Fantasy Baseball Today - Tough Waiver Wire Decisions, Injury Replacements & More! (4/1 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 1, 2025

Kris Bubic was awesome against the Brewers (3:50)! ... Jordan Hicks' velocity was way up (6:04). ... Is Brady Singer more than a streamer (10:21)? ... Chris Paddack got destroyed by the White Sox (16:10). ... The Reds' lineup had a huge game (19:36). ... News (23:25): Freddie Freeman re-injured his ankle during a shower incident. ... Jurickson Profar is suspended 80 games for PEDs (26:57). ... How do we rank all of the waiver wire pitchers (40:20)? ... Who are the top outfield replacements (45:26)? ... We get into Monday's leftovers, bullpens and streamers (53:25). ... We wrap up with Team Name Tuesday (1:10:31). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CPTowers @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. And first pitch, Rishing. Got a fantasy question? Email fantasy baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris.

Man, there are some great pitching performances. We have some decisions to make. Welcome in to fantasy baseball today. On April Fool's Day, I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, we will recap Monday's action. It was a huge newsday. Colton Couser has a fractured thumb.

Ronaldo Lopez went to the aisle. Jerks and ProFar popped for PEDs. Freddie Freeman re-injured his surgically repaired ankle while taking a shower. So there's that. Some strong Waver Wire pitchers, team name Tuesday, and much more. It's going to be a fun show here. But first, happy belated birthday to Scott. We missed it yesterday.

We are a bad friend, Scott. I'm sorry. It's okay. I don't expect you to remember and I didn't make a whole big show of it. I'm going to be honest. I don't know at either of your birthdays. I don't have. I'm sorry.

I feel like that makes me a bad person. Well, I just don't have room in my brain for that because I know the words to every hit alternative rock song from the 1990s. And so there's no room for other things. Yours is like a holiday. Yours is like July 4th or is it July 3rd? It is July 4th, yeah.

The exact day. You're a better friend than me. Well, my point was it's easy to remember because it's shared. And even then, I didn't quite remember it. So it's not a big one. It's 41. Last year was a big one. But this one, I don't know.

I probably don't have any more big ones for the next decade at least. Well, it was Facebook that reminded me. So thank you, Facebook. And I was reminded it was Scott's birthday. So happy Bladed birthday. Send him all the messages on Twitter X that you possibly can and blow up his inbox. Let's get into Monday's action. We will talk about the Reds in just a bit.

They got a great start there from Brady Singer and a big offensive game all around. Ellie Dealer Cruz, a signature performance. But Scott, let's start with your player of the night. A pitcher you hyped up for much of the offseason. And nobody was buying in. Thankfully, it's the single player I'm most invested in across my leagues. And it's Chris Bubich. Of course, dominated the Brewers and his first start.

of the season, his long-awaited return to the rotation first start since early in 2023 when we got our first hints that this may be a new and improved Chris Bubich. Put it to the test here on this start. Went great. Six shutout innings, eight strikeouts, 15 swinging strikes on 95 pitches. 11 on the fastball alone. You know, I love to see a guy dominate with this fastball. I think that's a strong indicator of upside.

if a fundamental one, you know we've seen him get swinging strikes with the change-up in the past two. Didn't happen in this start, but you know that that weapon is there in his arsenal. And I think good days are ahead for Chris Boopich

if he's still available in your league. And he's pretty available, especially in non-CBS leagues. Make a play for him. Make a strong push for him. I think this is the first, just go out and add him in every league performance of the season

so far. Even more than Jeffrey Springs, right? Yeah. I think Boobitch, yeah, the situation's certainly a little better. I think the talent's a little better. Although I do like Springs. He was more widely rostered than Boobich at the time. I think Springs was at 65. Boobich was 60% rostered. That's pretty close. But yeah, I think both of those guys are very close. Yeah. Springs is up to 77%

roster. I believe he was one of the most added players on CBS this weekend. Boobich is currently 64% rostered and RP only on CBS. So reminder, if you're playing a points league, that is a huge help. He's a spark. You could throw him in RP spot. And that's a huge factor. If you play in road over categories, then just start him because he looks like he's going to be really good.

We'll have some more waiver-wire decisions as we go through the course of this podcast. But I think as of now, Chris Boobich is at the very top. of the list. Chris, let's go over to you for your player of the name. I'm talking about Jordan Hicks, and I don't think he needs to be as widely rostered as Chris Bubich does, but I think this is another yeah, I want to add him pretty much anywhere that I can because I think this was maybe the most exciting start of Jordan Hicks's career, which is funny because he just spammed sinkers for the most part. Remember last year, he got off to a really good start last year and he was throwing his splitter a bunch and throwing a sweeper more.

And it never felt sustainable and ultimately it wasn't. But this time around, Jordan Hicks basically just looked like the reliever version of himself that was so hard to hit, except he did over six innings. And he sustained the velocity the entire time. He averaged 98 miles per hour with his sticker. That is bonkers. That is really hard to do over six innings. And I was watching this start.

In the sixth inning, he started to dip a little bit. He had a handful that were like 95 to 97 miles per hour. And then he faced Yordon Alvarez with two outs in the sixth inning. It's going to be the last batter he faced all season or all games. I hope not. 98.9, 98.7, 98.2 and 97.7 from Jordan Hicks to get Yordan Alvarez out. it was really, really impressive. The sinker has always been incredibly difficult for opposing hitters to do anything with.

And why I'm excited here is last season he showed that the splitter can be a really effective swing and miss pitch. And the sweeper's been really good for years. So if Jordan Hicks can sustain 97 miles per hour plus velocity on his sinker deep into game, something he did not do last year, and he's got that extended arsenal that we saw, I think there's reasons to be excited. If you are questioning whether it's sustainable, whether he can stay healthy, whether he can do this for long,

yeah, I'm right there with you. But I think Jordan Hicks is 15% rostered right now. Yeah. Yeah, I'll go ahead and say Jordan Hicks needs to be added in a lot of leave. Do you feel like he's going to be enough of a strikeout guy for, like, category use? Because I think in points leagues with the SPARP eligibility, and he could probably do well enough with the run prevention. But particularly if he's going to ditch the splitter,

like we saw in this start, that was his best swing and miss pitch last year and just lean into ground ball-heavy approach. And he's always had control issues. So I wonder if the whip might run hot. I'm just guessing here. But my read in watching this game was that he just didn't need anything but the sinker. and so that's why he didn't throw anything but the sinker.

And if the Astros had been able to do anything with that pitch, he might have gone to something else. They also only, I think Yordon was the only left-handed batter in the lineup. And so he probably didn't need anything. But the sinker, you typically don't want to throw sinkers to opposite-handed hitters. And so in lineups to have more lefties,

I figure we'll see more two seamers, we'll see more splitters. He just didn't need it in this one. It was overpowering. And that's what gets me excited is if it's the combination of the stuff from when he was a reliever and the arsenal that he showed last season, I think there could be more upside than we've seen from Jordan Hicks. Jordan Hicks, as you mentioned, 15% rostered on CBS. The three most added pitchers this past weekend were Jeffrey Springs, Jack Leiter, Jose Soriano. Would you take Jordan Hicks over any of those three?

I could maybe see it with Soriano just because I don't think there's tons of upside there. I think they're probably the median outcome is probably pretty similar, but maybe Hicks can find more upside. So I think it's fine. I don't think you should drop Jose Soriano. I think he should be pretty useful. But Hicks is on a better team. There might be some workload limitations. They pulled him after 72 pitches in this one.

Obviously, there's an injury history there that makes it unlikely. But this early in the season, I'm okay shooting for upside when it shows. up. All right, let's talk about Brady Singer, who was amazing in his Reds debut up against a pretty tough lineup in the Texas Rangers. He threw seven shutout innings, one hit, two walks, eight strikeouts, 15 whiffs on 92 pitches, five on a slider, four on the sinker, and four on the four-seam fastball. And that was the big change for Singer in this first start. He mixed in a lot more four-scene fastballs, 30% usage on that pitch versus 11% last year. Is that enough of a change, enough of an arsenal tweak, enough of a third pitch for him to sustain this and be

really good all season. I mean, we know he's always used the sinker and the slider a lot. I'm not so sure. I mean, maybe you guys have more of a definitive answer on that, but maybe it is just having a straighter fastball to go along with the sinker enough of a different look for Brady Singer to succeed here. He's 58% rostered. I'm assuming we're taking Chris Boobich over Brady Singer, right? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. He's, uh, Oh, yeah. The increased four seam use, first of all, he introduced it last year, but threw it like 11% of the time. He had been just Sinker sweeper before then. So still through those two pitches like 80% of the time last year. But I had noticed the increase in four seamers this spring. And there were a couple starts where Singer got like a lot of strikeouts and the results were great. I didn't bring it up because I didn't feel confident that it was going to be a game. changer for him and I'm still not but you have to particularly on the heels of that spring you have to like the initial returns here I just I just don't know that it's going to turn him into enough of a

bat miss or to erase the downside that comes with him going from Kansas City to Cincinnati and so that's why I'd be fearful of him being anything more than a streamer type he might be at the higher end of streamer types but I'm skeptical there's a lot of upside, but we have seen small little hints of it that at least give me an open mind. Here's the thing with Singer. I want to be out. I just don't think there's anything interesting, like exciting here. I think he could be useful. I think he's a streamer, like Scott said. The schedule lines up beautifully for him. This is what his next four starts would be if he stays on schedule. Brewers, Pirates, Mariners, Marlins. That's great.

He should be worth starting in all four of those. And Brady Sinker might be sitting at the end of April with a three ERA and like three or four wins. So I'm not rushing out to add him. I wouldn't pass on the upside of Boobit certainly. But even like Jordan Hicks, I think I'd rather see if this is going to work out if they're both available. But if you need a starting. pitcher if you if you just lost ranaldo lopez i think brady singer's going to be really useful for at least the next month or so where does singer rank among geoffrey springs jack lighter soriano that group i

mentioned there again the most added starting pitchers on cbs he's probably behind all of them maybe soriano is ahead just because singer should be more useful in the short term but i at this point in the season i'm pretty much always going to be chasing upside and i just don't think brady singer has a ton of it. Yeah, that's the thing. I think the likeliest scenario is that he's no lower than third. The likeliest scenario is lighter is the worst of them. Yeah. I agree with that even though I like lighter more than you do. Right. I think in the typical fantasy league, 12 teams or less, you chase the upside of lighter right now. And trust that pitchers comparable to singer will be there if you have to turn to them. All right. Well, let's take.

our first break when we return. We'll talk about a few other doozies here from Monday, Chris Paddock. Oh my gosh. Come on, twins. Let's just be done with Chris Paddock. It turns out. Who knows? Maybe the White Sox can actually hit. Probably not. But we'll talk about that right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today. Going over the standouts from Monday, Chris Paddock stood out for all of the worst reasons. So our apologies to anybody who streamed Chris Paddock. Oh, man, Three in a third, nine runs allowed, four walks, two strikeouts, three homers allowed in the start at the White Sox. It was 39 degrees in that game, and he still gave up three homers, which is everything you need to know, I guess, about Chris Paddock, minus 13 fantasy points on CBS. And I really do think that we could see Zebby Matthews or David Festa.

My guess is Zebby Matthews pretty soon in the Twins rotation. Yeah, I would hope it's David Festa just because I really need pitching in the Scott White Dynasty. league, but I get Sevy Matthews was more exciting this spring, and I would probably go with him on the merits. Look, Paddock has played up in the bullpen at times, in the postseason especially. He's looked really good pitching out of the pen. So maybe that's the answer, and they just get another bullpen weapon out there. But yeah, there hasn't been anything to get excited about outside of one or two starts here and there in, in like, four. years for Chris Paddock.

Look, I can point to the fact his induced vertical break was up three inches, making it 20 overall, and that he, the average eggs of velocity was less than 80 miles per hour. Like, there are positives you could take from this start if you really wanted to. But Chris Paddock got throttled by the white socks. And so I don't really want. And I just, you know, he seemed like. When you're looking among the class of starting pitchers that you could call streamers, he seemed like one of the most encouraging ones.

And it's just a reminder, if I don't bring it up enough, I think I do. But if I don't bring it up enough, streaming is a sucker's game. And you don't want to be careless with it, especially in roto leagues where you're stuck with that crooked pitching line all season. And if you are, I would have been two if I had won him in Fab. I was outbid for him. So clearly it was a trendy streamer pick. I wasn't alone. We weren't alone in thinking that he made for a decent streamer.

But I'm glad I didn't get suckered into that. Like it's not something that you want to live off, especially early in the season when we don't really know what's what. And we've seen a lot of players turn on a dime coming out of spring training, pitchers especially. And, you know, try to remember that for next year. I'll try to remember that for next year because it is, you don't want to get burned by it. And if you did start Chris Paddock and he lines up for a second start against the Astros,

pray. I would say just pray. There's never a bad reason to pray, but this isn't, you know, this is a good place to start. I will say it was a pretty good start in my IVB league. So that was nice. There you go, Chris. The lineup of the night, I was going to highlight the Reds, and I still will, but turns out they weren't the highest scoring team of the night because the Cubs have 16 runs

and that game is still going. Interestingly enough, the first game there out in Sacramento. So is this any indication of how this ballpark is going to play? I don't know. I think obviously we need some more games and we'll see. But yeah, Reds had a big game. 14 runs on 14 hits. L.A. De La Cruz, just one of those signature performances.

four for five with two socks and a shoe. Four runs, 27 RBI. He had five hard hits in this game. The home runs. Five batted balls over 99 miles an hour in this one. Yeah, the home runs, 110.2 exit velocity and 107.2. He put up 24 fantasy points on CBS.

That's basically a quality start and a win from a starting pitcher. He did that in one game as a hitter. That's a good week from a hitter. Yeah. Yeah, it's ridiculous. for L.E. Dela Cruz. Matt McLean, by the way, two for three with his third home run. He added four runs in three RBI. He's off to a great start. Five for six-for-sixthes. One walk to five strikeouts. That's a 28% strikeout rate. So let's follow that to see where it goes for McLean. Who did they do all this damage off of Kumar Rocker? Or Kumar Rockered. Sorry. Three innings, seven hits, six earned runs. Two homers allowed in this one. He did have 10 whiffs on 74 pitches, but not. nine hard hits allowed, lots of hard contact in this one.

And Rocker was 73% rostered. I assume we would be okay dropping him for Boobitch. Oh, yeah. Singer. For sure. Singer. I would have rather had Boobich before. Yeah.

Do you drop him for Singer and Jordan Hicks? I don't blame you if you do that. Rocker is the higher upside guy, but I don't imagine he can afford to have too many more of these before he's sent down. And I don't think you're going to get a lot of activity. he's going to see a lot of activity on your waiver wire if you do drop him. I just, I don't know what to make of him, what's going on with his arsenal, because he struggled in spring training like this until his final two starts

where he seemed to scrap the slider, the amazing world-beating slider, for a curveball that was about six miles per hour slower. And I don't know if the pitch was not actually that distinct. It was just different velocity bands. It could be. His breaking ball has always been kind of hard to classify to begin with. But the final two spring starts, he had that six mile per hour slower one, got a ton of whiffs, look great. Then went back to the more conventional slider that was like 84.

And it didn't go. It got whiffs. It just also got crushed. The bigger problem here was the force. was just bad. One width, eight balls in play with a 98 mile per hour average exit velocity. The command was not very good. He was either sitting in the middle of the zone,

especially with the four seamer or missing down with the slider. He's far from a finished product. We knew that coming in. I still think it's an electric arm, but, you know, like him and Jack Leiter have been very close to one another in the rankings. Jack Leiter had the better first start, so I'll give him the edge. I'd hang on to him ahead of Rocker. I would prefer not to drop Rocker for Singer just because Singer doesn't have the upside, but I feel a lot more confident starting Singer next week.

So, you know, we'll see. All right, before we hit the news and notes, just a few things to promote here. Subscribe to the FBT newsletter if you haven't already. That's cbsports.com slash newsletters. If you're watching on YouTube, scan that QR code in the top right corner. That will take you right to the website where again you can sign up for free. That'll get delivered to your email inbox every weekday of the season. And thanks for watching live on YouTube. Hit the like button and subscribe if you haven't already. News and notes, there was a lot.

Freddie Freeman was out of the lineup Monday. Apparently he re-agravated his surgically repaired ankle while showering on Saturday night. In fact, getting into the shower, that's what they're saying happened here. He's day to day, but who knows? I mean, this ankle already wasn't perfect entering spring. They said he's going to be getting work on it for the first half of the season, basically, and now he re-agravated it. So I really don't know what happens here, but it's not great.

I know Scott loves a Simpsons reference, so I'll just go with the... You remember when Mookie Betts missed like two weeks because of a stomach virus, and we were like, oh, this is the dumbest way that the Dodgers repeat chances have been hurt. And then Homer comes in and puts his arm around you and says, it's the dumbest way the Dodgers repeat chances have been hurt so far. It's been a weird couple of weeks. And they're what, six and no?

That sounds right. I would, if you have Freeman, I would hope you've already picked up one of Torkelson. Soderstrom, Monsardo. I said them not in the order. I prefer them. Monsardo's looking better and better,

by the way. I wish he actually had first base eligibility. Yeah, that's the one problem I've gotten. In a league where I've got him, I think I also have Marcella Zune. I'm like, I can't use him.

Maybe somebody dropped Reese Hoskins picking up one of those guys or Michael Tolia. You need to ensure Freeman is my point. Because, you know, I don't think he's going to miss much time here, but it's, it's clearly not going away.

He's performed fine throughout. I mean, limping in the playoffs, he had a historic performance in the World Series, obviously. So I'm not so worried about him performance-wise. It's just availability. And that could get frustrating if you don't have a good alternative. Yeah, I actually bench him in my home league for Cam Smith. I don't even know if that's the right call,

but I put Ryan Mountcastle at first, Freeman at corner, and then I subbed him out for Cam Smith. So we'll see. It is frustrating. Hopefully he's in the lineup over the next couple days. Scott, I'm sorry, man. It was kind of a rough birthday

for your Atlanta Braves. We got some bad news. Bernardo Lopez to the aisle with right shoulder inflammation. He dealt with the same injury last year as well as an elbow injury that he dealt with. The velocity was down during spring training.

Then it was back up in his first start here of the season. But it turns out that he does have to go on the aisle. Bryce Elder was recalled, but I'm guessing we don't really have much interest in him. him for fantasy. Wouldn't say so.

It does sound like a minor thing for Reynaldo Lopez, the way it was described on the broadcast. He got through his bullpen session, fine. It's not like there was some dramatic incident, but then he went and talked to the trainers afterward, and they decided to put him on the IEL. And remember in the second half last year, he went on the IEL twice for similar issues.

Came back, look great. So I'm hopeful. Lopez is back before Strider is back even. But, you know, anytime you get a injury to the elbow or in this case, the shoulder, it could lead to further trouble. So no guarantees there. But that's not even the biggest and baddest thing

that happened to the Braves today. That's the smaller one. Yeah, well, next up, Juerkson ProFAR has been suspended 80 games for violating the PED policy and maybe contributed to his breakout last season, although I read his statement. He said he got tested eight times last year and was negative every time,

but then failed a test this off season. That is what he said. Yeah, but I don't know. Yeah, I mean, I don't, I can't imagine many people are giving him the benefit of the doubt, giving the timing of it. 11-year vet has a massive breakout sets career highs off the board.

How did it happen? And then the very start of the next year, he fails a PED test. You know, I, I'm just saying nobody's giving him the benefit of the doubt. And I think that's reasonable. I think if you try to make other explanations for it, you sound, you sound pathetically naive, is the way I put it in my article about him. So I'm not going to do that.

And like first things first, you're probably just dropping him. 80 games, you know, that means he's out until almost the All-Star break. Can't ILM? Can I-LM? Unless you're in one of those leagues where you have like an NA spot. Exactly. That shouldn't exist, but, you know, that's fine. Sometimes have an in-a spot, which is just not active and you can put suspended players in that.

Even then, I imagine you're going to need that N-A spot for an injured player at some point in the next three months. But, you know, if it's not full yet, go ahead and stash profile there. Maybe you can hold out. in the only league you probably hold on to him. Dynasty, you probably hold on to him, especially if it's one where you keep him at a discount, which I imagine he is at a discount in a lot of those leagues. So that's first things first.

It sucks, but in most cases, I think you just have to drop them because you can't afford to play without a bench spot for that long. Beyond that, what does this mean for pro far long term? I mean, it's anybody's guess. obviously there was always a high possibility that his 2024 season was just a fluke and that remains in play.

I will point out that in the long history of players getting suspended for PEDs, most of them come back exactly the same. There's not really a drop-off. It's not like they turn into a pumpkin afterward. Now, most of them are either awesome, Hall of Fame caliber or we're never good in the first place. There have been very few like this with ProFar that have had a career season and then a PED suspension right afterwards.

So he is kind of a test case there. You would think that would happen a lot more often than it has. Moki Cabrera is the closest example I could think of. D. Gordon. Okay. Well, that was one that that that stood. out for me. I mean, obviously, very different player, but

he was never really the same after that suspension. Okay. He was never much of a power hitter and there was ever for sure. Cabrera was the same sort of the same way. He was just such a light hitter. I'm not sure he was even good in the first place. He just happened to

have a year where he hit for average. But Melke-Cabrera is the main one that stands out for me. And he was never as good as that season where he got the PED suspension, but he was better after the suspension than in the years before the suspension. Looking back at PED suspension history, there is nothing to suggest jerks and pro far is going to turn back into a pumpkin now.

He may because that was a threat all along. I just don't know that the PED suspension brings any more, makes that more conclusive unnecessarily. Brian Dela-Cruz started in left field Monday for the Braves. I guess Alex Verdugo could get some run once he's up to speed. Obviously he was signed really late during spring training,

and he's down in the minors kind of prepping. The Braves also acquired Stuart Fairchild on Monday. Michael Harris let off with ProFAR suspended. So I thought that's pretty interesting because maybe that can help

Michael Harris's value in the meantime. If the Braves start to hit, of course, because I mean, that's another question. They did. He ended the like 28-inning scoreless streak or whatever. was with a solo homer off they did score one run

yeah yeah we need more than that yeah i mean look it's been a nightmare star for them i do wonder if like this does if this makes them a little less patient with ronald lukunya i know that they're trying to think long term with this injury um but i do wonder if maybe that pushes it more to early may than than mid may we'll see All right, some good brave news. Sean Murphy will begin a rehab assignment at AAA on Tuesday. So perhaps we see him in the next week or two there.

Colton Couser, another big news item here. I do want to, I feel really bad for Drake Baldwin. Because he's hitting the ball really well. He's actually looked really good. I think he was like two feet short of a home run today. And he's got nothing to show for it. His OPS is like in the 392 OPS. But he's actually hit the ball much better than that.

And it's not gone. It's not been a great start for a guy we were hoping could get some runway with Murphy out. So that's frustrating. All right. Did Carson Kelly just hit for the cycle? I think he did. Strange things are afoot in Sacramento. All right.

I don't know if someone can confirm that. but I think that's the thing that just happens. Hit for the cycle on base six times. Oh my gosh. Did he just get a triple? Is that? Yeah, he did. That's...

Oh, wow. Incredible. All right, we'll talk about the Cubs a little bit later on. Colton Couser placed in the aisle with a fractured left thumb. He suffered the injury on a slide into first base. He's expected... Don't slide into first base, dummies. He's suffered...

Come on. He's expected to miss six to eight weeks at minimum, and this does open up playing time for Heston Kirsted. who was in the lineup on Monday, even against the lefty. He's 30% rostered, former second overall pick. He's 26 years old, and he was awesome in AAA last season. We've been trying to find ways to get him in the Orioles lineup. I think this is one of those ways.

Yeah, and hopefully it goes well. I have no insight into whether it will or not. He can hit the ball hard. He made contact at a nice rate in the miners, hasn't so far in the main. majors will just have to, we'll just have to see if he makes good on the opportunity. I suppose in deeper leagues, we didn't get into this with ProFar, but I suppose in deeper leagues, Heston Kirstad could be a ready-made replacement there. I'd like them better than anybody on the Braves.

I will just say, and I'll leave it for the article if you want to go look into more potential replacements for ProFar, especially in a points league, really in any league, if Lars Neupar is out there still. 64% rostered right now. Yep. That is, like, he may give you exactly what you were hoping for from ProFar. Exactly. With the plate discipline, batting, lead off, all of that. That is as perfect of a replacement as you could dream up.

He just hit his second home run of the season. Launch angles way up this year to the degree that matters in the tiny sample. But he's looking good. And I think profiles very similar to the ideal for ProFar. Yeah, and I think I totally fine Colton Cowser replacement as well. We will talk a little bit more about injury replacements in just a bit. Garrick Crochet and the Red Sox are in agreement on a huge extension. Six years, $170 million.

The deal won't go into effect until the 2026 season. It does include an opt out after the 2030 season. So a big extension there for Garer Crochet, well deserved, and hopefully he could stay healthy and just build off of this for years. to come. I hope so. Big risk for Boston. It doesn't feel like there's any discount baked into there. Jose Ramirez was back in the lineup on Monday after missing one game with a sprained right wrist. I think last I saw he had three hits in that game including a home run. So yeah, great first game back. Gunner Henderson is on track to return when first eligible on

Thursday. Francisco Lindor out of the lineup Monday for the birth of his child. Tray Turner reported improvement with his lower back spasms and is aiming to return to the lineup on Wednesday. Glaver Torres went on the aisle with a left oblique strain. Colt Keith started at second base, Torkelson at first, with Justin Henry Maloy starting at DH. He actually let off this game.

So very deep league outfielder, I think you can look at as well, especially if he's leading off. Jared Jones was shifted to the 60-day IL. He is out with a right UCL sprain. Max Scher visited a hand specialist on Monday. He's on the I.L. with that ongoing thumb issue. Christian and Karnasian Tran. L. L. L. L. X-rays came back negative. Michael Soroka left his start with a trainer

due to a cramp in his right bicep. He was not great before leaving that start. Would you guys drop Soroka for any of the names we mentioned earlier? Any of them. Any of them. I will say, and we don't know the status of the hand if he's going to need an aisle stint or anything, that would make it even easier. He did continue what we wanted him to continue from last year when we saw his strikeout spike in relief for the White Sox. It was a harder fastball. It was a slower.

I can't remember classified as a slider. Okay, slider. Pitch selection was similar to that time. He went with that approach. But it just seems like he's lost all command of it. It happened late in spring. I'm okay hanging on to him in a points league because of the RP eligibility, but obviously if Boobich is available, you'd rather have him because he's also

RP eligible. And Hicks is RP eligible? No. Okay. Yeah, I didn't think so. So that might be enough to keep Soroka around. But I'm obviously not thrilled about what we saw today. And that's just if you want to take advantage of that specialty eligibility in that sort of league.

I mean, just full disclosure, we had Mike Soroka on our. shared roto team on NFBC. And before the season even started with the way he looked at the end of spring training, we dropped them for Jonathan Oronda getting an extra bench bat there. So that's where we are on Soroka. Aaron Savali went on the aisle with a strain left hamstring and some Marlins updates. Edward Cabrera will begin a rehab assignment at AAA on Tuesday. He's on the aisle with a blister on his right middle finger.

Ryan Weathers is expected to begin a throwing progression later this week. and Yuri Perez is scheduled to face hitters for the first time on Tuesday. Let's take our final break, and when we return, we'll talk more about those waiver wire pitchers, making some decisions. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today.

We've talked a lot about Chris Bubich, Brady Singer. Two names we have not mentioned yet, Drew Rasmussen, who pitched well for his first win of the season up against the Pirates, five shutout innings with four strikeouts. He built up to 70 pitches. I think he's still slowly building and working his way back only through 28 and 2 thirds innings last year, but now back in the race rotation.

And David Peterson looked good up against the Marlins, six innings, two runs, had nine strikeouts, 11 whiffs on 89 pitches. I guess let's rank all five if Jordan Hicks is part of this group. Boobitch, singer, Hicks, Rasmussen, David Peterson. How do you rank the five? Rasmussen is about his rostered as Boobitch, right? Yeah.

64% and he's RP only on CBS. Yeah, I feel like he's not that far behind. In fact, coming in, I might have, as much as I like Bubich, I might have put Rasmussen ahead. I would put Bubich ahead now. I think there's clearly more strikeout potential. But Rasmussen has a long history. Great ground ball guy, great control guy, really low ERAs.

He's for league pitcher eligible himself, obviously, for leagues where that matters. I think he should be, I think he's must add. My only problem is I think it's going to be a short leash. I think it's going to be a lot of five innings starts. It's the raise. He threw 35 hitnings last year. He's had a long injury history.

I think he's had Tommy John twice. So that's my only thing is just, I think there's going to be a limited volume here. They're going to skip some starts. They're going to be pretty cautious with him. That's the only thing holding me back. I think Jurassicson is super talented. I think he's going to be good. it's just there's going to be some frustration along the way.

So I would go Bubich, Rasmussen, Hicksinger Peterson. It feels like none of us are buying. We're just not buying like David Peterson. He was awesome in the second half last year. He had a really good spring. And obviously his first start here was really good. Yeah. I mean, the 295, what was it, a 295 VRA for Peterson last year?

290, even better. That came with a XERA and X-FIT both over four. Good ground ball guy, but not the best control. And we've seen his slider. It got a pretty good number of whiffs in this start. And we've seen it be a good swing and miss pitch in the past. But I just don't know that that's enough of a focal point for him. Yeah, let's see him do it against a team other than the Marlins.

What did you guys make of Kade Povich's first start here? he was up against the Red Sox, four in a third, three runs allowed. Did have eight strikeouts, but, you know, 10 whiffs on 94 pitches. I know, you know, obviously there were some hype on him coming into the season. What did you make of this start? Happy to free up a roster spot if I didn't dedicated one to him. It was one of those like cast a wide net and hope you, hope you corral a couple of breakouts.

Yeah, you should have a couple of guys on your roster who, if they have a good start at the start of the season, you're willing to keep them around. And if not, get him out of there for the next hot thing. I think the problem with Povich is it's like the stuff isn't good enough for the command or the command isn't good enough for the stuff. You know, it's like he's not terrible at either, but neither is impressive. And yeah, I just, I don't, I didn't see a step forward yet.

It's one start, but it's not like he has any kind of track record to go on. So you're okay dropping him for any of the names? We just talked about the five? Yeah. Any other of them. Yeah. All right. Three very deep league names who pitched well on Monday.

Martin Perez. That Martin Perez. Six no-hit innings in his White Sox debut against the Twins. He walked three. He had nine strikeouts in this one. Hermann Marquez pitched well at the Phillies. Tough match up there. Six shutout, four hits, zero walks with four strikeouts.

And Kyle Hart, who is now on the Padres, looks pretty good in his first. start up against the Guardians, five innings, two runs, four strikeouts, did allow two homers, had 10 wits on 80 pitches, and he is the latest pitcher to go over to the KBO, dominate. He won their version of the Cy Young. He came back and obviously looking to recreate himself in the majors. Very deep league names, but any interest in those three. Marquez is the most talented. Heart is the most interesting.

Yeah, I have Hart and a couple of really deep leagues, like 20, team leagues that no listener, the kind no listener probably plays in just in case, just in case, you know, the lower arm angle on the fastball, the sweeper he picked up in Korea, just in case

they turn him into a respectable pitcher here. In conclusive after this first start, whether that's going to be a thing. Yeah, Marquez, you know, he's got an ERA around $4.50 in his career because he pitches in Colorado. So I just don't

I think there's much reason to mess with that. If he gets traded, I still think he can be a useful pitcher, but... Sure. Let's talk injury replacements. Colton Couser and Jerksson ProFar. ProFar, not injured, but you do need a replacement. We spoke about Lars Nupar. Victor Scott, very different skill set, I think, than both of the players that we lost here.

But he had two more hits on Monday. He's 60% rostered. I think Jorge Soler could be an option in a head-to-pointeysleague. He's 58% rostered and when he's at his best, it's a good OBP. It's a lot of home runs. So we're still waiting. We haven't gotten much from him so far, but really small sample size. All three very different players, but how would you guys rank New Bar, Victor Scott, and Solair as replacements here?

In that order. Would you put Scott ahead of Solair in points? If you want to go Soler ahead of Scott and points, I think that's fine. but I actually did mention a couple others in the article that I said I wasn't going to mention on the show but now I'm going to since we're getting into it and I was thinking kind of points leagues in mind with Jung Hu Lee Michael Conforto has been actually been dropped

as roster rate has gone down he did sit once against the leftie but I still think the upside in that lineup if he can continue what he showed away from San Francisco last year is very high. And T.J. Friedel, batting leadoff for the Reds again. And, you know, he proved last year, amid all the injuries, that the power from 2023 was legit. That was the most questionable part of that 18-Homer 27th steel season.

So I think there's a lot of sneaky upside there with T.J. Friedel. I'll also mention Tommy Fam, who's hitting lead off for the pirates. I don't think there's much upside there, but it could be useful. I have some deeper league names here as well as outfield replacements. Replacements we had, Heston Kirstad, who we spoke about is 32%. Max Kepler had his first good game with the Phillies. He went three for four with a double and a home run. He has started three or four games.

Miguel Vargas. That's the one. That's really the one. Kepler at 21% rostered. I mean, less than Kirstadt, who didn't even have a job? I don't know what's going on with this Kepler roster rate. Whether it's a points league or a Roto League, The power, the swing changes he made with Kevin Long this spring, getting in his lower body more, elevating to his pole side more, after his body was all kinds of messed up last year. And you mentioned he sat one game.

It's not a platoon situation, though. Even though he's a left-hand-a-batter, they don't really have a dedicated platoon partner for Max Kepler. So I think he's going to be in the lineup, a really good lineup, by the way, every day. I think Kepler is more interesting now than maybe even Michael Conforto, who's much more rostered than who I also like. You prefer him to Alan Rodin? Yeah, because Rodin, I think, as he sat yet, I don't imagine him playing against left-handers.

He sat one game, but it was against a righty. Right. Maybe he was just a left-hander yet. Yeah, just like a day off for him early on. And he's batting ninth in the lineup, so, yeah, I think I'd rather have Kepler, too. I've had to drop Rodin in a couple five outfielder leagues just because I needed something else more. As much as I like the profile, I don't know how long it's going to take for it to pay dividends. Long term, would you rather have Kepler than Austin Hayes?

Yeah. Who I'm hoping is back this weekend. It didn't sound like a serious injury. I like both of them, though. If Austin Hayes is going to hit cleanup, like they said before the season, there could be a lot of value there. So I think they're kind of similar. I would have similar expectations for both players. When and doubt, I take the guy who walks over the guy who doesn't.

I was just going to say, when and doubt, take the guy who's not currently hurt. That's a good... That also would make sense. Glaver Torres is hurt. We mentioned that, so you might be looking for a second base replacement or a middle infielder or something like that. Mike Kelly Garcia, off to a nice start here, one for three with his second home run, two runs and two RBI. Didn't start on opening day, but has started three games since. and he's second and third eligible

has already made two appearances in the outfield as well. Otto Lopez, he might be legitimately good. I don't know. Three for five with his second home run. He's got two three hit games and five outings so far. He's got four runs, six RBI, a steal. He's 28%

rostered. I think I would take Otto Lopez straight up over Michael Garcia, but they're both off to good starts. I, man, Michael Garcia, I just the skills are there. He makes contact. He's athletic. He can hit the ball hard. He usually hits the ball hard on the ground and not in the air, which is the problem. But he does already have two barrels this season. He only had 18 all of last season. So maybe there's something there. I tried to look more into the numbers. I don't think there's a ton that's changed so far. But he has more upside than Otto Lopez. But I think Lopez is very useful. as well.

So I think it's fine. But I'll give Mike O'Garcia the Edge. These names are not injury replacements, but they are both widely available. Hunter Goodman is getting a lot of playing time early on. One for four with his first home run. He has started all four games for the Rockies. Three of those at Catcher, one at DH.

He has hit cleanup two games in a row. And Hunter Goodman is 29% rostered. If we're talking second catcher, would you guys rather have Hunter Goodman? or Alejandro Kirk? Goodman. Yeah, the fact Goodman started every game, I did not see that coming.

No, I mean, they explicitly said that Jacob Stallings was their starter at catcher and Hunter Goodman was the backup. And now Goodman has started, what, three of the first four games at catcher and DH the one that he didn't start at catcher. So if you had told me he was going to basically be an everyday player before the season,

he probably would have been a top 20 catcher for me. I think there's huge upside. He's got like 44 career home runs in like 150 games between AA and AAA. There are big swing and miss issues, but there aren't many catchers with any kind of upside, let alone legitimate upside like Hunter Goodman has. And he hit his first home run today.

So I'm, he's going to be a top 20 catcher when I update my rankings later this week. Hunter Goodman or Jonah Heim, who had a two-homeer game already. It's going to be Goodman for me over any fringy catcher. Okay, so over Dylan Dingler as well, who had three hits here on Monday. I mean, look, Dylan Dingler, a legend on my AL-only labor team already. But yes, Hunter Goodman over Dylan Dingler.

Nice. Wilmer Flores flexing the muscles early on, two for four with his third home run. And he had four RBI as well. He has started all four games. He is basically the starting DH for the Giants with Gerard Encarnacion Hurt. And he's 5% rostered. This is, you know, deeply corner infielder. maybe you need a Freddie Freeman replacement, something like that.

Deep leagues, would you guys rather speculate on Wilmer Flores or Gavin Sheets, who had a, I think, a three-hit game here on Monday, four RBI. Gavin Sheets, just because, I mean, we have this discussion with pitchers. We've had it already a lot this year. There is no upside to speak up for Wilmer Flores. He could be an okay fallback. but sheets might amount to something

with the changes he's made to his swing obviously had a big spring off to a good start this year. I'm not saying it's a high probability scenario but at least there's a chance. All right, well let's get... You know like the mystery box versus a boat? This is a mystery box versus a leaky dingy.

So just take the mystery box. All right. Let's get into some leftovers here from Monday. Bowden Francis is picking up right where he left off. He took a no-hitter into the sixth inning up against the nationals. He had four strikeouts. Three walks is kind of weird for him,

but did give up a couple home runs in this game. Pout and Francis is such a weird one to figure out. Even in this start, I think it's just that his fastball is unique. And I think it profiles well. He gets a lot of extension. It's good IVB on the fastball. He throws it a lot.

But I think it kind of works. So far. Yeah. This is kind of what I was referring to earlier. though, where we were moderately high on Bowden Francis. I don't think we thought he was a sure thing. But, okay, he's interesting enough. He could be a whip specialist, especially that we ranked him reasonably high.

And then we just kind of backed off him this spring because... He had an awful spring for a way. He had an awful spring, exactly. But... And I don't think we would have done that if he was more established. Like, we didn't really have a good read on Bowden Francis. to begin with, but I don't know. I feel like we go through this every year

where it's like we try not to over value spring performance, but for players who aren't well established, we still end up doing it in a lot of cases. Yeah. Even with Arogati, we kind of did that, and his first start was great against the Mets. A really tough lineup too. And one start isn't conclusive, but, you know.

You'd rather a good start than a bad one. I, yeah, and I mean, in both of those cases, it's like, I don't know, I'm trying to think of a good example of a pitcher that I was drafting ahead of them by the end. I mean, obviously, Clay Holmes, but I'm not even thinking that big of a riser. Lazzardo? Gavin Williams came to mind, but he was a huge riser, obviously. I mean, and obviously, Gore and Luzardo have been great, and I ranked Francis and Eragaddy ahead of them originally, I'm sure.

and eventually move them behind them, but I don't know, you get the idea, even if I can't think of a specific example. Yeah, two hitters off to great starts on new teams. So Tyler O'Neill, 4-4 with a double, two runs, and an RBI. He did not have a single four-hit game last year in 113 games with the Red Sox. He already has one now with the Orioles.

And cleanup hitter, Andres Jimenez, two-for-two, with a walk, a sock, and a shoe. He's already up to three homers in five games. he had just nine home runs all of last year in 152 games. He actually attempted two steals in this game, but got caught once. You can't ask for more. I mean, Andres Jimenez is off to a fantastic start. As is Tyler O'Neill.

Yeah, I'm more interested in O'Neill. I think there may be more, like, there's clearly more upside for O'Neill, and I think there's what I was hoping to see him improve upon. He has one strikeout in 17 plate appearances. tiny sample, but a guy who struck out 34% of the time last year, normally more like 25 to 27%. So it's nice to see him improving that contact rate early on. I don't think there's any reason to think Jimenez is going to go on

some kind of home run binge year that transforms his outlook and fantasy. This is already, this is already the, the greatest home run binge of his career. He has never had three home runs in five games before. He also hit his home run 100 miles per hour today. It's not like he's sucking dingers or anything. So I think both of these are just something that happens. And it happened for these two guys at the beginning of the season.

But it doesn't mean it's more relevant because it happened now. You know, he's going to hit 260, 270 with 8 to 15 homers, and he has three of them already. That's all it is, I think. Yeah, and again, that was Andres Jimenez. We were talking about the other player was Tyler O'Neill. Some pitching leftovers, first up, the good. Tyler Glass now looks exactly that, pretty good.

Against the Braves, five shutout innings with eight strikeouts here, 13 whiffs on 79 pitches. Christopher Sanchez looked pretty good, up against the Rockies, five and a third, with one run, seven strikeouts, 15 whiffs on 93 pitches. Velocity was up quite a bit there for Christopher Sanchez. Anything to add on him or Glassnow? With the caveat that it's the Rockies,

I thought Christopher Sanchez looked phenomenal. He basically made one mistake to Hunter Goodman, and as in that, he was in total control. The stuff looked great. He didn't sacrifice command for the velocity. I don't think top 30 would be a too aggressive ranking for him. I'm not going there yet, but I think that's a reasonable range to put Christopher Sanchez in. And then Tyler Glassnow was even better than the line.

He got squeezed pretty bad by the umpire there. So yeah, I think Tyler Glassnell will be awesome. And Christopher Sanchez looks like a really high upside pitcher right now. All three pitches up about two miles per hour for Sanchez, which we were seeing in spring, but it doesn't mean he had to continue it into the regular season. Yeah, he looks really good. I'm trying to decide from the one highlight circulating on Twitter if Carson Kelly is using a torpedo bat. It's kind of far away. I can't tell.

I know Dan Sby Swanson and Nico Horner are said to be, but is Carson Kelly. You know, I heard a note on on the Braves broadcast tonight. Sandy Leon, journeyman, fetter and catcher, who's the only brave using a torpedo bat this spring. And he led the team in,

I can't remember it was OPS or slugging. He led the team in one of them. In slugging, yeah, I heard that, I heard that exact quote during the game. I don't know, I mean. Just typing it up for no reason. It might be a thing. We're on a torpedo watch out here to see.

It doesn't look like a torpedo to me. I'm looking at the triple here. He wags his bat a lot, but I don't, that's not a torpedo. That's a normal bat. We got some bad spark starts here. Jackson Job, not great in his first career start at the Mariners. Four innings, three runs, four walks to three strikeouts. He threw 61% of his pitches for strikes, which is a little bit low.

And then Grant Holmes, pretty wild in his first start at the Dodgers, obviously. really tough matchup. Four innings, four runs, four walks to three strikeouts, only through 60% of his pitches for strikes. Anything that you guys saw from Job and Grant Holmes? I mean,

kind of worst fears being realized early on here for Job against a weak lineup, weak Mariners lineup, didn't throw enough strikes, didn't miss enough bats for my liking either. The whiff rate was okay, I guess, but not what you expect.

from an elite pitching talent against a bad lineup. And I'm not saying you move on from Job yet. I think the upside is too high for that. And I like Holmes upside enough that you're not moving on from him either. But these are pitchers who I would say in the next two or three turns. If we're not seeing clear indicators of that upside, then we're probably trying out somebody else. And the thing with Job in particular,

is it's just one start. It's his first major league start. I think those are reasonable caveats, but it's just continuing a trend where the stuff looks incredible. Like you look up any of the stuff plus metrics that are out there, they're going to tell you

that Jackson Job looked like one of the best pitchers in the league in his debut. He had a 25% strikeout rate last year as a prospect, which is not great for a top prospect. He didn't get a lot of strikeouts this spring. It was like 19% this spring. And so there's just something causing him to not miss bats the way he should,

whether it's the pitch mix, whether it's not finishing guys off, which I think the command wasn't great in this one. I noticed on a couple of two strike situations where he didn't put guys away the way he should have. The talent is obvious, and I'm going to keep betting on the talent, but it's got to come with something tangible pretty soon. Again, that was Jackson, Job,

that we were just talking about. Some hitting leftovers, Rafael Devers, more strikeouts. We need more. O for three with three strikeouts. He did walk twice, but he's now O for 19 with 15 strikeouts on the bat speed.

His bat speed is way down. His bat speed has been like 60th percentile the past couple of seasons. It was 60th after dropping at the end of last season. It was like 19th percent off through yesterday's games. It's a problem. I don't think he's healthy. Bob, go ahead, Scott.

Yeah, we don't have enough bat speed information to draw on. I mean, it's discouraging, don't get me wrong, but it's just it hasn't been, that stat hasn't circulated long enough for us to really draw comparisons to the past and that sort of thing. I will note that the Red Sox MLB writer, I'm blanking on his name, but he was pointing out that the specific the issue is Devers not catching up to fastballs. And that this is throughout his career, he has had stretches like this, where he struggles to catch up to the fastball specifically.

And he cited 2021 as a year where he had multiple stretches like that. And if you go back and look at 2021, he had the second best OPS of his career that year in the end. I will also note, and maybe there's a new record, being set with him striking out how many more times today twice more three more three times more three times more yeah so he had as of yesterday devors had set the record for most strikeouts through the first four games he beat a record that was held by both ronald ducnia in 2020 and brent rooker just last year

and both both had pretty good seasons and both of those guys had pretty good years that year so it's because there's the lingering concern about the shoulder, obviously, there's more cause for concern here. I'm not denying that. But I'm saying if you're looking for silver linings, you can find them. And I think if you have Devers, you have to because there's been so much negative attention on this. You'd be selling him for Nichols on the dollar. I'll admit I did sit him for Cam Smith in one league this week.

But there's no way I'd trade him or drop him. Yeah. Again, that was Rafael Devers. If you're wondering why we haven't talked much about the Cubs game, that's because it just went final a couple minutes ago. And yeah, we got the final line here. 18 runs on 21 hits for the Chicago Cubs. And Carson Kelly is the headline.

He hits for the cycle in this game. He had four hits, two walks, five RBI, three runs scored. Kyle Tucker, four for seven with a home run. I saw he hit that off of a position player in the ninth inning of that game. Michael Bush, three for six, with four RBI, Danesby Swanson, already hit his second home run of the season. And Scott, you did- With the torpedo bat.

Yeah, I was going to let you highlight. A couple of the Cubs players are already using these torpedo bats as well. Yeah, I mean, the only ones I know about were I was writing about this last night. And so Swanson and Nico Horner were the two names circulating from their lineup who had been using it. They went a combined five for nine. in this game. Every cup hit well. Yeah, Kyle Tucker went four for seven without using a torpedo bat.

So Michael, well, as far as we know, Michael Bush, three for six. I will point out, and this is going to lead to some bad stuff, but hearing a lot less about P. Kour Armstrong from all the people who were bad-mouthing us for his big spring. Where are you at, guys? He had two hits today, but he has 455 OPS through four games. It's nothing. It's nothing.

But spring was nothing. Yeah, that's all. We shall see. All right, wrap up with some bullpen stuff here. There wasn't anything too crazy for the Orioles. Felix Bautista got the ninth inning with a five-run lead. He gave up two runs on two hits and two walks. His sinker velocity is down two miles per hour from where it was back in 2023.

For the Rockies, Victor Vodnick entered with two outs in the seventh inning, a one-run lead. runners on first and second. He gave up a two-run double followed by a two-run homer. He took the blown save in that one. For the Phillies, Jose Alvarado entered in the eighth inning with a three-run lead

facing the heart of the Rockies lineup. He walked one but struck out three. The Phillies tacked on two more runs. Jordan Romano got the ninth inning with a five-run lead. He gave up a hit, but recorded two strikeouts to end the game. Antis Veloste was back to 2020-3 level,

which was good to see. I feel a lot better about this as somebody who is invested in Jordan Romano in a couple of leagues, most famously passed over Robert Suarez for him in one league. I thought this was good. You do mention Alvarado actually faced the heart of the lineup, so it is possible. So I don't know what to make that exactly. Yeah. But it's clear they were lining up Jordan Romano for the save, and he looked good.

in the inning he did pitch. So I, I'm, it's a good sign, it's not conclusive. For the Blue Jays, Jeff Hoffman was unavailable after pitching two days in a row. It was Jimmy Garcia, who struck out two for his first save of the season. For the Angels, Kenley Jansen was unavailable.

Ryan Johnson got the 10th inning with a two-run lead, gave up an unearned run, but picked up his first career save. And that was the kid, Ryan Johnson, who, um, the Angels drafted last year, Never played in the minors. Straight out of spring training, he went to the majors.

I think he's one of, I don't know, like three or four pitchers to ever do that. He also gave up five earned runs in his first outing. Yeah, we don't talk about that. Yeah, but that is fair. For the Giants, by the way, Ryan Walker was back in the bullpen here. He was lining up for a save. They tacked on two more runs in the top of the ninth inning. He still came in to pitch the bottom of the ninth.

He struck out too, so hopefully all is well with, Ryan Walker there and the Giants. To stream or not stream on Tuesday, we have, I don't know, Simeon Woods Richardson at the White Sox. I don't know if we can do it anymore. Those pesky white socks. Anybody else here, Casey Mines at the Mariners?

Logan Allen had a good spring. He's at the Padres, but I'm not sure I want to do that. Anyone else that stands out for Tuesday? I just want to be, like, I'm not streaming Simeon Woods Richardson. I still think the white socks are absolutely worth streaming against. Yes.

And if Simian Wood Richardson has a good start today, I would not be surprised even a little bit. I'm not streaming well-worn, but I want to watch it and see what he looks like. It's just a tough matchup. Wes Nensky in a points league I don't hate, but I'd probably try to avoid it. Casey Meyes at Seattle is probably the most interesting one. That's the most interesting one. But don't do it unless you really have to. On Wednesday, we have Jack Leiter at the Reds.

Sean Burke is facing the twins. Yeah, Wednesday is not great. Wednesday, all the aces are back on the mound, so it's a little bit tough. Yeah, like I think Jack Leiter looked fine in his first start, so I don't think he's a total stayaway, but Cincinnati's offense has been pretty good so far. So it's not.

ideal. I would prefer not to. Jameson Tyone would give you a decent chance of a quality start there at the athletics, but it could go poorly too. Land and Roup is someone I want to just watch and see what he does against the Astros,

but not somebody I would want to start in that matchup. Let's wrap up with team name Tuesday, and if you have a fun team name, you want to send in, email it to Fantasy Baseball at cbsi.com, and this one is from Adam. Cease Your Story Cetell. Sure

This one's from These two are from Joe I like that Welcome to the Yates of Hellsley Sure Veen Green fighting May teen I mean you don't have to

You don't have to stretch To get the third name in there It was fine with just the first two Veen and Green And if you're going to do it You might as well go Veen Green fighten machetes Right Just go all the way

And I maintain that the best team name using Zach Veen is straightened to my Vines. Isn't there a backup catcher? No. Marchine or Marchand from the Phillies. Yeah, there's a guy on the Phillies. That would kind of work too, but I don't know. This one is from Zach on X. Bazanas in pajamas.

Yeah, that's good. That's pretty good. I like that one. It's good. I like it. This one's from Matthew who says, I guarantee Scott will like this. something witty.

Yeah. So, Scott? I would not... Matthew's trying to sell you something, I would stay away. It's guarantee is worthless. This one's from Nicky Boy. Ben Rice knowing you. Yeah.

You know? Yeah. That's because you get... You make both of the first and last name work in a natural way there. I kind of like that. Yeah, I like that one. And Fetty Kruger. Yep.

All right. Sure. These are from Danny. Dude looks like a love lady. Yeah. Yeah. Honeynut Chorio. That's an oldie but a goody.

Classic. Boom goes to dynamite. Also an oldie but a gutty. And truly adly deeply. That's phenomenal. That's great. You didn't finish saying it, Chris. Let him finish saying.

Sorry. I'm sorry. Truly adly deeply. It's a great song. It is good. That's great. Love that one. From Bernard.

who foughted in a Boston accent who foughted gosh yep fought bottom gurieles I like that one yeah

that's a good one if the Richard fits wear it yep gotta jabbo I don't know this but Chris I think I think your mom

is a fish fan so maybe she knows it she would almost certainly know gotta givow I have no idea I saw them with her last summer and she would go like, oh, this is one of the good songs.

Or like the next song, she'd be like, I hate this one. I'd be like, I can't. How do you tell? Yeah, they're all like, they're all like 20 minute songs, right? Or something. I don't know much about it. Me, Casas as Sue Casas. Yep, yep.

Classic. And honey nut churios, which is also classic. Yeah. I am, I'm not sure whether or not I'm looking forward to the, the Chris Bubich slate of team names. That could get dicey. Yeah. Someone, I will say someone in the chat,

Churio Speedwagon, that's the best Churio one I've heard so far. That's very good. All right. We are going to wrap there for Scott, Chris. I am Frank.

Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify and we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. Paramount Podcasts.