Fantasy Baseball Today - Tyler Glasnow Dominates & Shallow League Waiver Wire Hitters! (9/9 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 9, 2025

Tyler Glasnow tossed seven no-hit innings against the Rockies (3:09)! ... Dylan Crews had a big game on Monday night (7:31). ... Royce Lewis is heating up (13:37). ... News (20:24): Trea Turner and Alec Bohm both went on the IL. ... Garrett Crochet is having a Cy Young caliber season (31:15). ... Luis Garcia Jr. and Kyle Manzardo stayed hot (32:44). ... How did the first start go for these two-start pitchers (38:19)? ... We got surprisingly good starts from these pitchers (49:51). ... Which pitcher will be drafted higher in 2026 (52:45)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (1:03:19). 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/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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. What's up and welcome in to Fancy Baseball today on Tuesday. September 9th.

I am Frank Stample, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers today on the show. Tyler Glass now just tore the Rockies apart. Shallow League waiver wire hitters who are picking things up. Royce Lewis coming around. And we'll have some way too early this or that for next season. I have some starting pitchers that I want to pit up against each other and, you know, get some early predictions, see what's going on. Let's jump in.

In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened. All right, players of the night, Chris, I know you love yourself. a nice olive garden breadstick hot out of the basket and you get tyler glass now yeah and i wanted to take tyler glass now because i think i said don't start him yesterday uh based on not knowing when he was going to make his start and the uncertainty around how healthy he was and blah blah blah what a dummy his Tyler glass now had arguably his best start of the season seven no hit innings 11 strikeouts one earn run There was a very fun subplot to this game, if you guys were watching, where the Dodgers were, I think, in the fifth or sixth inning, trailing while Tyler Glassnow also had a no-hitter going, which is very funny. He was dominant.

Ten whiffs on the curveball, far on the slider, 34% CSW rate. It was a really impressive start for Tyler Glassnow. And I hope you didn't listen to the dummy who said don't start him on yesterday's podcast. Me, if you guys said that, I'm not calling you guys dummies, to be clear. It was just me. I'm only qualified to call myself that. I didn't resist. You kind of, I think if Frank had gone to me, I would have reflexively said, ah, it's Tyler Glass.

Now, of course you started. You made the case, and I was like, I guess. For me, it was, I guess. If I was certain he was going to start, I probably would have said that. It was just, I didn't, I didn't know he was going to start today. I mean, I think maybe the lesson for everybody is, I wish I had a way of saying this that was more convincing because I feel like when I say it, it's unconvincing. But this most critical time of the year is when you should lean all the more on your studs. Like you should, I think there's this tendency to, oh, I got to try harder in order to win this championship.

So I got a deep deeper. I got to get more clever in my plays. But no, you should probably just leave it in the hands of your studs. I mean, you drafted Tyler Glass now knowing he was going to be in. out of the rotation with various ailments. And so when he's available, you just start him. He's a top-for-starring pitch. It might be a four-inning start.

Joe Schmo, who you pick up off the waiver wire, might give you a four-inning start, too. I believe his name is pronounced Ryan Berger. Ooh. Too soon, Chris. Hopefully you're going to pick up him. So that's my take and why I think it's fine to start say is Suzuki, even though he's had a couple, four, five bad weeks, however long it's been. Yeah, it goes back to what Chris was saying yesterday about, you know, just trusting in those

stud players, guys that have that track record. And when Glass now is on the mound, you know, we've said it once, we've said it a million times. Ten starts since returning back in July. He has a 281 ERA, a 0.95 whip, 69 strikeouts over 57 and two-thirds innings. So, once again, just proving when he's healthy, he is one of the. 10, 15 best starting pitchers in all of baseball. It's just he has 75 innings thrown this season

and has not eclipsed 134 in his career. So I don't think we should expect that heading into next year either. But yeah, when he's on the mound, he's capable of doing this. And some people might say, well, he was facing the Rockies and they were on the road in L.A. Other teams face the Rockies. Other teams face the Rockies on the road. And they don't do this.

You know, they don't. I just, I don't even, like, that's one of those things that I I don't even know what the point of saying, like, it would be one thing if like, if Emmett Sheehan goes out tomorrow and strikes out 12 over six innings. And you want to say, yeah, it's just the Rockies. You know what? Okay. That's fair. Tyler Glassnow's been doing this for like eight years.

Like, he has been a must start ace since the moment he left the Pirates organization, basically. And to be fair, I haven't seen anybody say that yet, but I'm sure there's somewhere. Somebody somewhere is saying, ah, but man, those Rocky stink. But anyway, Tyler Glass now is really good. Please stay on the mound for the rest of the season. That would be great. Scott, let's go over to you for your player of the night. All right, I'm going to go with a player who has not been very good,

but was very good here on Monday. And that is Dylan Cruz. Finally, Dylan Cruz does something. Does a lot of something. He goes three for five with a home run, a no-doubt-home run, drove in four runs. and maybe this is the start of it. Like,

I don't think any of us have given up on Dylan Cruz as a talent. This has been kind of a lost season because he missed two months with an oblique injury. And so it would be nice if he showed us something here the final three weeks of the season that gave us confidence in drafting him and investing in that upside next year. One game, obviously, is not enough.

but it has to start somewhere. And I am actually in the process of putting together a list of players who could potentially be available in your league for the final two weeks of the season. So we just started the third to last week of the season. Not looking at that. Just looking at the final two weeks of the season, which potentially either one of those could be your league's championship game. and some players who might be available and happen to have good matchups. And the Nationals are a team with very good matchups, the final two weeks of the season for hitters specifically.

And depending how the rest of this week goes, maybe Dylan Cruz will be a prime pickup. So still hopeful for the upside and like the matchups to close out the season. So maybe he'll finally get some momentum here. Dylan Cruz 61% rostered and I do have a section for shallow league outfielders later on. So I don't know if you've looked into all these matchups yet or not, Scott, or you have any idea. But if we put Dylan Cruz in the same bucket as T.J. Friedel, who just had himself a nice game, a sock in a shoe, Jung Hu Lee, who went three for four with his eighth homer and is hitting 315 in the second half.

And Austin Hayes, who just hit another homer and over his last 23 games has five home runs and 20 RBI has much better as of late, where would Cruz fall among that group? So Cruz, Hayes, Jung Hu Lee, and T.J. Friedel. Well, correct me if I'm wrong, I think Cruz is the most available. Austin Hayes is only 41%

rostered. So when he was slumping, everybody dropped him. Okay. Yeah, maybe I need to get him on the list then just because of that availability. So the giant... Oh, go ahead. Of those teams, the Nationals and Giants have the best matchups. The Reds

matchups aren't bad, though. They're pretty good rest of season. I'm not that interested in Friedel because he has been since the first two months of the season he's basically been nothing. This steal was just his third since the end of May

and his home run was only his third in the second half, but you really need steals from Friedel more than anything. So I'm just not that interested in Friedel. Hayes has been very hot so I could see probably, yeah, I mean with outgoing overboard emphasizing the matchups, I would

put Hayes at the top of the list. Cruz has more upside than Lee, but Lee is a better downside play. I'm not going to have him in the article, but I would say probably for points leagues, I would go Lee over Cruz

for categories. I'd go Cruz over Lee. But it kind of depends how the rest of this week goes for Cruz up, honestly. You want to hear a crazy Austin Hayes stat. Sure. stats, I guess. For the season, his 155 game pace right now.

His 25 homers, 94 runs, 108 RBI, and 10 steals with a 265 batting average. Pretty good. Isn't that like stunning? Because he was awesome the first like month and a half, then he got hurt.

He has like a 700 OPS since coming back from the IL at the end of June. But even in that run, since coming off the IL in late June, where he has a 700 OPS, He's on an 86 run 103 RBI pace. He's just been super productive despite not being all that good, which is kind of the case for what we liked about Austin Hayes coming into the season,

that he's not like a great hitter, but with the park upgrade, playing in a pretty good lineup. I think the Reds are middle of the road in terms of run scored. He could be very productive, and that's what we've seen so far. So I don't really know what to make of that. You say very, very productive despite not being good. You mean not being good as in not having like a lot of raw talent? Just yeah, not like for a guy who is on a 200 combined run and RBI pace. Like I don't know how many guys are on that kind of pace, but it's probably not more than, I don't know, 20, I would guess.

I would guess Austin Hayes is the worst of that group. Yeah, he has a hitter. Just a 785 OPS on the season. Yeah, which that is about what I would expect from Austin Hayes moving forward if he stays in Cincinnati. But he might be a better fantasy option than most 780 OPS guys just because, you know, that productivity in the run production is very impressive. Yeah, and I think way back when, back in spring training, part of the reason why we all liked Austin Hayes is we started to get some inclination that he was going to back cleanup in this Reds lineup. And that's where he's consistently hit. You know, maybe when he was slumping, he was a little bit lower.

But I just checked, and he's been hitting fourth or fifth consistently for them. And that's probably why the runs in RBI are as good as they have been for Austin Hayes this season. So nice little year here for Austin Hayes when he has played. Want to talk about Royce Lewis here, who went two for five with a double. Dong, four RBI, and over his last 20 games, he's hitting 273, seven homers, six steals, an OPS around 850, lots of fly balls, putting the ball in the air. The average eggs of velocity, not great, 87.3 miles per hour, but the max EV is there. Again, he's kind of maximizing the power by putting the ball in the air as much as he is.

And, you know, we've seen him get hot in the past. You know, it's been a while since we've seen that version of Royce Lewis, but we know that there's talent here when he's healthy, when he's going right. And maybe he's just getting hot and getting right at the right time here in September. So do you guys think Royce Lewis kind of fits that bill of players we were just talking about, kind of shallow league hitters who can maybe you can pick up and kind of carry you down the stretch? Yeah, maybe. It helps that he plays a position that a lot of people need. I would rather have Max Muncie than him. Yeah, I agree with that.

The twins matchups, so they've got the Yankees rotation to begin the second to last week of the season. They end against the Phillies rotation. So, like, they could be better. So I think if you're just looking for a general hitter to pick up irrespective of position, I don't know that Lewis would rank high for me, especially, you know, it's not like he's been hot for a long time. And this is a recent thing in the Two Homer game is kind of the first display of power during it. So he has been running a lot lately, which is weird.

Six stolen bases. He had like two in his career before this stretch, I think, something like that. This is, we do now, you know, with Royce Lewis have, it's not quite a full two-season sample size. It's about 250 career games. And he's settled in. in overall. I know it's been a bumpy ride for sure. He's settled in right around a 255 average and a 775 OPS. That's probably what you should expect from Royce Lewis moving forward. So he's also he's Austin Hayes. Sure. I mean, I was going to point out like the 162 game pace for Royce Lewis in

his career is 29 homers 98 RBI 76 runs, nine steals and a 256 batting average. if that's who he is as a player, that's a really useful player. It's not the superstar we thought Royce Lewis could be, and obviously his injury history makes it tough to even project 100 games. He may get there. He needs to play in 12 more games to get to 100 for the first time in his MLB career. But that's a pretty useful player, probably a top 12th third baseman for next season, right? probably on that fringe, I think.

Yeah, in the discussion at the very least. Maybe he's more like in the 15-ish range, something like that. Yeah, I think probably closer to 15. Like, I think Royce Lewis versus Colson Montgomery will be an interesting argument. I think I'd lean Lewis, but then I think I'd have Lewis behind like Matt Chapman. Yeah, I think that's, I think that's,

I think that Chapman is very similar to Royce Lewis for fantasy. He's finishing very strong, by the way, Chapman. 13, 14, 15, am I right? He's Chapman, Lewis. God, who's 12? Is Montgomery going to even be third base? I think so. Okay.

He's played more at, we, he's played more at shortstop. We did this the other day, and I can't, I just cannot remember. Now he might not be. He's only made 12. He's played 42 games of shortstop, only 12 at, yeah. He might not be, so. For the rest of this season, would you take Royce Lewis over all of Lenin Sosa, Matt Shaw, Addison Barger? Yes.

I think so, too. What about the aforementioned Colson Montgomery just for this year? I do like the White Sox matchups more. So we keep saying it's got to slow down for Coles of Montgomery eventually, but then I'm kind of tempted to recommend him because of the matchups. I'll give Montgomery the edge, yeah. Last name, Jorge Polanco, who's been hitting well also. I love Paul. I think Polanco, he has some of the best matchups, actually, to close out the season.

His final series is against the Dodgers, and it's hard to tell if those are good matchups or bad matchups for hitters because it's hard to plot out their rotation that far. but yeah, I think just the way Polanco is going right now and the fact he's playing every day again, I think he's one of the better players to stash for the stretch run or use. All right, before we hit our first break, just a big thanks to those watching live. Make sure to hit that like button and subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already.

Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today. Let's run through the news and notes, and the Phillies lost a few bats. of the IEL here on Monday, well Tuesday now. Trey Turner with a grade one right hamstring train. The Phillies hope that he'll be ready for the postseason. So in leagues where you don't have IEL spots,

I think you're probably all right to go ahead and drop Trey Turner. And Alec Bohm has a cyst in his shoulder. He's only expected to miss the minimum 10 days. Yesterday, we mentioned some possible Tray Turner replacements, but we will mention them once again. I think two names in shallow leagues, Colson Montgomery once again, Otto Lopez, who had a stolen base here on Monday

and a two-homer game on Sunday. I think some names in medium-sized leagues, Jeremiah Jackson, who's been hitting very well for the Orioles, J.P. Crawford, who has those really good matchups for the Mariners, and Jordan Lawler, even though, you know, the playing time is still kind of a little iffy here for Jordan Waller. And it's not like he's been performing that well. True.

No. And then... He's been performing very, very poorly. Some names in deeper leagues. I have Jared Triolo, Hassan Kim, and Blaze Alexander. So anything you'd like to add, perhaps anybody I missed, shortstop placements for Turner. Honestly, I think other than the top two you mentioned, the shallow league replacements, Colson Montgomery and Otto Lopez, I think Hassan Kim might be my favorite of all these names you rattled off.

I love the Braves matchups, at least for hitters over the final two weeks. I believe he was batting cleanup today in their lineup. They kind of shook things up with the Kuhnui's strong. really weird to see Ron and Acuna batting behind Hassan Kim like I think it's like three days in a row now yeah Kim hit clean up with Acuna batting sixth on Monday yeah so I think uh look I'm hopefully you don't have to resort to Hassan Kim because it's still not somebody you want to be starting in a championship game scenario but if you're looking for a shortstop off the waiver wire it's it's slim pickings and that might be your best bet has happened great Daniel Palencia was officially placed in the

IL with a right shoulder strain and Bruce Levine of 670 the score reported that Brad Keller is the likeliest candidate to take over as closer as we suspected yesterday. Brad Keller is up to 18% rostered widely available, obviously closing for a what should be a good Cubs team, although they have been scuffling a little bit here in the second half. Yeah, definitely a name to look at if you need a, if you need saves or just a relief pitcher for whatever reason. Sean Murphy will miss the rest of the season with a right hip laboral tear. and he'll undergo surgery on Thursday,

and we'll need about four months of rehab, which puts him on track for spring training. Obviously, it's unfortunate news for Murphy, but it is good news for Drake Baldwin and Marcel Ozuna, who should benefit from more playing time here. So, again, good news for those guys. If we're looking for two catcher league replacements for Sean Murphy, Tyler Stevenson recently returned to the Reds,

Gabriel Moreno has been hitting well. Francisco Alvarez has looked pretty good since getting called back up way back when, although, you know, there's been a bunch of injuries mixed in there. In very deep leagues, Jimmy Crooks has kind of taken over as the Cardinals, starting catcher, and Carter Jensen. He stole that job. Yeah. Gabriel Moreno, by the way, I wanted to mention 15 games since returning. He's hitting 327 with three homers, 13 RBI, and a 953 OPS.

So he looked really good. Yeah. Morano's good. It's, it's, he doesn't hold a candle to some of the emerging catchers this year. so it's hard to find a spot for him in one catcher leagues, but in two catcher leagues, you could make the case he should have been rostered over Sean Murphy anyway. Gabriel Moreno and Francisco Alpharez, I think, is a good choice there too. Also, if you play in a one catcher league,

and you're not satisfied with whoever you're starting there now, definitely make a play for Drake Baldwin. He's available in like 40% of CBS sports leagues, and he's going to sit probably at most once a week over these final two plus weeks now. So it's his time to shine. And I hate to. I'll also throw out, even in a one-catcher league,

I think Kyle Teal has played his way into one-catcher league discussions for sure. He's only 44% rostered. It's going to be really, really hard to rank catchers next year. And it's going to be really hard once you realize that like, teals probably may not be in the top 12 like Samuel Basayo I don't know if he's going to be in the top 12 Baldwin depending on what the Braves do I don't I really don't know

I was going to make bring up that point with what the Braves do a catcher because this kind of gives us another opportunity to give Sean Murphy a pass because this is apparently a tear he's been playing with for three years, which basically coincides with him falling off. Like they haven't given a precise timeline of when it started, but the last three seasons,

remember he was performing like one of the best catchers in baseball first half of 23 and then just cratered in the second half. And has been sporadically good since then, but not consistently good. So I don't know if they're going to let Ozuna walk and go with the two catchers in the lineup, one at D.H every day next year. I don't know if Sean Murphy's just going to remain an annoyance for Drake Baldwin. But like Murphy could be good again. I think he'll probably be draftable in two catcher leagues next year. Bobby Witt Jr. remained out of the lineup.

He has now missed three straight with back spasms. Kyle Tucker also out of the lineup. He has missed five straight with left calf tightness. Christian Yelich returned to the lineup. up as the team's DH after missing five games with lower back soreness. Trevor McGill threw his second bullpen on Saturday and is expected to face hitters this week. Michael King is lined up to return Tuesday against the Reds. Do not start him his first outing back, but if he looks good, perhaps we're throwing him in the

lineup for next week. Will Smith of the Dodgers was out again on Monday with that hand injury but hopes to return on Tuesday. Max Muncie, also of the Dodgers, was activated and in the lineup here on Monday. Chase Burns is slated to return on Friday. He wound up missing a month with a grade one elbow strain. We think maybe it was just kind of, oh, this is the reason to kind of shut him down for a little bit so those endings don't pile up. But that's just me speculating.

Byron Buxton was held out of the lineup Monday with left knee contusion. Edward Cabrera resumed a throwing program on Monday. He went on the IL on September 1st with a right elbow sprain. Tommy Edmund is expected to be activated from the IL on Wednesday. He is 57% rostered. Any interest in Tommy Edmund? I mean, the fact he's in the Dodgers lineup makes him kind of interesting, but he's not a base dealer anymore, so what's the upside really?

Yeah, he really hasn't been all that good since, like, what, the second week of the season? Yeah, he was also been April early, and then everything just fell apart. I mean, he should play a lot, at least, because their outfield's been awful for a while now. So, yeah, I don't know. I really just think that he wasn't healthy earlier. Sure. I think that kind of coincided with him falling off, but I also don't think he's that level of power hitter.

So it would be nice to see him get back to running a little bit here if he's healthy, assuming so for Tommy Edmund. Ryan Weathers is set to return from the IL on Thursday against the Nationals. He's 25% rostered. Any interest in Ryan Weathers? I think he's interesting. I can't imagine starting him. in fantasy.

Not his first star fact, but... I mean, if he goes five innings, one run, seven strikeouts, maybe we're thinking about it next week. Well, yeah, if he does. But do you pick him up ahead of time hoping that happens so that then you don't have to compete for him after the fact? I guess you could, but...

He's only like 25% rostered, right? It would be... I think in deeper leagues you could take a shot. Yeah, it would have to be a pretty deep league, I think. What did his rehab assignment? Look, I know he was effective, but he got up to 68 pitches in his second start, so I would guess he can throw about 80 in his first. So, yeah, he could make, what, three more starts the rest of the way? It looks like his first start next week, if I'm counting this upright, would be in Colorado.

That's not great. I would not use Ryan Weathers in Colorado. Would he have a second start? I would have to I think now I think the marlins only have I think the marlins only have like three guys in their rotation

right now so I don't know exactly when that start would fall in that Colorado series it would take probably 30 seconds of silence for me to figure that out you can look it up

I'll keep going Kyle Stowers underwent imaging on his right side Monday he's been out since mid-August with a left oblique train but now it's his right side that's bothering him Brendan Donovan

will begin a rehab assignment Tuesday with Nolan Aronado starting up his rehab on Wednesday. Logan O'Hoppy was placed on the seven-day-day concussion aisle. Jameson is rejoining the Cubs rotation on Wednesday. Tyler Malley could be activated this weekend. He's been out since mid-June with a right shoulder strain, but before getting hurt, he was very effective. 234 ERA 113-13 whip, 48% rostered. Any interest in Tyler Malley? Him or Ryan Weathers? Or neither? I think Ryan Weathers is the more talented pitcher. Yeah, me too.

You want me to figure out Malley's matchups? So here's what looks like Weather's matchups are beginning next week. So the final two weeks in the season. Week 26, it would be, at Colorado. That's it. Week 27 at Philadelphia versus the Mets. Not great.

Probably don't want to use Ryan Weathers down the stretch, unfortunately. With regards to Malley, he only threw two and a third innings on 47 pitches. And his most recent rehab start, only 36 pitches in the first one. So I would not really expect much from Tyler Malley in his first start back.

All right. And lastly, Rees Hoskins is expected to be activated on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see if he takes any time away from Andrew Vaughan, who we haven't brought him up lately. I feel like he's slowed down quite a bit. So perhaps they cannibalize each other's playing time. Toskins and Andrew Vaughn. Before we get to some Waverwire hitters, I just wanted to mention

Garra Crochet's start here because he was incredible once again. He won't beat out Terrick Scooboo for the Sy Young Award, but man, he is trying his best. Seven shutout innings, 10 strikeouts at the athletics, 21 whiffs on 101 pitches, and he's down to a 257 ERA, 105 whip, 11.1K per 9. We spoke about it yesterday. There's a clear top three. Garra crochet is part of that. Anything else to add here? It just feels like any other year he would be the AL-Syoyang, but Terrick's Google exists.

That's what I was going to say. There was such a clear number one and then such a clear number two. And really, the competition is who finishes third in the AL-Sai-Young voting. That might actually be pretty clear too. Oh. Probably just Hunter Brown, right? Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. No, it's pretty remarkable that Garry Crochet is probably going to throw 200 innings with like a 250 ERA. He might get 250 strikeouts. And I feel like Al-Sai Young should probably still be unanimous. That's just how good Terrick Scouble is, which is bonkers because Garer Crochet is really good. Yeah, nothing against him. It's just, man, Terik Seagull is the best pitcher on the planet right now.

So it's just kind of a tough go there for Garret Crochet, but awesome, awesome season for him all around. Waver Wire hitters, I mentioned a bunch of shallow league outfielders earlier with T.J. Friedel, Junghull Lee, Dylan Cruz, and Austin Hayes. Sleeper hitters who are off to a good start this week, Luis Garcia Jr., 2 for 4 with two walks and his 13th homer. Over his last 14 games, he's saying 311 with four homers and three steals. Kyle Manzardo, 3 for 4 with a double and 2 RBI.

In the second half, he's hitting 2 o'clock. 81 with 10 homers, 28 RBI, 903 OPS. And both of these guys are under 70% rostered with as hot as they have been. Should those numbers just be higher? Should they just be kind of unanimously rostered right now? Luis Garcia Jr. and Kyle Manzardo? I don't think Garcia needs to be, but just because in points leagues, he's just never going to be all that useful.

Manzardo, now that he seems to be playing against lefties, could be. But it's also only, I think, the last three games against lefties. So I think that means he's going to play against lefties moving forward. I think he certainly should. But whether that means he will is a different question. Plus, you do have the platoon situation with Garcia that makes them hard to use when the nationals are facing too many lefties. Having said all that, I do like the Nationals matchups for the final two weeks for hitters. I hate the Guardian's matchups for the final two weeks for hitters.

Fair enough. Yeah, I mean, in theory, Manzardo should be more than 51% roster, but I don't see myself recommending him among the sleeper hitters beyond this week. Well, if you love the Nationals matchups for the rest of season, a name in deeper leagues, Josh Bell, four for six with two homers and six RBI here on Monday. he's just kind of having a Josh Bell season. Maybe the batting average is lower than usual, but 19 homers, 730 OPS type guy.

A deep league matchups play, sure, Josh Bell. Name I wanted to bring up, I don't think that we've talked about him at all. Maybe we don't need to, but I'll do it anyway. Michael Hellman, who is this guy? He plays for the Texas Rangers. He went two for three with his fourth homer and five RBI. He has an 886 OPS in 21 games,

29-year-old journeyman type Any thoughts on Michael Helman? From what I remember, he had a really good mayo. I knew you were going that route. I just, I knew it. I was going to say he's bringing out the best. He's really, it's a real miracle whip. Do we have any non-pun-related thoughts on Michael Helman?

I have never had a thought about Michael Hellman. All right. I just, I figured I'd bring him up just because we haven't mentioned his name, but sure. I think this stat is worth when it comes to Josh Bell. I think this stat is worth saying, and that's all I'm going to do is say it. In the second half, he's slashing 260, 364, 473 with eight home runs. All right. That is a step. If I had a nickel for every time Josh Bell had a good half season immediately before,

or immediately after he had a bad half season, I would have probably as many nickels as Josh Bell has been in the majors. I will also point out. Like 45 cents. That slash line looks a lot better after today. Not that it was horrible before, but it became respectable largely

because of this performance on Monday. So I think you can leave him for deeper leagues. You know what? It's been a while since we've played it, but let's do it. Bing, Bing, Bing, Bing. All right, let's take our final. break and when we return, how did the first leg of the two-star pitchers go for this week?

We'll find out right after this. All right, welcome back in fantasy baseball today. How did the first start of the two-star pitcher streamers go here on Monday? Well, we had one good, two okay, actually one very good, two okay, and three pretty bad. Slate Sikoni, Scott, I don't know if he was one of your sleeper pitchers. I don't even think he's very good, but he had great matchups this week. He had the Royals and the White Sox on the schedule. He took a no hitter into the eighth inning.

Of course, there was no Bobby Wood Jr. in the lineup. But wound up throwing eight shutout, one hit, three walks, three strikeouts. Even after this start, it's a 445 ERA and a 125 whip. He does get the White Sox later this week. So perhaps you could stream them for that in daily lineup leagues, whatever it might be. I think we just lost Frank. Uh-oh. Uh-oh.

I was going to say. Hold on, hold on. I'm going to do it. We're going to do it. Oh, he's still Hey! Oh. Robo Frank.

I'm trying to put my head into it. We can swap everyone back now. Am I here? Is it working? Yes, you're here. You're working. You froze for a second. I was going to say, do you remember what Slade Sikoni's last start was?

His prior to this eight one-one hit innings, he gave up, he gave up seven runs on 11 hits and five in a third innings. That seems bad. I don't see how you recommend them. for a two-star week coming off that. Even in this one, he had just three swinging strikes on 100 pitches, and only two of his last 10 starts,

and only two of his last 10 is he had double-digit swinging strikes. He is the Brandon Fought of the upper Midwest. Is it just the Midwest? He just came from the D-Bags, too, so perhaps there's something there. Previous five starts before this one, by the way, for

Cicone 828 ERA and a 168 whip, so pretty bad. Two names who were okay in their first start here. Cade Cavali, five innings, two runs. Only one strikeout against the Marlins. Velocity was down a little bit in this one. Didn't have his best stuff working. But if you, Scott, I'm going to steal your analysis here.

But if you take out that brutal start against the Yankees, Cade Cavali has a 306 ERA and a 124 whip. So how about that? It was a pretty bad start. Like the win saved him. He got one strikeout. Yeah. Uh, yeah, it's, uh, he's got another good matchup coming up.

Another good matchup coming up later this week, so maybe he'll redeem himself. But if he doesn't, then I think we're probably done with Cade Cavali for this season. Because he's not getting another two-star week. I just want to, like, he can miss bats. The curveball and changeup have been excellent with pitches. I don't know why he doesn't get more strikeouts. Um, and maybe the answer is just a same. as he's not that good.

I'm open to that, but it does feel like there should be more strikeout potential here than we've seen. Next up, we have U. Darvish, who fell one out short of a quality start against the Reds, five and two-thirds innings, three runs, seven strikeouts to zero walks. But he's been pretty bad, or I guess inconsistent, you could say. He only has three quality starts in 12 outings, a 565 ERA. He does get the Rockies in San Diego later this week. But, yeah, I think this is kind of the twilight of Udarses' career.

Yeah, I think it's just a streamer. Yeah, and I didn't even, I wasn't even willing to stream them for two starts, one against the Rockies this week. That tells you everything you need to know. Yeah. Maybe I should have been. The way this first start went, the way the hard start went. But, oh, well, didn't work out.

And then three. It worked out for him, not for me. three bad outings here. Luis Morales stumbled against the Red Sox's four and two-thirds innings, seven hits, five runs, two homers allowed in this one. Still had 11 whiffs on 84 pitches, but it seemed like his fastball wasn't working. His sweeper was just different in this start.

It was still pretty good. And obviously he looked very good in his previous four starts before this one. Is it just chalk it up to the Red Sox are a tough matchup? Or, you know, I feel like, Chris, you've been a little bit more hesitant to buy in on Luis Morales. Maybe this is just regression for him. I mean, the minor league track record is decent, but it wasn't, he wasn't like dominant down there. So I've been pretty skeptical.

But look, almost all of the young pitchers we've hyped over the past couple of weeks has struggled in their most recent start. And I think that the lesson to take away from that is, so I played Powerball last week. I don't, I'm not a lottery person, but I did. I'm the guy that like once it gets, once you get a B, at the start of the number. I'm like, sure. You know, I'll take a flyer. I'll spend my two bucks or whatever. I didn't win. I'm still here, obviously, so I didn't win. But the thing you have to remember with a lottery ticket is you're probably going to lose, but it can be worth playing because the payoff is so good. That's the way

you should think about a lot of these young pitchers. And maybe we haven't done a good enough job of talking about Kamp Schlitler and Peyton Tolly and Jonah Tong in that way, where they're not, my view on these guys, and I think Luis Morales is in this group, is not these are absolute must-start pitchers, these are aces, they are going to dominate. Even like Nolan McLean, who's been awesome, I don't think that about. If Nolan McLean goes out in his next start and stinks, it would not be very surprised at all. We did just call a must-start. rest of season. I think he probably is, but if he struggles in the final three or four starts,

whatever it is, it wouldn't surprise me because these are extremely unproven players. But it kind of wouldn't surprise me if anybody struggled final three starts. Sure, but I am less confident in Nolan McLean than Garrett Crochet. Of course. Certainly. Of course. And I'm less confident in Luis Morales or Peyton Tolly or Jonah Tong than I am in Nolan Nolan McLean so far. But it's just to say that we're chasing upside here. That's the whole point of these young pitchers is when you look at like a

Miles Michaelis type, just to pick like the most boring replacement level pitcher you can find on your waiver wire. You can get a good start or six out of a guy like that. It's never sustainable. And there's no upside to it. So we're chasing the upside with these young guys. I don't even know, like certainly with Jonah Tong, because we were hyping Jonah Tong before he even appeared in a game. I think that was definitely a chasing upside.

But I think a lot of this is just reacting to performance, and then they have this mystery box quality. Like just from a pure, like a valuation standpoint, Luis Morales was the least interesting of the rookie pitchers to me. but his four starts prior to this one, he had a 152 ERA, a 0.80 whip and 9.9K per 9. I think going deep into most of those four starts. So like if Dean Kramer did that over a four-start stretch,

we'd be talking about him as a potential streamer. And we have a good idea. Dean Kramer's not actually that good. Louise Morales had this mystery box quality and a four-start stretch like that. And he lined up for two starts this week. So it's like, well, if we're going to recommend. Oh,

I'm not saying it was a bad idea to recommend Luis Morales. It's just it should come with an implied understanding that this is an inherently volatile player to put in your lineup. I will say this, though, if you're thinking like, oh, well, he finally missed. Maybe I don't want to hold on to Luis Morales. His remaining starts after this two-star week that just started for him. second to last week of the season at Pittsburgh, final week of the season versus Kansas City. That's pretty good.

Sounds good to me. Again, that is Luis Morales. Two others that had some bad starts here. Ryan Bergert destroyed by the Guardians, three and a third innings, 11 hits, eight earned runs. I know that I started him somewhere, and I just don't even want to look to find out where it was.

And Nabil Krizmat, not good at the Giants. Four innings, four runs, two homers allowed. only through 50 pitches in this one. I didn't see anything about injury. I think maybe he was just bad and they kind of pulled the plug early on this start. But both Chris Matt and Berger were pitching very well before these outings,

but, you know. I didn't really see it with Berger. I felt like Chris Matt had a nice high floor because very weak contact and high ground ball rate. And that was true. Like he has some track record in the majors, mostly as a reliever,

but enough to know that that we contact is legitimate for Chris Matt. And, you know, it is just one start. Anything can happen to one start. So maybe it's still true that he has a high floor. But obviously did not start out this two-start week. Well, I never really saw it for Bergert. I think Bergeret has interesting.

I think Scott, you and I talked about it last time he pitched. You kind of asked what was interesting about him. And I believe I said I think he's more interesting than good. Like he has a few interesting skills, but I didn't think Ryan Burger was a must-start pitcher or anything. And this also highlights the problem with the like, oh, just play the hot hand. Just ride him while he's hot. It's like, well, yeah, but if you ride a pitcher who's not good while they're hot, this is more true for pitchers and hitters. If you ride the hot hand pitcher who you don't think is all that good, you do run the rich.

of just undoing the good that they already did while they were hot with a start like Ryan Burgards, especially because, okay, his overall ERA is 348. That's not too bad. And the six starts before this one, 243. But you didn't start him for most of those. I think anybody who rides the hot hand in a roto league, that's a very desperate move. Like, because like you just said, you can undo so much with just one bad start. It makes a lot more sense in a points league.

It's still not something you should be looking to do as a, you know, first move. Like first move is just stick with your good pitchers. But if you're trying to, you can try and force things a little more defensively in a points league at starting pitcher. And Roto, that's just, it's almost better to just go with a good ratio reliever than to try and do the streaming pitchers game in a row. Roto League. I understand certain cases. Yeah, you're like chasing certain categories. But it is kind of a desperation move, and you have to know that before you do it.

I'm not completely convinced that Ryan Bergert is just not good. He had three pitches with a whiff rate between 29 and 38% before this start. So, I don't know. Maybe he just kind of ran into the Guardians. I know that they've been hitting better as of late. But I don't know. I still think there might be something there for him. Clearly, it was not there on Monday for Ryan Berger.

Don't think anyone streamed these pitchers, but they did pitch well. Bryce Elder, Jacob Lats, who pitches for the Rangers, and Chase Dolander, went into L.A. and had himself a nice start,

five shutout innings with five strikeouts. Any thoughts on these? I mean, they're mostly deep league guys, but they all pitched pretty well. Bryce Elder, Jacob Lats, Chase Dolander. We've been extremely dismissive

of Bryce Elder during this little hot stretch. And, like, I want to find a good faith reason to say that we were too dismissive because that is now four straight good starts for Bryce Elder, including six strikeouts in three of the four. So I don't know, maybe I just don't really see anything here.

Yeah, I really, I want to like challenge my presupposition that Bryce Elder is not a good pitcher, because we have certainly seen now a couple of good stretches from him, but you just look at every component part, and there's really just, there's nothing that even looks average for him. I've tried to find a through line just for these four good starts. And in three of them, the slider's gotten whiffs at a better rate. But I can't even tell you like, oh, the movement's changed on it in this way. And that's why it's getting whiffs at a better rate.

I don't know, which doesn't mean it's nothing. Yeah. It's just probably nothing. Yeah. I mean, I certainly wouldn't be gambling on bright. Elder with everything on the line right now. If I could pivot to another one of these pitchers, though, I think Jacob Latz might actually be interesting.

I think he is, yeah. And we've, it's not the first time we've raised this point since he joined the Rangers rotation, but now that he more firmly is in it, he has a 13% swinging strike rate on the season. he has a great whiff rate on both his foreseamer and his change-up and a pretty good whiff rate on his slider. That four-seamer has elite-induced vertical break.

It was 20 inches in this start. From the left-hand side, I feel like you don't see that often. Yeah, that's good too. And he did this against the Brewers. Let me see if I can pull up his matchups for rest of the season because he was one I was considering. So the final two weeks of the season, Jacob Lats, gets Miami, second to last, and then Cleveland last week of season. So you like those matchups, obviously, for Jacob Lats.

No two-start weeks. And it's not like he's giving you six innings a start. So there's only so much upside, probably. But the matchups are good, and leagues of a certain depth I could see making a play for Jacob Lats. All right, let's get into a little this or that way too early for next season. season. Take a look at some starting pitchers and we'll also just talk about what they did here today, but Brian Wu, a quality start against the Cardinals, six innings, two runs with nine

strikeouts to zero walks, and Logan Webb, a quality start, six innings, four runs, only one of those earned. There was some bad defense behind him early on in this game. He did have seven strikeouts and has been much better over his last eight starts as well. Who do you guys think will be drafted higher next year? And any thoughts on these starts? Brian Wu or Logan Webb? I think Wu.

I guess I would guess Wu is going to be drafted higher. The one edge Webb had on Wu is oh, he's going to give you a ton of innings. But few pitchers have pitched more innings than Wu this year miraculously. So I don't

I wouldn't even really understand the argument for taking Webb ahead of Wu, to be honest. Yeah. And there's like a 0.30 difference in their whip too. Brian Wu is at 0.95 and Logan Webb at 1.23. So if I could articulate the difference between Webb, I think it's that this season especially, the strikeouts have been there for him in a way that they haven't been for Wu.

Wu is more like a strikeout per inning guy. Webb has been about 10K per 9. And while that has not been the case for Logan Webb throughout his career, we have seen stretches of strikeout upside from him. And I think he's made some changes to his approach. that have really helped him in that regard. Throwing that four seamer more, which is really good swing and miss pitch for him,

34% whiff rate on the four seamer for Logan Webb. The sweeper change up. Just to address your original point. Coming into today, Wu was at 9. Oh, you're right. Never mind. Sorry, I was looking at the wrong year.

Never mind. Finish your point. Yeah, he has. It's about a 30 strikeout, 25 strikeout difference between them coming into the start. So I guess it's 22, 23 now. That's enough. I would guess Wu's going to get taken ahead of Logan Webb next season just because he's a little younger. I think that he probably gets tagged with a little more theoretical upside.

But Logan Webb is past 200 strikeouts now for the season. season. He is, I believe, is he third in the majors and strikeouts now? I think so. That's pretty surprising. Behind scuba and crochet? Yeah, behind scoble and crochet. He passed Wheeler, cease and skeins today. Obviously that high. All those short starts, wow. That's the one thing he does. Yeah, he has 201 strikeouts. I believe that's the first 200 strikeout season for Logan Webb, look, there's a chance that he takes a step back with the strikeouts. I think that would be the expectation. But the changes, he kind of lost the feel for the change up last season,

had to throw the sweeper more, introduced that cutter at the end of last season, and has been using that for Seamer as a putaway pitch, especially against lefties, I believe. And so I do think Logan Webb is the best version of himself that we've ever seen. But look, I really love Brian Wu. He is one of my favorite pitchers in the league to watch. I think he has a chance to, you know how, like, Zach Wheeler spent the last six years just getting a little bit better every single season? I think Brian Wu has that kind of potential where his four seamer and sinker are so good at limiting contact.

And he gets whiffs with the four seamer as well that he doesn't really need to throw the other pitches very much. He's still like a 75% four seamer sinker guy. And you could start to see that trend down a little bit as he chases more whiffs. And that could help Brian Wu take another step forward. But to a certain extent, I think that would be Brian Wu getting to where Logan Webb is this season, you know? Next up we have Shota Imanaga who got off to a rough start, but then settled down at the Braves, six innings, three runs, four strikeouts, had 15 whiffs on 80 pitches, has turned in seven straight quality starts,

and Nick Ladolo, solid coming back from that illness. He was at the Padres, five shutout innings, two hits, one walk, only two strikeouts here. If you look at just the ERA and WIP, it's actually very similar for IMAGA and Lodolo, but the underlying numbers are a lot scarier for Emanaga. So who do you guys think gets drafted higher between these two next season?

I would guess I'ma. I think they'll both be viewed by, like as SP3 types in that range? Maybe the 30 to 40 range at starting picture. That feels right. Knee jerk, I want to say Imanaga for myself too. I mean, it's kind of a win-and-doubt draft for WIPP. Not that Lodola's WIPP is bad.

I mean, 1.7 walks per nine, but Imanaga's been incredible the last two years with WIPP. Somehow bad. as the strikeout rate has dipped. Yeah. So I'm not going to be super high on either next year, I don't think, but I probably give the edge to Emanaga. Yeah. Emanaga feels like a house of cards to me in a lot of ways.

And I've been saying that all season and hasn't really come down. But strikeout rate collapse. He's going to be 33 next season, I believe. Or he will be 33 by this time next season at least. So I just, I feel like things could get pretty ugly for him more quickly than you would expect. But I don't know. I've been more skeptical and it hasn't exactly worked out with Imanaga. Guess which of the two has the higher swinging strike rate this year?

I'm going to guess I'm going to guess I'ma because, yeah, La Dolo, the whiff rate has not been great this season. But it has dropped by three percentage points this season for Emanogga. From 14.5% last year to 11.5%. It was shocking what he did last year in terms of strikeouts. I think this is closer to the version we thought we were getting. Yeah, the answer might be neither for me, but I guess it'll be based on the cost for next season. I lean towards neither is my answer for both of them as well.

And then these last two, I have no idea where either is going to be drafted, but it's old versus new. Aaron Nola and Nolan McLean. So McLean, okay at the Phillies, five and a third innings, one run, three walks, five strikeouts here. Overall, five starts, very small sample, 142 ERA and a 0.95 whip. Gets a lot of ground balls. Strikeouts have looked good there.

And then Aronola was actually better on the other side. He out-duled Nolan McLean for the win here. Six shutout innings, seven strikeouts. Clearly his best start since coming off the IL. Four starts before this one, an 838 ERA, a 150 whip. The numbers on the season are atrocious for Aeronola. He's a veteran. Like, maybe he can bounce back.

I have no idea where these guys get drafted, but what do you guys think? I think definitely, McLean, unless something dramatic happens to either one of them, rest of the way. I mean, the Phillies could make a deep playoff run and Aeronola looks rejuvenated. I could see that happening potentially. But as things stand now, I'm not sure Aaron Nola will be in my top 50 for next year. Yeah. McLean definitely would.

I feel like McLean's going to be a, it's not the same situation as Spencer Schwellenbach because we saw a lot more of Spencer Schwellenbach, but that way Spencer Schwellabach just kept rising in drafts last spring, I feel like Nolan McLean could be that guy if he doesn't just completely fall apart the next three starts. So we've seen the way his five starts have gone, McLean, it's gone four walks, zero walks, zero walks, three walks, three walks. So those two zero walk starts were phenomenal. And he's navigated the high walk starts pretty well, given that the walks were high.

But you don't want that to become the norm for McLean. And looking at his minor league history, you could see Control being kind of dicey for him. So I would like to see that not become a trend for McLean, the walks we've seen from in the past couple starts in his first turn. But that's really the only complaint I have about him. He's been terrific otherwise. I think, I don't know. I don't know if people will take this as an insult

or not giving McLean's upside enough credit. But I've made the comp to Logan Webb a few times, and that's really what I see when I see Nolan McLean, pitch is I don't know if it's ever going to be like elite strikeout rates, but I think it'd be good. He obviously has to keep the control good enough. But that to me is where what I think the ceiling for Nolan McLean is. Really, really good. Ground ball rate has a couple of swing and miss pitches, including, you know, he can use that

four seamer and kind of pitch backwards with it. That's more of a putaway pitch for him. but I do wonder if people will take that as like a little bit of an insult to Nolan McLean. I don't think it should be Logan Webb is obviously awesome. No. Logan Webb has had great seasons. That would be an awesome outcome for McLean. Six months ago if you said a top pitching prospect comp to Logan Webb, people would take it as an insult and hopefully Logan Webb's earned a little more respect than that this season. Yeah, I think so. He's been a top 15 pitcher in fantasy like fourths.

Three or the last four years, I think. I don't know if he technically finished that high, but that's how he's been regarded. Yeah. I think that would be an awesome outcome for Nolan McLean if he can get to that Logan Webb level. Let's wrap up with some leftovers here. On the hitting side, Ozzy Albies hit another home run.

His last 24 games, he's batting 337, with seven homers, 21 RBI, three seals in OPS over a thousand. Jacob Marcy was slowing down a bit, but then had a big game here, two for four with a walk and his fifth home run. Matt Chapman seems to be waking up as well last 15 games since coming off the IL 327 batting average, five homers, 13 runs, 12 RBI, two steals, and 1137 OPS. He's actually been okay this year, Chapman, 21 homers, nine steals.

The counting stats seem low, but he also has only played 111 games. So he's had a few IEL stints here or there that have kind of... He's been identical to last season. Yeah. I kind of think Ozzy Albee's is just Ozzy Albee's again now. I think he's fine. So his first 138 at bats this year, he had zero home runs from the right side. First, 138 at bats from the right side, zero home runs.

Last 23, four home runs. And his hitting coach talked about how he was still impacted by last year's wrist injury early on this year. And I think we're seeing it in the results in the second half, particularly how he seems to be a stud. from the right side of the plate again. The call to the bullpen for the Phillies. Yohan Duran got the ninth with a one-run lead. He allowed two hits. Actually, had second and third with, I think, just one out.

But he struck out two for his 28th save. For the Braves, Riesel Iglesias pitched a clean ninth for his 25th save. And he had that rough stretch earlier, lost his job for a bit. He really has recovered. 362 ERA and a 101 whip on the year for Ryssel Iglesias. For the Mariners, Andres Munoz got the ninth with a two-run lead. he walked one but struck out two for his 33rd save and for the Dodgers Tanner Scott got the ninth

with a two-run lead he allowed a hit but took his 20th um locked up his 21st save of the season he actually allowed the first hit of the game so it's two of the last three games the Dodgers have taken a no-hitter into the ninth and then lost that no-hitter so pretty interesting stuff there for them

to stream or not to stream on Tuesday we have Will Warren against the Tigers Kyle Branish against the pirates Sean Mania at the Phillies, Luis Garcia at the Blue Jays, Jack Leiter, home against the Brewers, Zebby Matthews at the Angels, Jeffrey Springs against the Red Sox and Emmett Sheehan

against the Rockies. Braddish against the Pirates is the easiest call in the world. The easiest to stream or not to stream pitcher of the entire season. That feels like a guaranteed six earned runs over three years, right? I think Sheehan's not far from him, so let's mush both of them. So we know Sheehan is going against the Rockies.

It's not, it's been declared. That's what MLB.com has listed. As of now, MLB.com has it. They're usually wait until it's official. Yeah. And then the third choice would be Zebby Matthews at the Angels, and I like all three of them. Legitimately like all three of them.

That was the best to stream or not to stream segment I've ever heard from Scott. Let's see if we can continue it on Wednesday. Probably not. Eduardo Rodriguez at the Giants, Taj Bradley at the Angels, Tyler Wells against the Pirates, Logan Allen against the Royals

Michael McGreevy at the Mariners Jason Alexander at the Blue Jays I like Tyler Wells against the pirates it's not without risk but the biggest risk for Wells I think is home runs and you don't worry about that so much against the pirates I think you should stream

Emmett Sheehan Zabby Matthews and Kyle Bradish on Tuesday and not any of these guys on Wednesday that would be my suggestion I think Wells against the pirates can work out and Yeah, I don't... I would not want to trust anyone else.

Todge Bradley at the Angels could work out. I just don't think it will. Yeah, it's just when things go wrong for him, he gives up home runs and gets bombed. And if there's one thing the Angels could do, it's hit home runs. So I would probably stay away, but it might work out.

Let's wrap up with some team name Tuesday here from Sammy, some film slash TV references. Soto, you think you can dance. That's good, solid. Leave it to beavers. Yep. Framber Russia with. love. Not quite as good. These are for Chris Marlin's

music names. Marcy's Playground. Okay, it took me a second, but I got there. I got there. Augustine and everything after. Excellent. Counting Crows. Love that. And Arrestes Development. That's phenomenal. That's really good. Arrestes development is for your for your 1993 fantasy team that had Arrestes distra on it. It's timely because Arrested Development. I don't know when Tennessee was a hit, but that that probably was 93-ish.

These are this one's from Adam. You're talking about Arrested Development? Yeah, the musical Okay, yeah, okay, I see. I was 1990. Look at that. Perfect. This one's from Adam.

Azer? Tong to Tant, Ton, ton, tong. Was it from Adam Azer? No, I don't think so. Actually, let me check. for Matt Amazing. Maybe it is. Oh no, I'm sure he's very busy right now. From David, Seymour Buto.

Okay. All right. You don't have a Moe voice? Hmm? That's what it's going. It's like a, it's like a Mo Cislack prank call that we're going for there, right? Oh, is that a Simpsons? Seymour Butts. Oh, yes. This won't surprise you, but I was never really a Simpsons person. And I just lost everyone. You know who was?

I spent about six months earlier this year watching every single episode of The Simpsons. I watched a lot of other things. Six months? I know. I know people won't believe this. But I watched a bunch of other like cartoon sitcoms like South Park and Family Guy. I just, I don't know. I never got into Simpsons.

I don't know why. Man, it really. It's prime. You were too young during its prime. That's probably. It hits a point in like season three, I think, where just every single episode is just an all-time class. It's the Greg Daniels era. Honestly.

It's really impressive. Although I've gone back and now I'm watching King of the Hill and it's really good. When I was a kid, I would see it come on. Obviously, I wouldn't understand any of the jokes. But I was like, oh, no, I hate this show. Now I watch it. It's such like the humor is so subtle that like if you like I, I have, I understand people who don't find King of the Hill funny. But if you do find it funny, I have just.

much more respect for your sense of humor because the subtlety of it is amazing anything bobby does is just hilarious yeah yeah i'm trying to watch 15 seasons my favorite character actually i have to watch 15 seasons so i could get to the new ones so yeah it's going to take me a while it's kind of take a while these are from matthew forget about it yeah i guess that's uh jimmy herget up at the top there NASCAR drivers had to chase petty that's true it is pop goes the weemsel. Sure. Skeen, skeens, good for your heart.

Yeah, I get that one. Some metal band names. Quiet Wyatt. Judith Priester. Yep. Def Jeffers. Yep. Molly Cruz.

Yep. Guns and Moises. Yeah. And Swerosmith. Swerosmith's very good. Swearerouss. That's really strong. That's a really good one.

And this last one. Adam could have sent that one in, too. It's a big Aerosmith fan, right? That's sad. That sounds right. I think he interviewed the drummer of Red Hot Chili Peppers recently. I saw that somewhere on the FFTP. I think, I don't know if he's actually an Aerosmith fan,

but he like puts them on the Mount Rushmore of American bands or something. Like, I don't know. He has some lofty Aerosmith take. I think Chris is not agree. I think him and I used to argue about Aerosmith pretty regularly. I think Aerosmith's pretty bad. Ooh. All right.

Well, this last one's from Jonah and it's Wu Tong clan. That's solid. That's solid. All right. We're going to wrap there for Scott and 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.