Fantasy Baseball Today - Verlander Keeps Cruising, Tatis Update & Did You Know? (8/24 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 24, 2022

Justin Verlander just keeps crushing (1:25). ... Add Donovan Solano or Evan Longoria in deeper leagues (6:18)? ... Fernando Tatis announced he will have shoulder surgery (11:12). How does that affect his 2023 draft stock? ... Jorge Mateo needs to be rostered in H2H points leagues (15:48). ... Ross Stripling had another strong start (26:30). ... Any concern over Dylan Cease or Corbin Burnes (28:15)? ... News (34:42): Walker Buehler just had his second Tommy John surgery. ... Did you know CJ Cron has cooled off and Christian Walker is on fire (41:55)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (47:35). Do you want to join Fantasy Baseball Today podcast as a guest? You can bid on it with all proceeds going to St. Jude's Children's Hospital here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/374225470953 Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get 20% off Fantasy Baseball Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question, email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your lead. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. What's up and welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Wednesday, August 24th. Frank Stamphill joined by Scott White. Today on the show, Justin Verlander just keeps on crushing it right now.

an update on Fernando Tatis Jr. Will that change how we feel about him next year? Probably, I don't know, let's find out. And then I do have some random stats. Did you know, some fun things, but we will get into it. Let's jump in. Oh my goodness gracious!

All right, oh my goodness gracious. Scott has a very obscure player, so I'm gonna save him for a second. Not the breadstick today, because there wasn't a bread stick, basically. I like to go, you know, totally off board when there isn't somebody just screaming, when there isn't somebody who legitimately said,

oh my goodness gracious, but we'll let you go first. Yeah, I think Justin Verlander is that player from Tuesday's action, but it's, you know, what are we going to say about Justin Verlander at this point, right? He's been amazing all season long. He actually threw six perfect endings here on Tuesday on just 91 pitches, but he was pulled after those 91 pitches, which I thought was interesting.

He had 10 strikeouts to zero walks, of course, 13 swinging strikes on those 91 pitches. I think he gave up one hard hit ball in this game. His average exit velocity against was 80 miles per hour. Just keeps on crushing it. He has gone six plus in 10 straight starts, and his 19 quality starts are tied for second most in Major League Baseball with Max Reed. Of course, the only pitcher ahead of both of them are is Sandy O'Contara. And you know, Scott, just watching this start, Verlander seemed a little extra motivated. I don't know if you've been following the active strikeout leaderboard in MLB history,

but it's basically him and Scherzer going back and forth now for, I guess that would be 12th and 13th place all time. So it's like one guy makes the start, he jumps ahead of the other. The other guy makes the start, he jumps ahead of him. So yeah. Verlander, he seemed a little bit extra motivated today. but he was pulled after six perfect innings, which I think we're going to start to see more of that here down the stretch, Scotty,

because endings are starting to add up now, especially for Verlander who didn't pitch last year. Tony Gonsland's another one who I noticed. He was pulled after 77 pitches, only five innings pitched here on Tuesday night. And I think at this point in the season, we're going to start to see more of that. Regardless, I mean, Justin Verlander's a top five pitcher for fantasy.

Yeah, so he's at, let's see, 149 innings now. Let me see if I can find this real quick. I believe the record for the first year after Tommy John's surgery for innings in a season is... Was it Matt Harvey? It was Matt Harvey, right? I think so, yeah.

You find the exact number of innings that he had. Should have had this ready to go if I had no idea I was going to talk about it. Okay, so 189 and a third is what he threw. in his first year back from Tommy John's surgery. So that would mean Justin Verlander's not on pace to set that record, is he? He might be close. Yeah, it's going to be close. I'm just wondering because I predicted he would set the record.

I kind of figured at this stage of his career and, you know, obviously the Astros playing for what they're playing for, that they just throw caution to the wind. Wow. He'd be fine with it because he's 39. Yeah. And not worry so much about the long-term ramifications of just piling on the innings right after Tommy John's surgery. And I would say that's pretty much played out so far. He may not technically set the record, but when's the last time he didn't throw six in a start?

It was June 18th. Yeah. But that's one of three starts all year where he didn't go at least six. It's crazy. Yeah, 10 starts in a row. where he's got six plus endings. So, if my basic math is correct here, Justin Verlander,

if he makes, let's just assume he makes 32 starts, right? You know, typically in a full season, you'll make 33 or 34. Maybe they skip them somewhere and, you know, space them out a little bit.

If he makes 32 starts, he is on pace for 207 and a third innings pitch, Scott. Oh, man. That talking and doing math, apparently, is my strongest. He's like, okay. Okay, so he is on pace

to break it by quite a bit. Okay. I mean, there is definitely a chance that I am doing the math incorrectly here, but yeah, 149 divided by 23, and if I times that by 32, then I get 207. 207.2, which technically 207 and a third. So does he have time to make nine starts, nine more starts? Is there enough season left? There's only six weeks left in the season.

Six weeks left, you imagine at least one of those will be a two-start week. Yeah, he'll probably make eight starts. Yeah. So yeah. Okay. Either way. Yeah, I'm, he's on pace for over 200, right? So we've devoted five minutes here at the top of the show to whether or not Justin Verlander is going to set a record for innings after Tommy John surgery. So sorry about that. It was just totally spur of the moment. I know that there's a feature out about him right now on the athletic about how there is a lot of reflection time during, you know, recovery from Tommy John. So it seems to be a different person, a different pitcher. And, and, you know, Yeah, I mean, he is doing it differently than he has in the past. Either way, Verlander's awesome. And we'll have all offseason to kind of talk about, like, how we feel about him next year coming off, you know, throwing off all these many innings. But obviously, that doesn't really matter right now.

Scott, oh, my goodness gracious for you from Tuesday. All right, here's the guy. You ready? I'm ready. Donovan Salonovan. Actually, it's just, it's Donovan Solano is the actual name. Who's that? Who is that?

Come on. So, right now, he's the Reds, primary DH, also seeing time at second and third base. And that's part of the calculation here. Those are two-week positions, very difficult positions to fill. But Solano, since entering the lineup in mid-June, has filled it quite well. He had a three-hit game here on Tuesday. It was his third three-hit game in his last four games,

bringing his batting average to 3.30. and his OPS to 835. If 331 batting average, you know, normally would say, well, that's obviously unsustainable, but Solano has like a 33% line drive rate. He hits the ball to all fields. Since the start of the 2019 season, he's a 3-10 hitter. So, like, hitting for average is what he does.

And, you know, in the environment we're in right now, that's more, even more valuable that makes for, that carries more weight than in the power-laden environment of years past. Now, you look at the week-by-week breakdown for Donovan Solano and points legs. You're probably not that impressed. There have been reasons why he's been in and out of the lineup since joining the Reds. Most recently, he was, I think he was on paternity leave, I believe. Yeah, and so he missed a few games because of that

But given the current state of their offense Given how he's performing I think he's going to play virtually every day To close out the season Is he going to be a stud? No, it's mostly just batting average There's a lot of power there, there's not any speed there But again, being a good source of batting average makes you at least somewhat useful

particularly at two positions that are really weak. So if those are positions you've struggled to fill all season, particularly if your leagues on the deeper side, Donovan Solano, is being completely overlooked right now, only 4% rostered. Yes. So widely available. And again, for those in deeper leagues, deeper points leagues, I think makes a ton of sense for his skill set as well.

I did have a few deep league third baseman I wanted to ask you about later on, Scott. But since we're talking about good old Donovan Solano, I'll bring up a few of these names as well. Evan Longoria went two for four with his 12 homer, and in 12 games since returning from the IL, he's hitting 3.53, 3 homers, hitting the bowl really hard. 93 mile per hour, average exit velocity during that time.

The problem for him, he sits about every third game or so. You know, the Giants are pretty cautious with him at this point. And then Emmanuel Rivera with the Diamondbacks, he came over from the Royals, and he's quietly been pretty good with them. Back-to-back multi-hit games for him. And in 15 games with the debacks, he's hitting 296 with four homers and four doubles. He's 6% rostered.

Scott, how do you rank Longoria, Rivera, Donovan Solano in deeper leagues? You know, unless it's a categories league and specifically your biggest need is home runs, I think I do put Solano at the top of that group, especially factoring in Longoria and how often he says. I mean, neither of those guys, Longoria or Emmanuel Rivera are everyday players. You could argue Solano hasn't been either, but I think he has, he's most likely to get the most consistent playing time going forward. And I would say he's my choice. Longoria would be my second choice. It is good that he's begun impacting the ball well again since returning from the IL.

That was something he did really well last year. He was kind of a, kind of a stealthy. sleeper, deep sleeper coming into the year just because you look at that 94.1 mile per hour average, exe velocity for Longoria last year. And you think, oh, well, that could turn into big production.

It's gone down. And it wasn't even big production when he had it that high. So, you know, I just think Longoria is pretty fringy. Which isn't to say Solano isn't, but I'd rather have Solano. Yeah, I mean, we're talking about deep league corner infielers at this point.

And, you know, I think Longoria is going to be the best one on a per game basis, but, you know, the lack of volume, it, it's not ideal, especially when, if you're playing a points league, you need played appearances. And if you're playing in Roto, you might need counting stats at this point in the year. And, you know, the lack of playing time is going to hurt that. So, yeah, those are some deeply corner infillers if you need those. Let's talk about Fernando Tutsi, Scott. We talked about this recently. Obviously, the big news that, you know, the PED suspension is going to miss the rest of this season. And depending on, on if the Padres make the playoffs,

how deep they play into the playoffs. He's going to miss about the first month or so of next season as well. Now, Tatis met with the media here on Tuesday, and he apologized profusely. It seems sincere. Kind of feel bad for the guy, but then again, he did it to himself,

so it is what it is at this point. He announced that he will have the shoulder surgery that the Padres wanted him to have at the end of last season. So we do have an extra, I don't know if it's an extra, risk factor, but it is an extra factor. It's something that we have to consider.

So not only will he miss the first 30 or so games next year with suspension. He is returning from a wrist injury, which he suffered this past off season. He will be coming back from shoulder surgery, and he will not have appeared in a major league

baseball game in just over 19 months, Scott. So I put out a poll asking what's very early in the process, but where was you draft Hattis next year and the options were rounds one one and two rounds three to four rounds five to six or later than round six what do you think got the highest percentage of vote well I voted in the poll myself I said three to four okay and

that was what received the most that got about 37% of the vote the next closest was actually later than round six 23% but yeah I feel like whenever a poll is this well distributed it's a good poll because people actually have to think and and the responses are all over the place. So, uh, three, rounds three to four is the leader, but, you know, there was people that are saying he's completely off my board already. And then there's other people like, what are you talking about? He's for an endotatis. He should still be a second round pick. So yeah, I don't know. I think it's, he's going to be a really polarizing topic in the offseason. I don't want to be cavalier about surgery and particularly shoulder surgery, but I see this less

as an additional risk factor than the removal of a risk factor because like, I was, I was with the Padres coming off last season. I wanted to see him get it addressed surgically, and he chose not to. And so I thought, oh, great, this is going to be something that keeps popping up again. Because remember, in 2021, Fernando Tatis, three separate IL stints for that shoulder injury, and that shoulder's been bothering him dating back to his time in the minors. So, like, it needed to be addressed. And then you consider what the shoulder surgery actually is.

it is to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. He's a right-handed hitter. He's a right-handed thrower. That's the shoulder. That's the less important shoulder. You know, it's just like Josh Young, the big rangers prospect. He also tore the labrum in his left shoulder back in February,

returned to minor league action in August, I believe it was. So six months later, he's crushing it to AAA. I mean, it looks like exactly, the same guy. So I don't, you know, things can go wrong, obviously, in the course of rehabilitating from a surgery, but I think, I don't think, I don't think this is much reason for added pessimism. Like I said, that if, you know, we should know pretty early on how the recovery is going.

We should know, we should be well into, there should still be draft season left and we know, okay, his shoulder seems fine. and at that point it'll be the removal of a risk factor for Tatis. Yeah, I think right now, while the news is fresh, people, I think their first reaction is to be nervous about this, but if the news is positive, you know, leading up to spring training and even throughout spring training, I think we're going to start to see, you know, a lot of hype around Tatis. And it makes sense. I mean, even if he is, let's say, he's still so young.

It's like hard to, it's hard to actually. actually calculate how much these injuries matter for a player of his caliber. But even if he's like 80 to 90% of who he was before, that's still a superstar for fantasy. So just keep those things in mind. We'll talk about it all offseason. And remember how young he is. He's actually younger than Josh Young, who hasn't debuted in the majors. That is crazy.

Yeah. So just to put a number on it, Fernando Tati Jr. is 23 years old and we'll turn 24 January 2nd of next year. Let's get into some other waiver wire hitters from Tuesday's action. And I know we talk about Jorge Mateo a lot, Scott, but he is still pretty available on CBS. I would imagine a lot of these are points leagues, but the way that he is playing really over the past month or so, I feel like he needs to be rostered even in points leagues.

The strikeouts are down. He is hitting for a good amount of power. He's stealing bases still. He's getting on base. The Orioles are a pesky lineup. So there's been some counting stats there. He went one for three with an RBI, his 28th steel. 70% rostered Scott seems too low to me.

What do you think? Yeah, I mean, obviously the plate discipline is pretty awful for Mateo, even during this good stretch, which I always date back to July 10th. Or wait, do I go even further with it? Because July 10th, he's hitting well over 300. I think normally, what do I say? July 10th looks, of course these are always arbitrary endpoints, but it looks like that's about when he got hot. Yeah, there were a couple more home runs if you date it back to June 25th, and that's, you know, his, I think that's a more reasonable stat line you're looking at from that point.

So, so his slash line, not counting Tuesday's game, if you date it back to June 10th is 287, 339, 554, still really good. but in a way, you know, he's a 3.30 Babbitt during that stretch. So in a way, that seems more sustainable than if you just started at the hottest point. So let's use that as a starting point for Jorge Mateo. And let's see exactly how he's done in points leagues during that stretch. And then we don't just have to guess how valuable he is in that format. Let's see, this is when it would be nice to have a third person on. So I can look this up and the show can continue.

But anyway, okay, I think I got it here. Jorge Mateo. So dating back to June 25th, 305, 3.05 points per game. That's basically what Andres Jimenez has done during that stretch. It's a little better than Danesby Swanson has done during that stretch. It's certainly a starting caliber player, even in points leagues. So, yeah, I guess so. being dual eligible shortstop outfield.

He's probably pretty fringy in a points league, especially if you're talking about just nine hitters being started. But Jorge Mateo is, you could make the case he deserves to be rostered in more than 71% of leagues, sure. Absolutely, yeah. He is, you know, if nothing else, ride him while he's hot, right?

You know, and he's got multi-position eligibility. So I know it's a shallower format, but shortstop outfield kind of depends what you need, but throw him in there and he's playing really well right now. some of those third basement earlier. Let's get into some outfielders. Oscar Gonzalez, we talk about him a ton. He hit his fourth home run. I think he had another hit in that game as well, but he has, he's been really good all season long. Let's see. Oscar Gonzalez. No, he only had one hit. One for four with his fourth home run. He's batting over 300. He needs to be rostered in

more than 28% of leagues. I was going to include him in this group, but I think he's better than the rest of these names. So we're going to exclude Oscar Gonzalez. The other three, more deep league outfielders. And I see the YouTube chat talking about them, so they're definitely going to be interested. Manny Margoe went two for four with a double, a walk, three run score, two RBI. Massive game here.

He has started three of four games since returning for the raise. He's hitting $2.99 on the season. Three homers, five steals. He's only 27% rostered. Jake McCarthy, we've mentioned a few times recently. He's playing well. He went two for three with a double, an RBI, his 10th steal

in 65 games. And on the season, he's hitting 282 with a few times. the 772 OPS, 19% rostered, and the even deeper name, Gerard and Carnacion with the Marlins. He went two for four with an RBI, and he was having a good season in the minors.

He got 294 batting average, 22 homers, 868 OPS, and he's like a top 20-20-ish prospect in the Marlins organization. Not that they have the best farm system or anything, but I think it's worth noting. So what do you think about these three, more so for five outfielder leagues? Margo, McCarthy, Encarnacion with the Marlins.

Well, I'd rank them Margo, McCarthy, and Carnacian. And I think of the three, Margo has the best chance of becoming like 12 team relevant. For the most part, these are going to remain deeper league guys. McCarthy shows good plate discipline. I could see him hitting for average, getting on base at a good clip. But I don't see a lot of opportunity for power there, the kind that he'd need to make him himself, 12 team relevant, especially if he's not going to play quite every day. He plays most of the time, I guess, but, you know, they've had trouble getting both him

and Stone Garrett in the lineup at the same time. And I prefer a Garrett, frankly. Same. I started him in a deep league this week, and I saw he's been out of the lineup now for two of their last three games, which he didn't really do anything to deserve being bench. It's just the Diamondbacks kind of have a log jam right now. It's not like they're all great players. Right. And the thing is, like at some point, Corbyn Carroll, I think, is going to be up to. Yeah.

Speaking of Corbyn Carroll. He's going to play. So, Scott, I picked up Corbyn Carroll in the Tout Wars Head to Head Points League. And for those who don't know, Tout Wars, expert league, industry league, and there's a bunch of different formats I play in the Head to Head, Head, Points League. Scott is in the 15-team Roto League. when you add a player in Tout Wars,

you have to put him in your lineup the week that you add him. So I picked up Gordon Carroll knowing that I was just going to get a zero for this entire week, just on the chance that he gets called up in the next couple of weeks and that he's a potential league winner.

So yeah. Frank. Poor, poor innocent Frank. What, what I do? There are exceptions for play. If you pick up a player, yes, he does immediately go in your starting lineup. and if he's an active player, he has to stay there.

If he's not an active player, you can replace him midweek. Midweek. So on Friday? Once the week starts, you can replace him. Oh, all right. Well, that's good to know. I'll show you how I have to work.

To be totally fair, it's kind of a tough website that we play on. So I'm not even fully aware of every single one of the rules, but that's good to know. Thank you, Scott. You should be stashing Corby and Carroll. That's the whole point of this. I saw this tweet from Matt Eddie of Baseball America. He's their executive editor.

And he said, rumors of call-ups for elite prospects like Gunner Henderson and Corby and Carol are circulating because there are 44 days between today and October 5th, the final day of the MLB season. Calling players up now would preserve their rookie status for 2023 if they stay under 131 at bat. So within the next week or so, we could see both of these guys. Right. If you're going to call them up now and play them every day, they probably won't stay below 130 at bat. So it's more likely going to be when rosters expand in September. And that's not, you know, roster expansion isn't what it used to be. It used to be you could bring everybody up on the 40-man roster. Now it's just you could bring your roster from 26 players to 28. But, you know, when you factor in the at-bat issue and preserving rookie eligibility, specifically because

you want the chance at that bonus draft picks. If one of your top prospects for his rookie season is there from start to finish and then places high in certain awards voting in the years that follow, then you can get extra draft picks. And so I think that's going to create an incentive for teams to call their biggest prospects up in September like they did back in the good old days. so that they can get their feet wet and hit the ground running in the following year, improving their chances of remaining on the roster all season long.

And having a shot at rookie of the year. Yeah, and this is part of the new collective bargaining agreement. So this is really the first time that we're seeing this in action and how it's kind of affecting prospect call-ups and how they're planning to promote those players, you know, the following year as well. So if nothing else, like those guys will be up, I think, in September and then should, likely, hopefully, be up for all of next year. You know, guys like Corbyn Carroll and Connor Henderson.

And it specifically was to curb service time manipulation that we're used to seeing. I didn't think it would work. And I guess it still remains to be seen if it would work. I figured, well, an extra year of service time for what you know to be a great prospect is more valuable than a shot at somebody who could maybe become a good prospect. but I don't know. Apparently, based on the buzz, GMs don't see it the same way I do.

Yeah, but we'll see. Anyway, waiver wire hitters is wrapping up here. I do have a few deep league catchers. These are for two catcher leagues. Christian Betancourt has homered in three straight games. The problem is he just doesn't play very much, Scott. I'm not sure why the raise went out and traded for him if they weren't going to play him,

but Betancourt has just four starts in their last 10 games. And then Alias Diaz went two for four with his seventh homer. And over his last 19 games, he is hitting 309 with two homers, nine doubles, 16 RBI, hitting the ball really hard, making contact, putting it in the air. Really, everything you want to see, he's 22% rostered. Any interest in either one, Scott, in two catcher leagues? Yeah, in two catcher leagues. I mean, it's, why not? That's going pretty deep at that position.

I agree, Bethincourt, I wish he played more for the raise. his expected stats are even better than his real stats. In other words, stat cast suggests that he's underperformed this year, gives him an expected batting average of 262, an expected slug of 468. That'll play at catcher especially. And a pretty good strikeout rate, good exit velocity for Christian Bethincourt. So I'd like to see him play more, but it is what it is.

He appears to be their secondary catcher. All right. It was a very light night for Waverwired pitchers here on Tuesday. The biggest name was Ross Stripling now has back-to-back quality starts. Since coming off the IL, he was at the Red Sox, six innings, six hits, one run, one walk, six strikeouts in this one. He had 10 swinging strikes. And it was interesting, Scott. The CSW called strikes plus whiffs on his change-up was quite bad. I don't think he really had much on the change-up in the start, but he still turned in a quality start, which is encouraging because even without his best pitch, presumably, he was still able to pitch well. So I was encouraged by that from Ross Tripling. Now on the season, he's got a 284

ERA and he is 71% rostered. I don't know how much more he needs to be rostered than that, but he just continues to pitch well. Yeah, I assume him being a two-start streamer recommendation attributes to his roster rate being as high as 71%. But maybe it should stay that high. I don't know. I mean, obviously the ERA and Wippergood. He's put together back-to-back six-inning starts, which was a problem for him earlier in the year.

You know, the ERA estimators say it should be more like mid-threes than high twos, both XERA and X-FIP have him there. But, you know, great control, pretty good ground ball rate. Not a ton of strikeouts, but you could see stripling remaining good in a, in a fringy sort of way. All right. And then in deeper leagues, I don't know that we need to talk about this guy, but Zach Davies had a decent start at the Royals. Scott, do we need to talk about Zach Davies? No.

Okay. What went wrong with these pitchers on Tuesday? Nicolid Dolo, he took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, and then it all just kind of fell apart for him. Five and a third, four runs allowed, five strikeouts. he was at the Phillies, and he had 12 swinging strikes on 82 pitches. And I wanted to follow this start because in his previous one, he basically ditched his change-up, and he went full sinker and curveball. And his curveball is really, really good.

This is Nicodolo. He did the same thing in this one, and it seemed like it was working until he got to the sixth inning. So, you know, young pitcher, third time through the lineup. I mean, I guess these things can happen, but I was encouraged to see the curb bowl usage was up against Scott. Yeah. Yeah, I'm encouraged to see that too. I had him as one of my top sleeper pitchers for this week scheduled for two starts. The next matchup is going to be better. The Phillies one was the tougher one.

He was coming off seven shutout innings against the Phillies last time out, so I was optimistic. Next start is the – no, that's the wrong team. Next start is the Nationals. So hopefully that'll go. even better for La Dolo, but I think there are some encouraging signs from this. It's just a shame the sixth inning went like it did. Yes, indeed. And he is 66% rostered.

Who would you rather have, Scott, Lodolo or Stripling, rest of season? I would rather have Ladolo. It's close. It's a floor versus ceiling kind of argument, but yeah, I think Lodolo is obviously the upside one if you need more strikeouts for sure for Dylan cease what went wrong in this one after allowing one earn run or fewer in 14 straight starts Dylan cease has now allowed seven earn runs over his past two outings he was at the Orioles he went five and a third he gave up four runs with four strikeouts also walk three in this one

standard pitch mix I didn't really see anything that stood out Scott it was you know a three-run homer that he gave up to Ryan Mountcastle but outside of that pretty standard Dylan C's stuff Yeah, I mean, too many walks. I think his value at some point got inflated because he got that ERA so low. In a way that was kind of suspicious, there were a lot of unearned runs in there. You know, some regression is to be expected, and he still has control issues. So not terribly surprised that it's been kind of bumpy for him recently.

Obviously, he's still a good must-start pitcher and everything. but he's not he's not I don't think he's a serious scy young contender in the long run all right and the last one here Corbyn Burns allowed a season high seven earned runs at the Dodgers and over his last six starts he has a 5.15 ERA obviously inflated by this one start what did I notice about these last six starts swinging strike rate is down compared to the season's average his hard contact is up

I don't know how much stock you put in this game, Scott, because at the Dodgers is probably one of the toughest places to pitch against one of the best lineups. But are you actually concerned about anything recently with Corbyn Burns? I'm not. I actually did have the foresight to bench him in the podcast for the People League. So that felt good, especially after I made the mistake of benching Charlie Morton in a couple leagues last week.

I thought it was going to go about the same. who bench is Corbyn Burns, right? But it worked out. And the only reason I did it is because I wanted to get an extra reliever in to compete in saves plus holds. And my starting rotation is stacked. I have a lot of really good starting pitchers. I would have recommended 99% of everybody with Corbyn Burns to start him,

even though I didn't in that one particular league. So I can feel good about that. You know, Scott, whenever you have any of these sneaky foresight things that come across, let me know, because I've got Corbyn Burns in a few places. I could use that.

Well, I felt stupid doing it. Yeah. That's what I'm trying to say. Yeah. It's a very unique set of circumstances to Bench him in that spot. Before we hit the break, just want to let everyone know that,

give a shout out to, I mentioned recently, the Fantasy Football Today Draftathon is coming up. I believe it's August 31st, and it's a six-hour street where they're raising money for St. Jude, it's obviously all for a great cause.

And recently, we had a listener league spot up for auction on eBay. And just wanted to give a shout out to Daniel Boger. Hope I'm saying your name correctly, because he wound up winning it and again, all that money going towards St. Jews. But we do have another auction that is up right now. And I'm going to put the link in the podcast and the YouTube description.

This is for a guest spot on the podcast. So if you ever wanted to be on fantasy baseball today, Now is your opportunity to do so. So you can bid on that on eBay, and again, all of the proceeds go to St. Jude's Children's Hospital, and you can let us know when you want to come on. Towards the end of the season, off season, you know, leading up to draft season,

and, you know, we'll talk it out. We'll talk players, we'll talk strategy, whatever you want to talk about. This is your opportunity. So if you want to bid, it's obviously going towards a great cause, and we really do appreciate it. Let's take a break,

and we'll get to the news and notes here on fantasy baseball today. The news and notes. It is now official, Scott. Remember Walker Bueller? We didn't know what kind of surgery he was having. Well, now we know. He underwent Tommy John surgery and flexor tendon repair surgery on Tuesday. And based on that, it seems very likely that he will not throw a single pitch next season, which is a killer for keeper dynasty leagues, wherever you have Bueller. Unlike the Fernando Tateis situation, can't really find a silver lining here for Walker Bueller.

It's really bad news. And what makes it worse, bad enough that he's lost most of this season is probably going to lose all the next season as well. It's a second Tommy John surgery. So that makes the rehabilitation less than straightforward. I would say people who have Walker Bueller in a dynasty league are going to have a tough decision to make this off season.

I'm not suggesting everybody in a dynasty league, to drop them. I have them and one myself and I'm, you know, I plan to hold on to him. But it kind of depends on what the cost of holding on to him is, how many players you get to keep, et cetera. Yeah. I will say he's a name to pay attention to during draft season next year in those keeper in Dynasty leagues because if someone throws them back, you might be able to get him at a cheap cost. Of course, you'll have to hold on to him the entire season. But then for 2024, you'll obviously have a really cheap Walker Bueller. Not that we know what kind of pitcher he'll be at that point,

but just something to throw out there right now. Bryce Harper, in his first rehab game, blasted two home runs, and it sounds like we could see him at the, I think he's like five days away from being eligible to return, something like that. So the end of August, early September, Bryce Harper coming soon. Charo Story also could be coming soon.

He will start a rehab assignment at AA on Wednesday and has been out the past five weeks with a fracture in his right wrist. Juan Soto was scratched Tuesday with mid-back tightness. Zander Bogart's left early due to mid-back spasms. A lot of mid-back stuff going on, you know. Got to stretch out a little bit. How you doing, Scotty?

Like physically, you good? You still, you know, get around, you're right? Am I still getting around? Yeah, you know, just like physically. Are you okay? Yeah. Yeah, I'm in ship shape. You know, getting a little bigger every year.

Don't much care for that. I've always been a skinny guy. But, you know, trying to tweak some things dietarily and such to combat that. It may be a losing battle. I still want to enjoy life and all. And I may be sweating it a little too hard because, you know, what bothers me is it's just like my arms aren't getting bigger. You know, it's just concentrated in the stomach area. Getting a little bit of a gut, you know?

Oh, I know all too well, Scott. Look, you don't even drink beer, so you don't have to worry about that. No. You know, I got the beer problem, pasta. I love pasta, man. Like, I could eat pasta every single day in my life. Like, do you do, is the gut bad enough that you're willing to give up all the good things? Because I'm willing to give up some quantity of the good things, you know, to combat the gut.

I'm not just willing to like ditch the good things. Like what's what's the fun in that, you know? It's not like I'm out there on the dating scene, you know, having to wow the ladies with my physique, which was always, that was always a losing battle. Anyway. Yeah, look, we're in the same boat now, sky. I mean, we're both married, you know, like, hey, we've got no one to impress, right?

We could just, you know. Well, I'm not suggesting you just let yourself go either. That's not fair. Yeah. But, you know, you get older and your body, your body doesn't, you know, it changes. Your body's changing at this age. I hear you, man. I hear you.

And, you know, we're only getting up there. Anyway, no, people probably don't care about that. Byron Buxton was placed on the IEL with a right hip strain here on Tuesday. And we've talked about a few outfield ads recently. Lars Neupar stands out. He's 46% rostered. Jake Fraley in deeper leagues, he's 30% rostered, widely available. The aforementioned Corby and Carroll, you want to stash him for now. Obviously, we'll help you immediately, but those are a few outfield replacements. And then, Scott, not like this, man. This isn't how we wanted to see him go.

Vinnie Pasquantino. To the IL with right shoulder discomfort, which we spoke about yesterday. He said it wasn't so bad, but turns out to be bad enough where he does land. on the IL, unfortunately. Michael Copeck was also placed in the aisle with a left knee sprain, and then we had two Red Sox go to the IL. Nathan Avaldi with Soreness in his neck and shoulder, and then Eric Hosmer with lower back inflammation.

Graham Ashcraft will not start on Wednesday because he also went to the IL with right bice soreness. Luis Severino threw approximately 25 pitches on Tuesday while facing John Carlos Stanton in a live batting practice session. Severino is eligible to return in mid-September, And it sounds like Stanton will be back on Thursday.

Tyler Glassnow through his second live batting practice session on Tuesday and will face hitters once more before likely beginning a rehab assignment. He's 39% roster, Scott. But I think adding Glassnow is a little bit different than Mike Soroka. Because I have read some rumblings that Glassnell will return as a reliever this season, not a starter. So what do you think about stashing him right now? Yeah, I would say Soroka is the priority.

there's no harm in stashing glass now if you have an open IL spot. Sure. And I think a lot of people do at this stage of the season. Yep. But yeah, I'd rather do Soroka. U. Darvish was placed on the paternity list on Tuesday, which means his next start should come this weekend against the Royals. Wilson Gattreras missed both games of the doubleheader due to left ankle stiffness.

Chris Bryant continues to wear a protective walking boot, and it has yet to be determined whether he will return this season. He's been on the IL since August 1st. with plantar fasciitis. The Nationals are keeping a close eye on Josiah Gray's workload and his in-game mechanics because he has already set a career high

in innings pitched this season. So just another one where I think they will start to slow down the workload for Josiah Gray. And apparently, Artie Moreno, the owner of the Angels, is looking to explore selling the team. So, you know, Scott,

obviously the crypto is down for both of us. I don't think we're going to be able to in on the bidding, but, you know, some lucky person will get in on those angels. Mm-hmm. And they have a lot of decisions to make. Show Hey, Otani, keep, trade, extend, what do you do with that guy? Obviously, Mike Trout has this rare back condition, so I don't know. The angels are kind of in a weird place.

Anyway, let's get into some random stats. Did you know? C.J. Crone went two-for-four with his 24th home run here on Tuesday, Scotty. But post All-Star break, he is hitting 183. with just three home runs and his BABib is 2.13. Did you know that? Did you know C.J. Cron has been this bad recently?

I did know that. Yeah. It's been a problem for one of my teams. One of my teams that I thought had a really good chance of winning the championship and it has just collapsed here in the second half. C.J. Crohn's not the only reason for it, but he's a big reason for it.

and don't much care for it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, look, the road numbers have been bad all year. He's had the typical dramatic home away split for Rocky Sitters. He's maybe been the poster child for that, C.J. Chrome. But to be this bad, he obviously isn't doing much at home lately either. Yeah.

I would have to look into the specific schedule since the All-Star break, but I know right around that time period, I pointed out that the Rockies did have. like eight or nine more road games than they did home games. So it could be that they're playing more road games recently, but again, I haven't like broken down the schedule. So either way, T.J. Crohn slowing down. I updated my first base rankings here on Tuesday. And I moved him down a little bit.

He's my 10th ranked first baseman. You know, Reese Hoskins is playing really well. So I moved him up a little bit. But even Josh Bell, Josh Bell has slowed down too. But this is a call. I mean, and I didn't have the guts to do it before because C.J. Crohn overall was performing so well. But if you just look at his road stats, that guy doesn't deserve to start for a fantasy team.

So now that he's not going so well, you should at least play the matchups a little more with him. I mean, first base is maybe the one position that's deep. You could argue shortstop as well, but it's kind of a different sort of deep. First base is deep regardless of how big your league is. So everybody has alternatives there. Let's just look for next week, by the way. Yeah, CJ Crone, six road games next week. Against the Braves and the Reds, though.

Obviously, Cincinnati is a great venue to hit in. So, yeah, if you have a better option, it's something to consider with CJ Crum. Christian Walker went three for five on Tuesday, and the BABIP is starting to come around, Scott. Finally, I know for a large majority of the season, Christian Walker had the lowest BABIP among qualified hitters. But in the month of August, he is hitting 333,

with six homers, 15 runs, 19 RBI, he's hitting the ball hard, he's putting it in the air as he's done all season. His overall batting average now up to 224, which still seems low, but about a month ago, he was batting below 200. So to climb your batting average 30 points in that time, that's pretty impressive. So Christian Walker, he's been great in the month of August.

Yes, and he's somebody who's underperformed his, expected stats all year. I have more confidence in him than than like CJ Crone right now, unless it's a full week of home games for Crone. Yeah, I think that makes sense. Eh, E. E. E. E. Hennio Suarez hit his 23rd home run, and Scott, did you know that he's the 13th best

third baseman in Roto this season and the 106th overall player in that format? Hmm. That seems sad to me. That makes me sad. That makes me sad for third base and hitters in general, because it doesn't feel like he's been very good. He's at a lot of home runs. That's about it, though.

It was someone either tweeted me this, or it was a YouTube comment recently, and someone said, does it feel like your hitters have all been terrible recently? And on some of my teams, yeah, you look at it, I was updating the rankings. I'd like to look at the last 28 days, to just kind of refresh yourself, right?

Who is playing well over the past month or so? And a lot of the leaders at every position, Scott, are waiver-wire players. It's like, where are the stars? What are they doing? It seemed like every position I looked at, there really was not a lot of studs up top. So I don't know what's going on

or if there's any reason for it, but it is something I have noticed as well. I haven't really looked into the league-wide data in a couple months, because once things started to improve in the summer, I just stopped checking. Yeah. I'll take a look at that at some point,

see if there's anything going on there. All right. And then Jeff McNeil went two for four, another multi-hit game for him. Did you know over his last 25 games, he is hitting 427 with three homers, 15 doubles, 15 runs, 14 RBI, and he is now batting 321 overall,

the fourth best batting average in all of baseball. Did you know that, Scottie? I knew his batting average was good, and he was surprisingly high, at least in points leagues. I mean, I know he doesn't strike out much.

He ranked surprisingly high. Early in the year, he wasn't playing as consistently. I think that's certainly changed for Jeff McNeil. But we'll never see him be that guy was in 2019 hitting, what was it,

23 home runs, 24 home runs. Yeah. And yet the environment has changed enough that if he can, If he can be this guy, if he can be batting average standout, he'll still be productive enough to start in the majority of leagues. So I'm hitting leftovers.

That's all I have for Did You Know? Hope you enjoyed it. The leftovers from Tuesday, Von Grissom, just another great game. Three for four with a run and an RBI. Marcus Semyon went two for three with his 20th homer. I guess this could have been a did you know. But since the start of June, 75 games, Marcus Semyon is hitting 259 with 19 homers and 13 steals.

That is a 38 homer 26 steel pace over 150 games, which is just massive, massive. Yeah, it's a shame that we're dealing with this humidor in April and May that suppresses offense so much so that Semyon can't be this guy over 150 games. It's a shame. I hope they tweak that next year. Actually, I'm kind of tired and then tweaking stuff every year

but that would probably be for the better if they did that. It would just catch us all by surprise again, I'm sure. I'm sure there'll be something tweaked in the offseason, Scott, that we have to figure out how is this going to change fantasy baseball and it's going to be tough to do. That is my early prediction. Eloi Jimenez went one for two with two walks. Nice to see.

He doesn't usually walk that much. And his seventh homer, that was his first home run since August 5th. And in 38 games since returning from injury. Eloi Jimenez is hitting 328. Six homers, 91.8 mile per hour, average exit velocity. That is a 23 homer pace over 150 games,

which isn't great, but the batting average definitely plays. So you'll take that. Well, it's funny you say he doesn't long much because in August he's walked 13 times compared to 15 strikeouts. So I don't know what's gotten into Elohimenez as far as that goes.

I mean, just everything's going right for him in August. including, I think, didn't he leave early, got hit in the elbow by a pitch? Yeah. But X-ray's negative, so hopefully he'll, hopefully he'll remain in the lineup for the White Sox. Yeah. You know, he's another one. We spoke about Jose Abraeu yesterday. Eloy Jimenez, well, I think he has strong raw power.

He hits a lot of ground balls. And I think he's someone that his power might get sapped a little bit in this environment, too. But it's obviously great to see his hitting. for great batting average and if the White Sox were playing well maybe we would see better counting stats from Eli Jimenez but alas this is where we are. Aaron Judge went

two for four with another sock and a shoe. 48th home run his 14th steal. He only has one caught stealing on the season. It's just insane what Aaron Judge is doing. Bobby Wood Jr. went one for three with his 17th home run. He is hitting 251. He's got 17 homers

24 steals on the season and he's kind of just a physical freak, Scott. Bobby Witt, 92nd percentile max exit velocity, and apparently the fastest player in baseball. He is 100 percentile in sprint speed. Okay. I think multiple players can be 100th percentile in sprint speed. I think I've seen that.

That sounds right. But, yeah, I mean, Bobby Witt is really fast. Here's an interesting stat for Bobby Witt, though, that I noticed the other day. You would think, okay, he's obviously one of the front runners for A.L. Rookie of the year, right? The season he's had. It's certainly been a good fantasy season. 16 homers, 24 steals.

Well, I guess 17 homers, 24 steals now. His war, at least according to baseball reference, you know what it is, Bobby Witt, his war? I don't know, but I will guess he is a three-win player. That's what I would have. guess too. I mean, that's about where Julio Rodriguez is and some of the other rookies who are performing well.

No, it's 0.4. 0.4 is Bobby Witt's war. Is he bad defensively? According to the way baseball reference war measures it, yes, his defensive war metric is pulling him down

pretty severely. And you know what? I was going to say about Bobby Witt is he's a lot like Boba Chet in that he's not and this could change he's still young he's not a great hitter yet in terms of walk rate OPS

those things are still lagging I mean even batting average 251 that's you know that's about average it is what it is but you know in his rookie season he doesn't look like a great hitter yet that's not to say he can't become one but that's just something I notice

he's he's kind of in that Boba Shet Francisco Lindormold as of now yeah it's really the stolen bases that are carrying him. Otherwise, he'd look a lot like, what, Jeremy Pena, probably. Yeah. Not that Pena is a zero

for stolen bases himself. According to Stackast, Bobby Witt Jr. is in the second percentile in outs above average. So that seems quite bad. Alex Bregman went three for four with his 19th home run just keeps on crushing. He, in 31 games,

post-all-star break is betting 3-39, eight homers, 13 doubles, 28 RBI, hitting the ball harder and putting it in the air. It's, you know, great to see from Bregman. Nolan Aronado went three for seven with his 26th home run across the doubleheader, and Andres Jimenez hit his 15th home run. Scott, I aggressively moved him way up in the second base rankings. Second base is just so bad.

I moved him up to, maybe I didn't save it. It seems like I have him 13th in the rankings, but I definitely moved him higher than that. Maybe it was in Roto. Yeah, I moved them up to my sixth rank second baseman, which is very aggressive, but like Brandon Lau, Whitmerfield, Catelle Marte, Thai Francis slowdown, Jorge Polanco has been not great the season. So, man, second base is not good.

And as a result, Andres Jimenez, he's moving on up. Some pitching standouts. I can see it. I have him 13th, but I can see moving them up that high. It's not like I have strong feelings about the same. six ahead of him. Some pitching standout, Scott. We saw a great start from Carlos Rodon. He now has eight double-digit strikeout starts this season. He was at the Tigers, seven innings, one run, 10 strikeouts in this one. And his fastball velocity, not all the way back up, but it was

up compared to his previous one. And his 189 strikeouts are now tied for most in major league baseball. That is Carlos Rodon. Max Fried makes it six straight quality starts. He was at the Pirates, eight innings, one run with seven strikeouts. Robbie Ray took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and the final line for him, six and two-thirds, one-run, seven strikeouts. And then Tony Gonsolin had a solid start, five innings, one run, five strikeouts up against the Brewers. But they did limit him to just 77 pitches in this one.

Anything you'd like to add, Scott Gonsolin, Ray, Freed, and Carlos Rodon. I mean, Robbie Ray's been awesome for the better portion. of the season now after a very rocky start. And introducing that Sinkermore seems to be what's keyed it. I think he has more, I think he does a better job of commanding that pitch than the four-seamer. And so we've seen the walks come down in a way that hasn't compromised his strikeouts much, though. So last 13 starts, 265 ERA for Robbie Ray well more than a strikeout per inning. still an elite swinging strike rate.

He looks a lot like the guy who won the Cy Young last year. And I would argue that if he can keep this up, this has the potential to be the best version of Robbie Ray that we've seen because last year he was still giving up

a lot of fly balls and hard contact and those things can lead to home runs naturally. But if he gets ground balls at this rate, a 46% rate, along with his swinging strikes, and it's just his strikeout upside, This could be the best version that we've seen from Robbie Ray. Carlos Ordone, just one note on him. He has just two walks total over his last five starts,

so that has really, really helped him go deep into starts. And Max Fried's fastball velo was down 1.3 miles per hour in this start, so just something to watch for his future outings. Standouts Part 2. Frankie Montas falls just short of a quality start, but did have his best start with the Yankees yet. He was up against the Mets, five and two thirds, two runs allowed,

six strikeouts in that one. Corey Kluber, back-to-back quality starts after a rough stretch for him. Mike Clevenger goes six innings, two runs, four strikeouts, up against the Guardians, revenge game. And then Pablo Lopez

turned in his first quality start since July 26th. It definitely helps when you're facing the Oakland A's six shutout with five strikeouts there. Anything on these four, Scotty. Montas, Cluber, Clevenger, and Pablo Lopez.

Yeah, unfortunately, Lopez's second start. Will he make a second start? I guess not. At one point he looked like a two-star pitcher, but no, he's not going to end up being. I was going to say it'd be against the Dodgers, but never mind. I do want to point out for Frankie Montas. Yes, this was the best start he's had as a Yankee.

He still has yet to turn an equality start and seven chances since returning from the I.O. and in this start he threw 17 split finger fastballs I was on the fence whether to say split finger fastball or splitter he threw 17 splitters one swinging strike on those 17 splitters

so it it appears that he's missing that pitch right now and without it he's pretty ordinary yes yeah and we've seen this before Scott. When he doesn't have the splitter working, he, it's just hard for him to be the best version of himself. I mean, it seems obvious to say, but, you know, so much is relying on that splitter. And I just don't think he has it right now. Maybe it's related to the shoulder injury. I don't know how those things would be related. Yeah, I just think he loses the feel for it sometimes.

I mean, he first introduced it in 2019 with the great season and then kind of struggled for the short 2020 season, the first half of 2021, got it back for the second half of last season. It looked like Max Scherzer. And now it appears, you know, maybe he's missing it right now. Yeah, for sure. Some bullpen updates for the Cubs in game one of their doubleheader. Brandon Hughes pitched a clean ninth for his third save. And all three of his saves have come in the past week or so.

So if you play in a deeper categories league, I definitely think Brandon Hughes should be on your radar at this point. For the Giants, Camilo Deval gave up two hits and a walk, but picked up his 18th save. For the Phillies, Brad Han entered with a one-run lead in the ninth. He gave up two hits and two unearned runs. He took the blown save but wound up with the win because Alexis Diaz in a one-run game, he walked one, he gave up two hits and two runs. He took his fourth blown save and second loss of the season.

For the Orioles, Felix Bautista recorded the final five outs and They were perfect. He had three strikeouts during that stretch and he picked up his ninth save. He's 77% rostered. Could be out there in some shallow leagues. I'd rather have them than Craig Kimbril. Kimbril's 92% rostered. If you can make that swap, pick up Batista instead. Craig Kimbril's basically been Trevor Rogers this year. And no, not Trevor Rogers. You just went along with me, Frank. I said the wrong name completely. Craig Kimbril's basically been Tanner Scott this year.

year. Oh, okay. And yet there's a 42%, they're 42 percentage points difference in roster rate. I thought you were just going with the old, you know, Trevor Rogers stinks, Craig Kimbril Stings comparison. Yeah. I mean, I actually compare their numbers side by side. They've basically been the same pitcher.

Yeah. Blatista, look, even assuming you don't have two great sparks in a points league, he should even be owned in that format. It's just how dominant of a. reliever he's been and he's just a clear-cut closer. Like, yeah, this number should be close to 100% rostered. For the Yankees, this one

is kind of interesting. Clark Schmidt pitched three innings, but, and they were leaving him out there to get the final out of the game. They were giving him a three-enning save. But he loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth, and then Wandi Peralta recorded the final out for his second save. Clay Holmes could be back soon,

so I'm not sure how much this matters anyway, but A Roller's Chapman has not pitched since Friday. Scott, so either he is dealing with something physically or they just have no confidence in him whatsoever. He wasn't even warming up in this game. He was never close to pitching. So I just don't think they want to use Chapman

in like these big high leverage situations. Well, and with Scott F Frost's just going on the I.L. Yeah, I think Clay Holmes is, you know, hopefully this IL stint is enough to get him right because obviously he was losing his grip on the closer role because of performance prior to. of the IL stent, but he's going to, I think he's going to be installed back in the closer roll right away. For the Rockies, Daniel Bard gave up a hit but picked up his 26th save for the Astros.

Brian Abraeu recorded the final out for his second save. Ryan Presley pitched both Saturday and Sunday, so perhaps they were just giving him another day of rest. For the Mariners, Paul Seawald gave up a run, but picked up his 16th save, and then good old Tanner Scott, who Scott just mentioned. For the Marlins, he entered with two outs in the ninth inning, and runners on first and third, he gave up a double, an RBI double, a sackfly, and then he picked up his 19th save eventually. Find someone who loves you the way Don Maddically loves Tanner, Scott,

because it feels like he gives up a run every time he's out there, and they just keep throwing him out there. So he's getting saves, I guess roll with him, but, and I've been expecting them to go to Dylan Floro for a while now, Scott, and they just will not do it. I mean, Tanner Scott is talented. He is. The Kimberl comparison works in part because Tanner Scott gets a ton of strikeouts. But yeah, he hasn't been especially consistent.

All right, let's get into to stream or not to stream. We've got on Wednesday. Yeah, we lost our guy Ashcraft. So we don't really have much going on here. Mitch Keller versus the Braves, Matt Manning versus the Giants, Spencer Watkins versus the White Sox. Gosh, there's not anybody better? Let me see how rostered Luzardo is.

I mean, he is at the Oakland A's. Obviously, that's a fantastic matchup. But I think he's up over 80% rostered now. So hard to include anyone that rostered. Right. You obviously have to start Luzardo against the A's. Yeah, no doubt. Yeah, he's 80% rostered.

I guess these are our best choices. If you have to choose one other than him, Spencer Watkins against the White Sox, it's probably who I'd pick. Yeah. I mean, Adrian Hauser is making his return at the Dodgers. That's just brutal, so I wouldn't do that either. On Thursday, we have Patrick Sandoval at the Rays. We have Marcus Schroman versus the Cardinals.

We have Marco Gonzalez versus the Guardians. We have Jordan Lyles versus the White Sox. We have anyone else. Cutter Crawford versus the Blue. Jay's and James Caprillion versus the Yankees. Yeah, so I was kind of dismissive of Sandoval's dominant

complete game shot out against the Tigers last time not because it was against the Tigers. I mean, in the context of this, comparing him to this caliber of pitcher, he clearly stands out here. Right. So he'd be the choice. I don't mind Stroman against the Cardinals. By the way, just you know, to linger on the Tigers thing for a minute.

Aaron Savale finally made another start. He went nine days without making one. I don't know why. But remember last time out he had this crazy strikeout performance. Swinging strike rate was way up. It was against the Tigers. Yep. You know, and we said, well, look,

he threw his best pitch to the curveball 44% of the time. There may be something here. He finally made a start, as I said, here on Tuesday and looked like Aaron Savale again. Only 26% curve balls instead of that 44% and it wasn't very good

against the Padres. So it seems like just a tiger's fake out there. We're going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.