12 to once, Scott? I still say you go for as much as you could get. It helps your slugging percentage. Yeah. I don't know. Only in points league.

I think having your name kind of etched and hit for a cycle in your career, that's pretty cool. It's just an, like, it's a stupid thing that. This is very old man yelling at Cloud, Scott. I don't know. I don't know about this. No, I mean, people were arguing with me about it on Twitter, too. It's, it's, it's a triple better than a home run even because it's rare. It's sort of like AJ Burnett.

nine walk no hitter. It's like, cool. You got no hits. You didn't give up any hits. But it's also like, wasn't really that great of a start. You know,

it was a pretty good start. It's one of those. Like, it's, it's, it's, it's cool. It's, but that's all it is.

I mean, there are, there are, four hit game. There are many, pretty good. Right, but a four hit game with two doubles,

a triple and a home run is better than a four hit game with, I'm sure. a single, a triple, and a home run. I'm 100% certain that a home run, a triple, a double, and a double is rare than an actual cycle. You might be right about that. Let us know in the comments. Do you agree with Scott?

Or do you want a hit for the cycle? Let us know. Also, shout out to Julio Rodriguez, who is on a historic run. He went four for five with a home run and two steals on Friday. He had another four-hit game on Saturday. That made 17 hits in a four-game stretch the most by hitter since 1900.

So pretty awesome stuff there for, Julio Rodriguez as well. Let's take our first break when we return. We'll talk Waverwire pitchers, waiver wire hitters, and much more right after this. Welcome back, and last week I mentioned our friends

over at the Fantasy Football Today podcast. They have their annual draftathon coming up on Wednesday, August 30th, from 4 to 10 p.m. Eastern Time. They've been raising a bunch of money with all of it being donated to St. Jude's Children's Hospital. And if you want to help contribute,

you can head to tiny URL.com slash FFT donate and you'll find some fun listings on eBay, including listings for this podcast. We currently have another spot in one of our 2024 FBT listener leagues, as well as a guest spot on this very podcast. Again, head to tiny URL.com slash FFT donate or scan the QR code in the top right corner of the screen to start bidding. You can also find the links to those specific listings

in both the YouTube and podcast description. All proceeds will go to St. Jude's Children's. hospital. Let's talk Waverwire pitchers from the weekend, and this first group includes Terrick Scobble, who I guess people were kind of upset at his struggles recently because he's been dropped in some leagues. He's 76% rostered. Terrick Scuba at the Guardians this weekend, six innings, one run, seven strikeouts with

16 swinging strikes. Cole Regens picked up a quality start at the Cubs. He allowed three runs over six innings with nine strikeouts and 14 swinging strikes. Nick Povetta pitched well as a bulk reliever Sunday at the Yankees. Five innings, two runs, eight strikeouts there. Not exactly sure what's next for Nick Povetta. Is he going to just be a reliever? Tanner Halk is returning early this week.

So we do still have some question marks there, but he has pitched well for the most part. And Seth Lugo back on track with a strong start against the D-back, six shutout innings with nine strikeouts, 14 swinging strikes in that one. Scott, how do you rank these waiver wire pitchers? Scuba, Reagan, Pavetta and Seth Lugo.

I'm actually going to go Cole Reagan's number one. I'm really impressed with Cole Regens. This was a big test he passed going against a Cubs lineup that's been doing so well in the second half here. I mean, his best start since being called up came against the Red Sox, so maybe he's already passed some tough tests. But now in three, in four starts since returning from the miners, Cole Regens has gotten eight or more strikeouts in three of the four.

So 266 ERA during the three. that stretch. His swinging strike rate is 15%. And, you know, he's, he's a guy who was on my radar on spring training because his fastball was up four miles per hour from the year before. A spot never opened for him in the Rangers rotation. He got put in relief and had some struggles there with walks and against left-handers, strangely, even though he's a left-hander. But he added a slider to his arsenal since joining the Royals. And it seems to have just really brought everything together as well as being a good swing and miss pitch in its own right. And I think stock way up for Cole Reagan's right now.

I predict he's going to be the breakout pitcher of the second half. Only problem is he pitches for the Royals. But hey, my second choice on this list has that same problem, not that he pitches for the Royals. He pitches for the Tigers, Terrick Scouble. And by the way, Terrick Scuba, this was his first six-inning start since returning. So that's kind of been a problem for him. in addition to the performance not being as consistent as we'd like. Still, he's worth rostering in most leagues, I would say.

Third, I'm going to go Seth Lugo, who is steady but doesn't have quite the upside of those other two. And then fourth would be Nick Povetta, whose role is, I think, very much up in the air, especially with Tanner Halk about to return. But it was nice to see Nick Povetta bounce back from one of his students. shakier outings last time out. Probably all four of these guys need to be rostered, frankly, the one who I think you can most part with, though, if you need to, is Povetta. And guess what, Scott?

Nick Povetta did get to 15 strikeouts this week. He did. Exactly 15. So that, that prediction came true. Good for me. Waiverwire pitchers from the weekend, Part 2. Logan Allen has allowed two earn runs or fewer in four straight. starts. He is 61%

rostered at the Blue Jays this week. Kyle Hendricks, another quality start facing the Royals, six and a third innings, one run with three strikeouts. He's at the Pirates this week, so solid matchup for him. Junjid Ryu, he's just quietly pitched well for the Blue Jays since returning. He's got a 189

ERA and a 105 whip. He is facing the Guardians this week, and then Brandon Fott had his best start of his career so far. He threw seven shutout innings, one hit allowed, three walks, five strike workouts at the Padres and in six starts since returning from the miners, he's got a 350 ERA, a 1.08 whip. He's looked pretty good for the most part. Chris, how would you rank this second

group? Brandon Fott, Jungin Ryu, Kyle Hendrix, and Logan Allen. I think I would rank them in the order you have them. So Alan Hendrix Ryu fought. I could be talked into Fott over Ryu because I don't really feel particularly strongly about either one. I feel most. strongly about Allen at the top. And then after that, it's, it's pretty iffy. I, you know, Hendrix has been really useful this season in a way that

I certainly didn't expect. And I'll be honest, there's a part of me that every time I feel like I get away with something when I start him and he has a good game, but you can't keep getting away with it. But, you know, he's doing some vintage Kyle Hendrick stuff. And he has been for most

of the season. The walk rate has really, really low as it usually is. Strike a rate lower than we're even used to, but very, very good quality of contact metrics help him kind of keep getting away with it. But yeah, I like fought, I think is interesting, but I'm not buying into him having figured it out. They've certainly made some tweaks to his approach.

I still think he's probably too fastball heavy given how hard that pitch gets hit. I just don't know if he has the command of the other pitches to, you know, go like 25% fastball. But yeah, that's, those are my thoughts on that group. And even Alan,

like I'm not super excited about it. I probably like at least three of the four from the previous group more than him. I don't know about Pivotta, but Allen strikeout rates down, walk rates up in the month of August. So I'm not like, not seeing a star turn necessarily here.

Even though it's a 196 ERA and four starts for the month. Yeah, everything else. A bit questionable. And, And last time, I think it was just Frank and I were talking about Logan Allen's last start. And we pointed out, oh, he had a different pitch mix. He kind of faded the fastball on the sweeper, brought in some other pitches,

and maybe that helped to round things out. Well, he pretty much just went with the fastball and sweeper in this one. So he went from fading them in his last start to relying almost exclusively on them in this start. And the result was fine, but it was against the Tigers. I don't know. I don't know that he's still landed on. I don't know that he's landed yet on what works. And I would be skeptical. I would be hesitant to rely on Logan Allen too much.

All right. The next group of three includes Christopher Sanchez. Another quality start at the Nationals. He allowed three runs. Two of those earned over six innings pitched. Cutter Crawford, one of his better starts of the year at the Yankees, six innings, one hit, one run allowed with five strikeouts. But like Nick Povetta, not exactly sure, A, what has run.

role is going to be. If he's going to remain in the rotation, I think he will. But even if he does, he's facing the Astros this week. And Dakota Hudson has allowed three earn runs or fewer in four straight. Scott, any interest in this group? Dakota Hudson, Cutter Crawford and Christopher Sanchez. Not really Dakota Hudson, who, you know, he's had stretches where he's giving you quality starts because he's a good ground ball pitcher and can limit damage that way. But I think in the long run, he's nothing to get particularly. excited about, I mean, I guess his strengths are similar to Christopher Sanchez's, and I feel a lot better about Christopher Sanchez right now. I don't know. Extreme groundball pitcher. He's not walking

anybody, which maybe helps him to stand out from other ground ball pitchers. He's really very much like Ranger Suarez, his teammate in Philadelphia, who's now on the IL. So, you know, we kept thinking, oh, they're going to cut this six-man rotation down to five at some point. Now they don't have to. Now Christopher Sanchez has a spot. So, you know, we kept thinking, you know, So he's my favorite of these three, I would say. I would have more interest in Cutter Crawford, but he does have the same issues as Pivotta, as you pointed out. Is he going to hold on to the role?

Is he ever going to give us six innings at a time? I think this was only his third six-inning start this year. Was Cutter Crawford? We'll check that. It was only his third quality start all year. So, yeah, I mean, he's just not. He's just not giving you the length and he may not be giving you starts much longer. All right.

Let's slide over to some waiver wire hitters and we'll rank some players at all different kinds of positions. And at the outfield position, Austin Hayes went one for four with a sock and a shoe on Saturday, his 12th home run, his third steel. He's having a solid August. He's 65% rostered. Carrie Carpenter, the dude is on fire. Two more home runs this weekend. He's got seven home runs and an 1131 OPS in the month of August. Eddie Rosario went four for four.

with his 19th home run on Saturday, and Charlie Blackman had a big weekend five hits, including two home runs, consistently leading off for the Rockies. Scott, how do you rank this group of outfielders, Alston Hayes, Kerry Carpenter, Eddie Rosario, and Charlie Blackman? Carrie Carpenter, Carrie Carpenter,

Carrie Carpenter. He is. He's the only one who I think has the potential to be a real difference maker for you. I'd have more hope for Eddie Rosario if they didn't consistently sit. against left-handers, but they do. And I don't know why that would change.

So I think I go Hayes second, Blackman, third, Rosario, fourth. All right. Some corner infielders. Wilmer Flores went two for four with his 17th home run on Sunday, having a huge second half, batting 3.46 with nine homers and a 1080 OPS for Wilmore Flores. Carlos Santana has four home runs in his past seven games.

Brandon Jury had a big double header on Saturday. He went four for eight. with a double dong and Harold Ramirez is heating back up for the Tampa Bay Rays. He's got had seven hits including six RBI this weekend and has started eight of the past 10 games for Tampa. Chris, how would you rank this group, Flores, Santana, Drury, and Harold Ramirez?

I think I'd go Drury Flores Santana Ramirez. Jury, he's having an alright season, you know, like it's, I think better than most of us, expected. I probably all three of us expected. So, you know, I don't know if he hasn't been quite as good lately. I wonder how much of that is coming back from the injury. But I've been pretty happy with Brandon Jerry where I've got him. So I think he's the clear top option here. A name that I noticed out there in a few of my two catcher leagues, Gabriel Moreno went two for five with a grand slam on Saturday. He added five RBI. And in six games since returning to the debacks, he's seven for 21 with two home runs, a 90.9 average. Edge Ex of Velocity. He's 27% rostered. Scott, who would you rather have? Gabriel Moreno or Logan O'Hoppy, who also returned this weekend for The Angels? I'm going to go with O'Hoppy here, and I'm really surprised more people aren't talking about him. In April, he looked like the only rookie worth of salt. He was surging up the catcher rankings before suffering that torn

labrum in his shoulder. And, you know, he looked fine on his rehab assignment. I was surprised they activated them as soon as they did. I think at the time we were thinking it was a season-ending injury, and so everybody just, Hopi was off everybody's radar at that point. But I was looking at my own winning bids in TGFBI, Frank, a 15-team Roto League, two catchers, so you go 30-deep a catcher.

I won Ohopi with a $4 bid out of 1,000. There wasn't even a runner-up bid. Wow. Nobody was interested. I'll take that and I'll take it over Marino. I think he has more power than Marino. Yeah, I think that's fair. A few names here in Debra Leagues.

O'Slavis Basabi with the Tampa Bay raise. Had a solid weekend. He's filling in at shortstop. With everything going on with Tampa Bay, he had six hits, four runs, and two RBI, and has started seven straight games for them. Brendan Rogers has multiple hits in four of his last five games. Elvis Andrus, that's right.

And Elvis Andres and a Dallas Keikle reference on the same podcast. Five hits, homer and one steal this weekend. He's having a pretty big August so far. Brandon Belt went two for five with a double dong on Sunday and Jake Cave went one for four with his fifth home run. He has three homers in his past four games, has started six of the past seven games for the Phillies. Chris, any interest here in deeper leagues? Jake Cave, Brandon Belt, Elvis Andrews, Brennan Rogers, and Oslavis Basabe. I was reminded Jose Altuve got his 2000 hit this weekend. I was watching one of the games that put up the graphic of the

leaders in active hits and Elvis Andrews is still like fourth among active players, which is kind of wild. He's over 2,000 hits. I can't say I'm too interested in any of these guys. I think if I was, it would probably be Brendan Rogers just given that he has some recent prospect pedigree, but he's got 17 strikeouts and 60 plate appearances so far, only no home runs. He's got a couple of a couple of doubles, but I'm not too interested in him. Remember Brendan Rogers, I think spring of 2021 or 2022. I can't remember one of them.

He was like, I'm going to steal 20 bases. He has yet to attempt to steal on the majors in 285 games. Rockies player development is something else. But yeah, he's the only one I would be interested. Brennan belt's a good hitter. It's just we know what his limitations are. You know, we know he's not an everyday player. So if you play in a daily lineups league, he can potentially be a really useful option.

But he's going to sit pretty regularly. Let's take our final break. When we return, we'll talk news and notes. Start or sit questions and more here on Fantasy Baseball today. Welcome back and let's talk news and notes from the weekend. Actually, wasn't too much stuff going on. Mike Trout took swings in an indoor batting cage Saturday and is, quote, very close to returning. With how the angels are handling everything else,

It might be in the lineup tomorrow. It could be. That could happen. It probably won't be, but you know, given how they're using everyone else. It is possible. So we'll see. Carlos Verdun will return Tuesday against the Nationals,

and it looks like that will make him a two-star pitcher facing the Nats and the raise. Carl's Verdun had a 733 ERA and a 152 whip in six starts this season. Scott, where did Carlos Rodon slot into your two-star pitcher rankings? Into the point. Points League only tier. Given that 733 ERA 152 whip,

need to see something from him before I trust him is more than that. Nathan Avaldi will throw to live hitters this week while the Rangers are in Arizona against the debacks. Emerson Hancock exited his start Sunday due to right shoulder discomfort. Anthony Rizzo has been feeling better and showed improved reaction times.

He hit in the batting cage Friday and he's been out since August 3rd with post-concussion syndrome. He hopes to be back within a few weeks. Jose Abra. I also want to mention, since I can't help but link them together, given that their declines seem to be related to injury. Joe Ryan had a great rehab start Thursday, four innings, one hit, seven strikeouts. All right.

So he'll hopefully be back soon and look more like Joe Ryan when he is. Yes, please. We could use some good Joe Ryan in our lives. Jose Ibrahim has yet to resume swinging a bat. He's been out since August 10th due to lower back inflammation. Sal Freelich tweeted, tweaked, not tweeted, or exed, I guess you would call it now. His hamstring on Saturday and was out of the lineup Sunday. Would you guys play it safe and bench Sal Freelich this week?

The Brewers only have five games. Yeah, I'd rather sit him. Yeah, I think that's fine. Kyle Manzardo began a rehab assignment Friday. He's been out for six weeks. due to a shoulder injury, and it would not surprise me if we see Manzardo with the Guardians at some point over the final month of the season.

Players who went to the IL this weekend, Tony Gonsolin with right forearm inflammation, likely done for the rest of the year. CJ Crone with lower back inflammation, retroactive to August 16th, Ranger Suarez with a right handstring strain, Brandon Crawford with a left forearm strain, Ross Stripling with a mid-back strain,

Aaron Hicks with a lower back strain, and Kevin Newman with a left oblique strain. One other injury note, we didn't get to it when we were talking about the Reds, but I kind of teased it. Jake Fraley, he's out with a toe fracture, and he has been told he will need surgery on that toe, but he's going to try and play through it. So that's why I said he will be back at some point, but his issue's kind of iffy. So that may have contributed to Noelvi-Marte getting called up as well. And then one other thing, I think, Frank, you asked on Wednesday's podcast about Sean Murphy's playing time.

One thing that I saw get brought up, he got hit by a pitch on Thursday. Was that the 18th? Friday. He has been hit by a pitch five times this in the month of August, only 10 games. And he's gotten hit by a couple of back swings. So that probably explains why he's been getting so much time off.

He's just getting the stuffing knocked out of him over the last couple of weeks. So that was one thing. I noticed. Yeah, such is the life of being a catcher in visually baseball. They call him the tools of ignorance for a reason, although he's been hit by five pitches as a batter also. Do they call them the tools of ignorance? That's what she said.

I was making one of your mystery because I'm not like I don't do that all the time. I just slur my speech sometimes. I swallow consonants. It's what I do. All right. Now I'm feeling very self-conscious. Let's run through some starting pitchers. Starters sit these guys. I think I got eight more names on the list. We spoke about three of them earlier. Michael Lorenzen followed up his no hitter with a rough outing at the Nationals. He allowed seven runs. Six of those were earned over three and a third innings. And this week he is facing the Giants who are 20th in Wobba against right-handed pitching. Scott, your thoughts. Start or sit Michael Lorenzen this week.

I mean, this exemplifies the glob and just the state of pitching in 2023, right? Like, he gives up a combined one run his first two star with the Phillies and then eight or six, whatever it was. He gets bombed in his third start with the Phillies.

I think he's part of the glob. So, you know, I mean, this matchup that Lorenzen has and that Washington is decent. I'd lean, yes, but, you know, it depends what your options are.

But we kind of called this one, right? Yeah, I think we were 124 pitches in his last start to get that. no-hitter. You know, this wasn't totally unexpected. You see this, I don't want to say regularly, but a non-zero amount of times when guys go really deep for a no-hitter or a complete game, they'll often struggle the next time out. And he had nine days off, which obviously is not a normal schedule or routine for a starting pitcher. Bryce Miller turned in his first scoreless outing since

July 16th. And of course, he did it at the Astros where probably nobody had him. in their lineups. Six and a third shot out with only two strikeouts. Notice the velocity was up in this start for Bryce Miller and did change his pitch mix quite a bit. Lowered the four seam fastball usage. He threw more sinkers and sweepers. Didn't get him more whiffs, but obviously the results were good here. Chris, are you starting Bryce Miller at the White Sox this week? I think I'd probably do that. Yeah, the Mariners are interesting because they're a team that tends to let their pitchers do what they do well, but they're willing to tweak when they need. too. And the sinker has been a big part of the tweaks that they've made for a couple of their young

pitchers over the past couple of seasons. So I wonder if that's just a different look for Miller. I don't necessarily know if it's a great thing given how fastball reliant he is for his whiffs. But, you know, it could be one way to keep opposing hitters off balance a little bit. Julio Arias looks like he's getting back on track with back-to-back seven-inning starts. He allowed one run over those seven innings against the Marlins this weekend. And four starts in August. He has a 144 ERA, a 0.72 whip. Scott, are you starting Julio Aureas at the Red Sox this week? Yes.

I'm declaring him out of the blob. I don't know if he was ever in the blob. What's the blob? Not the glob. What is the blob, Chris? Come on. All right, let's move over to Max Reed. Probably a fast conversation, I guess, as well. He's made four starts since returning.

Two of them have been, I would say, subpar so far. A 374 ERA and a 134 whip in the, those four starts. Chris, are you starting at the Giants next week? So absolutely. Just face the Giants, he faces them again, two starts in a row. Yep. Okay. Let's talk about Hunter Brown, who got hit hard in his first start back in the Astros rotation. He gave up six runs over two and two-thirds innings. At 96 mile per hour, average exit velocity, he's now up to a 4.50ERA.

Frankly, I don't even know if Hunter Brown is going to make another start. You know what? Take a victory lap, Frank. You told people to sit Hunter Brown. You were worried about it when he got the win in relief earlier this week. You called it. You should have sat Hunter Brown. I had some people yelling at me that we told them to bench Hunter Brown. But yeah, this was a pretty rough start.

Scott, are you starting Hunter Brown this week? Looks like at the Tigers. So good matchup, but he's not pitching well. Yeah, I don't have a lot of faith in him right now. I would lean no. And as you say, I mean, the Astros could pull the plug on this, send him to the bullpen anytime they want. They have an overloaded rotation. He's not pitching well.

So I don't even know that we can count on him to make that start necessarily. I would try not to start Hunter Brown. And, you know, the type of the standard size league, the one played in by most of the people were talking to, I don't think Hunter Brown's undropable even. Oh, fair enough. Let's slide over to Eduardo Rodriguez, who bounced back after a rough start. He allowed one run over six and two-thirds innings with six strikeouts this weekend. The velocity was up a little bit across the board. The problem is that he's facing the Astros this week.

Chris, your thought, thoughts on Erod versus Houston. Yeah, against most other teams, I'd say he's definitely a start. Against the Astros, I think it is iffy enough because they're a very, very tough matchup. they don't strike out very much. So I think he's fringy. It depends on who you have. You know, we were talking about like Yuri Perez.

I would start Yuri Perez ahead of him. But, you know, that probably still keeps Edwardo Rodriguez in like the top 50 starting pitchers for the upcoming week. So I think he's startable. Okay.

Let's talk about Hunter Green, who made his first start back off the IL on Sunday. And he got crushed. He allowed nine runs. Eight of those were earned over three innings against the Blue Jays. He gave up 11 hard hits in this game. His slider velocity was down nearly three miles per hour. He is at the Diamondbacks this week.

Scott, your thoughts on Hunter Green. I got to sit him until he does better than this. I mean, he did get some whiffs and some strikeouts for the number of innings he pitched five and two and two thirds. But, I mean, he got rocked. So I'm not going to start him until I can trust that he won't get rocked. All right. Dylan Cs had a rough outing.

It was in Cores Field, so you put a little asterisk, I guess, on that one. He gave up five runs over four and two-thirds innings. Still had 23 swinging strikes. Second half of the season for CISC. He's made seven starts with a 509 ERA and a 161 whip. The problem here, Chris, is that he faces the Oakland A's. So is that matchup good enough to trust Dilan cease? I would start him ahead of Eduardo Rodriguez.

Okay. I would like, let's not, it was a Coorsfield start. Yeah. you know, and CES 2 prior to this one were great. So I think he's up and down, but I still like, I still view him as maybe not a must start starting pitcher. You know, I might have sat. I don't have him on any teams, but I might have sat him, you know,

for a start against the Rockies at Cores. But like, I generally do think Dillon Cesar is going to be above average moving forward for the strikeout upside alone. He transcends the glove. I would say so, yes, even though the numbers have obviously been frustrating so far. And he's been as RNG as anybody. I am skeptical. Yeah, I have Dylan C's at SP 42.

So I've moved a way down. I'm pretty much out. I mean, he's, he had a stretch there in June and May where he looked solid. We thought he was getting back on track. But the, uh, the grand scheme of things has been mostly bad this season for Dylan C's. Let's quickly get into some leftovers here, and I've got four pitchers on the list, and sometimes I do this where I just put leftovers on the bottom,

even though they're really important names. And Freddie Peralta has just been awesome recently. He should have been higher in the rundown. Double-digit strikeouts in three of his last five games. He was at the Rangers, five and two-thirds innings, one run allowed, 11 strikeouts, 22 swinging strikes, and over his last five starts,

he has a 147 ERA, a 0.85 whip. I mentioned this recently. I think there's a chance, Freddie Prahlz, it could be a league winner for you in fantasy baseball this season. Spencer Shrider put up his 10th start with double-digit strikeouts this season. He had 10 of them over seven shot-out innings. Pablo Lopez has allowed two earn runs or fewer in six straight starts. And the last name on this list, Kodi Senga, put together another strong start,

seven innings, one run, five strikeouts at the Cardinals. Velocity was down, nearly two miles per hour on the fastball. That's now two of his last four starts where his velocity has been down pretty dramatically didn't affect the results here but Scott any thoughts here on Senga, Peralta, Pablo Lopez, and Spencer Shreder. I mean, I think they're all good.

I don't like you keep asking, you keep wanting to talk about Freddie Peralta and I'm not ever really sure what to say other than like, okay, yeah, I'm glad he's getting double-digit's strikeouts again given the way the season is gone with pitching given the way his season personally is gone would it surprise me if

if he stabbed you in the back the moment it would hurt the most no it wouldn't surprise me but yeah I mean you gotta start him right now with the way he's pitching sure the other three strider Lopez Senga I mean I feel I feel more comfortable

with what they're doing Senga for the fact that he just stop walking guys and that's been going on for two and a half months now. I don't think he's had more than three walks in a game in two and a half months. And when he was doing that consistently before then, he's going to probably be an old rookie of the year runner up, right, behind Corbyn, Carol?

Not Patrick Corbyn. Right. I, yeah, like, going back to Freddie Peralta, like Scott said, I just don't understand. You know, it's sort of the inverse of like Sandy Alconi, Struggling for most of the season where like I don't think there's a good explanation for why it's happened and so Just as I was hesitant to bury Sandy Alcantra I I'm a little hesitant to praise

Freddie Peralta too much just because I don't know what's changed I think a big part of it might just be like regression He's just a better pitcher than he showed for the first you know three months of the season And now we're seeing that in action but I wish I had a more concrete thing to point to besides just like strikeout rate go burr you know I think the control I think that might be a big thing he's got seven walks over his last five starts does freddie prolette he might just be you know locating better and he was when he was getting hit hard this year was you know the walks the home runs and it would all just kind of snowball on him but

right now it's fredi proltza's that's a fair point pretty pretty locked in few hitting leftovers here. Bobby Witt Jr., another huge weekend for him. Six hits, one homer, three more steals. He is up to 24 homers and 37 steals on the season. Rafael Devers had three straight, three hit games, back-to-back games with a home run.

He's now up to 29 on the year. Shohoe Otani hit his 43rd home run on Friday. Once again, ties him with Matt Olson for the league lead. Cody Bellinger, two for three with a double dong on Saturday. Now betting 324 with 20 homers, 17 steals.

and a 933 OPS in 92 games. Is Cody Ballinger going to get like a $100 million contract this offseason? I think he's going to get more than that. Like, because he was like on, he looked like a $300 million player at one point. And he kind of looks like a $3,300 million player right now. I think he's going to get. Still don't quite buy it, but like, is he going to get like,

like, is someone going to get him like 8, 180? Like the Chris Bryant contract? was it 7-160 or whatever it ended up being? I think he will get more annually than that number you just put out there. Wow. It may be shorter. The Bryant contract was 7-182. Yeah.

Yeah, he's a tough one, man. I can't say I'd want my team to do it. Of course, my team is not going to do it either way. So, you know, safe from that one. But yeah, that's a really interesting free agency for, for Cody Ballinger. I think it's going to be just a real interesting offseason for analyzing Cody Bellinger, too, for fantasy.

You know, we spoke last week, Scott. I think we said he's probably going to be drafted as a top 60 player next year, a top five-round pick. And based on what he's doing, he deserves that. It's just, I don't know how much I trusted, just given his up and down nature over the past couple of years.

Maybe he's just finally healthy, and everything has clicked and mechanically, he's back on track, but what an interesting, interesting season for Cody Bellinger. Trey Turner went two for five with a double dong on Saturday and is playing much better in August, batting 300 with four home runs, a steel, and a 904 OPS.

Pete Alonzo hit two more home runs this weekend as well. Now up to 39 home runs for the season, and in August, batting 254 with nine home runs and a 1066 OPS. Call to the bullpen, a few updates for the Royals on Friday. Carlos Hernandez got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He gave up a hit and a walk, but picked up his second save. For the Tigers, they were busy this weekend.

Jason Foley got a save on Friday. On Saturday, Alex Lang pitched in the seventh inning in a huge spot in the game. He worked out of it. And then Jason Foley got the ninth inning again, picked up his seventh save. And then on Sunday, Foley was unavailable. Alex Lang picked up his 18th save of the year

and his first since July 23rd. My lean right now, Scott, is that it's Jason Foley's job. Do you agree? I think they eventually, want Lang to reclaim it. I think Lang has more of a future in the role than Jason Foley does.

But did he do enough this weekend in that big spot and then coming back and getting the safe the next day to reclaim it? I don't know. I mean, I think in fantasy, the more rostable of the two is Lang. Because I think he gets the most saves for the Tigers from today forward. I don't know

that he's back in the role yet, but I do think that's what happens. For the Mariners, on Friday, Andres Munoz allowed two hits, but picked up his seventh save. And then on Sunday, Andres Munoz entered in the eighth inning with a one-run lead to face nine, one, and two in the Astros lineup. So obviously, it's a pretty big spot. And then Gabe Spire got the ninth inning, and he picked up his first save. This was the first time we saw Munoz used, no, because he has come in in the eighth,

but then they tried to use him for a two-inning save. But I thought it was interesting that, you know, they used him in the, I guess, you know, to face the top of the lineup. So. But that's, and they did, they did that with CWald sometimes. So that's kind of a weird usage because like,

yeah, 9-1-2 is a pretty tough part of the lineup, especially, you know, the Astros, they're pretty top-heavy, but like, three,

four, five's pretty important, too. Yeah. I think they wanted the lefty to face Yordon Alvarez, but. It makes sense, yeah.

I mean, he's good against lefties, too, so I don't, I don't know. It's just, but I, Altuvae and Bregman were batting one and two for what it's worth.

Yeah. I'm not worried about what that means for him. He's the closer. For the Angels on Friday, Carlos Estevez got the ninth inning with the game tied. He stayed out there for the 10th inning. He was charged with three runs and took his fourth loss. And then on Saturday, Ronaldo Lopez got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He struck out two for his sixth save and is 6% rostered.

So if you play in a deeper league, I think there's a chance that Ronaldo Lopez can get some save opportunities moving forward. For the Marlins on Saturday, David Robertson, got the ninth with a one-run lead. He gave up three runs and took his fifth blown save and fourth loss of the year. Absolute disaster. That's been. Yeah, it's been a pretty bad trade so far for the Marlins.

And then for the Dodgers on Saturday, they had a double-header. Evan Phillips got his 19th save in game one. And then Bruce R. Gratterol got his sixth save in game two. I did not write down streamers on the rundown. So we're going old-school style. I'm reading off the names, baby. On Monday, Javier,

Assad at the Tigers. Yeah. Okay, I guess. I don't think he's very good, but that's a good matchup and he's pitched well lately. Isn't this guy a prospect? Drew Rom?

Didn't the Cardinals get him in the Jack Flarity trade? It looks like he's starting on Monday against the Pirates. I would pass. Okay. What about Alan Weinen's is facing the Mets?

I like that more. I like that more than Assad. Okay. What about Greg? He's a two-star pitcher this week, presumably, if he pitches well and stays up. Yeah. Is Alan Weinins. Graham Ashcraft at the Angels?

Tough matchup. You know, I don't believe in Ashcraft what he's been doing, but he's been doing it for a long time. What about Paul Blackburn versus the Royals? Yeah, that's fine. He's pitched pretty well lately. Okay. And Johnny Quato. I prefer Ashcraft to Assad.

Okay. And Johnny Quedo at the Padres? I assume no. Nah. Okay. Let's go over to Tuesday where we have Drew Smiley at the Tigers. I wouldn't. Nope. Reese Olson versus the Cubs? Nah. Mm-mm.

Zach Lattel versus the Rockies in Tampa Bay? Yeah, that's fine. First game away from Cores, right? Yes. Yeah. Yeah, let's do it. That's pretty good. I like it. How about Johan Oviedo versus? versus the Cardinals? I prefer not to.

Nope, we're not going with Tanner Howg, his first game back. How about Wade Miley against the twins? Yeah, I wouldn't. That might be okay, yeah. Mike Clevenger against the Mariners? If you're really wanting to push your luck, I think that's going to be one of your better choices. I greatly prefer Wade Miley.

Reed Dettmers versus the Reds? No. Yeah. Well, he was better last time. but I don't think so. But not even like in a super useful way. It was like five strikeouts, four walks. Yeah.

And last name is Rich Hill against the Marlins. No. Wouldn't surprise me if he did well, but no, I think I like Wade Miley more than anybody else the next two days. Okay. Wade Miley, I think Lattel is pretty good too. I think I'm all right with that one. Yeah, that one's fine. You know, maybe Clevenger.

If you're, uh, I don't know how you could be desperate on Tuesday, but what else? We're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks, 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.