Fantasy Baseball Today - TRUE OR FALSE, Lance McCullers Hype & New Closer in San Francisco (5/29 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 29, 2025

Lance McCullers had 12 strikeouts in a start for the first time since 2018 (2:30). ... Drop Sandy Alcantara (6:05)? ... Juan Soto went hitless against the White Sox (10:27). ... News (15:27): Camilo Doval is taking over as Giants closer. ... Agustin Ramirez continues to impress (23:38). Gavin Sheets was a big riser this week. ... Any interest in a potential two-start week from Clayton Kershaw or Luis Severino (34:08)? ... Let's do TRUE OR FALSE for a bunch of players including Zac Gallen, George Kirby and others (43:08). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpens and streamers (58:48). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow FBT on TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CBSScottWhite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Roto_Frank⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Twelve strikeouts for Lance McCullors, Jr. What year is it?

Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Thursday, May 29th. I am Frank Stanfield, joined by Scott. out white today on the show beat the waiver wire for potential two-star pitchers, true or false, and we've got big closer news out in San Francisco, but let's begin with the players of the night. Can you believe it? Wow! I don't think many of us could believe the box score when we saw Lance McCullors today, Scott, but that is where we shall begin. 12 strikeouts for Lance McCullors. You thought you never had to think about him again, but apparently you do because he got 12 strikeouts,

18 swinging strikes on 102 pitches. 10 of the whiffs came on the curveball, which he threw 22% of the time. Four came on the slider, which you threw 40% at the time. I'm giving you the percentage usage of those pitches for McCullors because they were both up. He really leaned into those two breaking balls. And they were both up in terms of velocity, too.

The curve ball, which got, you know, more than half of the whiffs was up 1.9 miles per hour. The slider was up nearly a mile per hour. So he was throwing the breaking balls harder. He was throwing them more often. And that was clearly the key to his success here. Lance McCullors does not have his former velocity. It was not back. I'm talking on the fastball, which in his case is a sinker.

It was not back in the start. And it's down like almost three miles per hour from his prime. But the breaking balls were always the selling point for McCullors. So I could see how, you know, I don't know if the improved velocity on those two pitches, if that's sustainable, but could he continue to emphasize them like he did in this start? Could that be a way for Lance McCullors to find success and perhaps even considerable success like he did in this start with the 12 strikeouts. I'm open to the possibility.

I'm open to it enough that I think I'd add him everywhere. I moved him into my top 75 at starting pitcher. That's basically the must roster range, except in the shallowest of leagues. And I believe he lines up for two starts next week, too. So I imagine Lance McCullors is going to be among my sleeper-sliper-slash-streamer for week 11 just on the strength of this start. And I hope it's not the last. I mean, it could.

It could be just an aberration. I don't think, and part of the reason we were kind of writing off the colors for fantasies because his arm has been through so much trauma over the years. This is his last good start since 2022, right? And that was a very short season for him. So it may just be a swan song for. him, you know, but I'm open to the possibility of it being more, given how effective those dual breaking balls were for him. Yeah, I think that's well said. I don't want to just assume that,

you know, Lance McCullors from, I don't know, 22, 2021 is just all the way back to that level, but it's two starts in a row with eight plus strikeouts. So just seeing the whiffs and knowing he still has that ability, I think, is a great thing. And, you know, I mentioned at the top, What year is it? Well, first start with 12 strikeouts since July 6th of 2018. So, man, this was, I wasn't even working here yet. Like, that's such a long time. Like seven years ago for Lance McCullors.

So nice to see him back and having some success here. And he's part of a, you know, beat the waiver wire for what looks like two-star pitchers for next week. Only 25% rostered in the matchups at the Pirates, at the Guardians. So those two look pretty good for Lans for colors. Let's go to the other side of the spectrum, unfortunately, and talk about Sandy Alcancera, who just has nothing right now. He was at the Padres, four innings, seven hits, six runs allowed,

four walks, zero strikeouts. He had just one whiff on 71 pitches through 62% of his pitches for strikes. Even that number is low and not where we wanted to be. gave up some hard contact in this one. And, I mean, it's sad to watch right now. He just has nothing. You know, the hard contact, the walks, only one whiff. He's allowed four plus earned runs in eight of 11 starts this season, including six straight.

He has gone six innings just once in 11 tries. And that usually is kind of the calling card here for Sandy Alcans. So, yeah, there's just nothing. He's on a bad team. he's down to 77% rostered, and it kind of feels like this is a pretty clear drop. I mean, I don't know how. We would probably have to see a month's worth of starts

of him getting back on track to have confidence to put him back in the lineup. So would you drop Sandy for Lance McCullors? I'd be fine with it if that was your worst pitcher, and I could totally understand that being your worst pitcher. There's no way you can use Sandy Alcantra. I don't think, if I had to guess, Sandy Alcantra will eventually get back to being

a quality, if not high-end fantasy starter, eventually. But like you said, what's it going to take at this point to convince me he's back there? And there's been no progress that I've seen to this point in the season. Not that there always has to be gradual progress. Sometimes it just suddenly clicks back into place. but we are confined by roster limits and you can't roster everybody is what it ultimately comes down to

and it's in a league where only 80 pitchers are going to be rostered. It's becoming increasingly difficult to justify Sandy Alcantra being one of those pitches. You say there's nothing. I mean, he is, like, the velocity is there. I think the stuff is basically there. The problem, like we've seen for so many struggling pitchers this year, is just he can't locate at all. And you see it in the walk rate being way up, the strike rate being way down. It's been basically every start.

And again, it's not, there's no evidence of it getting better. So until we see that, and for more of that, just an off start. I think I'm ready to move on from Alcantra. Yeah, I mean, this is pure speculation. I don't know if he's, you know, going through anything at this point,

like physically or, you know, arm just hasn't been right. Coming back from Tommy John surgery, wouldn't be surprised if either we get an actual IL stint or a Phantom IL stint at some point just for him to take some time off, figure out what's going on, maybe, you know, work in the back.

fields, whatever he needs to do to try and get back on track here, because obviously, this was still considered a huge asset for the Marlins, and they wanted them to get off to a good start so that they could trade him later this season, and right now the trade value is nil. There's nothing for San Diego Consra. You mentioned that the stuff still looks pretty good, and so I know we don't mention stuff plus very much on this podcast, and there are reasons for that. I just feel like there are a few different stuff plus metrics right now. I still feel like we're kind of in the advent of of the stuff plus stat. Maybe I'm wrong about that,

but you go to different sources. There's different stuff plus metrics and they mean different things. So still just trying to learn more about it. But it's 108 the season for Sandy. It's 110 for his career. So you're right. The stuff is there.

His location plus is 94. For his career, it's 104. So his location is just completely off. So, yeah. All right, so you can go ahead and, you know, if he's your worst pitcher, obviously you're not starting him. Deeper leagues,

if you want to hold on, sure, but shallower formats, you can go ahead and let go of Sandy Alcansur, unfortunately. Did want to just mention Juan Soto. I know I've brought him up a little bit recently. I mean, he is going through it right now. He went hitless against the White Sox of all teams with that pitching staff. And there have been a lot of offers recently.

He last homered on May 9th, 16 games since. Juan Soto is hitting 119 with just one extra base hit, near 60% ground ball rate. Still hitting the ball hard during that time, Scott. But I have a new nickname for Juan Soto. We've gone through Wonsucco. Are you ready?

Sure. Juan Soto for four. Come on. All right. Come on. Lots of over's in there. There are a lot of overs in there. It's a nickname that will seem awfully strange

when he's being inducted into the Hall of Fame someday. with a batting average over 280 for his career. But fair enough, there are a lot of vote fors recently. I feel like there's this phenomenon that happens. And I understand, like, legitimately won so does batting average is lagging. Everything else is pretty okay, but the batting average is lagging. And so there are legitimate reasons to be frustrated, I guess, if you're a Mets fan. But I feel like, I feel like there.

something to a superstar player being too close to you, you know, getting, getting to see him too often when he starts playing for your team. You see him from a distance. You see the numbers. And you're like, wow, that guy's amazing. And then he starts playing for your team. You're seeing him every day. You're seeing not just the highlights, but the many more bad moments, because that's how baseball works. You know, even the very best hitters make out 70% of the time. And so when you start taking that in, it kind of, the player loses some of his luster, even if he ends up being just as great as always, like just the fact that he's so close to you

and you're seeing him so regularly and you're seeing all those bad moments with the good, it kind of diminishes him in your mind and you lose the appreciation for him. And I wonder if that's, a lot of times when we see a fan base frustrated with a big free agent signing, I wonder a lot of times if that's,

that partly explains it. I think also part of it is, you know, the market that he's in and, you know, I mean, I use this nickname in group chats, you know, just poking fun at Mets fans and stuff like that. Just, look, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't salty. I would love for him to still be on the Yankees. He's not. But, yeah, look, the fact that this has happened with other big Mets superstars as well, like Francisco Lindor had a bad first season.

Carlos Beltron had a bad first season. Like, you know, it's not unheard of. It's kind of sucks. obviously for fantasy. The expected stats still look awesome for whatever that's worth, but hopefully Juan So Tofer 4 does turn it around pretty soon. Before we take our first break,

just a reminder that you can listen to our 10-minute podcast, FBT Express, wherever you listen to this podcast. In fact, today we have our weekly prospect episode coming out. So make sure to listen to that. And big thanks to those watching us live. We did go a little bit later today, but we appreciate you being here. Make sure to hit that like button

and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today. News and notes and we got some big news out in San Francisco as the Giants manager Bob Melvin announced Camillo DeVall will take over as the team's closer moving forward. Ryan Walker is out. This season Camillo DeVall has a 116 ERA, a 0.73 whip.

Strikeouts are way down, but the swinging strike rate is actually still really good and obviously the results look great as well. you know, Ryan Walker has struggled so far, strikeouts, swinging strike rate, all way down for Ryan Walker this season. So, Camilla Deval, 55% rostered. Scott, is he a must add in category leagues? And where did you slot him in your relief pitcher rankings? I think Camilla Deval, you, Adam, everywhere where saves are worth anything.

I think this is the biggest single one-day change, at least for the better. the biggest single one-day change in a relief pitchers value all season. Maybe you could argue Luke Weaver has gained more value overall, but that was kind of a gradual increase because, you know, we were kind of one foot in, one foot out for a while since we didn't know how long Devin Williams would be out. But Camillo DeVall has been great this year, as you pointed out. He has a much longer history of success in this role than Ryan Walker even did.

Remember 39 saves for Camillo DeVall. in 2023. And I appreciate Bob Melvin. I mean, I would have rather him just reported this, just announced this the day he decided it, rather than a few days later. And only when a reporter asked him, hey, why'd you bring in Ryan Walker in the eighth inning?

But I do appreciate from Bob Melvin that there wasn't a lot of equivocation. He just said, yeah, we're going with Camilla DeVall as our closer now. And definitiveness of that statement, combined with Duval's past history in the role, leads me to believe this is a change that's going to stick and a change that doesn't leave a lot of room for worry or second guessing. And so I have Camilla DeVall, I think I am 16th among relievers in rotos scoring. but there are some reliever eligible starters mixed in there. I don't know exactly where he ranks him on closer. Borderline top 12, though, I would guess. What about Ryan Walker, Scott?

Would you drop him for a Daniel Palencia of the Cubs or Robert Garcia of the Rangers? I would drop him for either. I mean, if it's firm that Deval's the closer now and if I think he's going to stick, then Ryan Walker becomes, he's still a set-up man, so I guess he matters to the extent set-up men do, but he hasn't been the most effective among set-up man this year.

I think I'll eventually get it back. But I would say you value Ryan Walker about like you value Griffin Jacks at this point, which is to say not a lot. All right, the next big news is that Renel Blanco will undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery. That means he likely won't be back until the second half of next year. bad timing for him because he really turned it, you know, turned it around over the past month or so. So you can go ahead and drop Ronell Blanco in your redraft leagues. Cole Reagan's threw a bullpen on Wednesday and is expected to make a rehab start this weekend.

That means he won't be ready to return when first eligible on June 1st. But perhaps next week, if all goes well. Adley Ruchman was back in the lineup after missing a few games with a head injury. Luis Robert was out of the lineup due to knee soreness. Beau Bichette was out of the lineup due to lower back tightness, but then he came off the bench to smack a pinch hit, go-ahead, home run in the ninth inning of that game, so hopefully all as well. Christian Walker left after getting hit by a pitch on his right hand. X-rays came back negative. He's showing a little bit more pop recently as well. Stephen Kwan left Wednesday due to right wrist inflammation. Lane Thomas was out of the lineup due to plantar fasciitis in his right foot. Kyle Finnegan was available to pitch Wednesday after missing time with shoulder fatigue,

but that game was a blowout, so I do not think that he was needed. But good news for Kyle Finnegan. Seth Lugo is expected to return Friday against the Tigers. Christian Campbell will play first base during one game in their upcoming series against the Braves. And if it goes well, maybe we see more first base games moving forward. Yeah. So this is interesting. because I was originally looking forward to this move,

looking forward to Campbell shifting to first base because I thought it would clear a path for Marcelo Meyer at second base. Obviously, a path cleared for Marcelo Meyer elsewhere, the Alex Breggman injury, which is going to keep him out for a couple months. So Meyer's locked in at third now. So what is the incentive at this point to put Christian Campbell at first base? Is it to give David Hamilton more at bats? In the short term, maybe, but I don't think in the long run,

I would think whether the Red Sox are admitting it or even know it at this point, I would think this clears the path for Roman Anthony eventually by moving Ceylon Raphaela to second base. I've raised that possibility for that possible path for Anthony of Raphael moving to shortstop, but of course that would mean kicking Trevor Story out of the lineup and maybe the Red Sox can't envision world where they do that. But if there's just a gaping hole at second base, moving Raphaela there would be much easier to do. And I understand they would rather have Raphael's defense and center. that's why they went to Raphael Devers. There's a Raphael and a Raphael in this scenario.

That's why they went to Raphael Devers and said, would you move to first base? But when he turned them down, they're going to have to go the suboptimal route. But just keeping Roman Anthony in the minors all season is not tenable. And unless some outfielder gets injured, there's no way with Devers locked in at DH. There's no way to get them in the lineup.

So I think at some point, they're going to have to acknowledge, okay, we don't really want to have to move Raphaela to the end field, but we can't just let Anthony waste away at AAA. And so that's eventually going to be his route to the majors. Roman Anthony, by the way, top prospect in all of baseball, 48 games at AAA. He's hitting 320 with eight home runs, three steals, a 981 OPS.

Same amount of walks to strikeouts, 95.5 average exit velocity. So kind of looking. Looks like he's ready to go. So hopefully we can, it would be great if we can get Roman Anthony at some point in the month of June. Him and Jack Caglione, that would be pretty awesome to get a couple more prospects up in the Biggs.

Grayson Rodriguez has started throwing on a flat ground but remains without a timetable to return. Max Scher threw a 45 pitch bullpen on Monday and is expected to face hitters in live batting practice either Thursday or Friday. Tyler O'Neill resumed baseball activities and is expected to begin a rehab assignment. soon. Xavier Edwards will play in a couple of rehab games with AAA before rejoining the Marlins

quote very soon. The Pirates place Joey Bart on the seven-day concussion IL. Slade Cicone is scheduled to start Saturday against the Angels. Jose Cantana is preparing to come off the IL to start Sunday against the Phillies. The Mariners optioned Logan Evans back to AAA to make room for Jackson CoR who will pitch out of the bullpen for the Mariners and the raise agreed contract with Kyle Gibson, though they don't really have any openings in the rotation, so it seems like just a depth piece there in Tampa Bay. Let's get into some waiver-wire names from Wednesday's action, and a couple catchers here. Agostin Ramirez, as if we haven't talked about him enough, had a huge game,

four-for-five with his seventh home run for RBI, and he let off in this game against a left-handed pitcher. He's hitting 262. He's got seven home runs, 843 OPS in 31 games. 158% rostered. It just, it still seems low, Scott. For one catcher leagues out there, it feels like Augustine Ramirez should be rostered in every one catcher league.

But clearly, there are at least some that he's not. Yes, I agree. He's a top 12 catcher for me and has been pretty much since his first couple games in the majors. He did enter this game batting 203 over his last 15 game. So I suppose that's like just the recent production is what's holding people back in those last 40% of leagues from adding him. But I will note that he's still striking out less than 17% of the time during that 15 game stretch. The average exit velocity is still close to 91%. There's still a lot of great underlying data there.

and we saw it made manifest here in this four-hit game with the home run. So, yeah, I mean, catchers, every catcher who, you know, isn't an out-and-out stud at the position. Shoot, some of the out-out-studs at the position have had bad 15 game stretches where the production wasn't there. But when you see them come out of it like this, like Ramirez has, and when all the data points to a star caliber hitter, I think you just run with that. And that's what you should do with Ramirez. You say we've talked about him a lot.

We should keep talking about him until that roster rate gets up. Yeah, I agree. And the fact that he's a rookie catcher too, I mean, how often do we see rookie catchers come up? And there's so many other things to work on between, you know, working with pitching staffs and just, you know, being behind the plate. Although he does get a lot of games at DH as well,

but it still is impressive for him to be doing this as a rookie catcher so far. Sticking with catchers, Tyler Stevenson is coming alive. Three big games in a row. He had three hits here on Wednesday. He homered in each of his previous two games before that. 43% rostered.

Look, that number should be lower than Augustine Ramirez. That's fine. Some other catchers that are in a similar kind of range of roster percentage right now. Ryan Jeffers, Gabriel Moreno, Cabot Ruiz. I think I would take Stevenson over all those names, Scott, just based on what he did last year.

I think he can get back to that point. Yeah, it's not a huge margin, particularly with somebody like Gabriel Moreno. I think the production for those two will end up being similar, maybe Stevenson with a little more over-the-fence power and Moreno with better batting average on base skills. But I think they're both kind of,

like after the obvious must roster catchers of which I'm including Augustine Ramirez kind of once you get past that group the real high ceiling types that's where you get to the Tyler Stevenson's and Gabriel Moreno's of the world so that's like the 15 to 20 range of my catcher rankings so I can understand in one catcher leagues why it just you'd never get around to adding Tyler Stevenson but I think in a normal catcher year, he would probably be rostered even in those leagues. Mason Wynn continues to hit four for five with two doubles and three runs scored. He's got the batting average up to 278.

The problem here, I mean for category leagues, two steals, four caught stealing. Obviously, I was expecting more seals. I think we all were. It's still 84th percentile on sprint speed, but he's just been inefficient. So I wonder if he's gotten the red light a little bit here for Mason win. 63% rostered. We mentioned some other shortstop recently. Scott, Carlos Correa,

Marcelo Meyer on yesterday's podcast. Would you take Mason win over either of those? Marcelo Meyer, Carlos Correa. I mean, they're right in the same range. I think they're like consecutive, three spots consecutively in my shortstop rankings. So I do have Mason win at the top, followed by Meyer and then Correa.

But it's, you know, one good week from any of them. could change the order there. That's how close it is. I do think Wynn probably has the lowest ceiling of the three, particularly if he's not going to live up to his preseason goal of stealing a bunch of bases, just two so far. Okay, I think we can write off that possibility. But he's kind of, what is he?

He's kind of Dansby Swanson without the steals. No, that's too good. That's giving him too much credit. Would be it better. Maybe like Jeremy Pena without the steals Yeah but I still think He walks a little more than Pena

I think he can get to 15 steals still It's just he's not I don't think he's gonna get to like the 25 That maybe we thought he had the upside to get to But I think he could still go like 15 15 with a really good batting average I mean he could but he's shown no inclination to run Yeah Well how many steals did he have last year He had 11 and 150 games

Yeah that's That puts 15 in reach Yeah, I guess he could. The fact he's been caught four times probably isn't, you know, two-for-six success rate on Steele's probably isn't... I think Pena is a pretty good comp for him, though. Helping inspire confidence. I think Pena is pretty fair for Mason win.

Obviously, Pena has been better this year, but, you know, I guess the Pena of previous years for a Mason win. Gavin Sheeds continues his hot stretch, two-for-three with his 11th home run. Last seven games, he has five homers, 11 RBI, 51% rostered is Gavin Sheets. Does that number need to be higher? I know he's been playing a little bit more against lefties,

but he's not good against lefties. Do you think Gavin Sheets needs to be rostered in more than 51% of leagues? He was one of my biggest risers among outfielders in my latest rankings overhaul because of him playing more regularly now, started to get those at bats against left-handers, which I don't know, even if you're bad against left-handers, I understand it could pull down your batting average,

but it's going to help all the counting stats. It's going to mean you're in the lineup already when they bring a reliever in the game so they don't have to burn a bench bat by having you pinch hit. It just adds up in ways beyond just, oh, you're getting more, you're getting this big chunk of the bats against lefties now. It does a lot for a hitter. is what I'm trying to say.

And so I think it's always a positive. And I think, let's see, where does that actually put sheets in my rankings? Because we've talked about the depth that catcher. It puts him 71st. So I could understand how in three outfielder leagues, he's just too far down the rankings for you to mess with him at this point. But I do think there's the upside here, if some of those ahead of them like the Ryan O'Herns and the Jordan Bex of the world,

some that are kind of questionable in our mind, but deserve to rank ahead of Beck for now. I think he's more in their tier, even though he's a few spots behind them than not. All right. Let's talk about Colt Keith, who has quietly been solid in May, one for four with a double and two RBI.

So far in May, hitting 282, three homers, and an 860 OPS. 33% rostered. I don't think there's too much here, Scott, but I will just point out for next week. Seven games on the schedule for Colt, Keith, four against the White Sox, and it looks like all seven are against right-handed pitching, which, you know, in a deeper league, it could work for Cold Keith.

Yes, it could. I still don't see a lot of reason. You know, that's, we're talking about the hot maze having. He hit three home runs. He batted 282. I mean, if that's as hot as it's going to get, it's not, it's not really selling him in a lot of the underlying data. Certainly the exit velocity still look pretty gross for Colt Keith. So I don't see a lot here.

And given how deep all the infield positions except maybe third base feel right now, yeah, I just, it'd have to be a pretty deep league for me to bother. All right. Any interest in these deeper names? Otto Lopez in nine games since returning from the IL is hitting 273 with two homers and two steals. Caleb Durbin, last 10 games hitting 306 with three stolen bases. Andrew Benintendi had a big game three for five with his sixth home run

he is capable of getting hot we saw that in the second half of last year and Robert Hassel of the Nationals had his first big game three for five with his first career home run Scott any of those names stand out in deeper leagues I think Otto Lopez is the most useful

because he's shown an inclination to steal bases he has two and nine games since returning so it seems like that inclination is still there I don't think there's a lot to like with the bat. I think he's pretty low-end anyway you slice it, but I could see him being usable as a middle-in-field option in deeper rotisserie leagues.

These others were talking pretty deep for their usefulness. Robert Hassel, maybe there's some upside there, but that home run he hit today was just a second batted ball since reaching the majors, and he started every game, I believe. since reaching the majors. It was just his second batted ball of 100 miles per hour or more.

And he has yet to draw a walk. And he's striking out a bunch. Even in this game, he struck out a couple times. So I don't think Robert Hassel is, if there is some upside there, I don't think he's showing many early signs of delivering on it. All right, beat the waiver wire for these potential two-star pitchers. we mentioned Lance McCullors up top.

Two others here. Clayton Kirshaw, solid outing at the Guardians. Five innings, one run with three strikeouts. And it looks like he has two against the Mets and at the Cardinals next week. And then Luis Severino has turned in three straight quality starts. And it looks like he will get the twins and Orioles. So Scott, any interest in beating others

to the waiver wire for those potential two starters? Not a lot of interest. I don't think Clayton Kirchall is going to be among my streamer pitchers for next week. This was the first start that was a usable length. It was only his third start. So, you know, maybe I shouldn't be too harsh on that. But he went five innings. They're still, he was far from dominating, let's say.

He kind of just eeked it out for five innings. And then the two matchups next week, Mets and Cardinals, those are pretty tough. Severino's matchups, I like a lot more, twins and Orioles. And, yeah, three quality starts in. row. I know the last time I recommended Severino as a streamer pitcher. He got shelled. And part of that's just, that's how streamer pitchers go. But I don't really see talent-wise, a lot to like there with Severino. He just kind of throws enough strikes that he can work deep into games and turn in useful outings. So it's, it's a risky play without a ton of reward.

But for the extra volume in a points league, I could see how you might want to take advantage of the two-star week there. Yeah, the swinging strike rate is down to 7.4% for Severino this year. And both of those starts are home in Sacramento next week. And the ball's been kind of flying out there. So, yeah, that one is kind of on the fence there for Luis Severino. Other waiver wire pitchers, single starters for next week potentially, Noah Cameron, racked up another quality start. The Ks weren't there in this one, only two strikeouts.

That's now three of four starts where he's had three strikeouts or fewer. But I thought this was interesting, and someone said this to me on Twitter. I appreciate you when people send me stuff like this. Per Elias Sports, Noah Cameron is the second pitcher since 1893, with six and a third plus innings and one run or less in his first four MLB starts. So he's doing something good, something historic there for Noah. Cameron and Clark Schmidt turned in a solid outing at the Angel six shutout innings with four strikeouts, 13 whiffs on 99 pitches. I don't know, Scott, you tell me, maybe I'm doing the

homer thing. I think there's a little bit more there than meets the eye with Clark Schmidt. When I look at the individual pitch characteristics, they all look good. Like his three main pitches all get whiffs. So I'm kind of in, I'm kind of interested there. But talk to me about Clark Schmidt and Noah Cameron. No, I think there's definitely something to see there. with Clark Schmidt. I think my interest level in Will Warren has surpassed that. I agree. For Clark Schmidt, but last year, just last year, and I understand it was a small sample

because of injuries, but it was 16 starts, so basically a half-season sample. Clark Schmidt, 285, ERA, 118 whip 9.8K per 9. So good strikeout rate. His swinging strike rate this year is 12.5%. It hasn't added up to as good of a strikeout rate. But when there's a disparity between swinging strike rate and strikeout rate, I normally would anticipate the strikeout rate catching up to the swinging strike rate as opposed to the other way around.

That's normally how it goes. Sometimes like with Bailey Ober, they just stay apart. Bailey over, great swinging strike rate, not so great strike out. rate. But usually when there's a conflict there, the strikeout rate catches up to the swinging strike rate. And especially for Clark Schmidt, since we saw him with the 9.8K per 9 last year, I think that's likely to happen.

Again, as you pointed out, there are some individual, some of the individual pitches, several of them are capable of getting whiffs. He needs to be more efficient. He needs to throw more strikes. I would say is his biggest issue. but if we're talking about whether he needs to be rostered or not, I think he's right on the fringe. I'd probably be willing to drop Sandy Alcantara for Clark Schmidt at this point.

Yeah, I think that's fair. So he's right on the fringe there. Yeah. And then Noah Cameron, like, obviously he's done a good job limiting base runners and runs in general. He's 41% rostered. It looks like he lines up for the Cardinals next week, except what happens when both Seth Lugo and. Cole Reagan's are back in the rotation.

Lugo's back Friday. Reagan's maybe back next week, if there's no setbacks. That means one of Noah Cameron or Michael Lorenzen will probably have to get the boot. I mean, maybe Lorenzo's just a guy out, but I don't know. I don't know if Noah Cameron sticks around for the long haul. I don't know.

I mean, it's not the same front office, not the same decision makers, but if Logan Henderson couldn't stick around for all the returning I.L. pitchers than Noah Cameron shouldn't either, is my take. Really, they both probably should because what more do we need to see from Michael Lorenzo? But I would imagine Michael Lorenzen does stick in the rotation rather than shifting to the bullpen.

We'll see. I think I was most encouraged by Noah Cameron's previous start where he was actually showing the ability to miss bats because I just, I don't think. You can be kind of a below average strikeout pitcher, and it's rare, but you can be kind of a below average strikeout pitcher and still a good pitcher in the modern game. But you can't be somebody who's getting two, three strikeouts a start and sustain what Noah Cameron's doing. That's just not viable. So maybe he'll have enough efforts like that Twins outing last time out with the eight strikeouts that it balances out a little more. but I think this early in his career, given that the stuff, the raw stuff is unimpressive.

And there are just so many things working against Noah Cameron that the right response is to be skeptical. And I say that, as I say that, I am not saying there is no scenario by which I'd pick up Noah Cameron just in case. I am making the best call I can with the information I have available. But that call, because it's only so much information that's available, will only have a success rate so high. You know, like, I am willing to bet against myself sometimes if my roster construction allows for it. But if we're prioritizing pitcher pickups today,

I would put Noah Cameron behind, like, Clark Schmidt. And Lance McCullors? Definitely behind McCullors, yes. All right. Let's take our final break. and when we return, we'll do a little true or false right after this quick commercial break. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today.

Let's do a little true or false. First up, Zach Gallen continues to struggle even against the pirates. Six runs allowed, five earned in this one, only through 63% of his pitches for strikes, lots of hard contact. Scott, it's just been a mess of a season. Four plus earned runs in four straight.

Three plus walks and seven of 12 starts. it's a 554 ERA, it's a 140 whip. True or false, Zach Allen is a bench next week at the Braves. Oh, that's true. I was going to have a harder time if you said drop. Because I think. I don't think we're there yet, but. I don't think we're there yet either.

I was going to lean false. But, I mean, we're saying that with Sandy Alcantra. And I understand he's coming off a major injury. and he pitches for a much worse team. But we're talking about two pitchers who for most of their career, we thought of them as Ace Calibur or something close to it for fantasy and just offering very little this year. I was trying to look back because the main problem with Zach Allen,

it is kind of the same as Sandy Alcantara. The stuff looks pretty normal. He's just not locating well at all. The strike rate is only 60%. the walk rate is way high and it doesn't to a certain degree it doesn't matter

how good the stuff is if you're going to locate that poorly. I think that's kind of the lesson for pitching this season. And so I was going to go back and look how long that was going on for Michael King early last year

because remember Michael King got off to that kind of start and looked like a complete bust in his full-time move to the rotation and he was being dropped in a certain number of leagues and then he very suddenly turned things around and was basically an ace from that point forward was regarded as an ace coming into

this season. So I'm looking at it. It was about, it was about early May, mid-May. By May 15th, Michael King still had a 431 ERA, but yeah. I mean, if you go back to like the end of April, it'll probably look even worse. Yeah. So it had already, the turnaround had already started for King by this point, which isn't to say it has to happen by now to happen.

It could happen at any point. I just was trying to give, if people were looking for a reason to hold on to Zach Allen, who of course has a long history of being a borderline ace and fantasy, that might be reason enough. But if you need a more reason than that,

you just need to, a reason to believe it's at all possible, a pitcher could turn things around that quickly. Michael King's 2024 is an example of that. Let's talk about Jacob Wilson, who continues his breakout season, two for three with his seventh home run, and he's having a huge May. 387, four homers, three steals, 1043 OPS. True or false, Jacob Wilson is a top 15 shortstop rest of season. I've moved him into my top 15, yep, before this game even.

So I am buying it. I understand 15 may not sound that impressive, but it's hard to get into the top 15 as shortstop. That means you're overtaking, well, Willie Adamas, for one, I've dropped Willie Adomis behind Jacob Wilson, Matt McLean, Jackson Holiday, Anthony Volpe. That moves them ahead of some pretty big names coming into the year. And 13, actually, is where I have Jacob Wilson, just behind Dansby Swanson.

So I am in, and to go a little deeper on it, seventh home run. We're about one third of the way through the season and Jacob Wilson just hit his seventh home run. That puts him on about a 21 homer pace, which if you had told me Jacob Wilson's going to be a 20 homer guy, I wouldn't have had many doubts about him at all. I just didn't see how with his bottom of the barrel exit velocity readings,

11th percentile average exit velocity, and with his poor pull air rate. You know, we've seen somebody like Esauk Parades overcome those bottom of the barrel, eggs of velocity readings with an insane pull air rate. But Jacob Wilson, other end of the spectrum, he doesn't pull many balls in the air, and yet it's amounted to a decent amount of home run power.

And I don't really understand it, but I look at his minor league track record. I look at this spring, and he was doing the same thing then. hitting home runs at a decent clip. So I don't know everything, but like when the entire history, as short as it is,

points to Jacob Wilson having the ability to do this in spite of all the data, I'm inclined to at least see it as a credible scenario, you know? And he's doing it again, and obviously the batting average, you know, he hardly ever strikes out and the line drives are great.

Part of the reason the batting average is so high is because he hits the ball the other way. There are some good things that come with that. And yeah, I think he's a must start regardless of format. All right. Next up, we have George Kirby. Two rough outings since coming off the IEL. He gave up six earned runs against the Nationals,

eight hard hits in this one. You know, just a second start bag, dealing with a shoulder injury. So I guess it makes sense. But true or false, George Kirby, you got to bench him until we see more. And that's even with two starts next week. Isn't that always the way?

Yep. Isn't that always the way? One is against the Angels, too, which is such a good matchup. Yeah, I don't really know what's wrong with Kirby. He's thrown enough strikes. The velocities look fine. It's the finer points, clearly.

And remember, we talked after his previous start, he threw a ton of sinkers and hardly any four seamers, which is odd because of four seamers is best pitch. there's been a classification correction since then that's that wasn't actually his pitch selection in his first start it was a little closer to normal and it was definitely normal in this start so you can't even blame kirby's struggles on that i don't know what's going on with him um and so in a perfect world yeah you would sit him because he lines up for two starts i don't see myself doing that in a points league you know where you can tolerate the ugly starts a little better i'd I'm probably going to have to start Kirby there unless I just have an awesome pitching staff. But in categories, leagues, yeah, I'd probably play it safer.

So true or false? Somewhere in the middle. I don't know for George Kirby there. The breakout continues for James Wood. He hit his home run off of George Kirby, two for four with a sock and a shoe. His 15th home run, his eighth stolen base. Entering today, he was the 12th overall player

in Roto, the 12th best hitter. in head-to-head points. True or false, if we were redrafting today, James Wood would be a first round pick. Hmm. I've been tempted to write the, if we were redrafting today,

this is what the first two rounds would look like article. I'm always a little wary of doing that too much because it's not actionable content, but I do think people enjoy reading it. I enjoy riding it. And it's just kind of fun content. So I, you know, I've done it quarterly at times. That ship is sailed.

I'll definitely do one mid-season. So it's something I haven't had a chance to think about is the point. But I have him 10th in my outfield rankings. And there are 12 picks in round one. So just by virtue of that, I would have to say false. but I have moved James Wood rest of season ahead of Jackson Churio and Jaron Duran and Jackson Merrill

obviously I think he's firmly a second rounder All right, yeah I mean I think he's kind of like on that fringe You know the way I mean he's just so young too And the fact that he's doing this it's uh It's been a huge season so far for James Wood Let's talk about Mark Viantos who went one for five

With his sixth home run He's still 91% roster. He's only batting 2.35. It's a 690 OPS. True or false, Viantos can be dropped in head-to-head-sized leagues. So one third base, no corner. I think that's true, especially since the verb choices can. I don't think it's a must.

And I think it kind of depends on what your third base alternatives are. Because third base is the one position, the one infield position, where even in a shallow league like that, there may not be enough to go around, particularly if Michael Garcia's tied up at second base or outfield for somebody. And we just lost Alex Bregman, obviously. Royce Lewis don't know what to expect from him. Jake Berger even, not really a points league guy.

So I can see how you look at your options and you're just like, yeah, I'm better off sticking with Viantos. But he's losing playing time. He hasn't been that good. He was one of my bus picks coming into the season. So I don't know. I guess that builds in some skepticism with everything else going on. If I was in a points league specifically and I had Vientos and he just wasn't doing anything

for me and Matt Shaw was still out there, who I think is particularly suited to points leagues because of the low strikeout rate. I might make that change. I know I rank Viantos ahead rest of season, but you have to, you have to weigh. short term against long term when you're making your roster moves and Viantos is doing nothing for you in the short term and I'm not super convinced

you well in the long term. One player that I moved ahead of him is Josh Young and I just looked on Yahoo Leagues. Josh Young is less rostered than Vientos. I would make that swap. I mean that's the case on CBS too but I think Josh Young is too rostered now.

I think he's up like over 80% or something like that but yeah I would be okay with a swap like that. You say Josh young. I know his name is young, but I was having trouble picturing who that is. I'm like, is that the Nationals outfield or Josh Young? But of course, it's J-U-N-G-Young. I, like, I still think of him as Josh Jung in my head, and then I just translated as it's coming out of my mouth, you know? Yeah. Now, he's been really good, Josh Young, and the expected stats look pretty good for him, too, and he's finally healthy, so I would be all right with that one. What do we do with Jackson,

He was up against the Giants here, four and two-thirds innings, three runs, three walks, four strikeouts, eight hard hits allowed. It's, you know, he looked better recently, but then, you know, not a great start here. It's just still a 149 whip and lots of walks here. True or false, Jackson Job can be dropped, even in head-to-head points leagues where he is RP eligible. Yeah, true. That's been true for weeks as far as I'm concerned. He's been outside of my top 100, I think, starting pitchers for a while now. And I don't know what his future holds.

Obviously, if you haven't been in a dynasty league, you just keep your fingers crossed, I guess. I don't know if somebody's still bullish on him. I don't know that I'd be opposed to trading him, to be honest, if I felt like I could get 80% value for him. I just don't see much reason to be encouraged. And I wonder, I kind of wonder what all. the hype was about to be perfectly honest. I mean, I had some doubts coming in, but yeah, it's, I don't know. It's been a huge disappointment.

And the Tigers have had a few of those over the years with pitchers in particular. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, looking at his pitch makes the slider looks pretty good. The change-up looks awesome for Jackson Job here. But the fastball and sinker just both get crushed. And again, his inability to throw strikes this season, he's just been really, really inefficient. So look, he's still super young. Not going to completely write him off.

Maybe he figures it out at some point, but hasn't figured it out so far. Last two, Scott, I'm going to give you a little bit of a tag team here. Brendan Donovan, three for five with his fourth home run. He's quietly hitting 335 with an 876 OPS. And then Brandon Lau, big riser for me in the rankings, one for four with his 11th home run, having a huge May here. So a two for Brendan Donovan, top 12 second baseman. And Brandon Lau is back.

True or false to both of those. Brandon Lau is back. And Brendan Donovan, what was that one? Top 12 second baseman. Top 12. That means less than second base. If he position, you know, second base. Means less than it does at other positions.

Why do I have him behind? I guess that's just in Roto. So I think Brendan Donovan is easily a top 12 second basement in points leagues. That's this better format. Roto I have them 14th because so much is dependent on the batting average and it's it's that is the hardest category to when you see kind of an out of character number there it's it's the hardest to believe it's going to sustain batting average it's it's it tends to normalize the most of anything for what it's worth

XBA is also great this season. It's like 3.28 or something like that. That is only worth so much. It means he's earned what he's gotten so far. It doesn't mean he's going to keep doing it. So I have him 14th in Roe. He's just outside at Rodo. I want to say true for this, but it may be just slightly false,

but not by enough to matter, if that makes sense. All right. What about Brandon Loud? Is he back? Is he back? Yeah, I don't think he was ever gone. His April was so poor. Yeah, but that's kind of how it goes for Brandon Lowe, you know?

And you just, that's part of the reason why, even though the final numbers are there, nobody wants anything to do with them on draft day. Yep. All right, I lied. There's one more true or false. Scott is going to Chicago this weekend to watch Pete Crow Armstrong in person. I am going to Chicago this weekend. I am going to watch Pete Crow Armstrong in person.

Is that the reason I'm going to Chicago, or is it just coincidental? I'll just say true. Yeah, I'm going to watch Pete Crow Armstrong. All right, I expect by the time you are here podcasting next week, you'll be donning a new Cubs Pete Crow Armstrong player shirt, Scott. So we're all rooting for it to happen. All right, let's get it.

Let's wrap up with some leftovers here on the pitching side. Shut down the D-back, six and two-thirds shutout with seven strikeouts. Hunter Green, just okay at the Royals, five innings, two runs, three strikeouts. Tyler Malley, another strong start up against the Blue Jays, six shutout with five strikeouts for him, did have 13 whiffs in this one. Drew Rasmussen makes it three quality starts in a row. And Matthew Boyd, a great start up against the Rockies, six innings, one unearned run, eight strikeouts, and he has just been rock solid across the board. that is Matthew Boyd. Anything else to add on him,

Rasmussen, Tyler Malley, Hunter Green, and Paul Skeens. Hunter Green hasn't looked quite as dominant since returning, but I'm not actually worried about it. I don't see any underlying concerns there. So I will just write it off for now. Matthew Boyd has been very impressive in May in particular,

and I feel kind of bad about this one because it was one of those players everybody was pushing me. me to like more in April when he was keeping runs off the board, but in a way that didn't seem sustainable to me. So I don't think I was wrong necessarily to assess him the way I did, especially in light of Matthew Boyd's track record. I mean, he's been around for a long time and has rarely mattered in fantasy. But everything I was worried about in April, the high walk rate, the lack of whiffs, the hard contact, it's all gotten better in May. In fact, Matthew Boyd has eight strikes

strikeouts in six innings exactly eight strikeouts in six innings and three of his last four starts so that's a pretty good fantasy pitcher i don't know if he'll hold up but use them until you're not worth using anymore i think that's the fair approach at this point for boyd and um you know rass musson has three six innings starts in a row he had none before then so he seems to be trending the right direction i remain skeptical of mallee i think he's the biggest sell high at starting pitcher but if you can't get a good offer for him, use them until he's not worth using anymore. All right, on the hitting side of things,

Elliot Ramos continues his strong season, three for five with his 10th home run. Junior Caminero. He's picking things back up a little bit. Last six games, he's got nine hits, two home runs, five runs, and six RBI. O'Neill Cruz, providing power and speed this season, hit his 12th home run, and three RBI.

The last thing we need is just to get that back. adding average up. Zander Bogartz quietly has been running a bunch. He has seven steals in May. He's up to 11 on the season. And Matt Shaw, who we talked about earlier, is also running wild since returning to the Cubs. Nine games since being back, hitting 382 with five doubles, five steals, and a 961 Ops. It's got anything on Shaw, Bogarts, O'Neill Cruz, Camerro, and Elliot Ramos. Well, Kamenaro. Our old friend, friend Ryan Bass, who you don't remember, Frank. It was before your time.

But Ryan Bass is now a sideline reporter for the Rays. I don't know if that's what they call them. He's a reporter for the raise, the one who appears on broadcast. And he had a tweet a few days ago saying that Junior Cominero reconnected with his old hitting coach from the Dominican Republic. And they've worked on raising his hands because lowering his hands. because lowering his hands has gotten him in trouble in the past. And about the time, according to the tweet here from Ryan Bass,

this work he's put in with his old hitting coach, Cominero, has it's coincided with this turnaround. So hopefully he's got things figured out, and there's no doubting the talent. I think given the state of third base, you have every reason to stick with them, especially now that he's heating up again. And I think, well,

the song says over the fence that makes 35. He's on pace for about 30. He can still get there. He can still get to 35, Junior Cominero. Hey, the weather is just heating up. You know, let's get a couple of those games in Tampa Bay before it starts raining. And who knows?

Maybe we get a big rest of season here from Junior Camerro. Call to the... Go ahead. Can I look up, unless you have it here, Matt Shaw's average exit velocity since returning? I didn't think to check that before the show,

but now I'm curious. I have everything there except for that. Except for what good are you? Let's see. I don't know. I'll pick May 12th. So since May 12th, 84.5 average exit velocity.

Not great. It got better. It definitely got better as he picked things up at, at AAA. It's gotten a lot of doubles since returning, but yeah, that's not a good number. Small sample, but yeah, I don't know. I'm hoping for the best for Matt Shaw.

And he's been productive enough since returning that I think you can use him again, but it's not a final verdict, clearly. All right, let's get into the call to the bullpen. And for the Dodgers, Tanner Scott entered with two outs in the seventh inning, a runner on first, and he struck out Gabriel Arias. He then stood out there for the eighth,

and he was charged with four earned runs, took his fifth blown save, and the ERA is up to 462. I know he's been a little shaky recently. They're just paying him so much money, and everybody else in the Dodgers bullpen is hurt, so I just can't see anything really changing there for them. I don't know how everybody's hurt.

Like, all the high-priced relievers with clothes, experience. They had like five of them. And now four of them are hurt. Everybody except Scott. Yeah. They're still not reserving Scott for the ninth inning. I don't know what's going to happen the next time they have a save chance and they've already used Scott. I guess Alex Vescia is the only one that really makes sense. I know Ben Kasparius has looked really good.

So maybe. Yeah, he's been like a multi-inning guy. I don't, I don't, I'm not saying he's never going to get a save because it's the Dodgers bullpen, but I, yeah. I don't think they'd suddenly. turn him into a one-inning leverage guy. Yeah, I don't know. It's been frustrating for Scott for multiple reasons, but you know what?

We kind of said that's how it'd go with him coming into the year. So that's the way the cookie grumbles. All right, for the Guardians, Emmanuel Clause, struck out one for his 11th save. For the Tigers, Will Vest was unavailable. Tommy Canley pitched the final two innings for his seventh save. For the Astros, Josh Hader, picked up his 14th. For the Marlins, I mean, not that it really matters.

matters. Like we just, we're never going to figure this out. It's fine. Somebody named Ronnie Enriquez got a safe for them last week. He pitched in the seventh and eighth innings. And then Calvin Foshae picked up his third save of the season. And he's got the stuff. Ronnie Enriquez, he's got the K rate. He's got the stuff. He makes the most sense, honestly, to be Marlins closer. And so I got a little excited about that save because I wasn't even considering them before because they hadn't shown an inclination to use them. But then they did.

He got a save. The other Foshea and Anthony Bender set up for him. So it's like, okay, maybe Clayton McCullough is coming around. And Ronnie Enriquez is going to be his guy. And then, of course, the very next time out, he pitches. The seventh and the eighth, Foshae, who hasn't gotten a save since, like, April 8th. I'm just, I know it's been a long time. I don't know exactly what the date is.

suddenly he gets a save you like he's you know what he's he's he's trolling us Clayton McCullough is trolling us he's if he can't get the Marlins to the playoffs at least he can make fantasy baseballers tear out their hair that's that's the whole game for him I think and you know what good on him you know you got you got to have some reason to get up in the morning for the cardinals Ryan Helsley picked up his 12th save for the Royals Carlos Estevez picked up his 15th. For the Cubs, Daniel Polencia picked up his fourth save and just kind of looks like the guy for now, 38% rostered.

So if you need saves, he's still out there in many leagues. For the Rangers, Luke Jackson pitched in the seventh inning with the game tied. Then it was the lefty Hobie Milner who got the final out of the inning. Robert Garcia came in in the eighth to face the heart of the Blue Jays lineup with the game tied. And then it was Jacob Webb who entered in the ninth inning with the game tied, and he gave up that two-run Homer to Bo Bichette. I still kind of feel like it's Robert Garcia. He got the big spot here, but it seems pretty fluid right now for the Rangers as well. For the Blue Jays, Jeff Hoffman picked up his 12th save. And for the Yankees, Luke Weaver and Devin Williams were unavailable.

Mark Leiter Jr. struck out two for his second save of the season. I want to go back just a minute to Palencia for the Cubs, he has looked fantastic as the Closler. Like he brings a lot of emotion to that role, which isn't everything. Like too much can be made of that, but it's not nothing either. And he was pumping in like 101 mile per hour fastballs. Like he seems to relish it. And I'm starting to think he's just the guy now there, regardless of Porter Hodge coming back or anything Ryan Presley is doing.

I'm starting to buy into Daniel Polencia more as a long-term answer for the Cubs. I don't know, maybe they acquire somebody else at the deadline, but Palencia might just be good enough. And you know what, Scott? You might get to see him this weekend as well. I might. I might. To stream or not to stream on Thursday, we now have five games on the schedule because there's a double header, but it doesn't really matter.

Jacob Lopez of the athletics, actually coming off a great stuff. He's at the Blue Jays, Ryan Gusto against the Rays, Emerson Hancock against the Nationals. I think that's a stay away for Thursday. Jacob Lopez is kind of interesting. Yeah. But, man, outside of an AL only league, I can't imagine actually having them in my lineup right now. And then on Friday. Yes, on Friday we have Zebby Matthews at the Mariners, Kyle Harrison at the Marlins.

Jose Soriano at the Guardians, Jeffrey Springs at the Blue Jays. Realistically, you have the best chance of getting a fantasy relevant result from Jeffrey Springs, I think. Isn't to say it's without risk, but he's the most likely of those with a good matchup and who's had some success recently to give you a quality. start to go six innings specifically. I don't think Kyle Harrison is going to. I don't think Zebby Matthews is going to. I like their stuff more than Springs. And particularly Harrison at Miami,

I'd like to take advantage of that matchup. But realistically, you're probably not getting six innings. So if that matters to you, it's hard to get behind him. All right, Scott, well, enjoy the weekend. Well deserved, report back. We'll be looking forward to hearing about the trip. But we are going to wrap there.

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