Fantasy Baseball Today - Upside Scenarios, Injury Updates & Ranking Relievers! (4/8 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 8, 2026

Taj Bradley might be happening (2:40)! ... Sandy Alcantara looks like his Cy Young self and Jakob Marsee had four steals (8:17). ... We had a brawl between Reynaldo Lopez and Jorge Soler (14:22). ... News (20:55): Cade Horton needs season-ending elbow surgery. ... Let's rank some relievers (33:04). ... Let's dream on some 'What If' upside scenarios (39:08). ... Here are some deeper names to watch (53:12). ... These are some interesting players to buy (55:37). ... Carter Jensen has homered two days in a row (58:10). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (1:01:02). Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. And first pitch, watching. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Hello, and welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Wednesday, April 8th.

I am Frank Sample joined by Scott White. Today on the show, bringing something new to the table here, Scott. What if Wednesdays? We're going to dream on some upside scenarios based on some hot starts to the season. Tage Bradley, speaking of hot starts, he might be happening. Sandy, Sandy Alcantara, might be back to Sy Young Form. We'll rank some relievers. So much to talk about.

Huge sleight of action here on a Tuesday night. but let's jump in. Oh my goodness gracious! All right, Scott. Players of the Night, which breadstick would you like to grab? I got to start with Tage Bradley. I think we may have a real one here in Tage Bradley.

He had his best start yet, I would say, against the Tigers. Not the easiest matchup. I was a little reluctant to recommend him with two start week. But he was among my 10 sleeper pitchers, and he came through in a big way, one-er-run run in six-and-a-third innings, no walks, 10 strikeouts. So we got nine in his first start of the season.

Now he has 10, a 10 spot, and has yet to give up more than one-urn run in any of his three starts. 15 whiffs on 104 pitches, nine on the splitter, and I think that's the key here. So he's always had a fastball with very high induced vertical break. It was 20 inches in this start. It had been 19 on average. Either of those numbers is high. But this splitter is where I'm seeing the biggest change from one year to the next.

The whiff rate on it has more than doubled from a year ago. Small sample and all that, yes. It's getting about three extra inches of drop that splitter. So it is a splitier splitter, let's say. And I think we're seeing the impact here and the results. Now, it could all go wrong. We have seen, I think was it a couple years ago where Tage Bradley went on a run of like a couple months where he looked like a breakout pitcher and then it all fell apart. It was that happened one of those years.

It wasn't last year, but it did happen at some point earlier in his career. We thought he was breaking out then. he's still given up hard contact for all the bats for all the bats he's missing but we know that pitchers if they miss enough bats can afford to give a hard contact there are plenty who succeed with that formula and again we're now up to 22 strikeouts for taj bradley in uh 16 and two-thirds innings

so that's that's missing a lot of bats uh with that's splittier splitter, that fastball with a high-induced vertical break. And I think I would say he's must roster at this point. It's sort of like Jose Soriano. He's sustained it over three starts now. That's a pretty good jumping off point. Scott, your memory never fails you. Well, sometimes.

But not tonight. Not tonight because Tage Bradley had a nine-star stretch back in 2024, where he had a 0.82 ERA, a 0.89 whip, and 10.6K per 9. So it looked like it was happening then for Tage Bradley. And then things kind of came crashing down to Earth over the final, I don't know, two months of the season there. But I agree with everything that you said. That splitter has helped him level up so far this season.

Even entering this start, 159 X Wobah on that pitch with a 53% whiff rate. And that whiff rate is only going up because it was a 60% whiff rate on the splitter in this start. So very encouraged from what we've seen. We have had some fake outs before. So, you know, again, we've got to treat this correctly, right?

Like, let's not overreact, but we have to react because this was a pitcher with a lot of pedigree and talent, and he might be putting it together. It might be. You mentioned... I was checking just now to see if that splitter was splitier in 24 when he had that great run and looked like he was breaking out then and it was it was the splitter backed up last year and now now it's dropping much like it did in 2024 so you know again

this isn't definitive he could have a couple great months and it could all fall apart again but there's enough to like here that i i i want to see where it goes with taj bradley on my roster now i put you on the spot scott you mentioned in the name, Jose Soriano. We've talked a lot about Parker Messick this season. How do you rank the three? Messick Soriano. Taj Bradley. I have

the most confidence in Messick. He might have the lowest ceiling of the three, though. That sounds right. Probably highest floor lowest ceiling. Yeah. So it kind of depends what you're aiming for. I think there's enough of a ceiling for Messick,

though, that I'm still going to put him number one. I second is harder. I think I lean Soriano because of the ground balls. Right. That does give him a higher floor. But, you know, the Soriano, even with the great ground ball rate the past couple years, wasn't that great for fantasy. Correct.

Yeah, I think I lean Soriano too, but it's a close call between him and Bradley. It's a close call between all three of them. Yeah, yeah. I think all are very, very intriguing, but that's a tough decision that someone might have to make out there. What about some other most added pitchers right now? Emerson Hancock, Kyle Harrison, Michael Soroka. Are you taking Tage Bradley over all three of those? Yes.

I agree with that as well. So very encouraged on Tage Bradley, but he's right in that mix with other early breakout candidates, let's call them, with Parker Messick and Soriano as well. I'm going to give you a Marlins double dip here, Scott. Cheating already. my players of the night, Sandy and Jacob Marcy. Huge games here for both of them. Sandy Alconter came two outs away

from another shutout. He was entering the ninth inning, eight shutout innings, 82 pitches. Looks like we were going to get back-to-back Maddox's the first time that's been done since. Greg Maddox.

No surprise there. It would have been the first time. So yeah, that... What year was that? I think it was, I wrote it that. 2000 is what they said on the Marlins broadcast there. So look,

the point is Sandy O'Connor was cruising once again. He allowed the first two runners to reach in the ninth inning. The reliever who came on, Anthony Bender allowed both of those runs to score, which was unfortunate. I really kind of just wish that Clayton McCullough would have left Sandy out there, but I guess it's early in the season.

They want to play things safe. It's like, come on, man. Ride your ace and let him get out of that. But anyway, the final line here, eight and a third, two runs allowed. Six strikeouts, two walks, had 12 whiffs on 95 pitches, filled up the zone in this one, 71% of his pitches for strikes. And Scott, that change-up has been money so far this year for Sandy Alcansara.

He had six whiffs on it, a 50% whiff rate, 32% CSW. That was an issue for him early last year. He really did not have a feel for the change-up, and he really had trouble locating his pitches. So far, it has been the polar opposite. it. I don't want to say this, but I'll throw it out there. We're going to talk upside scenarios. He might be back to Syung form. What do you think about Sandy? Yeah, it's looking that way. And he did figure it out down the stretch last year, 270 ERA and his final seven starts. So the ERA was over five for the full season. But 270 in the final seven

starts, got a lot more with stirring that stretch too. He entered this year with a lot of momentum. I was not quite as high on him coming into the years some others were because I knew at his best him being not a big strikeout pitcher. I knew at his best he relied a lot on just volume, just accumulating a higher number of innings than most anyone else. And I wonder different manager now from Missai Young Seasons, obviously he's been through a lot physically. Would he be handled that same way?

I would say he is. I mean, he nearly had back-to-back complete games. still in early April. So that worry is off the table. I've moved him into my top 30 at starting pitcher. And he could keep rising from there. Sure, it's possible. Yeah.

I mean, look, I think some people are going to ask, is this a sell high situation? I think that's whenever someone gets off to a start like this. I will point out the matchup so far have been the Rockies, the White Sox, and the Reds, all in Miami. So it's been really good match. All three starts have been at home.

Really good place to pitch for Sandy there. So I get all that. I acknowledge it. But I think he could perform like a top 24 starting pitcher this season. If he's just back to form, which again, down the stretch of last year, it looks like that's what happened for him. And he's picked up right where he left off. So if you can get a top 24 starting pitcher that has struggled so far, sure.

But I don't think this is like, this is unsublished. sustainable. You need to sell high now while you can. I am pretty confident in what we're seeing from Sandial Ocans for us so far this year. What about Jacob Marcy? He heard us talking smack yesterday, Scott. Two for four with a walk and four steals in this game.

He still is only batting 143 with a 459 OPS. One thing that I will give Clayton McCullough credit for with Jacob Marcy is that he has shown complete confidence in him. He has started him in every game and Marcy has hit first or third in the lineup

in each game so far, whether it's against the lefty or righty, hasn't mattered, he's in there, he's played, he's been in the top three of the lineup, every single game that the Marlins have played so far. I guess, Scott, this is just a reminder that if you have Marcy in a categories league, despite the slow start, like,

don't give up yet, because this is a reminder of his upside, four steals in one game for Jacob Marcy. Yeah, and we were saying, like in five outfielder leagues, there's no way you'd think about, dropping him. It was just in those shallower three outfielder leagues, which, you know, generally we talk about those in terms of points leagues where the steals aren't as valuable.

He's been striking out a lot. So I still think it's, I still think he's on the bubble of somebody like Cam Smith or Jordan Walker who homered again here Tuesday. I'm sure we'll talk about that. I don't think Marcy is a definitive stash over those two in those shallower three outfielder leagues. But that is harder to say today than it was yesterday, sure. And how could I do this? I mean, I'm sure people were waiting to hear it. Sandy Alcantara. Sandy, tell me about it.

Stead. Might just be a stud again, Scott. Yeah. Love that. Love that. Anytime you bring up Sandy Alcantra on Twitter, I just like to respond. Tell me about it, stud.

I saw that. That happened today. It's like a Pavlovian, Pavlovian response at this point. And it has seeped into your brain. It's kind of creepy for people who don't get the reference, which is always fun. You know what? If he dropped the back-to-back Maddox's on Tuesday night, I was going to tweet out the image that I made a couple of years ago of Sandy from Greece

and Sandy Alcans for his faces merged. But we didn't get there. So next complete game or awesome start, we'll get it out there. It's kind of disturbing, but it's also fun at the same time. So be on the lookout for that. Before we take our first break, Scott, what happened in that Braves game? I mean, my goodness, Renaldo Lopez versus Jorge Soler,

a heavyweight bout. First of all, why would anybody in their right mind try to fight with Jorge Soler? I mean, he is a massive human being. But then, once they got close up, kind of like face-to-face, they square off a little bit. I didn't realize Ronaldo Lopez is kind of a big dude too.

No match for Walt Weiss who wound up tackling Jorge Saler down to the ground. Yeah, that was crazy. For anyone who hasn't seen it, Ronaldo Lopez gave up a home run to Saler earlier in the game and then hit him with a pitch. And then in his third at bat,

he threw a pitch up near Saler's head. And Saler did not like that. So he ran at him and they squared up and they were about to brawl and benches cleared and it was, it was madness, but it was also kind of fun. Yeah. I mean, it was proper technique on that tackling.

And it definitely de-escalated the situation because they were really going at it, Jorge Saler and Raynardo Lopez. And I know there was some, I know there was some shouting back and forth that preceded it. I mean, Soler made the move, the first move. charge the mound. Well, they were staring each other down and Ronaldo started wording some stuff at him and he kind of put his arms up like, let's go. And then they were shouting at each other for sure. It was go time.

And that made me a little sad because obviously Jorge Saler is a Braves legend. We don't want to see him going after our current Braves. And if you use Ronaldo Lopez, he got ejected one out short of a win. Yeah. And it's worth noting he looked the best he has. All year. You know, last time we talked about him, it was in the context of he can't keep getting away with it.

Granted, it was the Angels, who are the most strikeout prone team in baseball. 11 whiffs on 80 pitches, though, seven strikeouts of four and two-thirds innings. I think most notably, though, is the velocity was up on everything. It was up about two miles per hour on both the slider and curb ball.

And while the average on the fastball was up only 0.6, he was hitting 96-97 at times. Like he, I don't know, maybe if he, if he's able to continue raising the velocity, there may come a point where we can say he might be able to get away with it, giving up very weak contact consistently. And I don't know, it was looking good before this, before the ejection. So, Rinaldo Lopez, if you pick them up, just stream him against the angels. not saying you can't drop him,

but there's justification to hold on to him too. And the problem here is that he looks like a two-star pitcher for next week, but I have to imagine that suspensions are going to come down for both of these guys, Soler and Lopez. So I don't know if that will affect his availability for next week, but as of now, Ronaldo Lopez looks like he would get the Marlins and the Phillies next week

as a two-star pitcher. So that's not terrible. I think you can use them in like a points league in those matchups. So if you picked up Lopez, I would probably hold on to him unless someone like Tosh Bradley was available. And then obviously I would make that swap. Probably, I don't know if you noticed this, but Rinaldo Lopez was like pounding him on the head with the baseball. Ronaldo Lopez held onto the baseball the entire time the brawl was happening. I was so confused.

I also like, so Walt Weiss's tackle was the highlight of the whole thing. But if you catch the right clip of it, you see you see Ronald Acuna charging in from right field. And as soon as he comes into the frame, he turns his hat backwards. Like he's ready to die. Ash, catch him. Like, he's ready to go. It's go time. So, yeah.

Oh, man. Yeah, there is, if you haven't seen it by now and you're listening, go, go search it up. It was, uh, it was a pretty entertaining one. Uh, I didn't know this about Walt Weiss, but he's like a black belt in taekwondo or something like that. I heard the broadcast. He does like an MMA training or something. Well, we can tell. Walt Weiss must add in your IDP football leagues this year.

With a tackle like that, that was awesome. Let's take our first break. When we return, we'll get into the news and notes. We have unfortunate news and updates on some of the pitching injuries. We'll talk about that right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today, and let's hit the news and notes. And unfortunate news, Cade Horton will undergo season-ending elbow surgery. I have not seen, Scott, maybe you have, whether or not it's Tommy John or internal brace,

a combination of both. I'm sure those things will be revealed eventually, but obviously we'll miss the rest of this season, and depending on what surgery he gets, he'll miss part of next season as well. We did have Javier Assad on the mound here on Tuesday night, and he did things in a Javier Assad way. He does not get a lot of strikeouts,

but he changed up the pitch mix a little bit. I saw the velocity was up, some pitch movement type things. So if you're playing in the deeper league, yes, he pitches the content, but with a defense like that behind him, like I could maybe see Javier Assad having some deep league value here.

I could see him showing up on the streamer list from time to time. I wouldn't put a high priority on adding him even in those deeper leagues, but he can be useful at times. Yeah, and I know you talked about Ben Brown as a, you know, just kind of spec ad, someone to watch here.

Matthew Boyd went on the aisle with a biceps injury as well. He's expected back. in the minimum time, so that's not a long-term injury. But Ben Brown, I know he was doing some things differently this spring. And I think longer term down the stretch of this season, Jackson Wiggins, their pitching prospect is a name to pay attention to there as well. Hunter Brown was diagnosed with a grade two shoulder strain

and won't throw for a few weeks. And the typical time missed for a grade two is eight to 12 weeks. So, man, if that's the timetable, we're looking at, June, July for Hunter Brown? I mean, if they really want to play it safe, second half of the season? Yeah, I mean, that's obviously the average timetable. He could beat the timetable.

They've only said he's not going to throw for a couple weeks. That's all they've said. Not that he'll be back within a couple weeks, but maybe he could start throwing again. And we should always trust the Astros when it comes to injuries. Yeah. No, I'm not trusting them. I'm just telling you what we know, which isn't much.

I actually came out with IL stash rankings here on Tuesday, a top 40. And when they were first published, we didn't know that it was a grade two strain for Hunter Brown. Once I found out, I moved him down an entire tier in those IL stash rankings. I moved him behind Carlos Rodan and Blake Snell, because I'm not sure he'll be back even within a month of those two. So obviously he's better when he's healthy, but it's going to be a while. It seems like before Hunter Brown is healthy. All right, continuing on, Jacob de Grom underwent an MRI on his right knee, even though he said that he was fine after Monday night's game.

We did get the results here, and they came back clean. So the fact that he had an MRI means like something must have been bugging him when he woke up today. Maybe he didn't feel right, whatever it was. So just another thing to watch. with Jacob de Grom, but the results did come back clean for that knee injury. Bryce Terang was held out of the lineup due to an ankle slash foot injury. Alec Bone was held out due to groin tightness. J.T. Real Muto left Tuesday's game with a bruised right foot.

He was hit on that foot by a foul tip while catching in the first inning. I did see that X-rays came back negative for that. Josh Hader could progress to facing hitters next week. We have a bunch of Blue Jays updates. Addison Barger was placed on the IL with a left ankle spread. retroactive to April 6th. They're hoping for the minimal stay there. Alejandro Kirk had thumb surgery on Tuesday and is expected back in six weeks.

Trey Savage's next rehab outing will be this Thursday. Max Scherzer said that Monday's forearm tendonitis was just a detour in that he will throw a normal bullpen and expects to make his next start. Cody Ponce will have ACL surgery likely ending his season. Patrick Corbyn will start on Friday. and Jose Brillo's through live BP on Tuesday. Jackson Truro will undergo follow-up imaging on his fractured left wrist on Thursday.

Garrick Cole is scheduled to face hitters on Sunday in a live BP session. Yvonne Herrera has served as the personal catcher for Michael McGreevy and Andre Palante and is expected to continue doing so through the end of April. So as long as those guys remain in the rotation, Scott, But obviously this is great for Herrera's catcher eligibility on CBS.

He already has four starts or four games. He only needs one more. But if someone has Yvonne Herrera in NFBC leagues where you need 10, I think there's a pretty good chance that we'll just get that by the end of April. I wonder why they say through the end of April, why they're only committing to that. Yeah. Jimmy Crooks is off to a hot start of AAA. It's why I bring it up.

I saw that. I went through a bunch of minor league leaderboards earlier today. That's what I do with myself when I have nothing else going on, apparently. And I think it's also worth noting that he's the personal catcher for the two worst members of their rotation. Yeah, that's why we need them to stay in the rotation. It is also what we've been seeing with Dalton rushing for the Dodgers. That's interesting the way they're doing that. But, yeah, no, obviously the big news is it does.

seem like Herrera is going to get catcher eligibility in most leagues. Will he get all the way to 10? You know, if he stays in this role all season, sure. But by the end of April, I don't know. Scott, we're dreaming past 10, man. What if Wednesday? Let's get to 20. So we have Yvonne Herrera catcher for next year.

Let's get it done. Drew Rastafson was scratched from Tuesday. Tuesday start for the birth of his child. He will go on the paternity list. Edwin Usseita began a rehab assignment on Tuesday. and he is another name to watch in that raise bullpen. Obviously, Brian Baker has kind of taken over the highest leverage role, but if Ussetia returns and looks as good as he did in the second half of last year,

he could figure into the saves mix there for the Tampa Bay Rays. Brewer's pitching prospect, Shane Drone, was called up and will start Wednesday against the Red Sox. He is an older prospect, 27 years old, but pitched well in the minors last year. 1% rostered. I think it's mostly just a name to watch. Let's see how he does in this start. But Scott, what do you think here on Shane Drone of the Brewers? Yeah, he missed a lot of bats for the Red Sox last year,

had 12.8K per 9, had a 17% swingy strike rate. That was between high A and AAA, but mostly AAA. And then he got traded to the Brewers in February. What deal was that? Was that the Caleb Durbin deal? Maybe. That sounds right. Anyway, he's with the Brewers now.

For all the good he did, he threw only 54 innings last year, and he hasn't thrown more than that since 2023. So I'm guessing, even if he's pitching well for the Brewers, it'll be shorter outings. and we have to see if he pitch as well. It's not like he's a huge prospect. I think MLB.com has around 25th in the Brewer system, but the strikeout numbers are interesting there for Shane Drohan.

Drohan. Yeah, so it's DROH-A-N there is the last name for Drohan. I think N-O-only leagues. He's a name to watch. If he shows any positive signs on Wednesday, he's probably an ad in a format like that. putting a claim right now. There you go. That's a swell idea, Frank.

Shaw, you know what? We only run Fab on Sunday nights in the NL Labor Industry League. So throughout the week, any little tidbit of information that pops up or a player I see playing, I just add them to my scout team, my watch list, and I have a whole bunch of names built up by the end of the week to throw bids on. So... The only problem there is you said AL only.

So probably NL only. would make more sense. Yeah. I went to my AL-only league and I'm like, why is there no ad button here? Yep. Sean Murphy will start a rehab assignment

at AAA on Friday. He's a name to watch there in two catcher leagues. Andrew Vaughn will have a follow-up appointment with his hand surgeon on Thursday and hopes to be cleared for the next step in his rehab. Austin Hayes was officially placed on the IL

and I didn't mention this yesterday, Scott, but I think a prospect to watch here is Sam Antanachi, who we spoke about on the FBT Express Prospects episode last week. And he's already played a few games in the outfield this year in the minors. So I think if Austin Hayes is on the aisle, they can give Antonacci a shot here. That's a good thought. It's a good thought.

Antanachi, he was a force of nature in the world baseball classic. He had a big home run. I believe it was against Team USA. as part of Italy's win over them. And he had a Little League home run against Great Britain. So obviously flying around the base is very exciting play, sliding into home. And then he had these really, some of the headiest plays I've seen from a defender. The most notable one that stands out is Joey Ortiz rounding second.

on a routine fly out to center field. And the reason he rounded second, instead of heading back to first, is because when the ball was hit, Antonacci dove, like he was trying to reach a ground ball. And so Ortiz just instinctually trusted that and ended up getting doubled off at first base.

Yeah. So that's the kind of player. Very cool play. Antinachi is not, so really high baseball IQ on this. guy, which I think is always bodes well for somebody outperforming his tools. I'll also note, Antonacci stole 48 bases last year. He reached base at a 433 clip.

At AAA this year, he has eight walks versus three strikeouts. I don't know that there's going to be much power there. He has homered a couple times already this year. But he should be a great base dealer, a great on base guy. I'm very excited about him, Sam Antanachi. and because he does have Second Bay is eligible in fantasy because he does have this versatility

this might be the excuse to bring him up to the majors so a name to know if that happens. Yeah and if you are looking for the name it's spelled A-N-T-O-N-A-C-I Sam Antanachi of the White Sox Carlos Santana was placed on the aisle with a right adductor strain

Gabriel Arias went on the aisle with a left hamstring strain Juan Brito was recalled he went two for four on Tuesday has flash some power and speed at times in the minor so there is an AL only name for you won Brito and last news item here our buddy Chris Towers he is on the 10-day IL himself with an illness that's why he hasn't been here so far this week so obviously we send him our best and if you follow Chris on X or blue sky send him some wishes you know keep those spirits up it's been a it's been a weird couple weeks and months here for Chris so uh looking forward to getting him back

Let's rank some relievers here, Scott. And I think the two that stand out to me right now are Riley O'Brien with the Cardinals and Jacob Junis with the Rangers. So Riley O'Brien got the 10th inning here on Tuesday night, two-run lead. He allowed an unearned run, the Manford Man on second base, but struck out two for his third save.

And he has each of the last three saves for the Cardinals. 55% rostered is Riley O'Brien. Would you rank him, Would you take him ahead of any of Ursaig, Paul Seawald, and Jordan Romano? Or is he behind that group? I think he's behind that group. We've seen Seawald be a little shaky lately, so closing in on all three, but especially Seawald's close call between him and O'Brien.

But O'Brien looks like the guy, and he basically was at the end of last season, too. So he probably should have been the favorite coming in. He was initially, missed some time early in spring training with an injury. And then there were there were those reports talking up Matt Svonson a bit. And Svonson ended up leapfrogging O'Brien late in draft prep season. He was getting taken earlier. But, you know, O'Brien, last three appearances have all been for a save, right? I'm not sure if each appearance has been, but he has each of their last three saves.

Yeah. There might have been another one in there, but yeah. He's been closing out games there. And he has looked like the most reliable reliever by far. So there was one that wasn't, but he pitched a scoreless ninth in a game that went to extra innings, which is typically it was a home game. So that is typically how you'd see a closer used.

So last four appearances, he's gotten the closer treatment. I think he's probably just the Cardinals closer. Yeah. Would you take him over names like Gregory Soto and Brian Abrae? Yeah. I'd tick O'Brien over both of the. those. Let's talk about the Rangers and let's make it two for two with Jacob Judas who got the

ninth inning with a one run lead. He allowed two hits but picked up his second save. Jacob Junis is 3% rostered and look saves on back-to-back knights in an ambiguous Rangers bullpen here. Scott, would you take Junis over any or all of these names? Clayton Beater. Let's just say anybody in the Nationals bullpen, anyone in the Twins bullpen. Anyone in the Rockies bullpen, anyone in the A's bullpen? Would you take Junis over all of those? The fact you can't single out a player, a particular pitcher at any of those bullpins.

I guess Vaughtnick is the closer for the Rockies, but I guess, but. It's the Rockies. And it's Victor Bodnick. So, yes, Jacob Junis over all of them. It's gotten two saves in two days. I mean, maybe he won't get another save this year. but we've now seen Skip Schumacher doubled down on using him as a closer

and Junis has delivered. He's been delivering all season. He was a good reliever the previous two years for different teams. Unless we see him handled differently the rest of this week, I'm probably going to have to throw a truckload of fab dollars at him in Tau Wars because I don't have a healthy, save source in that league right now. Yeah, so the last two years here for Jacob Junis as a reliever, 283 ERA 104 whip, only 7.1K per 9, so it doesn't get lots of whiffs,

but a 104 whip has had really good control and not a lot of ground balls either, but it's not a lot of hard contact. So there's a lot of balls in play there, but he's made the most of that. again, that's Jacob Junis, who might be emerging as the Rangers closer. Scott, would you drop Robert Garcia for Jacob Junis? Would you drop him for Riley O'Brien? I would drop Robert Garcia for either of those. O'Brien easily, but Junis, I mean, was Junis getting the saves and not Garcia?

So at the very least, they're on equal footing there in that bullpen if it is going to be a lefty-righty thing. But I got to give Junis the edge over Garcia right now. All right. Let's take our final break. When we return, what if, let's dream on some upside scenarios. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. What if Wednesday?

Let's dream a little bit. Open up our minds to the possibilities that Jacob Miziarowski can succeed even with a walk rate this high. At the Red Sox, five in the third innings, three runs, 10 strikeouts, four walks in this one, had 16 whiffs on 101 pitches. And so far through three starts, 15K per nine, five walks per nine. And I know what your answer is going to be, Scott. And it should be,

because this is the exception, not the rule. But Blake Snell won the Sigh-Young in 2023 with five walks per nine. So what if the Miz can pull this off? How does this game work? I don't know. How am I answering this question? You just, I don't know, you tell me how crazy it is.

What if? Can it happen? What do you think? Can it happen? I would bet against it, which is the obvious answer. Can he improve his walk rate? That, that I think is a question also worth asking. And if he does, then it makes it a lot more likely because that is the big blemish here.

Now, I like that even with the walks he's been issuing, he's still managed to deliver five plus innings across all three of his starts, which is not something you can say for every pitcher this early in the year. But it does put a pretty hard cap on how deep he can go into games once maybe some of those other pitchers start going deeper because you just look at the pitch counts with each of his starts. He hasn't reached 100 yet, but he's been getting close. And that's not something you see a lot.

in early April. But he's got great stuff. He's missing a ton of bats. He's delivered three promising starts. His career started with five great starts last year, and the wheels kind of came off from there. So it's not definitive that Miz Yarowski is a fixture in your lineup all season long, but couldn't imagine benching him right now.

Yeah. And I love the fact that they're just, they're letting him go too. He's thrown 94 plus pitches in all three starts here. Again, that is Jacob Mizirowski. Let's talk about Gunner Henderson. He went two for four with his fourth home run. He has homered in three of his last five games. Strikeout rate is high to start the season, 31%.

But what if he has a career high pulled air percentage. Right now, 33% for Gunner Henderson, and it has never been higher than 15.8% in a single season before. So I'm not saying he's going to maintain this level, Scott. But if Gunner Henderson can maintain a 20 plus percent pulled air rate, we might get

a career high home run season here out of Gunner Henderson. Yeah, it would be hard not to if he improves his pull air rate that much unless he trades off contact quality or something like that, which so far he has. Actually, his exit velocities are trailing his norms by quite a bit.

And yet he already has four home runs, which shows you how important pulling the ball is. I would expect the exit velocities to get back to normal. And most likely the polar rate does. But in this exercise, what if the pull air rate remains very high, he might be a 40 homer guy. He's probably an MVP candidate.

I mean, it's not a stretch. He hit 37 home runs in 2024. So it wouldn't take much to get him to 40. But obviously, it would be a big step up from the 17. he hit last year, which I think we all knew was lower than we should expect. Yeah, as he played through

multiple injuries last year again, that was Gunner Henderson. Let's talk about CJ Abrams, who is off to an awesome start here, two for four with a walk RBI, two more steals. He is batting over 300 so far, four homers,

14 RBI, four steals, OPS up over 1,000. The plate discipline looks pretty good, and he's another one. 32% pull air rate early on in the season. Scott, what if CJ Abrams avoids that two months slump that we get every season out of him? Well, if he does that,

then we're probably drafting him at the round two, three turn next year. Because he's probably a 20, maybe even 25, Homer 40 steel guy. Yeah. whose batting average is higher than we've ever seen it be before, maybe 270, maybe higher, if he avoids that slump. It would be nice. I don't think it's going to happen because I think we're going on four years of him following the same basic pattern and ending up with the same basic numbers. It's been three years in a row.

So probably that's just who he is, but what if? Yeah. What if? What if? I think I'm starting to get the game, Frank. Let's talk about Gavin Williams, Scott, one of your boys here. Up and down, start against the Royals, five and two thirds innings, one run. Five walks, but eight strikeouts here.

It was insanely cold. It was so cold that they had to move this game from a night game to a day game. So it was really, really cold in Cleveland here. I get that. But what if Gavin Williams could just throw strikes more consistently, Scott? what would happen then? Well, we kind of got a glimpse of this because that's what happened down the stretch last year.

Let me see if I can pull up the numbers. I got to type and talk at the same time, which means I have to think of two separate sets of sentences in my head simultaneously, which is hard to do. But I think I may have pulled it off here. So final five, starts last year. He threw 66% of his pitches for strikes versus 61% previously. 66% is a good rate. 61 is bad rate. 174 ERA 10611 K per 9. I mean, even if you just want to look

in the second half, 218, ERA 105 whip 10K per 9. And do you have his strike percentage for the second half? Not for the second half. I have to imagine it was better than the first half, though. I'm sure it was, it wasn't as good as 66%, but I'm sure it was better than 61. But I don't think I'm going to find it quickly enough to satisfy a live audience. That's all good. I mean, that's what we're looking for, right? That is just the reminder. And again, a lot of these scenarios, not the most likely scenario.

In fact, they are one of the less likely scenarios to happen here. But on the off chance that, man, if Gavin Williams can recapture that form from the final five starts and throw strikes consistently, I mean, we could get a top 20 SP season out of Gavin Williams. I mean, that is the upside that he possesses. It's just the lack of consistency, which Chris and I talked about quite a bit last week for Gavin Williams. Oh, you may have gillabustered enough. Let's see. Let's see. Uh-oh. No, actually, I don't know how to look it up on this site. Strike percentage I get from baseball reference, but their compiler has not been working,

at least on the minor league side where you can see percentages like strike percentage. It sounds weird, I know, but if you look up like a major league player on the minor league game log and you do start date, finish date, it'll give you different numbers than it does on the major league side,

but it hasn't been working lately, so maybe it doesn't do that anymore, which would be very sad. Let's talk about Christian Walker, who continues his strong start, one for four with his third homer. He is batting 326 early on, 13 homers and OPS over 1,000. And really good play discipline. 14% strikeout rate, hitting the ball really hard, lots of barrels.

What if Christian Walker is this year's George Springer. Boom. That would be cool. Wish I had him in some leagues. That's one of those what-if. that I'm not I'm not sure how to answer but it would be cool. It wouldn't be, I'm like he's not going to be next year's George Springer.

Like that's, yeah, he would have to be. He's never, he's never been as good as George Springer was at his best and what George Springer was able to get back to by just swinging at max effort more consistently. I wonder if Walker's doing that. I know how to look that up now. You want a filibuster again? So I will just let people...

I don't have to do that. Walker is obviously worth using right now. He's 35 and it may not last all season. But there's enough of a history of success, including a pretty good second half last year, that you can have optimism. And for the reasons that I and many other people we're excited about Christian Walker last year is that Houston should be a great place for him to play, right?

I mean, they have that short porch and left field and when everyone's healthy, when Alvarez is in that lineup, it's actually a really, really good top half of lineup. So we could get a nice little bounce back season here from Christian Walker. Jordan Walker. Great job of filibustering, Frank. I will tell you that Christian Walker's fast swing rate, percentage of swing 75 miles per hour or harder, is higher than last year. However, it tanked like it cratered last year. It's not, it's not quite back to 20,

23, 2024 levels that fast swing rate, but it is higher than last year. It's a good sign. All right. Never has the word filibuster been used more in a fantasy baseball podcast.

From one Walker to another, from Christian to Jordan, another one, his fourth home run of the season and two hard hits in this game. The home run was 109.1 exit velocity to the opposite field. Jordan Walker has,

three homers in his past four games. Still 73% roster. I mean, we got to get that number closer to 100%. We've talked about him a lot lately. He is putting the ball in the air 62.5% of the time. His career is 52.7%. So that's combined line drives and fly balls, right?

Correct. Because normally we talk about it in terms of fly balls. So what if Jordan Walker can maintain this air race? over 60% this season. It's not just about elevating. It is also pulling, which he hasn't been doing much, but he's hit the ball so hard

that maybe he doesn't have to. I almost find it encouraging, Scott, that he has hit four home runs with a 4% pulled air rate. Like, at some point, he is going to pull some fly balls in the air. And what happens then, you know? Yeah.

He's got to keep the strikeouts under control also, but... I mean, we've talked about him a lot the past couple days, how high the upside is, how he needs to be rostered. And he's only added two home runs since we started talking about it. So, you know, this was this was the prospect. Everybody was excited about. Everybody was hoping would make the opening day roster back in 20, 23. And he actually did.

But it's been a rough ride since then. only 23 made some swing changes in spring training it would not be at all far-fetched if he keeps doing this for him to be a 30-plus homer guy and a must-start outfielder in fantasy yeah i remember that spring training when he had that i think it was three homer game and uh i was down in florida for first pitch florida and like just there with all the fantasy people and everyone was just losing their minds about Jordan Walker. It was so fun. So I'm root for him.

I hope he comes through. Last one here, Robbie Ray had a strong start against the Philly, six and two-thirds, shutout innings with seven strikeouts here. And what if he just faded down the stretch last year? And that's why he finished so poorly. His first 24 starts last season, Robbie Ray, a 285 ERA 113-1-13 whip 9.4K per night.

So Scott, what if Robbie Ray just faded and now he's a little bit more built up and he's just, he's going to be good all year. Then I was wrong to call him a bust and he'll probably be must start in fantasy. The whips will probably still run high. The ERA probably won't be amazing, but it'll be good enough for the amount of strikeouts he gives you and the kind of volume he gives you. All right. That was our What-F Wednesday. I actually thought it was pretty fun. So we'll see what we could do on future episodes.

We'll also work in some more Worryometers. But you know what? It's too early in the C-Sid for the Worryometer. I know people are losing their minds. I get messages every day like, Austin Riley, I'm going to drop him. Why can't he hit? It's like, we're 10 days.

We're like, whatever. We're almost two weeks into the season now. But man, it is a six-month season. So we've just got to let this play out a little bit longer. Let's get it to the rest of Tuesday's. Scott, I have some deeper names here to watch that I was kind of intrigued by what they did here on Tuesday. So that includes Alex Freeland with the Dodgers, Javier Assad with the Cubs, who we spoke about earlier. Josh Bell with the Twins was off to a nice start.

His pulled air rate 37% this early in the season. Look, Kyle Freeland, I know it's like Kyle Freeland has this thing every year where he has like a three-star stretch where he looks okay. But he looked really good here, so I'll just mention the name. And Ahmed Rosario had two home runs here for the Yankees. AL only for now, but like, if Ryan McMahon continues to hit 100, Ahmed Rosario might legitimately just get more playing time. So very deep league names, Scott. Any standout to you, anything here, Alex Freeland, Javier Assad,

Josh Bell, Kyle Freeland, and Ahmed Rosario. I mean, Josh Bell can be useful for stretches. He usually has one good half, first or second. Corner infields. Seems pretty strong for like a 12. 12-team context. It gets thinner in a 15-team context, and maybe Bell would be somebody to look into their only 17% rostered.

Alex Freeland is, you know, a prospect of some note, and the Dodgers are relying on him a lot. He hasn't shown that he can control the strikeouts enough as a major leaguer to really amount to anything. it was 36% during his time last year, it's 33% now. That's not going to be good enough. He doesn't have enough power. But there's some pop here.

There's a little bit of everything here, including getting on base a lot with the walks. So if he hits enough, if he can bring that strikeout rate down to size as much as the Dodgers are having to rely on Alex Freeland, then he'll matter. It's a big if, though. Yeah, I am intrigued here by Freeland.

He had a single off of Gosman in this game 106.8 exit velocity and it's a small sample but his core skills plate discipline-wise and like quality of contact look really good early on.

He's hitting the ball hard, barrels are there, he does not chase pitches outside the strike zone. Zone contact, swinging strike rate. It all looks really good. So in deeper leagues I am keeping an eye on

or maybe even adding Alex Freeland based on what he has done so far here. some interesting statcast buys right now Scott just you know again I was doodling earlier today and some things that stood out to me four names that have been unlucky so far based on statcast Colt Keith

Max Muncie of the Dodgers Michael Harris and Alec Berluson obviously those other three Muncie Harris and Berluson those would have to probably be like via trade but what do you make of Colt Keith so far he is hitting the ball extremely hard even his sprint speed is like 89th percentile. So I'm like, who is this Colt Keith?

57% roster. What do you think with Colt Keith so far? He entered today batting 353. No home runs yet, but I... I didn't realize he was batting average. Yeah, I keep... So he was among my sleeper hitters for the second straight week in part

because the tigers are facing so many right handers, but also in part, he's one of the biggest bat speed gainers this year, about three miles per hour. And average exit velocity is, we're seeing a clear increase there too. And fast swing rate, let's talk up that stat again. It's triple this year, what it was last year. Colt Keith looks like one of those guys.

And this happens, I think, to young players, especially. It happened to George Springer late in his career. But it happens a lot of times to young players. They come up and, rather than looking to do damage, they're looking not to mess up. And so they don't swing as hard as they can as often as they can. And looking at that fast swing rate for Colkeith,

it was 10% last year, 14% as a rookie. That's terrible. It's over 30% so far this year. So that's a good sign. I don't know how sticky that is after only a week. I'm sure it's as susceptible to regression as anything else, but it's, well, not as anything else. It's probably less susceptible to regression than many things.

Just not definitive yet. Good sign, though. I think Colkeith could be starting to live up to his potential. One of our stat cast, standout, I just wanted to mention here, entering Tuesday, Freddie Freeman led baseball with nine barrels, and just insane batted ball and expected stats early on here. So Freddie Freeman, we might get, you know, that,

bounce back fully healthy season here from Freddie Freeman. Some other waiver wire hitters, more shallow league names we mentioned yesterday, Carter Jensen, back-to-back days with a homer for him. Good, let's move past this disciplinary action that we got with Carter Jensen, but he is 62% rostered, just a name in one catcher leagues, let's say if you lost Alejandro Kirk. Mickey Moniac, I wanted to mention him again. He has three home runs in his first five games, and he's 85, percent rostered on CBS, so this doesn't matter for those who play on CBS. But only 13% on Yahoo. And Mickey Moniac's best format is head-to-head categories daily lineup leaks. So. Which is Yahoo's predominant format. Exactly. So finish connecting those dots.

I understand it's like only three outfielders and there's two utility spots there. So it's a shallower roster size, but play him when he's at home in course field against the right-handed pitcher. And I think a lot of times good things will. happen for Mickey Moniac. So I think he's over-roastered in CBS leagues, but under-rosted in Yahoo. I think he's, I think he's a good hitter. Yeah. He just, you can only start him in those particular circumstances.

And then Moises by Esteros had himself a big game here, two-for-four with his first home run. He had four hard hits in this game. And his playing time has been weird. He started the first five games. They were all against Ritey's. Then he sat out the next five games. Four of those were against lefties.

One was against the righty. He still didn't play. Only 34% rostered. Util only. And Seya Suzuki is returning this weekend. Matt Shaw has actually played pretty well early on. So I just, I don't really see how all the pieces are going to fit here for like, Biasteros and Shaw mattering for fantasy, I guess.

Right. Part of the reason, part of the reason Biesteros was sitting was so they could get Miguel Amaya. in the lineup in addition to Carson Kelly. And it seems like, at least against the left-handers, that's something the Cubs are looking to do. And I mean, if they have to send somebody down, you have by Astero's who they don't really trust to play anywhere on the diamond, he could fill in a catcher, he could fill in at first base.

but that, you know, they got enough catchers as it is in first base. How often do you need a backup first base? Most anyone can play there. It's not crazy to think by Astero's could get sent down, have him keep developing as a catcher. If you're not going to play him that regularly anyway, maybe he had a big game here, and that'll be enough for them to say,

yeah, we've got to just start playing this guy more again. But if not, it wouldn't surprise me if By Astero's got sent him. down. All right. Next up here, we've got some hitting leftovers. PCA, Pete Crow Armstrong, is on the board. Three for five with a sock into shoe, his first home run, his fourth steal of the season. First multi-hit game here for Connor Griffin. He went two for four with two RBI, three hard hits in this game, including a single that was 113.2 exit velocity for Connor Griffin. Reminder, he's 19 years old, and he's hitting the ball 113 miles per hour. It's pretty good.

I am telling you to keep the faith on Matt McLean. I know I mentioned this recently, but he's hitting the ball really hard early on. The results weren't there, but two for five with two doubles, two RBI, and his second stolen base, he has multiple hits in three of his last five games. J.J. Weatherhold continues his solid start,

one for five, with a double walk, run, RBI, and his third stolen base. James Wood, he's waking up here. He has homered in three straight. he had a sock in a shoe, his fourth homer, his first steel, and he's hitting the ball really, really hard early on, and slowly getting that strikeout rate down, which we like to see. Brendan Donovan, also off to a great start with the Mariners,

two for four with a walk, and his third home run early on here in the season. Let's talk some pitching left over, Scott, and they are human after all. Terrick Scuba, Kevin Gosman, and Cam Schlittler. Actually, Scoobel surprisingly had the worst start of all, and he was at the Twins, which was the best matchup of all. But all of them, you know, took a little bit of a step back here. Not worried, but was there anything that stood out to you on Scoobel, Gosman, or Cam Schlittler? No, nothing actually concerning for any of them.

Schlittler's velocity was down about a mile per hour, but he was pitching in like 40 degrees. There were a lot of cold weather games and a lot of velocities were down as a result of that. But, you know, Schlitler still struck out seven and walked nobody in five innings. Had 15 whiffs on 84. Like, to me, that's a good start. I understand it was less than a quality start technically, and it raised his ERA. But he looked good as far as I'm concerned. And Scoobel, yeah, it was weird that he had such a, like, he legitimately had a rough start.

And it was against the twins of all teams. Still had 19 whiffs on 95 pitches. He had just one really bad. inning where everything spiraled for him. That's, yeah, that, I mean, that tracks because only four hard hit balls for giving up eight hits, average eggs of velocity, 83 miles per hour. I think it was just a weird start for Scoobol and nothing to worry about there. One thing I wanted to point out with Cam Schlittler, his ground ball rate through three starts,

50%. Last year was only 36%. So we know he's really just using these three fastballs a lot. the four seam, the cutter, and the sinker. If he is now blending the ability to get whiffs with a 50% ground ball rate, we might have an ace on our hands here with Cam Schlutler. Aces being aces. Paul Skeens had his best start yet against the Padre.

Six and a third innings, one run, six strikeouts. Garrett Crochet, a quality start against the Brewers, six and a third, two runs, seven strikeouts for him. Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a strong start in Toronto, six plus innings, one run. six strikeouts, and George Kirby took a tough loss here at the Rangers. Eight innings, three runs, four strikeouts to zero walks. Scott, anything here on Kirby, Yamamoto, Garrykrochet, and Paul Skeens. Sure, people who invested in Garrett Crochet are breathing a little bit of a sigh of relief here after this performance.

and I think they should. I think he's good. I think he'll live up to their expectations. Kirby is the one I'm the least sure about of these four. The whiffs have been sorely lacking across all three starts. The overall results have been fine. But it does make me wonder if that'll continue to be the case if he's not missing bats at the rate we're used to seeing him do that.

And obviously he's coming off a down season. So I'm not convinced we're seeing Kirby get back on track here. Oh, you know what I haven't looked up is his arm angle because I know that was part of the problem last year, the way it was slipping and the data was lacking on that after his first start. We do have it now, Scott. You know what? He's come most of the way to raising it to,

pre-2025 levels. Not all the way, but most of the way. So his 34-degree arm angle so far this season, Kirby, is the same as it was in 2022 when he was very good. Yeah. So that's nice to see, but we're not seeing the impact on the individual pitches, the way they're performing. So the jury's still very much out.

Obviously, he's worth using. He just gave you eight strong innings against the range. Hard luck loss. But the jury's still out. Yeah, I agree completely. I have Kirby in a few spots. Don't love that he hasn't been getting whiffs. And 13 hard hits allowed in this game,

92.3 average exit velocity. So at some point, we do need to see more whiffs for Kirby. And with Garrett Crochet, I thought it was encouraging his fastball, had two more inches of induced vertical break here, which is something that was lacking in his first couple starts. So 17 inches versus 15 here for crochet. That was a good sign for his fastball. Very good pitchers being very good.

Trevor Rogers, a quality start at the White Sox. Six innings, two runs, six strikeouts to zero walks. Nathan Evaldi, finally, back on track, turned in his first quality start. Six innings, two runs, seven strikeouts. 22 whiffs on 93 pitches. Nick Povetta, a solid start at the Pirates, five innings, two runs, eight strikeouts to one walk.

Scott, anything here on Pavetta, Avaldi, and Trevor Rogers. Trevor Rogers has now started the year with three really good starts. And he gave up four walks in the first one, but it combined one sense. So it doesn't seem like that's anything to worry about. He's looking like he picked up where he left off. I'd be very excited if I drafted him. Povetta and Avaldi have had some bumps so far this year, but it seems like they, I mean, two starts in a row now for Pavetta that have been good.

And Avaldi, hopefully, he's getting back on track too. All right, moving on here. I do have a couple of their pitching leftovers. What happened to Christopher Sanchez? He had a bit of a rough outing here, not terrible, but at the Giants five. innings, 11 hits, four runs, two of those earned, six strikeouts, 16 whiffs on 92 pitches. Scott, would you see here from Christopher Sanchez? 11 hits over five innings.

Yeah, still got a ton of whiffs. You know, previous start, there were a lot of walks, so you got a lot of walks, followed by a lot of hits, the whip is rising. I think it's just early season noise. The stuff still looks good for Sanchez. We know what he can do. Don't flip out over it. Yep.

Moving on, a couple other pitching leftovers here. We had Noah Cameron pitched well at the Guardians. Zach Gallen struggled with walks. He had four walks against the Mets, but it was like 40 degrees there. Freddie Peralta, he was, he entered the fifth inning with, you know, four shutout innings, and then left the game with the bases loaded, and the reliever allowed all three runs to come in and score, which pretty much jacked up Freddie Peralta's line there.

And Andrew Abbott was okay. at the Marlins, five and a third, two runs, two strikeouts there. Scott, anything that stood out for Abbott, Peralta, Gallen, and Noah Cameron. A gallon probably raises the most concerns, just given the stage he's at in his career, how he was valued coming into the year. And the velocity increase was a big part of the optimism, big reason for the optimism. You may notice, pitches were down across the board, fastball down 1.2 miles per hour. But as you point out, it was not as cold as some.

parks, but still 50 degrees. That's not baseball weather. You're not going to have the same feel for the ball. It's not surprising to see his velocity down in that temperature. One of their name just to watch here. Shane Smith, he did look better. He had eight strikeouts, 17 whiffs on 99 pitches, but also five walks and just threw 58% of his pitches for strikes.

So I would be willing to drop Shane Smith for, you know, Soriano and Taj Bradley, but if you held on in a deeper league or if someone else dropped him, just something to watch after this stuff. Yeah, like he obviously can't walk five batters in any start, much less a short one like this. So he's got to get past that.

But we're seeing, the curveball was back. The curveball had been missing in his first two starts. That is his best width pitch, 48% whiff rate last year, which is incredible. And part of the reason he has, such a big second half is because he increased his usage of that curveball. Usage was way down on his first two starts. It wasn't getting whiffs at nearly the same rate.

It picked up three additional inches of drop in this start. So I think Smith has his best pitch now and hopefully better times are ahead. But the walks are a separate concern. All right. Let's wrap up here. The call to the bullpen. A couple other bullpen updates for the Orioles. Ryan Helsley struck out two for his fourth save for the Red Sox.

Aroldus Chapman picked up his third save. For the Dodgers, Edwin Diaz, allowed two base runners, but struck out three for his fourth save. David Bednar picked up his fifth save, his early league leading fifth save of the season. For the debacks, Paul Seawald got the bottom of the 10th inning with the game tied and the Manfred Man on second base. He gave up a walk-off single and took the loss.

For the Marlins. Yeah, that's tough for Seawald. I said he's been shaky lately. All that happened was the 11th. allowed a hit in this outing. It was the Manfred man that got him. For the Marlins, Anthony Bender relieved Sandy Alcantara in the ninth inning with two runners on. He allowed both to score. He took the blown save. Of course, Pete Fairbanks is on paternity leave right now. For the athletics, Mark Leader Jr. came on in the eighth inning with a two-run lead. He was charged with four runs on four hits,

took his second blown save. And I am like 95% sure that he's just bad. So he shouldn't matter for fantasy and I don't know who should in the A's bullpen but Justin Sterner threw two shutout innings in this game so maybe it's him for the twins Cole Sands came on with one out in the eighth a three-run lead he got one out he walked the next two he was relieved by Eric Orsay I meant to look up how to say his name but I don't know I say it so we'll go with Orsay he got out of the inning orsay started the ninth and then he gave up a run on two hits and he was relieved by Justin Topa, who got the final two outs for his first save. So the Twins bullpen Scott feels like a mess for a bad team.

So I'm not sure if you have anything else to add on that. Yeah, I had enthusiasm for Cole Sands when he picked up that first save because I do think he's their best reliever, but he hasn't been used like a closer since then. If anything, Justin Topa seems to be emerging as the top choice there, but even then not consistently. For the Giants, Ryan Walker came on with two outs in the seventh inning, two runners on and a four run lead. He got out of it. He went on to record the next four outs. Keaton Win is the one who closed the game with a six run lead. We haven't seen a save opportunity in a while for the Giants. I don't know who it's going to go to. It was a six run lead, but it was four runs

heading into the bottom of the 8th, which isn't a safe situation, Buzz, pretty close. It's close enough that if the guy, if the closers rested, a manager's probably going to use him. And obviously, he's pretty much,

the manager's pretty much committed to what reliever he wants to use in the 9th once you get into the bottom of the 8th. So Giants happen to tack on a couple more runs, made it more lopsided, Keaton Wynn came in. He's been used in high leverage roles. I picked him up in TOW Wars

where again I'm desperate for saves. Not a bad speculative. of ad in leagues where saves are scarce. And for the Braves, Reisel Oglacias got the final five outs of that game for his second save of the season. To stream or not to stream on Wednesday, we have Will Warren against the Athletics,

Mitch Keller against the Padres, Joey Cantillo against the Royals, Grant Holmes at the Angels, Reed Detmer's against the Braves, and Joe Boyle, home against the Cubs. Man, I feel like I've been addressing this slate for three days in a row at this point. Grant Holmes taking advantage of those strikeout prone angels.

Hopefully no haymakers are thrown. Will Warren against the athletics who are also strikeout prone. And finally, I don't mind Joey Cantillo or read Detmer's. I think I'd lean Detmer's there, but either one is fine. Yep, that's the same way I'm going. Grant Holmes, Will Warren, and read Detmer's. On Thursday, Rett Louder at the Marlins, Max Meyer against the Reds, Jeffrey Springs at the Yankees, Mick Abel against the Tigers,

Eduardo Rodriguez at the Mets, and Randy Vasquez against the Rockies in San Diego. So my first choice is Red Louder at Miami. But I don't mind that Randy Vasquez against the Road Rockies. Yeah. I would go louder, Vasquez, Meyer. Meyer is a distant third for me. I don't think I

don't think I would actually use Meyer. Louder and Vasquez, if I was big on streaming, I could see actually using. I think that game is like a 12.30 start time and I don't have any statistical evidence to back this up, so it's all anecdotal.

But I feel like whenever the game start that early, it just favors the pitchers for whatever reason, right? It's like, I don't know, the hitters are just like all kind of lagging behind from the night before or whatever it might be. So I'm okay. It makes Meyer. It makes sense.

Yeah. Like just reasoning through it, but I don't know. I don't have to add on that either. Me either. Chris would. Come back soon. We are going to wrap there. For Scott, I am Frank, thanks as always for tuning in to 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.